Soul of Searing Steel

As scarlet Flame and silver Steel appeared together in the center of the world, unparallel holiness and vigor were thus born. As the Light of Searing Soul flickered over the horizon, the war-torn Kronos Mountains regained new life.

Trees were revitalized, the rivers cleansed, the cold and oppressive winds slowly warming while the air that had been pungent with blood became flash. As the specks of radiance swept through like sparks, the toxic embedded deep within the world was swept away—as Joshua and Ancient Dragon worked together, the world that had been devastated centuries ago by calamity hence began to regenerate itself as if time was rewinding. Green sprouts now distinctly appeared over the vast Desert of God, the seeds that had been buried for years now awakened.

Such was the power of the Flame Seed, the Light of Order.

But what actually was that power?

At the center of the world and within the core of waves of concentric circles of ripples, Joshua lifted his right arm, while the Ancient Dragon lifted its head and let out a long cry, releasing silver lightning. The Authority from the Sage was at the warrior’s palm—the poison of Chaos was burnt into vigor to reshape the world, just as how the Multiverse itself had been created.

Why would reigniting the Flame repair the world?

Although Joshua never understood the principle of the Authority in his grasp until now, he could guess what kind of power the King of Searing Soul was after such a long time… unlike the Initial Flame of the Multiverse, though the Flame Seed was occasionally known the Initial Flame as well it was a different existence.

—If one were to describe the cycle of Steel as the cycle of substance and being, presented in the form of a complete ecosphere and natural circulatory system within a world, the cycle of Flame was the cycle of Order and Spirit, the reincarnation of all soul and will.

Flame ignites Chaos, allowing the light of being to illuminate the Void, so that the world was born. And during Creation, the crystallization of Steel gave birth to the Creator known as Primeval Beings. They possess many other names across the Multiverse, and the Mycroft people called them Ancient Dragons.

The Ancient Dragons created the earliest Seeds of Life, base microorganisms with consciousness but no intelligence, and souls so faint it was virtually not existent. It was through millions of years of death and propagation, evolution and mutation that those mini flames of souls gradually strengthen and produce the earliest Flame Seed… Ten thousand, hundred thousand or perhaps hundred million years would pass before the first intelligent being that could consider ‘who am I’ was born, thus awakening the World Will, in which the Flame Seed of the World would truly ignite.

The accumulation of countless souls could make the Flame burn. When the Light of Flame shown over the edge of the world, solidifying the World Barrier, the birth of a world of Order could be pronounced. All intelligent beings within worlds with Flame would never devolve, and the soul of every newborn would become stalwart with the reincarnation of souls beforehand.

The amalgamation of souls from the era of microorganisms to the era of intelligent beings was the Flame Seed in itself. It was the cycle of spirit and souls, the development of Will and Legacy, and its existence could allow a world to progress towards the peak.

But if the Flame was lost and the cycle was thus destroyed, the Flame Seed hence extinguished… The only fate for that world was the fall to the Abyss.

Demons were therefore races that had lost their Flame, and would incessantly deteriorate—it was only by plundering the Souls and Flame Seed of other worlds that the existence of their own race could be maintained. Still, having the Flame alone was not enough, as beings and natures born in Steel were the embodiment of Flame. Having one without the other is imperfection, and that was why powerful demons could steal the souls of other worlds could never create a complete circulatory system that granted those souls rest.

Only the power of Creation that the Ancient Dragon wielded could do that.

The world of Kronos was a world that had long been devastated—the World Will was non-existent, the Flame Seed doused while the natural system had also entirely crumbled. The Kronos Mountains alone was a singular, unnatural ecosphere maintained by the Ancient Dragon’s power, with all Drakonid and monster residing within all races deeply affected by the Ancient Dragon’s blood—to a certain extent, they were its minions, which was why they could live in this dying world. And now, Joshua, was joining forces with the Ancient Dragon, using the remains of Chaos to ignite the Flame Seed and reshape the world’s cycles. At the center of the Kronos Mountains, the two kept spreading the breath of life.

Rain fell distinctly in the desert, and on the edge of the world, the earth’s crust split beneath a mysterious power, ejecting substantial heat and sulfuric vapor. As the thick gloom clouds and lightning eventually appeared over the skies, the earth to begin to rumble, with volcanos erupting in the distance. Those phenomena were akin to calamity, and yet gradually filled the deathly world of Kronos with liveliness.

At the same time, the countless Drakonid souls combined with the Light of Order than Joshua created by cremating Chaos, truly beginning to form a part of Chaos—some of them turned to winds, some rain, while others stayed at the ruins of their former villages, becoming spirits that watched over the land.

It was not death but rebirth—they were willing to be the heavens and earth of this newborn world, protecting their own surviving kind in another form.

“Lisa, I’ll never leave you anymore. I will become a part of this world—if you feel the wind touch your face in days to come, it is my embrace over you.”

“Lisa, so you’ve grown so much. Though I couldn’t witness your growth firsthand, it’s fine to see your appearance now… you must live well.”

Beside the warrior, the Drakonid girl who witnessed firsthand the reignition of the Flame heard the familiar whispers beside her ears, and heard the feminine voice that had the hint of a laugh. Those were the voices of her parents—in moments, her eyes were welling with tears, but what good was there in crying?

This was the finest ending.

Therefore, Lisa, having decided to keep going on, lowered her head to prevent others from seeing her face. “Be at ease, Dad…” she stuttered with a little laugh. “I will live well even if I’m alone!”

I shall become stronger.

And so much stronger that none could threaten that which I love, and none would take what I own.

***

The girl’s little resolve notwithstanding, Joshua and the Ancient Dragon’s duet were entering their epilogue.

“Freshwater is lacking… the Black Mist’s attack all those years ago disintegrated even water. Even the oceans, the original nurturing lands of intelligent beings were swept away—no wonder the Flame Seed would be extinguished in its entirely.”

Joshua furrowed his brow, muttering to himself with a tinge of worry.

The recovery of the natural ecosphere was actually complete. But unlike the world of Karlis, the world of Kronos had one Ancient Dragon—if the silver Ancient Dragon did not leave, the Order of this world would continue… the issue here was that Kronos critically lack water. The home of the former merfolk civilization had completely evaporated, and though there are some water cycles in the mountains, it barely sustained that region, much less a world.

After all, most of the world was the dry Desert of God. Even if the World Flame Seed was reignited, the desert was a forbidding land unsuitable for survival.

“Well, it’s a matter of looking for sufficient water resource in days to come. We’ll just revive a sheet of grasslands encircling the mountains—that’s all we could do.”

The Ancient Dragon noticed the issue as well and made an upset bellow. As a being directly nurtured out of Steel crystallization, it was assuredly aware that most creatures need water for survival. It was not easy to encounter a wielder of the Flame Authority who reshaped the world alongside itself, and yet things ended up imperfect with the lack of the most common resource.

Still, it was not too fretful. The Ancient Dragon knew of many other worlds in the Multiverse that possessed abundant water, with some being pure oceanic worlds. If those worlds could be found and a portal opened, the lack of water on Kronos could be easily solved.

Joshua more or less thought the same, which was why after the final vein of circular light of Order spread to the edge of the world, the radiance weaved in scarlet and silver hues gradually dulled.

To the Drakonids who could not suppress gasps of awe due to the sudden phenomenon occurring over the skies, there was not too much change in their surroundings. All they could feel was that the air had become a lot fresher, while an unusual burden had vanished. On the other hand, some Drakonids with heightened spiritual senses could hear voices from the forests and the land—mild and affectionate, those voices seemed to be talking to them.

Meanwhile, the Drakonids dwelling by the edge of the mountains were staring at astonishment toward the distance. There was suddenly a blanket of green wilderness where there had been a barren desert, the edge of which could not be seen. The rivers over the mountains surged out happily over the grasslands, but the Drakonids who had become accustomed to mountain life never saw such a sight. The did not know what it meant.

“The call of primitive totems… So that’s it. Was the totem system in our own world of Mycroft born this way all those years ago as well?”

The two Legendary mages who were standing at a side and watching the entire process as Joshua controlled the power of King of Searing Soul and the Ancient Dragon’s reshaping of the world’s cycle. They now watched solemnly at those Drakonids that were now interacting with forests and land, sensing a familiar presence from their actions. After considering it for a while, Barnil and William realized in surprised that it was precisely the primitive form of shaman totems, legacies that were now destroyed in the Mycroft Continent.”

“As ancestral souls were hosted in all things, the spiritually sensitive would consecrate those spirits, creating totems with their power and using the earliest magic… That’s a huge academic topic, Barnil!”

William’s eyes were suddenly glinting even as he muttered softly, and looked to his friend beside him, moved. “Runes are certainly spawned from totems—though we know the uses of runes at present, we never learned why totems were converted into runes in the future, what with those old texts from the Glorious Era all immolated… If we could observe the birth of primitive magic and totem from the very start, magical genealogy would get its final piece of the puzzle!”

“Right! Those fellows from the Skypiercing White Tower had been searching for the earliest form of runes all along. If the fundamentals were unstable, there is no way to climb higher. If we could observe this primitive civilization… there would be tremors in the world of magic!”

His face now completely red, Barnil was definitely excited as well. For the Legendary mage, this day was one most worth commemorating: having met the Ancient Dragon he always dreamed about, and subsequently finding a subject that would send tremors over the field—the double delight had thus combined to form a greater one. Still, being a Legendary mage after all, Barnil quickly calmed himself and nodded to his friend beside him. “But before that, you have to ask him about the matter of this world first…”

“Only Joshua has the right to choose.”

***

At the moment, Joshua had reverted to normal black-haired man form after leaving the King of Searing Soul status, and was slowly landing on the highest peak of the Kronos Mountains. He had no intention of interacting with other Drakonids: at this vital period, Drakonids need to stand up for themselves so that they could become an independent civilization. If he started to help them now with Extraordinary power, they would only become vassals of Mycroft—perhaps even becoming the most useless kind of vassal as well as the type who stayed in their primitive state.

The world of Mycroft has no need for such vassals. It needed independent allies, flourishing new civilizations worth investing in.

Joshua watched as the silver Ancient Dragon flapped its wings and returned to the center of the Desert of God. The cycle of Order had just recovered—as a being that stabilized the world, it must keep the world of Kronos going like before.

After looking at the silver body that was immeasurably strong and could not be more perfect, he turned to the young Drakonid girl beside him.

“Lisa. Do you intend to fully realize the power in your body and become stronger?”

“Eh? Of, of course!”

Lisa took one unwitting step back when Joshua spoke so suddenly, both hands raised to cover her own face. However, her face soon reddened quickly realizing how impudent that was.

“I wish to become strong… become stronger!” She exclaimed loudly. “My Lord, could you instruct me?”

“Very well, as for the matter of teaching you… have some rest first. Some things can’t be decided at once.”

Joshua nodded, satisfied with Lisa’s reaction and hence did not say anything else. He would extend his invitation to have her return to Mycroft with him when she had calmed for a bit.

Part of the recent was because her parents had perished—though they were now specters and continued to exist in another form in this world, they could not develop the talent in Lisa comprehensively. He learned through Syndicate that she had broken into the threshold of Actuate Bolt in a dozen days and became capable of controlling some magnetic fields outside her body, and such a genius would only be buried in the primitive society of Drakonids.

And then there was also the matter of Syndicate—his apostle’s soul was still inside Lisa’s body. Joshua wanted to help think of a solution for it, and whatever the case may be, links between souls could not be easily researched and resolved in the world of Kronos.

As all matters were concluded for the moment, silence gradually returned.

“Come to think of it.”

It was now late night. The skies were filled with silver starlight, with Joshua standing at the peak within the darkness, watching the world he had resuscitated. He watched as the Drakonids ignited the first bonfire after the calamity, but somehow did not made any solemn expression—in fact, Joshua appeared as if he wanted to laugh, but merely sighed in the end.

“I’ve promised the old Pope that I would settle down for some time, enjoy leisurely days… How did things turn out like this unknowingly?”

Fighting a bunch of Legends in addition to saving a world would definitely never count as leisurely. Heaven knows if anyone would remember that he just wanted to help Hill and Funa acquire some Ancient Dragon Blood, and yet things ultimately turned out like this.

“Perhaps, ’tis the fated slaving life.”

Barnil, who was standing at the summit as well and sharing the images he had captured of the Ancient Dragon with William, nodded seemingly in agreement, before sharing a glance with William and shrugging. “You know, just like some mages who keep themselves locked in their laboratories, there be some people who were always busier than others—but that’s the life they chose. Isn’t that so?”

Right.

Joshua turned his head and flexed his wrist, unable to deny the fact. He stood at the pinnacle of the Kronos mountains and overlooked the newborn world. The warrior was expressionless, but finally show an undiscernible hint of a smile.

Of course, everyone’s life contrasted greatly.

Perhaps… that was his daily life.

—Volume 11, Door to Ten Thousand Worlds. End.