Chapter 596 Speed of Ligh (1/2)

What was light?

It was electromagnetic radiation visible to human eyes. In fact, every intelligent being had a different definition for light since their visual organs have subtle differences, but light is ultimately a high frequency electromagnetic radiation as well as a fundamental atomic flow formed from photons, an existence embodying the wave-particle duality of quantum mechanics.

Those were the text noted in the fifth paragraph on page thirty-five of the Earth Federation's textbooks. Joshua could not be more aware of it and yet he did not answer the old pontiff's question, for this was not Earth but the Extraordinary world named Mycroft, a miracle land of magic, aura, and magic.

Ultimately, none knew what 'light' was.

At the moment, Igor's form was becoming incorporeal. The smiling old man's body was becoming translucent amidst an obscure radiance while releasing powerful light, turning the elderly pontiff's body into a dazzling diamond-like body of crystals. Behind him, infinite particles resembling stardust levitated in the darkness and formed a whole new shape. As the dimensions distorted variably, luminous spheres that unleashed different color and mild radiance appeared one after another, fusing and splitting, expanding and contracting before eventual building into an unusual yet holy sphere of myriad colors with pure and simple aesthetics, guarding Igor's back.

At the same time, Joshua spread his arms. Innumerable veins of silver light shot out from around his body and condensed into streaks of nerve constructs and circuits resembling bone, and materialized a profound shadow. With bones and veins as its base, the shadow turned from incorporeal into physical—it was a four-armed giant that stood over a hundred meters and was assembled out of Steel Strength, encircled in a vast electromagnetic field, while a pierced halo hung behind him and whirled slowly.

Legendary was the sheer summation of thought a being has for their own ultimate form, and was precisely the overture for them to unleash their full power. The luminous sphere behind Igor like a star, but the myriad colors fused into thin white light just a little further away from him, filling the entire dark Void. On the other hand, around the Steel giant that Joshua had shifted into, space quivered slightly under the substantial shift of mass, making his outline appeared distorted as if light was changing trajectories due to his power.

”Against you, I wouldn't—”

While Igor tried to convey something through spirit across thousands of Void meters, the old pontiff was forced to stop before he could finish, for Joshua, driven by the force of Nuclear Fusion, was shooting towards him like a silver arrow!

Covering the thousand-meter in an instant within the Void that was without obstacles, Joshua accelerated with his greatest momentum that even the surrounding blackness retreated like a surging river. Igor was the only target in his eyes, and now he was right in front of him.

But could Igor be so easily taken by surprise with an ambush? Against Joshua who closed in like a steel mountain crashing down, the old pontiff did not show a hint of shock. He raised his left hand that emanated warm radiance like diamond and spread his five fingers, and uttered a simple syllable.

”Shield.”

Word of Truth—Shield.

Within the ten thousandth of a second, a translucent shield of light formed from innumerable minute particles abruptly appeared before Igor and barred the path of Joshua's onslaught as rapidly vibrating high energy particles formed an indestructible wall. It was the most basic of divine spells for clergies in the Seven Gods Church—if it were anyone else who had cast it, it would at most block some projectiles mid-flight. However, with Igor's powers, the thin sheet of light could stop the breath of Legendary dragons and falling stars.

However, was Joshua's momentum and impact force just a mere ten times heavier than a meteor? With clear sounds as if glass was broken, the Steel giant shattered the sheet of light as if nothing had existed there, and kept its charge towards Igor's real body.

A silver greatsword has also now materialized in the warrior's hand. Serrated edges of Steel Strength whirled rapidly over it like a chainsaw, stirring water-like ripples out of space itself. In the very next moment, the fearsome and violent chainsaw sword that was longer than sixty meters, and could very well be a weapon of weapons slashed down directly at the elderly pontiff who was still the size of a human!

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

Barriers of light raised one after another in the split second the slash swung, but were shattered consecutively by the greatsword. Joshua's strength was churning waves, ceaseless and became heavier with each blow, his Nuclear Heart Furnace worked swiftly to supply the warrior incomparable energy source. If that slash had been swung in the world of Mycroft, the entire Great Ajax Volcano would have been split in two cleanly—even in the Void, there was a trail that resembled lightning.

All was fragile before such a blow.

Crash!

The sound of the final barrier being broken echoed. Having pierced Igor's defense if his hardest form, Joshua darted inside the barrier with sword in hand, while hundreds of translucent barriers slowly crumbled beside him. In less than a second, he had clashed with the old pontiff in the fiercest of clashes between sword and shield, and it appeared that the sword was a class above.

But the time of less than a second was sufficient for the pope to flip tables despite being struck pre-emptively.

Against the chainsaw sword that seemingly wants to dice him, Igor, the face of calm, extended his right hand. A dazzling light shone on his palm, and he grasped thin air as he retrieved a pure-white scepter from that light. Unlike the Bright Scepter shown to Joshua initially, the Sage's Legacy now had nothing on its tip, no longer bearing the Initial Flame that burned slowly. Even so, it was the Bright Scepter, a relic of the Sage and a sacred item that wields the Initial Flame. Now that its task of reigniting the Flame Seed was completed, it could act as a weapon, an indestructible scepter.

Igor lifted it, brandished it through thin air and parried Joshua's sword from below. It resembled an ant waving the stalk of a leaf with the intent of blocking a giant stone that was crashing down towards it, and yet the chainsaw sword as really held back by that little scepter, and did not budge an inch!

In the very next moment, endless light poured out from behind the old pontiff's body and drowned the warrior.

The amalgamated sphere of light that had floated behind Igor from the start thus began to turn. Having stored sufficient energy, with a dull hum, endless rays, bolts, thick high-energy beams, and luminous missiles shot out like a tide and struck Joshua's body.

The sped of light was almost three hundred thousand kilometer per second. There was hence no need to worry about whose attack would land first when it came to luminous attacks—they would always strike first.

Under Igor's peaceful control, thousands of strips of beams and over ten thousand high-energy photons assembled into a great current of light that was more than thousands of meters wide. The light was as dazzling as the beautiful rays of sunrise, embodying limitless vigor and the sear that could turn all into nothingness. Imbued with broiling energies, it shifted into a profound, violent energy flow that could destroy all things and pressed towards Joshua head on without holding back.

Just as Igor had wanted to say just before—against Joshua, he would not spare any power and attack the warrior with 'killing intent'.

Drowning the warrior in an instant, the Void around Joshua even began to form a green-blue ion-shroud due to the intense energy surge, with great electric currents flashing. The shockwaves of that blow could pierce a summit or turn an entire mountain range into a sea of flames—it would easily kill a hundred thousand mortals easily if not used in the void, and even the barriers shielding the headquarters of the Far Southern Sacred Mountain could not withstand such penetration force.

But as Igor looked on in astonishment, the million-degree ion-shroud was torn apart by a silver giant silhouette. As a billowing gale blew away the clouds of energy, the unscathed Steel giant appeared before the old pontiff, his sturdy outer shell reflecting light around like the smoothest of mirrors while a virtually undetectable yet strong magnetic barrier field enshrouded the giant's skin, flickering like a circuit.

Could Joshua not be cautious against the attacks of Igor who was known as 'light' incarnate, especially when he planned to challenge him from the start? Evidently, target-oriented defenses were definitively effective.

”Not bad. You wouldn't find even five individuals who could directly withstand [Light of Dawn], but you are the strongest I have seen in terms of defense.”

Igor nodded slightly, his hand grasping the Bright Scepter as he acknowledged Joshua's ability with pleasure. However, not intending to waste time chattering with the pontiff, Joshua materialized the Sword of Mass once more—the one before had been pulverized by the brush of light, and his weapon was not as stout as his own body. And as Igor spoke, the warrior burst out his energy once more and rushed towards him.

Igor could only shake his head helplessly against the warrior who always charged directly. The bubbles of light behind him started to whirl behind him and kept unleashing searing high-energy rays, but it was a meaningless blow for Joshua who had long been prepared—with a swing of his sword, the lights were cut like streaming water by the great mass, and the ripple from the mass itself that distorted space kept stretching forward, cutting towards Igor.

”[Holy Light of Heavenly Illumination] seem useless against you. Well, let's try [Holy Light of Adjudication].”

Having decided that Joshua was immune towards pure beams after letting fly another vein of high-energy particle flow, Igor did not panic, and instead manipulated the sphere of light behind him to release hundreds of tower-shaped spikes. Each of the spike tips were tied in endless twisted specks that flickered once, and the mass ripple that could cut through light vanished without a trace abruptly, while hundreds of spikes shone at once and poured down invisibly at the warrior like rain.

”Gravity wave? That count as holy light as well?!”

It was Joshua's turn to be shocked this time. According to his general knowledge, nothing was same about focused gravity wave and holy light, yet it appeared to be general knowledge for Igor who lived in an extraordinary world. Therefore, the warrior could only stop the tracks of the impact, his four hands assembling Swords of Mass at the same time and solemnly parrying each invisible blow.

Gravity waves were invisible to the naked eye of humans, but through Steel Strength vision and his ability to discern microscopic angles, Joshua could observe the blows that would leave strong magnetic field reactions and warped space along its wake. Specifically, those were extremely bright plasma sparks and dimensional ripples that was certainly a form of beam attacks from certain perspectives and could be categorized as Holy Light, capable of splitting all substance in microscopic view.

Naturally, Joshua was reluctant to allow such threatening offensive to strike himself even with his invincible Steel body. It was precisely due to the extreme density in his own body that it would be too ridiculous if a chain reaction suddenly happened. Joshua brandished Sword of Steels and used the same mass frequency to counter each gravity wave. However, that meant he would not be able to interfere with Igor's follow-up assault, a tremendous disadvantage for Joshua whose ability did not compare to his opponent in the first place.

And such was the truth. In that moment, Igor was still standing where he originally was and had never moved once, appearing unhurried to use his full power and instead desiring to discern the limits of Joshua's defenses. Although his hand could not touch Joshua who stayed some distance away, light was his hand—the assemblage luminous sphere therefore launched all sorts of unique luminous attacks that blasted towards Joshua's position. [Heaven Scorching Holy Light], [Starpiercing Holy Light], [Holy Light of Judgement], high-energy microwave rays, bound particle flow, plasma lightning… chains of attacks that had some unknown relation to light but bore it in its name kept the warrior defending where he was, unable to inch forward.

Still, Joshua had a countermeasure at the ready against this scenario.

Against the infinite heaven-knows-what variants of particle attacks, Joshua stood at the center of the Void in the Infinite Horizon. While three of his arms brandished the Sword of Mass in defense, on of his right arms was raised before his body, fingers spread. Soon, as five supremely blinding nuclear fusion turned into sparks, his five fingers condensed out of the purest of Steel Strength exploded like five missiles of light, pushing with tremendous force and piercing heavy layers of projectile defense and darted towards Joshua's real body!

Unlike Joshua's body that offered a huge target, the target his five fingers were aimed at was not large, and yet under the warrior's delicate calculations, each one evaded any threatening attacks and arrived at Igor's vicinity, whose eyes widened in return. The sprightly old pontiff quickly ceased his assault as a circle of white light surfaced around him like a star belt, intending to deflect the five silver Steel Strength body missiles. But just the light spread, Joshua's five fingers scattered and convert itself into the purest of Steel Strength impact force, clashing against Igor's own energies forcefully!

Boom!!!

A monumental explosion unfurled, quaking space itself even if it was the Void within the Infinite Horizon. Following the detonation, Igor's figure was nowhere to be seen, while a dark dimensional fracture that resembled spiderweb tore the dimensions apart, revealing the true Void fissure behind where a dimensional passageway could almost be seen.

The battle between two Legends had shattered even the barriers between worlds, sending Igor flying into an unknown realm. With no hesitation, Joshua quickly followed, traversing the dark fracture and entering the passageway behind it.

In seconds, the split space began to seal itself. Though it happened in a matter of seconds, the fight in the Infinite Horizon would have left anyone shaken in their core. Then, several profound wills around the Infinite Horizon withdrew their observing gazes, with one tentacle evening out the space that had yet to completely seal itself.

”Shouldn't have let them fought here… the stability of the Infinite Horizon has fallen for another 0.13%—our descent into the physical realm has accelerated once more.”