Soul of Searing Steel

Just as Gale handed His own Mark to the bewildered Zero-Three, in the distant skies of the Infinite Horizon, several majestic yet holy gazes were watching the spectacle.

[Another Old Friend has left us]

[He has attained His wish, and passed with no regrets]

[It is a blessing, to be granted an ending one wished for]

If no one explained, Joshua might have never known that he had caused everything.

In the first place, the Mark of the God of the Skies would have descended with the Seven Gods along with the Prime God-class Divine Marks in a few years. However, due to his battle against Pope Igor in the Infinite Horizon a few months ago, the stability of the entire celestial realm decreased slightly, and various chain reactions caused Gale's Mark to fall earlier into the Northern Empire's territory.

It was also because he had gone to the world of Karlis to slaughter Aragamis years ago, bringing Zero-Three—who wished to perish along with the Karlis civilization—back to his world. There was also the reason that he desired to search for a Divine Dungeon Shroud to explore because he needed to study Soul Mastery… as various cause assembled, the sudden, immeasurably coincidental event now had a passable conclusion. Gale had found an heir of His race, while Zero-Three also now attained a goal to strive for in the future.

The clouds over the skies dispersed. Golden sunlight illuminated the city, brightening the city even more. Roaring winds, curling in the elevated skies with a chilling presence began to billow from the east to the west, swaying the central tower.

"It's over." Gale's body utterly diminished after he handed off his Mark. Though His face remained layered with Chaos and His expression unfathomable, there was relief in His voice. "I am unwilling and regretting for I still wish to fight."

"Nevertheless, my time is over and yours have come…"

"Your Majesty…"

The Mark of the Twin Wings in her hand, Zero-Three remained lost and unsure what was going on. She could not quite understand how, through a few words from Joshua, the disappointed Gale had suddenly changed his view.

But soon, Zero-Three's expression turned serious.

"I will not let you down!"

*****

Joshua looked on dispassionately as Gale was about to disappear. He wished to speak, but only ended up sighing. The warrior could certainly hear that there were grudges welling in the mind of the God—He wished for vengeance, to rise and fight again, to protect his own kind… but He was already dead. Just like Ogner, the main body of His soul had already been destroyed in that war, leaving just a last bit of soul frozen in His Mark in anticipation of a successor.

"I see a new civilization budding… It trod the path we once walked, and yet journeying further and more determinedly…"

Gale's soul was now almost transparent. At the moment, the Chaos over the deity's face was slowly disappearing, and His pure blue gaze by His eye sockets gradually became distinct. He looked up, no longer watching Zero-Three, gazing instead at the true Mycroft Continent, as if His eyes could pierce the world they were in that could either be a mirage or reality. "The corpses of my race are spread over the peaks of the West Bank mountains," He mumbled. "The centaurs died out over the Tartaros Highlands, where the ruins of the Orcs had yet cold. The bones of the Sauroks had now sunk at the Great Marshes, turning into fossils… the Glorious Era is over."

At that, Gale lowered His head, His soul now left with just His Head. "Tell me," He muttered softly, His eyes fixed upon Joshua. "What is this era called?"

"The Starfall Era," the warrior answered.

"Is that so. Then, I shall bless you with my final divine powers, with my name as Sovereign of the Skies and Lord of the Tempest."

Having learned that, Gale smiled, His face suddenly wafting with huge sheets of black smoke. The power of Chaos was screaming as it dispersed, and now His face was visible. It was a majestic, fatigue Avian face that had gone through many things in life and yet never gave up, and soon, Gale's last soul began to fragment by bits. Endless shards floated away, vanishing as they turned into light in its surroundings.

Be that as it may, His voice was still clearly heard in this world, echoing over the top of the tower.

"O, successors of the Starfall Era… surpass Us."

"Walk further than We did across the vast Multiverse!"

As the final echoes vanished in the mirage of a perished deity, the 'world' began to shatter. Like broken glass, countless shards began to fall from the skies, while the sea was quickly vanishing as if there were boundless holes, finally becoming nothing. The erosion also quickly gained on the floating city, and as the dozens of Windstorm Giants closed their eyes, reverting to tempests with the hint of a smile, the cyclone pillars began to break too, vanishing along with the wind.

The floating city, too, began to crumble. Its exquisite and grand spires and towers shattered at once, while countless ruins and streets fell into the darkness and the Void at the same time. The trio looked on above the central tower as the scene unfolded—Black was exclaiming in surprise, Zero-Three felt an unwitting nervousness, but it was in that moment that a hand drew the two girls into an embrace.

"Stop staring blankly. Let's go."

Joshua led the pair—or more correctly, held the case that contained Zero-Three's real body with his right hand, pincered Black with his left armpit while putting Zero-Three's projection over his shoulder. He watched as the world broke—it meant that the god's trial and Legacy had ended, and knowing that, he abruptly strode forward, the single step trampling and breaking the illusionary space, creating a black crack wherein Joshua carried the pair across.

*****

The outside world.

The vast sea of fog that had originally engulfed the Lake Forest Mountains began to shrink as countless soldiers in the fortress exclaimed in surprise. The sight resembled a star cloud being absorbed by a certain something, and in a dozen seconds, the restlessly stirring Divine Dungeon Shroud that had to be blocked by a crystal wall vanished, revealing the valleys and forests it once covered.

With orders from their commanders, two hundred-men party quickly sortied and left the fort to take a look, intending to learn what could make the fog that even Supreme-champions were helpless against disappear. However, after half-an-hour of emergency dispatch, they found nothing. There was not a thing in the heart of the valley—the fog had hence vanished with nary a sound.

At the same time, Joshua's party was leaving silently over the ridged back of a black dragon, flying swiftly back for Moldavia above the northeastern skies of the Northern Empire.

A black-haired man stood over the black dragon's head, while a girl with two wings stood behind him, her hands carrying a small Mark.

It is a blessing and expectations, awarded by a predecessor of the previous era to a successor.