Soul of Searing Steel

Breaking out of the encirclement of a horde of Chaos composites and turning to strike back, Joshua’s every move remained pursued by every bit of Chaos because he was in the very center of the Abyss. Most of his foes were following right behind the warrior, following his trail and intent on devouring him.

Nonetheless, something that Joshua never expected happened—there was sudden great ripples of mass, prompting the Giant God of Steel to turn in shock and find out what actually happened.

Then, he saw that a composite far more colossal than before: a dark star that had condensed at least hundreds of dead worlds worth of memories appeared beside him, like a falling star that suddenly parted the gloom!

It could have been a supermassive Chaos that had yet to been washed afar with the tides, and hence returned from the edge the Darkest Abyss after feeling the instincts of the Evil God of Death. If the Evil God of wither was at least 100, it was at least several thousand!

Soon, embodying countless cries of misery and despair, it thus surged towards Joshua!

“Argh!!!”

Unable to evade at once, Joshua could only raise his four arms to parry—the silver Giant God pressed his hands over Star of Chaos like an ant pushing a fist-sized ball of iron. Somehow, he held on miraculously, with the core mass behind him incessantly decimating his own body into energy pulse momentum, the huge star was actually pushed back for the smallest of margins!

However, there were rootlike shadows reaching out where the two touched, grappling over the warrior’s arms to engulf him. In that split second, a raging flow of memories hence poured into Joshua’s spirit.

Dense presence of death thus appeared around the silver Giant God.

***

The Sixfold Threshold of Death was the reduction of fighting will, dispirit, death of the flesh, wilted soul, amnesia and the perishing of existence.

As sorrow reached its end, there came the song of death.

Once again, boundless misery drowned Joshua. It would pulverize the warrior’s fighting will and break his spirit, killing his flesh, destroy his soul, purge his memory so that the warrior’s existence was melded into his own.

But what welcomed it was a rumble, an explosion of crimson light.

The shackles of dark Chaos were instantly broken into pieces. His entire form having turned scarlet, Joshua slowly stepped out of the broken Chaos roots, gaping his maw to vomit red mist. The warriors’ eyes were ablaze, revealing cold, steely calm logic.

The holy crest of sword and axe hence faintly appeared behind the Giant God of Steel, slowly combining with his Φ shaped mass and accretion disk.

But in the end, silver light reappeared, breaking the crest that was about to assume form and lost control.

In the empty Abyss, Joshua slowly draw boundless light from the two poles of the mass. That light was far longer and brighter than the luminous lances before—colorless, it hence formed a pure ring beside the Giant God that was crimson and silver. Then, the relative center of his palms formed a raging vortex of light.

[We have already paid the price for our arrogance and were almost destroyed for it, becoming a corpse in the Abyss with you who had perished]

[But that is no reason to stop. We must be prudent and humble as we face the Multiverse, and yet civilization must not advance without pride.]

Light gathered. Joshua extended his hand and draw out the weapon he had forged: its hilt was extensive, with innumerable runes flowing and stretching over the near solid gush of radiance. Patterns resembling blood colored arteries made the weapon appear to be a part of the Giant Steel God’s body, an extension of his form.

“Fact proves that all of you could not escape the dire straits of the civilization.”

In the silence of the Darkest Abyss, Joshua spoke calmly to the Dark Star that was simply wafting around where it was, his voice low, hoarse and panting heavily. “All of you have perished, your race and civilization hence falling into the Abyss, and the grandest path of development in the Multiverse would never appear to your civilization.”

“And yet.”

“Your every failure demonstrated a mistaken path. Your every mistake that would remove a single valueless choice. Your sacrifice would prompt sorrow in people—which is indeed self-defeating, but it would contribute to the Multiverse by bringing other civilization to the right path.

Breathing out a long breath, Joshua finally drew out the weapon that have been forged from light: it was a massive mountain-splitting single-edged axe. Larger than a world, only the purest of light could create such a huge armament without crumbling, just as only light could shine within the darkness. “That is the meaning of your existence,” he said calmly with a lowered tone, “that is your honor, your duty and your salvation.”

“You have died because of your mistakes. You were the hand of your own undoing and your civilization holds no worth. Even so, your mistakes and undoing are not without merit: we would remember even your most insignificant errors, and never assume your former path.”

“Your acts would hasten the coming of that moment, that profound time where the salvation of the Multiverse would come—then, you would be recorded in our historical tomes, and exist eternally alongside us.”

“For that, be it misery or despair, catastrophe or sorrow, it would always be an eternally glorious footnote in the future.”

As he spoke, Joshua van Radcliffe lifted his head. Tears flowed from his eyes in a silver glow, rolling down his sculpted cheeks like an unusual pattern. His tears hence wafted into the Abyss, before disappearing as nothing.

[Are you crying]

In that single second, all of the Abyss boiled. Innumerable Chaos composites that had froze began to move again, with massive tides churning over the sea of darkness as if stirred by a typhoon. The infinite Chaos swelled in endless miserable replies.

[Are you shedding tears for us]

[Do you feel the sorrow too]

[Do you want… to become us]

Untold number of voices resounded over the entire Abyss in seconds, as if the world raged, resonating.

In return, the warrior tightened his grip over the giant axe. The mass behind him then began to collapse by pieces, with innumerable little fragments wafting away from the bulk and disintegrating into pure energy and light.

“No.”

Of course not.

Any hero would weep for you. Of course, not for sadness over your death, but for the hope you once held, mourning the future you buried.

I, however…

…shed tears over delight.

“O Evil God that had yet to awaken, I never once knew what the future holds.”

As he said those words, Fattrovi’s shadow flashed through Joshua’s mind, and his tone promptly became even more firm. “Nor do it know what path lies ahead of civilization.”

“Even so, champions should create a future and open the path forward in the first place!”

Though they may know not how to walk the path or even if it was right, in the very least, they must present themselves as moving forward!

If they were not strong enough, they should become stronger! If they did not understand, they should learn! Doing all that they could, writing down their thoughts—like the stars over the skies, glimmering even as the sky glooms!

Not only does life have to fight against the unknown, one should also fight self-satisfaction, pride and sloth! Not only should they flow along the tides of history, but they must carry it forward, not merely changing for the sake of changing and instead guiding all life to open the path forward!

Changing the initial foundations was merely advancing along the riverbanks. What brand new future needed were brand new paths, just like human strength could be used to open new branches in the river, creating a brand-new future!

“There is no need to cry.”

Joshua lifted the giant axe in his hand and leveled it at the dark star before him. He spoke quietly, with a song that only himself could hear, “There is no need to despair.”

Because light has come.

I will be your torch.

It was only then that the denied Chaos turned into a raging tide. Unending despair and hymns of Death pushed and rolled the star, and with the mass that could warp all things, they crashed silently towards the warrior, pushing away all surrounding Chaos while even beginning to bend and burn, like the clouds parted by a falling star.

The entire Darkest Abyss was stirred by the movement of that star, pulling a long dark trail and churning the Chaos. Its presence was so extensive that it was as if the sky was falling and hundreds of worlds were crashing down—unstoppable, and yet despite the long distance, there was a suffocating, terrible pressure.

The star lamented; the dimensions buckled—the Chaos of finality looms.

Joshua raised the luminous axe high above, and in the very next instant, as the mass behind the warrior’s back crumbled and vanished into infinite flame radiance, the axe promptly enlarged and bloated at the speed of thought, and finally becoming a luminous rift that splits the darkness!

The Abyss was split in two on both sides of the rift. Silver radiance glinted, illuminating the Abyss—at its depths where the Evil God of Fertility and the Sage fought, unending Chaos turned into a vortex over the sea of darkness, just like the causality that tangled over innumerable worlds over the last few thousand years.

Therefore, he shall swing his axe, and cut down the causality tangling a hundred outcomes!

Resolving himself and rising determinedly!

Before the Darkest Abyss, even the Giant God was as small as a speck of starlight.

However, the giant axe in his hand spawned the warrior’s burning will to fight limitlessly.

Joshua bellowed in anger, and as his resounded, just as everything was about to be consumed by eternal white light—

The giant axe that slashed across the Abyss swung down firmly.