Chapter 2053 - 2053. Epilogue
Faint drowsiness began to fall on Noah's mind, but he opposed it. His body wanted to advance right away, but he couldn't let it when the higher plane had no safe area.
The hands still occupied a good chunk of the sky, and the monster was slowly condensing itself back to a spherical form. The apocalyptic event was far from over, and Noah had to see through it before stopping to deal with his centers of power.
The orange city slowly shrunk and disappeared in the chaos of the storms. It had dealt with its side of the deal, so it had to prepare to seize the monster now. Yet, the old rulers would let it clash with Heaven and Earth a bit more before jumping into the battlefield again.
Heaven and Earth obviously didn't like the proud and defying announcement that Noah and his companions had voiced, but they had far worse issues to deal with right now. The orange city had left, but the monster was still alive, and its anger wasn't something that they could ignore.
The monster slowly pulled itself back together. Its shattered figure condensed as its flares and currents flowed to recreate its uneven, spherical form. The massive hands remained still during the process, but they didn't forget to draw power from the sky as they waited for their target to regain its original shape.
Shafu led Noah into a spot outside the hands' range. He fought the drowsiness inside his mind and stopped empowering his aspects as he let the black crystal deal with every process inside his body. His flesh seemed on the verge of creating the chrysalis, but the fourth center of power prevented that from happening since the situation was far from ideal.
Everything turned white again when the monster condensed. Noah deployed the dark world, but nothing came in his direction. Then, after his vision returned, he saw the empty creature in an even worse shape.
Most of the monster's blackness had dispersed, and its non-world had turned into a messy structure that couldn't preserve its dense form anymore. Still, Heaven and Earth didn't stop, and everything soon turned white again.
The monster tried to growl after the whiteness dispersed, but its cry sounded weak. Its growth as non-existence had allowed it to develop something similar to emotions, and the sadness for its first real defeat filled its being.
The fear returned but in a different form. The monster stopped caring about Heaven and Earth and began to worry about its life. Death was looming over its non-existence, and it reacted like any other magical beast. It tried to summon its power to escape, but nothing responded to its will. The rulers had destroyed too much of its structure.
The hands ignored the sad scene and continued to gather energy. Heaven and Earth were ready to deliver the final blow, but the old rulers decided to intervene one last time. The orange city suddenly materialized under the monster and sucked its unique body inside its buildings.
The empty creature vanished, and the orange city quickly turned ethereal. The old rulers seemed concerned about an eventual attack from the sky, but nothing came. The hands simply went back inside the white layer as if Heaven and Earth had lost interest in the matter.
The silent epilogue to the battle didn't do justice to its magnitude, but Noah understood the rulers' mindset. They didn't want to waste more energy against something that probably had the power to cause more problems. That finale was enough, especially since everyone had won.
Heaven and Earth had solved the issue about the monster, the orange city had taken the remains of the non-world, and Noah had obtained the energy required for his breakthrough. The big players in the battle had managed to gain something out of that apocalyptic struggle, and they wanted to assess their state now.
The sky grew brighter, but it didn't go back to its original splendor. Everyone could see that Heaven and Earth had lost too much, and it would take time to stabilize their condition. They even had to decide how to proceed forward after witnessing what their opponents could do.
The orange city was in a similar condition, even if far better than Heaven and Earth. It had lost many buildings and wasted a lot of its precious energy, but it had also gained a lot. The non-world was a priceless asset in the old rulers' hands.
Noah began to search for a safe area where to go through his evolution. The higher plane didn't have much left, and even its stormy regions didn't feel safe anymore after seeing how many powerful beings they contained. Moreover, many had taken note of his prowess, so he believed that disappearing for some time was necessary.
The inspection came to an end when Noah sensed that a familiar force was trying to affect his surroundings. He let it apply its effects on him after recognizing its source, and his figure teleported in another area of the higher plane.
Noah found himself in front of the four upper tier dragons and their army. The modified magical beasts had disappeared, but King Elbas, Sepunia, and his dragon companion were there.
"What is it?" Noah asked.
"We wanted to thank you for this chance," The time dragon said before glancing at the sky. "It's a pity we couldn't do much to affect Heaven and Earth's core."
"Do they even have something like that?" Noah asked.
"Hard to say," The time dragon admitted. "Their existence has become too complicated, and their recent defeats didn't make it clearer. Still, they have probably realized that they have a chance to lose now."
"You should hide and wait for me to get stronger," Noah teased, but the dragons didn't address his joke. They appeared worried as they inspected the sky as if they were expecting something to come out of it.
"The world will soon change again," The time dragon announced. "You should get ready."
"Wait!" Noah shouted when the dragons began to retreat. "Take my companion with you. Teach it something while you are at it."
The dragons instinctively glanced at the odd dragon standing next to Sepunia. Noah's sudden request had surprised the creature, but it wasn't hard to understand the meaning behind his words.
"Is it finally time to separate?" King Elbas asked.
"You should try to be gentler with your leader," Sepunia chuckled.
"Expanding our worlds will require time," Noah sighed. "We'll only get in each other's way if we keep traveling together. Separating is for the best."
"Do not eat the whole plane while I'm away," King Elbas scoffed before his figure glowed with golden light and disappeared.
"He isn't the sentimental type," Sepunia joked.
"Don't die," Noah ordered before looking at the dragon. "You are too weak to remain alone. Make sure to fix that while you are with the other dragons. You might lose your spot in the final battle otherwise."
Noah then turned toward the time dragon before speaking again. "Don't start anything while I'm facing the breakthrough. I'd hate to miss a good battle."
"Death doesn't scare us," The time dragon growled. "Besides, you should worry about yourself. The entire higher plane has seen what you have done."
Noah revealed a smirk before the space-time array replaced the world in his vision. It was time to leave and face the long-awaited breakthrough.
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Author's notes: It's clear that I'll never have enough time to cover Sunday's release, so I'll just take the day off.. You will still get 2 more chapters since I have yet to deal with Saturday's release.