Soul of Searing Steel

Joshua was already in the Void beyond Stellaris when he opened his eyes.

Stellairs was a special superworld. In theory, it should have been enlarging endlessly with time like the infinite singular universe—perhaps, given that it was constantly absorbing mass from galaxies beyond, it could have well been the shape of an infinite realm on a totally different definition if the Initial Flame had never presented anomalies.

Nevertheless, the battle waged millions of years ago between the Wise One of the Arcane and the Masterminds—the existence which created the Evil Gods—had caused all manners of variations in the Multiverse. During that period, Stellaris ceased expanding and remained in its present size, but even so, it was already outstandingly massive and its World Barrier so strong that not even Joshua could break it open at once.

In fact, it was not as if opening it was impossible, nor was there truly no solution if he had really used his true powers—the main thing that concerned Joshua was that should he have used violence and set aside the question of consumption, would it not have been a chance for an Evil God to invade if one of them was spying on him from the outside? Therefore, he had to find a way that would not break the Stellaris World Barrier to move in and out of Stellaris itself.

But was there such a way?

Certainly—otherwise, how did the Creators: natives and makers of Sterllaris move through their final fortress during their time?

And now, the Triple Curtain was using their highest authority in Stellaris to open a door for Joshua. It was a hidden passage that the Creators had set up for themselves, which the warrior now sent himself out of. If not for that, he would not have reached the Void beyond so quickly.

***

Even before Joshua opened his eyes in the Void, his Steel Vision senses that were far more precise had already kicked in and scanned everything around him without a single blind spot.

But in the end, he found nothing.

It was not as if there were no threats, no hostiles, or nothing of concern. Though surprised, Joshua was not actually puzzled to find that the Void beyond Stellaris was an empty blankness—he looked around, only to find dark space without end. There was nothing as far his vision could reach, not even ruins. At most, there were only tiny shards that resembled world fragments wafting within the Void like minute dust flowing in a clear river, making Stellaris resemble an orb shrouded in dust.

"No wonder Stellaris is not expanding. The galaxies beyond it—if there were any before—are completely decimated. There's not even the debris and ruins found in the Silent Void, only the tiniest bits of ashes."

That was what left Joshua surprised, although he was also mentally prepared for it. For one, according to what the Triple Curtain had revealed, the battle that the Creators might have waged against the Masterminds had lasted a very long time, with the shockwaves slowly diminishing until the civilization where the Wise One of Arcane was born.

It would not have been unusual for such a violent battle between Extraordinary individuals in the Void to destroy an entire galaxy. On the other hand, being an unusually sturdy superworld, only Stellaris had survived such a war amidst the stars.

Having ascertained that there were no Chaotic presence of the Evil Gods or other worlds outside Stellaris, Joshua turned his attention to other aspects. Then, he swiftly noticed that there were many other things he should have been concerned about.

In the Void outside of Stellaris, the Great Mana Tide was gushing much more significantly than in the galaxy back home.

No, it was not 'more significant'—it was as different as heaven was to earth!

The Great Mana Tide filling the Void was like a mist cascading like a squall, a surging oceanic stream that streaked through the Void. Its white splashes far vaster than large worlds were sprays that could flatten entire worlds, cleanly brushing everything away from the Void—even the dimensional turbulence created by Stellaris was suppressed into droplet-shaped ripples that extended to the rear.

If one were to describe the white ripples of the Great Mana Tide as currents that engulfed the world, then Stellaris was like reefs—ancient but unchanging, sturdily withstanding the waves while motionlessly remaining entrenched where it was.

"Such a massive Mana Tide?! And with such incredible density?!"

Reaching out with both right hands to draw a portion of the Tide around him for evaluation, Joshua combed his mind for information, generally estimating the energy density of the Great Mana Tide around the world of Mycroft and then moving on to the density outside Stellaris. He was immediately left in utter astonishment.

"Do we really live in the same Multiverse?"

The difference between the two could not even be described in numbers!

To put things into perspective, if the light of the Mana Tide once seen in the world of Mycroft was as meek as the stream of a partially-shut faucet, then the Great Mana Tide outside Stellaris was akin to a major tsunami stirred by a level-12 earthquake that assaulted multiple continents!

"This place must be very close to the fountainhead of the Great Mana Tide!"

Joshua could conclude without actually thinking, since he had definitely reached somewhere close to the source of the Great Mana Tide even if his conclusion proved to be untrue. Furthermore, the warrior was able to prove it since he had discovered substantial density of world fragments in his Mana Tide samples—Steel Authority was no something so simply produced: the worlds destroyed had to reach a certain density that the Void Vortex and the vicinity of Simboa had never reached.

***

What was the source of the Great Mana Tide?

In the past, it was a question Joshua once discussed with the Eastern Plains Mage Tower, Barnil the Rune Master, William the Mind Lord, and Barbarossa of the Skypiercing and Element Maven.

At that time, the Steel Shards that were drifting away in the Void were caught by Mycroft and led to the awakening of naturally-born mages. It was a matter that had Joshua heading for the Void Vortex, which prompted his discovery of the lair of the Black Fog and guided him to Simboa, where he saw the bitter end of a civilization without Extraordinary abilities when those powers were abruptly born amongst them.

Having gathered many world fragments into one body in that world, Fattrovi, the greatest champion of Simboa had then reached the point where he could banish the world's Steel Python, and the man proved to be one of Joshua's greatest adversaries in life.

But all that notwithstanding, there was no doubt that the broken world fragments were one of the reasons that Extraordinary powers were awakened in certain realms. At the time, Joshua had already theorized that the fountainhead of the Great Mana Tide was at the heart of the Multiverse, a surging stream of endless world corpses, just as that inestimable waves of Mana Tide was the radiance when worlds met their end.

Be it then or now, Joshua had never imagined that he could have been so close to the fountainhead.

Standing in the Void, the four-armed Giant God strode forth and lowered his hands, returning the Mana Tide energy he had captured. His movements were not affected by the surging Mana Tide itself—the profound stream of energy that could wither worlds was merely like breeze to him, and he slowly stepped into its center and turned his eyes to its fountainhead.

"Such a mystical place exists on Stellaris?"

Joshua turned to see the Mana Tides' waves from the front to the end as it whizzed away, his expression certainly one of shock. 

"Still, not surprising," he mumbled.

After all, he was in Stellaris: origins of Psi, the final fortress of the Creators.

It was not because Stellaris was close to the fountainhead of the Mana Tide, but because the Mana Tide had only later arrived near Stellaris—that was the only logic.

Now, Joshua felt that he was once again closer to the Truth of the Multiverse.

The Great Mana Tide was not merely a supernatural phenomenon limited to their own galaxy. Instead, it engulfed the entire Multiverse, and from a certain perspective, the Great Mana Tide was far more powerful than every known Extraordinary individual—whether it was Imperator Amos, the Takur Grand Patriarch, Joshua himself, or some champion hidden in other civilizations and galaxies—they were all far beyond that boundary.

"The Mana Tide is not a natural formation, but caused by acquired means… pity that I hadn't ask the Knowers if the Mana Tide had begun after the birth of the Wise One of Arcane."

The Great Mana Tide that stretched across ten thousand worlds undoubtedly elevated the density of Extraordinary energy win every world. Even large worlds with lower concentration of the supernatural would have seen an age of 'Psi Revival' when the Mana Tide reached them—be it the systems of magic, the ensuing elements, and ether, or even the lifeforce which nearly originated from the same source, everything had come from one major dissemination that was far more effective than when Joshua had spread the system of Emotional power over Stellaris.

Could the Mana Tide have been a measure by which the Wise One of Arcane spread the Extraordinary system called magic?

At the very least, this possibility existed.

With that thought, the warrior kept striding forward towards the Great Mana Tide. He wanted to get as close as possible to view its fountainhead.

Even so, the more he moved, the more Joshua felt restrained—a sensation he had not felt in a long time. Ever since he had become a world and hibernated in the Vortex of Creation for years, Joshua had never felt a lack of stamina or being repressed. Here, one should note that the resources cascading beneath the Vortex of Creation would mold worlds of varying levels at any given moment and were millions of times more concentrated than the worlds beyond, while Joshua's true form had stayed there for years. Even if he could not absorb all of it, it was still the equivalent of gathering energy as he wandered the Void for a dozen years, hunting on the mass of dead planets.

But now, in the exceedingly gushing Mana Tide, Joshua's clone felt the distinct sensation of his movements becoming increasingly difficult. Like a normal person standing within oceanic waves, even maintaining his balance was difficult, and without the warrior's excellent control and having altered his own form into an aerodynamic state that alleviated opposing pressures, he would probably have been sent flying by the Mana Tide a while ago.

"Is this my limit?"

When Joshua's clone had arrived at a faraway spot where Stellaris could no longer be seen behind him, he unwittingly paused to keep himself where he was at full strength. He knew that his true form would have been able to go even further, but this remained the limit for his clone.

As for why he did not come with his true form…the truth was that his true form could not leave Stellaris and head for the worlds beyond, since he would still have had a hard time if several Evil Gods attempted to assault him when he left Stellaris in his real body. Stellaris would have also lost their preemptive chance to purge the Chaos. It was hence better to have his true form retain most of his strength, and have his clone explore instead, since it merely lacked mass.

He was not dejected, as there would have been opportunities in the future—after destroying the Chaos in Stellaris, Joshua could certainly come again after making every preparation possible. Therefore, after keeping in mind the region's dimensional coordinates, the warrior turned to leave, heading back for Stellaris.

This time, he sensed no Chaos presence outside, since it was possible that any details were washed away in the Great Mana Tide. In return, Joshua planned to leave a few autonomous patrollers beyond Stellaris to monitor the region across all directions, preventing the possibility of some lurking Evil God or Chaos spawn jumping out of nowhere once he returned inside.

Still, before he left, Joshua could not help but to take a longing look at the edge of the white surge that was the Mana Tide. At that instant, he redirected every iota of energy he had used to keep his balance into his senses to discern the other side covered in dense mist.

Then, before Joshua was washed away by the surges of the Mana Tide, he saw a star.

It was bright, ablaze but with no color to speak of, shining upon all things as if…it was the Root of all existence—the 'star' at which everything began.

Joshua saw that outstandingly distinct light that appeared to be what lay behind the boundless radiance of the Mana Tide! He was very familiar with that light, having seen it in some distant memory with his own eyes!

"The…Initial Flame!?"

Joshua could not hold back his cry of shock, although his body had already been washed away by the Great Mana Tide's surges in the very next instant. Despite only having the briefest glimpse of that brilliance, it was imprinted in the warrior's sight and mind, and Joshua at once forgot about keeping his balance. He was hence 'accelerated' by the force of the Mana Tide and collided heavily onto the Stellaris World Barrier.

Boom!

The powerful shockwaves spread in rings of ripples that soon dissipated. All his limbs outstretched, Joshua simply lay prone on the World Barrier but did not rise, his mind still on that tiny but distinct 'star'.

"That's the Initial Flame?" Joshua muttered to himself. It was not the first time he had seen the Initial Flame—in the memories of the Evil God of Fertility, its brilliance was endlessly brighter.

Still, that was different: one was the memories of another, the other was his personal observation.

They were certainly not the same.

***

Suddenly.

"That's right."

Just as Joshua was still engrossed in his astonishment, a flat but mysterious voice spoke coolly without the restraint of emotions. "You have the right idea."

That voice spoke not in any language or through spiritual link, but by an abnormal infection that appeared to write memories into the mind and was ever self-replicating.

Alongside that voice was a massive tentacle, inside of which carried an empty world!

The tentacle seemed to have appeared out of thin air and crashed down upon Joshua, as if to bind the warrior inside the world within.

"That is the Initial Flame," the voice continued calmly.