Soul of Searing Steel

Four gods, standing guard on different seal anchor points respectively. When they did so, one could clearly feel that the surging Nether River began to calm as if being stopped.

The four seals were equal to four dams that filtered every portion of Chaotic force and world fragments. With the Seven Gods completely controlling the external anchor points, the unknown Evil God would lose its external source of power and stimulation, and would require decades awaken even if it was not killed. But in the end, for an Evil God of such scale, the difference between a thousand and a hundred years was not too huge—like the Steel Python of Stellaris, which needed a few days just to focus its attention.

But it was not known how long the seven gods could hold on.

After Yolanda left to suppress the fourth seal, the fifth to leave was the God of Life.

The mysterious deity which hid every aspect of Its appearance beneath a veil remained ever enigmatic. It shook its head at the fifth seal core anchor point on the other side of the Nether River, and muttered to itself regretfully, “It’s difficult for a collective consciousness to develop civilization. Life itself lives to survive, and the survivability of collective wills was truly powerful. They would never have the drive or interest to improve their own lives, to see the greater world.”

“But there are times when happy beasts keeping to themselves on a planet would live in greater leisure and safety compared to those that became civilization, and turned their eyes to the boundless Void and universe.”

On the edge of another Nether River branch was an atypical planet unlike any other ever seen, for it was the remains of a creature.

It was a being as large as a star and was had the form of a planet. Thousand-meter thick glaciers had frozen upon its surface, cooled out of any moisture discharged from its body. Beneath the glaciers were mountainous scars and orifices, with countless wondrous living organs spread out in orderly patterns over the shell of the planet, shaping a massive runic circle.

It was hard to imagine that a planetary lifeform was not born that huge, but instead was born as an individual into a society of collective organisms less than the size of a planet. How much time would it have to develop and be nurtured, how many planets it had to ingest and how many journeys it had to take that it could obtain its present miraculous form? Its size, its every organ and runic patterns were true tales and epics of their own.

But now, it was all meaningless. The creature itself had perished, and the collective creature that had once devoured stars and wandered the Void is a planetary corpse, along with their body and lairs. If there was a sun in that world, new creatures might grow over its remains in perhaps ten million years.

Nevertheless, this world had no sun, for it too had perished—the war between Order and Chaos had long since extinguished all future and hope, reducing it to an Abyss of despair.

The God of Life did not say anything else. It hence left and arrive upon the remains of the planet lifeform. As pure white radiance shone, gears-like seal core formations were activated—when the anchor point was determined, the black hole at the center of the world shone, and the massive volumes of Chaos were converted into fuel, thrown into its accretion disk and changed into radiating flow.

The God of Life’s power was so great that it did not turn into any sacred crest or recite holy words. It did not even have to gesture or speak, for with its mere presence, its divine power would achieve what other gods need to do with their full might. Between breaths, the fifth seal shone in white radiance, spilling dazzling living radiance so catching that even Joshua was slightly taken aback.

“So powerful… No, the only deity with a singular divine title is just that special—I should have expected that.”

Only those with great power could stand alone. Otherwise they would not be worshipped, but a discriminated aberrant.

The God of Life also gifted Joshua with a divine speck. It was an object that detonates divine power in dire moments, and while Joshua carried the blessings of seven gods—eight, including the Pentashade Dragon God, he was not a deity himself and hence could not energize the miraculous aspect of that divine power. He could only use it as protection, with the actual form of those divine powers activating partially if Joshua was in danger.

Still, the warrior exclaimed softly when he accepted the God of Life’s blessing: it was not an inanimate object that the superior being had left him with, but a white, plump and living cocoon wrapped in silk.

Though unusual, it was certainly something a God of Life would do. Hence, Joshua pocketed the cocoon, and continued ahead.

They were now at the lowest layer of the Abyss, more than nine hundred levels below. There was no longer light, nor could the amount of world fragments could be determined—after all, only Abysses assigned with levels are complete, while incomplete world fragments such as the sealing core anchor points the other gods now guarded were not counted as Abysses.

Even as they advanced, there were fewer Abysses while world fragments increased. It was likely that the distance to be covered over the last hundred Abysses was further than the distance between the sixth hundredth and the ninth hundredth Abysses.

Then, it was Ezerg’s turn to leave.

The God of Conservation and Reformation had stayed silent throughout, saying nothing much.

“Hey, young man.”

The God of Conservation and Reformation, who assumed a dwarf’s appearance spoke the common tongue with an accented tone. He was much more human, one aspect that clearly seprates himself from the other gods. In return, Joshua turned to him, listening intently to what he would say after being called.

It was a remarkable surprise.

“To be frank, much of my memories had come back from this journey.”

The stout dwarven god spoke forthrightly without idle chatter. “That rascal the Sage is probably afraid that we would be corrupted—in the end, time changes everything, not even True Gods. That is why so many rules and restraints are enforced upon us, with our memories reduced to a form that only remains sealed until we approach certain things.”

The information in that line alone was sensational, but Ezerg, unconcerned with the gaping Joshua, drew out a smoking pipe out of nowhere and put it into his mouth, before mouthing murkily, his hands clasped behind his back. “Since some bleeding five or six thousand years, he never made clear his plans to us, including his idiot disciples… dragged away from their coffins and used after death—no rest even for the dead.”

With those words, the dwarf turned toward the quiet God of Might and then to Joshua. His steel-grey eyes were not actually as emotional as his words, but was instead a calm bewilderment as he sneered. “You seem surprised. Well, it’s fine—as his Heir, you should know that the Sage had a dozen followers initially, correct?”

“Apostles.” Joshua answered summarily. He was naturally aware, but the warrior remained surprise by Ezerg’s personality, albeit less than the details he revealed.

In truth, he had thought of such possibilities… Now, it was merely proven to be fact and was nothing too important.

“Right, Apostles—that was what the world called us then. But in truth, he had only six disciples, and the remaining are his technicians, assistants, bodyguards and those flatterers who do nothing apart from wasting rations and do nothing apart from writing anthologies for us.”

Ezerg the dwarven deity then continued, “I have most of my memories back now—I’m Ezerg the Second Apostle before becoming a god, the Eternal Holy Judge and a senior in the Sage’s early decades, his missionary and personal guard. The latter was certainly useless, but I’m not to blame since no idiot would dare to attack us.”

The dwarven god laughed at that, and look towards the other side of the Nether River.

It was another dead world, a former gathering place filled with raging turbulences of the six elements. The mana, mixed with Chaotic energies would repel, clash and destroy each other, perpetuating a ceaseless destructive cycle. Any matter that entered would be utterly assimilated as raging elements as well.

Ezerg then spoke nostalgically, “I fought the Evil Gods and died, before being revived by his natural ability into a god. It is a long epic of trials and tribulations if I would go into detail, but it’s a pity that we don’t have the time now… Nevertheless, I’m not only myself, for after the Evil God destroyed most of my souls, even he could not resurrect it out of nothing. That bastard must have added something in place of my missing piece, and that probably applies to the other six kids as well.”

“You’re saying that the Seven Gods are all Apostles who had died after fighting the Evil Gods?”

Joshua had listened quietly, nodding slightly while narrowing his eyes. “Resurrection…” he murmured softly, “It certainly is the Authority that the Sage first grasped. I just never imagined that he could actually revive Legendary champions as well, even refining us as True Gods.”

At present, Joshua could resurrect others as well, but there are many conditions—one of which was a complete soul. Furthermore, the revived person must be inferior in power compared to Joshua, or their ability would be greatly reduced —after all, the new body would at most be Gold pinnacle.

“That’s probably it. I actually did not think so at first… What if I were a Steel Python? After all, this world appears familiar, and the other little rascals don’t look like his apostles. They kept quiet about themselves, perhaps they already suspect who they actually were, and there might be even greater secrets therein.”

“I could keep thinking about it, but I don’t want to do that now. My quest is as difficult as the others.”

Like a human, Ezerg shrugged, before clapping his hand on one of the scales over Joshua’s chest armor. His dwarven form was simply too small compared to the Giant God of Steel and could only reach that point—he turned after that, and flew towards the devastated elemental realm.

“Do your best, young man. If the day comes that you surpass the Sage for us old fools, remember to give him a good kick up his bottom.”

Steel gray divine radiance swept over the myriad-colored elemental world in the turn of an eye. That unknown realm did not actually have any sealing core anchor point, but when drawn by a great mass, the erratic six elements began to gather… Ezerg was using his divine power to forcefully create an elemental black hole in that realm of nothingness! A vortex abruptly appeared in the world which was compounded with Chaotic force and mana elements, guided by ‘Divine Reformation’, its own mass thus condensed and froze by itself!

“The Conservation of Heavens is Reformation!”

With those holy words spoken, Ezerg hence forged a new sealing core anchor point out of nothing, linking it to the other anchor points—at the speed of thought, the steel-gray light flash through the Void and built the sixth seal!

Meanwhile, the holy tome and steel chains that was held by the dwarven deities appeared in Joshua’s hand. However, the warrior realized that the sacred book was actually blank apart from the covers.

[Excessive love is poison. Unsheltered by power, whatever grand revolution and progress would be killed—but the meaning of my very existence is to protect the possibility of change.

He who wields power—watch over all life, for it’s your age from here.

Write your own story.]

“Weird geezer.”

Joshua pocketed the tome, and turned to the silent God of Might and Justice.

“Let’s go.”

The gray-haired knight said quietly, and the warrior nodded in return.

One man and one god hence journeyed towards the final frontier of the Abyss.

***

“‘Life’s’ talent is unquestionably the greatest amongst us. Centuries ago, when we were still considering how we should use our divine powers, He had already walked ahead towards the next level.”

The God of Might and Justice was speaking with a thin voice in their descent. “Of course, I was not aware that Ezerg was actually that formidable as well—his control over his power had improved exponentially, and it is profound too. Usually unnoteworthy, he could well be the greatest amongst us Seven.”

“What about you?”

Joshua turned and asked with a deep voice without any expression. “I could tell that while the divine power of the Seven Gods were generally the same, just as I saw that there are more anchor points to be controlled in outer layers, while the Chaos is more concentrated the deeper we venture—the Chaos concentration in the sixth seal is dozens of times greater than the outermost layer, and that is why the powerful God of Life and God of Conservation and Reformation were assigned there. Ah, the sixth anchor point was even corrupted to the point that it’s ruined, and repairing it would be unbelievably difficult.

“God of Might, as the subjugator of the seventh seal layer, could you actually be the most powerful amongst the Seven?”

“No.”

Zinsen, the God of Might and Justice shook his head, and actually laughed carefreely despite his rigid, grim gray-haired knight appearance. “My ability might be the weakest because my soul was heavily ruined in life that even my Mentor could not completely restore my soul. It was actually quite unlucky since I’ve even forgotten my former name, only that I’m one of the Sage’s Apostles… Still, that was fine, since I could focus as the God of Might and Justice of Starfall.”

“Do you understand why I’m directed to the seventh layer, Radcliffe?”

At that, they gray-haired god lifted his brow slightly. “I’m dying.”

Joshua said nothing in return.

In the past, to subjugate Mycroft the Steel Python, over dozens of deities and hundreds of Legendary champions had turned themselves into the seal that holds the Mother of All after it was almost completely corrupted by Chaos. The gods also exerted their full power to use the Infinite Horizon as a hammer, binding the Steel Python in the World Inner.

That battle had been quiet and far less exciting than the war between many Legends and foreign intruders, but it was far more dangerous. Zinsen Himself was forced to use the upper limits of His power at the time, and was hence eroded by Root of the Multiverse as he assumed the path of divine demise.

Was He weak? Certainly not, for there are no weak amongst the Seven. Still, perhaps to ensure that He would complete the seal, He use just a little more force.

And with that, His fate was sealed.

Zinsen was right. He was dying.

Even now, Joshua could sense the grey-haired god’s power kept rising, expanding and strengthening, just as His will was being assimilated by the Root of Multiverse. It may be the power of the Initial Flame, a near limitless power that slowly replaced the God Himself.

He would soon return to the Root, a divine death that was theoretically eternal and unending.

***

They had now distanced themselves from the God of Conservation and Reformation’s luminous domain, arriving at the Depths of the Abyss that was closest to the Abyssal Paradise.

There were no longer any signs of Abysses here. all was wild darkness, and the Nether River was nothing but countless turbid particles, world fragments, and Chaos energies. The negative energy that was as abundant as the sea on higher levels were now rubbery and viscous.

Eight veins of divine light appeared around Giant God of Steel, purifying the thick Chaos around him. For His part, the God of Might and Justice’s divine power was darker than black, and all Chaotic energies that approached Him were dominated by Him in return, hence storming and nullifying other Chaos energies.

“As you can see, the outer sealing core points remained, but the damage is worse the further we venture. Not even the shape of a world exists here, where we are closest to the Abyssal Paradise—I could not even use the mass of worlds to create an anchor point.”

It was time for parting. Zinsen strolled toward the depths of the darkness, the grey-haired knight drawing a divine longsword from his hip. It spilled unstoppable black divine force that surged like a stream as soon as it was unsheathed, cutting a long vein of vacuum in the Nether River.

At that moment, Joshua remembered a time long past.

When he was still Supreme and combined with Brandon to attack the remains of the Evil God of Air back in Moldova, he once heard the tired words of a knight in that ancient lab where it had been sealed, and the final swing of his sword.

It was the same keen edge, shining and sharp even after a thousand years, able to cut worlds and dimensions apart… nearly identical to the divine longsword that the God of Might and Justice now wields!

Beyond that, there were many other memories concerning him… The man who spoke forthrightly into the Sage’s face that he would conquer other worlds with the Multiverse Sacrificial Grounds… all memories began to assemble.

“He who once repelled the Evil God of Air and slit off its tentacles… Seated beneath the Sage, you are the Third Apos—”

Understanding that, Joshua’s expression twitched before he frowned, as if intent on saying something. However, the gray-haired knight shook his head, his back still facing him, gesturing to the warrior that he did not have to continue.

“I am not the Third Apostle of the Glorious Era. Forget all that you have seen, for I am the God of Might and Justice of Starfall.”

With that, Zinsen’s human form began to turn hollow, while the black flames behind him turned a blazed, radiating boundless light.

As the boundless black divine power shone, the black halo that was double the size of stars behind him exerted divine Order, dominating the inexhaustive negative energies and world fragments in the Nether River. All was its raw materials, and soon a ring of halation formed around the ring—all negative energy was at once cleansed and converted, the sign of ‘Divine Power Corruption’ triggered by divine power upon that planet.

In the instant that the sacred crest of the Black Halo materialized, Joshua seemed to hear the main branch of the Nether River crying out, as if unable to hold on.

Craaa—aaack!!

Black divine force blazed, and every world fragment and Chaos energy that was approaching the Abyssal Paradise from beneath the depths of the Nether River began to throw themselves wildly towards the blaze of the Black Halo, as if it was a massive celestial mass absorbing nebula. The sight itself resembled moths diving at flames, or perhaps rivers rushing to the seas.

Even Joshua could sense a completely different profound power was forcing its control over all world fragments and Chaos energies in the Nether River, cascading toward the sacred crest that Zinsen had turned into. Dark chunks of continental shards, pieces of stars and nebula ashes that wafted away after worlds perished were darting upstream as black divine power condensed, with gear-like godly power gathering around—it was the seal runes that could only be found around anchor points!

Instead of mimicking the God of Conservation and Reformation in directing the energy and mass of an elemental realm to reshape a seal anchor point, Zinsen was using Creation to conjure a core anchor point out of nothing with his own divine power!

“Unlike the others who are saying goodbyes, I’m saying farewell.”

At the heart of the black halo and the blazing divine flame, an illusory human figure smiled. On His forehead, the ring of runes on His forehead began to spread and crumble, with divine power even more profound cascading out of the other side of the Multiverse’s Root without end!

“Joshua van Radcliffe—Legendary warrior, witness the power that a god meeting His end could unleash!”

Zinsen’s figure hence stood at the center of the Nether River, lifting its divine blade up high before slashing it towards the Nether River itself. In that instant, a blinding edge broke the world, with godlike thunder rumbling amidst the corpses of worlds, callously warping dimensional constructs. Even so, that single cut had slit apart the Nether River where Zinsen stood from the other six seals!

He had cut down the Nether River to temporarily sever the galaxy’s network that cycles life and death—from here on out, before the Nether River reverts to its previous state, the unknown Evil God would not be able to replenish its energies from the Nether River!

And with that single cut, the human form of the God of Might and Justice at once dissipated into nothingness, leaving the Black Halo to glint in the Nether River.

A faint echo then resounded in the Void; a voice of immeasurable dignity and majesty.

“Unilluminated Justice needs Might’s perpetuation.”

[Civilization needs ruling, a judge, an arbiter—a vile person. Civilization needs fairness, kindness, and someone to determine good and bad, right and wrong.

Civilization needs justice. Justice, however, would not make itself known, just as everyone’s justice was different. Justice is not Order, but the thousands of varying Chaos held by thousands.

Only by power could Order be maintained, and only by power could Chaotic justice become rules of Order.

Therefore.

Order is power, and power is Justice.]

The Black Halo that hung at the depths of the Nether River absorbed the infinite world fragments and Chaos energies. It kept expanding and contracting, and soon, dimensional distortion began to turn ever profound around the Halo. Meanwhile, the black fire that burns at its center stared at the depths of the Abyss and where the former Vortex of Creation had been as if a single eye, without regret but with resolve.

“I call upon justice…”

Definitive, final sacred words were spoken.

“…in the name of absolute might and equality!”

Divine light unfurled.

Black godly radiance began to extend. The world remains that were closest to the Abyssal Paradise were covered by the seventh section of divine light.

And extinguished.

The Nether River, once dark and turbid was suddenly clear.

All darkness and Chaos, along with the ashes after worlds perished were completely drawn into the celestial body that was utterly assimilated and hung at the center of the Nether River, one which distorted the dimensions itself and simply could not be seen with the naked eye. At the very heart of the massive seal was a dark star that had eternally descended into an event horizon, with the accretion disk of the Chaos surging wildly like that single slash which had cut apart the Nether River.

The planetary form of finality—a black hole—became the seventh sealing core anchor point.

It was the endgame of Starfall’s God of Might and Justice as He burnt to his last.

***

The Giant God of Steel looked up at the seventh anchor point. He closed his eyes, and arched his back slightly in respect.

Striding towards finality, singing triumphantly in the face of death.

What was there to say as a warrior?

There was no need for a memorial for carrying out His ideals was the best offering. There was no need for reminiscing, for His duty was with him.

Joshua opened his eyes, turned and left, continuing forward towards the bottom of the Abyss.

The temporarily severed Nether River no longer surged, but was calm as the sea. There was still boundless darkness river ahead, and the divine radiance behind him could only illuminate his way for a brief distance.

He would have to tread into the endless shadows ahead.

But it was nothing worth fearing.

Now alone, what lay in front of Joshua was the darkness that all Chaos in the galaxy had combined to become.

And that place was the darkest Abyss.