Soul of Searing Steel

In that lightning brief instant, a thought suddenly flashed through Joshua’s mind.

Myself notwithstanding, throughout the entire Mycroft Continent, perhaps only Pope Igor could face that demon in direct battle.

Although it resembled hubris, it was nothing but the truth. It was not to say that Joshua believed that his ability had reached a threshold that outclassed every other Legendary on the Mycroft Continent and was only next to Igor’s, but merely pointing towards the issue of combat style.

Whenever the Thousand-Eyed Demon General before his eyes attacked, it relied purely upon brute strength. Its monumental body that was several hundred meters long and its ray magic had the power to instantly flatten a city and turn entire mountain ranges into oceans of fire. Helm was truly a machine of destruction, even the Steel giant—Joshua’s combat form had no way of subjugating it in terms of pure strength in a melee, and could only secure some pre-emptive chances through technique.

Furthermore, Helm could also use formidable spells similar to high-energy gamma rays with destructive power that exceeds the main cannon of some space battleship that existed in the warrior’s past life. In this world, apart from Pope Igor who could turn into light, only Joshua who understood the source of the opponent’s power and disperse the highly-concentrated electrons through Steel strength could withstand it directly, though the warrior had part of his body damage even so. If a typical city had been struck instead, it would have been utterly vaporized in an instant.

Before that demon, anything including defense barriers or fortress walls were virtually nonexistent, while its monumental size and innate abilities would make armies appear useless. It was a monster that could only be resisted by skilled people, for even champions must be prudent against that high-energy gamma-ray that could destroy worlds or they would be slain swiftly with relative ease.

If the Sixth Abyss invaded like it did in the pre-existence, unless the incarnation of gods descended, only Joshua who was also focused on combat and destruction could hold it back. But if Helm opted for guerilla warfare and quickly ran after laying waste to a city, everyone would be helpless against it.

Fortunately , Joshua thought. Now that Helm was in a life-and-death struggle against him, it was the best chance to kill it now.

It was only something he could do.

Therefore, having made his choice, Joshua ignored the bone lances that was coming for his back and kept throwing out heavy punches that pummeled down on the Demon General’s body. His emotionless expression now turned ferocious, a display of the savagery, thrill, and delight that appeared simultaneously.

As his enemy—the Demon General, in this very moment, was worth killing at the risk of his life!

Electric currents buzzed along his wrist and feasts. Just as Helm bellowed and threw its body at Joshua, the two Steel fists that whirled at such high speeds they became powerful spirals broke through the psionic body in an instant like a drill.

Joshua’s hands then rampantly churned in Helm’s body, as if searching for something—he had already seen through the source of the Demon General’s infinite power. It was the greatest inborn gift for beholders that had evolved to its upper limit, and was also why it could eject searing ion rays from every part of its body—the demon itself was a giant nuclear reactor! While the warrior searched for the energy core with two arms, the other lifted high overhead to smash down like huge axes and utterly shatter the core!

Hisss!

But as Joshua foraged at full capacity for Helm’s energy core, the Thousand-Eyed Python bellowed in rage, having sensed that the two arms that contained immense destructive power were rampantly leveling his body composition. Before long, it would not be able to maintain its Legendary true form due to the collapse of its physical construct.

Thus, with a rumbling serpentine hiss, every eye over Helm’s body opened simultaneously. With the transference of searing forces, streaks of rays began to slit Joshua’s flesh from thousands of differing angles, while the flying bone lances stabbed towards the Steel giant’s body through the windstorm!

Both sides abandoned all defenses synchronously, focused solely upon damaging their opponent’s body and vitals. In an instant, with churning movements from the giant’s arms, magma fissures surfaced over the upper half of the Thousand-Eyed Python’s body—the demon was unable to control the energy that began to well out of those wounds. On the other hand, the Steel giant’s own body was perforated by the bone lances that came, wrapped in whistling wind, and pierced into what resembled a sieve, the exploding energy rays cutting through the warrior’s skin as if the sharpest of edges, causing the high-energy blood and flesh to come bursting out from within.

And yet, unlike the panicked and wrathful Helm, Joshua who appeared much more hurt showed a pleased smile instead.

“Found it!”

With a decisive cry, Joshua’s body visibly shrunk at once before rapidly expanding. Every bone spear hence darted out to the opposite direction, with scorching magma-like liquid spraying out like a pump—ignoring the damage, the warrior linked his full body power and mustered every iota of it to his four arms. His spirit and will focused to the extreme, animating the energy furnace that was throbbing within his body and unfurled a terrible presence, even throwing the gravity in the surrounding land into disarray, levitating a multitude of broken stones to orbit around him like satellites.

Joshua had become the god of destruction incarnate for a split second. In the very next moment, two of the Steel giant’s hands that were lifted high above swung down at the very center of the Thousand-Eyed Python—the move itself was like a mountain-splitting axe, crashing down with a boom that made ‘sound’ itself lose meaning!

The rapidly descending knifehand strike tore through the air, spreading such blazing calefaction it melted all stone and soil around it—indeed, its sheer force could break hills or set lakes and seas aflame. Circles of pale silver radiance then started to cover the tip of Joshua’s hand, flashing an indiscernible light. Steel Strength that had the power of a little hill at the tiniest amount was now turned into an invincible steel blade to utterly split the enemy apart!

The energy matter distorted even space itself. After striking out with that blow, the silver radiance that shrouded Joshua’s body vanished abruptly as if he had shrunk entirely.

Inversely, every single one of Helm’s defenses was broken through.

The searing rays that shot towards him split!

The psionic body that came blocking in defense was diced apart!

Cutting down everything from dust to wind to flame and light, such was the lethal fist, the White Dwarf Knifehand!

The flesh could never measure up to weapons, while weapons are tools human used to supplement their full body power, and yet that principle was utterly dismantled by this single strike of Joshua’s! What weapon could overcome Steel Strength condensed to the very limit? And what shield was sturdier than the composition of a White Dwarf?

Naturally, there was no such thing. Which was why when the Steel giant stumbled a few steps back after that all-out strike, drawing out its arms that was soaked full with scorching ion fluids from Helm’s body along the way, the Demon General’s psionic body that had been slit into three parts began to slowly erode and combusted spontaneously.

“How is that possible? How did you see through my—”

Though the eyes over its entire body were beginning to close slowly, Helm was not dead yet. Thousand-Eyed Pythons was wriggling its body with much difficulty and retreating in an opposite direction away from Joshua, it could never have imagined that someone could discern its vital point inside their first battle—the core energy formation located at the center of its body.

The mana core that could bombard with a horrific force attained from a mysterious metal that was discovered in an ancient civilization had been formed with thousands of high-energy rays that shot out from countless runes. Although its full power blast did not pulverize Joshua at once, the runic formation on the outer lagers began to break all at once—temporarily unable to restrain the energies that had gone berserk within it, the giant python could only flee in panic while combusting.

While the giant serpent’s movements appeared slow it was actually very agile. As its colossal body squirmed over the ground it left lines of blue plasma and golden magma. Within a single breath, the Demon General had fled several miles away.

And would Joshua sit and watch as the maimed enemy left like that? However, just as he wanted to step out in pursuit a sense of perilous danger surged inwardly, and so the warrior bit down on the exhaustion that was pouring in everywhere over his body and forcefully controlled his body. In an instant, the tremendous Steel body began to shrink and reverted to the human size which the warrior usually used. An immeasurably thin layer of Steel radiance then began to glint over Joshua’s human form, with a set of black armor soon forming over his robust body.

Joshua then rose into the air without delay afterward, heading rapidly towards where the black dragon retreated instead of chasing after the giant snake demon that was about to vanish from the edge of his vision.

He moved so swiftly there was no hint of a pause.

Seconds later, in the skies at the edge over the horizon, two decisively different yet almost equally powerful violent presences appeared!

“Who dares to invade the Sixth Abyss?!”

A profound voice bellowed as if from another world, the unfathomably stern Chaos energy breaking through space and descending upon the Lava Inferno out of thin air. And with that roar of incomprehensible rage, a gargantuan Burning Eye appeared over the grand construction [The Tear Valley Fortress] that was built from black steel, bones, and volcanic stone in the center of the Sixth Abyss.

The power of the [King of All Demons] hence materialized out of nothing. The crimson vertical pupil that contained scents of corruption and malevolence glinted coldly and callously as its gaze swept through the central region of the Sixth Abyss, easily discovering Helm that was healing itself while fleeing, and the vertical pupil tightened slightly.

Goliath, its true form of which was still undergoing a blood war against other Demon Generals and Abyssal Lords had sent a part of itself back to the Sixth Abyss. It was precisely because it felt an unprecedented earthquake at the central plains of the Abyss, and any form of seismic shift had stopped seven thousand years ago. It therefore could only be a natural phenomenon caused by the full-power exchange between Monarchs, and it had thought that perhaps Helm was drawn into a difficult fight.

Never could it guessed that the Thousand-Eyed Demon would actually be defeated on home soil!

Waves of invisible energy wafted off the Burning Eye and streamed towards Helm through an invisible path to help it recover. Nevertheless, the Abyssal Lord that just returned home did not scan the other end of the battlefield to search for the whereabouts of that anonymous Monarch—Goliath was staring at the edge of the horizon with utmost vigilance, for a huge crest of the Pentashade Dragons was materializing over the clouds in that spot!

Sanctity, Chaos, Order, Evil, Freedom—five varying and clashing presence exploded in the sky at the same time while a long draconic roar resounded in tandem. After the crest finally solidified completely, a ripple from a genuine god started to spread across the Sixth Abyss. An indistinct hymn started to play over the world, foretelling that a deity’s gaze had been cast here!

“I feel it—dragon-slayer of the Mycroft Continent. Daring to come into the Abyss, you’ve found your own doom!”