UNLIMITED SPEED

"You can't be serious Julio!" Nora yelled as she strode forward to catch up to a furious and shaky Julio.

They walked down a well-lit tunnel that had a private well-reinforced training area. The other eight experts including Noah followed closely behind them.

"He's the one who desired a spar, not me. Talk to him. As for me, I'm down to put a cocky bastard in his place," Julio's words were harsh. He intentionally tried to hurt Noah.

Unfortunately, the target of his words felt nothing but willingness to get over that event and be on his way to the floating city.

Nora frowned but said nothing in the meantime. He was right after all. Instead, she turned to gaze at Noah who shrugged with his blank expression still present. She had no idea what was going on in his head.

In honesty, even she wanted to see that mans power on display. She would have challenged him as soon as they met, but their situation forced her mature side out. She was the leader of that group after all.

"We can talk about this, Julio," She persuaded further, but the man wouldn't budge, Not when Noah himself said nothing about the whole matter.

"You're the one who usually does these kinds of things. Being playful and unserious. Now that we need you to do it in such an important situation, you back out," Julio's words were sharp and hit Nora.

Her expression went dark as the softness of her features was replaced by indifference. It remained stunning how experts at that level could switch between moods quickly.

"Get on with it then. I'll watch," She slowed down until Noah cut up with her.

"Don't injure him too much. We still need him for the battle to come." She was pleased with the powerful entity before her. Her senses were sharp enough to notice the bottled danger.

Noah nodded after hearing her voice in his head.

She nodded at that point and slowed down until she stood behind the group. The others were silent and simply watched the events play. Things had escalated very quickly after all.

A wide sanded area under the sky unfolded in their gazes at some point. A visible green dome-shaped barrier existed above it and it radiated a sturdiness capable of withstanding power at the peak of the middle stage.

Julio being the first to reach it walked to the other side while the others walked into the transparent booth meant for spectating. Chairs filled its insides.

Noah walked forward until he was about 100m from the expert. The place was prominent--about 500m in radius.

"You have the chance to back out here, young ma--" Julio's words were cut short when Noah raised his hand to stop him.

"Let's get this over with, the elves might still arrive this night," Mentioned Noah, in a tone that spoke of his lack of care for anything the expert wanted to say.

Needless to say, his words caused even greater anger to rise in the man.

'The angrier they are the easier they fall,' Noah muttered, activating the eye of the Death lord skill for a second.

The world lost its luster; instantly turning gray, as black runes appeared on the silver color of his eyes.

A dark miasma suddenly appeared to flow out of Julio at that point as the world had stopped moving to his perception.

'Twenty-nine percent,' Noah noted inwardly. 'He's even weaker than Kir.' He shook his head deactivating the skill and watching the vibrant colors of the night and the light around him returning.

It felt weird that even the night sky, although starry and black, could turn gray.

Noah knew he could move forward without any worry at that point.

Julio called upon his power. Being of the wind affinity he and Noah shared some sort of similarity, but he knew not of the other affinities his opponent had.

The wind grew violent as a tornado sprung into existence, before turning so violent that it became a gale.

The sand of the training area was immediately unsettled. Noah watched and felt everything around him fall under the power of that event. He remained in place.

Not even his hair moved!

That scene baffled the spectators and even Julio himself. But he was only starting.

The tornado moved to create a dense cloud of rapidly spinning sand particles.

Noah stood unmoved before the terrible might of that magical manifestation. He resembled a man before a legitimate storm. And the reality wasn't far from it.

Huge arms emerged from the tornado as they flew toward him with horrendous speed and power. One of those arms would be able to put a newly advanced middle-stage cultivator in trouble.

Noah knew this and moved. Or rather his hand did.

Raising his arm calmly, shock filled the faces of all experts as silver sparks gathered on that limb.

An ear-shattering bang unfolded in the world at that point as blinding silver light flooded the view of the watching expert. Even their powerful eyes struggled to pierce that light.

The discharge made contact with the tornado and chaos reigned supreme.

The sheer heat Noah's bolt radiated made the ambient temperature to spike. The scent associated with rain filled that area as the sparks cleared to reveal the results of that clash.

Noah had only been capable of obliterating the tornado. Julio himself remained in one piece, even if his expression looked stony from bewilderment.

The expert swept his gaze on Noah's figure and the chill of fear swept his insides. Noah pointed his arm toward him and he panicked.

His aura exploded as he went all-out. The fear of death gripped him and clouded his judgment. Or at least that was what the others thought. In truth, Noah put just enough to render the man close to death.

Another bolt shot forward with an ear-rending roar of might, but its path was met with tens of proper defenses in the middle stage.

It managed to destroy 80% of those defenses before running out of power, but that was more than enough for Noah to make a real move.

Hidden within the sphere of gales, Julio felt his survival instincts roar with deafening intensity. How could he bypass that defense? He wondered, disbelief filling his mind.

But that was exactly what happened.

A portion of his defense cracked and then vanished, as silver light filled his vision. Julio's world twisted and spun while pain filled his mind.

Noah delivered a punch onto the expert's stomach, sending him traveling faster than the sound of sound.