Noah couldn't fix the issue concerning his empty dantian any time soon. It had taken him eight years of experiments to create a cultivation technique that made use of his greed, but the path in front of him was bound to be far more complex.
He couldn't just reproduce his previous technique and add a stronger suction power. He needed something that reflected his individuality as a whole, and, to do that, he had to use his Demonic Sword.
The process though could take years and an insane amount of precious resources. It wasn't a problem to obtain both, especially for Noah, but he had to take care of the threat of the natives.
Noah was sure that he wouldn't be able to stop a second transformation. So, he had to join the war, even in his inconvenient state. There were aspects of his life that he had to protect personally, and there was nothing more personal than his individuality.
However, his weakness remained and limited his power. He could express a battle prowess fitting of a rank 5 cultivator, but he would be among the weaker entities in that rank.
Of course, he wouldn't be at its bottom either. After all, he was already nearing that level when he was a rank 4 cultivator.
Most of his spells were off the table because they required too much "Breath". That was an inevitable weakness of the darkness element. Their higher requirements in terms of energy made their more potent effects fair.
There was his saber-shaped rune available, but Noah didn't want to use it because there were too many eyes on him on the battlefield. He didn't want to expose his involvement in the attack at the Balvan mansion.
He could use a weaker version of his martial art by controlling the "Breath" in the environment though. His Demonic Sword would even improve its power and add its effects.
Yet, he also had his body.
Noah let go of his sword and shot toward the Three-headed Wolf. The Demonic Sword returned to its original form and followed Noah in its charge.
The Elders above him had already chosen their targets, smartly using their higher numbers to take care of the strongest hybrids. However, Noah knew that he would be more effective if he took care of the weakest ones among them.
The Three-headed Wolf was a rank 5 hybrid in the middle tier with a rank 5 mental sphere. However, its dantian was only in the human ranks, which meant that it was nothing more than a Flawed human with an improved body.
Noah slammed on it, throwing a punch to its central head before following it with a sharp movement of his other hand. His fingers arched as if they were claws and dug five deep wounds on its upper body.
Nevertheless, Noah was surprised to discover that the Wolf managed to endure those attacks without being flung back.
It had never happened to him that a creature on his same level could match his physical strength. After all, he had fused with a dragon, the most potent species among the magical beasts. Yet, the transformation had produced similar results, bringing the natives to a level of physical might that surpassed the realm of the simple beasts.
In that fraction of an instant in which Noah realized that the Wolf could endure his hits, he felt happy.
It was strange. Noah and the Wolf were both hybrids, but they had chosen opposite paths.
The Wolf had taken the path of the beasts, giving up its individuality to become the perfect enemy of Heaven and Earth, a being in tune with the laws and capable of building "Breath" from primary energy instinctively.
Instead, Noah had taken the path of the humans, choosing to make his individuality flourish to escape Heaven and Earth's system.
They had countless features in common, but there were also a few crucial differences that made them completely different, and Noah wanted to prove that he was better.
The Wolf seemed to regain some clarity after his blows, and the "Breath" around it started to gather to create a large eagle. Yet, "Breath" moved in Noah's direction too and collected on his palm where the tattoo of a whale had suddenly appeared.
A vortex formed at the center of his palm and affected the fiery eagle that began to lose its flames. They became primary energy when they came in contact with Noah's aura, and his body absorbed it as if it was coordinating with the Blood Companion's ability.
The Wolf felt restrained too under that suction force and wanted to shoot into the air to escape that attack, but a sharp pain suddenly spread from its left head. The Demonic Sword didn't stay still during that exchange and exploited that distraction to attack.
Of course, the sword couldn't pierce the head too deeply, but it managed to inflict an injury, which left Noah satisfied with its sharpness.
The Wolf roared in anger before speaking human words in the natives' language. "This is the body given by the ancestors!"
Noah didn't have time to mind its fanatism and spread his mouth to release a wave of white flames that engulfed the entirety of the Wolf and continued behind it.
The Three-headed Wolf was strong, and it could endure Noah's physical attacks, but it cried in pain when his flames burned its hair and burned its skin.
Noah pressed on, expressing his full mastery as a hunter. It didn't matter that the Wolf had a sea of consciousness. Its body had the shape of a magical beast, so its same weak spots.
Noah kicked its huge ankles, punched the bottom of its necks, ordered the sword to deepen the cut on its left head, and launched white flames whenever it tried to retreat.
The Wolf felt cornered even in that vast battlefield and summoned all its concentration to fly away. Yet, Noah used the ability of the Lazy Whale to hinder his movements until he managed to kick it back on the ground.
The difference in their battle prowess was immense, but most of that came from the native's inexperience with its new body. If it gave up on its instincts, it would not use spells. If it tried to fight as a cultivator, it would lose part of its coordination.
It would have been a worthy opponent if it could mix both worlds into a single battle style, but Noah soon lost interest in an enemy that he could predict so easily. Its endurance though wasn't something that it had to control, so the battle continued for a while.
The Demonic Sword eventually managed to pierce the hard skull of its left head, and Noah used that moment of pain to stab his finger through the right eye socket of the central head. As he dug through its brain, he released a wave of flames on the remaining head.
It took some more beating, but, in the end, the Wolf collapsed on the ground, without any trace of life left inside it.