Soul of Searing Steel

In the moment of Creation, flames illuminated the void to split existence from emptiness, life from death, light from darkness. It was once 'the only', but the fire soon turned into beings, and the complex multiverse was thus born.

From that moment on, any object or concept that had existed would be named and acknowledged, supported by a genuine force.

As an example, before this, the world did not have thunder, lightning, rain, gale, or ripples. However, one day, the atmosphere of a world developed friction, bringing sparks and water droplets, bring a surge of oceanic pressure.

That, in turn, created tidal waves and typhoons. Henceforth, at the origin of the many worlds, the terms 'thunder', 'lightning', 'rain', 'gale' and 'ripples' appeared and were recorded. Later, the mages utilized mana—the power originating from Creation itself—to connect these concepts and convert mana as well as the elements to create new lightning and thunder and rain. 

That was how the power of Creation manifested into different layers, becoming more and more complex and varying. It was even more so after life began—beyond realistic natural phenomenon, countless 'symbolic power' also came one after the other such as healing, authority, wisdom… And yet, these intangible concepts had the same support by the power of Origin.

Amongst them, divinity was an unexpected complicated thing. A long time is needed to explain, but to make it short it was a doorway to the Source. Those who wielded it could walk through it and prime the power behind it.

However, the plain unadulterated power could easily meld sentient life and soul. Given that those who hold divinity were considerably flawless that they could resonate with the Origin, they would be fused with it just as easily.

Therefore, to control divinity, the pope offered two choices.

Joshua expected the first. Just as Ogner, the God of Fortune and Despair had said, he could build two different psyches in himself so that he could balance the upsurge of Origin power that could flood the soul.

The second was to use divinity to tailor an Order Circulation.

The first was simply a matter of self-control, to suppress and adjust how the power was released and keep the doorway to the origin small enough so that the soul could take it. This was easy, but could case mental breakdown just as easily. After all, not anyone had two brains like Ogner—if one kept conditioning they could lose their minds, or worse, close the doorway.

The second method was rather interesting.

According to the pope, the first method remained part of the second since the latter meant truly 'manipulating' divinity instead of suppressing it.

The multiverse was constructed by the very forces of existence. Divinity simply meant a little crack to that energy, but the crisscrossing of such enormous forces never caused destruction as they collide, forming a sturdy and balanced universe instead.

And that is because they had formed an Order Circulation. 

Since the power is pure and hard to control, a construct that brings order to divinity was needed. This was done by everyone be it the ancient gods or the Seven—and through their divinity, they crafted doctrine after doctrine that narrated the order of the world that formed a circulation that belonged to themselves.

Returning to the central temple region and the room the Church has arranged for him, Joshua mulled over Pope Igor's words on a chair.

"So, the first is more recommended?" The warrior looked at his own hands and mutter. "Might and justice, love and death, wisdom and conspiracy… These are the little circulations that form the divinity and order of the Seven. That's how their logic is self-contained and control the power with their own spirits."

"But what sort of circulation would combat, destruction and slaughter?"

He gave up after just two seconds of thought, and closed his eyes to feign sleep.

It was too difficult a matter to consider in such a short time. He had toiled in the Anos Abyss—now was the time to rest, he should not make himself miserable over such trivialities.

The Church of Seven Gods had arranged for his party inside a temple. This so-named Altar of the Even-handed was usually a high-level storage for divine puppets. However, since this was wartime most of the puppets were moved out, and the warehouse was now a residence for the clergies.

There was an impression coolness in the altar made from steel and stone. In reality, the interior temperature was warm and optimized, with circles of holy light adjusting it for creature comfort—a perk of that extraordinary power.

Other than their room being extra spacious, the interior was not decorated with much—it was still a former storehouse after all. One could even glimpse the old steel racks and ritual circles. Unit 01 went and stood there—the huge Steel Elemental was role-playing as a puppet and standing within the steel rack and looked rather entertained.

Away from Joshua's seat was a huge bed where Black spread herself upon lazily. She allowed the silver-haired girl and the black-haired boy to grope her horns cheeks freely.

Black and the Divine Armament siblings always had a good relationship—even after Black was turned into a human. Ying especially was touching every part of her while murmuring to herself in wonder.

The Divine Armament girl had always been the one who polished her scales. Now that she had nothing to do, she started to identify the different parts of the armor the female black dragon wore that matched her dragon form.

"So this should be those bone spikes on its back? And this part that's jutting out… the hide armor? How unique…"

Black let out a helpless mumble. "… It itches. Stop scratching, don't touch my tail."

On a table were various delicacies just delivered to their room. The Church had been even so generous they gave them special produce of the Distant Sea, including stonefish caviar and sacred Merlimau tree fruits.

Unlike Roland and the rest of the clergies, the warrior's party are invited guests—which ultimately was why they were afforded such comfort and rest after their mission was completed. As for the Church's trio, they were immediately given medical treatment right after they disembarked, and were then quickly directed to a new post, pouring heart and soul for whatever new task they were assigned.

This was not a rare case either. Just as it was with the preexistence, the clergies were mostly wage slaves—and the volunteering type too. As such, hiring an individual holding a holy occupation was like hiring several mercenaries—they would toil day and night for their job and never idle, naturally with sufficient reward as the precondition.

Meanwhile, Ling did not share his sister's enthusiasm. After touching Black's sharp horns, it reverted to its original form and put himself on the bed. The black giant axe that was over two meters long sunk more than ten centimeters into the mattress, pressing out a deep indent.

After the Divine Armament siblings had been strengthened they could freely switch between human and weapon forms. In fact, they could even move as weapons—the moment Ling became further annoyed by Black and Ying's tossing around, the axe shifted.

The white sheets disagreed, and with a tearing noise, a huge hole was torn open.

After toying with Black—who still looked dazed after the brainworm attack—until the dragon girl slept, Ying turned towards the warrior who was in his hair with his eyes closed.

"Master, why don't you come to bed to rest?" she asked in curiosity.

"It's fine." Joshua opened his eyes, shook his head at the sight of what was once a bed and sighed. "I'd rather sit." 

Such peaceful days would not last long. Although the frenzied dragons would try to make a mess once in a while, the Pentashade were yet to mount a major assault.

It was clear that they were waiting for a sea storm to take shape. With the natural forces throwing a huge pressure on the divine defensive spells, it would be an incredible opportunity for them to attack.

According to the pope, Joshua had finished his mission and could spare himself from fighting, and wait until the Church end their skirmish with the dragons until he returns to the Empire.

However, the warrior was not one to sit this out. Every time the dragon came he would definitely attempt to take a few out, and scare of swarm after swarm of flying dragons that retreated with nothing to show for.

After this repeated for a few times, even Black's kill count was better than Joshua. Still, there were some dragons who tried their luck. Fearless against the warrior's dominating presence they made a sudden charge against Joshua. Of course, it merely ended as Joshua's harvest.

Nevertheless, that particular bout was a little dangerous. It was several Supreme-tier blue dragon leaders as well as a few elder Gold-tier dragons. Such a force was enough to kill an ordinary Supreme-tier warrior, but Joshua smelled the rat from miles away. He sprung the trap, and contained them with several other champions.

It ended with the death of one Supreme-tier dragon and several other Gold-tiers. Even for the Pentashade it was a huge loss, which made their attacks more and more prudent.

While both sides waited for the final battle, Joshua's reputation slowly gained ground at the Sacred Mountain.

"Good day, my liege."

A fully-armored holy knight made a salute to Joshua at the underground multiplex facility beneath the central temple zone. "Are you by chance heading for the No.3 warehouse? Please, allow me to guide you."

"Sorry for the trouble." Joshua, wearing a stark-white coat provided by the Church today, nodded and followed the middle-aged man.

There were a wide variety of temples and residences on Aida. Just like most churches that contained underground dungeons, the Sacred Mountain also had huge underground fortresses.

Beside holding cultists and impeached clergies, most of the space was used for experiments and fortresses. It would only be activated in wartime as a refuge for ordinary clergies and non-combatants.

And Joshua was here not for a visit but for his reward.

The warrior had contributed greatly towards the expedition to the Anos Abyss and assisting the Church of Seven Gods.

It would even a more majestic favor if the anti-dragon potion provided by the Empire and the Kingdom of the Far South was counted in. As such, he could head to the Church's vault to pick anything he liked—as per the suggestion of a certain bishop.

However, as a Supreme-tier warrior, Joshua had actually been too lazy to even collect his fee since most enchanted items would be of no use to him. Still, Ling reminded that even so, he could take something back to his domain for others, especially the students in Winter Fort Academy.

Under the holy knight's lead, he walked through a wide stone track and reached the storage area in minutes. He could see another spacious corridor stretching ahead that branches into different paths with huge warehouse doors.

Huge chunk of pyroxenes was embedded on the ceiling, and underneath their white illumination, this place was much brighter than the altar on the surface that was blanketed by gloomy clouds.

There were many guards patrolling here, their expressions calm and confident. The fact that the mad dragons had blockaded the seas around and encircled the Sacred Mountain did not sow half an expression of panic in their expression.

It was because everyone here believed that the Church would earn a complete victory over this war—and that was not blind faith either.

Unlike the pre-existence, this time the Church had quickly caught on to the dragons' plan and gathered every elite who would answer the call. Therefore, every outstanding clergy on the continent was not stopped by the dragons, and returned before the enemies had blockaded the seas.

Despite the dragons being stronger this time in the absence of player interference compare to the past life, it remained that the Church had the advantage in basic combat capabilities. Every guardsman that Joshua was looking at right now were at the pinnacle of Silver-tier, and one of their marshals who was nearby was Gold tier.

On the continent, they would have been a master of a knights legion or Church, but here at the Sacred Mountain they were all just patrolling guards.

Noticing the warrior's arrival, the guardian knights showed a respectful smile, bowed, and opened the doors to the warehouse.