Soul of Searing Steel

Panda Novel

In the instant when Galgur appeared and Joshua fought him, every Legendary champion of the Combined Fleet rose, breaking past walls or ceilings from where they directly entered the Void and flew rapidly towards the warrior.

They were well-prepared with every strategem against the attack of the champions from the stars beyond. Their foe appeared to be alone at present and no matter how powerful, would be certain to flee in panic against a dozen Legendary champions.

It was a basic warfare principle to outnumber the enemy, one even worthy of being proud of, so as to why an equal force had not been brought was a question for the adversaries to ponder upon.

Amidst several flashes, a streak of shadow extended across the Void. Goliath the Demon King was in the lead before all others.

It was extremely powerful, and being second only to Joshua in terms of ability, would certainly have an edge over the other Legendary champions in a single duel. It could tell that this was a fine time to present its loyalty and strength. It was not too dangerous, and perhaps even an easy task, to encircle and attack an alien champion.

It however thought wrong—it was not as simple as it imagined to join the fray between two top-class characters in the observable universe.

On the neutron star, a hand that reached into the skies was crushing the existence on the surface with profound strength that would break protons into nuclear fusion, leaving nothing in the physical realm capable of lasting three seconds. Despite that, with a single angry bellow, a purple-green beam stabbed through the palm and cut through the dark dimensional turbulence within the Void without a decrease in momentum. It emanated psionic energies and divine power, imposingly penetrating everything like a sacred spear.

Arriving at the tip of the sacred spear by coincidence, the Demon King drew out its newly-forged twin scythes and cleaved with its full power at the psionic beam that was more than a class weaker after breaking through neutron star armor. It was difficult to read any emotion on Goliath’s savage face, but countless silhouettes of monsters spawning from the shadows dispersed as puff of smoke before the beam. Even the shadow’s own true form was repelled, barely holding on with its powerful essence to avoid being stabbed through.

The light of the sacred spear diminished in three seconds while Goliath remained motionless. It was apparent that the demon had stopped the blow, yet even the Nature Magister, who was unable to see through its expression from beside, could sense the heaviness of its heart.

It had indeed blocked a direct shockwave from the battle with its full power. Nonetheless, if that was all there is to it… was the otherworld champion truly that powerful? And in battling such a champion, Joshua had managed to overpower him and secure an advantage.

Even Pope Igor had mentioned of otherworld existences strong enough to stand against Joshua and himself. If that was the case… how strong was the pontiff and the warrior?

But before there was time for Goliath and the others to think, Joshua grand voice resounded in the Void.

“Don’t mind here, get to the edge of the galaxy.”

Now, upon the silver star, twelve rings of starlight flashed above Galgur’s head—surging psionic waves had crushed all chains and dimensional anchor points, and the cyclops with a plain and elderly face stood up from the crater he created. With a single hand and a serene expression, the Grand Patriarch lifted the gigantic hand which was pressing down on him. He had never imagined Joshua’s true form being not of that already formidable humanoid, but being that of the silver star beneath himself instead.

He had taken a significant blow, but having battled over a thousand years and gaining all experience there was, he took no mind. One of the starlight rings over his head unleashed a blazing light as the word ‘falsehood’ was formed, with his body hence turning incorporeal. The Giant’s hand pressed down on nothing but thin air as Galgur seized the chance to distance himself from Joshua’s true form and strategize his next move.

His face fell quickly. Three other colossal hands, each burning with distinct supernatural powers—namely psionic, magic, and ether—pressed against him, crumpling every subspace path along the way and sparing the Grand Patriarch no space to escape.

Boom!

With a solar flash, Galgur was once again pressed onto the neutron star’s surface while Joshua spoke solemnly. “I’ll handle this one. There are massive signatures arriving at the edge of the galaxy, a fleet—perhaps several fleets are coming…”

Another luminous sacred spear pierced the hold of the Giant’s hand and vaporized a world fragment floating in the Void, but Joshua paid it no heed as he continued. “Barnil, stay. Keep calibrating the dimensional hub. The others, bring out the fleet and our secret weapon to handle those guests who have travelled here from afar.”

With that, Joshua said nothing else. He did not watch as the other Legends arranged the forces that were to follow them, but paid full attention to his powerful foe instead.

On the silver planet, Galgur was impassive even as he failed in his multiple attempts to escape the surface of neutron star. Still, the twelve starlight rings over his head flashed, as an unknown divine power combined with psionic strength to form an unusually profound power greater than most supernatural abilities. As Joshua’s gigantic hands kept crashing towards him, the Grand Patriarch repeatedly unleashed various formidable psionic techniques: repulsion halos, ultimate sacred spears, destructive surge, and the Ruin Cult’s signature divine ruin spell. Yet, those techniques that would have easily altered the integrity of a planet and reduced endless fleets into dust could only briefly repel the Giant’s hands.

Still, it was merely to test the toughness of Joshua’s armor.

“I see.”

Having generally understood Joshua’s form, the Grand Patriarch nodded thoughtfully. Thick psionic bolts burst away from him, instantly covering him in blinding divine light while the bolts unfurled into another ring. With terrible repulsion, it kept the hands fixedly above himself—and yet the ring that once moved planets began to splinter, the runic constructs collapsing into sparks and incessant rumbling.

Without a word, Galgur stopped attempting escape and fired an ultimate scared spear onto the planet’s surface instead. Infinitely-focused divine psionic pierced through the surface of the planet and tore a great wound over the silver planet. Then, three starlight rings shone—runes of ‘fabrication’, ‘banishment’ and ‘protection’ blazed as thunder shot with hesitation from the head, while the Grand Patriarch launched himself unhesitatingly into the wound…

And crashed into an ocean of liquid metal that was a billion degrees hot!

Boom!

Even the divine psionic shield was incinerated into nothingness by the limitless hit. It was no longer a threshold of combustion or flames, but among the most radical physical phenomena to ever exist—the physical change would have burnt to death and torn to pieces even the Fire Elemental Lieges, Infernal Elders and Flame Kings allegedly immune to fire, much less some ordinary lifeform!

Nevertheless, was Galgur unaware of the inner construct of a neutron star, being the highest leader of a supercivilization of the Void? Two more starlight rings over his head shone again—two streaks of purple-green divine psionic radiance ‘indestructible’ and ‘stability’ reassembled his shield, preserving him from such extreme environments.

As expected, he was not made of neutron star matter. Under the hard armor surface lay his superfluid form keeping him in motion and thinking!

With recoil from the multiple blows and information gained from energy blasts, Galgur deduced Joshua’s general form and constitution—including the workings of his star form. He believed the warrior’s mind to be at the centermost portion of the star. Thus, instead of wasting time in leaving the surface, he had decided it easier to directly defeat his enemy by attacking his most vulnerable point.

Superfluid one billion degrees hot was not an obstacle to him. The violent flow of energy might have, in fact, made his next attack even more convenient.

Twelve rings of starlight shone one after another. Runes for ‘bending’, ‘disintegration’, and ‘truth’ kept the neutron superfluid away directly and forcefully dominated it, converting its very essence into savage primordial psionic energies. Meanwhile, an additional three set of runes, ‘creation’, ‘shifting’, and ‘refinement’, gathered the psionic energies into a single dark point unable to be viewed directly. Incandescent like and darkness simultaneously spread away from Galgur’s hand, creating a blinding runic wheel and a dark spiral of destruction!

“Again!”

With a loud cry, boundless divine power rushed into a halo. When ‘Ruin’, the twelfth starlight rune finally shone, the Grand Patriarch smiled for an instant. He raised both his hands high above inside the neutron star, the lightless sphere of darkness, condensing to its very limit, affecting the rule of nature of everything around it, shrinking it even further…

Psionic Singularity!

‘Black hole’ was the name of the final stellar form when objects crumbled to its very limit, just as supernatural singularities were what appeared when condensed to its peak. It was the greatest power of the observable Multiverse, with runes and forces incapable of matching its density unable stop its blow.

It was also the ultimate weapon that was immortal, invincible and eternal, utilised by greatest of Extraordinary champions in slaying one another!

At the very least, the Psionic Singularity conjured by the Grand Patriarch was only a miniature one, as opposed to a genuine one: as a bomb, it would suffice to destroy the dense star lifeform before it… after all, the Takur Ruin Cult was adept in their way of destroying all things. Their techniques, being capable of hundred-percent substance-energy conversion under certain conditions, allowed small Psionic Singularities to destroy stars or even planetary systems countless times its size!

“Is that it?”

Just as the Grand Patriarch blasted the miniature Psionic Singularity in his hand, Joshua’s profound but rather hurried voice emanated in an unusual manner. “You are one of the few beings who could break my defenses. But was it alright for you to simply enter my body?”

Those words did not slow Galgur’s hand for even a fleeting second. The Grand Patriarch continued his strike without hesitation, but that was when he discovered in shock that his own body—or more precisely, his whole external form from soul to energy—was beginning to shrink, just as his movements were stagnating!

He was struck—but when?!

***

In the Void outside the Neutral Star, Joshua’s human form was slowly leaving his cloned main form, shrinking the silver planet while resisting unparalleled gravity that was warping the dimensions. Without any expression on his face, the warrior manipulated all things—the God of Steel who had reached zenith in the path of the physical proved that time and space were mere playthings before him.

Warped gravity caused a time reference that was completely different, for it was a manmade temporal trap that briefly sealed Galgur the otherworld champion. Joshua had enough power to perceive the energy flow and structure of the miniature Psionic Singularity, and had even the time to talk. To Galgur, however, it appeared that his was accelerated over dozens of times, abnormally rushed and bizarre—not that he expected a reply as the warrior simply analyzed and disintegrated the Psionic Singularity. Then, with dimensional pressuring, he crushed, crumpled and reduced the Grand Patriarch into a part of his body.

Galgur had the right idea—to kill Joshua in direct battle meant to destroy the core of the neutron star battle form so that its nucleus collapses. It would have hence propelled the stellar form’s defenses to lose control, and slowly destroyed the creature possessing mass greater than a star. But the problem was that things like mental faculty and a core did not exist.

Every part of Joshua body was capable of thinking. He did not have a core, leaving Galgur’s risk futile. The inside of his body was also where Joshua’s control was strongest, not to mention that this was a single clone—if his enemy dashed into the actual world inside his body, he would have to experience being surpressed and grinded away like Chaos Memories.

“So that’s the leading scout amongst the Multiverse champions! He is definitely powerful, just as there is no telling what level the greatest of them were at…”

In the Zeta Ram system, the silver star expanded before contracting again—excessive density was an unnecessary cost Joshua required only during battle, and he would have usually avoid it. But when the warrior’s human form landed on his own planet form, prepared to warp to the edge of the galaxy to repel that rather excessively fleet, he paused abruptly and looked up at a nearby Void.

Soon, as purple-green specks shone, spreading rapidly into a halo, another elderly cyclops that was draped in dazzling battle ropes stepped out from within. This time, Galgur’s face was fully solemn, holding what resembled a scepter of power in hand with a spear tip, his head decorated with a halo-like crown and his eight fingers wearing layers of ring.

With the coordinates marked, this planetary system was now temporarily a direct teleportation point of the Takur Ruin Cult.

“That…”

Joshua’s expression unwittingly changed when he sensed the familiar presence and situation. Even though he could not differentiate the faces of foreign lifeforms, the identical presence and energy signature that stood above the rest allowed him to recognise it as the psionic champion that had recently fought him, armed to the teeth this time—but it shocked the warrior that he had now returned in peak form, despite being clearly dead just moments ago.

“So, you are a clone too.”

Joshua could not help but to shake his head upon understanding. Why were others incapable of fighting clones while he could? Furthermore, there was no reason not to use a clone that could relay information extradimensional means and perform the finest of reconnaissance work.

“What, you’re a clone?!”

Galgur’s Psionic Clone that had just stepped out of the dimensional rift was even more astonished upon Joshua’s statement reverberating across the Void. His face promptly changed and appeared prepared to obtain new equipment on the other side of the dimension.

But before both clones could fight again, both Joshua and Galgur abruptly turned to glance at another corner of the Void.

“…such power.”

Joshua’s human form, which had been relaxed and only slightly serious, was now absolutely serious and grimacing. Even the main body of the star contracted and expanded slightly, making evident his riled mood.

“…Powerful! Truly powerful! Unbelievable—it’s comparable to my true form!

“Im-Pe-Ra-Tor A-mos!”

On the other hand, Galgur’s psionic clone reacted differently from the warrior who was becoming serious after encountering a powerful foe. Unlike the malice and hostility which he felt towards Joshua and the combined fleet, the information that now unfurled into the Void was the single mood, ‘hate’.

For its part, the massive and terrible presence approaching from the distance also unleashed heaven shattering disgust and hate, having appeared to sense the Grand Patriarch’s presence from afar. In that single instant, Joshua realized that the clone of the otherworld champion had redirected every attention away from himself—then, without a word and not caring if he would be ambushed, he launched himself straight at the direction of that terrible presence!

“…So many actually came. The Multiverse really doesn’t welcome visitors—though it’s not as if they are friendly to each other.”

Their hatred was one built up over a million years, a blood grudge brewed in the death of billions of lives. Naturally, Joshua would not attempt a sneak attack—it was better that they fought to spare Mycroft from being attacked from both ends.

Nonetheless, he did not remain lost in thought and enjoy the hollowness of not being in center stage, as well as the rage and intent to kill intensified as two Void civilizations tore at each other’s throats countless times. In fact, Joshua felt a sense of danger from the appearance of the two Extraordinary existences, and believed he had to act.

A crimson ring appeared out of thin air in front of the silver star. Bursting psionic bent the dimensions as the warrior did not hesitate to continue on his previous plan, activating his warp engine to head for the edge of the galaxy, the frontlines of battle.

Joshua would see if those coming at them were truly that petty and insistent on having Mycroft’s Combined Fleet banished from their stars!