Chapter 592 Impending Upheaval (1/2)
There was no greater lunacy in this world than this.
Since Barbarossa was born more than a hundred years ago, he had come across infinite things that defied belief. Whether it was slumbering ancient toads dug up from beneath subterranean stone that remained alive after a thousand years, or undead who resided in ruins and could not be killed by any means albeit having no soul or life, he had all touched with his hand and fought against. However, there were always reason and causes for those unbelievable things—for example, the toad's unique inner circulatory system and an optimum environment would allow it to slumber to a stage of as if time had stopped, while the undead which appeared not to have died was simply resurrected from death again and again through their obsession that bore a hint of resemblance to humanity.
And yet the sum of all those things would not be a single percent more extraordinary than what he heard today.
When that new Legend—a young warrior of the North had recently returned from an otherworld, recounted one inconceivable thing after another that somehow appeared to be logical and orderly, Barbarossa found no greater lunacy in this world than all that. The Sage, the Glorious Era, the Multiverse Sacrificial Grounds, the Door to Funality, the First Abyssal War, Evil Gods, Apostles, the gallant battles of the ancient gods, the Flame Seed of the world of Grandia, extinguished civilizations, the Lost Three Hundred Years, and the disappearance of the Apostles… Even as everything was being told, every Legendary champion could not help wanting to speak up and interject, but for some unknown reason, none of them did.
Barbarossa was the Fourth Seat of Skypiercing White Tower, but was effectively the leader of the organization which boasts the most powerful mages on the Mycroft Continent. Those who stood above him was the First to Third Seat—the founder of the White Tower, the pioneer of alchemy, and his own teacher, the innovator of modern spells by uniting all traditional mages and separating them according to different disciplines. The trio were occupants of the First to Third Seats respectively, while Barbarossa himself, the most powerful man who sat on the shoulders of giants, was the Fourth Seat. In days to come, all leaders of Skypiercing White Tower would take the Fourth Seat as well—it was both a gesture of honoring the fathers who paved the way through thorns and swamps, as well as reminding everyone that nothing reigned supreme in the Path to Truth, only modesty and humility.
As a Legendary mage who owned infinite ancient texts and legacies, Barbarossa had wanted to stop Joshua since he knew part of the truth regarding this world as well such as the end of the Glorious Era, the previous invasion by the Abyss and the Evil Gods. However, he had only sporadic records in other aspects—Barbarossa knew at once when the warrior spoke that it was nothing but reality. Be it matters regarding the Sage, the previous Era or the Evil God, all were definitive candor, but it was also precisely so that he would not speak freely—in the Void where there were no defenses in place, there were those who had no right to know these matters. Such critical information must be defended in the tightest of fortresses, spoken to Legendary champions in a concealed conference room isolated from everything else.
Barbarossa looked out around the Void, while Israel and the Eastern Sea Sage Vahina did the same thing as well. None present were noncommittal when Joshua said that he had certain important matters and truth to inform each powerful faction, and paid him the most solemn of attention. Legendary champions had no need of exaggerated methods to attract attention—if the warrior said that it mattered to the world, then it was unquestionably correlated to the rise and decline of a world, and not something they could be half-hearted about. Soon, two more representatives of Legendary champions arrived—they were the envoy from the Seven Gods Church and apprentice of the current Pope, Roland, and Elsa, an apprentice of the Nature's Magister, and a druid. The Legendary murloc Godard itself came to the Void later, before a Psion named Arnold representing the West Mountains Psion Royal Family.
Now, these people were all gaping. There were some of them who were already acquainted with Joshua just as there were those who never met him before. None of them, however, would suspect that he was lying, which was why they could only believe when he stated each information he had about Mycroft, regardless of how hard it was for them to buy it.
”The Seven Gods Church is certainly prepared for Abyssal Invasion. The Pentashade Dragons were clearly working with the Demon Generals of the Abyss throughout the course of the Berserk Dragon Plague, and according to what we know, those dragons had now taken an unoccupied Abyss and were now completely fallen 'demons.'”
The envoy of the Seven Gods Church—Roland knew Joshua for a long time and had a fine relationship with the warrior, but this was not the time for greetings. The holy knight was now using intelligence collected by the Seven Gods Church to prove Joshua's veracity, ascertaining that the warrior was not simply crafting tall tales. ”If we had been spent resisting the Pentashade Dragons, those demonic tormentors would have invaded anytime. Still, it was fortunate that there was no irreversible throughout the continent apart from wanton destruction in the Far Southern Kingdom, and with that—along with the condition that we don't fight each other—we would have the strength to stand against joint invasion by multiple Abysses.”
Roland's words certainly hit the nail on the head, with both Murloc High Priest Godard and Barbarossa himself nodding. There had always been a grudge between the Murlocs, the Eastern Sea Sage's faction, and the Skypiercing White Tower, with Barbarossa himself once wiping out several murloc tribes—but if they traced the grudge back to its origins, the Legendary mages own ancestry had many who had also died to murlocs who rampaged the Eastern Oceans. Be that as it may, the grudge was one within Mycroft Continent only. Everyone needs a complete and fine ecosphere, which was a decisive point of conflict for them against the invading demons that only bring plunder and destruction, and one that could get the Easterners to temporarily put their grudge against the murlocs on hold.
”The Sealed Land of Chaos has certainly been active in recent years.”
The Psion Arnold, an old man who appeared over seventy, also verified the facts. ”Since the Great Mana Tide began, the corruption left behind by the Evil Gods was expanding ceaselessly, which should also why the Cult of Pestilence appear active in recent times.”
”Those Great Devourers born from Chaos are definitely coming back.”
In fact, almost every faction present were guardians over one or two Sealed Land of Chaos, and they were certainly aware that, as the Evil Gods awakened from their ancient slumber along with the ripples of the Great Mana Tide and began to wander the worlds again, these would be the markers they left behind. In other words, the appendages cut off from their bodies by the Mycroft civilization of the Glorious Era would attract them here again, and when they do, they would come bringing fire and blood, and spread ruin on death to endless worlds.
In the meantime, each faction had verified Joshua's statements consecutively. At the moment, even if everyone did not understand all of it clearly, there were at least a few things they learned: in a dozen years, the Abyss would invade and the Evil Gods would return.
The warrior had almost told them everything he learned from the pre-existence.
There was utterly no meaning for one man to be aware of the future. But if they were Legendary champions, the leaders who control all resources in the world and was the symbol of the highest combat force learned about it, changing the so-called future would be as simple as having a meal. No one would have believed Joshua right after he had transmigrated, but when he became a Legendary champion, every word he spoke could change the world.
”Then… The sudden activation of the Multiverse Sacrificial Grounds you mentioned having sent you and Nostradamus to another world, proves that it had not completely stopped working.”
Vahina, the Sage of the oceans spoke. She was a lady whose appearance and expression were unfathomable, as if shrouded in light. Each strand of her hair resembled transparent crystals and yet emitted mild and soft white radiance, as if they were flowing veins of light. A powerful spiritual power surrounded her, barring all dimensional turbulence in the Void. ”You're saying that the demiplane was the joint creation of a champion called the Sage and the gods in the last era, and carried the power to link worlds,” she said with a hint of doubt in her words, ”but it was also precisely what brought the Door of Funality, allowing multitudinous Abyssal demons to invade our world with it as an entry point, thereby destroying the previous era—why should we not simply demolish it?”
It was as if Vahina's voice did not exist. All who heard her could only remember what she said but not her voice, her tone, and rhythm—a pure spiritual language. Still, what she said received a few nods in return, with Israel leading them. Given that the Multiverse Sacrificial Grounds was the source of the previous destruction, then it was difficult to differentiate where its sudden reactivation was a good thing or a bad one.