Soul of Searing Steel

"It is a really great idea."

When those words escaped the warrior's mouth, Igor stared at Joshua with a whole new but complicated light.

He suddenly discovered that he had never really understood the man before him.

Joshua van Radcliffe—the count of Moldavia. All sorts of rumors about him had already spread over a vast area from the north to the south. From the Holy Mountain of the Far Sea to the Icy Plains of the Extreme North, across the Western Coast until Eastern Plains, most extraordinary men who had a little aspiration would have heard of the Supreme-tier dragon slayer's name.

Still, all these people only knew that the warrior was a young and powerful champion without a predecessor. Those who were more familiar at most had an impression of 'Extremely warlike, never once defeated'.

Compared to them, the pope believed that he was one of the few who understood Joshua the most on the Mycroft Continent. Since he learned that the young man was the Heir of the Azurite, countless information regarding the warrior had been delivered to his hands.

Cold, belligerent, merciless to enemies and acts viciously. To a great number of people, Joshua was a brutal and frightening warlike berserker and dragon slayer, one who was more horrific than giant dragons. However, in Igor's eyes, the warrior was merely playing the part of a liege and a warrior, an approachable enemy of evil. He might not exactly be kind but he definitely was not tied to malevolence either—or the Azurite would never have resonated with him.

In a nutshell, this was a man with certain eccentricities in terms of his attitude, but was very reliable and worthy of trust. But now, that impression of Igor's had been refreshed a little.

Facing the unparalleled danger in a mission to explore a completely unknown fringe world, this man, whose name was used to scare children in some parts, never showed a shred of hesitation. He even smiled when he agreed to the request without any fear in his eyes, merely acceding to it with no doubt, as if it were natural.

Joshua seemed to believe that his was his duty, accepting the request with utmost confidence.

But in truth, how demanding the request itself was! Igor knew just how ridiculous his own invite had been. As the pope of the Seven Gods Church, he had actually requested for the count of a domain within the Northern Empire, to journey towards the distant depths of the Void and verify if the truth of a Sage Legacy's object.

It would not have been unusual to reject the request on the spot—as the count of a domain, Joshua had ten thousand reasons to refuse this incomparably dangerous solicitation that was incredibly likely to prove fatal.

Ultimately, Igor did not have the authority to appeal for a man to leave his hometown to journey an unimaginable distance towards the edge of the universe. The mission objective was to find something without knowing where it was, with a nine out of ten chance of death.

And yet, Joshua did not refuse.

This warrior had just gone through a tough battle to slay the High Priest of the Cult of Pestilence, while also combining with his friend to shatter an Evil God fragment. Nonetheless here he was, asking with an expectant tone that was hard for Igor to describe, "When would the party be leaving?"

He appeared impatient, raring to go.

"… At least half a year later."

The pope, who wanted to say the earlier the better, paused for a while, before elaborating with an almost undetectable hint of emotion. "The Church has to further validate information regarding that fringe world, we can't let you go headlong into danger."

Joshua's attitude and conviction of voluntary sacrifice for all existence made Igor feel ashamed. All the old pope wanted was to assemble the Sage's Legacy to save this world that was crumbling by every passing day.

As such, many things had been done with undue haste. Now, the old pope finally realized that though finding the legacy was of the utmost urgency, ensuring the safety of the explorers was the most important.

Even when comparing the fourth Legacy with completely unknown value, it was far less vital than this warrior before him—one who bore the unquestionable title of Sage's Heir.

On the other hand, Joshua, who Igor believed held the noble sentiment of sacrificing himself for all life, never thought that far.

A different world, completely unknown, interesting. The warrior thought. Incidentally, it could test out my hypothesis about ascension.

Joshua appeared as if he wanted to ask more details regarding exploring the other-world—such as whether there were powerful primitive behemoths—but Igor clearly already intended end the discussion.

The elderly pope turned and looked towards the edge of Mycroft's dimensional barrier. There, several incomparably dull but slightly large stars were glittering.

Apart from those few stars, the elderly pope looked around. There was an immeasurably vast but dull region of stars with the Mycroft world at its center. Most of the worlds were already unable to shine brightly, merely spreading an obscure hint of silent destruction.

Joshua followed Igor's gaze across the galaxy, naturally noticing the fact while making a guess with the various information he had.

"This… was caused by the war against the Evil Gods and the Abyss at the time?" the warrior asked with a deep voice.

"That's right," Igor said with the same tone and nodded slowly. "The influence of the Glorious Era civilization was not just limited to the world of Mycroft. It was after being forced to retreat at every step that the tumultuous war against the Chaos gradually moved to the continent."

"Even before that, there were already many worlds that met terrible fates at the hands of demons as well as minions of the Evil Gods, and were completely destroyed… It's a pity part of history was only described in ancient and sporadic tomes—the Three-Hundred Lost Years had buried all secrets."

The old pope could not help but sigh at the mere mention of the Three-Hundred Lost Years. That unknown period that stood between the Glorious Era and the Starfall Era had interred too many secrets—even the Church of Seven Gods that had the most complete storage of old tomes had many mysteries without answers.

"Joshua."

Staring at the cluster of stars that looked even dimmer with the presence of other blazing star-streams around it, Igor suddenly said, "This is the first time you've come to the Void."

The pope extended his right hand and pointed toward the bright shroud that was the Mana Tide, and that stretching, blinding galaxy. "Do you have any thoughts about the multiverse?" he asked calmly.

It was a spontaneous question. Even Igor himself was not expectant of Joshua's reply.

"Yes."

After some thought, Joshua replied somberly.

"Humans are very small."

Igor quickly turned to look at Joshua, but the warrior did not mind the other's doubtful and surprised gaze.

Staring at the galaxy alongside the pope and the darkness that engulfed it, he added, "All life is small."

"Compared to the boundless dark of the Void, even the world is immeasurably small."

Shifting his gaze from the stars that were shining particularly dazzlingly in the distance, Joshua scoured through the dimmed stars around them.

"To have dozens, hundreds or even millions of stars lose their light is trivial to the Multiverse," he said, his voice honest and sincere, without an inch of pretension. "The rise and fall of man would be a lot more so."

"…I see. So that's what you think."

There was a slight sadness in Igor's heart as he silently listened to Joshua's words. He was a little disappointed—but even if he wanted to reject the notion, the warrior was right.

That was the truth.

Compared to the millions of boundless worlds, the Mycroft Continent was at most a speckle among the countless dust. Who would care if it was destroyed apart from the races who lived in it?

Soon, however, Joshua turned again to look at the pope. As if he could see through Igor's thoughts, he said tonelessly, "But just being small doesn't mean that one should give up."

"A single spark could start a prairie fire."

"The human body could move mountains and fill seas."

Joshua stood before Igor, with the young warrior leveling his gaze at the aged pope. "Comparing one man to the entire continent is like comparing the world of Mycroft to the multiverse," he said with a confident voice that Igor found difficult to comprehend. "They would be just a speck of dust, but even such a speck could use magic and aura to shift the entire heaven and earth. Magical technology would even grant ordinary humans such power."

"It's precisely because they know how small they are, which was why sentient life would never be willing to become a speck. So they will keep striving and laboring to develop and maintain civilization."

In the pre-existence, there had been no news about the fourth object of the Sage's Legacy. Naturally, there was no expedition. 

The Church of Seven Gods had been dealt severe damage. And because of the cultists schemes and instigations, the Mycroft Continent was embroiled in the fires of war before the Great Mana Tide.

Men wage war against men, men against elves, elves against dwarves… When the Mana Tide and the many gods descended, not only did every faction did not calm, the scale of the war escalated. Due to the lively mana elements, all manner of new enchanted machinery and spell were developed and thrown into the battlefield.

Every race was busy slaughtering each other, and none cared about the future of the continent or the world.

All, except the aged man before him.

Joshua stared at Igor quietly.

The warrior was no longer a person know almost next to nothing about this world, and only showed interest in combat. The warrior had already become aware of many hidden secrets players in the pre-existence never heard of, such as the fact that this world was already dead, such as the fact that this world needs firewood to survive.

The firewood was about to burn out—that much was obvious from how much of a hurry the pope was in to find the fourth Sage's Legacy object, that he would learn from the profound mysteries of the Initial Flame. Even if Joshua did not appear to be smarter than most, in truth, his agile mind surpassed the imagination of most.

He could tell from Igor's somberness and expression, as well as the anxiety that showed from time to time, that this world would not last much longer. Perhaps due to something unexpected, the world was now in such dire straits that the pope himself needed to act, and appeal to Joshua so that he would join the search for the Sage's Legacy.

That sounds unreasonable.

Even in the pre-existence, the state of the Mycroft Continent was not as fine as it is now. The world had held out until Starfall 855 and the second Abyssal Invasion before the Collapse of the Initial Flame occurred, and subsequently burned out under the gales. So why has it appeared so early this time?

The answer was quite simple. While the circumstances were the same in the preexistence, someone had delayed it then.

In the past life, Saint Igor, the one known as a god amongst men, had crossed the great divide right after the draconic plague, never to act again. His godchild and successor, Roland Glamorgan, subsequently wiped out all cults on the continent, leveling the land of Chaos.

To this world that requires Chaos as firewood to prevail, it was no different than drinking poison to quench thirst—and yet Roland did it. The holy knight who in Joshua's opinion was too kind, too honest and would never betray the Church of Seven had even unlocked to the Abyssal Doorways, allowing the demons to invade the world he swore to protect.

Because Igor had perished.

And with the energies from the abyss, the world lasted until Starfall year 855.

"Don't worry, Your Holiness." Joshua smiled as he studied the tangled expression of the old man who undoubtedly deserved his saintly title.

"I would head for that unknown world," the warrior said with a voice brimming with confidence. "And retrieve that final object of the Sage's Legacy."

Things did not come to a point that everyone should give up, and neither was there a need for an old man to sacrifice himself to keep this world aloft.

The warrior softly murmured, "Because I'm alive."

That was why everything was not as bad as it once was.