Soul of Searing Steel

Since he became aware of certain historical information regarding the Glorious Era on the Mycroft Continent, Joshua had his doubts.

A thousand years ago, in the latter stages of that era, the Mycroft Continent had opened dimensional passageways leading to the abyssal planes out of pride. Countless demons and curious Evil Gods came, igniting a war against the civilization that was at its peak—and after the war, it was the Sage who led the gods and all life to triumph against all foes after paying a great price.

Most gods—virtually all main deities—had died in battle or were permanently maimed. They were only able to leave legacy marks and their last ounce of divine power so that their own soul would turn into Divine Dungeon Shrouds tethered to the Infinite Horizon.

And yet the Sage was clearly not that heavily injured. He even had the power to divert part of his powers to create the Fourth Legacy in search of a successor.

Unquestionably, each Legacy was incomparably powerful. Whether it was the Azurite, the Bright Scepter, the Dual Blades of Order or the Origin Robe, each Sacred Item eclipsed even divine items. Each generation of Successor was no slouch too, and with the hint of Sage's will that hid within the deaths of those sacred Legacy objects, things would probably not have ended well even for deities that desired to steal it.

Still, however powerful the Legacies were or how breathtaking the powers of the Successor, they were still several notches behind in comparison the Sage. If he was still here, the state of Mycroft would not become so dire as to worry the elderly Pope enough to make him prepare self-immolation to keep the world alive. Those demon lords would also probably bypass Mycroft itself and run as far as they could, much less trigger wars or invasion.

"The Sage's whereabouts? You wish to know the truth?"

Zinsen paused for a moment at the warrior's question. The deity who display supreme majesty and seemingly had no hint of emotion showed a clear expression for the first time. The corners of his mouth lifting, the God of Might showed an almost imperceptible smile and lifted His head.

"We wish to know that answer too," he said, as if mumbling to himself.

Joshua was undoubtedly startled by the answer. Still, Zinsen did not pay much attention to the warrior's rare surprised expression, mere continuing with a rather self-deprecating tone.

"The Seven—myself included—as well as every living deity in Mycroft have an extended piece of missing memory. It's ironic that even the gods do not know how they ascended into divinity. We were gods when we've awakened, just like it had been arranged earlier on."

"The lost three hundred years," Joshua said with a slight headache, frowning in return. "I never thought that it's same for the gods…"

"The lost three-hundred years? That's certainly the way to put it since it was almost three hundred misplaced years." The God of Might nodded in agreement with Joshua's description.

"According to historical volumes, we know that the Sage had led the gods to defeat the evil invading from the Multiverse towards the end of the last era." Zinsen continued. "But the end of that part of history until the beginning of the Age of Starfall and the dawn of 'our' awakening, there were almost three hundred years-worth of emptiness. There was no historical text, nobody possessed memory or records of that time as if it was wiped away and devoured—it simply does not exist in this world at all."

"Though it hurts to say it, we feel that we are just mechanism designed to operate at a present moment, awakening at a predetermined time to carry out the duty of watching over civilization and our own race."

"As for the blank period," He said. "We only know that it doesn't exist, and know nothing beyond that."

Though ironic, none were laughing because the truth they desired lay in that unknown. The warrior wanted to know the Sage's whereabouts and intent, while the Seven Gods wish to know their origins too.

Vexed, Joshua rubbed his temples. Beside him, the divine armament siblings had vexed expressions too since they did not understand a thing. Though for differing reasons, the trio of master and servants bore a similar expression for an instant.

It was at that moment that Zinsen's voice echoed once more.

"But after many years of search, we do have a guess about the Sage's whereabouts."

The God of Might whose human form was a solemn gray-haired man took a long look on Joshua and spoke with an unexpectedly grave voice. "If you truly want to know, Joshua van Radcliffe, then follow me."

"Alright." The warrior answered with no hesitation.

The two almost overly decisive beings reached a common understanding in an instant. So, the darkened divine mirage shattered in the very next instant.

*****

In the external surroundings of the Divine Dungeon Shroud, space dominated by divine power began to whirl and stagnated time began to flow anew.

To the entire world, Joshua's extended interaction with Zinsen in the divine mirage happened in the short instant of around the tenth of a second. Such was the circumstance for the adventurers and mercenaries retreating in panic away from the dense shroud—in the instant barely enough for thought, the silver sea of shroud that appeared prepare to explode suddenly silenced, with the green-blue radiance assembling at its center reverting to its previous state a few moments ago.

Everyone stopped in their tracks and stared at each other puzzledly, not quite sure what was going on. Only the Supreme dragon Suralno sensed that something was not right.

The blue dragon frowned, staring into skies where it seemingly saw two radiance breaking the horizon apart and head towards the far away outer reaches of the Void.

In the Void.

The wild energy waves wrought on by the Great Mana Tide surged violently. Worlds were connected by its brutal stream, albeit unable to interact due to the temporary chaos of the dimensions. As one stared out towards it, the Multiverse was like a stream of stars amidst the white clouds, with each radiance signifying a world twinkling in the Mana Tide and proving its existence.

Standing in the Void, Joshua could feel a cascade of energy as tidal Mana Tide emission struck his body directly without being filtered by the world barrier. Not only did the streaks of energy impact that were comparable to large-scale Supreme spells left the warrior unscathed, he comprehensively utilized it, absorbing it into his body and accelerated the conversion of his own Steel Strength.

If describing the cultivation of extraordinary was akin to hatching an irregular egg into something that suits the most powerful form of oneself, the threshold of Fated Legendary meant that the one cultivating had completely grasped their fate and life and hatched themselves, thereby sublimating into a higher lifeform. That was why the true form of every Legendary was the best imagination a champion had towards their own power, energy, physicality, future, objective, and ideal.

Like the Nature's Magister who intends to become a new Father Nature, her true Legendary form was the entire natural life cycle surrounding the Eternal Thousand Island Lake. As for the Holy Light path that Igor embodies, his true Legendary form was hence the majestic living splendor. Every special form that each Legendary possess were the most powerful display of their power.

Joshua's true Legendary form was an idea he had about 'power' too, but it was incomplete due to insufficient Steel Strength and could only perform as it did now.

—What amongst the Multiverse approaches the definition of Eternal and Power?

—The Stars.

Under the incessant impact of energy from the Great Mana Tide, a layer of curious radiance shone over the surface of the warrior's body. He removed the restraints over his own power, and a monumental gravity promptly began to pull in the dimensions around him, with large portions of energy tide from the Mana Tide started to orbit around Joshua's body, forming a huge accretion disk.

The light over his skin was very similar to the form of a star that had burned for billions of years before its infinite atoms crumbled. It was a construct similar to a white dwarf with incredible quantitative requirements, causing the warrior's self-evolving speed to utterly decelerate—but his defense was now so sturdy even the Mana Tide could not affect him, while even deity looked twice at him.

At the moment, the God of Might and Justice had completely abandoned the human form he uses to interact with humans and reverted to his true form. It was a black halo that kept rotating without ceasing—his symbol amongst mortal.

After observing Joshua's body for a bit, He used divine powers to resonate with the warrior in the Void.

"Look."

As it spoke, the holy circle symbol whirled, and streaks of colorless and formless divine power brimming with the presence of 'dominance' and 'pureness' darted towards the Void.

In the very next instant, countless stars that symbolized worlds around Mycroft began to flash as if given life.

"Look, Joshua," Zinsen said. Although he did not have body or expression, divine powers could not be faked—which was why the warrior could sense the awe deep within the God of Might.

"The stars."

As Joshua looked towards them, Zinsen spoke solemnly and slowly.

"Through the examination of the Bright Scepter, we had acquired a former presence of the Sage. The stars that are flashing in the void were worlds that the Sage visited and left his presence. Those radiances are indeed 'footprints' activated by divine power."

"What?" Even the calm warrior subconsciously asked rhetorically at those words. Joshua then looked up towards the void in slight astonishment. The oceans of the Multiverse were boundless, and the stars within the shining shroud of the Great Mana Tide was as magnificent as a fantasy.

And within the celestial region visible to the naked eye, more than one-tenth of stars began to flash.

Those glinting stars that symbolized worlds were places the Sage visited, and the ever-present glimmer formed an extended road towards the other end of the Multiverse, its edge unobservable.

From the clues that Zinsen pointed out, the Sage had, without question, left the Mycroft Continent almost a thousand years ago for an unknown, faraway place.

"Even the gods do not know where the Sage had gone to," Zinsen said, his voice returning to its previous indifference. "Still, he definitely has not perished—such a level of existence is virtually invincible and eternal, even the Evil Gods would not scratch him.

"Joshua, my advent this time towards the world of Mycroft had already violated the oath of 'deity's non-interference with the mortal realm', the reason being to maintain Sinoer's legacy ruin and you."

The giant black halo whirled slowly as the deity's words wafted from the spiritual realm.

"We believe that there has to be information regarding the lost three-hundred years in the world of Mycroft. It may lie within the ruins of the Dark Central Forest or some volumes in unknown locations. We hope that you could help us find what was perhaps a heavy correlation with the deepest secrets of this world, or perhaps the reason the Sage left this world."

"Is that a mission?" Joshua replied in return.

"No," the god said. "It's a suggestion."

"Well." Joshua raised his right hand to stare at the flashing luster over his skin, and nodded lightly. "Alright."

But as the warrior prepared for his return to the Mycroft Continent, another spiritual communication came from the black halo that represented Zinsen.

"Joshua," the God of Might said slowly before leaving. "You're one of the finest warriors of this world, but I hope you would learn one thing."

"What is it?" Joshua asked, puzzled.

The God of Might and Justice paused for a long time as if considering His wording. Still, he ultimately spoke with the simplest words.

"Don't carry a heart of compassion, for the foes of Order aren't just Chaos and Evil Gods," He said, enunciating each word. "There is another form of Order."