Soul of Searing Steel

Joshua, having met both Yolanda and the Million Steel Dragon, found that both deities who appeared in ‘goddess’ form were very different. If the former was a rule of queenly regality, the latter was a kind elderly that treats her patron race with compassion.

Her words were soft yet steady, affecting others with the impression that she would never be surprised by anything.

And yet, what the Dragon God said now left Joshua and Zero Three definitively in shock.

“The ruins of an entire galaxy?!”

Even Joshua gaped at the word, his eyes bulging, much less Zero Three’s projection which sat on his shoulder—the Artificial Intelligence girl was so shocked her frame glitched, her wings and hair sticking together like a failed projection assignment made by a third-year runic student.

Still, Joshua had in reality thought at once about ‘it’s so difficult to restore one world’s Order… how many souls have to be burned to restore an entire galaxy?’, instead of ‘how was an entire galaxy destroyed’ when he learned of the existence of an entire galaxy’s ruins.

But soon, he turned away from that wrong line of thought that came from his spirit deviation, and hence acknowledge the terror of what the Metal Dragon God revealed.

“Hold on, Your Majesty.”

His brow tightening, Joshua reached out, and silver halation shrouded the position of god and man. They were now above Fort Pioneer, and while most observation equipment could not catch a glimpse of the Metal Dragon God who existed on a higher plane of existence, the warrior still isolated them just in case.

After all, no information about such an important matter that exists on a galactic scale should be allowed to leak out without having ascertained the circumstances.

“Now, you can go in to detail.

With that done, Joshua paused for a moment, tidying the connection between the events before speaking. “Your Majesty, you are saying that your Steel Python power is a legacy inherited from the Metal Dragon God of the last generation. Then, your exchange with Great Khan the Starherder had given you information about your homeworld, a place lost for dozens of thousands of years, or perhaps even beyond a hundred thousand years. That information, however, claims that your homeworld had long since been ruined, its entire galaxy destroyed as well. Correct?”

“Indeed.”

The Metal Dragon God swayed its tail, calmly saying, “In truth, the Astral Dragons were not divided between Pentashade and Metal at the beginning, and we had a single deity, the earliest ‘Million Steel Dragon God’ who presided over our race several terms before my own. They inherited the homeworld’s ‘Great Will’ and ‘Fire and Steel Strength’, while the Pentashade Dragon God itself was developed upon the soil of Mycroft, a god that represented legacies of Extraordinary power.”

The Great Will that the Metal Dragon God refers to are Steel Pythons. It was the precise reason that the Metal Dragons never cared for mundane matters and focused solely on finding their way home, or other primitive worlds much more suitable for their race. For their part, the Pentashade Dragons exhausted all efforts to claim humans’ place as the dominant race after adapting to the Extraordinary powers in Mycroft.

In other words, the former had simply treated Mycroft as a temporary lodging and behaved like guests in a host’s residence, while the latter behaved as if Mycroft was their home… it was ironic that the former refrained from recklessness, staying prudent because they know that it was not their world. Meanwhile, the latter—the self-appointed main characters, simply lay waste to Mycroft a thousand times over.

On another note, Joshua found Fire Strength explainable since he had heard others speaking about it—if Steel Strength was the first supernatural power born after the Initial Flame incinerated Chaos and symbolized all actual substance over the Multiverse, Fire Strength was the power that originates directly from the Initial Flame, the Root of the Multiverse and all its beings and all its wisdom.

From a certain point of view, the divine power of every god was Fire Strength, with Steel Python and Earth Gods being the only exceptions since they were divine beings of origin. Their power was a combination of Steel and Fire, both complementing each other into an exceedingly formidable strength that surpasses other deities.

According to the Metal Dragon God’s following explanation, source of the Million Steel Dragon God’s power was the Grand Will of their homeworld. In the distant past where their world was invaded by immeasurably powerful enemies. After the Astral Dragons were forced to abandon their home planet and flee into the Void, the World Will divided its Origin Power, imbued it into the bodies of several powerful Astral Dragon leaders.

Therefore, the Origin Power of Fire and Steel was what molded the Metal Dragon God into a special lifeform that resembled Steel Pythons.

“Count Radcliffe, you are the King of Searing Souls, the Sage’s Heir. The ancient legacy of the Dragon Gods and power of the Steel Python of our homeworld had urged me to leave and return, to visit our home—I would feast my eyes upon its remains once even if it had long since been destroyed. I am going immediately, which is why I want to some ancient data of the Astral Dragons and the Multiverse map, charted during the journeys of Metal Dragon Gods across different generations as they seek our old home.”

At that, the Million Steel Dragon released a long stream of data to Joshua. With Zero Three’s aid, Joshua swiftly handled it and realized that the first half were primitive star maps of the Multiverse several millennia ago!

It was not the star map that present-day Mycroft had drawn, but more ancient than the maps recorded in the Unified Archives, written hundreds of thousand years ago when the Astral Dragons were at the height of their civilization!

Beyond that, the star maps of the latter half were identical to those in the Unified Archives, with certain peculiar planetary regions marked at the latest data. Those regions were either primitive worlds that were very suitable for living or possess substantial precious resources—and some were not even found in Mycroft’s galaxy!

Joshua looked up, a troubled expression on his face… the earlier star maps could be considered the relics of the Astral Dragons, but the later scrambled data was clearly obtained after the later generations of Dragon Gods charted the Void.

Because he was aware of the time seal, Joshua knew that under the condition that all dimensions were distorted, charging those planetary regions were as difficult as watching the starry skies with a kaleidoscope. It would be no simple matter even though they were gods and natural heirs who possess an affinity for worlds.

Come to think of it, her silence over the years must have been spent studying the distorted galaxy day after day despite the adversity… and it was not merely the Metal Dragons either—two of the Pentashade Dragon Kings had gone missing in the galaxy of distorted time as they explored the Void.

Those data were definitely very precious, and Joshua could not ignore. Thinking carefully, he then calmly said, “Your Majesty, as you had put it—the Astral Dragons had been forced to abandon their homeworld and flee without knowing where their enemy came from… but in retrospective, those powerful enemies must have been Evil Gods.”

“I am glad that you are willing to share these information and star maps with me… but to tell the truth, you should not be telling me this alone. If the galaxy of your homeworld was destroyed by Evil Gods or other powerful entities, it is no longer a matter that concerns Astral Dragons and the Mycroft civilization— your return is not a simple matter as if a tramp returning home. It is a serious matter that involves all civilizations, species, and life in the galaxy.”

If there was indeed truly such a powerful being that had destroyed that galaxy—for example, a Chaos composite similar to the Evil God of the Death but having fully awakened, Joshua believed that it was time for the Mycroft civilization to either feign death or run. After all, as long as they are alive, hope would still exist, and there was no need to face an enemy they could not defeat head on.

Therefore, Joshua said pointedly, “I disagree with your intention to return—every Legendary champion should be informed of this matter, and you must more than a little careful even if you wish to just explore it.”

“Most importantly…”

At that, the warrior turned slightly to level a doubtful gaze at the nearby planetary region where the Starherders were encamped. “How did those nomads from another galaxy came to learn about the information about your homeworld? Could those fellows be lying to you?”

If the coordinates of the Astral Dragon’s homeworld could be found so easily, the Metal Dragon race would have found it any day over the last hundreds thousand years. There was no reason that an extraterrestrial civilization that herded Void Behemoths would so easily obtain data the Astral Dragons could not, despite exhausting all efforts.

The Million Steel Dragon shook her head gently at Joshua’s question. She seemed to have expected that the warrior would doubt that since the information was so unbelievable that even old friends would not believe in it easily.

That was also precisely why she would seek Joshua, the King of Searing Soul, instead of other Legendary champions she was more acquainted with.

“Count Radcliffe, they won’t see it. While all of them are Legendary champions as well, they are neither Soul Searer or King of Searing Souls, and especially not an individual such as you who practices Steel Strength and resembled a Steel Python—even surpassing them.”

“They won’t see it.”

With those words, the Million Steel Dragon raised her hand. A gentle Steel Strength danced from her palm and touched the Steel Strength barrier Joshua set. While Joshua did not understand it, he joined in and dispelled the barrier.

Then, he could see the pure Steel Strength that stretched out from the Metal Dragon God turned into a silver cloud that wafted towards the darkness in the Void. Then, as if ink was spreading, the silver mist began to paint a vague outline over the Void.

Controlling her own power, the Million Steel Dragon drew luminous dots upon the dark Void and soon filled the thin darkness at the edge of the galaxy in front of Fort Pioneer. Then, she turned to Joshua, saying, “Look, King of Searing Soul.”

With those words, the Steel Strength of the Dragon God suddenly shone, causing the countless silver dots and lanes to abruptly emanated bright light! Resonating with the distant, that Steel Strength caused the seemingly dark galaxy to suddenly shine with starlight conjured from the boundless power of the Dragon God!

As endless dots and lanes combined, the massive silhouette of a galaxy appeared to form, and far away beyond it was the galaxy where the Starherders once resided. Through it all, the silhouette overlapped with actual galaxies, swirling slowly, fitted together like gears—as if they were a single form in the first place.

“Look, Count Radcliffe.”

Pointing at the illusory silhouette of a galaxy, the Million Steel Dragon spoke serenely, and yet there was a hint of earnest sadness in her voice. “Is there not a long darkness between our galaxy and the Starherders’ galaxy? They had crossed that rugged darkness to reach our borders.”

The Dragon God then paused, sighed before softly saying, “Do you understand now? That darkness is not an empty Void we thought it to be. It is essentially unfathomable numbers of galaxies that had been completely devastated, their light extinguished!”