Chapter 673 The Night Has Passed, the Day Has Come (1/2)

The voice from afar echoed like the muffled hums of the evening tides or the gentle sounds of a foliage. It resembled a song, caroling a psalm none knew and unlamented sadness.

In the Bloodmoon Abyss, both Joshua and Light turned as the indescribable voice pierced the World Barrier, looking toward the direction it came from.

It was Mycroft. In the Blood Moon, the huge luminous human figure titled its head and blinked curiously, while Light jingled once, not quite understanding what the voice was trying to say despite hearing it. However, it sensed familiarity and affection from its tone, as if a distant senior entrusting something upon it.

Apart from the Bloodmoon Abyss, other Legendary champions doing battle in other worlds, the elderly pontiff standing off against the Dragon God in the Void, as well as the gods in the Infinite Horizon heard that voice that resembled a song. They too could hear that incomprehensive meaning and feel that the voice was sighing, mourning that something had passed. Only Vahina, the Eastern Sea Sage paused slightly—in her ears, that familiar voice had become a certain call, as if a mother was calling for her children.

Outside the Earth Temple in the distant seas beyond the Distant Seas itself at the very edge of the Mycroft, an old priest who had been sweeping the dust off the front yard of huge stone temple paused where he was, gripping the handle of his broom. He heard much more than what the others could hear—an entrusting, a call, a self-mockery and a thirst of urgency. Suddenly remembering something, he quickly turned to the temple of the Mother Goddess, but it was not shining. Her statue was silent too, the deity it depicted having passed on not too long ago. The old priest smiled bitterly at the very thought, putting the broom down and, as he reverently knelt before the temple, he prayed.

Joshua slowly landed on the continent he just created, his brow tightly frowned at the seal where the Seven Gods Church placed, separating the connection between the Bloodmoon Abyss and Mycroft.

”Do you hear it, Light?” He said after a long silence.

”Ding-ding-ring-ring.”

The luminous orb expanded and contracted. Though Joshua nodded, he appeared to be filled with question. ”Could hear it, but not understanding it… It's as expected. But why?”

Compared to the questions the others might have, Joshua understood that the voice was incomprehensible to others, but what he frowned at was because that incomprehensible accent and melody all naturally turned into words he could understand. Not only could he hear it, he easily understood it.

It was an indescribable voice, as if having just awakened from a dream and lamented the passing of a bygone era. It was reminding all life to be prudent and cautious, filled with self-mockery and regrets while calling the names of its children, one after another. However, those names were cryptic and difficult to understand, as if the divine words and names of an ancient era, although Joshua was familiar with one of them.

For that was the divine name of the Earth Mother.

Apart from that, it yearned with urgency for one's arrival, and was using its last iota of strength to call throughout the Multiverse, although none replied… Joshua suddenly felt as if something awakened in him when he heard the call, along with a spreading warm sensation.

'It's calling for the Sage… It's calling for me.'

Joshua found his answer in one brief instant. As to the issue of 'why me', the warrior would no longer consider it—indeed, a better question would be why not him? He was the Sage's Successor, the King of Searing Soul, the Savior of a World who reignited its Flame and a Fated Legend. In fact, Joshua found it not unusual because champions were vortices that drew everything to them, but even so, he questioned why the voice—the World Will, Mycroft the Steel Python would summon him and the Sage with such a tone?

Were they not mortal enemies after the Sage sealed it?

Indeed, Joshua could be sure that it was precisely the voice of the World Will, just as what Zero-One and he heard back then. The warrior was a hundred percent sure that there was nothing different.

”A cry before it is sealed? Or a temporary moment of lucidity before its eternal slumber?”

May different guesses cascaded in Joshua's mind, but he made his choice. As one who had witnessed with his own eyes the rise and end of the Glorious Era and a former master of that world, the call from Mycroft must not be a typical anguished cry or final rally before its death. Even if it was, humans should listen to the last words of the profound being, the Mother of All.

It was basic respect.

At the very thought, Joshua strode out and rose into the air, flying toward the seal between two worlds. Light, held in his embrace, jingled urgently, questioning what the warrior intending to do.

”I don't know,” the warrior answered simply. ”That's why I must go.”

With the embodiment of such a mood, Joshua arrived at the seal over the dimensional rift that once connected the two worlds. He reached out, silver radiance flashing against holy light—being the only one who could directly communicate with the Multiverse Sacrificial Grounds, Joshua was the only one who could freely traverse the world that used as a trap. In fact, in the original plan, after he finished off his assigned opponents with Light's aid, he would directly head to other worlds and assist the Legends of Mycroft to wipe out all invaders from beyond.

But now, according to feedback from the Commanding Will of the Multiverse Sacrificial Grounds, none of the Legends of Mycroft were at a disadvantage, with the Nature's Magister was even conversing peacefully with the unnamed Behemoth. There were also three other Legends who had arrived at the world where the warrior was, greatly alleviating the pressure upon the others. The old pontiff has also combined with the Holy Mountain Warship to steadily hold off against the assault of the Pentashade Dragon God: everything was under control, and he was not needed to help out.

Thus, as a human-sized hole appeared upon the sacred seal under the power of Steel Strength, Joshua briskly crossed the dimensional rift back to the world of Mycroft.

However, the moment he stepped across worlds into the oceanic domain of the Anos Abyss, the earth suddenly began to tremble, the seas churning. Every Legendary champion who were subjugating the World Will by the seal felt an abrupt freeing sensation upon their hands, realizing that the Steel Python that had been resisting at full power to tear the seal apart had stopped resisting. The excessive contrast almost made them lost handle of their strength output, just as Joshua sensed an extraordinarily profound will had forced itself to come before him, at the price of no longer being able to resist the seal.

The World Will had chosen to give up on resisting, allowing the Sacred Swordsman who had been guiding the descent of the Infinite Horizon feel a considerable decrease of pressure upon himself. The many runic formations that could have been used to suppress, seal or resist also hence lost any form of usage, but in return, the Steel Python that had given up would attain brief freedom before the sealing formation adjusted itself.

At the same time, Joshua was with that profound Will, following that natural cycle of energies and entering the inner sanctum of the world that he was familiar with.

The realm where the Steel Python lived.

Joshua had been there countless times—be it Karlis, Stellaris, Illgner or Grandia, he had witnessed multiple World Wills, engaging them in pleasant conversations. On the other hand, he had never seen or been inside the world of Mycroft, the world he himself lived in.

***

At present, Joshua lifted his eyes to the vast Vault of Stars, watching as the starry skies that were once immeasurably dazzling flickering in dim and dappled radiance. Then, he looked down, and saw that the vast dark land around him was without life.

On the warrior's flanks, the two River of Time that denoted 'past' and 'future' was churning with turbid and impure bubbles. Red-black and brown light flickered in the river as deathly and Chaotic presence emanated, symbolizing the advent of the end.

Joshua watched the two rivers silently, tracing their flow and origin to find a coiled, black Python in front of him, staring at him with its two eyes that flashed in dark, red light.

Grey particles wafted in the air as if a gloom that obscured all light, pervading the land. Half of Mycroft's body was shrouded beneath that gloom, its once silver body now filled with traces of dark rot, blackening its entire body similar to how iron rust.

Now, the Steel Python gazed disappointedly at Joshua, who had come to the inside of its world. ”You're not him…” It spoke after a long time. ”You are not the Sage, you are just his Successor.”

”Is he no longer, or has he left?”

A hoarse feminine voice wafted from the Python's maw, its fatigue distinct. As Joshua looked up at the being that seemed to stretch from heaven down to the earth, he realized that it was larger than any other World Will save for Star, the World Will of Stellaris that barely sized up to it. Indeed, the head of Mycroft the Steel Python appeared to be keeping the dim galaxies aloft, while its coiled body was akin to a black mountain chain that extends across it. Its mass took up one-third of the inner realm, making the entire space appear narrow and suffocating.

Joshua then nodded in reply to the Steel Python's question. ”He has left,” he said calmly, ”to the depths of the Multiverse in search of an answer to Order and Chaos.”

”So, he has left…” the black Steel Python muttered slowly. There was no disappointment or rage in its voice, only a sigh. ”So, we've finally failed.”

But just as the Steel Python said those words, Light abruptly shook uncomfortably in Joshua's embrace. It had been brought by the warrior into the World Inner, and now appeared very unwell. In response, Mycroft lowered its head slightly and studying the luminous orb with some interest. ”The child form of a newborn World Will… You're actually carrying it around? The Sage and his heirs had always been so bizarre.”

”Successor, help it block the Chaos presence around.”

Joshua had noticed the power of Chaos that filled the World Inner before the Steel Python finished, and had already created a Steel Strength for light just as it made the suggestion. Then, when the Python finished, Joshua had already lifted his eyes again to the Python, his brow still frowned tightly.

”World Will, Mother of All—are you not an enemy of the gods and the Sage following the fall of the Mother Goddess? It is precisely because you wish to destroy the world that we would seal you.”

”Why then, in this moment, you show no hint of hate at the mention of the Sage, and no tendency to act against me, his Successor?”

That was the most pressing question in Joshua's mind. Before he returned to Mycroft, he was ready for a final counter-offensive alongside other Legends against the World Will's final stand, and would not have been surprised to be dragged into the World Inner. It was what Joshua expected, and he would understand if his opponent showed such an attitude: The Steel Python should be showing its rage like it did in those memory fragments, cursing humans and all living things. It should have been behaving like before, to summon every powerful foe across all Multiverse here to destroy Mycroft's civilization, even at the price of going dormant.

It was precisely due to such a tremendous contrast that Joshua asked about it so straightforwardly, with neither hesitation nor tact.

”Could you be referring to my madness? Huh. It certainly is an act of immeasurable lunacy, but I am no longer myself under the influence of Chaos.”

The colossal Steel Python lifted its head in response, its dark red gaze emanating a black presence. Mycroft kept silent for a long while as if remembering the past and mulling over its thoughts then, before finally replying with a calm voice a dozen seconds later. ”Though it may be hard to comprehend for you, successors, back then, the Sage and I simply wished to conduct an experiment.”

”Experiment?” Joshua repeated the word unwittingly, taking a step forward as he felt that he may have stumbled upon a revelation. ”What experiment?”

”Yes, experiment.”

The colossal Steel Python closed its eyes and repeated with a very thin voice. ”An experiment on how to 'convert Chaos'.”

***

With the serene narration from Mycroft, the history hidden beneath the darkness was slowly revealed.

After the Final Battle a thousand years ago, the skies had crumbled and the continent sunk. The world of Mycroft had splintered, with sky, land, and oceans falling into indescribable Chaos. After triumphing against every foe, the exhausted gods watched helplessly as their homes faced destruction, with some of them wanting to leave or to stay. It was under the silent support of the Sage that they all stayed, and slowly rebuilt their homes.

It was then that the Sage headed to the World Inner. He found the Steel Python that had just awakened from slumber, and discussed the world's future with it.

”During that time, the Sage appeared lost. He appeared to be interrogating himself, or perhaps muttering to himself… He said that we mustn't stay ignorant of the Chaos, that we must understand our greatest adversary.”