Birth of the Demonic Sword

224 224 . Too much, too little

"This?" The privileged cultivator wondered before falling silent as soon as she sensed a change in Divine Demon's aura.

Divine Demon remained with his legs crossed. He didn't move from his position or change his stance, but the blood-red energy around him began to condense and transform.

"What are you even doing?" The woman asked. "You have tried the higher energy already. Your attack won't work as long as they retain their original nature."

"That's not correct," Divine Demon revealed. "The problem isn't in its nature. A variant of the higher energy would be enough to solve that. The "Breath" itself is the problem against you."

"What's the difference?" The woman continued. "That's still your power. You can achieve miracles, but you can't change your world. That's not how the cultivation journey works."

"That's also not correct," Divine Demon exclaimed. "You would be right in most cases, but I'm a different monster. The world has given me this power, but it's not fully mine."

"You are its king," The privileged cultivator announced. "You are its heir. You are the chosen son of the world "Breath". That makes it yours."

"It makes it under my control," Divine Demon pointed out. "It makes it my servant, my helper. It's mine, but it also isn't."

The middle-aged woman's eyes flickered in understanding. She knew where Divine Demon was going, but the matter didn't make too much sense, or, rather, it didn't suit his mindset.

"I wanted to reveal this power against a worthier opponent," Divine Demon sighed as his blood-red energy continued to condense and transform. "I hoped for an actual gruesome battle that could force my power to its limits until I used this trump card. It's disappointing to use this against you."

"Are you an idiot?" The privileged cultivator snorted. "Why would you hold back a trump card during the final battle? Don't you care about the losses of your organization?"

"Of course," Divine Demon announced, but his tone wasn't too convincing. "Well, a few deaths are necessary to improve. How do you expect us to win if even the weaklings are allowed to survive?"

"What a ruthless character," The privileged cultivator commented while shaking her head.

"It's not ruthlessness," Divine Demon corrected. "The weaklings must die of find paths toward power. There are no alternatives to this rule. Heaven and Earth tried that, and look where it brought them."

That topic wasn't new or unusual. Heaven and Earth and Noah's organization had opposite mindsets due to the different natures of their paths. The rulers accepted weaklings and pushed their power toward greater heights, while the landmass' forces were the result of countless struggles.

"Where are you getting at?" The privileged cultivator eventually asked. "This still doesn't explain your intentions."

"I didn't expect you to understand," Divine Demon revealed. "You lack style."

"Style?" The woman sneered.

"A trump card should be used to turn the tables of a battle," Divine Demon continued. "It almost feels like a waste to reveal it now, against someone so boring. I can't even pull it back afterward."

The blood-red energy began to release screeching noises as the process continued. It suffered during the transformation, but Divine Demon remained unfazed by the event. Everything was unfolding according to his expectations.

"You are hurting your power," The woman noticed.

"Transformations rarely are painless," Divine Demon explained. "My case is also unique. This energy was originally supposed to fill the higher plane, but I'm condensing it into my world."

"I can see that," The privileged cultivator declared, "But the pain I'm talking about goes beyond mere headaches. You are about to give up on your miracles."

"No," Divine Demon contradicted. "That will depend on the capabilities of my mind."

It wasn't hard to understand what Divine Demon was doing. The "Breath" was part of his world, but he remained a mere ruler over that energy. The transformation aimed to make him the true owner and creator of that power.

Nevertheless, gaining that new position would force Divine Demon to rely solely on his power. The world would stop helping him come up with attacks or abilities. The Divine Deduction technique would have to bear the full weight of that process.

Heaven and Earth had faced a similar issue in their previous state when they had too many laws and worlds at their disposal. They had to use the ordinary cultivators under their rule to improve their computing capabilities.

Divine Demon was going in that same direction, but he lacked assets that could improve his mind. He didn't have Noah's potential or Alexander's innate abilities. He would have to rely entirely on his centers of power, which obviously hinted at problems.

Those problems were so evident that the privileged cultivator didn't fear the imminent transformation. Something even told her that Divine Demon would become overall weaker due to the new limits he would gain.

Various thoughts flowed through the middle-aged woman's mind. She could probably hinder the procedure, but she lacked the knowledge to understand which path to follow.

The only option was to ask her superiors about it. The privileged cultivator lifted her head to glance at the sky and at Caesar in the distance as faint mental waves shot out of her figure.

A silent conversation happened, and an answer quickly became clear. Both Heaven and Earth and Caesar wanted Divine Demon to complete the transformation, even if they had different reasons in mind.

Divine Demon almost expected that outcome, and he didn't hide how disappointed he felt to see the privileged cultivator holding back her power.

The blood-red energy continued to condense until it began to seep into Divine Demon's figure. It fused with his core and expanded his world to improve its overall power and quality.

The transformation was triggering a breakthrough, but that was within Heaven and Earth's predictions. After all, Divine Demon was striving toward superior forms of power. It was only normal for his liquid stage state to lack space.

Divine Demon slowly started to shine with bright blood-red light. The radiance seemed blinding, but the privileged cultivator could easily see past that to inspect his figure.

The breakthrough matched the levels of power reached by Sword Saint. It actually seemed to fall slightly short compared to that mighty expert, but Divine Demon remained confident. His cultivation level slowly surged until it stabilized on a higher realm.

The blood-red radiance dimmed to disappear inside Divine Demon's body. The breakthrough ended uneventfully without unleashing storms or causing any major mess. Even the void's fabric remained unaffected by his new weight.

"That's it?" The privileged cultivator asked. "I thought you would have done something far flashier. Why did you even hold back something so plain?"

"It sure is heavy," Divine Demon sighed, ignoring the woman's question. "I can feel the weight of a higher plane on my mind. It's as annoying as I imagined."

"I bet you can't even control so much power without the world's help," The privileged cultivator sneered.

"Shut up for a moment," Divine Demon showed his palm as he mustered his power. "I need to drink."

The woman snorted in annoyance, but her eyes widened in shock when she found herself immersed in a reddish liquid. She instinctively recognized it as strong wine, but her amazement intensified when her consciousness expanded.

The privileged cultivator sent mental waves in every direction to study the situation, but she found herself unable to find areas without wine. Only the sky and the landmass had remained untouched by that liquid. Instead, the rest of the battlefield had fallen under that reddish sea.

The event became even more surprising when the woman noticed how the sea expanded into the void. She couldn't find its edges since they crossed the limits of her consciousness. Divine Demon's creation stretched far beyond what she could comprehend or study.

"I used too much power," Divine Demon commented as he forced the whole sea to converge in his hand.

The process caused many complaints since the currents pulled many experts out of their fights, but Divine Demon didn't bother to address them. He focused on creating a cup, which ended up having a single drop of wine inside it.

"Too little power, "Divine Demon sighed.