<h4>Chapter 1860 - 1860. Close</h4>


    "Is it over?" Noah asked when he saw hispanions inspecting him.


    "The storms are retreating," Alexander announced while pointing at the waves of chaoticws converging toward the massive crack and restoring the fabric of space.??


    "Did you talk with Heaven and Earth?" King Elbas asked as his eyes sharpened.


    It wasn’t a secret that Noah’s mental energy could devour wills, and thetest nature of the dark world had shown those features to everyone anyway. The only reason behind hisstugh was a mental conversation that King Elbas quickly connected to Heaven and Earth.


    "They didn’t say much," Noah summarized. "It was mostly me insulting them."


    "Did you find anything interesting?" King Elbas continued with his questions.


    "No," Noah replied before correcting himself. "Maybe."


    The five experts nced at theirpanions near the Kesier apes. They were still in the middle of the negotiations, but the magical beasts appeared slightly gentler after the defeat of the crackling giant. They paid attention to the trio now.


    "Heaven and Earth might be scared," Noah revealed after confirming that they had time to talk.


    "Even Divine Demon would be scared in front of the breakthrough to the tenth rank," Alexandermented.


    "Fear is part of the path," Sword Saint added. "Gods aren’t immune to that feeling. Actually, it’s more intense for them, for us."


    "Imagine working your entire life to reach the peak of your ne and conquer it," Noah exined. "Now imagine losing against the natural repercussions of your actions and changing yourw just to counter the counters."


    His fourpanions could quickly understand where the speech was going. Noah’s insights felt actually scary to consider, but they stood on a decent foundation at that time. Even King Elbas couldn’tpletely contradict them.


    "What if they lost their path in their desperate attempt to defeat the magical beasts?" Noah asked.


    "What if their next attempt to reach the tenth rank fails?" King Elbas wondered.


    "What if defeating the magical beasts only turns them into the world without providing additional power?" Alexander joined that reasoning.


    "They have already destroyed the higher ne," Sword Saint added. "Does someone know how long do we have?"


    "Don’t look at me," King Elbas sighed while ncing at Divine Demon. "This is stuff for the miraculous brute."


    "My existence feels too unstable now," Divine Demon admitted while looking at the hand that had created the rings. "Trying to inspect Heaven and Earth now feels too dangerous."


    A wave of surprise spread inside the experts around Divine Demon. Only Noah managed to remain calm in front of his friend’s seriousness. It was highly unusual for the expert to answer properly and without his forgetfulness.


    "We have to hurry up and step into the ninth rank," Noah said before other questions could arrive toward the expert. "We can’t keep fighting like this anymore."


    "I’m close," Alexander revealed. "Completing the ethereal center of power isn’t an issue. I just don’t know how to fill it."


    "I’ll get there smoothly," Sword Saint announced. "Though, I think I need to cut something important first."


    Divine Demon had already stated his position, so the three experts turned toward King Elbas and Noah. Still, the two could only showplicated expressions at that gaze.


    "We have a few issues," King Elbas tried to exin shortly.


    "More than a few," Noah sighed, "But I don’t see us failing to reach the ninth rank. The only issue appears to be our time."


    The moment when Heaven and Earth defeated the magical beasts and tookplete control of the world would mark the game over. It didn’t matter if the rulers seeded in the breakthrough to the tenth rank at that point. Everything and everyone inside the sky would die.


    Heaven and Earth would simply remove every unwanted existence if they seeded in reaching the tenth rank. On the other hand, the white sky would probably crumble if the rulers failed in the breakthrough again, and nothing would be able to survive the event. Noah and others might use special abilities to avoid the catastrophe, but they would still find themselves in the void after that, which could only lead to death.


    "Our priority must be to keep as many enemies of Heaven and Earth as possible alive," Noah concluded after his reasoning. "That will slow down their progress and give us more time."


    "What if that’s not enough?" Alexander asked.


    "We make catastrophes happen to make the rulers waste energy," Noah snorted. "Then, we’ll find something else that can slow them down. I don’t care if I have to sacrifice everything I have to gain a few seconds. I’ll fight as long as I’m alive."


    "Of course," King Elbasughed. "What other choice do we have?"


    "Mess after mess just to make the rulers waste energy," Sword Saint smirked. "I like the idea."


    "We have to destroy the sky anyway at some point," Noah shrugged his shoulders. "The issue is in being able to live inside the void. We can’t do much even after the knowledge .u.mted during our previous mission. That ce is simply too vast for our methods to work."


    "And they even have a guarding dog," King Elbasughed. "I must say, those techniques are interesting. We should find a way to seize the monster."


    "I thought about that too," Noah revealed. "I nned to unleash the monster inside the sky and let it go all-out, but it’s hard to make it change target when I don’t know how they choose their opponents. I get that it envies those who oppose Heaven and Earth, so there has to be a way to exploit its power."


    "It might fear the sky," King Elbas suggested.


    "We only need to make it fear us more then," Noah suggested.


    "We need the ninth rank for that," King Elbasined.


    "Wasn’t that the n since the beginning?" Noah smirked.


    "It’s not even a proper n," King Elbas scoffed. "It’s just doing our best against existences stronger than us."


    "Isn’t that what we did throughout our lives?" Noah sneered, and the three experts couldn’t help but show a smile at that question.


    "I think they are done," King Elbas suddenly announced when he looked toward the bottom of the region.


    Everyone turned at that point and noticed how the Kesier apes had dropped the defenses around them. Space had even appeared above the uncovered piece of the intermediate dimension. It seemed that the creatures had decided to give the experts a chance after fixing their problems.


    Noah and the others exchanged a gaze before descending toward the surface. The magical beasts felt timid in front of existences that had managed to destroy a rank 9 punishment even if their actual power remained in the eighth rank. Their worry was justified, and the group didn’t dare to put pressure on them for that exact reason.


    "How did it go?" Noah asked in a calm voice when the two groups reunited.


    "They agreed to bring us inside the city," Robert exined. "We only have to wait for their superiors. Apparently, something big is happening, but they won’t tell us more."


    "Let’s wait then," Noah announced while performing a polite bow toward the three lower tier creatures.


    ****


    Author’s notes: I’m still awake writing. You can expect the next chapters in the following hours.