Chapter 983 Migrating Champions (1/2)
At first, Joshua had intended to leave immediately without further contact with the radiant cocoon, but changed his mind at once upon noticing that it was using the Great Mana Tide to spread the supernatural epidemic.
”Can't do nothing.”
It was neither his heroism nor his sense of justice at work, but the sheer realistic harm it posed. Joshua knew about the terrors of the Ultimate Virus and the terrific repercussions of allowing it to engulf all worlds along the Great Mana Tide: 99.999% of all life would have been directly reduced to withered bones and souls, with what few survivors mutating into Ultimate Entities, horrors superior over Chaos aberrations.
It would be unstoppable, a great harm beyond Evil Gods. Just like how the Black Fog was no Evil God either, the sheer destruction it would have wreaked was more horrific than Evil Gods.
Whether for Mycroft or other innocent civilizations and races of the Multiverse in passing, Joshua could never have merely stood by and watched—hence, in the instant before he left, the warrior took a deep breath and mustered all strength the clone possessed to let out a silent roar.
Boom!!!
Around Joshua, solid ring-shaped tremors began to spread. In the presence of that abrupt burst carrying profound force that was able to destroy multiple worlds, even the vast light of the Mana Tide bent for an instant, allowing hidden flows to increase as the surging stream was split into countless branches and undercurrents, divided by vortices. Steel Particles within the surges and world fragments hovered in the expanded ripples before finally being reduced to fine powder.
In the blink of an eye, the shockwaves caused by Joshua struck the ripples made by the radiant cocoon, which was also the trigger that helped the Ultimate Virus manifest. The warrior looked up, his eyes that were turning crimson reflecting the toxic seed and seeing the massive threads from the radiant cocoon once again making substantial ripples that followed the flow of the Mana Tide to reach for worlds beyond.
But would Joshua have given them the chance?
Lifting the Dragonslayer Swordspear forged from Emotional power, the warrior ignited the ripples that he had created himself with blazing flames of rage!
As if a firing star had fallen into a deep oilfield or a flickering spark reaching black gunpowder, the reaches of the Mana Tide that Joshua affected, including the radiance which was turned into undercurrents or vortices, were all ignited by the crimson spark within one split second. Every ripple seed that the radiant cocoon made was therefore consumed by the blaze and reduced to ashes, the wrathful burst of flame even climbing upstream against the Mana Tide, fueling itself with pure energy to spread within the surrounding Mana Tides.
The Mana Tide stirred while the inferno raged!
Not even the radiant cocoon could ignore the sea of blazing flames in the surges of Mana Tides. It reached out with its tentacles to brush off the flames of rage around its own fungal network, but it was futile—the sea of flames did not merely reach upstream, but had also extended downstream as well. Regardless of the power it possessed, the cocoon could only douse the fires of Emotion around it, while the flames that kept spreading downstream would have eventually become snares that devoured its ripple seeds. Before Joshua's energy was completely exhausted, the epidemic the radiant cocoon had been causing would never have spread with the Mana Tide as its medium.
Naturally, the cost of that fire was a period of interruption in the Mana Tide. Some worlds would have briefly lost the nourishment of the Mana Tide energies, but with the alternative being poisonous sweet dew, it was certainly the better choice to keep drinking the bland natural water back home.
However, the radiant cocoon did not react too much despite noticing what had happened. It simply scanned its surroundings and attempted to identify Joshua's location, trying to find its lost quarry which had not only parried its blow, but also interfered with its plans.
Naturally, Joshua had already disappeared without a trace, vanishing into the inferno created by the flames of Emotion.
”…”
As if thinking for a moment, the radiant cocoon retracted the tentacles it had wanted to elongate, silently pausing for an instant before shrinking back into gushes of energy, hiding its whereabouts.
***
”This isn't good.”
At the same time, in the Galactic Trench, Joshua's true form which had been prepared for a long-distance warp opened his eyes and said with a somber face, ”It is certainly an unexpected presence, and its power is definitely beyond what was imagined.”
[Question: What have you found in the worlds beyond?]
[Puzzled: Was it the Evil God that is the origins of the Ultimate Virus?]
[Query: What are the actual present circumstances?]
The Triple Curtain was equally serious, since it was the one that worried most about the problems in Stellaris. Even if Joshua was summoned to offer aid and not as some tourist, the warrior had less responsibility as compared to the Artificial Intelligence Collective, which was also the Protectors of Life in this world—even if it had to use its very last vestiges of power, the Triple Curtain would have fought against the foes who were bent on vanquishing the many lives of the diverse civilizations.
Still, it was not aware that the man before itself would have fought those same foes even if unnecessary, and had proven to be an unpleasant undesired guest of the Chaos. One way or another, Joshua considered his words carefully before saying quietly, ”Powerful Evil Gods have arrived outside Stellaris—or as I would put it, a superior lifeform filled with malice…whatever the vessel may be, Evil Gods are simply tools at its disposal to achieve its own purposes, and I even suspect that Evil Gods are merely navigational systems that this particular lifeform is utilizing in seeking the 'eternal'.”
”As for what it actually is…well, I can only call it a beast.”
Even as Joshua spoke, he narrowed his eyes as he remembered the Stellar-class Void Behemoth he had once captured, and then the radiant cocoon along with the movements after spreading the Ultimate Virus all over.
”The most powerful one there is,” he continued. ”One that is like no other, even in the Multiverse.”
***
Meanwhile, Joshua clone was still fleeing in haste along the surge of the Great Mana Tide afar, heading away from Stellaris.
With his present speed, the radiant cocoon would have had a hard time catching up and had probably wasted great effort in return. Even so, the warrior had no inclination to pause at all, but simply kept advancing.
There was no doubt that the radiant cocoon had maintained a blockade around Stellaris, and it was impossible to return, whether he approached the realm or took a detour. Joshua would certainly not have risked the chance of having the Triple Curtain infected by the radiant cocoon just for a clone by having it open the backdoor that the Creators left for his return.
So, even if it was like recycling a waste product, Joshua would have moved the clone, which could never return, in an attempt to go downstream and survey the Void around Stellaris.
One could tell that the vicinity of Stellaris was once a bright and flourishing galaxy. But now, after the passing of endless time, the brush of the Great Mana Tide, the erosions of Chaos, along with the time dilation due to temporal pitfalls, the once brilliant starlight had all darkened, reduced to hovering Steel Particles and world fragments that wafted around in the Mana Tide.
Though their former radiance might have still been shining upon the infinite worlds on the other side of the Multiverse, here, in the land where they belonged, there was simply nothing left.
For a very long time, all that Joshua could see was a blank whiteness—such was the radiance of the Mana Tide. The Void was no better, as it was simply empty across every direction, a vacancy that had nothing but energy. If not for the Mana Tide itself flowing 'downstream', Joshua would probably not have known the direction he should have been flying.
Time passed.
In that exceedingly extended silence, only a single silver light advanced alone in the Void filled with the white gushing.
Joshua imagined that the journey of his clone would have lasted a very long time until he could reach the first galaxy next to Stellaris—at the same time, he was very aware that the galaxy he used to live was certainly not the one closest to Stellaris. Even so, the warrior still saw a rather bizarre shadow in the white background of the Mana Tide.
”What is that?”
It was a very simple idea that came to Joshua's head. He could see that the shadow was not along the direction he was heading towards and was actually indistinct—if not for Steel Vision, which was a special perception of his, he might never have caught that shadow. Either way, he had seen it and tried to get closer to see what actually lay behind the shadow.
As he shifted his course and approached the location of the shadow, it became more distinct and darker. Eventually, in the instant when the light of the Mana Tide suddenly turned dull, the existence behind the shadow revealed its true face.
”Damn!”
Save for his lifted brow, Joshua's expression remained unchanged, although he could not help but to praise it.
”That… is really big.”
***
A corpse so colossal like no other lay before Joshua.
On first glance, it was so outstandingly massive that it actually dwarfed the Giant God of Steel. A serpentine monster that resembled a mountain, it had three horns on its head that responded to the three Extraordinary forces of ether, lifeforce, and Psi. Its layers of scales were a pale green and possessed a special microscopic structure that acted as thick armor. The spell formation that assumed form within each scale were imbued with thousands of chain runic constructs, a sturdiness that protected whatever lay beneath, even in the case of a supernova explosion.
The corpse was curled into a ball as if in slumber, but had assuredly lost all signs of life. In fact, the great serpent's scales still flickered with faint golden glimmers that floated along the radiance of the Great Mana Tide.
Even Joshua himself had to move an entire lap around the corpse to make out its true form—and one should not forget that Joshua's clones were titanic bodies that could create stars or pinch small worlds as if they were mere toy. And yet, the lifeless serpentine corpse still managed to actually exude a menacing might of its own, its sheer size dwarfing most smaller mid-sized worlds.
As the warrior would have put it, it was a corpse, even if its energy had yet to completely diminish, and part of its motor functions could attack any being approaching it with hostile intent, although it would have been no different than scratching an itch for Joshua. After he had moved around it, the warrior had also determined that it was not actually a serpentine Void Behemoth, but a Void Snake which started life as an ordinary creature but eventually evolving through every level, venturing far into the limits of Legend, and obtaining great power. It certainly possessed the ability to survive in the Void, having the capacity to feed on worlds.
And yet, it had died here for some unknown reason.
”…It actually died from hunger? That cannot be.”