Soul of Searing Steel

28th of May, Starfall Year 833. Afternoon in the Count of Moldavia’s residence.

At the backyard, light feather trees were swaying and emanating a warm, silvery-white light. Quite a few leaves were falling and blown off by the wind, as if they were an angel’s feathers.

However, light feather trees would not shed leaves in autumn. This was a phenomenon caused by something large moving around in the backyard—that was not that large.

Boom!

Thunderous footsteps rang, sending tremors into the ground, and a few leaves were shaken off the enchanted plants once more. The gargantuan object was turning around; it was indeed the cause of the havoc.

Click.

Underneath the afternoon sun, the colossal thing could be seen clearly. It wore a full-set of huge black armor, its outer layer covered with shells inscribed with runes streaming with mystical light. Its main body was formed with several smooth and sturdy steel plates, with magical circuits connecting plates and scales that formed a hub at the armor’s chest.

Outside the chest was an extra section of armor that juts out in a triangular shape. It was blinking with orange-red magical luminosity that looks threatening, but also protects the energy core behind it.

“Not bad.”

A deep voice rang from behind the helmet of the cumbersome armor. The helmet itself had two ferocious horns, while the eyes were covered with a diagonal steel crystal of high purity, which one can see through to look at the wielder behind it.

It was a pair of red, fiery eyes. Naturally, Joshua was the one inside the armor.

“This armor sent in by Moreila is really good. But since it’s made when I was still at the Gold-tier, it could only be used if I don’t unleash my full power…”

A whole load of system notifications suddenly appeared in front of the warrior.

[Unnamed Excellent Enchanted Armor]

[Item of Gold-Tier Craftmanship, armor, 77, abilities, decreased physical damage, low elemental immunity, strong defense against projectiles, natural recharge, self-destruct]

[Runic Powers, Power of the Berserker, Eagle-Eye, Heart of the Rampaging Dragon, Air-step, Magical Dash, Magical Self-destruct]

[Item: A new type of armor designed through the collaboration between the Count of the North, Joshua van Radcliffe and the Runic Dwarves of the Northern Realms. Augmented in all aspects compared to normal armor and powered by a high-grade magical crystal as its core, it possesses a powerful self-destruct feature.]

[Why did I even design such a powerful Self-destructing Armor?]

[By—Ironborn Moreila]

Other than the unnecessary self-destruct feature, the armor that had been specifically tailored for the warrior was rather flawless. It did not inhibit movements either—indeed, after testing it for a while, Joshua found it extraordinarily mobile. It also appeared that the last experimental armor gave the old dwarf quite the trove of data that helped him make some significant improvements.

“That’s about it.”

Having tried it on for some time, Joshua issued a command, “Disconnect runic connection, cease magical production, unequip.”

The armor complied, and the runic scales on the back slowly parted to reveal a rhombus-shaped opening that Joshua easily climbed out from. After ensuring that there was nobody inside, the shell automatically recovered to its original shape and covered the hole once more.

“Thanks to 03, now the armor has some simple intelligence. It would probably be after the Great Mana Tide for the Mycroft Continent to come up with such technology.

Standing beside the set of shield plating that stood taller than him by half his height, Joshua lightly patted the armor in satisfaction, before giving his rather regretful assessment.

“If I didn’t improve to Supreme-tier, this would have been such a great boost. It’s just not that useful now.”

Regardless, this suit of armor would definitely raise his power levels a lot more than typical magical armors. That was why he was quite content, and did not ask for more.

“Uncle Joshua!”

Out of the blue, the velvet voice of a young girl rang from within the residence. When he turned, the back door was already opened and a little lively silhouette came hopping towards him.

The figure had blonde hair tied into a ponytail and wore an elegant red-black dress. From her height alone, one could tell that she was about ten, and yet she ran at an almost inhuman speed to the armor and exclaimed in her high-pitched voice, “Roland… Eh, this is so cool!”

Looking at the black paint and its fearsome crooked horns alone, it resembled more of a demon-crafted armor than a human’s. But the little lass with rosy cheeks was completely absorbed in her admiration of it.

She kept stroking its knees—the only spot that she could reach—and asked excitedly, “Uncle Joshua, is this your new armor?”

“Yes, little Flan. Were you looking for me?” Joshua watched the little girl’s thrilled movements in good humor. “I thought you would be in a room somewhere, listening to Ying’s story with your sister.”

The little girl was the daughter of Brandon and Vale Dani—Flan Scarlet. She was sent here by the couple along with her sister, Remy Scarlet to the residence of the Count of Moldovia.

It was not for some long-awaited reunion or some reason such as needing private space. The truth was that Brandon was here not to meet his family, but to handle the cultist incidents in Moldova’s territories.

Every cultist in Moldavia’s main city had already been captured by 03, but many others had infiltrated the villages across the realm. If not for Artanis himself sending out knights who worked together with Joshua’s own troops, there would have been a few sacrificial incidents by now.

While Moldova’s circumstances were not severe, Vale Dani’s methods at handling them were not as cruel as the knights—which in turn meant that there may be loose ends. Recently, an entire village in the forest had been slaughtered as blood offerings—the scene was an extraordinary mess of gore. The offering also appeared successful; it may have summoned something.

Those are the things that Brandon and his wife had to handle, which included investigating what sort of demon they could have summoned. This meant that they could not care for their own children for the time being, and after some consideration, they found that Moldova was simply unsafe, and so quickly sent them to the count’s residence for Joshua to babysit.

Naturally, their faith in the warrior was misplaced—Joshua’s stories would most definitely be ghastly and gruesome. It was therefore fortunate that Ling and Ying were there to help him, or it would mean a duel to the death when the couple returned.

That being said, this child named Flan did not like pretty dolls or cute critters, but instead favored big, fearsome weapons and armors as well as terrifying daemons and intimidating dragons. Joshua was at once quite pleased and weirded out.

Still, he had those stuff simply lying around. After he also took her to meet Black and have her attempt a dive in the lake alongside the half-dragon (after preparing the proper precautions, of course), it did not surprise that she quickly looked up to him. She had been a little scared of the warrior at first, but now her eyes were twinkling in admiration of the unusual armor, as if she did not feel a shred of his intimidating aura at all.

Squatting to pat her on her lithe shoulders, Joshua did his best to lower his voice to avoid scaring her.

“Alright, stop gawking. The armor is staying put here, come take a look when you have the time. So, what’s up?” He asked seriously.

“Hmmm… Uncle Roland was looking for you.” The little lass said distractedly as she busied herself with stroking the uneven runic scales. “He should be in the hall? Seems to be in a rush too.”

“Got it.” Joshua nodded and rose. “You can stay here and look at the armor, but you have to return as soon as the sun sets. Do you understand, little Flan?” He reminded her, looking up at the dimming sun.

“Understood!”

The warrior shook his head at the crisp reply; he knew he had to send Ling here later to take her back indoors. Definitely not Ying, though—with her personality, she would definitely be staying beside Flan, chatting incessantly while enjoying a view of the stars. In other words, he would still have to send Ling… and that was a hassle.

With that thought, Joshua returned to the residence and headed for the hall.

And he wondered what on earth got Roland to look for him at this hour.

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