Birth of the Demonic Sword
chapter-1971

The young-looking cultivator's law involved puppets born from his existence. He could take tiny pieces of himself and insert them into the matter of the world to give birth to different living beings that carried his power.

The effects of the expert's law were quite powerful. The many living beings had different features that could replicate magical beasts, plants, and humans. Still, their true value came from their power being only slightly lower than their source.

Wilfred and Steven found themselves against an army of middle tier creatures capable of performing battle formations. Those puppets could limit the effects of the two experts' abilities to corner and damage them slowly but relentlessly. Moreover, there didn't seem to be a limit to how many living beings the expert could create.

That ability obviously had heavy drawbacks. The expert couldn't move after creating the army, and his complexion paled every time he severed a piece of his existence.

The cultivator paid the price to show that striking superiority. In theory, his weakened state was a significant flaw in his incredible technique, but his two opponents couldn't exploit it since the army of puppets didn't give them the chance to advance. They were actually struggling to kill the few specimens that they managed to attack.

A platoon of humanoid puppets surrounded by masses of roots and branches forced Wilfred and Steven to perform multiple escape maneuvers in a row. They couldn't retreat since a group of spiked armadillos had blocked that path, and many big turtles even stood above them.

The two experts could dive in the storms under them, but their opponent was creating a new platoon while they kept running away. His complexion paled whenever tiny silver spheres came out of his body and mixed with the air or chaotic laws to generate long alligators that prepared themselves to close the last path available to his opponents.

It wouldn't take much before Wilfred and Steven found themselves locked in a cage made of middle tier creatures, but they had yet to develop a good plan to handle the issue. They even felt a bit desperate since they struggled to destroy the puppets in front of them.

Wilfred's muscles had long since bulged beyond their natural state. His arms had become as thick as his chest, but blood had tainted his skin in some spots. His veins couldn't handle that prolonged empowered state, so they popped whenever he released an attack.

Steven had created an invisible shield around the duo. He tried to imitate Noah's dark world and support his friend while improving his overall situation, but he failed to do even one of those things correctly.

The issue wasn't with his power. Steven's invisible energy would force gaseous stage cultivators to retreat to prepare their best attacks. However, his opponent was a liquid stage expert capable of creating an army of middle tier puppets. That battle appeared beyond his reach.

The two experts descended through the storms, but roots and branches stretched forward to block their retreat. Those magical plants were faster than them, so a tight array of silver hindrances soon formed on their path and forced Wilfred and Steven to rely on their power.

Wilfred clashed with the roots head-on. The magical plants had created a wall, and he didn't hesitate to slam his firsts on it. Everything trembled, and some branches even shattered, but the structure remained intact and continued to stop that retreat.

Steven's attack arrived right after. He landed next to Wilfred and pointed at the spot where his fists had landed. His determination surged as he looked at the small hole created by his companion. The entirety of his energy focused on a simple thought. He wouldn't let simple roots blocking his retreat.

Invisible energy seeped inside the hole and transformed into a pillar that slowly enlarged it. The passage became large enough for the two experts, but the platoon of humanoid puppets slammed on the shield created by Steven's determination and made them fly in the distance.

Steven spat a mouthful of blood as his shield trembled. Cracks appeared on his invisible protection and made him unable to think clearly. Wilfred grabbed his companion and followed the movements of the defensive technique, but he soon found more humanoid puppets on his path.

Wilfred mustered all the power that he was capable of to throw a punch forward. A soundwave resounded inside the invisible shield as his physical strength flew to clash against the humanoid puppets. The hybrid had launched an attack that would force gaseous stage cultivators to retreat, but those creatures didn't even bother dodging.

There were only five humanoid puppets on their path. Wilfred's shockwave slammed on them and focused most of its power on the specimen in the lead of that small group. Cracks opened among the whiteness and connected the area to the void, but the creatures remained mostly intact.

The specimen that had endured most of the physical strength had lost its left shoulder and arm. Cracks had opened on its torso, but it had remained on its feet. The other puppets were even better off since they had only trembled when that power had slammed on their figures.

That scene depicted how the battle had gone until now. Wilfred and Steven found themselves unable to defeat the puppets properly, so their opponent had the time to generate the army.

Everything had started with only twenty creatures, but the two experts had more than a hundred of them to deal with now. Wilfred and Steven's insecurities could only intensify in front of that massive difference in power. They found themselves unable to even think of a path that could lead them to victory.

"You have overstepped," The cultivator in the distance announced.

The liquid stage expert was in a distant spot of the sky. He was sitting cross-legged among the whiteness while a series of roots surrounded his figure to protect him from unexpected attacks. He spat some blood as more silver spheres left his figure and completed the platoon of alligators, but he appeared used to those damages.

"I know what you are thinking," The cultivator continued. "You are correct. Your existences can't match your companions. Noah, Divine Demon, Sword Saint, and Alexander are leagues above you. Even Xavier Elbas is struggling to keep up with them, so how can you two consider yourselves their equals?"

The cultivator wasn't really paying attention to the mental state of his opponents. He was only following a battle tactic that Heaven and Earth had come up with after discovering that he was against Wilfred and Steven. Those two experts were the weak links in Noah's team, so the rulers tried to do their best to take them out.

The approach was working. Wilfred and Steven struggled to think about valuable battle tactics that could bring them out of that situation. The new platoon even joined the array of enemies and closed the last path that they could use to escape. Doom had arrived, and the two experts could only inspect it with cold eyes.

Wilfred and Steven exchanged a glance. They had decided long ago that death was the only alternative to victory. Their opponent was the very world, so they had high requirements to meet. That battle was only one of the many struggles that they would have to face in the future, so they decided to forsake everything to set their laws aflame. They betted everything on the fact that their breakthrough would arrive if they won.

****

Author's notes: Guys, do me a favor. Let's pretend that yesterday never happened. I felt off and just didn't want to punch the keyboard to meet a word count. I slept, chilled, and rested. I feel better, so I will go back to my daily quota. Just, sorry for being so inconsistent lately.