Soul of Searing Steel

At full strength, Joshua's form was still that of a Giant God who could easily crushed planets—even if it was a clone.

Small worlds before him were ping-pong balls to be toyed with between his fingers. Even mid-sized worlds were merely huts that were just a little wider, leaving large worlds and the Void as the only stage where he could unleash his full power.

Indeed, the Void beyond Stellaris was one such perfect stage: the borderless World Barrier was an ink-green vast wasteland, the world sediments drawn to it being black mist that filled the land and distinctly separated from the white surge of the Great Mana Tide.

And in that stage of distinct hues, the silver Giant God of Steel was struggling to get up, his four arms raised to repel the crushing force of a falling world.

A tentacle larger than a world and emanating endless radiance could be seen lifting a blank world, like a palm stretching out its five fingers and crashing down with unstoppable momentum. It was as if mountains would have collapsed and the skies would have split apart at once, and in the warrior's eyes, there was only that ever-enlarging world that appeared intent on capturing him.

"Who?!"

Joshua had wanted to yell in rage to have his attacker reveal themselves, but had no chance to speak in the face of such threat—the Stellaris World Barrier was slightly dented where the tentacle landed, rippling with waves and momentum greater than the surging Great Mana Tide, denying Joshua any time or effort to think.

At that very moment, he was only able to do whatever he could to keep his four arms raised and hold off the oncoming world. Like a titan who held the skies aloft, he steadily repelled his foe's assault.

Boom!!!

In the instant that world and warrior collided, a heaven-splitting echo resounded as monstrous tides of momentum that moved worlds stirred concentric ripples upon the Stellaris World Barrier. Then, a deep rift appeared over the superworld obstacle that was allegedly 'invincible' and unbreakable even by Evil Gods, spiderweb cracks spreading over the ink-green plains as the unfathomable darkness was revealed.

But even before the shockwaves diminished, the radiant tentacle rose up once again as if attacking again—but upon elevation and on the verge of swinging down, there were the sounds of glass shattering.

It was the world bound within the tentacle—it shattered abruptly into countless Steel Shards in the Void.

As if stunned, the massive tentacle paused for a moment to consider what had happened, but Joshua's counterattack had already reached it in the very next instant.

A silver star had shot out from the center of the crack on the World Barrier.

At that moment when the tentacle touched the World Barrier, the four-armed God of Steel had deliberately rushed into its 'embrace'. Then, with a curious cry from the radiant tentacle in the next second, a silver streak of light had swept past—the 'palm' of the radiant tentacle that was holding the world was cut off from its very root and falling into Stellaris.

At the same time, the silver star darted at the Void without stopping, pulling a wide gap away from Stellaris. Once Joshua was certain that he was a safe distance away from his unknown foe, he immediately turned, vigilantly scanning the spot where he had been.

Then, he saw it—a colossal cocoon which emanated the same pure white radiance of the Great Mana Tide. It hovered in the Void, most of its body anchored within the surge of the Great Mana Tide concealing its presence. Even Joshua himself would never have noticed it if he had not seen it with his own eyes.

Meanwhile, the other smaller part of the cocoon consisted of several other flailing tentacles hanging by the Void on the edge of Stellaris—or indeed threads that were tangled. By now, the tentacle Joshua severed had already regenerated but no longer held a world. The other three tentacles still held worlds, emanating a presence that stunned even Joshua.

The presence of Chaos!

"Evil God!"

And not just one!

Nonetheless, Joshua's four arms now held different weapons: greatsword of gravity, giant axe of Steel strength, a lance of Emotional power, and a Warhammer manifested from pure singularity. Fully armed, the warrior who was covered in black heavy armor stared at the worlds within the tentacles to find Evil Gods of Chaos bound inside, and his expression changed slightly. Still, he quickly recovered and furrowed his brows, staring at the faraway radiant cocoon which had recovered as well, both of them hence maintaining an extended standoff.

"What monster is that? Using worlds as tools to bind multiple Evil Gods?!"

When Joshua had withstood the tentacle's hammering from high above, Joshua felt as if he was a Steel Particle placed on an awl, the awl being the Stellaris World Barrier, while the world held in the radiant tentacle was the hammer tip. In that one moment, Joshua felt as if his clone would have been crushed—it was assuredly annoying to have been blindsided in a place where he felt in control, but the power and deftness of his enemy was unquestionable as well.

Still, neither his enemy nor Joshua himself had imagined that the particle hammered proved sturdier than both hammer and awl. It was the same as having two pieces of bricks crush one particle of a starship armor alloy—that which would have broken was certainly not the Steel Particle. Hence, cracks split over the Stellaris World Barrier while the tentacle world shattered directly, but the Steel Particle remained unscathed, even using the momentum to alleviate the brunt of the blow. Eventually, Joshua had recovered and managed to severe the tip of one tentacle even before his foe recovered.

When he was attacked, Joshua had already categorized the radiant cocoon as an enemy far more powerful than any he had ever encountered. Now, it was clear that the adversary was simply unbelievably powerful, because not even Imperator Amos or the Grand Patriarch of the Takur Ruin Cult had the ability to subjugate multiple Evil Gods! Moreover, his foe had merely revealed its tentacles, which was clearly a tiny part of its bulk form hidden in the Mana Tide. There must have been more tentacles that bound more Evil Gods, or a powerful being like himself!

"So, trying to capture me as if I'm at the class of Evil Gods? How flattering." Joshua murmured, brandishing his lance, whereas Emotional power formed a barrier that kept him away from the vague sense of being spied on and studied.

Using worlds to seal Evil Gods was actually a viable method, a measure that the Glorious Era had implemented to imprison the Evil God of Wither. Even so, Joshua could clearly feel that his foe did not emanate Chaos, which in turn meant that the radiant cocoon was no Evil God—all Chaotic presence were flowing from the captured Evil Gods, with some bearing scents that Joshua was especially familiar with.

Famine and Pestilence!

Those were the main forces behind the Chaos spawns in Stellaris! Even the world of Mycroft had lands sealed because of their corruption!

"Looks like this is the real culprit in the invasion of Stellaris. The abnormal movements of the spawns, as well as the ripples that allowed the Ultimate Virus to gain form must be due to his manipulation behind the scenes!"

As hundreds of ideas whirled in his mind, was Joshua not able to tell if it was his true objective in going outside Stellaris—to meet the Evil Gods 'personally'? Still, unexpectedly, he had met the Evil Gods, although he also encountered another being superior to them.

The limit of Legends? Perhaps.

The threshold of the Wise Ones? Not quite.

Even while he stood in the Void, Joshua could not be sure about the other's ability, only certain that it was of such terrific scale that the stars would have trembled and half of all species would have gone extinct if it was allowed into Stellaris.

As for its true identity…

Certain memories came to Joshua's mind. When he severed the radiant tentacle, Joshua had also retrieved a portion of the appendage. Both pointed to another scent Joshua was acquainted with.

"Could it be…"

It was an existence which was not especially distinct in his recollection, but one that he could still remember in disbelief.

"The Sublimator Virus?"

***

In the past, Joshua had come to Stellaris to aid the Midgardians, slaying the monsters that assaulted them from the stars—the spawns of Pestilence and one Legendary tier Void Mother. Joshua had obtained partial memories and information from the Void Mother within the single instant that he set its body ablaze and broke its core…in other words, details regarding the Evil God it served.

The Sublimator Virus was a viral form that modified itself independently, created by a race known as the Robelians during an unknown time in the past. It was originally designed to allow their creators, who had short lifespans, to completely evolve and thus obtain immortality and superpowers. But as the virus went out of control and obtained an independent will to rewrite its fundamental programming, the mutated Sublimator Virus consumed the Robel world and became one of the great devourers, thus roaming the Void.

Joshua had once considered it one of the Evil Gods, since it assuredly possessed the presence of one and exhibited remarkably similar behaviors. Still, it now appeared that the Chaotic presence was simply because it was dyed by the other Evil Gods—the true face that created the Void Mothers, the powerful individual which had ensnared multiple Evil Gods, was perhaps the Sublimator Virus which had refined itself countless times!

Nevertheless, the warrior was not taken aback by the fact that it had developed from the evil which consumed a world to the powerful entity it was now… because he was the same, having strengthened to his present state within a short period. Furthermore, if he had his encounters and struggles from which he gained positive returns, it would not have been surprising if that applied to others as well.

On another note, even though his clone had not been destroyed in a single strike, anyone could tell that it was simply intended to capture him alive without any aim to kill. Having gone through a thousand battles, Joshua knew the difference in the strength exerted when attempting to capture someone alive and when with killing intent, and it was not at all a factor to judge his foe's ability with.

Moreover, it was already excessive even if it had been at the level of strength for live capturing. Joshua estimated that his true form would not have been much more powerful than it was… and he was at a disadvantage if both were to go against each other at full power.

"Clearly intelligent and not just a monster… what could it be?"

The voice of the colossal silver cocoon that was of no language spoken again, but it was as if it was different from the voice which answered Joshua with the words 'That is the Initial Flame'.

Moreover, as compared to capturing to Joshua, it was much more concerned about the rifts over Stellaris. Extending many tentacles that split into different threads, each reached towards the rifts as if raining inside, intent on entering Stellaris from the cracks.

When Joshua saw that, he had wanted to move at once to stop the invasion, and would have had his clone self-destruct rather than allowing it to invade. However, halfway through mustering his strength, he realized that he did not have to be so anxious at all.

The Stellaris World Barrier was far sturdier than the warrior had imagined.

As if tranquility had returned to a surface of ripples, the rift which could fit thousands of small worlds had began to close itself and repel every thread that the tentacle was trying to stuff inside in a dozen seconds. The radiant tentacle thus hammered the barrier at full force once again, creating tremors that actually affected the Great Mana Tide—but without Joshua the Steel Particle there to break both, nothing happened despite several hammerings.

Finding it futile, the radiant cocoon once again turned its eyes to Joshua. A profound hostility overflowed in his direction like the cold oceanic depths, bent on drowning the warrior. Even so, Joshua, who was no sheep, had already dived inside the Great Mana Tide even before it locked in on him, his entire body vanishing as if simply flowing along the rush to move downstream.

In other words, he was fleeing.

Only fools would have fought such a clearly superior foe under such circumstances!

Despite being just a clone, recklessly fighting would only have exposed his deftness to the enemy, not to mention the huge probability of being captured alive and the power system of his true form hence dissected.

To prevent the invasion of the radiant cocoon, his clone would was not able to return through the backdoor the Creators had left. But most importantly, as compared to wasting a frivolous portion of his foe's energy by fighting then, it was a better choice to hide in the Mana Tide and spy on the cocoon's depth as well as its intention in lingering around Stellaris.

Even if he loved to fight, Joshua was no lunatic who disregarded the fact that he would have ended up as a pile of goo should he have fought ignorantly.

Furthermore, just as he dived into Mana Tide and escaped the vicinity of Stellaris, he could faintly see the other half of the radiant cocoon form hidden in the cascade.

Those were threads that pervaded the energy streams and resembled fungi, with densely packed layers of roots. One could have seen a massive spread open within the Mana Tide, drawing the boundless energies within while endlessly spreading its spores onto it—or indeed, ripples.

That sensation resembled an aberrative fungus or planet spreading its spores in natural harmony. However, as Joshua reached out and caught a pinch of those ripples, his face turned immeasurably grave.

"It's the Ultimate Virus, or the ripples that trigger the Ultimate Virus to manifest… so, the Ultimate Virus is not the work of Pestilence, and was at most a mutual support when the monster was disseminating itself!"

He grumbled, his tone almost seething. "That monster has actually settled itself in the upstream of the Mana Tide, spreading the Extraordinary epidemic downstream—most of our galaxies have probably been plagued by coincidence, since the real method of spreading its virus has been through the Great Mana Tide, infecting every race and civilization blessed by the power of the Great Mana Tide!"