Soul of Searing Steel

As for the actual mission… What else was there?

Mycroft reignited their Flame Seed, even aiding Kronos in reshaping the world. There was no question that they have the essence of Creation, meaning that they held possession of either Initial Flame, Flame Seed or Primordial Steel.

“Find it.”

The demon king that existed only as a shadow in the Valley of Tears Fortress had told them with a faint voice. “It must be in the hands of a certain ‘Monarch’, but I can’t foresee who it is… I need more information.”

“Helm, Saluka. Your previous missions were failures that caused great damage to the Sixth Abyss… You must assume the responsibilities for the destruction of the Dark Water City and the Magma Fleet.”

The Demon King was neither violent nor intimidating… Abyssal Lieges, king and ruler of demons must be powerful and embody strength that inspired fear in fearsome, blood-lusting demons. That, however, did not mean it must be feral at all times, and in fact, demon kings have sufficient sharp thought and wisdom, maintaining composure at all times. That was the only way they could lead a bunch of maniacal demons to invade other worlds without stopping.

Compared to an enraged Goliath, both Helm and Saluka feared the demon king before them that was calmly judging the situation in that very moment. They could not help lowering their heads, listening to every last word uttered by their king.

“Find that person at all cost—or, at least bring me more information.”

The calm and awe-inspiring voice wafted, and Helm stopped recollecting. The humanoid Beholder Demon General could sense the Abyssal Will barrier encircling itself weakening as the Multiverse Sacrificial Grounds kept depleting the power from the Demon King. Having delayed the warp for almost ten minutes and prepared fully, it was time to see what traps the people of Mycroft had set in place.

“Let’s go.”

Exhaling, Helm removed the barrier around himself and was instantly pushed by the surging dimensional tide to the destination, while Saluka followed suit beside it. The two Demon Generals hence flowed along the angry ripples, descending upon a world they felt unusually familiar with.

Dimensional rifts spread, vision became vivid at once, and what the two Demon General saw was an immeasurably vast world of air that seemingly had no horizon. It had neither top nor bottom, with countless shattered stony isles floating in the air, while flowing water assembled into spheres that slowly wandered within the world.

And above all the floating islands was a colossal sanguine moon—it was burning, emanating incandescent radiance that made the two Demon Generals both uneasy and extremely yearning at once. Still, the conflicting sensation promptly jolted both Helm and Saluka: they now know where they actually were.

The Bloodmoon Abyss.

After a winding detour, the demons had returned to familiar territory… But this time, things were not the same.

In the first seconds they arrived at the Bloodmoon Abyss, Saluka abruptly raised its head, the Insectoid Demon General that could freely shift between a variety of forms instantly changing into its most defensive state, ‘Iron Wall’.

“Someone’s fighting!” It hissed gravely.

Helm realized the fact at the first given moment as well, even without Saluka’s warning. It quickly raised a circle of high-energy beam barrier around itself, and in the very next moment, the direction it and Saluka were looking at exploded violently.

Boom—Bang!

As a stone mountain high above shattered beneath the tremendous burst into dust and earth that spread everywhere, they could see two powerful beings fighting high above the Bloodmoon Abyss. One was controlling negative energy akin to the Nether Sea, while the other showed nothing extraordinary—but at present, the one side who showed nothing extraordinary was assaulting its opponent singlehandedly. In return, the Nether Seas that covered half the heaves surged, shattered and tried to reassemble time after time, only to be dispelled on every turn, as if tides that were splashing against reefs.

“There was sympathy in their hearts, Kanor.”

It was in that very moment that both Demon Generals heard voices they were very familiar with. Be it the black dragon’s anguished wails or the accent so cold it was almost inhuman, Saluka remembered the battle above Kronos as if it was yesterday, while Helm was no individual that forgot its own failures.

It’s that man… it’s that man!

Then, that man’s clearly indignant voice which echoed again.

“Both Barnil and William’s heart holds conscience and kindness—they could never stomp defenseless dragon eggs or magically incinerate young dragons crying in their nest. They would stay their hand from your kind if you beg, pray, repent, cry and plead. They read and know of your history, which is why they would show you mercy over your friendship.”

“But I wouldn’t.”

The voice came from high above the Bloodmoon Abyss as if it was a voice of heavenly judgment. The two demons that had just come out of warp could only see a draconic shadow plunging from the skies, crashing into a massive stone island that started to plummet as well, spiderweb fissures spreading from where the dragon crashed. In one split second, the kilometer-wide island was shattered into a thousand shards, while a golden-red ray rapidly shot down, crashing down amidst the shards.

Then came an echoing dull thud, as if a steel hammer was striking against a body of flesh.

“I have no sympathy.”

“Damned human!”

The wrathful draconic bellow resounded over the remains of the island, just as the two demons saw endless negative energy bursting instantly, a gray ocean consuming all islands and shards. That negative energy swiftly assembled into a massive but distorted dragon head, fixing its cold gaze upon the world.

Kanor the Dragon King could now no longer hold back from unleashing its full power—it howled, and a series of bizarre distortions appeared in the space where the negative energy stirred. As if sinking into water, every stone isle within the boundary of its powers began to sway along the ripples.

Such was the true depth of Nether Sea. Overwhelming negative energies would erode the dimensions, causing it to weaken and destabilize, even as all substance within would distort as if being seen from beneath seawater. All things would occasionally protrude or compress, and the Black Dragon King could easily destroy any object within.

In such an unstable space, the distorted black dragon projection widened its maw as if to devour the entire world. Within its mouth, space has already been utterly shattered into glassy shards, all substance engulfed within diced into base particles, almost with no exception.

Almost.

In the distorted and destabilized Nether Sea, a single silhouette maintained its normal form. It was a Steel giant as majestic as a mountain: all dimensional shift had nothing to do with it, while rays of leg were bent behind him. Against the Black Dragon King’s attack that could shatter all things, the giant spread its four arms, and space itself broke under such a move that could not be more normal.

Then, the golden-red core before his chest turned an incandescent white.

***

The colossal specter of the black dragon was the embodiment of negative energy for the entire Nether Sea, Kanor’s accumulation of negative energies over more than four hundred years given form. In this world, even Pope Igor would have difficulty cleansing it with Holy Light.

The Steel giant, however, had no intention to purify it. He just needs to destroy it.

Some parts on the surface of the giant’s body were peeling off due to the spatial shift, while thunder broke out in the Void around him, as an immense magnetic field that trembled all electromagnetism in the Abyss began to whirl within him. Mustering every bit of mass, the Steel Giant clenched his fists and punched out four times!

Boom!

Crack-Crack-Crack!

In the instant the Steel Giant threw its fist, its gigantic mass combined with frightening energy density. The infinite particles in the air began to fuse under that pressure in a single breath into one body, before unleashing the destructive rays of nuclear fusion in one breath. Four suns appeared then, and circles of impact force that could sweep over ten thousand miles of mountains spread in all directions, with every floating island in a thousand miles beginning to approach the Steel giant the instant it threw its four punches. But in the next moment, all stone islands drawn by the mass was once again sent flying and shattered by the bursting waves of impact force, clearing a wide empty zone around the giant.

Around the black dragon’s specter, searing gales billowed where there were once dark Nether Sea that no light could pierce. Inside the shifting fields of magnetism and mass, four imprints of fists tore it all apart even the dragon behind the Nether Sea, space itself crumbling under the sheer shift of mass, while light was twisted and distorted under those punches—the black dragon specter was burst open, lasting not even for a single breath.

As the vast Nether Sea dispersed, the distorted space returned to its normal state as well. Then, in a flash, the Steel giant was already in the center of where the Nether Sea had been, right in front of the black dragon that was spitting out its innards, a clear sound of something breaking resounding as the giant cruelly stomped Kanor’s head. Both of the black dragon’s lofty horns that surpassed all materials tat existed hence split, but even after a shrill cry, the black dragon showed no intention of retreat. Angrily widening its crimson eyes, it dove like a berserk demon at the giant, negative energy that could crumple all things extending upon its draconic talons to form sharp blades. The Steel giant showed no intent of relenting as well, and began to punch out response, commencing an unyielding melee against the maddened dragon.

The battlefield was chaos once more, as overpowering energies and blinding radiance rendered all observations impaired. Even so, the two Demon Generals could still hear the Steel Strength information flow that streamed directly in their minds.

“I will kill all your saplings, trample over every dragon egg, skewer your females over my grill set and use their bones to decorate my castle after I stripped every piece of meat they had. If you don’t want that, surrender and accept your judgment. Your cousins the Metallic dragons had been forced to retreat back to the Dragon Island because of you, all their contributions and labor for Mycroft over a thousand years ruined because of your kind.”

Negative energy talons stabbed into a shoulder and pulled out the upper right arm from the giant, splashing golden-red molt in the air. The giant’s voice, however, remained unaffected despite the grievous wound, and continued in its deep voice, “I never say much, and to me, simply killing you is the best choice. But I shall respect the many times I’ve relied on Barnil and William—Kanor, do not resist, and return with me to Mycroft to accept your judgment.”

“Your death is assured, but we would allow you to leave your eggs, which will be entrusted to the Metallic dragons.”

“Those cowards! They threw away their identity as exiles, forgotten the vengeance of the Mother World! They abandoned their duty, assimilating into other civilizations—they do not deserve the name of dragon!”

The giant pushed the dragon into another floating island, and punched it heavily on its scalp—the ground beneath the dragon instantly cratered several hundreds of meters deep, the island shattering as the sound of bone breaking rang. Still, Kanor kept bellowing as scalp injuries was not too much for a Legendary Dragon King, and it was just a little disadvantaged. Swinging its tail and whipping the giant’s body so forcefully that it bent, the dragon grabbed the chance and struggled away, escaping from the crumbling mountain.

Dust and smoke burst off as Kanor sped, dragging a trail of gray negative energy just like a gray meteor and arriving at the zenith of the Bloodmoon Abyss. Though its horns were broken off, one wing snapped away by the giant, its black blood flowing freely and having not the time to heal itself, the black dragon still emanated a majestic presence, for its talons were still with him and it still had the will to fight.

“Human, do you think you can win?!”

Condensed negative energy started to stream again over Kanor’s body. The Black Dragon King’s eyes were turning a pure black as space collapsed around his body. Dark tides billowed, and substances vanished as if erased, and the black dragon raised its head to let out a long below. As the unimpressive voice of a wounded dragon echoed in the Bloodmoon Abyss, it soon turned into a sonorous echo that rumbled and trembled the thousands of floating islands!

As Kanor bellowed, an unimaginably fearsome presence wafted from its body. It was a keen edge that could massacre all existence, destroying everything… even itself! The Black Dragon King’s scales were peeling off visibly as the purest of negative energy streamed, unendurable even for the black dragon body that had cultivated itself with that power for years and had virtually assimilated itself in it!

Nevertheless, all that was left for the Black Dragon King that cornered itself to self-destruction was only silent and distorted gravity.

Of course. The warrior had absolute faith and no doubt in his win, a victory that belonged to himself, the triumph that was at hand! Therefore, he did not need to answer at all!

Within breaths, the Steel giant the man transformed into was shrinking, the massive body that was hundreds of meters tall quickly shrinking. Then came the rays around its body that became more powerful the more it was released, the silver light encircling the giant’s flanks like stardust. At the same time, gravity waves churned around the giant as well, like rippling surface of lakes in the rain, the arcs unfurling bit by bit as great tides were thus born.

Hum—

With a soft sound, the distorted rays promptly formed a vortex, with light released from the Bloodmoon Abyss being twisted into bizarre parabola when it passed the giant, stopping all beings that observed the world in electromagnetic ripples unable to see it directly. In an instant, the shrunken giant stepped on thin air, an action that created a sea of flames out of thin air. Endless plasma and ions were hence released behind him, while the black dragon that was slowly destroying itself overhead howled in a rather broken voice, before embodying the vast Nether Sea Tide and crashing down on the giant like a meteor.

Helm and Saluka saw it all.

They saw the black dragon piercing through the giant’s chest, with molten iron splashing away. The man, however, paid no attention and simply allowed its insides to be stirred as he punched into the black dragon’s left shoulder, splitting apart its body and flesh and harshly pulling out an entire humerus. The dragon opened its mouth and chewed off the man’s skull together with space, but the headless giant then kicked out, its foot cutting off the black dragon’s tail and left thigh like an axe.

The inhumans conducted their melee in silence, tearing all spare parts from their opponent’s body from bone to innards, Furnace Core to dragon heart, all while the odor of blood, combined with the odor burning steel and flowed around the atmosphere. The headless giant pressed his hands on the black dragon’s skull, breaking all substance inside into base particles. Afterward, having regenerated its head, the giant leveled its gaze at the dragon’s own, its own eyes shooting out nuclear fusion flames directly into the dragon’s eyes sockets, incinerating its skull and cranial fluids into ash. In response, the dragon’s remaining wing, augmented with self-destructive energy formed a sharp blade that could erode anything, and split apart the giant from waist down under the audible scraping sounds and splattering cinders, the erosive ability suppressing the giant’s regeneration to prevent its body from recombining.

The sight was so unimaginable that living vitals appeared not to exist in the bodies of those two superior beings as they snapped off each other’s vertebrae and ribs, tore off each other’s flesh and blasted energy cores. Even so, regardless of how powerful the self-destruction of the nuclear core was, regardless of how negative energy cascaded, the two tides of destructive forces would only reappear, severed Steel fist flung freely and finding the precise moment to strike the dragon’s abdomen, while the dragon head that was burnt into mere white bones would leave its body and start to chomp down on the giant’s body. The process in which the two ‘undying’ superior beings fought hand-to-hand viciously, destroying and consuming each other appeared endless; it would continue even if they were only left with just one arm, one piece of bone or a pound of flesh.

Be that as it may, such cruel and callous battle would have an end.

The sea of negative energy had abruptly dispersed like fog under sunlight, and the black dragon’s remains that could unleash clusters of negative energy with a single drop of blood lost all motion. Its bone, flesh, and dust scattered everywhere hence started to drop down toward the bottomless edge of the Bloodmoon Abyss, as if losing the support of certain momentum. Meanwhile, the Steel giant paused where it was even as its opponent’s remains turned into ash. His head had regenerated a few times but was bitten off on every occasion, and there were only two out of his four arms left. Silver radiance of Steel Strength thereby flashed, and its skull recovered to its original shape, while vapors resembling star clouds encircled its body.

The giant stared toward the place had Kanor fell, wherein lay a broken dragon soul. It was turning its head with much difficulty toward a holy light seal—the seal the Seven Gods Church put in place to separate the Bloodmoon Abyss and the world of Mycroft. There was a gaze in the dragon’s soul that made it appear reluctant to part with it, but soon radiance solidified and it became million of broken specks of light, vanishing from the Abyss.

A man closed his eyes as silver Steel Strength rapidly reshaped his skull. He then turned, opening his eyes at the direction of the two Demon Generals, who in turn leveled their gazes back at the man.

Joshua van Radcliffe stood amidst distorted rays and magnetic thunder, his body filled with lacerations and severe damage from negative energy, while his insides were nearly emptied by the black dragon’s final stand just before its death, leaving only one golden core flickering. Though the man had blown the black dragon into pieces, he was considerably hurt, maimed like never before.

‘This is the best chance’, the two Demon Generals thought. Having been defeated by that man before, they know that this is the only time they could really kill that Legend.

Helm thought that it should be rejoicing, but it was not.

There was only fear in its demon heart.