As Sophia looked at the old man with fear, she soon realized something wrong.
"Why don't you just kill me now, the difference of a single stage of the Noble realm is great after all?" she said, making the old man pause.
Without a word, she took out her Noble Tower, three of them, a sign of her being a 3rd Stage Noble expert. The old man growled before taking out his own Noble Tower, but a look at it showed signs of damage.
"Just as I expected, you were badly hurt before, to the point your Noble Tower was almost destroyed. That is why you don't take it out," Sophia said.
However, a 6th Stage Noble expert is still a 6th Stage Noble expert and possesses the strength and experience of one, even if he was badly injured. That said, now she knew she stood a little chance against the enemy.
"I might be injured but I am going to show you how powerful a 6th Stage Noble expert is!" the old man roared before swinging his arm, causing an arc of destruction to appear in a range 100 of kilometers.
Ryker gulped, he had retreated with Tashirn but still could feel the might of the attack. "Luckily we get out on time," he said to the tiger beast, eying the enemy they are facing.
Sophia summoned Noble Tower and began to clash with the old man. But even as the old man's Noble Tower was in ruin, it still outnumbered Sophia's by two to one, allowing the old man to push back.
However, using his Noble Tower seemed to hurt the old man, as he was coughing profusely, blood even leaking out of his mouth.
"Looks like you cannot use your Noble Tower for a long time," Sophia said with glee. After all, this makes her opponent easier to handle.
"Don't forget, I still have my domain!" the old man roared as a veritable cloud of death came from his very being. Even from a distance, Ryker could see skeletons, ghosts, and all manners of undeath horrors crawling out of the sea of death.
Growling, Sophia followed the old man, summoning her domain. Hers was of metal, with blocks of gold, silver, and different metals inside her domain, though thankfully it did not reflect the light or he would be blinded by the shininess.
"Metal domain?" the old man said with a tinge of worry, after all, death could not affect metal that much. "Let's see how it can handle this old man's death cloud,"
The two domains clashed, pushing one another. Inside their domain, both Sophia and the old man also battle it out, using the artifact in their possession to handle their respective foe.
As the two clash, the old man realizes something wrong. "Wait? Is that?!" for some reason he screamed before retreating, pulling back his domain before diving into the ground.
Sophia's eyes widened before she tried to follow after him, but failed to find him. "Sophia!" she heard Ryker call after her but she did not have time for it.
"What?!" she might be harsher than she wanted to but thankfully, Ryker seemed to not mind.
"That old man is over there," he pointed at a spot under a large tree, his voice filled with certainties.
Sophia was not sure if he was lying but decided to target the place, her domain of metal descending towards it. Not even 5 seconds passed before a yell echoed from the old man, before he ran away from the spot, rubbing a wound on his arm.
"It seems I managed to hit him a little," Sophia exclaimed, still surprised that Ryker managed to detect him.
Growling, the old man hid in the shadow once more, with Ryker closing his eyes before opening it, "He's there," he pointed at another place.
Sophia used her domain there, and voila, the old man was there, this time cradling a broken arm.
"There is no way else for you to go!" Sophia taunted the old man, who growled. He then looked at Ryker with what he could tell, as regret, possibly over his inability to get the seed.
Then, he took out a talisman and poured his qi into it. Ryker's eyes widened but Sophia moved even faster, dashing towards the old man and unleashing a hail of metal at her foe.
However, it was not enough as the old man disappeared- before appearing back at the same spot, confusion on his face.
"Wha-" his bewildered question was cut off by Sophia's laughter, the woman even wiping her eyes of tears.
"This is something that has been planned. Ever wonder why no other Noble experts come and try to join the fight?" the old man's eyes widened like a saucer, his mouth gaping as he opened it but no words came out.
"There are Noble experts that sealed the space, preventing you from escaping. This plan had been conceived in the hope of finally catching you, Traitor Bulog," Bulog seemed to come back to his senses before growling at the woman.
"So what?! As long as I hide and get close to the Noble expert who created the formation, I could come and kill even a single one and this spatial block will be gone!" Bulog exclaimed, shouting to Sophia.
"Maybe, but as long as you are here, with me, I will make sure you will not get close. If you use your Noble Tower you will hurt yourself, to the point you can't even use your talisman, so, better just surrender, Bulog," Sophia snarled before her domain was compressed and encompassed her body.
At that moment, her body seemed to transform, with her skin turning metallic, her bodysuit also did the same.
"Spirit Metal Body," Sophia said before flying towards the old man, her three Noble Towers floating behind her. The old man growled before he also summoned his domain and Noble Tower, though his Noble Tower seemed to become dimmer.
The two Noble experts began to clash, forcing both Tashirn and Ryker to put up distance between the two experts.
"So that is how Noble realm experts fight," Ryker said as he watched Sophia call out the power of her Noble Tower to empower, the Noble Tower sending metallic light to her, the limbs bathed in metallic light seemed to be even stronger as she punched the old man, who blocked with a giant skeletal hand, which are also empowered by the old man's Noble Tower.
As the fight goes on, Ryker realizes that Sophia is trying to prolong the battle, as the old man becomes more and more injured the longer he continues to fight, something the old man must have realized.