Chapter 682 Who Seeks My Aid? (2/2)

A star thus died.

Joshua could not help holding his breath as he witnessed it all alongside Helm. He understood the horror of that spectacle more than anyone else—even more than Helm, who witnessed it firsthand.

The raging gamma rays from the distance did not actually destroy planets. It merely blew away the planet's gravity and atmosphere, at most killing all life on its surface. If what Helm had seen was true, there was only one possibility… Somewhere nearby no more than a few lightyears away from that planetary system that was devastated, an infinitely colossal super nebula had burst, before and shrinking to form a neutron star… or perhaps a black hole.

”Certainly shocking. Never thought that the original form of Helm's Star Blaze was actually a real burst of gamma rays… but Goliath wouldn't care about that.”

Joshua was unfettered apart from a brief instance of shock, and he soon frowned in thought. ”One astronomical disaster may be the inspiration for a spell for an Abyssal demon—there should be no urgent need to reclaim it.”

'There should be some other vital but undiscovered information', Joshua thought, and continued searching the remaining spiritual shards Helm left, intending to obtain more details.

Afterward, countless sporadic memories flashed past… Having attained greater power, Helm ascended as Legend—to affirm its Legendary form, it used its devastating rays to subjugate a portion of the Sixth Abyss, and prepared itself for its noblest conquest. However, an even more formidable power cut Helm's ambition short.

It was Goliath, the future Demon King.

Unbelievably powerful and never once using any trump card, Goliath had used sheer energy intensity and muscle strength to rout Helm, which for its part had been fighting at full power. The Abyssal Liege that could seemingly dominate all things flashed its edge for the first time and united the entire Sixth Abyss. Then, instead of killing other Demon Generals, the Demon King compelled them to conquer other worlds to satiate their own ambition.

Due to various reasons, Helm did not choose to resist. It had decided to temporarily swear fealty to the powerful Abyssal Liege, but Joshua could tell that Helm was not as loyal as it was now in the first hundred years since it had been defeated. In every moment, it thought about how to empower itself, to usurp Goliath's throne and become the next all-ruling Demon King.

It tried many things from meditation, discovering new spells, accumulating energies or honing the energy assembling and acceleration constructs in its body… There was no question it became stronger, but it remained immeasurably troubled as it still could not defeat Goliath until it finally came up with the only way.

And it was too return to that world where gamma ray burst off, studying the source of that terrible power.

Helm held conviction that if it could grasp the truth of that frightening power, gods would have a difficult time standing against itself, much less an Abyssal Liege. Hence, after a dozen years of preparation, it finally returned to the coordinates of where it mistaken teleported to, ready to reenter that world in search of the origins behind that power.

”…I can't find its source… It's too far. I flew for months, but never once left these sheets of hot-cloud zone.”

”The energy radiation here is even more frightening than it was in the Void, even I could not withstand it for too long… The Star Blaze had not ended, sporadic energy flow is still bursting intermittently.”

”Weird… It's a harrowing sense of spatial distortion. What is that in the distance? Light is actually turning into a vortex… What is that coming?!”

”It dashed inside! No, it had already dashed inside… It's light of decades ago… That is the source! That is what triggered the calamity!”

***

That was Helm's final piece of memory. It had sensed an incomparably bright star, and an insignificant speck that came out of nowhere, crashing into that star.

Taking his hand off the silver-white crystal ball, Joshua took one step back and furrowed his brow in deep thought. Beside him, neither Barnil nor William disturbed him—in truth, they had the same feeling when they first studied Helm's memory, and found it harder to understand than Joshua did now. Having lived in a hemispherical plane all along, they had never heard of boundless worlds of stars and planets.

Meanwhile, Joshua thought about what that final part of the memory meant.

The Beholder Demon General don't have Psionic Warp Engine like I do,” the warrior mumbled, ”it can't traverse astronomical units of space in the universe. Even after flying for months, it was still stuck inside the nebula that extinguished a sun.

”The energy burst had yet end, meaning that the nebula at the origins of the explosion had yet to stabilize… But if light can be distorted into a vortex, it is definitely a black hole that is more terrible than a neutron star.”

It was easy for Joshua to understand that final image: the gravitational chaos caused by the black hole might have cause light itself to twist. Therefore, it was only decades after the calamity happened when Helm saw it, even if it should have appeared alongside the gamma-ray burst. It must have seen something appearing around the supernova that was about to detonate, hence evoking the crumbling and blast of the new star.

However, what could it have been? What could have caused that terrible bang of gamma rays?

There was no continuity. It was the final spiritual shards Helm had left in the world, most of which was with Joshua, with a little portion in Goliath's possession. Until now, Joshua never understood why the Abyssal Liege must reclaim Helm's spiritual shards and denying him it—at present, however, the warrior had a vague hypothesis in his mind.

Nonetheless, it was rather nonsensical that even he found it unlikely.

”Solved your problem, Joshua?”

Barnil spoke after Joshua finished his train of thought; he stared at the warrior gravely, shaking his head. ”To be frank, William and I can't tell anything. Those demons' memories are a hideous mess and quite bizarre.

”No… But there are more questions instead.”

Though that was what he said, Joshua's visage appeared to have improved considerably. He may not have understood Goliath's intentions, but he did learn about the source of Helm's power, and the coordinates of that galaxy… Helm had not warp engine and hence could not cover lightyears worth of distance, but he could. In future, when he had the time, he would certainly go to that world to have a look and ascertain what actually happened.

”Don't worry too much, Joshua. Demon memories are mostly like that.”

On the other side, the knowledgeable William who had toyed with who-knows-how-many minds laughed shortly, turned towards the black-and-white crystal ball wherein a cocoon was placed and shrugged. ”While we had not finished studying Saluka's living form, it must be said that they are certainly Legendary champions. By just analyzing a tiny bit of their living essence, it is enough to help us greatly progress research in 'limbs regeneration', 'longevity', 'augmented organs' and so forth. That cocoon is even still alive, and much more valuable than the spirit shards of a dead demon.”

”Hahaha. It's fine as long as there's still value—either way, I'm counting on you two for research in that respect.”

Joshua grinned in return: that was the reason he sent the remains of Saluka's body in the first place. While he also had the technique to study the remains of the Insectoid Demon's body, he did not have the time—he may appear leisurely to others and never had to mind his own domain, even scampering everywhere, he was far busier than anyone thought. For example, right now, he was halfway in his journey to an otherworld, and had merely spared some time on this detour to procure information about those Demon Generals.

After a few more exchanges with the two Legends and confirming that the Winter Fort Academy had accepted a joint study, Joshua left the tower. Standing upon the hills of Magna, he slowly looked up towards the sky, and his body soon turned into a dull silver light that rose directly to the skies.

Many things crossed Joshua's mind while he flew in a straight line… Demon, Abyss, Evil God, otherworld and gamma ray-burst, a god's question about Order and the faraway Sage… It sounded complicated, but the warrior was a simple man: for him, no amount of doubt would stop him, merely driving him forward instead.

”Really. So many interesting questions.”

If that was the case, things would not be boring for some time.

At the thought, Joshua arrived at the Void beyond Mycroft. Beneath the silver glisten of the Multiverse Sacrificial Grounds, he looked around as if sensing something while standing amidst dimensional turbulence.

Hence, he spoke to the Void behind him solemnly. ”I've kept you waiting, Karlis.”

”It's a mere instant for me.”

The dimensional turbulence quivered as Joshua spoke—a majestic will transcended space, directly conversing with Joshua's spirit, in a mild and deep voice that puts the heart at ease. ”Well, are you ready, Joshua?”

”Of course.”

The swift and decisive reply echoed from the dimensional turbulence. Joshua stared at the Void serenely, and said softly, ”Let's begin.”

”Allow me to see which worlds seek my aid.”