Soul of Searing Steel

As silver-blue luminous shrouds of psionic energies slowly spread amidst the vastness of the universe, the Midgardian Third Colony Fleet slowly retreated.

Following hours of calibrations and cooldown, the overloaded psionic engines of the ships were once again usable. With streaks of warp tethering rays shooting out, setup for hundreds of one-dimensional psionic tracks headed for the Sea God Star was completed.

On the bridge of the [Shatterer]—the flagship of the Third Fleet, the middle-aged fleet commander stared somberly at the psionic portal that was slowly opening before him. The pale blue pre-warp light filled every corner of the ship while also illuminating the unpleasant expression of the commander's prematurely aging face.

The damage following their exchange of fire with the Void aberrations along with their full-power shots following the arrival of allied Void Beings had damaged more than half of the main Third Fleet forces, and with almost one-third of ship engines forced to be written off. After the crewmembers of the decrepit ships had been rescued urgently, the largely crippled Third Fleet was forced to return to the Sea God Star.

"Could… Could we believe in them?" An old Midgardian—the first mate of the Flagship who appeared fatigued due to overexertion was muttering to himself beside the commander. Unlike the commander who had yellowed leaves over his head, this Midgardian had not one leaf left in his crown, with only black branches left. He watched the rear of the monitors, where the two Void Beings stood amidst the Void of the universe and stared at the distant psionic vortex, his gaze filled with doubt and puzzlement.

"The weak have no grounds for choice." The commander replied calmly. "We could only believe."

Within the countless controls and monitors on the bridge, the pair appeared to be 3D character models that were recently created as they slowly rotated while many related data were being broadcasted.

Codename Giant God. An adult male whose humanoid form is ferocious. Physical endurance—capable of withstanding close range psionic light spheres, immeasurable heat endurance, unscathed by the psionic cage formed by the combined might of a million Void aberrations, hands that could tear apart Colossal-class Void aberration external shells that were comparable to battleship armor.

Speed—could typically move at three thousandths of one lightspeed or above, current recorded top speed—above five thousandths of one lightspeed.

Power—could shake free of the Void swarm psionic cage. Could brandish a five-kilometer class aberration as a weapon. Due to his position amidst the universe and hence making calculations impossible, but the shockwaves of his pure force within the atmosphere would definitely cause apocalyptic calamity to ecosystem.

Codename Stopper. A middle-aged man whose humanoid form is ordinary. Physical endurance—not displayed, but hypothesis is nullification of physical attacks. Enemy psionic light sphere could not even penetrate his external energy shield.

Speed—could undergo consecutive short-distance dimensional warping. Inestimable.

Power—suspected ability of freezing space-time, capable of instantly entrapping everything within twelve thousand meters.

Information regarding Nostradamus and Joshua were being stated one after the other as the sight in which they fought were observed and collected by the Third Fleet, and sent to the Sea God Star Fortress with the old mage's permission more than an hour ago. Still, the First Mate's expression became better after he had read the data—the Void Beings who were communicative and approachable and allegedly fights under the banner of the Sage were so powerful that he could not help wanting to believe that the duo could subjugate that colossal Void Mother.

"Don't think too much. All we have to do is do our utmost." The captain said, breathing a sigh before issuing the order. "All hands of the Third Fleet—prepare for warp, destination the Sea God Star Fortress!"

Now, against that Void Mother of immeasurable size and the battered Third Fleet notwithstanding, for even if the First and Second Fleets were present they would at most contribute with just a few volleys of cannon fire in an attempt to weaken the Void Mother's energy shield. It would differ in the Sea God Star Fortress, however, for that was the ultimate weapon the Midgardians were building for the time being—a great killing machine against the Void creatures and their facility that could deal actual damage on the Void Mother.

At the commander's orders, the center of every Midgardian warship began to emit layers of flickering luminous fog. A layer of psionic dye that resembled the surface of a mirror subsequently appeared over the ships' surface, before streaks of silver-blue radiance shone and dulled as virtually all Third Fleet warship entered psionic vacuum in preparation for warp.

It was in that every moment that the flagship quaked violently and unprecedently, sending the Midgardian crew tumbling off their fleet and roll around haggardly in cabins or corridors. The commander, spared from the gaffe thanks to being seated in his command chair, agilely sensed that there was something not right with this dimensional vibration. Even if the faraway Void Mother was preparing for warp to the Beam System, it would never have affected them who were over a few Light Seconds away!

There was an issue with the psionic space!

"What happened? Why is there such an intense reaction… Turn on the psionic observation window!" He barked loudly at the crew charge. It was a young Midgardian sitting in front of the command platform who swiftly pressed on the screen, activating a psionic radar that usually was not used due to heavy energy consumption.

In the very next moment, they all saw legions of Void aberrations.

Between the world and the sub-space created by psionic energies, the Midgardians saw just as they prepared to warp that the borders of the Beam System were now crowded by the aberration armies with units of tens of thousands that were warping to them discreetly—they did not open psionic doorways and merely pause in psionic space, awaiting their Mother to arrive for one swift moment of ambush.

Uncountable blackness was also visibly and utterly encircling the pair of Void Beings, and precisely due to their tremendous mass, the spatiality oscillation and the Third Fleet's warp was thus affected, leading to great dimensional quaking.

"Those monsters—are better than us in manipulating psionic energies?!" The First Mate exclaimed loudly. "The technique of pausing for long durations in Psionic Space had not been successful in the Central Technical Labs in the home planet—where did they learn that?!"

"No. The development was actually successful," the captain mumbled in reply as he looked on. "However, pausing for long durations in Psionic Space would cause irreversible distortions to life essence, which is why the news was never announced for safety reasons. The Void aberrations on the other hand would not be concerned about their lives… They are nothing but cannon fodder, expendable tools."

Suddenly, the captain slapped his chair handle heavily and lowered his voice, and the angry bellow almost escaped through his gritted teeth. "We—must send word—to the Void beings!"

But even if his mouth was agape and on the brink of saying it, he did not know how to put it to words—it was true that they must caution the two Void beings about ambushes, but which warship should stop warping? It was a mission of death, and warships were not those two Void beings that carried the courage to fight against the million-aberration tide. Inside every ship were thousands of crews, and once they paused their task of warping, it was a one-way road to their deaths.

At that moment, the old Midgardian Azra plucked away his breathing aid and left his sickbed.

He was an Omega-class psionic. Even without Psionic Radars, he could sense the dense swarm of hiding aberrations that were as innumerable as the stars lurking in the Psionic Space. He naturally also knew the thoughts and entanglement of the fleet commander who was on the bridge. In fact, the aged Midgardian was acquainted with the young five-hundred years old captain and commander of the fleet—Sina, a fellow who remained too indecisive. There is no compassion permitted in war, and the life of millions is but a number on the battlefield.

There must be no delay in decision making.

"Moreover, there's no need to sacrifice that many."

Using his psionic powers, Azra was in full combat uniform again in seconds, before he appeared on the warship hangar. The former ace of the army, a powerful psionic who once retired out of anger could not help remembering the distant past: it had been one difficult exploration mission after another too and extraordinarily similar situation as it was then. Against the blindsiding of countless otherworld natives, to protect the scout team that was retreating in panic, the army must sacrifice a little party who would bait the attacks of the natives.

Azra's party had been chosen. It was not the reason for his rage since he was a soldier—sacrifice was duty. Instead, he was enraged by the fact that as an Omega psionic, he alone was enough to hold back the natives. His teammates were not important and had no reason to undergo that fatal mission, but for insurance, the higher-ups arranged for the whole team to engage the natives. It all ended up with the Omega psionic returning during extraction, while all his teammates fell on that unfamiliar planet.

Arriving beside his starfighter, Azra entered the password and began its activation sequence with his clearance that was only next to the highest authority. Then, he got into the pilot's seat, and psionically commanded for the hangar to open up.

"This time, I myself am enough."

The aged psionic who once swore never to return to the army was now back in the fields of war. He peacefully sensed what remained of his vigor and his gradually intensifying psionic ability, before smiling and pressing on the activation button of the fighter.

The hangar was illuminated in incomparable silver light at once.

"Depart! For the last time!"

"Commander!"

On the bridge, the fleet commander named Sina had gritted his teeth as he decided to send a comparably finely operating warship for the cautioning mission from whence there was no return. Be that as it may, the crewmember who was in charge of observing the Window abruptly exclaimed before he could give the word.

"An Omega-class energy burst is detected in warship serial number 171! A starfighter has left its hangar and the psionic warp space, and reverted to real space!"

"What?!"

The commander stood up in shock and quickly shifted the monitor. Even so, there was only a flickering powerful silver psionic beam in the monitor—the craft had already returned to real space and was going through several consecutive short-distance warps, covering the distance of one light second in a few normal seconds and approached the two Void beings. Despite being separated by a screen, Sina could almost smell the scorched scent of the overloaded engine, while the psionic core in his body also sensed the stabbing pains through synchrony. His throat rolled a little as if wanting to say something after seeing a familiar figure, but only uttered a sigh after a few seconds.

"Fleet, prepare for warp!"

Slowly returning to his command seat, the middle-aged commander spoke with an unusually peaceful voice. "We cannot let sacrifices go to waste."

With torrents of humming and silver-blue undulations of light, hundreds of warships from the Third Fleet vanished in warp from the Psionic Space in the very next instant.

Meanwhile, back in space, the psionic starfighter that was burning all of its depth had arrived at the location where Joshua and the others were through rapid and consecutive warps.

Sensing the atypical dimensional ripples, the warrior and elderly mage quickly turned to look at the direction of the Third Fleet only to find one lone starfighter. It was moving extra-dimensionally, closing in on them from several light seconds away at half lightspeed. Joshua could even heart the crumbling sounds of the crystal psionic engine, but somehow, that starfighter was still going through short-distance warps which in turn made the warrior move closer unwittingly.

Soon, Joshua arrived before the starfighter that had stopped warping. The tremendous silhouette of a Steel giant appeared behind him, his four arms gently catching the floating craft.

Joshua frowned. He could no longer sense any presence of life within.

Why would the Midgardians send such a powerful psionic to meet us without any regard for his life? Even as Joshua considered the mystery, a silver shade formed entirely of psionic energy wafted out of the fighter that had lost all mobility and arrived before the warrior.

"Soul?"

Blinking, Joshua reached out to touch the silver soul, and in the very second contact was made, the silver mirage of a smiling old Midgardian turned in a huge sheet of psionic particles that the warrior drew into his body.

Almost the same time, Joshua promptly realized why the Midgardians had sent someone so urgently to them.

"Ambush?!"

Unaware why himself would so suddenly draw in his soul, Joshua stared blankly for a moment before subsequently finding the soul of the slumbering old Midgardian in the soul depths of his spiritual sea. When he found that he had not vanished, the warrior quickly switched his train of thought, clenching his fist at the shocking information.

"Both Nostradamus and I did not even notice!"

Joshua swiftly moved to inform the old mage. In truth, it was not an abnormal phenomenon—despite his construction of a psionic engine in his own body, he was ultimately a normal human that never trained in the psionic arts. It was hence natural that he could not sense something which warships required psionic radar for, to find the lurking swarm inside sub-space.

And some distance away, Nostradamus looked on as Joshua unwittingly accepted the Midgardian's soul. His expression complicated, his lips parted slightly as he uttered a few scattered words.

"Divinity… Awakening…"

But soon, when Joshua returned to their original positions and conveyed the message, Nostradamus had no time to be troubled over those surplus matters.

"That's not good!" The elderly mage's expression shifted at once after learning about the ambush. "Does that mean we're completely surrounded by even more aberrations? To think that those minions of Chaos have such intelligence!"

"Apart from that, I'm guessing that the reason why the Void Mother has not warped here was not for clearing the Midgardian Void traps, but merely wanted to delay us so that the ambush is complete!"

Nevertheless, the spiritual commune between the two Legendary champions was so fast that in less than one-tenth of a second, the two had already decided on the upcoming countermeasures. After all, when an ambush was longer an ambush, all skullduggery would be meaningless—one might even become one's own trap!

At the shores of another star system, the gargantuan Void Mother squirmed its dozen mountainous breeding sacs and ejected tens of thousands of Void aberrations. The newborns would then wait for a few hours in space for their shells to harden before leaping to warp towards the edge of the Beam System and bolster the ranks of the ambushing armies.

In the face of the two formidable otherworld beings, even the Void Mother did not dare to be careless. That was why it planned to have its millions of progenies to act as vanguard and tide to consume the strength of those other otherworld beings, before finally appearing and utterly vanquishing them.

Be that as it may, a cluster of the swarm that had been warping suddenly emitted a supremely anguished spiritual undulation. Then, the warp passageway started to rapidly distort, transform, crushing every single one of the innumerable Void creatures into fragments that could not even be counted as minced meat and dumping it back to real space. At the same time, the Void Mother sensed that it had lost contact with a portion the infinite Void creatures that were already lurking in the distance, while the remnants were swiftly diminishing in numbers too.

'—They were discovered?!'

The Void Mother's thoughts were simple. The use behind its arrival was not this, which was why, having no higher intelligence and sensing that its ambush was exposed, the Void Mother knew at once that it no longer had to stay at the other end of the dimensions and delay the two superior otherworld beings, and should instead enter the fight formally!

Thus, by the edge of the Beam System at the other end of space, the two Legendary champions who were displaying their power as they collectively purged all Void aberrations hiding within sub-space notice a reverberating ripple appeared in the dimensional passageway that was so huge it could swallow a moon. The dark-green psionic vortex began to rapidly twist, sink, and then, a cold, profound and emotionless will that wanted to devour and assimilating everything while embodying incomparable might appeared on this side of the universe!

'Pfft!'

A huge tentacle penetrated the psionic vortex and reached out from sub-space. In no time at all, as multifarious anemone-like tentacles that were each longer than ten kilometers broke apart space and floated around, emanating green psionic luminescence.

'Boom!'

Another noise resounded. The psionic vortex appeared about to be pulled art even as it was kept open by the tentacles, and began to slowly expand until it could accommodate the Void Mother's true form along with its tremendous gravity field just as it traversed here!

There was a 'pop' sound in the following second akin to something being broken through. The very echo ignores the vacuum and unfurled across the edge of the star system. A savage planet-size eye that could vaguely be seen from inside the vortex, flickering in dark green radiance and whirling in the other end of the dimensions.

Psionic energy was condensing at the edge of another star system, as incalculable forces were compressed and focused. Space itself began to tremble as the warp commences—the Void Mother was vibrating dimensional coordinates, intending to cross the distance of several light years and reach the dinner table it had reserved!

However, what welcomed it was no friendly greeting.

"Disgusting thing."

In the dark universe, golden-red brilliance was unleashed like a sun, shining through all space around it. Joshua, in four-armed giant combat form once again, stared at the Void Mother that was prepared to warp her from some distance away, and clenched his four fists. Incandescent white heat shot out from his elbows, like a rocket preparing for an unparalleled burst of power before liftoff.

The warrior's eyes were glinting with silver light as he called out the name of his companion sonorously.

"Nostradamus!"

"Ready!"

The blue color humanoid formed from endless dimensional rifts replied spiritually. Extending his arms that resembled fog and spreading his fingers, four giant dimensional rifts instantaneously appeared in front of Joshua and beside the Void Mother's tentacles on the other end of the system.

Joshua laughed loudly once at the sight of the of the long dimensional passageway that steps through the distance of a few light seconds. At breakneck speeds, the Nuclear Heart Furnace before his chest unleashed substantial energies that caused even space to slightly bend. Simultaneously, the warrior's back, shoulders, elbows, and arms respectively ejected supremely heated steam as hot as corona at a displacement that could cause a typhoon if it had been within an atmosphere or a natural calamity. Still, at this moment, they were not just to push Joshua's fist so that they became an even more destructive tool—by the next instant, chain reactions commenced around all four of the warrior's fists, and without hesitation, he brandished them and jabbed out towards the dimensional rift before him!

Right away, as infinite mass particles began to shrink, collide and fuse under the drive of majestic energies. The awe-inspiring might called fusion was hence grasped by Joshua, and struck out heavily!

"Go—back!"

A speck of light shone and immediately flooded a considerable part of the planetary system. On the other end of the dimensional rift, before light from the other end could reach that place, a heavy fist that exceeded lightspeed and bypassed all space directly struck true on the Void Mother's tentacles, bursting out clusters of blinding irradiations comparable to supernovas!

Nuclear Fusion Lightspeed Punch!