Bertha tried to scream and curse Noah while the Shadow Swords spell suppressed her voice, but he didn't lower the restrictions until she became tired of that process.
"I will let you speak now," Noah said as he placed his hand on her forehead. "You must have understood by now that you can't escape from my spell. Don't try anything funny."
Some of the small dark blades flowing under her sky left her throat and reinforced the blockades on her centers of power. Bertha found herself able to speak again, and her first words were a threat sent to her warden.
"You will die of a horrible death once the Crystal City gets its hands on you," Bertha said as she gnashed her teeth in anger. "Your mind will suffer so many tortures that you will end up begging us to kill you."
"You wanted to kill me already," Noah replied as the Demonic Sword came out of his separate space. "This threat is pointless. You made me your enemy after our first meeting."
Dark matter flowed out of his black hole and covered Bertha's belly. The Demonic Sword then cut a piece of her flesh while the higher energy suppressed the energy that it contained.
Noah analyzed Bertha's tissues right in front of her eyes. He could see the immense energy they contained, and he couldn't help but feel interested in her individuality.
"Your body is really unique," Noah commented once he understood how her law worked. "Your organization believes in the superiority of the human race, but you try to imitate magical beasts with your techniques. It's a pity that you didn't manage to keep your dantian and body separated. This method only allows you to store energy, but it doesn't give you any real empowerment."
Bertha's eyes widened when she heard his words. She couldn't hide the nature of her true meaning in her condition, but she felt surprised that Noah had managed to grasp so many details about her law with one quick inspection.
She had initially believed that Noah was a valiant warrior with rich battle experience, but his last feat altered her idea about him. Noah wasn't only a brute. He was a true master in fields that she had yet to define.
"Accumulation," Noah announced. "A simple true meaning. Your body is the catalyst for your individuality, and it lets you stuff it with energy that you can release at will. The complexity of a law usually depends on its power, but you manage to reach similar results by accumulating more "Breath"."
That second explanation wasn't as surprising as the first for Bertha. After all, her law was right in front of his eyes. Discerning how she had reached that point had been the hard part.
"The Crystal City doesn't answer to threats," Bertha said when she saw that Noah remained silent. "Its members are true believers. It will be an honor to sacrifice my life to slow down one of its enemies."
"Death isn't the issue here," Noah replied. "I will definitely kill you. Nothing can change my mind about that. You only have to decide for how long you want to suffer."
"What do you mean?" Bertha replied.
She could understand what Noah meant, but she wanted to gain as many instants as possible. Bertha hoped that her companions would find her, and only time could make her chance of survival higher.
"I understand fanatics," Noah answered. "I know that your faith isn't something that you can trade. I need to make you desire death to obtain the answers that I want. Killing you will be the reward of this process."
Noah spoke heartless words, and Bertha could sense that he had experience dealing with his enemies in that way. Some fear built inside her when she felt the coldness carried by his voice, but her resolve remained firm.
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"Your friends won't come for you," Noah said at some point. "That giant Spider has remained with them for months. I can't imagine what it did with them."
"The Crystal City and the Twelve-legged Queen have an agreement," Bertha replied as pride filled her expression. "This is the power that you have chosen to oppose. We can influence entire regions of the Immortal Lands."
"Your boss must be a rank 8 cultivator then," Noah added. "A magical beast on that level would never deal with weaker beings, and it wouldn't be alive if your leader were stronger than that creature."
Bertha knew that she had revealed something with her words, but that didn't slip out of her accidentally. She had purposely told Noah how strong the Crystal City was in an attempt to scare him away.
However, Noah had dealt with existences stronger than him throughout his entire life. Those threats were nothing more than empty words in his ears. Bertha's line didn't even manage to break his calm.
"I need to know how far the influence of the Crystal City spreads," Noah began to list his questions. "I need to understand where I am and what I need to search for. I also want a complete overview of the forces nearby."
Noah's requests were simple and covered his most impelling doubts. He would ask about the divine inscribed items only after Bertha decided to give up.
"You are wasting your time," Bertha said as a cold smile appeared on her face.
"I know," Noah replied as the Demonic Sword cut another piece of her belly.
The Demonic Sword continued to cut Bertha's belly, but she didn't show any reaction at that event. She didn't seem to care about her body at all.
The blades of the Shadow Swords spell lowered part of the restrictions applied on her dantian. Her individuality began to affect the environment at that point, and energy accumulated on her belly to heal her injuries.
Noah then controlled his spell again to restore the restrictions on her dantian. The Demonic Sword also began to cut her belly, but it dug a bit deeper at that time.
Bertha understood what was happening once Noah stopped attacking her again to give her dantian the chance to heal her injuries. Noah was testing her resistance to pain to see how long it would take to shatter her resolve.
Noah cut her and let her dantian activate its healing properties. He repeated that process countless times, and he always severed a bit more of her body as he continued that torture.
Bertha's resolve was incredible, but her determination began to waver once she saw her body regrowing for the thousandth time in a row. There was still no sign of her allies, and Noah was relentless in his torture.
Worry mounted inside her, and something forced her to accept death as the only possible outcome. Bertha had started to respect Noah's relentlessness, which made her understand that he didn't bluff before.
Noah tortured Bertha until she began to spill a few pieces of information. A map slowly formed in his mind as he learnt about the layout of that part of the Immortal Lands.
The following topic of their conversations revolved around weapons and inscriptions. Noah had an intense interest in the tools that allowed those cultivators to ignore the pressure radiated by the white sky.
In the end, Noah killed Bertha. He seized her dantian and let the energy contained in her body flow inside his tissues. He had learnt enough. It was time to move again.