Thomas had his back hunched as he stared at the threatening saber-shaped runes from the center of his storm.
The slight contact with Noah's fist had been enough to break his spine, which he managed to keep together only through his "Breath". Also, he had a rank 5 body, meaning that he couldn't die so quickly.
However, the Ghostly sabers spell had also damaged his internal organs.
He needed to fix his back before he could start healing, but his opponent kept on standing even if he had hit him with two of his most potent attacks.
Of course, Noah was far from okay.
Thomas' attacks weren't sharp like his, so they found it hard to pierce his skin. Yet, their might had managed to tear his muscles apart and even fracture many of his bones.
The resilience of Noah's body though was on a completely different level.
He was a rank 5 hybrid in the lower tier! It would take far more damage to make his body collapse or affect his actions. After all, Thomas wasn't a complete rank 5 cultivator yet, and that greatly influenced the battle prowess that he could express.
Noah suffered from the same issue, but his rank 5 mind gave him access to spells with that power.
His reserves of "Breath" obviously depleted at a faster pace, but he had purposely focused on the skills that mainly relied on his mental energy before the battle. Also, he expressed part of his individuality with each of those abilities while Thomas did that only with his last raging storm.
Thomas noticed how the power of the saber-shaped runes kept on rising even after they reached the fifth rank.
There didn't seem to be a limit to how much they could absorb, and Thomas knew that they were already deadly in that state.
That discovery made him anxious to end the battle before they reached a power that he couldn't hope to match.
Thomas struggled to redirect the storm toward the hooded figure, but Noah promptly answered to that gesture by launching the Ghostly sabers.
The ethereal sabers fell apart as they made their way through the raging winds, but some of them managed to reach for its center and stab Thomas. At the same time, the winds swept Noah, who felt an incredible pressure threatening to shatter his body.
The ground under Noah's feet crumbled as the storm raged in that spot, and he felt the pressure pushing him on the ground.
Yet, Noah endured the pressure and redirected his gaze toward his grandfather.
Thomas coughed blood as the Ghostly sabers seeped in his body and tore apart his internal organs. Still, the wind that originated from his low waist managed to prevent any deadly injury. However, he suddenly sensed a dangerous sensation coming from the intense stare of his opponent.
Thomas saw a dense, half-transparent saber shooting toward his head at high speed, but there was nothing that he could do to avoid it in that state.
The storm could only deplete part of its power.
The saber landed on Thomas' mental sphere, which began to tremble to no end as the destructive properties of Noah's spell spread through its walls. The raging storm had managed to make the Mental saber unable to pierce Thomas' sea of consciousness, but there was nothing that it could do about the properties of Noah's individuality.
Thomas' concentration wavered, and the tornadoes originating from his low-waist became wild once again. Noah felt some of the pressure on him being lifted when his grandfather lost focus, and he didn't hesitate to unleash his runes at that point.
Controlling the saber-shaped runes now that they had reached a power in the fifth rank consumed a lot of his mental energy, but that consumption was completely sustainable for his level.
The tide of black sabers shot through the violent storm and reached for the man in its center.
The violence of the storm wasn't affected by the momentary unfocused state of his grandfather. Its power was connected with Thomas' individuality, and it wasn't something that could be stopped once it was released.
Noah felt the thickness of the winds as he used his complete focus to push the saber-shaped runes deeper into the storm. Their trajectory was a bit off when they reached Thomas, but they still managed to stab him in many spots.
The runes severed his right arm, stabbed his left shoulder, pierced his legs, and created holes in his torso.
More basic energy formed on the battlefield as the mighty black sabers radiated Noah's individuality, and they kept on absorbing it to fuel themselves.
Even the storm began to fall apart as Noah's individuality destroyed the matter that made it. Large empty tunnels formed wherever the saber-shaped runes moved, and the destructive force lingering in those spaces spread through the storm, affecting its composition.
Thomas became aware of his surroundings only when the runes had turned and were ready to deliver a second attack. The tide of sharp, black weapons filled his field of view, and something inside him told him that he wasn't going to win that battle.
His body was a mess, and his mental energy was almost completely depleted. Also, none of the families around his was coming to help him.
His gaze moved away from the runes and went on the ground at that point.
His mansion was wrecked, and every building had crumbled as the battle between him and Noah shook the area. Only the inscribed defensive walls were still standing, but long and deep cracks had filled their surface too.
Thomas couldn't sense any trace of life coming from the debris, and he suddenly felt just as the defensive walls.
They were a ruined structure that protected wreckages just as he was a broken man that protected a family that no longer existed.
All his efforts had been reduced to dust in one battle.
"No, my family won't disappear." Thomas murmured when the first rune stabbed his shoulder.
Noah heard those words, but he didn't stop his offensive and continued to control the black sabers even as his grandfather continued to speak. "One Balvan will remain in this world. He might change his name, his face, and even his blood, but he will always be Noah Balvan."
More sabers reached for Thomas and pierced his body, but he didn't care and shouted. "His glory shall be my glory because his name is my name. I declare him Patriarch of the Balvan family with my last breath. May he learn to own his name as he strives for the sky."
Thomas couldn't say anything else since the tide of runes destroyed his upper body after those last words.