Soul of Searing Steel

There was a warmth amidst murkiness.

Black then awoken from the brief dizziness from the mist in her head, and rapidly became aware that it was not the dark and scorched Sixth Abyss.

The ground was not covered in corrosive acid soil, while the air did not waft with pungent rot that made even dragons sick in their stomach. Still, she blinked at the sights, a little lost, before her eyes widened as if in disbelief at the unfamiliar valleys and lands formed from layers of bulky, piled rocks.

Where am I? Where is this place? Why am I here?

Her limbs were sore and limp; she was immobilized for the time being. Black tried to stand amidst the murkiness, but her body did not move an inch—although it did help her notice that she was lying down on a white carpet. The surrounding environment was not too unfamiliar either. She had the impression that she seemed to have come here recently, although at the time it was experiencing the same murkiness, and was mostly in a dazed state.

Still, it was after ascertaining that no muscle on her body was torn away due to the acceleration that Black had the strength to notice other things. She tired scanned her surrounding only to notice two unexpected figures.

From her point of view as the black dragon girl lay on her side, two humans were discussing on the brown, stony land. One was a well-groomed and well-dressed mage that appeared to be in his sixties or seventies, who had one crystal artificial eye with one monocle worn over it, while the other was a much younger mage who kept a long ponytail as if an artist. The presence around the unusual duo was extraordinary—Black could not tell if they were powerful, but her instinct told her that they were allies and not enemies. Taking a sniff, she could also tell that they had brought out the carpet beneath her.

But where was Master?

Nevertheless, the black dragon girl was not too concerned about that issue, and almost slept again after listening a little into the two's conversation. Whatever terms they were using, such as dimensional axis, sub-space passageway or world brane were no longer a matter of difficulty—it was simply incomprehensible. Black had only occasionally heard of similar words from Miss 03, who in turn had been mumble those words in front of some weird runes with a face full of seriousness at the time, even forcing her to listen as she explained the underlying principles.

There was naturally no need to elaborate on the matter. There was no way black dragon girl whose mental age—and physical age, for that matter—did not exceed ten years old would understand such things. She could only blink and occasionally nod in agreement, which Miss 03 agreed profoundly with too, before continuing her own research.

As Black was about to doze off once more as she listened to the two mages' solemn discussion, she suddenly mustered her spirit to listen in—there was an abrupt wave of light and heat coming from the skies out of the blue.

The two mages paused their topic before and looked up, staring at the dark heavens that seemed to have a hint of sanguine, thereby mentioning the name which the girl was most concerned about.

"Barnil. What do you think of Count Radcliffe?"

On the brown, stony land, William had stopped the discussion about dimensional turbulence with his friend, and threw out a question about a completely unrelated topic. The wandering poet who appeared quite young rubbed his eyes, and spoke in a rather somber tone too.

"Hard to say, my friend."

Barnil rubbed his eyes too, even drawing out his crystal fake eye. Lines of gray runes then appeared in his hand and started to repair the precious sorcery tool that was beginning to crack. The old mage then spoke equally seriously and carefully answered his friend's question, considering his words as he put the mostly repaired eye back into its socket. "I could only tell that he is completely different from others… He doesn't look like some newborn Legendary, and if I didn't know that he is actually young I might have even thought that we're the same age."

"Definitely." William nodded in agreement. He squinted as he looked up towards the sky, at the Blood Moon that was somehow getting rather bright, and said mildly, "It takes most individuals a few years of quiet contemplation to ascend into Legendary—both you and I were no exception. It's also reasonable when it came to men such as Nostradamus who could have ascended long ago but did not attempt it out of various factors. After all, that fellow had decades to conjecture and calculate the state and possibilities after he ascended in the future, which in turn allows him to completely adapt to his power right at the start of his ascension… but for a Legendary who was less than thirty years old, where would he acquire enough will and experience to face the shift in their very own lifeform?"

"That's right. I still remember plenty amongst our batch who had touched the edge of Legendary."

Barnil lowered his head from the sky as he remembered the past, a hint of nostalgia in his voice. "Some of them succeeded while others failed. Even so, those that succeed did not make it work to the last, while those who failed ended up in pieces… Most of them became lost because they were no longer human, while others would gloat because of the profoundness of their living form."

"Power brings change and imbalance. And yet, there was not a single of that from the Northern Count. It was as if he was born that way, having no discomfort at all towards being 'powerful'.

"I have a guess, Barnil." After a short silence, the Legendary wandering poet suddenly spoke again. "Perhaps the text left in that ruin we visited was not wrong…"

William did not finish speaking, for the Blood Moon above the skies was suddenly emitting light. The two Legendary mages and black dragon girl simultaneously turned their attention to the distant sky.

And amidst the countless continental fragments that were levitating up in the air, Joshua was slowly approaching the expanding Blood Moon.

When he came alongside Roland, Saya, Robzek, and the others to the Bloodmoon Abyss, the crimson body that hung above the skies was cold and silent. There was not even a hint of crease caused by winds over that dark red sea, the place where Mandagar would perform a ritual after borrowing power from Goliath, the Lord of the Sixth Abyss.

The ritual would have broken open the passageway between the Mycroft Continent and the Bloodmoon Abyss, so that the multifarious demon dragons would thus have been able to support the war against the Seven Gods Sacred Mountain. Even now, that event remained vividly in Joshua's mind, and he could still remember every single detail and intricacy about it.

He was clear and aware that, the Blood Moon had no warmth to speak of at the time—its liquid temperature was indeed approaching zero, the freezing point, but now everything was completely different.

Standing in the Void a few dozen kilometers away from the Blood Moon, Joshua stared at the liquid celestial body that was emitting astonishing crimson radiance while spreading warmth and light like the sun. He was very befuddled inwardly—he could understand that the Blood Moon contained substantial energies since Mandagar had precisely used its power to perform that Chaos ritual, but he did not understand why the Bloodmoon Abyss would change so tremendously in such a short time.

Could it have been because of his using the Stoner Sunshine? That was unreasonable, unless the Blood Moon was alive and could learn his skill.

Even as he doubted it, Joshua suddenly extended his hand grabbed a tiny shard out from the Void beside him. He lowered his head and stared at the orange-gold speck that was in his palm, and slowly frowned.

"A shard of the Nuclear Star?" He mumbled to himself, puzzled. "This thing…"

Despite that, Joshua was not curious why a shard of the Nuclear Star would appear here. When he used that large piece of Nuclear Star which Israel had loaned the Seven Gods Church to unleash the Stoner Sunshine to stop the demon dragon army that was arriving by teleport, most of its parts did not self-destruct, and was merely shattered the immense impact alone. At the time, at least millions of little pieces of that Nuclear Star were left floating over the Void, it was nothing too unusual for one to coincidentally hover past him.

The warrior, however, was not bemused by that point. With little silver glints within his eyes, Joshua scanned the empty regions around him, and layers of red-orange illumination promptly shone into his Steel Vision.

"Goodness me, so many!" He could not help exclaiming.

Joshua could see, within his energy vision, that countless specks that were Nuclear Star shards were assembling from every corner of the Bloodmoon Abyss like rivers to the sea. They were innumerable as if a scarlet river of stars, and were collectively seeping into the colossal liquid moon. In every passing minute and second, there were little Nuclear Star shards that were absorbed and assimilated in the sea of sanguine, and the Blood Moon hence became gradually brighter.

There was no doubt. The change in the Bloodmoon Abyss must have been a reaction as the Nuclear Star and Blood Moon fused, and although Joshua did not understand the cause behind it, it could feel that the moon was calling for him to approach it—there was a faint ripple throbbing in the depths of Joshua's heart, intending to get him to make another step.

Of course, Joshua was not a person who would follow his instincts so simply. Nonetheless, he knew that he has to approach the Blood Moon if he wanted to know the cause for all the unusual phenomenon, and he somehow could not sense any danger lurking within. In fact, every feeling, instinct and observation told him that the Bloodmoon Abyss was now as safe as his own moon.

Joshua believed in his own abilities too. Although he was fatigued from his battle against Helm—having lost some two-thirds in terms of the quality of his combat form, what remained was enough for him to tear space apart and bring Black into the Void. Naturally, he did not know the way back to Mycroft, but at that point even the Abyssal Lord would have a difficult time finding his position.

Therefore, after a little preparation, he flew again and approached the Blood Moon.

The scarlet ocean gradually became bigger in his eyes until the spherical planetary body became a flat surface like a wall, taking most of his vision. Joshua landed unhurriedly on the ocean surface of the Blood Moon, a scarlet radiance engulfing him entirely. He could sense a faint gravity that was about one-eighth compared to the gravity in the Mycroft Continent. Though insignificant, it proved that it had enough volume to be called a star.

The warrior did not pause and simply arched his back, reached out with no pause and directly touched the blood-colored sea, scooping up some of the liquid.

It was warm. The red liquid was odorless like water and no longer chilly like before, and was about twenty degrees hot. It churned in the warrior's hand, emitting a faint starry light which Joshua sense no evil or malevolence from. Instead, what the Blood Moon seawater contained was typical positive energy that definitely should not exist in the Abyss—the unexpected discovery had actually astonished Joshua, causing him to look towards the surface of the sea.

There was a weak crystalline light, and at the depths of the sea was radiance that illuminated the entire Bloodmoon Abyss and what appeared to be the inner core of the moon. Resolutely preparing himself after a brief moment of thought, a layer of red light encircled Joshua, and he dived into the red sea in the very next moment, and sped at a velocity that not even the most agile fish could catch up with towards the inner core.

As he moved, Joshua could almost hear a sound throughout. It was meek but gentle like the cry of a newborn bird, or perhaps soft wind chimes. One way or the other, the sound was not of any known language, but he somehow knew its meaning.

"Creator…"