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"Whoosh—!"
The scorching flames still burned throughout the sanctuary's grand hall, but the heat was no longer as terrifying as before.
Within the sea of fire, Rubia Elstein crashed heavily onto the ground. Her crimson eyes seemed to lose focus, dimming until they held no light.
"Clang..."
The blinding radiance on the Demon Slayer and Savior's Blade began to fade bit by bit as well.
Noah gripped the two Spirit Armaments tightly, staring at Rubia lying on the ground as his breathing grew ragged once more.
Pain surged through every part of his body again.
The hand holding the holy sword and divine blade began to tremble as well.
Feeling every muscle in his body convulse, Noah could not help but let out a bitter laugh.
"Using the final form and then the broken form... this outcome was only natural."
As the final form of an Absolute Sword Technique, Heavenly Absolute Flash Thrust had already inflicted some backlash on Noah's body when he used it.
And the broken form, Crimson Spiral Sword Dance, was the most powerful move among the Absolute Sword Techniques. Naturally, the backlash it required him to endure was enormous as well.
At the very least, the backlash Noah was suffering now was far greater than what Ren had endured when she used Crimson Spiral Sword Dance.
For one thing, when Ren used Crimson Spiral Sword Dance, her combo count had only reached thirty-six. Noah, however, had used a forty-eight-hit Crimson Spiral Sword Dance. Its power was greater, and so was the backlash he had to bear.
For another, as had been said before, the broken-form Crimson Spiral Sword Dance was