Soul of Searing Steel

The Evil God completely passed through the dimensional crack. The outer layer of the world made noises that sounded like the shattering of glass. Fragments of the shattering world fell to earth like snowflakes. At the horizon, a fire lit up so bright that it looked like the sun.

The sky was torched. The blazing flow of fire raged in the sky. An unimaginably huge ball of lava emerged from the dimensional crack. It descended from the sky, causing the entire world to tremble. It was the embodiment of fear.

That was the true form of the Evil God, the most intense calamity the entire universe had to offer.

[The Falling Star]

Crashing down like a meteor, the ball of lava lit up the heaven, splitting the clouds as the water vapor around it boiled. Even though that meteor was still dozens of kilometers away from the surface of the earth, it was already overwhelming the entire world with its presence.

As the calamity that destroyed the world where the Apocalyptic Circle was, the meteor also snuffed out the hope for a future of sixteen billion lives along with the destruction of the world due to the magic war.

The despair and anger wafted among the wreckage became the true form of the Evil God ‘Calamity’. Upon releasing all sorts of calamities upon the dying world, this meteor was its final resort to destroy the world.

It was powerful enough to totally destroy any world.

Even though Roland remained calm on the outside as he lifted his head and stared at the sky, but his heart was pounding with trepidation. He noticed that the meteor was about to hit right where Father Nature was rooted at. Even the most idiotic person could see that. The gigantic meteor that was larger than a mountain could easily flatten out the entire mountain, leaving a gigantic pit two hundred kilometers wide. Half of the continent could shift or even sink. The tsunami that ensued could wipe out half of this world.

It seemed unstoppable. No one seemed to be able to escape the incoming destruction. The holy knight was completely lost in his own feelings. He could feel his palms flooding with cold sweat as it flowed down his giant shield and his sword. He almost lost his grip over his shield and his sword. The draconic horse beside him stared unbelievingly at the meteor. That could be the most incredible thing it had witnessed with its own eyes in its entire life that even the memories that it inherited from the Smelting Black Dragon had never come across such a marvelous sight.

Despite it all, neither of them regretted their decision to stay. In the face of such a grand scene, they simply smiled.

Then they turned around and looked at the warrior who was floating in the air.

“We’re counting on you, Joshua.”

The warrior who was engulfed in the crimson red Divine Power looked straight at the great falling star that was about to crash into the earth and completely destroy it. His eyes were firmly fixed on that blazing meteor that was coming in at him.

The meteor.

The shards and fragments of the star.

The huge meteor charged straight at earth, engulfed in the flames that could bring total destruction on the Illgner Continent. The great, thick atmosphere of the world split apart, revealing the starry universe behind it. The momentum of the meteor was so huge it felt like the sky was falling on down on earth.

As he witnessed that marvelous scene, the gravity began to change. As an object of enormous mass was rapidly approaching the earth, the entire world began to buzz. Gravels were suspended in the air. The air began to roll wildly, creating a strange vacuum.

There was no doubt that the end of the world is approaching.

Joshua lifted up the tip of the spear attached to his gunblade and drew a line to split his view of the world perfectly into two, left and right. The dark red Divine Power swirled around his arm and his spear. The condensed power created an intense overload of waves into the air. That burst of energy wave had formed a ripple of a tide.

“This is not my strength.”

The symbol of crown right on his forehead glowed. Joshua spoke gently and what he said was true.

The warrior was now basically like a god. However, all of the power that he currently wielded was power he borrowed from others. The Divine Power that coursed through his veins beneath his skin came from Father Nature, giving him the power to wield the power of the King of the Searing Soul. After all, the power he was currently wielding was the ultimate power that was passed down from the ancient Sage and the will of the Karlis World. Without that power, an ordinary man with a mortal body will never be able to face such danger and the Evil God. It was because he had helped to obtain all those power and the blessings of the people and gods before, the warrior had finally obtained the Divine Power.

Of course, there was a price to pay though. The flesh and bones of an ordinary human being were never able to endure the almighty strength of a god. Even if he had crossed into the Supreme-tier as he had obtained the potential to limitlessly advance his power, Joshua remained far from being powerful enough to wield the Divine Power of a god. Having that sort of power in him even for a brief moment was enough to destroy his body and soul. If the battle dragged on for too long, the warrior might be destroyed by the very power he was currently wielding to battle against the Evil God.

His body was already gradually being destroyed bit by bit by the powerful energy. Even his soul was currently being burned up by the Divine Power. It did not matter if he was breathing or moving his arm around, the warrior was overwhelmed with excruciating pain.

—But who cares about that anymore?

I just need to battle now. That is enough.

Nothing mattered anymore. For now, he knew that he only had one thing to focus on. He needed to face the Evil God and he needed to focus on wielding the Divine Power to match the Evil God’s power.

Soon, a gigantic shadow emerged behind the warrior.

A gigantic white humanoid skeleton with a crown on top of its skull, fully equipped with a full set of grand armor. It held a dragon spear in its hands and also a greatsword and a longsword by the side of its waist. Its naked body was covered in battle scars and bloody wounds. The armor was covered with cracks that looked like a spider web. Blinding light escaped through the cracks.

It existed to battle. The purpose of its existence was to dispute. That was the master of fury and the embodiment of destruction.

That was the current form of a god—

The face of the God of War.

With the blessing of the Divine Power, Joshua’s eyes gleamed with red lights. There were distorted parts that seemed blurry on the surface of the giant rock that appeared to be the fusion of rock and steel. Those were the parts of Chaos that have yet to take form, the parts that remained fragile. As expected, the Evil God ‘Calamity’ before him was just the residue of its power. There was still a chance to win this!

If the warrior could attack the vulnerable parts of its body and take them out, then the entire meteor would shatter. By then, it would turn into stardust before landing on the earth where it would do no harm anymore.

Without the slightest hesitation, the warrior launched his weapon at his target. The gigantic humanoid skeleton right behind him copied his movement.

On earth, the falling meteorite gathered destructive energy as layers of black and red halos glowed, forming a dim light ball. It was like a blazing black sun. Its existence had already scorched the earth as mountains began to melt.

Soon, the so-called sun rose up into the sky, turning into a towering black pillar of light that went all the way to the bottom of the destructive meteor and blocked falling of the meteor.

The Evil God noticed that. If it was an ordinary living being, it would have defended itself in every way it could. However, it wasn’t. It was the embodiment of natural calamity and natural calamity do not defend itself.

The World Regulator Circle tried its best to defend against a falling star before; its effort was fruitless. It could look at the falling of that star helplessly. Now, the star was flying towards the Illgner Continent just like it did before in the other world. It flew towards the warrior and everything else on earth like they were nothing.

Hence, the black pillar hit its target uninterrupted.

—Boom!

In one-thousandth of a minute, the outer shell of the meteor was completely shattered followed by a moment of silence, swallowed by light and the devastating shock waves, then a loud noise exploded soon after. Fragments of rocks and gravels flew everywhere.

The part of the meteor that was hit by the black light pillar and lost its solid form, becoming a messy mix of red-gold magma and black mud. They were shattered by the shock waves that spread as far as 10 kilometers radius. The momentum of that falling meteor seemed to be disrupted by the impact with the light beam. It was suspended in the sky as if it was being pushed by the black pillar.

Boom! Bruuum!

The broken pieces of the meteor that shattered began raining down loudly. Small mushroom clouds rose into the air one after another. However, their true form was actually the pieces of the meteor that could bring total destruction.

“Splendid job!”

All His power drained from His body, Father Nature who appeared exhausted raised His voice to praise. In fact, His initial plan was to embrace the impact of the meteor with His bare hands as it intended to stop the meteor from crashing into the Illgner Continent. Then, seal the Evil God’s strength sealed in the Illgner Continent by sending Himself into eternal slumber.

After all, He was the god of nature. His Divine Power could heal any wounds and purify anything. It could even create and remold an ecological system, turning a desert into a vibrant forest. However, a tree was not fit to battle. Just like the other existence of the same sort, His power to bring destruction was too weak.

However, the possibilities presented by Joshua had left Father Nature astounded, so He praised the warrior. The warrior might be able to truly defeat the Evil God ‘Calamity’ if he could keep up with this momentum by borrowing the destructive power of his Divine Power. Perhaps he could really stop the calamity that was about to end the world!

The black light pillar and the meteor remained in a stalemate. The embodiment of Chaos pushed forward bit by bit while the light beam incinerated and destroyed the parts of the meteor that it could.

However, the speed of the light beam destroying the meteor was faster than the speed of the meteor. As the meteor was covered with cracks and the distortions of Chaos, it was much more fragile than expected. If the situation remained like that for another few minutes, the entire meteor would shatter and be rendered harmless to the Illgner Continent.

Just as everyone was overwhelmed with joy and excitement over the destruction of the meteor, the black light pillar suddenly started to shake and vibrate. Then, it began to shrink.

The meteor suddenly fell towards earth by a great distance and was currently very near to the surface of earth now. Its massive body covered half of the sky. The world seemed as if it was pushed backward by a heavy pressure and curling itself up as if it was trying to find a place to hide from destruction by that monstrous meteor.

But how was it possible to avoid? If the meteor touched down on earth, the entire Illgner Continent would change. No matter how well one could hide, it was pointless.

Be it Roland, Black or Father Nature, all of them turned around and looked at the warrior, their eyes filled with doubts and insecurity.

The souls of Ying and Ling were also anxious as they called out to the warrior by his name in the spiritual world. However, they did not receive any response from the warrior.

The man who was maintaining the huge beam of light had no time to pay attention to any other things around him.

His body was gradually damaged, one cell after another.

His organs and nerves were exhausted by the energy overload coursed through his body. There were also signs suggesting that some of his body parts were roasted by the burning Divine Power. It seemed that the power of the King of the Searing Soul was combusting the soul of the warrior in order to sustain that power.

The pillar of light became smaller not because Joshua’s will was drifting away. It was because the parts of his body that sustained that power no longer exist.

The scorching Divine Power burned his flesh and bones inside out. The hand that was holding onto the Dragon-hunting Gunblade was no longer there. The only thing that was left grabbing on the weapon was the solidified Combat Aura and the white bones of the warrior. Regardless of how strong and how tough the will of the warrior appeared to be, his body could not fully adapt to the Divine Power coursing through every part of his body.

The meteor was getting close with each passing moment. The great heat and strong winds swept over thousands of meters across the surface of the earth. Gravels, dirt, and dust were blown away. The water instantly vaporized into mist.

—Could it be that all of their efforts are going to be wasted again just like what happened to the previous world that they failed to save?

The will that was fading let out a raging roar, refusing to admit defeat.

— First it happened to the Karlis World, and now to the Illgner Continent… is my strength really so insignificant? Even after I have obtained the gifts and legacies from the people in the past, I still do not possess what it takes to change the fate of the world?

Of course.

A voice that sounded as if many people were speaking at the same time whispered in the ear of the warrior. A mass of faint golden light that flickers appeared before Joshua’s chest. They were shadows of many people floating inside it. It seemed like the purest souls had gathered to form the mass of light.

[Souls of the Fearless.]

[Passive Effect: When you hold this item, all friendly units will acquire the Aura of Courage.]

[You can rapidly acquire a large number of soul points upon activating it, increases the user’s soul limit cap. It can also be enhanced by a person with Legendary-tier Soul Remolding Spell to acquire ‘Indestructible Crystallization’, the ‘Firewood of the Wounded King of the Searing Soul’, and the ‘Indestructible Rune’]

That voice sounded so firm. He heard the distant echoing voice that belonged to the cluster of souls.

—The strength of the living is not enough. So the dead shall assist.

—The warrior need not go forward alone.

Because right behind you, there is an entire world supporting you.

Just as the fire that was about to burn out, another piece of firewood was added in. The black light pillar which was gradually shrinking, suddenly expanded again, holding off the meteor firmly. The light pillar was pushed hard against the meteor until it was crushing it.

However, that was not enough.

It seemed that the number of souls was not enough. Though the Souls of the Fearless had eased the situation a little for the warrior, it remained extremely difficult to control the Divine Power. In less than half an hour, the light beam would definitely be shrinking again, and gradually, Joshua and the others would be incinerated.

However, Father Nature had heard the calling from the Souls of the Fearless. He suddenly froze for a brief moment. He seemed very conflicted as He struggled with something.

“No—Everything will become meaningless!”

The giant tree roared out in rage as He shook His branches. He became even more insistent. Soon, Father Nature sighed and seemed to have retired from certain restrains. Instead, He looked at Joshua with an unreadable expression.

“This is their choice… warrior, don’t break their trust.”

Suddenly, numerous colorful lights gushed out from the crown of the giant tree. They were fragile souls that were freed from confines of Divine Power.

They were also souls of the elves that died during the natural disasters that had been happening.

Among the rays of light that filled the sky, there were shadows of men. There were also mages that were deemed wise, warriors that were deemed brave, farmers that were known to be crude and traders that were known to be greedy.

Loving mothers, harsh fathers, innocent children, thieves that stole from the streets, pirates that were wandering the sea, and even fugitives that committed all sorts of crimes.

No matter how good or evil they were, all souls emerged from the crown of the giant tree. They appeared just like the stars in the sky. They gathered into a vast stream of light as they rapidly entered the body of the warrior.

Countless soul lights glowed as they brewed infinite power.

The gods existed because of faith.

And the gathering of the souls was enough to make miracles happen.