Soul of Searing Steel

Meanwhile, in the narrow and dark spaces within the Knowers’ ship that could not fit mid-sized creatures such as humans, a vague magical radiance was fusing, interacting, and studying.

The birth of the Sage, the development of civilization, as well as the convergence and fusing of various different schools of Extraordinary formed the base for developing Legends and True Gods. They saw the people of the Glorious Era proudly laying the base structure of the Multiverse Sacrificial Grounds, pulling in worlds from within the galaxy to use it as raw materials for forging an everlasting wonder.

“If this building is a success, every galaxy in the Multiverse would be one, and the lonely ones who once stood vigil from distant stars would join the bustling village that is the Multiverse…”

“There would be no grander wonder if it is ever completed. It changes the essence of all civilizations so that the exotic became neighbors, and strangers would become the people next door. It transforms the caution between civilizations that is as profound as abysses and utterly dispels fear of the unknown, because everyone would henceforth stand on the same stage.”

“…Mycroft civilization was fated to fall even without the birth of the Sage. The miracle they intend to finish is the prerequisite of true Void civilizations.”

Information about the Final Battle ensued—ambushed, the Mycroft civilization fought both the invasion of every Abyss and the assault of dozens of Evil Gods. Endless darkness drowned the entire galaxy that the other powerful civilizations sunk in the tides of Chaos… And amidst that despair, an entity that embodied the most profound hopelessness appeared. The stars trembled and all light went out—the perpetually plague of Chaos had such incomparable might even in a distant memory, for the appearance of the Evil God ‘Fertility’ had made every Knower pause.

They saw the Sage pulling Fertility into the bottom of the stars where they fought for years, shaking the galaxy at its very essence, the little shockwaves utterly demolishing the original galactic structure, while boundless power surged across the dark Void and blew away billion pieces of world fragments.

Then, in the very last second, infinite Holy Light spread across the Multiverse.

Though it was a side-show and merely an aftershock, every Heir from the unknown to the Knowers witnessed it for the first time—the birth of a Wise One, and the sight of a battle between two ultimate Extraordinary champions.

Nevertheless, it was not over—Project Rebirth was predicted to mold a supermassive individual realm that would become another everlasting wonder. The Knowers erupted into fierce debate at once, and would have warned the Mycroft people to abandon it, had they not stated from the start that it had failed.

Because the Everlasting could see only the eternal, the Evil Gods converged upon them. It was precisely because they were fated to die in the Multiverse that they saw the lights that appeared no to die.

“So, the Wise One of the Light had headed for the center of the Multiverse too… and incidentally two of his heirs are now over on the other side…”

“They were reborn from ruin, a fragment of the old Glorious Era that has now been regrown but into a complete different form…”

“They are the first-generation heirs. Meeting them is our fortune.”

Silence. There was only silence after both sides exchanged information. Everyone made no sound as they thought. Though both sides’ information did not complement each other enough to reveal the ultimate truth, the clips from those images and words was precious enough.

“Eternal…”

Joshua’s brow tightened as he thought about the world.

“Abandon!”

Igor appeared thoughtful, and then realized with a start.

“There’s… no option.”

There was a mix of expression on Yana Milo’s face. There was unashamed commitment, and yet her gaze made evident that she understood the helplessness.

Time passed until everyone recovered from their pondering.

Joshua was the first to press the button requesting communications, while the Knowers soon opened the response channel.

“Now is the time to answer each other’s doubt.”

Joshua said forthrightly and without preamble, “Knowers, I have another piece of information to add—a memory fragment from the Evil God of Fertility, a project known as Civilization Pinnacle, infinite, eternal, absolute, omniscient, and omnipotent.”

Even as he spoke, he sent a stream of information transmitted in Steel Strength. After a brief static, the Knowers received Joshua’s information.

“…with thanks, Heir of the Sage… This is very useful… Even if we cannot not analyze anything yet, there is no question that this is the prehistoric civilization’s ultimate project that was set in motion 160 million years ago and is tightly linked to the hidden source of darkness… the ancient Evil God ‘Fertility’ could have well been the first generation of Evil Gods, born after that civilization had fallen.”

Joshua nodded silence in return, and simply immodestly asked, “Next, I would like to ask a question. In the long process of legacies, do you understand the ‘Everlasting’ which the Wise One of the Arcane speaks of?”

“…It’s simple. The essences of Evil Gods are everlasting… their existence is the summation of all memories and souls of a civilization…”

The Knowers’ voices were no longer full of static, as if all magic energy had arrived upon a common ground while the alien race quietly described the truth they had known. “Evil Gods would live forever as long as they are not broken by external forces. We call them the eternal tombstone of fallen civilizations.”

***

Joshua stopped then—the other Legends had questions too, with Yana Milo the Glorious Era Legend taking over after himself. She took a deep breath, and then asked with a mixed expression, “Is the self-destructive method used for saving a civilization by decreasing its Gadamer Classification down to class 2 verified?”

“…Yes, survivor of the Glorious. We witnessed first-hand the self-sterilizing of a civilization from Void to Primitive—they survived extinction after repelling invading minions, while the World Eaters completely ignored them… or it would be more precise to say that they did not attack intentionally with the presence of other targets.”

“Then, is there other possibility…” Yana Milo seemed to lose composure for some reason. She subcobsciously tried to press the Knowers, only to draw a signature that indicated ‘amusement’.

“There is none.” They said. “Only that one choice exists.”

“Either one cowers in their cave with their dying breath, or step into the stars to their deaths.”

“Your history remains short, far shorter than ours, due to time dilation. You have experienced too little and none of the cruelty—our wandering between galaxies over 770,000 years has granted us innumerable experience and lessons, and one of them being what I have informed your end.”

In other words, the future of civilizations was to either stride out into the stars and face ancient entities over hundreds of million years old and the endless assault of World Eaters, or to cower in their caves, abandoning the right to choose one’s future but in turn gaining the chance for survival.

To choose survival meant giving up; to choose the future meant embracing destruction.

“Then what have you chosen?”

La Motte the Sword Saint suddenly asked quietly, “Did you choose to surviving or to decide your own future?”

“What have we chosen?”

Did you even need to ask?

The agitated presence of magic was of such clarity even without translation. The Knowers were laughing; their laughter was filled with unrestrained pride.

“Listen, people of Mycroft.”

“Before all things, the Precursors of Order had navigated the universe to illuminate one star after another. The Nameless Creator awakened its own will to move through worlds and mold life into countless worlds, while the fleet of the Fabulists roamed the Void, searching amidst desolation and protection all knowledge.”

“The Steel Strength that would form our world had not even began to converge then, our entire planetary system a nebula. Even so, even after such ancient history and lengthened time, knowledge had been passed down, from the most ancient Wise One of the Arcane to us.”

“We—every heir, would collect and preserve all knowledge well, so that undying knowledge would be gathered and the Multiverse would not fall into the dark ages. We would take over the knowledge and culture from civilizations which could not maintain their form with stability, so that they would not have to fall to the wretchedness of having no memory left after their destruction.

The presence of the Knowers was trembling so fanatically as if in sound laughter.

“We had certainly chosen the future of destruction—but before that, we would pass down knowledge together with memories, cultures and ideals. Our fate is to rot, but knowledge and Order would not, and that is why we are destined to live forever even if we are going to die!”

***

After building a basic connection, the other Legends began to speak to the Knowers about the Evil Gods along with certain unique knowledge and questions. The Knowers were also curious about the unique Extraordinary civilization of Mycroft, and so both sides openly communicated and explained away, exchanging information virtually without holding anything back.

Everything was unfolding with such passion that the usually-silent Murloc High Priest and Elven Queen displayed the charisma of leaders and did all they could to absorb and enrich themselves with the knowledge from the ancient Knowers. In turn, the alien race accepted the old knowledge and cultures of the elf and murloc, preserving them in their own stores of knowledge.

In comparison, Yana Milo the Glorious Era Legend now appeared lost—she simply sat in a corner of the diplomatic ship, looking up at its unfamiliar ceiling.

She appeared as if she would remain in that state until the exchange concluded, but there was soon an echo of footsteps.

The black-haired warrior had arrived before her with a grave and stern face.

“What are you spacing out for, Lady Yana Milo? Each Legend is a part for the exchange, and its effectiveness would plummet without your involvement.”

Before the dainty Yana Milo, Joshua resembled a tower of steel that blocks all light. It was clear that the warrior had no intention of being tactful as he simply pointed out her error. “You have been selected into the envoy precisely because you are a Legend of the Glorious Era, and yet you now show neither spirit or responsibility of a senior.”

“…My bad.”

Yana Milo’s lost gaze focused and she turned to Joshua, whose face was shrouded in shadows. “Even so,” she smiled bitterly, “what the Knowers said had me imagining another possibility.”

Joshua did not respond, merely arching his brow lightly to convey his question.

“The Glorious Era has fallen, every champion of the eternal dead. All that is left are the gods sure to die, and the Evil Gods that chain us…”

There was bewilderment in Yana Milo’s eyes even as she brought level her gaze to Joshua’s, as if unsure to cry or laugh. “My mentor and friends… Did they truly fall to infighting? Or were they sowing seeds of hope? That’s why…”

“…Don’t dwell on it.”

Instantly knowing what she was thinking about and understanding why she was troubled and lost, Joshua sighed inwardly and shook his head at the Avian Legend—Zero Three’s brethren.

“They did not die,” he said quietly.

Death was nothing so shallow. The diminishing of wills, the lost of spirit, physical demise, the withering of the soul, forgotten memories and the passing of existence—as long as all six stages had not reached the end, it was not truly ‘Death’.

“Yana Milo. As long as you live—eternally so, their existence is as eternal alongside yours.”

He had so many words and yet could not voice them. Thus, Joshua simply turned and left after a single line.

Saying too much was unnecessary.

He knew that Yana Milo would understand it all as a Legendary champion.

Such was civilizations—generations of sacrifice and legacies, reciprocating heirlooms of knowledge and ideals from the ancient past until today. That was precisely why the infinitely fragile and transient life could condense wisdom and Order that could vanish in a flash, to become a magnificent civilization and create perpetual miracles.

Just as the old praise goes:

[Wisdom unquenchable, Order eternal]

[Legacies reciprocating unto this day]

He firmly believed that, and held conviction that such was Truth.