Soul of Searing Steel

In response to Father Nature’s declaration, the Evil Gods reacted and replied.

The dark clouds broke and tore as silvery light slipped through the cracks between the clouds. Right behind the mist, the ten light wheels were rotating at a fixed rhythm like ten eyes gazing at the world.

In the light of the Apocalyptic Circle, purplish lightning filled up the entire sky. The magic energy flowed like an unstoppable tidal wave as it rolled over and over again in the sky. The Illgner Continent trembled as fragments of the world left their initial courses. A large crack appeared in the sky.

Behind the crack, there was an ancient existence and an unknown world that seemed to be existing for a long time. There was not even the slightest trace of light in that unknown world, nor was there any sign of life. There were only violent howling winds that carried tainted magic energy. Under the radiating light of the Apocalyptic Circle, the dried land that was covered in complete darkness inside that world was vaguely visible. The land was filled with black dust that accumulated to form hills of black dust everywhere.

Among those hills of black dust, there was a gigantic thing as huge as a mountain, staying quiet in the middle of all the darkness. It looked like a lightless milky way that kept swirling—like a distorted vortex of the Chaos. Inside the vortex, there were ten black holes of darkness that appeared like the dark abyss. These black holes looked like eyes that were quietly looking at the Illgner Continent through the crack in the sky.

Distorted, dark, bizarre… there was no word else that could describe that disgusting existence.

It was basically impossible to describe this existence because it did not even have a shape. This gigantic thing that kept rotating was like a drop of ink that was dropped into a pool of clear water. It contained malicious intention that leaked out into the outer world. No matter how much Chaos energy it spread into the outer world, the density in its center did not reduce even by a bit. It remained constantly distorted just like the nightmares from the dark abyss.

However, suddenly, that existence began making sounds.

“Wu—”

Its voice sounded bizarre. It sounded as if millions of people were screaming and mourning at the same time. It contained endless pain, despair, and resentment. With that voice, the dark world at the other end of the cracks appeared to have undergone a horrific change. The tainted magic energy began to flow and roll as it turned into a ravaging hurricane. The earth was trembling violently as if the entire world was miserable rumbling.

Hearing that voice, even the bravest man in the world would instantly lose his focus for a little bit.

On the other side of the world, the elven guards who have been hiding earlier on were lying on the deck of the airship as they were so terrified to the point that they could not even move a muscle. Those who were braver than the others still had their eyes shut as their bodies trembled violently and were struggling to stand on their feet. They were still able to pull some of their comrades indoor with the little strength remained in them. Those who had weaker minds had fainted. In the face of such distorted Chaos, no ordinary man would be able to remain mentally stable.

Facing the nightmarish existence behind that crack, the holy knight subconsciously lifted his giant shield and took a step backward slowly. The draconic horse had turned around, ready to look for a place to hide. However, after turning its head around, it noticed that there was no place safe for it to hide at all. Hence, it looked up towards the sky like a hoodlum as it began roaring again and again at the sky.

Joshua remained in the air. The warrior looked extremely serious as he tightened his grip on the gunblade. He lifted his head as he looked at the dark crack. He did not falter, nor did he show even the slightest fear. Instead, he was observing everything as he remembered every single thing that was happening deep in his mind.

He knew what that was. The Azurite was spinning rapidly on his chest. And his instinct was telling him something about the true identity of that existence.

That was the master of the Chaos, the ender of worlds. That was the enemy of the Order, wisdom, and life. That was a monster that extinguishes the Initial Flames of worlds.

Evil God [Calamity].

Such a despairing voice… That was the final mourning of a world, a civilization, with 1.6 billion souls gathered in one place. Having fused with the wreckage of the ruined world, it became a sort of monster.

“Alright, powerful warriors.”

However, a rough voice came over and overshadowed that frenzied mourning. With the giant tree as the point of origin all the way into the sky, activating the network that almost covered over the entire Illgner Continent, boundless Divine Power spread into the surroundings along with the patterns that appeared like spider webs with irregular patterns. Be it the titan colossus or the sky fortresses, every single unit of the golem forces that came into contact with the waves was instantly immobilized and returned to the form of ordinary steels and stones. The only thing that was not affected was the crack on the sky. It continued unleashing the energy of the Chaos into this world.

That move seemed to have exhausted quite a lot of the Father Nature’s strength. However, even though its tone had become somewhat slow, it could still speak smoothly, “As you all can witness with your own eyes, that is the true form of the evil god—a world destroyer and the resentment of the people that resided within it.”

That was the Evil God?

The holy knight sighed. He had doubts about whether it was the Evil God or not. And because the golems in the surroundings had been wiped off, Roland had finally got the chance to stop and look at the sky.

Roland could see the other side of that crack. The horrific existence crept slowly in the darkness. It seemed as if it was slowly approaching the crack, preparing itself to get into this world.

In that instant when he saw that, a feeling of extreme imminent danger coursed through every cell in his body. Without guessing, Roland knew that if that existence succeeded in crossing into this world, then everything would be done for. This world would become desolated just like that world behind the crack. It would be invaded and tainted by Chaos. However, with his current strength and knowledge, he did not know how to stop that existence from approaching. Instantly, the holy knight felt a tension building up in his chest and resented for being so weak and insignificant.

Even though he possessed the blessing of the gods, his strength remained so insignificant.

“You should not panic, wielder of holy light.”

Despite Roland’s resentment, the voice of the Father Nature sounded extreme calm. Or perhaps its voice was carrying a sense of joy. The great will spoke gently to Joshua, Roland, and Black, “The battle is mine to fight. You have done well and I shall take it from here. Hence…”

Soon after he was done talking, Father Nature did not wait for the warriors and his comrades to respond. Right before the giant tree, a green luster flashed across the sky. The dimension distorted and a blue door appeared in the middle of the sky. Through the door, the warrior and his comrades could see a familiar scenery. That was the scenery of the mountain area back in a world familiar to them.

Immediately, the Holy Knight recognized that was in fact the Mount Great Ajax.

Upon activating a new portal, Father Nature spoke in a relaxed tone, “It ends now. Gratitude for aiding me and supporting me until I was fully awakened. You have provided me with the opportunity to awaken with my perfect form without costing me anything.”

“Now, you can finally return to your home.”

The news seemed to have come too suddenly. Be it Roland, Black, or Joshua, none of them said a word. Perhaps they were feeling doubtful about it as none of them were able to react to it.

With that, the giant tree did not give any response. Its voice remained extremely calm as if it was not a thing worth mentioning, “Back in the years, I have moved an entire elven city from the Mycroft Continent into this world. And now, I’m simply opening another new portal. It’s quite easy for a god to do that.”

“Once you have taken your leave, I shall send another group of elves which are healthy and absolutely free from any traces of the Chaos back to their true home. Then, I shall completely seal this passage to severe the connection between the two worlds. I will absolutely not let the Evil God get even the slightest chance to take advantage of your world. Rest assured, my fellow warriors. That is one thing I can absolutely guarantee.”

The warrior was the first person to react to the words spoken by Father Nature.

Unlike Roland who was still processing what was going on, and Black which could not understand even a single word spoken by Father Nature, Joshua furrowed his eyebrows as he said, “Father Nature, You too can return to the Mycroft Continent. Your strength has completely recovered. You can definitely do that.”

Unlike the others who did not understand the strength of the gods, the warrior could clearly see the strength of the gentle giant tree by judging the fact that it had just unleashed an impactful shockwave of Divine Power that instantly froze all of the golems in this entire world.

That was deemed to be mighty and all-powerful even among all the gods! A great power that should not even exist in a material world!

Other than opening a simple portal that could connect to the northern land, Father Nature was absolutely capable of opening a passage that linked to the main continent of Mycroft with ease. It could even bring every single elf on this world back home easily.

Of course, this was not possible though. If the Chaos was a plague, then the whole Illgner Continent would be a sinking plagued boat. Even if Father Nature could guarantee that the Flame Seed was pure, it could not simply send the elves back to the Mycroft Continent. Instead, it would need time to process. So it wanted Joshua and the others to get back home first.

Meanwhile, the giant tree had also responded to the doubts that the warrior had in mind.

“The Successor of the Sage.”

Father Nature’s voice carried a hint of regret and relief. It spoke in a deep voice, “I have fled from my enemy once.”

“But this time, I will not flee again.”

The giant tree slowly shook its body. Specks of green light drifted down from behind the leaves. When these light crumbs had drifted over to the soil, trees and new shoots instantly popped out from the soil. The Father Nature looked around. Then it slowly spoke with a smile, “I am the god to the elves. I should live with them, as should I die with them if they are to perish.”

Its voice was clear and it seemed that Father Nature had no intention to repeat its words at all. Joshua seemed as if he still had questions to ask. However, before he could say a word, he was interrupted by the giant tree.

Right above the giant tree, the face of an old man, looking wise, appeared in the air. Father Nature was observing everything from above. His eyes were filled with compassion as He spoke softly, “It was me who brought them over to this world. It was me who chose to terraform this world. It was me who chose to hibernate over the years, allowing the elves to freely develop their society.”

“Everything happened because of me. And because I have terraformed the world a little too much, I have lit up the beacon that summoned the Evil God ‘Calamity’ to this world. So I am fully responsible.”

“That is the responsibility of a god.”

Father Nature in the pre-existence must have awoken hastily in order to battle against the Evil God. However, currently, it had hibernated over a thousand years. It had awoken at its finest state.

The green beam of light penetrated the heaven and the earth and formed a green network that covered half of the entire Illgner continent. The remaining elves did not know what it meant when they saw the appearance of the green network high in the sky. The [Calamity] mist that spread across the entire world had been completely absorbed by the green patterns in the sky. The clouds of darkness had instantly dispersed and vanished without a trace. The world had once again embraced the shining of the sunlight.

A thousand years ago, during the final hour of the Glorious Era, Father Nature had moved an entire city of elves as they fled from the Mycroft Continent. From there, they had arrived at Illgner Continent.

In the beginning, the air of this world was strangely polluted. It was not suitable for the elves to survive here. The ravaging magic energy and Elemental energy had also restricted the elves from using their spells. In order to change that, Father Nature had decided to remold the world to create a suitable environment for their survival.

Hence, Father Nature plunged His roots deep into the earth of this world all the way to the inner-most part of the earth. From there, Father Nature began to absorb all of the magic and elemental energy of this world to use them as the energy to terraform the world. And for that, the Father Nature had created a network to transfer those energies to purify everything.

That was a tremendously huge project. Even the ancient god, Father Nature, had to go into a long slumber after. However, despite it all, the network remained functional.

But now, Father Nature, who had completely awoken from its long hibernation, had completely activated the network and put it into good use. However, Father Nature did not feel proud of purifying the world. Instead, He shook His head and laughed bitterly.  “The method I used to remold this world was too harsh. It even agitated the will of this world.”

“The reason the Evil God invaded this world was because the will of this world was also observing everything with cold eyes from the side bench. To this world, I am just as evil as the Evil God that attempted to invade their world. So in some sense, I’m basically an Evil God to this world as well. ”

Even though that was the way it was, the voice of Father Nature did not carry even the slightest regret.

Because all this was done for the elves who respected Him as their god. Hence, regardless of whether it was making a choice, taking responsibility or bearing sins, Father Nature had nothing to complain at all.

Joshua and the others remained silent. They looked at the dimensional passage that laid before them. Then they turned around and looked at the Chaos rift that lingered in the sky. It seemed that they could not make their choices on whether to stay and fight or to go back to their own world. Then the warrior suddenly voiced his opinion, “Perhaps you’re right. Be it god or men, one should not feel regret for their own choice. One should take responsibility to clean up the mess he made.”

He ignored the Chaos rift that was slowly expanding and spreading the Chaos into this world. The red eyes of the warrior did not even look at the dimensional passage before him. Instead, he looked straight at the giant tree as he spoke sincerely to Father Nature, “However, my respected Father Nature. The life of men has no purpose at all. The existence of men differs from each other. Each man would have their own wishes and their own lives. They would also have their own goals to pursue – however, one does not march towards the direction of failure from the beginning.”

His voice got heavy as he spoke. Then he told the god, “You wanted us to take our leave because you feel that you’re going to die in this battle. So in order to prevent us from perishing along with you, you want us to leave earlier.”

Father Nature remained in silence.

Soon after that, He slowly opened his mouth to speak again, “That was an ancient Evil God.”

Father Nature was not agitated by the words spoken by Joshua. He did not feel enraged either. His voice sounded calm, monotonous even. “The Evil God ‘Calamity’ has existed long before the Mycroft Continent and its civilization were even born.”

“Its strength is unfathomable. Its power and strength that we see now might only be a small fraction of its full power. The true form of the Evil God ‘Calamity’ remains lingering in the Chaos vortex between the multiverses. It is not just the small swirling energy in one world that you see right before your eyes…”

“But you can’t give in to it just like that.”

Joshua interrupted Father Nature as he said, “Since you’ve decided to battle, naturally, your mind should only think about winning.”

“A battle must be won.”

That is the number rule of my life.