Soul of Searing Steel

Panda Novel

The deity’s words were so shocking that every god and Legendary champion present looked at each other in disbelief—several ancient civilizations, including the Starherders who were aware of the Glorious Era, could confirm that the Multiverse was indeed the stars where Mycroft had once been. Even so, they had never imagined that the Metal Dragon God would have merely panted heavily, “To be specific, its bulk might still be of the original Multiverse, but within it is definitely a mix of other galaxies destroyed a long time ago.”

After the panting came hissing. Despite that, it was not unexpected, as information from the Knowers had made it evident. As the native galaxy of the Knowers and the last Civilization Extinction that the Evil God caused as they swept across the Multiverse, the Galaxy of Beginnings had actually survived from another Multiverse cluster that had since been destroyed, wafting through the Silent Void before reaching the present Multiverse. In fact, the Outer Rim galaxies of the entire Multiverse were most probably remnant galaxies that had survived, which made it less of a wonder that they lacked both resources and civilizations, since they were post-apocalyptic ruins—a terrible environment in the first place.

Of course, the Metal Dragon God was not merely delivering that verified information—the more important part had occurred later, when the Million Steel Dragon brought out the final remains of the Astral Dragons’ civilization.

It was the fragment of a divine crest of the First Dragon God, and the Steel Python of the Astral Dragons’ homeworld. The divine crest fragment was, in other words, the core of a Divine Dungeon Shroud. It was a vital instrument with which gods selected their heirs after their deaths, and could be preserved over long time to perhaps exist eternally if nothing unexpected were to happen. Naturally, the Million Steel Dragon had already obtained the legacy in that Shroud, along with the memories and knowledge within.

“By comparing the inherited information from the Knowers, the Astral Dragons—our ancestors—may have been amongst the civilizations who were purged alongside the Knowers by the Evil Gods.”

The Dragon God, who assumed the form of a lady with a huge frame, sighed in the banquet celebrating her return. “However, they were aided by the Fabulist and they could last until the present despite repeated sufferings, while us Astral Dragons fled all the way to the world of Mycroft, which had retrogressed to a primitive age.” The Dragon God appeared mournful as she spoke, perhaps in sorrow of the fates of the two different races.

They had even been defeated by the Mycroft natives.

Joshua certainly would leave that part unsaid so as to not affect the atmosphere. The Dragon God appeared to have thought of the rather embarrassing fact as well, and so skimmed over that conversation, thereby continuing on about her search in the galactic remains within the Silent Void. “It may be hard to believe, but I have discovered from the memories of the First Dragon God that the Astral Dragons had actually found traces of the Initial Flame in nearby planetary systems.”

“What traces?” It was the Pope, not Joshua who pressed her. Igor had been the Holy Light Envoy who went on diplomatic visits to various powerful civilizations and had only recently returned, incidentally in time for the return of the Metal Dragon God.

“Traces of Creation. The shape of our galaxy at the time resembled waves that were stirred from the bow of a ship and yet converging on the stern—it had a pattern as much as it did not.” The Million Steel Dragon went on to explain in detail as Igor pressed her, summoning a divine screen before her to draw actual images for every god and Legend present. “It is but a theory about that unusual shape, and that’s…”

“I know.”

***

That was when Ezerg, the God of Conservation and Reformation, spoke. A dwarf in appearance, he was the most senior and powerful amongst everyone present. Sighing, he clapped his hand to interrupt the Metal Dragon God’s explanation and draw everyone’s gazes—in turn, the Metal Dragon God did not protest and merely dispelled her screen.

Without wasting time, Ezerg conjured another screen and said, “It may be merely a theory, but it has already been suggested back in the Glorious Era—in fact, according to the Unified Archives, the information Joshua received from the Evil God of Fertility, along with the Knowers’ inherited history, the answer is actually simple.”

At those words, a giant crimson fireball appeared at once on the screen before Ezerg, an image which was labelled with bold font proclaiming ‘The Initial Flame’. Around it and spawning from its radiance were dense silver dots resemlbing weapons, each labeled ‘galaxy’.

With a wave of Ezerg’s hand, the massive fireball began to move rapidly, with the silver halations around it being drawn to the Initial Flame’s reaches. But as time passed, substantial silver weapons turned into trails of comets that parted like waves stirred upon the surface of water by a ship. They separated and then converged, swirling endlessly in the Dark Void to condense and form independent Multiverses.

The Multiverse naturally followed the trail of the Initial Flame tightly as well, but as compared to the Initial Flame which embodied boundless momentum, the Multiverse was essentially without motion. Thus, without the infinite illumination of the Initial Flame, they became ever slower, finally assuming its present shape of an oversized saucer.

“Unlike most Multiverse models, the Initial Flame is not a fireball affixed to a single location. It moves at a speed which stirs the entire Multiverse, creating galaxies and worlds in its wake and giving them their initial speed.” Drawing while explaining, Ezerg then paused and looked at everyone present before saying slowly, “In other words, the shrinking phenomenon of the Initial Flame observed by ancient civilizations had actually been their galaxy gradually being left behind by the Flame and distancing itself from them. However, the Initial Flame continued creating other galaxies, leaving all that it once created in the darkness of the Void.” In other words, the dark remains of galaxies everyone saw now. If one were to say that the Initial Flame burnt Chaos to create worlds, then those remains were the ashes burnt by Chaos after the Flame had gone out.

The standard of a civilization could be seen from the models conceptualized. From the Prime Gods whom created heaven and earth, realms of orbicular sky and rectangular earth, geocentric, solar, galactic to universal, it was all a process of civilization development. There were certainly realms of orbicular sky and rectangular earth just as there were geocentric realms, but even those worlds would have developed their own unique sequences that prevented paradoxes.

By integrating information from different sources to theorize the present Multiverse model, the Mycroft civilization may have been closest to the Truth amongst the many Multiverses that the Evil Gods had attacked.

“The Initial Flame stirs entire Multiverse and the endless stars. There is no doubt that it is the center of the Multiverse, and the Sage, along with the other Wise Ones heading towards it, were basically chasing after the light of the Initial Flame,” Joshua could not help but to mumble to himself. Those were his first words in the banquet, and yet the warrior’s gaze flowed with deep doubt—though Ezerg’s model was very complete and puts to rest a great many things, there were also questions unanswered, such as the reason the Initial Flame no longer created new worlds since a hundred and sixty million years ago.

It was not something that could be explained by the detachment theory, as according to the memories of the Evil God of Fertility, the ancient civilization had clearly observed the shrinking of the Initial Flame. It could be interpreted as the detaching phenomenon, but if the Initial Flame had still been molding new worlds at the time, they would never have been able to observe it or to leave records about worlds no longer being born.

That was one of the questions, just as the model could be explained from another perspective—it was the entire Multiverse in motion, and not the Initial Flame. The Void of the Multiverse would have rapidly expanded and quaked with the Initial Flame like waves stirred over the seas, while the foam and tides would naturally feel the abrupt ‘shrink’ (flow) and ‘detach’ (ebb). Being a massive cluster of galaxies, the Multiverse’s original form would have merely been a convergence of coordinates caused by an ordinary Void Vortex. Such an explanation was equally reasonable, which was why Ezerg’s model was far from being the best explanation or theory.

Even so, at least one thing was proven in this banquet—that there was something wrong with the Initial Flame, or the Wise One of the Arcane and the Sage would not have assumed the journey to the Initial Flame at center of the Multiverse. There was no doubt that Joshua had absolutely wanted to assume the path to seek the Multiverse’s truth like the Wise Ones, but no matter how bold or motivated he was now, ideals still had to give way to reality. Even if he were powerful, he had yet to reach the level where he could pursue the Initial Flame. Furthermore, other things notwithstanding, it was not easy at all for him to find the direction and presence of the Initial Flame in the vastness of the Silent Void.

That was why Joshua had to seize every moment to become stronger. Incidentally, this Multiverse was the stage that best fit him. Joshua’s true form manipulated gravity, after having become the core mass of surrounding planetary systems in the Zeta Ram Void installation. It had caused a dozen worlds, including Zeta Ram itself, to orbit around him, the clone who was joining the banquet of gods and Legends naturally included.

In that very moment, Joshua sensed over ten million silver spots of light in his spiritual space. Those spots of light were rapidly spreading and extending, appearing at a single glance to be blight. But more frightening was that its carrier was deliberately spreading them upon the skies of the Multiverse, incessantly dyeing maps with their own hue.

At the sight of that, Joshua, who had been in a somber mood since the exchange with the Knowers, relaxed considerably. It was the color of Steel Strength, and naturally color of the redemption system and Restoration Beams.