Four months passed before Noah returned to the battlefield.

During that time, he had become used to his new power and carefully explored its limits.

As it turned out, he could store far more "Breath" than he had initially thought before his headache returned, his mind firmly opposed any internal pressure before Noah could force it to enlarge.

The third rank was the peak of the human ranks after all, Noah was basically one step away from becoming an inhuman entity.

His forging speed continued to rise in that period, Leo had seen how the magical beast's corpses in the inventory quickly transformed into weapons for the army.

Also, Noah trained his martial art in the meantime.

Nina was the perfect sparring partner, she was stronger than him in a fight without spells, Noah could accurately tell how effective his form was in a real battle thanks to that.

His dantian was nearing the limits of the liquid stage, the weapons had been forged, and his martial art had been implemented in his fighting style, he had no reason to delay his departure.

The Empire strictly guarded the borders of the Odrea country so he couldn't just leave, he had to resort to a scheme to continue in his journey.

That's why, after three months of absence, the Hooded devil reappeared in the valley at the borders of the formation.

The army of the Empire didn't have it easy during his absence, the soldiers of the Odrea country had used the weapons previously created by Noah to maintain their supremacy on the battlefield, the Empire was barely able to contain its losses.

The Instabilities and the Hidden blasts provided too much support to their fights, the Empire couldn't come up with any cheap countermeasure.

The Odrea country was, after all, a training ground, there was a limit to how much the Empire was willing to invest to skim its soldiers.

That's why blue cultivators continued to die in high number, they could only improve their defensive methods as they fought.

Yet, the sight of the blue figure with its face covered by a black hood gave them an ominous feeling, they could already predict that something would be different that time.

"Remember the plan, don't get near me when my part starts."

Noah gave the last warning to Logan before joining the ranks of the blue soldiers.

Even with his rank 3 sea of consciousness, he was still in the liquid stage of the second rank, he wasn't breaking any rule in wearing that color.

Logan sighed at that sight.

He knew all the specifics of the plan, Noah was ready to take a big risk to ensure his escape, his mind replayed the scenes of his capture as he stared at the hooded figure disappearing in the sea of blue robes.

'Not even love could stop him, there was no way to make it stay since the beginning.'

He was aware of his relationship with Nina.

He had initially been happy to learn that Noah was slowly integrating himself with the nation but he had misjudged his determination.

'He can only see the path to power.'

That realization was the last thought that he had about Noah before redirecting his attention to the red troops around him, they had a vital role in the incoming battle.

"Is everyone ready?"

He asked in a soft voice to the man next to him.

"Yes, fifty soldiers are armed with the new Instabilities and Hidden blasts, we had never carried this much firepower in a single battle."

Logan nodded at his reply.

"Good, let's give them a taste of our new strength."

The soldiers around him smiled at his words.

The years spent fighting had rooted the seeds of hate deep into their very essence, there was nothing that they enjoyed more than slaughtering the pawns of the Empire.

"I can't wait."

The soldier next to Logan gave voice to those words before joining the battle formation.

Then, the sun reached its highest point in the sky, signaling the beginning of the battle.

Spells and Instabilities were launched as soon as the two armies began to move.

The soldiers of the Empire were used by then at that sight, the red cultivators in their ranks used their strongest defensive spells to stop most of the power of that offensive, they were doing their best to limit the losses between the blue soldiers.

However, some of them still died.

It couldn't be helped, those two waves of attack were too much to handle with just their spells, only the help of the black cultivators could prevent those losses.

Yet, they were focused on the opponents with a power similar to theirs, they couldn't waste their energy to protect the weaklings in the army.

The armies then clashed, the vanguards of both sides merged together to form a messy line of battle were the cultivators in the liquid stage could obtain some fast kills, blood began to sprout in every direction.

Then, a scene that the soldiers of Empire had not seen in a while played itself right under their gazes.

Noah, the Hooded devil that had brought chaos in the valley many times, was forcing his way in the enemy army again!

His black sabers took the lives of many surprised soldiers, most of them had only heard stories about his weapons after all, they didn't manage to move away like their training ordered.

A straight line of corpses and maimed bodies was created, Noah didn't seem like he was going to stop any time soon.

Yet, even though most of the blue soldiers were new recruits, the red ones weren't.

They were generally more experienced than the blue ones and most of them had seen Noah's feats in the past, they reacted immediately at the sight of his actions.

Ten red robes left their ranks and ran toward the hooded figure that was unleashing precise attacks right in the middle of their army.

They soon reached him, encircling him and blocking his escape route.

They were set on killing that nuisance once for all!

'Just as planned.'

However, Noah had expected a similar situation and smiled under his hood seeing that his prediction was accurate.

He didn't wait for them to make the first move, his figure immediately began to emit black smoke that quickly transformed him into a horned fiend.