Soul of Searing Steel

When Joshua and Nostradamus had launched their game of chase against the Void Mother in the Beam System, a team of Midgardians officers in military uniform were walking with worried expressions on the corridor that led toward the inner sections of a warship docked in the space navy shipyards in the orbit of the gas giant, the Sea God Star.

“Six counts of extreme energy signatures had appeared in the brief thirty seconds around the asteroid belt. The battle of the Void beings is clearly approaching us here, on the Sea God Star Fortress.” The First Fleet Commander was speaking impatiently to the technical department officer beside him. “Although there are still other fortresses behind us, how long could a fortress without a fleet last against the Void Mother? What was the technical department doing, and isn’t that thing ready yet?!”

“Not yet, commander.” The technical department officer replied carefully in reaction to the serious inquiry of work progress from the First Fleet Commander. “The assembly is largely finished, but the energy compression remains insufficient for firing… The Sea God Star Fortress doesn’t have such a powerful engine.

At those words, the officer had a rather pained expression—as a Midgardian, apart from the last stand by summoning Void Beings, the production of ‘that thing’ had already been brought forward in the Sea God Fortress. However, no one thought that its energy consumption was such frightening that the energy an entire fortress can give was far from enough.

“Then connect the warship’s engine to the fortress.” The First Fleet Commander answered without much thought and a rather stifled voice, having already arrived before the short-distance portal directed to his flagship. “I’ll notify Barney and Sina later—the commanders of the Second and Third Fleet would agree.”

“It’s still not enough.” The officer shook his head. “Commander, we’ve already done the math—even pressing together every engine of all three fleets with the assurance of basic mobility, the energy intensity still lacks by a notch.”

“What?!”

The news knocked the Fleet Commander off balance even as he prepared to board his ship, almost dropping to the floor. His enraged expression made it appear as if he wanted to unleash a scolding, but he was still the commander of a fleet and such suppressed his fiery temper, gritting his teeth. “If it really can’t work, then how is it different from scrap metal!”

Were they simply rooted here, then? They can’t even defeat the Void aberrations, and as such, would they simply be crushed like ants when the Void Mother comes?

The technical officer’s mouth was open, appear intent on making a case. But before he could explain away, a sign of a gigantic warp that was far apparent and massive than any warp before appeared in the warp guidance field within the Fortress. In an instant, both commanders, officers, privates or even reserves looked at once to the distance. All of them held their breaths as they tried to guess if it was the terrifying Void Mother or some other monstrosities.

It hence made them rejoiced that the warp portal was silver-blue—the color of Midgardian psionic energy. Psionics with stronger senses were delighted to learn from the incoming ripples that it was not a short-distant teleportation, but one from the direction of the Mother Planet!

Instantly, as thousands of circular portals opened, several thousand cutting-edge warships with sparkling external armor appeared in the vision of every Sea God Star soldier, and hence a torrent of cheers echoed.

Beside the harbor, the First Fleet Commander watched as the Central Midgardian Fleet—their reinforcements sent from the distant Mother Planet slowly made their approach towards to make port by the Sea God Star Fortress. He did not appear as emotional as others, but something seemed to have crossed his mind as he quickly caught the technical officer beside him, and said with a lowered voice, “Say, would it be enough with those warships’ engines?”

The officer stared blankly for a moment as if making the calculations, although his mouth soon curled into a smile. “It’s enough, officer.”

Still, even before their conversation ended, a supremely blinding light suddenly appeared in a planetary region close to the Sea God Star Fortress. It shone with the force a supernova that no one could level their eyes directly upon it, but a faint gold circular energy ripple visible to the naked eye was also spreading away by three hundred and sixty degrees, sweeping through all Midgardian facilities. Every data analyst and intelligence units quickly fell into panic, because the forceful energy radiation had burnt all fortress sensors and radars, stifling all agile psionic probes and blinding the entire fortress.

Be that as it may, in that every instant, both the three Colony Fleets and the newly arrived Central Midgardian Fleet understood one thing collectively without needing any observation equipment—whether it was a victory or defeat, the battlefield of the Void Mother and the two Void Beings had moved to edge of the Sea God Star orbit. They have to prepare, or… attack.

Meanwhile, on the Sea God Star’s orbit within the Beam System, a near thousand-kilometer class behemoth was accelerating and whirling in anguish in the midst of space. Dark green psionic energy was creating large energy tides as its appendages and tentacles flung around, while several asteroids it drew out from the asteroid belt was struck by the shockwaves and shattered into ever-present shards.

At present, tens of thousands of gigantic holes were opening around the Void Mother’s body, shooting out hot dark-green fluids that soon froze into black ice in the coldness of vacuum. It was the outcome as it underwent accelerated metabolism to banished a foreign object in its body—but even such extreme repelling reaction was helpless against that foreign object, and there was no shortage of irony for an Evil God minion that corrupted the body of others through pestilence to have its own core region invaded.

Soon, the Void Mother stopped its forward dash and roll and stayed motionless in space as if it was dead, seemingly losing all vigor with thick psionic shields over its body beginning to dissipate. But soon it started to struggle again, its layers of shells, flesh and psionic mineral veins contorting into one and forming endless creases. The curling tentacles too became straight protrusions out from its body, and for a moment it resembled a colossal sea urchin.

Then, countless pale gold light began to shoot out from the gigantic holes over its body as if they were innumerable edges composed of light. On its vulnerable surface regions not protected by any shell, uncountable wounds began to split apart, while much more searing light and energy blast burst out from within, shining like a new star amidst the universe. The exceedingly hot heat ignited its surface shell and flesh in one-tenth of a second, turning it into a giant fireball or a little sun.

At the same time, a little silver dot shot out as if ejected by the intense energy burst, darting out along with an immeasurably bright beam from the depths of the Void Mother’s body. It was only after he had covered hundreds of kilometers in space that he showed some hints of being alive. Pale silver halation that were so faint they were ready to shatter appeared around the dot, stopping his motion under the explosive force.

“…Cough.”

Removing waste gases from his windpipe, Joshua who was blasted violently by the explosion he created himself opened his eyes meekly and looked towards the Void Mother some distance away that was now a complete fireball. He now had no thoughts to care about the outcome of his offense, instead raising all four trembling arms and, with all four palms facing each other, ignited a silver light over his empty chest.

Having lost his Nuclear Heart Furnace, Joshua could only maintain his vigor and mobility with some residual strength—but that bit of power would not even support the warrior as he floated around in space, much less reanimate a Legendary warrior. The only thing he could feel fortunate about was that he did not faint from that terrific explosion, and kept a hint of lucidity without using much energy so that he could keep some energy reserves even after leaving the Void Mother’s body, allowing himself some capital to turn things around.

Closing his eyes, Joshua energized Steel Strength with his last ounce of energy, swiftly created something out of the Void with his four arms that were positioned opposite each other. The object could not be seen clearly through the silver luster at first, but soon a basic circular energy core appeared—its shape of which could only be found in magical creatures of the Mycroft Continent. Still, it had lower efficiency in terms of natural ionic energies—it could not hold a small airship aloft, much less a Legendary champion’s body.

But that was all Joshua could do at the moment—with his energy reserves now, it was impossible for him to control Steel Strength and create a furnace on the level of his Nuclear Heart. Now, he could only slowly advance in order, upgrading from nothing bit by bit.

It was a mark of civilization’s advancement when it came to effective usage of energies. In the early stages, intelligent beings would use energies burnt from plants, and when civilization progressed, they would learn how to position the firewood so that the fire was used more productive. They would also learn to use the energy from rivers to operate machinery and tools that would save it, and later steam, electricity and nuclear energy. Each level of effective energy use was a leaping advancement for civilization—the wisdom from primeval burning to nuclear reaction has a common origin.

And that same principle even for extraordinary physicalities. At the moment, Joshua had no other energy source apart from reserves after using his Nuclear Heart Furnace to attack the Void Mother’s energy core and mind hub. That was why he could only emulate the simplest of magical creature core which consume the least amounts of energies—in an instant, as silver radiance flickered, a translucent primitive magical core appeared in the warrior’s chest, connecting all of the warrior’s organs before starting to rapidly absorb any surrounding energies for an initial recovery of energy supplies for several vital parts.

In the first place, given Joshua’s energy consumption, it would have been too demanding for a primitive core to distribute energy to a single organ, much less a few. However, thanks to the explosion in the Void Mother’s body before, substantial energy ripples had begun to spread across all directions—the exceedingly rich energies hence allowed Joshua’s magical core to operate above its parameters, fulfilling part of his needs.

Now that the warrior had acquired an energy source, he did not stop his hand movements. Silver radiance flickered again, and countless runes and energy circuits promptly appeared over that primitive core—patterns akin to an electric circuit appeared over it, calibrating its shape. Soon, there was a circle of energy-absorbing wings akin to that found on solar cells appearing over the entire spherical primitive core, gathering the energies around Joshua with heightened effectiveness under the drive of rune. In an instant, the several thousand meters of space around Joshua turned into vacuum devoid of energy, as inexhaustible forces began to recover more energy supply for his organs, allowing the warrior to recover some mobility and Gold-tier ability.

From the primitive core to the energy hubs used in various enchanted ateliers and magical puppets, all that was needed were a few simple runes and energy circuits—and yet it contained a dozen generations of meticulous study as well as laborious refinement from the people of Mycroft. Still, the energy hub did not exist too long before it was upgraded and altered by Joshua with Steel Strength once more—the energy hub that was originally translucent was suddenly shining in seven colors. It was both the color of elements and energy, while countless allelopathic forces starting to circulate within the core. At the moment, it did not have to plunder energies from the external world, instead generating its own power by consuming a portion of high-energy substances that Joshua provided.

It was a combustion and yet on a higher scale. Just as the heat generated from rocket fuel and firewood varied, the same principle holds true in that particular aspect of energy. Joshua could finally breathe a sigh of relief when he had upgraded his body’s energy source to the level of the most high-grade mage towers and giant war puppets in a single breath—right now, the once empty center of his chest had a hint of color that was flashing energy, and though it was nothing to speak of compared to the Furnace that resembled the sun, it was a great development from before and almost a power only generated by several Supreme individuals combined.

Nevertheless, Joshua was too lazy to maintain the step-by-step upgrade. With the energy that was far sufficient now, he briskly activated his Steel Strength and rapidly altered the energy furnace in his body. From the Elemental Core that independently replenished energies, to the Resonating Furnace that reverberates with the surrounding Source through the forces around it, and along with the Star Vein Core that directly links to the dimensional ripples of the Void to attain the power of the stars, the warrior’s energy furnaces appeared to enter a new generation in every second. It was essentially a revision of Mycroft history in terms of energy furnaces through the ages, up unto the present.

A gray Steel sphere was whirling on a halo that resembled a star’s orbit, flickering with countless blue bolts in every passing before second before being drawn in by the orbit. It was an electromagnetic energy core that resonated with external planetary bodies through the circling of magnetic fields, which could provide boundless power akin to Legendary for Joshua in a universe like Stellaris. Even so, it was not the ultimate step that the warrior was seeking. Silver Steel Strength glinted, and the gray Steel sphere began to shrink beneath Joshua’s pressure. Thus, the magnetic core that almost represented endless energy was immeasurably compressed under the abnormally shifting gravity field, condensing and finally…

Boom. With a faint and almost undetectable blast, a fireball similar to a sun burst forth as if intent on breaking out of the warrior’s chest. However, restrained by compelling electromagnetism and gravity boundary, it integrated into the center of his chest deep within the furnace that had already been prepared for it for some time. As the miniaturized sun returning to his body, a golden glimmer shot out as Joshua opened his eyes.

After forty-five minutes, Joshua reshaped his Nuclear Heart Furnace and returned to the threshold of Legendary. It was then that he had the strength to sense that decrepit Void Mother that had flown half a light second away.

“Not dead yet?”

Joshua could not help furrowing his brow once he detected the behemoth that was once spherical but now crescent moon shaped. He flexed his arms, while doing his best to regenerate that outer shell of his that was now riddled with holes by diverting the rather weak Furnace to prioritize on healing functions on combat components.

“I remembered that the chain reaction took out six energy cores and should have maimed the mind hub—”

Though that might be the case, since Joshua could finish regenerating the Nuclear Heart Furnace in less than an hour, it was nothing out of the ordinary for the Void Mother to stay alive with just two energy cores left. Still, it was a definite heavy injury considering that the circular full-moon shaped Void Mother had been forcefully blasted into a crescent moon shape with an entire portion missing, although the energy efficiency of its two remaining cores did not dull in comparison to Joshua’s given how it could keep dragging its colossal body along. Joshua hence decided—if he had the chance—he would try to learn about the construct of its energy core, one which might have a design on par with the Evil God of Pestilence.

‘But why wouldn’t the Void Mother grab the chance to kill me?’ Joshua thought. Even if it might not be successful, it could at least try.

His expression then abruptly changed when he extended his senses in the direction where the Void Mother was heading. “The Midgardian Fleet?! No, it’s the Sea God Star Fortress!”

After a long rapid pursuit, Joshua and the Void Mother had actually fought from the edge of the Beam System to the surrounding area around the orbit of the Sea God Star located on the outer zone.

At that moment, an immeasurably powerful psionic undulation suddenly emanated from the distant position of the Midgardian Fleet, causing even Joshua to shake slightly! It got the warrior to ignore his own weakened state and fly swiftly to the Fleet’s location.

He had a feeling that the Midgardians who were seemingly defeated on every other turn were not as feeble as imagined.