Soul of Searing Steel

“Civilization pass on knowledge while beasts pass on bloodlines. To me, the difference lies in whether a creature would pass down his firm mindset and ideals, aside from bloodlines, or would simply ask for their progeny to survive and, by chance, continue on.”

“Of course, even after saying so, creature instinct is not to be belittled. Humans would lose all motivation if they gave up on what makes them creatures, since for most living things, grand ideals and beliefs are hollow and delusional without children and legacies…those two aspects could—no, must coexist.”

“I am only able to say that because my might surpasses that.”

Two luminous forms were roaming through the dark Void, their radiance so blinding that not even the greatest star compared. All Chaos broke apart like mirages under their shine, reduced to clouds of dust wafting in vacuum.

Even billions of years later, newborn civilizations would discover the celestial illumination from fringes of distant galaxies, blessing them with peace and Order.

“I leave behind ideals and disseminate Emotion, expectant of like-minded people emerging from the millions of stars. I will leave my thoughts before I head off to die, since what good is my blood? It’s nothing more than DNA and hereditary traits, an uncomplicated composite of information.”

“If I’m willing, I could simply create countless lives akin to my own progeny with no difficulty at all, even ensuring that all of them are my children whom I share the strongest intimacies with—more than anyone else.”

“But what meaning would there be? I am neither insect, frog, nor fish. I am Joshua, human and Extraordinary individual—I don’t need boring and hypocritical bloodlines to fool myself.”

In the luminous body, the Giant God who was emanating silver radiance extended his hand and swept it across the stars before him—a whimsical wave that tore a massive gravitational storm in empty space. Like a violent storm engulfing a city, it stopped all extradimensional teleportation and psionic warmth as it engulfed a planetary system, confining the agitated Chaos spawns within as they tried to escape.

Meanwhile, a Plague Mother that was circling the Dyson Sphere of Chaos like an orbiting planet roared either instinctively or in fear. Its body emanated a fluorescent emerald color that distorted the very space around itself, carrying a force that could shatter celestial forms as it accelerated at the oncoming storm, leaving a trail of light as it charged, putting its life on the line.

And then crushed, pulverized—just like a destruction akin to heaven and earth closing upon themselves, the lifted forelimb stopped the ants falling from the skies.

“Therefore, having only bloodline passed down would never prove or create a legacy, for genes are not the only things that matter since my siblings’ children are able to resemble my own bloodline. There is only personal will and ideals, especially for an existence like myself… only legacies on the spiritual aspect can be considered so.”

***

At the edge of the second spiral arm of the Dark Galaxy in Stellaris, Joshua and the Triple Curtain were once again making a move in the first galaxy infected by Evil Gods.

A while ago, when the Ultimate Virus had manifested out of nowhere, Joshua and the Triple Curtain joined forces to purge and dispel the corrupted presence moving through the worlds. Meanwhile, the Stellar Guard’s curbed firepower could finally be consolidated to launch Operation Retaliation against the Evil Gods’ spawn.

Eight percent of the Alliance’s forces—310,000 ships from over 8,500 civilizations—had gathered there. It was a steel realm that disturbed even the orbiting of planets, and they were all heading towards the depths of the Dark Galaxy where the largest lair of Chaos spawns lay. It was where the Permanent Void Anchor Points had been destroyed, but that alone only briefly interrupted the galaxy’s continuous erosion by Evil Gods and would not stop Chaos spawns from strengthening.

It is only by destroying that place and purging the Dark Galaxy from every direction that they could reduce Chaos spawns living in other zones inside Stellaris to insignificant trifles. As long as the Stellar Guard was present, they would never reinforce and obstruct the perpetuity of civilization.

Now, with the Four Emotive Fleets acting as vanguard, the main Stellar Guard armada had sliced into the second spiral arm of the Dark Galaxy and occupied hundreds of planetary points within—a number which kept growing as time passed.

Meanwhile, Joshua’s true form and the Triple Curtain’s physical form were typhoons that swept through all things as they pushed towards the frontlines. They would destroy any powerful fortresses or strongholds, slay the oversized Chaos Mothers, never pausing as they completely destroyed the scatter spawns of Chaos, leaving the remaining tasks for the troops to clean up.

“Triple Curtain, I’ve found several paths that may lead to becoming a Wise One.”

Just as they had cleared a path to the centermost lair, Joshua flatly revealed something that would have gotten even the greatest Legendary champions to glance sideways. “There are three to four of them, but all of them may have to be connected before I can reach it…I’m telling you about my ideas so as to repay you for providing me with all information that you possess.”

[Attention: I am listening.]

It was the sincerest reaction that an intelligent machine collective could manage.

“The first is the instincts of beasts, and the Extraordinary power closest to that path is lifeforce, which in turn represents physical changes. In fact, the frame of such powers gradually manifests upon the bodies of the innumerable fighter class of individuals over the Multiverse, and I’m simply summarizing it categorically.”

As he spoke, the simulated silver outline of a human appeared in one of the Giant God’s hand. The outline conveyed a terrified expression as if facing an indescribable danger and was about to die, but soon, in the position of the outline’s brain and flesh, a crimson light shone and filled the infinite veins of virtual muscles and circuits of energy within body and soul, instantly triggering a berserk state in the outline, revealing an intricate control of physical aspects and a level of power far surpassing its strengths before.

“To survive, it would burst out in desire, and its effect is to extract hidden limits as life and death hang in the balance for the subject, granting them wisdom and power which goes beyond common sense. If I had to describe it, it’s unbinding a lock upon the limiter of life and genes, while strong emotions burst out in full force for conflict and war and is beautifully controlled. From flesh to spirit, from profound to minute, restraints are hence broken.”

“Wouldn’t striving such power to its very limits and completely unleashing that instinctive radiance and power stand a chance against Evil Gods? By starting with lifeforce and assuming that path, the Wise One is attainable if it cannot be perfected… although I haven’t completed the theory there.”

Dispelling the outline from his hand, Joshua did not name that path as he himself did not completely understand if it. Still, it was not important because the ‘chance’ itself was precious enough.

“Still, that’s a single person’s path,” the Giant God said calmly and continued forward alongside the Triple Curtain in space. “An excessively independent mind will isolate oneself from other minds to form an unusually stubborn standpoint.”

“Developing too much personal strength that it unleashes body and soul by itself would reduce a profound person into a beast…alone, regardless of the person’s power, acceptance and fusion would never be achieved—that is, to understand the strength of others and the differences from themselves, hence gathering every living being’s intelligence—and it is nothing more than that as long as it does not transcend the boundary between Legends and the Wise Ones.”

“Therefore, no champion at present has mastered the Extraordinary ability on the second path called ‘divine power’. It remains in its original state, and to perfectly utilize it might be the fastest way to ascend as Wise Ones, no? Hahaha. It may be a shortcut, but not one easily taken, for even naturally born deities would ultimately fall to their own power.”

“However, True Gods, which are a divinity that requires intelligence offered by every individual in a civilization, simultaneously withstand two different—or indeed contrasting—aspects. Such an essence of acceptance and integration is perhaps the first step to mastering divine power, and if the Glorious Era or the transcendents had not been destroyed then and kept studying divinity, they might have used it as a foothold to enter the threshold of the Wise Ones.”

[Comprehension: Yes…you’re right…I sense that it is indeed a possibility! A brand-new possibility! In fact, if one could master all divinities without being consumed, the individual would be a Wise One of Divine and possess full divine power!]

[Wonder: Perhaps the fated self-destruction of the gods was due to prematurely reaching the ultimate essence of that primitive power…]

It was not as if the Triple Curtains did not make projections from or studied the data regarding divine power that the Creators left in their million-year history. However, being a psionic collective, it would have to tear a rift into divinity that was a billion times larger than individual beings to use divine power, because its volume would never have obtained enough amounts of divine power for research.

Even if not unachievable, the risks were too great: divine powers almost certainly guaranteed self-ruin, and as a Life Preservation Sequence for Stellaris, the Triple Curtain would not have disregarded its ‘instincts’ to act on something which would have impeded its watch. After all, with his power, the sheer shockwave from his divine ruin could have caused irreversible harm to Stellaris.

That was when Joshua changed topics then with a vague smile. “However, neither the violence of instinct nor fusion of divine power are complete paths…being able to grasp instinct and desire to accept the unknown and differences are not enough, for if one cannot look ahead and at the skies, they will always drown in the swamp of yesterday. Likewise, if they do not move forward to create new possibilities, the most prosperous of civilizations and individuals would see ruin.

[Consideration: It sounds like your paths are completely different from the Evil Gods’ and Chaos’.]

At that, even the Triple Curtain was thoughtful.

[Conclusion: It does resemble a path you would think of after fighting the Evil Gods all along.]

“Perhaps, since Evil Gods symbolize the old eternal, which is completely different from myself who lives in the present and looks towards the future.”

Joshua thought nothing of being interrupted, and extended his hand to pulverize a few warping Chaos spawns before continuing, “Those remnants of civilizations that are long-dead but did not receive eternal race are now celestial Chaos, and certainly would not have instinct to survive since they have long since perished. They have fused into an evil that is neither conscious nor intelligent, nor needing to comprehend unknowns and mutual relationships. In the end, they are eternal and naturally would not have to pursue change and chance in ‘tomorrow’ and the ‘future’, instead perpetually staying in the ‘yesterday’, ruling the eternally-unchanging ‘past’.”

“That is why, for the third path, I…”

[Interruption: However, the true enemy of Stellaris is not the Evil Gods, but instead the superior lifeform which you have named the Sublimator Virus. Though it is Pestilence that we have fought all along, it is not actually the Evil God of Pestilence.]

For some reason, the Triple Curtain interrupted Joshua again, who remained impassive as the collective serenely transmitted its message.

[Caution: Neither mention nor disseminate it. You only need to know that for yourself, Radcliffe. At the very least, you must not be so generous in this dark Multiverse, for behind its shroud are beings neither you nor I can fight now, right?]

[Question: So, now, tell me the true identity of that enemy.]

“…Indeed, it is no Evil God.”

Joshua was momentarily silent at the cautioning, taking a long look at the mixed shapes of lights that he only knew as the essence of Psi.

“It is a beast,” he then softly said, “the most powerful beast.”

Once, when Joshua surveyed the Multiverse, he believed that the Void Behemoths were the most powerful beasts within, with the Undying Bird born from the explosion of a supernova being the ultimate specimen.

But he was wrong.

If beasts were simply conscious beings born to survive and breed so that their self or information of it would last…if there was such a type of beast which bred and lived to secure knowledge, refinement, and empowerment to the point that nothing could stop it from living or multiplying…

Then, such a beast would be most powerful and horrific.

With that thought, Joshua looked up. His gaze penetrated all things to seemingly see beyond the Stellaris World Barrier at the powerful existence behind it.

On the other side, as endless threads inscribed with countless runes and supernatural forces slipped through the Void, a great spell formation like no other was being weaved to cover the barrier of Stellaris.

“Thoughts and self are illusions, for it is a puppet of instincts…no, at this stage, it is instincts incarnate!”

“The desire to survive, explore, and rule…it is the desire called existence. If one were to say that this world has a superpower known as existence, it would be the one that ventures furthest on that path.”

So powerful that even Gods were merely tools at its disposal.

Joshua’s true form clenched all four fists, with his clone outside Stellaris who was preparing their plan doing the same. He could feel the waves of pure desire emanating from that matchless powerful foe.

Wanting to advance.

Wanting to survive.

Wanting empowerment.

Wanting resistance.

Wanting reproduction.

Wanting dominance.

Wanting all there is across the worlds and have them revolve around itself, thereby becoming a complete entity.

Beyond Stellaris, the weaved spell was activated. It presented itself in irregular ovals as if one world had been spread and all its substance crafted into an imperfect spider web full of diverse layers. It was as massive as a world itself, and within, runes that attached to each other like gears rotated, exuding great power that moved even the surge of the Great Mana Tide.

It began to descend, approaching to touch the outer shell of Stellaris—the barrier that separated Void and worlds within. Once cracking insignificantly even when Joshua’s true form unleashed his full power and the radiant cocoon hammered it, the spell gradually coaxed the Barrier into letting down its guard, melting it as if the spell had gotten the Barrier to acknowledge it as part of itself.

At that instant, an exceedingly powerful spatial ripple appeared at the center of the galaxy, accompanied by multiple sub-signals that were comparatively insignificant despite being equally powerful—nonetheless, the Chaos spawns which were fleeing from other regions in Stellaris became agitated. Despite having no emotion or logic, the abominations trembled and squirmed as if conveying subservience towards the origin of self, the source of purpose.

In the Chaotic planetary system at the center of several Dark Galaxies, one could see booming energy as one Permanent Void Portal was opened after another. Unusually active dimensional turbulences reverberated from it as if some colossus was about to arrive!

“That sensation…an Evil God?!”

Joshua and the Triple Curtain, who realized at once that something was amiss, looked towards the heart of the Dark Galaxy. The warrior’s face was somber as he knew that such a day was fated, which was why he attacked deliberately to secure the opportunity.

Meanwhile, as Stellaris saw an invasion like no other by Void presences and a hostile otherworld entity, every Ultimate Entity and even the ordinary lifeforms around them over the entire Multiverse felt a spiritual murmur. It was terror entrenched into their very blood as a superior lifeform’s unrivalled might unfurled in a mysterious way.

Even in Moldavia within the faraway world of Mycroft, the Legendary champion Roland who was helping the Liege’s Residence convey orders acutely sensed the stirring, indescribable and instinctive alertness.

Over the Multiverse where the Ultimate Virus reached, every superior lifeform which had transcended Supreme and Legendary champions all felt that same tension and watchfulness.

Demi-Saint, Ultimate Refinement Composite.

The existence that controlled multiple Evil Gods as it roamed towards the edge of the Great Mana Tide and the location of the Initial Flame was one that wrought disaster and decimation.

Having ensured that Stellaris contained objects that piqued its curiosity and desire, it advanced at full force in its invasion.

It was roaring, and its voice thundered across a thousand worlds.