Soul of Searing Steel

A silver-blue psionic beam tore through galaxy and darkness amidst the silent Multiverse like a keen edge. The massive and substantial light pierce through the dimensions right unto the rear of the Void curtains, guiding the advent of a being from the other side.

At the moment, the ritual was mostly finished, and the beam condensed with the psionic powers of all intelligent beings within a single planet had flowed along the ritual platform on the holy mountain had entered the Void in its entirety. It caused the space at the edge of the beam to undulate, turning into a distorted eye akin to a vortex, the dimensional shift produced by enormous energies distinctly visible even from another system. However, the defensive firepower above the Midgardian planet and the battleship fleet that was standing by in space nervously adjusted their cannons to lock on to that Void door that was gradually materializing—even if they had exhausted all power of their civilization, they still could not ascertain if the summoned Void being was a monster or an intelligent being, or whether they would be so berserk they could not be control.

Even most common citizens were holding their breath, watching the sight nervously. Midgardians were an intelligent race evolved psionic plants, with part of their living form keeping a special aspect of plans: supreme longevity. Though they had difficulty in reproduction what with one Midgardian requiring needing eighty years to exchange genetic information for new descendant seedlings, their long lifespan was considered endless. A considerable portion of the Midgardians who were watching the psionic livestream now had witnessed the Crystal Insect slaughtering the Garden of Leaves planet, which was why they were neutral towards holding the Void Door ritual once again, for fear had remained entrenched in their hearts.

The superior lifeform that came striking from a distant place was certainly an imminent calamity and destruction, but who knew if what they summoned was a similarly powerful entity? Would they still steadfastly believe in the existence of the Void Saint? Perhaps their faith would have deepened precisely due to those fearsome evils of the Void and Chaos, but who knew if the Saint still remembered that he had once enlightened a bunch of intelligent plants that were still dwelling within ignorance, in this insignificant planet more than a thousand years ago?

Whatever case may be, as time goes by, the distorted eye slowly solidified, and a massive silver-blue fissure began to materialize and expand under the support of the psionic beam, shredding the universe and cutting through dimensions, drawing out a crack from the world. The scent from the other end began to well out, allowing all Midgardians who sensed it to relax at once.

"The ritual succeeded."

"It doesn't seem much of a problem. As long as the psionic distribution is maintained, control notwithstanding, at least summoning is not a problem."

"The Saint protects, may your light illuminate us day after day, as bright as the sun…"

Including the fleet commander, the first step which every Midgardian thought to have been the most difficult—the construction of the Void Door has ended. What next was the not-too-difficult step of guiding the being from the other end to come, and use their powerful psionic to manipulate it.

However, only Milhabus knew that it was a huge problem—he had utterly lost all control over the ritual!

"A great will beyond the will has assumed my authority, the ritual has gone amok!"

Standing in the dead center of the psionic beam at the summit, the Grand Consul whose body was being brushed by the endless psionic flow from the whole planet became stiff. He felt that his entire person had become a marionette and was controlled whimsically by the great will from the other side—the unshakable machine-like will, its origins unknown and bearing no emotions had evaded his control stealthily and deliberately continued the rest of Void Door ritual. Milhabus could only sense that, under the control of that great will, another profound being was rapidly approaching from the other end of the dimensions.

That being seared like a nebula but had not the gaseous body of one. Not only did its sturdiness eclipsed all metals, its body that was also brimming with life and vigor and power to destroy everything. He came in response to the call from the other end of the Void, and now was about to descend upon this place.

The silver-blue fissure glimmered in fluctuating light. It swayed for an instant before expanding again—the Void Door was now several thousand meters long and hundreds of meters wide as it gradually opened, allowing even space battleships to enter with ease. Many older Midgardians present during the first Void Door ritual discover in shock that this Void Door was far larger than the door that ushered the Crystal Insect.

Could it mean that the being that was coming will be far larger than the Crystal Insect?

To put things into perspective, the [Pioneer-class] flagship that was billed as the utmost crystallization of Midgardian technology was but two thousand and four hundred meters in length, while the Crystal Insect had been three hundred meters long in its normal state. While the comparison was obvious, the former was a war machine that required dozens of thousands of people to crew it, while the latter was a single superior body of life—the combat prowess between the two could not be calculated with the standard methods.

However, it was alleged that there were ancient empires that had long slumbered in the depths of the stars used inconceivable technology to forge ten kilometers-long battleships. It was so huge that one craft was an ecosystem that could subjugate an entire civilization. Still, those were merely rumors that the Midgardians heard once or twice in a millennium.

Now, I can't even force the Void Door to self-destruct… I could only pray that that which would come from the other side is the Saint, and not those abnormal Void Behemoths.

Though his heart was growing cold due to all sorts of unexpected things, Milhabus still had a final hope in spite of losing control—though that great will was cold and callous, it moved in fervent Order as if it was an autonomous machine that activated through the fulfillment of certain criteria. There was a supreme gap between that Chaotic mentality of the Void Behemoth that allowed virtually no interaction and understanding, but the most important thing was that the psionic beam of the Void Door was not distorting until now, and progressing in an orderly manner. Anything was still possible.

"It's coming."

In the bridge of the Pioneer—flagship of the Central Midgardian Fleet, the robust but upset fleet commander watched as the silver-blue portal slowly expanded, as ten thousand thoughts flashed through his mind.

Tarquin had participated in that battle a thousand years ago. He had been a mere crewmember of the Central Fleet but did in fact fight the rampaging Crystal Insect. As the sole survivor of that subsidiary fleet, Tarquin would know the scent of Chaos, and it was hence pleased to find out that there was no Abyssal breath from the other end of the Void Door. In its place was immeasurably distinct waves of heat that broiled like the sun, monumental ripples that made ordinary beings breathless.

But even as he relaxed, a new anxiety rose in his mind.

Who would know if the incredible ripples came from a new enemy?

Regardless of what he thought, reality would not shift at the will of the intelligent being. As the silver-blue dimensional fissure stopped expanding and affixed itself where it was, the massive psionic beam lost its benchmark for transference, the surging psionic tide churning huge energy tidal waves within the dark universe, spreading towards the surrounding bodies of stars.

But while the aftershock from the tidal wave was still spreading, the door of the Void truly opened.

"Fleet—Level One Alert!"

A ferocious bellow promptly echoed across the bridge of the Pioneer. Tarquin's three eyes widened as he commanded the surrounding officers at his loudest voice. The others were slow to react, but an imposing chill soon surged into their hearts. In that instant, endless panic, cowardice, and timidity poured into the darkest corners of their hearts. A presence that made humans tremble was stretching, dispersing courage and nullifying passion—apart from the rare few Midgardians that were stirred instead by the stimulation of the presence, most of the battleships in the fleet encircling the Void Door fell into a brief panic.

The psionic tidal wave that cascaded towards the surrounding stars visibly from vicinity of the dimensional fissure had already been eroded by waves of mysterious red-black energy that poured forth from the Void Door. Incomparable presence, accompanied by a power that inspires terror in all life, unfurled outwardly.

His power was not so limited in the first place; he had deliberately suppressed it. Even so, the immeasurably profound and uncontrolled psionic energies empowered it by thousand folds, raising the threat without limit, and in the very next instant, a giant hand that was seemingly constructed from molten metals reached out from the Void Door, pressing down upon the world on this side.

The hand was actually very small compared to planets and the psionic beam, an ignorable speck within the Universe. Nevertheless, it easily plundered everyone's attention the moment it appeared—Milhabus, Tarquin, every Midgardian official and ranked priest, as well as every Midgardian watching the psionic livestream held their breaths at the sight. Shock, fear, expectation, alert, suspicion, disbelief and many other emotions flashed in their hearts one after another, and soon, the second, third and fourth hands reached out—

"The Void being is coming! Cannons on full power, standby and prepare to fire!"

As Tarquin issued the immeasurably vigilant order, the Door fully opened. As a giant energy wave that caused even the million miles of psionic tide to dull surged, a giant god that descended from the other side of the Void appeared before the Midgardians.

Whoooosh. In the empty reaches of the universe, a gale of energy billowed.

It was a four-armed steel giant that was over four-hundred meters tall, its entire body wrapped in flames. There was a halo of light, pierced by a single straight line at its center as it turned slow, with forces that far eclipsed the engine core of battleships circling around its body. As he came in to this whole new world, he spread his four arms as if to stretch out, while the silver-blue door that was glimmering rapidly closed itself and vanished due to his advent, before finally shifting into an insignificant psionic wave.

"The energy wave levels are at seven hundred and sixty million—it's three times the engine output of the Pioneer! And that's just his normal state, there's no calculating his peak power!"

"He possesses an incredible energy surge similar to psionics! The threshold of its mass is a thousand times above Omega-tier psionics! Being a superior Void being, there is no calculating with the present systems!"

"Heavens! He has organs for observation—he's watching us!

Countless scientists who were observing at real time from the Midgard star and space station were urgently reporting their discovery. They found out in astonishment that the four-armed Steel giant was far more powerful than the Crystal Insect, and the margins were not by one bit or a half but a comprehensive outclass. It was a terrifying power that the Midgardians could never imagine since the most powerful Omega psionics of their civilization could at most control the weather and rain of a particular region—if they had not gathered the power of every psionic on the planet, they had no way of piercing the dimensions.

In the instant they noticed that the Steel giant was watching them as well, many scientists who were watching it from behind lenses felt their mental core froze at once as overwhelming emotional undulation overloaded their thinking hub, and simply fainted. Appearing to sense it, the giant spoke, but since vacuum had no way of spreading sound only streaks of black-red ripples spread out of his mouth, turned into halos of energy.

The giant closed his mouth when he realized the fact, and used a silver communicative psionic beam with the intent to interact with the intelligent beings around him. Many captains aboard the various warships believed it to be a sign of his offense and were so scared they were prepared to retaliate, only to be stopped by the fleet commander who had been frowning. Tarquin sensed that the chaos caused by the giant was unwitting, and merely a natural phenomenon caused by its domineering existence. He hazily felt that the other side was an intelligent being that they could interact with.

But a silver star suddenly shone. A torrential ray, carrying inconceivable destructive power, surged towards the Steel giant as a particle lance accelerated to the utmost that carried heat over a million degrees instantly covered the space and arrived before the giant.

In the end, someone had fired a cannon shot out of fear or some other factor.

"Who?!" Tarquin bellowed in rage immediately, looking around. Not only was it a disregard of his order, it was even more possible that the Void being that appeared communicative would be enraged. In this hour where the Midgard civilization nears destruction, it was equivalent to utterly diminishing the final hope of Midgardian future if the new Void being was angered once more. Apart of him, even the command center above the Midgardian planet and the highest government was furious and alarm, but everyone's attention remained on the other side of the stars.

It was as if the Steel giant expected the particle lance. Facing the direct strike from the main cannons of a warship that could punch through a small planet and vaporized a whole city, he raised his right hand just a second before it struck. Infinite visible particles started to condense in his palm and formed a huge silver luminous sword between breaths, and the giant used the single second left to swing it, cutting apart the particle lance with relative ease.

"Chaos hides within your midst."

Empowered by the psionic beam, the silver radiance reached every Midgardian mind—the giant was not enraged about being attacked, and merely spoke in an amiable tone. "I have already helped you wipe them out."

In one of the fleets some distance away, several ranking officers within a few warships were screaming shrilly as they were burned into ashes by an inferno that came out of nowhere. Their bodies were emanating toxic smog of rot, but even that was utterly incinerated by the black-red flames. Additionally, there was a single Midgardian corrupted by the Chaos that was left carefully in each ship for interrogation instead of being turned into cinders.

The black giant—its golden-red skin having cooled—turned, and followed the guiding psionic beam to land slowly on the Midgard planet. A multitude of aerial cannons and guided defensive nets locked on to that superior Void being whose allegiance was yet to be determined, but every controller merely broke out in cold sweat instead of acting in the absence of orders of their commanding officers. They could only watch nervously as that terrific being broke through the atmosphere and slowly shrunk in the air before turning into a human.

"He has the power of transforming and shrinking!

"The energy signature is rapidly contracting. Current levels at twenty-three hundred million, almost the same as a battleship engine core!"

"Substantial decrease in mass! Sub-space detected! He has largely moved his body to the sub-space to miniaturized and assumed human shape! Current mass shift is around a hundred and fifteen thousand to two hundred thousand tons!"

"The being—codename, Void Giant—possess clear intelligence, activating procedure C!"

Amidst the series of nervous information relay and analysis, the silhouette that was now typical human-sized that was shouldering a greatsword and greataxe was about to land on the peak of the holy mountain. He had black hair, a pair of flame-like eyes—to Grand Consul Milhabus who had just left the psionic beam, the Void Being bore much resemblance to the Void Saint. The figure landed on the platform, paused for a moment before turning towards the Grand Consul—or more specifically, the Droplet inside the Amber Pole.

"The Sage's presence."

Having ascertained the fact, the black-haired man approached Milhabus and pulled up the Grand Consul that had overexerted itself. It instantly sent another shockwave over the scientists in the analysis center. It was indisputably an intelligent being that was acting benevolent and communicative, even as Milhabus stood blankly under his aid, soon sensing a silver radiance being gushing into its mental hub, the seed-shaped 'brain' constructed from countless nerve construct inside the Midgardian's body.

"May I know if you were the ones who activated the Sage's keepsake and summoned me?" The black-haired man asked serenely.

Milhabus found out in surprised that it could actually understand the unknown language of the being, and paused for a moment, before slowly answering him. "…Yes."

"What is the problem that required the ritual?" The black-haired man continued simply.

"A Void Behemoth!" Milhabus quickly reacted and replied; he was the top leader of a planet after all. "The Folbians had fled, and we are facing a direct onslaught of the Void being."

"I see. A Chaos invasion, huh." Nodding, the black-haired figure laughed.

His appearance was very different from Midgardians, but seemingly having the same cultural origins allowed Milhabus to instinctively know that he was laughing. It had wanted to scold him in anger for this was no time to laugh, but he could almost see a giant god flashing past the Void being's back in that very moment—the pupils it had glinted with silver radiance with the most intense will to kill and fight.

"Then sign a contract. In the name of the Sage, I would face Chaos beside you."

His laughter quickly vanishing, the black figure stood upon the Solemn Platform that he felt familiar with and reached out with one hand, pressing down on the Amber Pole in Milhabus's hand.

"I'm Joshua van Radcliffe," he said calmly. "I have answered the call, to search and destroy Chaos."

"This power is at your disposal."