Soul of Searing Steel

In Stellaris, within that dazzling tide of radiance that destroyed all things in its wake, was the single 'Eye of the Storm' that appeared to remarkably peaceful as two forces mutually clashed and decimated.

A sign of consciousness belonging to of the God of Steel had parted away from the heart of the battlefield and manifested in the peaceful dimensions. He had already felt 'himself', as a clone, being already independent from the will of his own main body, separated away from other consciousness. Meanwhile, the distorted space, as well as the erratic temporal aspect, left him unable to link himself to his true form for the moment.

Joshua calmly looked around himself. Around the fields of dimensional fragments which he found himself in, vast storms of energy were erupting inside the World Barrier of Stellaris. Silver-blue Steel Strength and psionic energy were mutually colliding and vanquishing against the darkness of dominated space, causing shattering thunderous echoes even in the dimensions of the Void… and the dimensional fragments were smacked between those two hedging streams of energy, achieving a perfect equilibrium that brought about the present serenity.

And the consciousness subservient to that stream, which was this very clone, had therefore detached from it and arrived at its present standing.

"If that's the case…then the other guy must be the same."

Nodding thoughtfully, Joshua's four-armed God of Steel form turned his head to look towards another corner amidst the dimensional fragments.

As he had expected, a faint piece of the Ultimate Sublimator Collective's consciousness which had survived as a tiny cocoon thread was present.

Without any hesitation, Joshua charged forward and attacked, charging silver-colored Steel Strength in front of his fists—the fact that he was a clone did not actually hamper him from fighting his enemies. After all, if one considered that mutual understanding and communication between people depended upon common ground, then the common ground that Joshua shared with all other forms was probably that.

Even so, a single layer of alternate dimension had spread itself as the Ultimate Sublimator Collective blocked that blow. Unexpectedly, however, it did not retaliate, but instead started to talk.

"You don't have to continue fighting anymore."

It was unusually calm—the tone it used to dissuade Joshua from attacking was actually a gently admonishing one. "I have already failed. Are you not able to tell? My true form itself is still being decimated beyond without stopping."

Joshua looked up. As he had imagined, he saw that the dark alternate dimension was continuously breaking apart in the tidal waves of energy while the very consciousness of the Ultimate Sublimator Collective was being decimated. Both inside and outside of Stellaris, under the heavy pincer attack by the Steel Python, the Triple Curtain, Joshua himself, Joshua's clone, and the Takurian Grand Patriarch, the Ultimate Sublimator Collective that was caught at the center was being consumed and grinded into pieces in the most violent and unimaginable manner by the silver core black hole, which had been detonated as a bomb.

It was as if an elephant had been thrown into a cement mixer after having its stomach stuffed—now, the Ultimate Sublimator Collective was breaking apart from inside to outside, dying without any chance of resuscitation.

"…What are you trying to do?"

Knowing that, Joshua turned towards the clone of the Ultimate Sublimator Collective once more, noticing that pieces of its body were falling away from the clone as it crumbled like its true form outside Stellaris. "Do you wish to delay your death?" the warrior asked then, narrowing his eyes.

"Nothing much. I just wish to speak to you and exchange information about the Masterminds—those who are behind the Evil Gods—as well as about the Initial Flame that is moving further away and the Fountainhead of the Great Mana Tide."

The cocoon thread was twitching, its radiance dimming like a candle in the wind. Be that as it may, the Beast of Selfishness was not showing any pathetic attempts that living creatures often showed as they struggled against impending doom, but remaining calm and composed, even appearing far more rational than any 'civilized individual'.

"Your supermassive world that is positioned on the latter path on the road of return is unimaginably close to both the Initial Flame and the Fountainhead. That is why you must have information that I am not privy to, just as I have information you would never have gotten your hands on."

"That is all I hope to barter with."

***

Joshua was silent. He did not ask something like 'why bother, you're already dead'—after thinking about it, he realized that he would probably have done the same thing if he were in the same situation.

After all, what could he change if he raged out, venting his frustrations and go amok? In his final moments, he would certainly only desire answers to the major questions in his head—even if he could not really obtain an answer, it was fine to be able to just take a single step towards it.

"…What was your final goal?"

Breathing a sigh, Joshua looked up to star at the darkening cocoon thread, saying quietly, "You have given up on eternal life to come here and to invade this place, plundering and fighting without regard for any life…what are you actually fighting for? I am simply unable to communicate with you if I don't know that."

"I will break down every single chain."

The Ultimate Sublimator Collective replied with clarity. "Everything that is in this world: all fundamental principles, every other Extraordinary power, every single Evil God, and even that which lurk behind the existence of the Evil Gods…my goal is to be the sublime, to transcend above everything."

"Or…at the very least, I want to live in a way in which I desire without having anything or any existence stop me."

It was an earnest reply.

Joshua remembered the light of the Initial Flame which had shone from within the body of the Ultimate Sublimator Collective and knew that those words were, in fact, the truth. If it had truly been able to sublimate and nurture the frame of an entire Multiverse within its own body, it would certainly have transcended above all things in the world. At that point, every single fundamental principle in the world, the Extraordinary abilities of every other Wise One, and not even the Evil Gods and the Masterminds that controlled them would be able to repress it.

If the Wise Ones were pioneers that had marked their own paths upon the entire Multiverse, creating novel fundamental principles and Extraordinary abilities personally…then, what the Ultimate Sublimator Collective had been seeking to achieve was to personally create an entire world of its own, with itself becoming that very world itself.

An absolute egotism.

"The Evil Gods had tried to destroy me, and so I shall fight against all Evil Gods and destroy every single one of them."

The Ultimate Sublimator Collective did not believe that its own opinion was unusual at all, as that was its logic. "Therefore, I had assimilated and consumed countless Evil Gods and civilizations, thereby learning the ancient secrets of the Multiverse. There was certainly information that left me utterly astonished."

"And one of those secrets is that the Multiverse is essentially very young."

"Every corner of the Multiverse is filled with temporal traps, to the that the point that the temporal frame of reference for each galaxy is completely different. There are fast-traveling galaxies for which dozens of thousands of years past mean billions of years past for other galaxies. Moreover, the seemingly vast dark Void between different cosmos are filled with the remains of other cosmos—more than trillions, or indeed endless years would have passed for them by now, to the point that even white dwarves would have cooled, or supermassive black holes having completely vaporized."

"On the other hand, at the origin point from where the Multiverse moved and where all life had come to be, for the presence known as the Initial Flame and the temporal frame of reference around it, the Multiverse has probably just been born for one or two hundred million years…it is such a great time gap that it has left time in the Multiverse itself utterly erratic or indeed near death. It is also why I have mentioned that we are the last beings who could explore the Initial Flame."

Joshua nodded in return. What the Ultimate Sublimator Collective had just said was almost identical to his previous theories, but unlike himself, the Ultimate Sublimator Collective had actually used its own physical body to journey and witness the many different cosmos. "I agree to the fact that is Multiverse is actually very young and that it is being accelerated to its eventual death," he said after some thought, "but what puzzles me is the birth of the Wise Ones."

"Their existence, in reality, complements the multi-faceted nature of the Multiverse. From a certain point of view, they have stabilized the Multiverse itself, prolonged its lifespan, and hastened its maturity and completion—because the intent of the Wise Ones and the Masterminds are completely contradictory, which is why I have tried reverse theorizing their objectives."

"What they had probably wanted is the Initial Flame in its earliest and most primitive state before it had created the other worlds in the Multiverse. That is why they would have wanted the destruction of everything in the Multiverse save for the Initial Flame itself, because it perhaps makes it convenient for them to achieve their own ends."

"Meanwhile, the Wise Ones are actually incarnation of powers that change the Multiverse itself, and it was a sort of change that would affect what the Masterminds were doing."

It was clear that the Ultimate Sublimator Collective was aware of the existence of the Wise Ones, having already uncovered the reality regarding the essence of Extraordinary powers over its long life. Therefore, it thoughtfully said, "Just like a primitive machine which has substantial improvement programs written into it, the machine itself could operate easier—but to those who wanted a 'blank' machine, any sort of change was completely unacceptable."

After some thought, Joshua also revealed information about the Wise One of the Arcane he had obtained from the Knowers, as well as the fact that Stellaris had been the home world of the Wise One of Psi—there was no need to hold back, now that things had came to this, with the Ultimate Sublimator Collective itself revealing what it knew as well.

Then, noticing the Ultimate Sublimator Collective's change in tone, Joshua frowned slightly and asked, "How would you have changed the Multiverse if you had become a Wise One?"

"I have never thought about that question."

The cocoon said calmly as it stopped moving. "This power is mine alone. Why should I share it with others? Ah… wait."

It was only then that the Beast of Selfishness realized Joshua's meaning. "I see. Why would I share it with others? Is that all there is to it? I do not believe that it is so simple…"

Joshua stared at the Ultimate Sublimator Collective then—at the very next instant, the outer zone of the field of dimensional fragments was beginning to break apart.

Outside Stellaris, the profound tides of energy were also destroying the dark alternate space.

In other words, the true form of the Ultimate Sublimator Collective was about to perish completely, leaving not much time for its clones.

Noticing that, the Ultimate Sublimator Collective immediately accelerated the rate of thought exchanging, saying, "All Evil Gods are tools of the Masterminds. When civilizations reaching certain conditions were destroyed, it was an equivalent to being stagnated to an eternity of death."

"I simply know that such eternity could actually be reversed and dismantled, but the question still stands: why would the Masterminds design the Evil Gods? I do not understand. They would not have to go through such trouble if they only wanted to destroy civilizations using their corpses. After all, even I myself could create the remnant souls of civilizations."

Joshua nodded quietly. Indeed, the eternity of Evil Gods could be nullified by reversing it, which was the case with the Evil God of Wither—by using its attributes, the Mycroft civilization had almost permanently subjugated the Evil God of Death, even retrogressively turning it into a supermassive singular realm.

As for the remnant souls of civilization, it was even simpler—others aside, was his Soul Pool not the same thing? If necessary, the collective psionic wills of perished civilizations within Stellaris would be the same…

It would be enough as long as they massacred sufficient numbers.

"To resist the Evil Gods and those who are behind them, the Evil Gods' essence that was permanently stagnated has to be understood. It is only through understanding that their plans could be ruined—I myself believe you would not sit and watch as they succeeded."

Though the Ultimate Sublimator Collective had delivered almost all of its research information about the Evil Gods and their permanence to Joshua, it remained calm as if having no sentiment at all. "I, the Beast of Selfishness, the Ultimate Sublimator Collective, have failed. You on the hand, maniac of civilization, just might not face the same fate."

"…this does not feel like what a Beast of Selfishness would do."

Quietly receiving the information, it was only after some time had passed that Joshua stared at the other and quietly muttered, "And surprisingly, you are not fabricating this information nor holding anything back…that is what I simply cannot imagine."

With things having come to what they were now, whether there were holes in the research information was something that could be identified at the very first glance. Neither side would be able to fool the other.

"Selfish? Are you saying that all of this is being selfish? But of course."

The cocoon thread laughed at Joshua's suspicion as it danced away. "What do you believe selfishness to be, hurting others without gaining anything yourself? Claiming everything without leaving a thing for the others? Preventing others from gaining boons by any means necessary?"

"That is just wrong, because it would not be selfishness but 'vileness'—to be selfish means to have everything go according to one's own will."

"Selfishness could be anything: destroying or aiding civilizations, harming others to profit, or sacrificing oneself unconditionally—like you, maniac without a name. Did you not believe that you would look noble when you helped other civilizations and fought me alongside them? You are simply satiating your own ambitions, and you had certainly never once thought about how troubled or how miserable your friends of family would be if you were dead. Is that not so?"

"That is being selfish too, for selfishness is to satisfy personal desires. In that respect, all life is selfish."

The Ultimate Sublimator Collective thus said, even laughing softly, "As for my own selfishness, it is over purpose."

"It is the purpose of why I was born unto this world and why I would die in turn, including the purpose of why I have lived to this very moment. To fulfill all of those purposes has been my first and greatest rule, and the fact that I would never change and compromise is selfishness. Even if I should die and perish into the Void, I would certainly leave something. Everything has to do with me, whether I would give my enemy (you) pain, or help others (you) succeed."

"I myself wished it to be so, and not for anyone. That, is selfishness—others simply do not have the right to criticize all that I do, because all that I have done is not at all to conform to what others would think."

"…That is actually legacy." Joshua growled; his brows wrinkled tightly. "Do you still not understand that?"

"That is what legacies are in the very first place—that is the reality of whatever you would leave behind, regardless of whether you like it. You would have obtained purpose, while others could in turn stand upon your shoulders or your corpse to look further away."

The clone of the Ultimate Sublimator Collective, however, did not answer.

Its light had darkened to the boundaries of possibility—it had dissipated.

***

Outside Stellaris, the tidal waves of energy were still surging, breaking down the bulk of dark alternate space. Even that single bundle of Initial Flame, which had been heavily protected, crumbled in the surging lightly, and was finally brushed away from the vicinity of Stellaris.

Meanwhile, the white-hot Great Mana Tide that roared as it streaked away carried off most of the shockwaves from the black hole explosions, even as it disintegrated the completely crumbling corpse of the Ultimate Sublimator Collective, taking it away as its waves of energy were being spread throughout the Multiverse—like the withered tree or the dead beast, those remains would become nourishment for other civilizations.

In fact, the light of the Great Mana Tide was brightening by several folds, as almost infinite power temporarily strengthened the energy in the Great Mana Tide, even as its Fountainhead. One would imagine that for the worlds amongst the stars existing at the downstream portion of the Great Mana Tide, it would have been another occasion of a surge of the phenomenon.

In death, regardless how selfish the creature has been, its corpse would only ever become the soil in which the next generation grows upon.

Amidst the fragmented but serene dimensional shards that was about to completely break apart, Joshua's clone heaved a deep sigh.

"The Multiverse is so dark…"

Whether it was civilizations, individuals, selfless Wise Ones, or Beasts of Selfishness, the final goal of all that was alive was to fight against the Darkness behind it all—and yet, everyone knew nothing of it, nor would anyone be aware of what the future would be.

If there was any tribulations, it could probably be attributed to 'birth' itself, with the claims that it was the one genuine tribulation. Since the conception of all life in the Multiverse, all of them would cry at the agony of birth, because what they would face is the fact that civilizations would fall like tears in the rain, and the Multiverse, which was as dark as the depths of the oceans.

Even if there were countless individuals would place their hopes upon tomorrow, it remained ever profoundly dark like the abyss…that which was known as the Abyss of Tomorrow—how much light, how many lives, and how many civilizations would it consume, so that it could finally became a level path that could be treaded upon?

The dimensional fragments were destroyed as Joshua's own clone vanished, following the tide of energy as it gathered all information into his true form.

In the dawn where the conflict began, the clones of the combatants had been born into the peaceful fields of dimensional fragments.

In the night when the conflict concluded, the clones of the combatants perished amidst the erratic tide of the Void.

At the same time, within the gush of the Great Mana Tide nearby Stellaris, the Ultimate Sublimator Collective's final trace of consciousness slowly diminished.

"I…"

In the spirit realm which was becoming disrupted, a symbol resembling an eye appeared…it was the label that the Robel civilization had left in the Sublimator Virus when they created it, their most prided creation.

"I…would become the sublime…"

Such was the purpose for which it was born, to transcend above everything and sublimate all that there was…at this very moment, it could actually see the delighted gaze of the Robel researcher who had fused with the Virus for an untold period of time.

"And I…"

It could see every living body which had assimilated as a part of itself, thereby achieving sublimation together. There had been those who were wrathful, those who resisted, and those who despaired, or indeed those who were hopeful. There were also who were pathetic, those who were willing, those who resigned themselves to that fate, and those who were joyous.

That was the ambition and meaning of its existence.

"I… am me…also we…but it is all me…"

"As long as I become one with the Multiverse… I and we would cease to be…"

Hence, no longer existent…with no person or thing to stop us. We would have lived the way we wanted.

It is a pity that I have failed.

In the final moments of the entity which lived for itself, it was amusement that welled out from the depths of the Ultimate Sublimator Collective's consciousness. 

"Death… it is not as if it is not a form of refinement… At least, from here onwards, I, we would no longer be controlled. We are no longer tools at anyone's disposal…"

It smiled, giving up on every form of struggle and allowing its living will to depart from the dark Multiverse.

Be that as it may, there is still regret.

In the last split second of the entity's life, its 'eye' which was about to crumbled, turned towards that faraway distance place: the Initial Flame and the Fountainhead of the Great Mana Tide.

It looked to the other side of the future.

Born in pain.

Dying, and returning to the future.

Such was the blinding dawn of being born unto the world, and the peaceful death into the night.

To the defeated, everything has ended.

"O all that is alive…that is why I curse that none of you will ever reach peace."

The final attack was unleashed.

Thus, the Demi Saint and the Beast of Ego perished.

***

At the same time, the consciousness of Joshua's own true form, which had almost burnt itself out, had fallen into darkness as well.

…warmth… serenity…

He felt that he was about to sleep as well.

If sleep was temporary death, he just might enjoy a peaceful eternal sleep on this day.

…comfort…peace…

And yet, that which was either a blessing or a curse ultimately, eternally prevented Joshua from sleeping off so quietly.

Thus, under the final violently agonizing and tormenting blow from the Ultimate Sublimator Collective, his self-consciousness, which would resist even a fallen foe and instincts honed from battle, began to reassemble from pieces of himself into a single body.

Within the turbulence of the dimensional storm and the blast of the surging Great Mana Tide in the Void, the final attack of his enemy freed Joshua from a long and distant nightmare.

"Awaken."

He seemed to have heard such a call.

That was why Joshua opened his eyes.

And awakened.