Soul of Searing Steel

“There were Void Behemoths were flocking near Simboa, something both I and a World Will found illogical.”

Joshua invited Nostradamus to the slab and simply waved, summoning a screen over the experiment platform. “They are natives of the Void and stood on top of the Void food chain, even the legends such as ‘Celestial Devourer’ or ‘Void Vileness’ are their mutated variants. However, they never form herds because that’s only something that only ‘the weak’ would do—superior lifeforms do not need companions or society, not even propagation since they could undergo mitosis.”

Images and footages appeared in the screen, showing hundreds up to dozen thousands of those grotesque creatures that completely opposed all human aesthetic were roaming erratic dimensional turbulences. They formed groups, wandering across the Void to the edge of the Void Vortex.

Joshua stared distractedly at the images for a moment, before quickly continuing. “Logically speaking, there could only be one Void Behemoth occupying one dimensional quadrant as their hunting zone, and they would move on if it’s too small or there were too few worlds to satiate their demands for energy. You’ve seen the one in our own quadrant—Leviathan. It’s considered a juvenile, given that it’s less than thirty thousand years old… of course, in Void Behemoth terms.

“Hmm,” Nostradamus replied simply, staring at the screen with his brow tightened, his gaze alert and nervous—anyone else would be, there were hundreds of them!

At the very thought, the mage could not help shuddering. “What happened to them?” He pressed Joshua. “Do you know where they are now?”

“I packed them up… Uh, anyway, kept one for an experiment. Still, it is a kid after all, and easy to handle.”

Touching the panicking piece of a Void Behemoth beside him, Joshua skipped through something vaguely, changing the topic of conversation as the elderly mage looked on cautiously. “Either way, the problem had been solved. The World Will and I had not been sure why the behemoths would gather at first, but I obtained a rough answer after studying data from the Archives.”

“You’ve read from the Archives?”

Nostradamus blinked in realization. “Right, both Celestial Devourer and Void Vileness were powerful beings recorded in the Glorious Era. You must have read through if you’re able to mention those names, since that Zero-Three of yours is amongst the analyst group, even one of the lynchpins.”

Joshua nodded, not denying the fact and simply revealed the answer, “These Lesser Void Behemoths must have been ‘remains’ of an adult Behemoth that had died. As to whether it died naturally or was killed, I’m leaning towards the latter since I’ve picked up the scent from an unfamiliar Evil God out of that Void Behemoth’s body. It’s not Pestilence, Famine, Calamity or Air, but the presence of a completely unknown Evil God never recorded in the Archives.”

“An unknown Evil God?”

Nostradamus unwittingly clenched and broke the handle of a chair beside him. “Why aren’t you telling us that if you’re aware!” He yelled at Joshua, leveling an astonished gaze at him. “What if those Lesser Void Behemoths fled here due to that Evil God which could slay an adult one?! We should be preparing for battle!”

With those words, the elderly mage had turned and was ready to leave the research center at once, to notify everyone else to prepare for total war. Joshua, however, clapped on his shoulder to calm him and forced him to sit on the chair.

“Be at ease,” the warrior said serenely. “I was as nervous as you were initially, but I found no sign of Chaos around the place after a careful combing through. Moreover, who knows how long had passed since that adult Void Behemoth had been killed. Those Lesser Void Behemoths had roamed the Void for millennia—the Glorious Era was even still around at the time. Now, the Glorious Era is gone, but they were not caught and killed… that’s not prudence.”

“Even if the Evil God that killed the main body isn’t nearby, other Evil Gods would come together in decades… You’ve made me remember that dejecting matter again.”

Having been pressed into the chair, Nostradamus, who would not be standing up for a while spread himself over the chair, sighing. “Joshua, every authority on Mycroft were actually on edge since the ‘Black Fog Cull’ last time around, with most of the Legends being at a loss.”

“The main body of the Black Fog is so powerful that it took a dozen Legends and multiple deities to subjugate it. What’s more, we are only able to kill it by relying upon a singularity and a multidimensional spell cast by tremendous divine power, when the Black Fog was a mere part of the Shelter civilization ‘Final Defense’, when that civilization had already fallen to the combined invasion of several Evil Gods—to be frank, they’ve already failed once.”

“Even if the Black Fog’s main body grew to a state that was comparable to Evil Gods, the full might of Mycroft civilization would only last one or two similar entities. To say that the upcoming few decades of development would withstand the four Evil Gods: ‘Pestilence’, ‘Famine’, ‘Calamity’ and ‘Air’ is simple hubristic and optimistic projection, and now you’re saying that there’s a new one… Such information really loses one’s composure.”

At that, Nostradamus’s tone turned grim. “The Sage’s level is something we could never touch even now. Without the presence of such a class of being, it’s a pipe dream to resist Evil God invasion… We would only face unstoppable extinction.”

That was the frank opinion of most of the Legends too.

After defeating the main body of the Black Fog and generally understanding how powerful a so-called Evil God was, most of the Legends had entered a period of seclusion. Some of them were trying to digest the wonder and the technological inspiration from the battle, while the others were helpless and was at a loss, like Nostradamus himself.

The Black Fog had been indomitable, and yet was a mere loser that failed to resist the Evil Gods’ invasion. Could themselves, the so-called Legendary champions really preserve their own civilization in the future so that life goes on upon the Mycroft Continent?

‘And there were four of them,’ Joshua thought, shaking his head and sighing silently.

Until now, no one was sure how many Evil Gods there were, but he could at least name twenty of them—the number of Evil Gods across the Multiverse was simply endless, and needed serial numbers instead of names.

Still, saying such things were meaningless apart from leaving others dejected. Joshua hence said, “That’s why we must keep developing technology and strengthen our own ability—that is precisely why I experimented with the Void Behemoth’s flesh.”

“Come. Take a look at my recent research results, you might feel better.”

Before Nostradamus could protest, Joshua unlocked the seals on the slab, showing his friend the fruits that he gained recently. Thus, innumerable unusually shaped, spine-chilling dangerous ‘creatures’ appeared at the center of the Practical Lab.

There were walking weeds which leaves could vibrate at high frequency to cut, or be shot out like a projectile; dragonflies that moved at twenty-times the speed of sound and self-destruct by unstable chain reactions; a viral dandelion, spreading airborne seeds that latch on to most carbon-based lifeforms and heightened their nervous systems by controlling their nervous systems; an erosive slime mold similar to a Slime, able to change to any forms, gathering and partially emulating abilities of creatures they infected.

All ridiculous manners of aberrations, be it in appearance or ability that seemed to have crawled out of hell climbed out of silver spheres placed around the slab that had been sealing them. In the very instant that the aberrations that could only have been made from Void Behemoth flesh were freed from its shackles, it bellowed in rage and started to unleash an offensive in all directions indiscriminately.

Streaks of biological lasers shot across the air in the lab as three hundred degrees plasma beam was ejected from bipedal creatures resembling lizards or crocodilians, leaving a scorching ozone smell. Almost jaded, Nostradamus looked on as a seemingly plain, yellow rat that even appeared adorable unleashed ten million volts of electric current right before his eyes—amidst the sharp hiss, clear clouds of plasma appeared out of nowhere at the ceiling of the Practical Lab.

‘These things are consolations?’

“No thanks. I’m quite spirited and don’t need consoling.”

Holding in the impulse to cast ‘dimensional shatter’ and utterly pulverize the small demiplane, the Legendary mage gestured to freeze space and stop all those abnormal creatures from attacking each other, before taking a deep breath. “On the other hand, Joshua,” he said dryly, “I think you’re rather… jumpy. You need rest, instead of experimenting there.”

“This is dangerous, be it for the research center, other researchers or even yourself. I suggest a trip back to your Residence, enjoy a health leave of absence and relieve yourself.”

“I intend to understand further the limits of beings existing in supernatural worlds… and powerful abilities that most creatures’ physique could not hold.”

Joshua continued without paying the mage any heed. The warrior clapped his hands, and all of the raging aberrations were sealed at once in a silver Steel Strength sphere. “If we could breed Void behemoths,” he said quietly, “wiping off their self-awareness and turning them into biological weapons for all humans, helpless peasants would attain offensive ability to threaten the minions of the Evil Gods.”

“If I could transplant Void Behemoth flesh to humans, every ability of those dangerous creatures could become a basic attribute for humans, summoning thunders or breathing flames as they wished.

“Therefore, it’s a pity that I can’t—humans simply could not withstand such power, and the smallest piece of Void Behemoth is alive. Unless it was utterly destroyed, there is simply impossible to use it safely.”

At that, Joshua sighed regretfully.

Nostradamus sighed as well, albeit rejoicingly.

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