Noah had released two black lines as soon as he saw the blue arrows forcing Elder Julia to perform an evasive maneuver. His attack stopped the solid stage cultivator's offensive and forced him to use his metallic birds to defend himself.
The black lines couldn't pierce the cultivator's spell, but Noah detonated them once they were close enough to inflict some damage. The corrosive smoke that they contained enveloped Elder Julia's opponent in a threatening cloud.
A series of wind slashes soon pierced the cloud and ravaged its insides. Elder Julia had immediately understood what was happening, and she didn't hesitate to launch an attack once the arrows had flown past her.
The black smoke affected the power of the slashes, but they still managed to reach its center, where the expert of the Empire was using his defensive methods to fend off the corrosive gas. It was needless to say that the arrival of the new threat forced him to reveal more of his power.
Noah felt a dangerous sensation surging from the back of his mind and warning him that something was coming. He couldn't pinpoint the cause due to the many threats on the battlefield, but he retreated anyway.
Messing with cultivators in the last stage of the fifth rank wasn't a matter that he could take lightly. He was a hybrid in the upper tier, and his abilities were already above those that cultivators on his same level were capable of casting.
Nevertheless, he knew that one serious attack from someone in the solid stage could hurt him badly, and he preferred to avoid that outcome.
The cause of the dangerous sensation turned out to be both the districts near the floating structure and the cultivator inside the black cloud. Two blue arrows shot in his direction, and a series of metallic feathers came out of the remains of the black smoke to reach for him.
Noah promptly activated the Merging spell to escape from the trajectory of the spells. He didn't need to use that ability, but he wanted to put as much distance as he could between him and the feathers to counterattack.
He was already far away when the arrows crossed his previous position, but the feathers were still after him. Noah could only turn at that point and use the saber-shaped runes around him to face the incoming spell.
A loud clash happened. Metallic feathers and black sabers met mid-air and destroyed themselves. Noah's runes had reached the power of the solid stage by that time, and the soldier's spell wasn't as sturdy as the birds. Both attacks failed to cross the opponent's barrage.
The cloud of black smoke had dispersed when the feathers shot toward Noah. The expert of the Empire reappeared in the open, showing how both Noah and Elder Julia didn't manage to inflict much damage.
There were metal feathers all over his body, and the same birds from before circled him at high speed to create a protected area with the soft shockwaves that they released.
A few trails of blood seeped through the feathers and flowed alongside his body until they fell below. The cultivator of the Empire had suffered some light wounds, but it was unclear who caused those injuries.
Still, his expression showed his immense anger and irritation.
"Iron Feathers is an expert with earth aptitude," Elder Julia's voice resounded inside Noah's head at that moment. "Be careful, Prince. His attacks might appear straightforward, but he has a large variety of them."
Elder Julia continued to convey what she had learnt about Iron Feathers during their battle. The truth was that she didn't want Noah to join her fight, but the blue arrows were giving her a hard time.
She needed help, and Noah could hurt her opponent. Also, he was the only one in the Hive who could help her without risking his life.
After all, Noah had been a lone cultivator and had survived dangerous missions. His survival instincts were some of the best among the heroic assets of the entire world. There weren't many cultivators that had experienced so many adventures and benefited from all of them.
"Arrows," Noah replied and activated the Merging spell again to sprint downward. Elder Julia understood the meaning behind his word and performed an evasive maneuver too.
Less than an instant later, four blue arrows crossed their previous positions and disappeared in the distance.
Elder Julia couldn't hide her surprise. She was a whole stage above Noah, and her mental sphere was almost on par with her cultivation level. According to common sense, she had to sense the arrows before him.
Yet, Noah had perceived the incoming danger even before it left the districts. Elder Julia couldn't do that. It was as if Noah had predicted that the Empire would aim for the two of them.
"Can you predict the future now?" Elder Julia asked as she launched another series of wind slash. From her tone, Noah could sense that she wanted a serious answer.
"Beast instincts," Noah calmly replied before slashing multiple times with his weapons. Both attacks slowed down once they neared the metallic birds tracing circles around Iron Feathers. However, they didn't manage to stop them completely.
The wind slashes clashed with the birds and feathers, but they didn't do much. Iron Feathers' defenses were too strict to suffer from an attack that he had already seen before. The same happened for the black lines, and Noah had to make them detonate, hoping that they could affect him.
Another black cloud appeared in the cultivator's spot, but the smoke dispersed quickly since Iron Feathers controlled his defenses to expand their aura of influence.
Noah could finally see Iron Feathers' state now. The expert of the Empire had a few cuts on his shoulders, and various spots on his body lacked skin. It seemed that the corrosive smoke had managed to seep through his defenses at some point.
Still, those small wounds meant nothing, especially for a cultivator in the solid stage. His anger came from the fact that someone on a lower level was interfering with his plans.
Noah's status didn't mean anything in his eyes now. Iron Feathers could only see a cultivator that didn't respect his power.
Iron Feathers couldn't let that happen any longer. Massive four-winged birds appeared out of nowhere and joined the other smaller ones in their flight around him. They even tried to imitate the cries of beasts similar to them. However, they only managed to produce clinking sounds as their beaks opened and closed.
The aura that he radiated was violent and filled with his feelings. Noah could understand the mindset of his opponent, with one look at how his influence was affecting the entirety of the area.
"We can take it slowly," Elder Julia's voice resounded in Noah's mind. "There has to be a limit to his reserves, and we are two against one."
Noah wanted to agree with her words, but he had an idea about taking someone's dantian even with the Second Life formation.