Soul of Searing Steel

The supermassive black hole at the center of the Dark Galaxy with total mass of six billion suns had an accretion disk that allowed no light to pass through. It would absorb the substance of thousands of suns without stopping every year, at once adding mass and converting that mass and gravity into light.

That was precisely why the Central Black Hole was not black but instead unimaginably bright, its transcendent brightness creating radioactive pressure that actually firmly pushed nebulae away. Therefore, blowing stars apart would be even easier, just as it could repel the gravity emanating from the accretion disk that kept the silver core black hole together—if one were to calculate power levels, not even the light from all the stars in the entire galaxy would be brighter, for its luminosity could even obscure the local star’s light in other distant planetary systems. Moreover, the relative streams flowing from the poles of the black hole were like lances that penetrated extended distances stretching over dozens of thousands light years.

The sheer mass of the black hole, its rapid rotation, and the streams gushing from it were also what stirred the movement of matter across the entire galaxy, for only such supermassive black holes could be stuffed inside a powerful being at the level of the Ultimate Sublimator.

On the other hand, black holes with ordinary stellar mass were playthings for the same entity—they would not even fit as waste buckets.

***

Joshua had been preparing all along when Star the Steel Python combined form with the Triple Curtain and fought the Ultimate Sublimator directly. He observed the adversary’s movement patterns, finding a chance where his ensuing operation could be planned. Indeed, both the Steel Python and the Triple Curtain were also moving in tacit combination, allowing the warrior an opening to head directly to the silver core black hole.

Ooom…

With a resounding rumble that ruptured the thin nebulae, Joshua warped away beyond light speed, closing in to the vicinity of the black hole’s accretion disk between breaths.

In front of the silver world were two distinct black holes that were rotating rapidly in a binary planetary system, with circles of silver Steel Strength shrouds condensing into runes beyond their event horizon. The runes would then sink into its unusual ergosphere, where they would not be destroyed for the moment—neither supernatural runes that were without mass would be thrown away, as a stable bounded field would be casted upon the unfriendly black hole.

Now, Joshua would throw the two black hole engines which contained the mass of over a hundred stars into the silver black hole’s ergosphere. As the two black holes compensated for the stellar mass, they would instantaneously absorb the angular momentum of the supermassive Central Black Hole, the energy of which would trigger the runes within the two black holes and energize them.

That way, one of the black holes would detach and collide with the silver core black hole, while the other would be sent flying by the massive stores of energy exerted upon it—the colliding black hole would instantly develop a chain reaction upon contact, detonating in an explosion a few scales beneath the Big Bang, while the one thrown off would become a missile of great angular momentum, directly shooting inside the accretion disk of the silver core black hole.

Then, the runes within the first black hole would develop a chain reaction, triggering a powerful unstable radioactive in the silver core black hole, as the runes in the second flying black hole would be energized simultaneously as a spatial distorting trigger. In a split second, the accretion disk of the black hole would be ignited, and with help from Star the Steel Python, it would convert the accretion clould dispersed by Steel Python and Ultimate Sublimator into a titanic mirror that engulfed the silver core black hole—a perfectly orthodox Penrose Sphere that deflects the colossal force of collision between the first black hole and the silver core black hole, thereby destroying the ergosphere of the silver core black hole within a short time.

The two combined would direct detonate the silver core black hole itself, turning the entire cosmic body with the mass of six billion stars as one of the bombs ranked at the top, even if it was in the Multiverse.

In theory, the explosion would completely destroy the entire Dark Galaxy and decimate all non-supernatural lifeforms in a billion light years, which would undoubtedly affect all of Stellaris and cause space-time disturbances. At worst, there would be a space bubble of blankness, reducing anything within reach into nonexistence.

It was absolute destruction—half of the body which the Ultimate Sublimator had extended into Stellaris would at once be consumed and pulverized, much less some Permanent Void Anchor Point.

However, that was something for the distant future.

A future far after this battle was long over, and the victor would gain dominion over everything in this world, be it calamity or future.

“I never thought that it would come to this… there is no avoiding unknown repercussions across the world should the silver core black hole be detonated, even for a massive world like Stellaris.”

Even for Joshua who was adept at creating explosions, it was the first time he was making such an insane plan.

The warrior sighed.

Nevertheless, the unknown would always remain unknown—no one could know what would happen.

However, it was at that very moment that the Ultimate Sublimator realized that something was amiss.

When the silver world had abruptly distorted space and crashed towards the silver black hole, it felt a jolt inwardly—though it appeared to have dismissed Joshua as an insect all along, it was actually paying close attention to every single one of Joshua’s movements. Therefore, it quickly withdrew part of its resistance against Star, and while the Steel Python was left in surprise that it had regained some advantage, while the Sublimator at once extended a massive ‘palm’ that was a spatial length of two hundred and eighty astronomical units, cutting apart the distorted space as it crashed down on Joshua!

Having able to tell that Star the Steel Python was rather weakened, it was not unacceptable to allow it to claim the edge for the moment. Instead, that curious being, which was very much a symbol of the unexpected, was one that it should be wary of.

After all, no superior being that could have grown to such scale would be truly arrogant.

***

Noticing that, the silver world accelerated to attempt breaking through the space of dominance, but it was not something avoidable with one or two accelerations—therefore, just like the worst of the worst scenarios predicted, Joshua was noticed too early by the Ultimate Sublimator and hence intercepted.

“I did say before…”

Forced to a halt, Joshua, who had expected such a situation, looked around at the Ultimate Space that was binding and approaching him, ready to ‘dominate’ the warrior. He shook his head, before lifting the black hole engine and shaking the dimensions, barring the approach of the Ultimate Space. “This is so troublesome.”

At that moment, the Ultimate Python itself was fighting both the Triple Curtain and the Stellaris Steel Python in the three realms of Psi, Shadow, and physical. At the same time, it directed a portion of its power to stop Joshua, having strength to spare to tackle any unexpected situations even as it kept eroding Stellaris.

It was a singular entity and an independent lifeform, yet its power alone could hold back the greatest forces of a major realm—it was truly the ultimate superior lifeform, an individual that stood above civilizations, an existence about to arrive upon the threshold of the Wise Ones.

“I did mention that your resistance is futile.”

The Ultimate Sublimator’s voice, which was flat and apathetic, resounded as if stating reality. “All of you are wasting strength for nothing in your attempts to stop the inevitable.”

The egoistic dominating power augmented once again as that voice spoke. With the overlapping suppression and grinding of the Ultimate Space, the dimensions were pacified, and every commonly known Extraordinary ability in the Multiverse including magic, Psi, ether, lifeforce, and even Steel Strength were being subjugated, even controlled.

Then, the Ultimate Sublimator turned its focus to Joshua—it had serious intent to destroy the unusual lifeform that was the warrior, before resuming its clash against the Steel Python that could not control its full power.

On the other hand, if the Steel Python could fully control its power, it would not be an issue for Star to bar the Ultimate Sublimator, keeping it outside Stellaris in a stalemate with its home advantage as its World Will, while leaving aside whether its clear chance to triumph over the interloper.

But that was where the problem lay: against an ultimate lifeform which had fought and devoured all along in its journey here, the Steel Python and the Triple Curtain’s combat experience were no different from an infant’s.

They simply could not seize any edge even after the Ultimate Sublimator had diverted its attention.

However, just as the Ultimate Sublimator felt that it could use the Ultimate Space to utterly envelop Joshua in the very next instant and hence assume control over that outstanding variable, four completely bizarre and aberrative divine power it had never come across before suddenly shot out from Joshua’s body. Then, like a wall, the powers firmly stopped the pressure from the Ultimate Space.

“What… is that?”

In that exact instant, the Ultimate Sublimator bewilderedly felt something unknown—although not completely unfamiliar. It was a special hybrid power it was acquainted with, but had not quite comprehended, and with its power and threshold, it could detect Psi, lifeforce, and various spiritual presence in that divine power, which was essentially one big abnormal mashup.

The complex and unidentifiable superpower embodied four completely different divine forces that block the Sublimator’s domination like asbestos resistant to a heated blaze. Hence, the clash between Joshua and the Ultimate Sublimator fell into a bizarre stalemate, with Joshua being unable leave for the time being, while the Ultimate Sublimator simply could not withdraw with things as they stood.

The seemingly not-so-powerful silver world, which was a mere few thousand stars heavy even accounting for its black hole engine, had actually resisted the wearing down, even having strength to spare.

Even if it was a Demi Saint, it was not a Wise One.

And as long as it was not a Wise One, it would never surpass its own limits and transcend the infinite. It also meant that within a singular unit of time and space, the Extraordinary power it could exert would definitely have no chance of rising beyond singularities—in other words, it would never unleash power beyond black holes, or it would naturally collapse the space-time continuum itself.

Perhaps Joshua had not arrived upon his own limits in quantity since he was too young and his reserves insufficient, but he was certainly competent in the aspect of quality.

That was also precisely why he could study the threshold of the Wise Ones, even if his body was ‘tiny’ in the opinion of Star the Steel Python and the Triple Curtain.

Presently, within the profound swirl of passion inside the realm of spiritual energies, the fires of emotion were ablaze. The Four Rings of Emotion hovered amidst the flame, letting out the divine power they were storing as genuine divine objects, delivering power to their maker.

However, the transfusion was not endless—the Four Divine Rings were ultimately divine objects and not true divine beings, and therefore could not ensure that their own forms were unharmed while delivering energy without limit. That was why the more they were used, the slower they would move.

If only there had been four True Gods of emotion… or simply four supreme individuals of Emotion were to be stationed within, Joshua could have broken his restraint with the support of substantial divine power and the advantage of the Ultimate Sublimator’s unfamiliarity with the superpower.

Having reached the limit of Legend and ultimate Extraordinary individual, defeating an opponent by using something they were aware about was impossible. That was the case for the Ultimate Sublimator: because Joshua was aware about the Ultimate Space, he would never be beaten by it, no matter how formidable that ability was.

Even if his power was absolutely inferior, he would be able to hold on. At the moment, the one and only thing he had to worry about was whether his backup move could be set in motion smoothly.

It is a way to fight as well, Joshua thought serenely.

Although he was now caught inside the dominating space, the four powers of Emotion surrounded him to separate him from the power of the Ultimate Sublimator, keeping him from the fate of death by a hair’s breadth. Nonetheless, the warrior was not panicking, for all of this was something he had thought of and planned for.

To defeat one’s enemy or to at least obtain an edge, the unknown was needed.

Or as one would put it: a decisive factor that would not permit a turntable moment.

The Ultimate Sublimator was adept at all superpowers including magic, Psi, and even lifeforce. In its long age, that behemoth had certainly studied all Extraordinary abilities thoroughly, and its power was so complete that an ancient world such as Stellaris could not match it, since it was only proficient at Psi and unable to do much beyond its own domain. Such was the disadvantage of the old compared to the new, even if it was molded by the powerful Creators.

It appeared that the situation was deteriorating once more if examined crudely—the Steel Python was still unable to completely suppress the Ultimate Sublimator even after it had turned its focus.

Meanwhile, though Joshua could protect himself from the serious assault of the Ultimate Sublimator, his status as a threat had diminished and his chance to fight lost, leaving him bound to his position.

But Joshua was unfettered, with his expression unchanging.

Because although he was fighting here and now, this was not all there was to the warrior.

***

In the Void beyond Stellaris, the absolute emptiness that separated the Multiverse, the Great Mana Tide and Stellaris, a massive hand reached out, suspiciously grabbing a rather bizarre Psybug.

Like most other specimens, it resembled a cockroach but was essentially the first form of the Creators and a simplified version of the fusing insects. Their legs had long since devolved, as they had the ability to perform psionic warps unconditionally, moving around fully reliant on supernatural powers.

However, the Psybugs that Joshua’s clone caught this time was not exactly the same—it was so much larger that the planet-sized four-armed Giant God had to react by ‘catching’ it.

To ordinary humans, that thing was the size of a mountain.

“What on earth is this thing…”

Joshua had suspiciously tossed the huge Psybug around that was large enough to wander the Void. Not only did it not run off at once and vanish without a trace like the other Psybugs when it encountered the warrior, but it instead deliberately made a beeline towards him, as if it wanted something.

The clone then noticed that the Psybugs appeared intent on approaching him… or, to be precise, it was approaching the converging point of his mental organs, where his so-called brain was, since Joshua was too lazy to redistribute the layout of the vitals in his clone form.

Meanwhile, the Psybug kept energizing the faint psionic energies in its own body, and was about to climb up to his head.

As he frowned, Joshua thought about it and realized that he was just a clone, and thus would not matter much if he ran into some trouble. He could simply go for it and see if there was some novel discovery that could break the stalemate, and so picked up the bizarrely large Psybug and placed it on his forehead, allowing it to do what it wanted.

And then, in the light of the Great Mana Tide behind the clone who was going all-out, something was reflecting light.

There were beams, densely arranged beside one another within the surges of the Great Mana Tide: enormous, study, and standing amidst the endless waves of energy.

Beams, silver and glimmering in light.