[Slayer has been unleashed]
[Your strength has increased by 10%]
[Mana control has heightened by 10%]
[Swordmanship has gained 10% increase in dexterity]
Noel's weapon was still raised up in the air when he shut his eyes.
This body is quite a disadvantage but I should be able to make up for it.
Noel's face was dead serious. And not even a muscle twitched, despite the turbulence. The blue mana currents rotated around his weapon at a faster speed, and a higher intensity.
The moment the eye was fully open, Noel screamed at the top of his lungs, squeezing the hilt of his sword with so much strength that his veins bulged frantically.
"Sword art: Slicing the heavens!"
And immediately, he pulled downwards.
Each nano-second of his motion created tiny invisible threads that danced around the edges of his sword. Then suddenly, they all caved in in one accord, sinking and stretching as he slashed.
They were folds in the air that were of the very fabrics of space. With his blade arcing downwards, a crescent—a gash, was engraved in space.
At the same time, the blue mana currents bursted forward, expanding as it tore its way towards the eye. It went out, carving its shape as a gigantic blue arc, quickly reaching the wide watery membrane of the god's form.
But instantly, eye lids drew over and it closed shut.
Boom! A sonic explosion erupted at once, releasing shockwaves that blew against the sandy plains. It parted them in a manner that formed mountains at each side.
The sky was now completely devoid of clouds. But Noel wasn't done yet.
"Warrior's leap!" He yelled, taking off at once.
Blue waves converged around his feet, and immediately, his entire body was off the ground.
Electric sparks blazed at the edges of his feet while he bolted to the sky. His large mass pushed against air resistance, easily baptising his body in flames. His frame—gigantic as it was, was definitely not something that should have been moving at that speed.
[Wielder is calling out to you]
Noel did not skip a beat. He immediately stretched out his left hand, causing the flames to converge in his palm. In a heartbeat, a fiery sword took form in his grasp.
Now wielding two swords, Noel crossed his arms together, causing the swords to form an 'X' shape in the air. With his feet standing far above the earth, he opened his eyes…..and slashed forward.
"Merciless blade."
A wide red circle, with a radius of at least a kilometer stretched out from his figure, washing over everything like a wave.
At first nothing happened. But a second later, chaos ensued.
Wind and fire ravaged both sides of the plains, racing like wild beasts in opposite directions. A criss-cross of wind and fire was engraved unto everything—land, air and even space.
In the once blue sky was now a large black hole. An abyss that threatened to swallow everything. It was a gash inflicted by Noel's blade that scorched everything around him.
He wasn't aiming for the eye from the beginning.
Noel stood in the air, with two platforms of converged mana swirling around his feet. He looked ahead, observing the destruction that he had caused.
Ever-rising dust clouded everything, forming large pillars that grew from the wreckage below. The gash that stretched from sky to land—easily overriding space, held a darkness that was terrifying to behold. And you couldn't see the end of it.
But Noel wasn't satisfied.
"I wasn't even holding back." He muttered. "And this is all my current self can achieve?"
"What are you doing?!" A voice interrupted him.
Noel sighed. "Didn't I tell you to keep shut, Gregory?"
"BUT HE'S RIGHT ABOVE YOU!"
"....!"
Noel tried looking up, but a sudden weight crashed unto him, forcing his mana platforms to instantly shatter. What seemed like invisible matter pushed against him and in the next second, he was free falling from several feet in the sky. It was foreign mana which had exploded right above him.
Noel released his swords, allowing them to dematerialise into pure mana. Mid-fall, he reacted quickly, raising his two hands, clasping them together, and pointing out his two index fingers. His back was facing the ground but he didn't worry about crushing his feeble spine. He had made calculations of his time in the air.
"Distort!" He screamed, realising that he was falling at an abnormal speed. The space around him blurred into a hazy mess, and when it became clearer, there were multitudes of himself, falling like mini-meteors.
That was to account for any extra attacks.
[Wielder is calling out to you]
The mana converging around his body expanded outwards at lightspeed, bathing the sandy hills with a tremendous force. Then suddenly, several structures began to rise out of the desert.
They were sand pillars—several of them. Noel drew mana currents to himself, softening his fall as he landed on one pillar. The other versions of himself did the same, landing on the pillars that were available to them.
[Distort has been deactivated]
The illusionary effect of his skill faded as he retrieved mana from the range, drawing it to himself for one…powerful counter-attack.
Noel raised his right hand, creating a sword. Or rather, he wanted to.
A weight even stronger than the last—an invisible force slammed into him, descending from the skies. The sandy pillars crumbled immediately, falling as it disintegrated to dust and sand. Noel could barely react this time. His body was sent hurtling to the ground.
Before he crashed however, Noel speedily deposited mana around his feet. While he was only inches away from the ground, an inclined plane rose from the sand, supporting his fall by acting as a shock absorber.
[Pocket dimension 'Time Is Your Enemy' is displaying its might]
So that's what up…
His fall did feel abnormally fast to him, not because of his weight, but because time had been accelerated against him, causing him to fall faster.
As soon as he connected the dots, he activated a different attribute.
[Truthfinder has been unleashed]
His irises took on a different colour as mana wrapped around his eyes.
In that moment, in his sight, the world changed.
Noel looked up, feeling an even stronger weight fall towards him, as if intending to crush him to a paste. However it wasn't an invisible force this time.
Noel saw one gigantic limb—a hand, starting from the fingertips and reaching about half a forearm. A palm so wide that he couldn't see the ends beared down towards him, totally prepared to flatten him as if he was a little bug.
But it was made of mana.
In the face of potential death, Noel laughed.
This was it! He remembered. This was the feeling! This was the excitement that always coursed through his veins each time he fought a god. The thrill of a battle where you could die at any time.
He had only just remembered.
"Just so you know!" He screamed, putting on the expression of a crazed maniac. "I don't miss twice in one battle!"
As the hand descended, intent on pulverising him, Noel raised his hand, negating all opposing forces with his mana.
Immediately, a sword took form in his hand. However it was an invisible sword, wielded purely out of the wind.
"I'm not done yet!" he yelled. More and more of the wind was drawn towards him, crafting the silhouette of a sword which had no ends. Every air around him was now his weapon.
"Sword art: Slicing the heavens!"
And with no hesitation, he slashed outwards, employing every fibre of energy in his body. His muscles bulged crazily as he dragged down the weapon, easily tearing through space.
And then, endless wind torrents met with a vast span of mana in a chaotic clash.
BOOOM!
Noel's figure was flung away by the shockwaves. Trying to reduce the force, he made several short landings, converging mana at whatever part of his body it was that met the ground. When he came to a halt, he was at least a mile away.
Noel glanced at the site of cataclysm. The enormous hand which stretched from the clouds was now completely split in half, separating it into two collapsing pillars of mana.
But there was more.
Above the hand, was a gigantic humanoid eye—now bloodshot. Just like the hand, it was wounded, having a gash that cut deep into its irises. The rest of its form could not be seen, as it was inhibited by the rising cloud of mana, and water vapour for some reason.
The eye was separated into two halves—but not entirely. There were several large strands of muscles that connected each half, preventing them from falling apart. And more was growing each second.
Regeneration? No! It's speeding up time to heal its wound faster.
"WHOO?" A powerful voice boomed as the eye stared right at him, seemingly annoyed by the fact that it was wounded by an ant. Its voice resonated from everything around him. The sand, the sky—everything that was. It was the god.
Watcher of Ages was speaking to him.
"WHO ARE YOU?" The voice caused the environment to quake, easily raising several sand storms. But Noel was unfazed.
So it doesn't know about me.
I shouldn't carelessly give information.
Noel smirked under his breath and responded. "I'm Gregory. Nice to meet you."
"BULLSHIT!"
Immediately, the eye took on a red colouration. The irises turned even darker than before, and the sclera turned crimson.
And it glowed with an ominous force.
[Watcher of Ages is unleashing a spell]
"TIDES OF TIME!" it bellowed.
An eerie breeze blew across the hills and plains, sweeping past everything in an instant. Shortly after, the sand hills began to crumble and the plains began to cave in.
But that wasn't even the attack. It was only a precursor to the catastrophe that would happen shortly after. However….
..the moment that spell was unleashed….Noel grinned.
"Finally."
Then allowing his swords to disintegrate into mana, he stretched out his left hand.
"Gregory, why don't you lend me that authority?"
Once silent at the depths of his mind, an hoarse voice immediately responded. "Sure."
[Gregory has temporarily lent you his contracted authority]
[Authority 'Fading Time' has been activated]
A golden spear took form in Noel's right hand. He was planning a two-stage attack.
"Let's end this. Shall we?"