Noah looked at his lover radiating a pure battle intent and sighed. He only wanted to train and dive into one of his projects now, but he had underestimated how serious June was about fighting.
He could understand her feelings. She had fought a war without having the chance to reveal her real power, and holding back for so long made her reach her limit eventually. She had to vent and test what her higher energy was capable of.
"Come then," Noah said after a few seconds of silence.
He wasn't going to refuse her. After all, he had always been aware of June's character, and he didn't dislike it at all. Only someone with a drive as intense as his could accompany him through his life, and if June needed an opponent, he would provide him.
June's smile widened at his words, and she took out her typical golden spear. More sparks began to run through her body as she pointed her weapon at Noah, and an orange halo started to envelop her as her black higher energy gathered on the arm wielding it.
Noah couldn't help but admire the beauty of that scene.
June was breathtaking as she gathered her power to cast a spell. Her robe and hair fluttered due to the pressure released by her peculiar sparks, and her whole figure began to s.h.i.+ne with an orange light that spread in the environment.
Her sparks were black, but they shone with an orange color. The product of her friction had created something that carried features belonging even to Noah's darkness.
Of course, it didn't carry his individuality, nor the properties of his "Breath". Only its appearance was similar to his darkness since Noah had helped in making one of the materials needed for its creation.
Noah stretched his palm and held it still, waiting for the attack to arrive. He knew June too well not to understand the kind of spell that she was preparing.
June's battle intent increased even more when she saw that gesture. She felt challenged to express all her power, and that was what she intended to do. A black lightning bolt suddenly came out of her spear and shot toward Noah's palm.
An explosion resounded in the underground quarters, and the inscriptions on the azure walls of that area flickered as they fend off the shockwaves that reached them.
Noah found himself in the middle of a trail of gray smoke, but his attention was on his hand. The center of his palm felt slightly sore, but there wasn't any mark on it. June's spell didn't even manage to make him bleed.
However, his arm had shaken when the lightning bolt landed.
It wasn't anything extreme, just a slight tremor that had lasted for less than a fraction of instant. Still, the fact that a cultivator in the gaseous stage had managed to make his body flinch after he had reached the upper tier was incredible, almost unbelievable!
"How much can your centers of power handle?" Noah asked as he walked outside of the trail of smoke, but June had long lost interest in words.
Another lightning bolt flew in his direction, but Noah deflected it with a mere wave of his hand. His innate awareness though made him notice that the power of that same spell had increased by a little.
'I guess we'll find out,' Noah thought as he focused on June again.
She still had her spear raised, but some cracks had appeared on its body. Even an inscribed weapon in the fifth rank wasn't able to handle the higher energy that she released.
Truth to be told, June didn't need an inscribed weapon. She had abandoned the martial arts just like the rest of the heroic cultivators on her level.
Noah could rely on his physical strength to put his martial arts on the same level of the spells, but ordinary cultivators saw them only as a weaker type of offensive.
Yet, June liked to wield a weapon when she fought. She had a special relations.h.i.+p with spears because of her harsh childhood, so he had never pressed her into changing her battle style. Still, it was clear that her inscribed item wasn't able to keep up with her power anymore.
The Demonic Sword roared after that second lightning bolt. It felt confused when it saw the two of them fighting, but Noah quickly patted it on its hilt and spoke a few rea.s.suring words. "Don't worry. We are just playing."
The living weapon didn't fully understand what he meant by "playing", but its connection with Noah made it aware that they weren't trying to kill each other. It would have been too confused otherwise. After all, the sword had learnt to like June, especially since Noah's emotions influenced some of its thoughts.
June snorted when she heard that, and she started to rotate her spear to resort to a different attack. A series of dark crackling dark spheres formed in front of the rotating weapon and sparks spread from their edges to connect them into an intricate array.
A lightning storm took life at that point. Small lightning bolts shot from that array and flew toward Noah in a straight line.
June's lightning reflected her individuality. All her attacks were powerful and direct.
Noah kept on walking forward as he punched all the sparks coming at him. Flashes of a dark orange light shone in his vision every time his knuckles connected with one of the lightning bolts. Their power kept on increasing, but they were still unable to slow down his advance.
'I would have felt that if I was still in the middle tier,' Noah thought at some point. June's attacks had just reached a level of power that even hybrids in the middle tier would have trouble handling.
However, he wasn't worried about his safety. Rather, he wasn't sure if June's centers of power were able to handle all that might.
It was still okay as long as they didn't cross the limits of the gaseous stage, but she could hurt herself if she pushed her boundaries too much.
Nevertheless, Noah knew his lover. Asking her to stop or control herself was pointless. He would have to put an end to the fight with his own hands if the situation became too dangerous.
June released a series of sparks when Noah became too close, and she shot in the air, where she prepared a long-distance lunge.
All the sparks that had affected the environment gathered in her position. Then, June shot downward, leaving an orange trail as she dove toward Noah.
Noah saw cracks appearing on the tip of the golden spear as it reached for his head. There was so much energy inside its structure that even its st.u.r.diest part was on the verge of falling apart.
Yet, Noah didn't move. He waited for June to enter his range and delivered an uppercut aimed at her weapon.