2210. Trap
Daniel didn't say anything. His figure transformed into a ray of white light that shot out of the dark world and landed on the landmass in an instant. A series of inscriptions activated afterward, and the whole structure lit up.
Noah retracted the dark world and glanced at his companions. Some were still injured and wouldn't be able to express their full power, but he also confirmed that all the landmass' defenses were in place. They would have time to slow down Heaven and Earth's advance, so the others might have a chance to recover.
"Well, let's not waste time now," Noah laughed. "I'll make my speech once everything is set."
"You can save the speech," King Elbas sneered.
"A leader has to make a speech before a battle," Divine Demon declared.
"Do you realize that he won't say much?" June added. "He'll probably roar or something."
"That works for me!" The Foolery squealed.
"What's wrong with a roar?" Wilfred asked.
"We'll have time to joke around," Alexander scolded. "It's time to prepare for real now."
"Well, probably," Steven joked. "Don't you dare to die on me."
"And if you do die, make sure to take a bunch of them with you," Noah ordered. "We are in the endgame now. Every death counts."
"Let's have fun!" Divine Demon shouted, and the group flew toward different areas of the landmass.
Noah and June had their personal training areas close to each other, but they landed between them to exchange a long kiss. They both knew that the next time they would see each other would be on the battlefield, which wouldn't leave them space for that intimacy.
"It has finally come," June exclaimed as she immersed her hand in Noah's hair.
"Don't look too worried about it," Noah joked.
"Hey, we are almost there, right?" June asked as her battle intent waned slightly to make room for her serious tone.
"Yes," Noah declared. "We'll either die or destroy the sky."
"Don't look too excited about it," June joked.
"I can't help it," Noah laughed. "I think I have waited for this moment since the aptitude test in the academy."
"That was entire lifetimes ago," June sighed. "Is it how you imagined it?"
Noah raised his head to glance at the sky. That part was almost identical to what he had seen during the test, but everything else was different. The very ground where he was standing was something he didn't expect to have.
"I thought I would have been alone," Noah revealed.
"You can't have Heaven and Earth all for yourself," June teased. "Well, you have never been good at sharing now that I think about it."
"I think Heaven and Earth will have enough to keep everyone satisfied and busy," Noah guessed.
"I hope that,"
"I'm sure the rulers won't disappoint you, my relentless battle maniac," Noah reassured while caressing June's cheek.
June pulled Noah closer until their foreheads touched. They knew that there wasn't enough time to express their passion now, but they still wanted to take a few seconds to enjoy that last moment of intimacy.
Noah and June had been together for so long that words were useless between them. Their eyes met, and they exchanged another kiss before separating and flying toward their respective training areas.
Meanwhile, the privileged cultivators remained on the other side of the tunnel to make sure that Noah and the others returned to the landmass without planting anything inside the sky. Everything seemed to go well, so the opening closed.
"Who wants to open this thing?" The cultivator with the multicolored sphere asked. "I bet those rebels have planted traps inside it, but I don't want to bother Divine Architect."
"We can just leave those three idiots inside as a punishment," Another cultivator suggested. "How could they lose against two of them?"
"Noah Balvan's group is full of incredible experts," A third cultivator replied. "Even Albatia died."
"They ganged up on her," A fourth cultivator pointed out. "Besides, who could even expect Xavier Elbas to have such a powerful technique."
"Caesar has let them do as they wished for too long," A fight cultivator sighed. "Still, nothing will matter in the end. Heaven and Earth can't lose."
Everyone on the scene nodded, and the sky closed around them. The conversation continued inside the white layer, which didn't hinder their movements or words, but a foreign noise eventually resounded among them.
The privileged cultivators immediately located the source of the sound, but they were one second too slow anyway. The multicolored sphere shattered, but nothing came out of it.
The surprise that spread among the experts lasted only one second since their surroundings suddenly turned dark. That event was theoretically impossible since they were inside the sky, but they quickly found an explanation for it. Noah had used a stronger version of the Shadow Domain to make that energy expand in that environment.
The whole dark area trembled, and countless figures moved inside it. The privileged cultivators didn't take long to understand that all the blackness in their vision wasn't mere energy. It was the product of a series of creatures stuffed together to mask their appearances.
Roars resounded as six-armed dragons left the main group and tried to fly through the sky. They obviously couldn't pierce the white layer after coming out of the Shadow Doman, so they self-destructed to release even more energy.
The same quasi-rank 10 energy that King Elbas had unleashed against Albatia and other powers shot out of the dragons and ravaged everything in their range. Those fuels also carried the odd dragon's innate ability, which made them able to damage the sky.
The privileged cultivators ended up suffering the most from those explosions since the trap had taken them by surprise multiple times in the span of a single second. They saw the best attacks that Noah's group could unleash landing on their bodies relentlessly until they fell prey to proper storms.
Many died right away, while others suffered severe injuries. The privileged cultivators had expected the multicolored sphere to be a trap, but they didn't expect Noah's group to go beyond what they had seen during their last battles.
It was clear that Noah's group had paid a hefty price to stuff all that power and assets inside the multicolored sphere, but the privileged cultivators couldn't think about that. They were too busy preserving their lives to care about the details of the trap.
.
.
.
Noah dived underground to reach his training area. The structure had everything an existence at his level could desire, and it even featured enhanced scanners to keep track of the sky.
His ethereal blackness struggled to remain unfolded due to the complete absence of potential in its insides, but energy soon started to refill it. The event put a smile on Noah's face and made him glance at the scanner to make sure that he didn't miss such an important event.
The scanners turned out to be superfluous. A deafening rumbling noise came out of the sky and made everything inside it shake. The fabric of space and the dark area trembled to no end and threatened to shatter, but the landmass remained still.
Then, the heaviest aura the world had ever experienced filled the higher plane and tried to suppress everything living inside it. Multiple shining figures also appeared at the sky's edges.
Heaven and Earth had awakened, and their forces were about to enter the higher plane. The final battle had begun.
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Author's notes: The fourteenth volume will end here.. I'm excited and a bit sad to announce that the fifteenth and last volume will start tomorrow.