Soul of Searing Steel

Panda Novel

Beneath a dark red sky, a violet sea flowed as smooth as a river.

Mixed with the heavy metal minerals streaming out of the depths of the earth’s core, one would feel dazed by the toxins upon approaching the seas. Even so, it was gentle and peaceful when seen from above, as beautiful as a portrait.

It was the Eighty Second Abyss: the Dead Sea Abyss. a world which saw seismic shift due to a fight between Extraordinary individuals—the two combatants, who were hypothesized to be Legendary champions had both self-destructed, the shockwaves from their battle having caused weather change. Furthermore, the mountains collapsed from their very base, and in the end, in a great quake never before seen, the continent sunk beneath the waves, never to surface.

In between, all life was killed by the poisonous air as the sea boiled—in a dozen years, nothing was left in that world.

Until now, the dark outline that was the sunk continent still had an orderly frame, as if a vertical pupil embedded at the center of the violet sea.

It was a world where not even bacteria lived and a sea that was as still as if dead. Apart from a single black vein of the Nether River flowing at the depths of the sea, the entire world had no movement. Thanks to the lack of food and soul, not even demons would approach the still Abyss.

But today, the silent Abyss saw the presence of unexpected visitors.

Starfall Year 840, the seventeenth of May. When a rift was ‘gently’ pulled apart over the skies, a silver light streak through. Even so, although the silver light was immeasurably massive before breaking through the rift and dazzled like a star, he soon shrank to the size of a normal hill.

The Giant hovered above the Dead Sea, its mere existence causing the flat violet sea to drum and splash above into tides. Countless concentric ripples also appeared over the calm sea, making it as if a gigantic eye was glaring at him.

“This is it—the Dead Sea Abyss.”

A dull voice spoke from the Giant’s palm. “The Nether River in the Sixth Abyss would almost move Supreme-tier Beings… Only the Nether River of the Dead Sea Abyss would permit passage for the most powerful demons and champions.”

The presence on the Giant’s palm was a black sphere covered in a silver glow—to be precise, an ink-dark shade. It had eight eyes and was ceaselessly morphing as if wanting to stretch itself, but an absolute power sealed its movements, allowing it to exist only as a sphere.

After entering the Nether River, we would pass through ever Abyss at the swiftest pace, avoiding detours in the Void and directly dive to the Bottom of the Abyss.

The dark shade struggled several times fruitlessly before giving up, and calmly allowed itself to be pressed into a ball. “I’m just unsure why you would head for the Bottom. Do you believe that the Evil God to be there? I sense no Chaos presence around it when I was there.”

“That’s because the seal must have remained when you were there.”

It was only then that the Giant spoke. Joshua swept his gaze over the entire world, checking the position of the undersea Nether River before nodding his head irrefutably. “Certainly, the Nether River in this world is much larger than the other worlds.”

The shadow ball—a small part of Goliath’s soul that the Demon King tore from itself quieten down. It could certainly see the resolve of the man before it to reach the Bottom, although even the Demon King itself was unsure that the Dead Sea’s Nether River could carry the Giant God of Steel’s tonnage.

While both of them were Legends, this particular specimen had such unbelievable tonnage that the Sixth Abyss simply could not carry him, which was why it led him here.

“Looks like you weren’t lying.”

Just as Goliath considered the matter, troubled over how it should lead Joshua to the Abyss if he could not enter this one as well, the warrior nodded slightly—having ascertained that he was not misled, sent on a detour or into a trap. “Well now, Goliath. In this moment of need, you count as a trustworthy one.”

The shadow ball did not actually understand what Joshua was saying, only that it was repaid with its earnest and honest behavior since leaving the Sixth Abyss.

Soon, however, Goliath realized that it was wrong.

The Demon King soul fragment could not help widening its eight eyes: myriad-colored light and streamed endlessly out of Joshua’s arms, just as circles after circles of sacred radiance reached out and encircled itself while forming seven majestic reflections.

“It appears that the demons of this age and the present Abysses do not match our records.”

A sky-blue reflection hovered as a youthful voice that spoke with great gravitas, before a beautiful youth with long dark blue hair and dressed in plain priest robes stepped out of the divine halation. It was the God of Order and Destruction, who was frowning at the shadow ball in the Giant God’s hand in disgust. “At least demons were vermin in that age, far from how civilized they are now.”

“There are kings and leaders worthy of respect even amongst demons.” Pale-emerald light flashed, and a middle-aged person who appeared tired and was holding a thick tome slowly materialized from light. It appeared to be a lawyer and was wearing a pair of glasses, bearing short and unkempt dark-gray hair. “But demons are demons,” the God of Law and Freedom sighed, shaking His head. “Without enough power, it would never be reasonable with you.”

“Still, it remains a choice. Demons could choose to be a civilization of Order, and not chaotic beasts.” An old person with pale golden mage robes walked out of his own divine halation. He only had a single good eye—or it should be said that the old man with the kindly face only had one eye. It faintly flickered with countless geometrical forms, as if building millions of runic constructs while the God of Wisdom and Choice Himself laughed quietly. “All of us have power to not worry about their insolence. In the least, they would behave reasonably as long as we have enough power—such is indoctrination.

Unimaginable divine power poured forth endlessly around Joshua’s body. The seven different radiance instantly filled all of the Dead Sea Abyss—all heavy metal particles were thus cleared from the turbid seawater by that godly light. Where there was only a single layer of clear water on its surface thanks to sediment before, the purification uncovered that Nether River which had been flowing quietly by the depths.

“Here it is.” The God of Might and Justice who appeared in gray-haired knight form said with a deep voice. “This Nether River is very lively… it appears that this world had a profound past.”

Meanwhile the God of Conservation and Reformation, who appeared in a dwarven craftsman form grunted dully but said nothing. He simply stroked the steel hammer and untitled holy tome, which resembled a meteor hammer more with its iron cover and steel chains.

The God of Love and Death and the God of Life were silent as well. They stood opposite to each other silently, radiating violet and pure white light, although their powerful presence kept stirring all surrounding mana and elements, sparking unusual glints and sparks.

The Seven Gods?!

The shadow ball at once bloated, protruding countless spikes like a porcupine, which was quickly pressed back. However, it was a clear indication of the Demon King’s shock and terror!

Even if it was a mere soul fragment of Goliath, the shadow ball was clearly aware of the Seven Mycroftian Gods’ appearance. There was no question that the seven beings that abruptly pranced out of Joshua’s body were the seven True Gods’ form!

With the might and magnitude that could subjugate an entire world, a single glance was all one needed to be sure of that those were genuine divine power. If having its main body and full power meant Goliath would not have feared any god, then at this very moment, even the Seven God could destroy its little soul fragment even by breathing.

Wait . Goliath abruptly remembered something just when it was doing all it could to shrink itself invisible, and could not help turn to the impassive Joshua. The Giant God had incidentally looked down at the shade in his hand as well, and as the two glanced at each other, Goliath saw a faint smile flashing past his face.

Just now, divine power had welled out of Joshua’s and materialized the main body of the Seven Gods…

Whether it was a sacred item summon or they had been hosted on Joshua’s body, it meant that Joshua could call for the divine force of all seven deities if the warrior wills it, ignoring all spatial and spell obstruction!

“We are facing an Evil God that could stir an entire galaxy. Even if it had yet to truly awaken, or if we interrupted its awakening to cause it to be malformed… it is still a galactic-class Evil God.”

The Giant God slowly spoke. It was unclear whether he was explaining or muttering to himself, while Goliath remained stunned. “I contacted the Seven Gods before I left, for even the gods could not stand idly by with such a terrible threat from the Chaos. If the Murloc God and the Metal Dragon God had not already left to keep the peace in Chaos corrupted worlds, my body would have been hosting nine gods instead.”

Joshua certainly did not lie—he had gone to the Sixth Abyss by himself without leading eight Legends, and assume a stance as if he was about to flatten that entire realm. Hosting Seven Gods instead of humans meant that Joshua was not wrong.

In fact, Joshua had already spoken to the Seven Gods right after pacifying the Sartrean World: if Goliath did not cooperate and tried to flee and waste whatever time the Mycroft civilization had left, the Seven Gods would attack, combining their might to flatten the greatest threat that was the Sixth Abyss.

If they really fought and the Seven Gods went in full force, every Abyss would be destroyed, much less the Sixth Abyss! There was definitely nothing that could stand in the way of the Seven Gods if they gathered power!

“Luckily, I surrendered quickly… or the consequences would be unthinkable!”

What more could Goliath say? Its very core was trembling even if it was simply a soul fragment now—even if its true form was here, it would have withdrawn its wings and attempt to play that.

Hence, it was worth celebrating that Joshua and the Seven Gods were not focused on itself.

They had much more important things to do.

***

“In essence, the Nether River is a vein of Fire and Steel linking all of the Abyss to recover the power of destroyed worlds.”

The mage—the God of Wisdom and Choice was speaking quietly and in wonder as He looked over the massive dark river that was flowing at the depths of the sea. “It is the remains of Steel Pythons, a sedimentation of a world’s cycles that turned into a river stretching down to the Abyssal Paradise. The greater a civilization was when alive, the wider it would be—at least a dozen Legendary champions must have lived in this civilization back then, perhaps even True Gods.”

“The Vortex of Creation gently recovers the remains of worlds that have collapsed. The day the Nether River utterly vanishes from an Abyssal Realm is the day it truly dies.”

At that, the beautiful youth that was the God of Order and Destruction turned to Joshua, who appeared to be pondering. “According to what few information we have, the spell that seals the Vortex of Creation had over ten thousand core anchor points. With the seal now broken, all of them may have turned into bodies of Chaos.”

“We would help you clear most of the Chaotic force outside to ensure that you enter the core of Abyssal Paradise. Then, whether by brute force, Steel Strength or the power King of Searing Soul, you have to break a crack upon the seal anchor points.”

“Yes. The core anchor points have to be destabilized.”

The God of Might added, his body wafting with gray-black specks. He laughed self-deprecatingly for a moment, before saying with a low voice, “Even if the seal unit made from the Evil God of Wither fails, the spell for Project Rebirth remains extremely strong. It is a sealing circle that is at the same level of the Multiverse Sacrificial Grounds, and the fact that the unknown Evil God was not fully awakened is proof. A circle of that class would only lose control and let loose the Chaos power it ensnares if both outer and core anchor points develop errors simultaneously.”

“An excessively sturdy seal becomes the protective shell of the sealed object. We could only act when the entire seal is almost collapsed, bursting in full power to purge that Chaos that had accumulated over millennia.”

“Radcliffe. You’re the most important element of this plan.”

The God of Love and Death who had been silent all along sighed and began, “The Gods could not grant each other blessing, just as ordinary champions could not embody the power of multiple gods—only you possess the greatest and toughest form since the Glorious Era to at once hold the blessing of Seven Gods. You might also be the being most resistant the Chaos since the Sage.”

“Only you who could hold all our blessing could reach the depths of the Abyssal Paradise without being corrupted by Chaos, even surviving the last blast of Chaos.”

“I know. You don’t have to repeat that.”

Standing over the Dead Sea Abyss, Joshua clenched and pocketed Goliath’s soul fragment while smiling fearlessly. “Isn’t that what we planned for?”

“However, this quest is dangerous. You could die.”

The God of Life suddenly said. “Everything only bears meaning with life—Soul Searer, could you feel no fear? Us Seven Gods are only acting from the outside, and it is you alone who would charge alone into the most dangerous anchor point.”

“Do you not find that unbalanced, even hate us?”

***

Joshua silently glanced at the God of Life once.

There was nothing save for pure silver light in the eyes of the Giant God of Steel.

There was nothing existing there, no killing intent, heat, not even fear.

There was only the composure and peace after having gone through countless battles and striding through endless battlefields.

He certainly knew that it was very dangerous—but so what?

There are things that had to be done whether it mattered to balance. Since only he could do it, he would, and it was that simple.

Heaven is to the left, and the warrior is going to the right. If he had feared the risk of battle and was frightened of the coming death, Joshua would not have become Joshua.

“It’s almost time.”

Joshua said thus, standing at the center of divine power patterns and encircled by the Seven Gods. He showed no hesitation and directly descended to the undersea Nether River. When his infinitely heavy and burning body touching the sea, endless steam and a great tidal wave that engulfed all the world thus stirred.

Be that as it may, the warrior’s voice could be heard permeating boundless steam and dense mist, resounding over the world.

“Let’s go.”

The Seven Gods looked at each other in return. Massive volumes of information intertwined, before being integrated.

Then, all of them nodded, turning into seven veins of different colored light that followed right behind the warrior.

***

There were those who were born as a flag.

Not a hero, not a god.

Merely moving at one’s own pace to advance without stopping, moving in a straight line like light itself.

And only that was enough to lead heaven and earth, a thousand worlds and even the gods.

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