Soul of Searing Steel

After that silver star crashed upon the seal of that once dazzling seal, without regard for time and distance…

“Alright!”

“Is it broken?!”

“It is!”

“Beautiful!”

“Well done!”

“Still, the battle is not over—it’s not the time to celebrate!”

At the bowels of the Abyss where the six deities stood guard over the seven rings seal, they quickly cleared the delight from their faces after their brief exchange, instead staying vigilant and watching the depths of Darkest Abyss. They were aware that the struggle before was a mere price paid in the name of securing victory, and now, the true battle to claim triumph has begun.

There was a faint rumbling.

Overlooking the endless distance to the final edge of the Nether River, the gods could see behind the traps of countless Final Celestial Forms: there were layers of a massive flow of matter and turbulence that surged ahead at the true core region of the Rebirth Seal.

The binding over its form broken, the Chaos energies that had been forced to shrink itself over thousands of years ejected outward wildly. Blankets of chaos solids were blown into darkness along with world fragments like pieces of massive asteroids, dragging long dim trails as they collided upon the black hole traps.

Nonetheless, in a split second, all of the Darkest Abyss echoed with a dull rumbling. Soon, all of the Nether River quaked violently as well.

Soon, clear cracking sounds extended out of the depths of the darkness as if a hard crystal was crushed by a great force. It becomes louder as it stretches away, and it would have sounded familiar to any who lived near beaches—it was sound of the waves as they rose and fell with the sun.

But while it was actually a tide, the place itself was not the ocean but the Abyss. What surged was not seawater, but endless Chaos and world fragments.

Worlds trembled, with Chaos pouring forth from the Darkest Abyss like the rage of a black sea.

The six gods could see the black sea of Chaos roaring and quaking with a deep roar. Like a collapsing dam, the black hole trap that should have been unbreakable was at once destroyed, and promptly lunged towards the seven seals beyond!

“A swift arrival.”

A smoking pipe between his lips, the God of Conservation and Reformation who was closest to the interior stared grimly at the surging tide of Chaos, hammer in hand. With a rough inhaling of the pipe that did not have much tobacco in the first place, he muttered, “I didn’t even have the time to prepare my heart.”

Even so, the deity threw away his pipe in the very next instant. The divine crest of Tome and Hammer thus appeared behind the dwarven god as he stood at the core anchor point and directly above the elemental singularity. Ezerg hence drew his divine power, conjuring a circular divine dam out of thin air as steel grey godly light shone.

Apart from the God of Conservation, the other five deities were staying cautious and simultaneously drawing their respective divine strength. As powers intertwined, they molded a mazelike dam, preparing their counter against the ensuing Chaos blast.

At first, the gods reactivated the seven-layered Seal of the Abyss to stop Chaos energies borne out of destroyed worlds across the galaxy from entering the Abyssal Paradise, stimulating the unknown Evil God and hence awakening that entity. They exhausted themselves to stop the Chaos from getting inside, which was why the God of Might would self-immolate, temporarily severing the Nether River so that the Darkest Abyss was briefly separate from the Abysses outside.

But now, their aim was to prevent the Chaos inside to flow outward.

The Chaos that piled in the Darkest Abyss over thousands of years was so terrible that the place itself was occupied with Chaos that could corrupt even the divine. If the black holes trap did not seal the Chaos energies at the centermost region, the spreading Chaos would have long consumed the anchor points set up for Project Rebirth.

But now, Joshua had broken the core of the seal, and the Chaos that had been compressed for millennia burst out at once, penetrating the giant blockade of black holes. If the Chaos flowing out was no stop, the Abyss would not be the only place destroyed—the galaxy itself would be a wasteland of Chaos, one that was a million times more terrible than nuclear wastelands!

If the unknown Evil God awakens, none in the galaxy would survive; if the seal that nurtures it is broken, there would be equally terrible consequences.

Therefore, to avoid such a thing to happen, the Seven Gods and Joshua had to divide and conquer. Indeed, the warrior was a lance to their shield—they certainly could not shoulder multiple godly blessings like the warrior to punch through the region of Chaos as if a falling star, breaking the core seal. Vice versa, Joshua could not stand between Abyss and the normal reaches of galaxy as if mountains, blocking the Chaos that poured forth over every direction.

The God of Conservation and Reformation was not worried about the success of that matter. Even if he had used his power to the point that he reached his divine end, he would stop that wave of Chaos. Moreover, with the seven-layered seal in place, not even the Evil God could break through instantly, not to mention the tides of Chaos spreading as innumerable ‘1’ units.

But even that was not most concerning.

“Where’s Radcliffe?” The God of Love murmured somberly as its gaze swept across the waves of Chaos over its veil. “Could he have not followed the outward surge?”

Although Joshua had definitely held the resolve of certain death when he rushed into the core seal, it was not a suicide mission. The warrior and the Seven Gods had predicted that when the silver world—Joshua’s true form, crashed and shattered the core seal while carrying the Seven Gods’ Infinite divine powers, he would at once dash out with the explosive Chaotic waves, escaping the most dangerous and Chaotic region of the Abyss to return within the seven-ring seal.

Now, however, the warrior’s distinct Steel Strength presence could not be felt, much less the silver world. There were only the scattered Steel Particles found in the Chaos tides, and yet Joshua was not dead, since every deity clearly felt through the blessing given to him that Joshua’s flame of existence had yet to extinguish.

Since he was not dead but yet to show up, the reason for that was clear.

Joshua never existed, and was still inside the Darkest Abyss now!

***

Meanwhile, at the depths of the Darkest Abyss, a silver star glimmered.

Joshua’s spirit awakened from a muddling nothingness, realizing at once that something in his plan had gone wrong.

Using the Infinite divine powers that the Seven Gods had stored over a thousand years as dynamite and the world that was his body as the core, Joshua made himself a steel core armor-piercing bullet—hard and powerful like no other, crashing at once on the seal core. In that instant, the blast and heat bursting out of divine power and sealing runes erupted with a magnitude beyond a supernova, even approaching the supreme heat during Creation. When the impact of the neutron star broke the seal, collapsing it like a pack of dominos, Joshua true form was immeasurably hurt as well.

Joshua could not help but sigh in awe when he remembered the sight then. Despite being protected by the Seven Gods’ Infinite divine power, he was simply lucky to survive the violent and determined suicidal collision. He still remembered the compressed Chaos that essentially erupted out after the seal broke, he would have been ended if the rush of Chaos washed him into the black hole traps.

Nevertheless.

Where was he now?

Joshua quickly built many mental organs and accelerated his thoughts when he considered the question, and his expression turned grim when his mind cleared.

“This is still the Darkest Abyss!”

“I wasn’t thrown out with the surge!”

Joshua was definitely astonished after confirming the fact by observing the surrounding concentration of Chaos—he was still in the Darkest Abyss? How could that be? The moment he shattered the seal, the first waves of Chaos should have flung him out, and he would not be surprised if someone else was to tell him that he was sent flying beyond the seven-ring seal of the Seven Gods.

How he remained where he was… that was the only thing he could not understand!

But just when Joshua became aware of that bewildering fact, he discovered even more unthinkable things.

An extreme dense sun of energy whirled, shifting angles at the center of the silver planet. As Joshua’s core hub looked around at his own body, he discovered in shock that his outer shell—in other words, the World Barrier had many clearly dilapidated parts after he collided on the seal was restored already.

Moreover, Joshua could tell that the materials that repaired his World Barrier was not Steel Strength.

It was Chaos.

Mild Chaos churned, with bits of condensed chunks covering the silver planet like a snow of goose feathers. Black condensation hence repaired the gaps on the star, at once making the planet appear whole but also dimming his light.

“What bloody situation is this.”

Joshua breathed a sigh. Now that he was fully revived, the warrior could sense that his body’s Steel Strength was almost dormant. It had lost all divine force, with the silver Steel mist now showing no reaction to Chaos contact like ordinary vapors.

When hos Steel Strength was rendered dormant, Chaos had restored Joshua’s wounds with its own powers. He could feel layers of gentle but massive, dense Chaos energies were gathering around his planet form, solidifying.

It was as if moisture in the air gathered because of the dust in the air, coldly and beautifully crystallizing while extending from the core into snowflakes.

The wafting Chaos mists needed a core to gather, solidifying into an actual water drop or frost crystal.

In an instant, Joshua understood why the Chaos did not wash him away, and why his wounds were healed by Chaos, and why the surrounding Chaos did not scatter into millions of ‘1’ despite his crushing of the core.

The answer was too simple.

After losing the Sage’s core to actualize its form, the crumbling unknown Evil God instinctively sought out a second core—it was a sturdy core that could embody sufficient power, and while he was much smaller than the Sage’s former seal, it was a dire situation that no being could afford to be picky.

Joshua felt as the Chaos energies around him grew thicker and his body become energized but also gaining in resemblance of an Evil God’s presence. Even when he was left incomprehensible, he promptly struggled and resisted, stirring massive tides to resist the restraint enforced on him.

Now, although he and the Seven Gods had stopped the chance of the Evil God that could affect the entire galaxy just by awakening, another Evil God—weaker and smaller than the galaxy but still more powerful than typical Evil Gods could now take its place.

There had been too much Chaos energies piling in the Darkest Abyss that it would have welled out into the galaxy if not for the black holes trap. As long as the Evil God awakened and assumed form, it could the use power of the Darkest Abyss just the same to grow rapidly to its initial state, even if it was not powerful at first and as long as it was not defeated or suppressed in return.

Joshua knew that he must exert his full power to prevent that future. The dense energy sun inside the silver star began to shrink violent, with the dimensional warping abruptly. The inner reaches of the world rumbled with extreme shattering, while beneath the World Barrier, the silver metal continents gathered inside. The entire Star of Steel was one whole size smaller, instantly shrugging off the Chaos that had latched on around the silver planet.

In the very next second, the silver planet rapidly expanded and quaked violently as if about to explode, blasting away all surrounding Chaos. He would rather rupture the wounds restored by Chaos than to allow it any chance of gathering again.

In fact, Joshua had already prepared to self-destruct—the warrior was used to it, and he would never allow himself to become an Evil God’s core even in death.

Still, in the sudden instant when he thought of death…

Joshua suddenly heard crying.

***

The silver star which had been engulfed in endless Chaos amidst the Darkest Abyss and had been struggling at his full might abruptly froze.

No, it was not a single voice, but many.

Endless, miserable sobs.

Children, elderly, men, women, sad, despairing, hoarse and meek.

All of them welled with misery and hopelessness, as if the future had ended, their journey had come to an end and with nothing in sight ahead. In the darkness, love and hope no longer existed, just as courage had long dissipated—all that was left was to wander in infinite darkness, lost and anguished for all eternity.

Joshua breathed a long sigh. He knew what he was hearing.

Those were the misery of worlds, the anguish of all life.

Those were the elegies of races and civilizations when they met their end along with their worlds, the tears they shed as their names vanished from the mortal realm.

Those were the remains of a world, the ashes of Flame, nations long perished—in other words, the voice of an Evil God from the Chaos.