Everyone on the scene could see how bad Noah's situation was. Half of his face was a mess of charred skin and fuming patches. The left side of his torso was non-existent, and burns filled the rest of his body.
However, his figure radiated a surge of energy so intense that it was even affecting the air around him. The sky twisted wherever he passed, and small cracks appeared behind him as he rose while sitting on Snore's head.
Divine Demon's rank 5 drug was the cause of that strange phenomenon. It forced the regenerative properties of Noah's body to surpass their limits for a brief period. Still, he had to add many nutrients to make it work properly on his hybrid body.
Noah had emptied his stash of Daniel's pills and pieces of powerful magical beasts while he was under the debris. The immense energy they carried started to heal his body right away when coupled with the rank 5 drug and his innately high recovery speed.
New tissues would grow from his burns as Snore rose in the air to reach the two Demons. New skin appeared on the burned patches all around his body, and muscles formed on the missing part of his torso.
The process wasn't by no means immediate. Even all those nutrients couldn't fix Noah's body in time for his battle against Ravaging Demon. However, they helped in hastening Noah's recovery. By the time he arrived next to the Demons, there were already short bones stretching from his torso and left leg.
"You know," Flying Demon started to speak as he analyzed the massive snake coiling around the three of them. "I thought you were into dragons, not snakes."
"Can you fight?" Dreaming Demon asked, ignoring her lover, who kept his gaze on the Blood Companion enveloping them in a protective stance.
"I don't think I have a choice," Noah said with a voice mixed with growls. "Do you have the divine item?"
Dreaming Demon snorted and showed a bottle containing a pink liquid. The smelly fluid filled only three-quarters of the container, and the Demon revealed the reason for that with her next phrase. "How do you think we stopped him before?"
"Why does it have wings?" Flying Demon continued to ask about the Blood Companion, uncaring that Ravaging Demon showed a powerful flame only at a few hundred meters from them. "I like the horns. The claws are fine too. They add a nice aura to this creature."
Noah glanced at Flying Demon before turning to speak toward Dreaming Demon. "Is this an after-effect of the new individuality?"
"No," Dreaming Demon said as she heaved a helpless sigh. Yet, she couldn't stop a smile from appearing on her face when she looked at her lover. "He is just happy that he is on my stage now."
The trio conversed as if there wasn't a powerhouse threatening to unleash another sea of flames right next to them. Of course, they were buying as much time as they could so that Chasing Demon could come in their help. Still, Ravaging Demon was letting them act as they pleased since he had already done his math.
He had time to launch another attack. Chasing Demon was probably already on his way to those lands, but he wouldn't be able to stop the next flame even if he flew at full speed.
Ravaging Demon could take a few seconds to study the heir of his Master and see how he interacted with his old companions. Also, seeing that Noah was still able to talk so casually made him interested in Snore and his body.
According to his calculations, the first sea of flame would have left Noah in a nigh-dead state. Ravaging Demon had planned to burn most of his body and dantian with that attack and save only his mental sphere since it contained the Divine Deduction technique.
However, Noah had come out from the debris on his own, and half of his body was almost intact. Also, the various nutrients that he had used were healing him quickly. Ravaging Demon could even see his tissues growing with his bare eyes.
"You aren't bad at all," Ravaging Demon said while the trio kept bickering. Noah and the two Demons became silent when they heard those words and started to use mental messages to communicate.
They had always known that wasting time wouldn't work against such a canny existence, but it didn't hurt to try their chances. Still, now they had to prepare an actual battle tactic, and the fact that they were against a cultivator in the sixth rank didn't leave them many approaches available.
"Can we defeat him?" Noah asked through a mental message directed to both Demons.
"We can only try," Dreaming Demon answered using the same method. "I can weaken his connection with the spell with the divine item, but that will require all my concentration."
"I can hold back the flames for a breath of time," Flying Demon added. "The individuality of a god is incredible, but I can't do more due to my current power. You will have to exploit that chance on your own."
"Not on his own," A fourth cultivator joined their mental conversation at that point. Elder Julia conveyed that message as she neared Noah and the two Demons. She couldn't leave the three of them when their opponent was a powerhouse.
"I'm counting on that breath of time," A fifth voice joined the mental conversation. Elder Regina flew toward the group of the Hive too and prepared her most potent spell as she tried to ignore the Blood Companion.
Ravaging Demon had said that he wouldn't target the Council in that battle, but his words meant nothing to Elder Regina. Nothing would stop him from turning toward his old allies once he had seized Noah, so she had better chances of surviving if she worked together with the Hive.
The assets of the Elbas family didn't move and remained behind the protection of the ice giant. June was among them, and she used all her focus to suppress her worry for Noah.
She had understood a bit more about the secret pacts of her organization. She didn't know about Ravaging Demon's betrayal, but she had seen how Andrew Elbas had activated his defensive item before the flames even began to spread.
However, June was stuck in that situation with the other Royals. It was evident from their expressions that some didn't know about the arrival of the Demon either. Still, she couldn't act as she wished there. Andrew would prevent her from leaving even if she wanted to blow her cover.
"You can't defeat me no matter how many ants join you," Ravaging Demon said as he saw the cultivators coming in Noah's help.
"Just go for it then," Noah said with a metal message as he nodded toward Dreaming Demon. "I'll use something that might go through the flames."
As he said that, black clouds accumulated in the sky, and strands of corrosive smoke started to come out of his body. Then, sparks crackled on Snore's horns.