Chapter 1041 - All the Lives Which I Tenderly Love (2/2)

Blinding flashes of the blade streaked past like scars of the moon with a swing of the Giant God's hand, but the intense surge of divine radiance had yet to pause. Each no different from infinitely keen blades, all of them were cutting into the swarm of darkness—while Demi Saint Evil Gods could almost ensure that they stayed unscathed, every other ordinary Evil God and spawn were like confetti in the wind, scattering and blown away at once, hence gone without a trace.

There was also a perfectly circular crimson light spreading over the Void. All darkness that had been touched by the light was instantly obliterated—the many tips of the dark tentacles reaching forward were all wiped out, leaving only dozens of dark blinks, which were stronger entities, that were not blown away.

A radiant force that enfolded the entire galaxy along with the cosmos itself was connecting to the Root. In an instant, the man drawing divine power had unleashed light of divine ascension to directly illuminate the unending darkness, and had only stopped after the Demi Saint Evil Gods were compelled to work together.

On top of that, every god across the cosmos felt an absolute subjugation in the second that the light blossomed—because the god that was above all and beyond the combined might of every other god in this cosmos was being born in the distance!

[The gods…are wishes.]

[The people invoke wishes and pray for the future, desiring changes for the better but are stalling to their own lack of power—on the other hand, gods are beings that have power, answering wishes and forging futures, turning change into reality!]

And now, all life in the cosmos were expectant of and believing in Joshua's power!

”Phew…”

Scarlet divine fire was overflowing through his jaws, even if it was clenched tightly, as the Giant God stepped out from the vastness of divine radiance. One could see a massive rift appearing to be opening itself in the depths of the Void behind him: it was a great slit, endless and entirely capable of splitting a galaxy apart, widening bit by bit and pouring away infinite divine power as if the skies was spilling out.

At that very moment, all the gods felt as if the divine powers they were drawing from the Root weakened for a single fleeting moment. Though it was brief and almost illusory, it was most genuine: it was as if a vortex had opened over their own oceanic surges of divine power, affecting their smaller vortices.

Even so, that exceedingly horrific divine force was actually an impact—being unable to shoulder it would mean that the being would collapse in the instant they obtain it, entering a state of Divine Death and hence assimilated into the Root!

Still, unlike what the now very nervous champions and gods imagined, the protection of the Steel Python Armor over the body of the Giant God composed of every Steel Python of a single galaxy had also become a barrier against the erosion and pulling from the Root. The consciousness of the countless Steel Pythons had bonded as one, becoming a peerlessly firm will like no other. It was now a fixed coefficient that kept Joshua nailed powerfully where he was, completely unaffected by the rush of divine power!

***

Just like the two clashing divinities certain gods possessed that blessed them with greater freedom and divine authority instead, the conflict between the strength belonging to uncountable Steel Pythons and the divine power that Joshua could not perfectly control had instead made wielding them easier for the warrior.

Drawing power from a single source would be no different from a tug-of-war: difficult and barely rewarding. However, drawing powers from two mutually contradicting strength that actually formed a certain cycle only needed a simple form of guiding.

Boom!

Hence, an unparalleled titanic rune of Φ appeared behind the Giant God and whirled around him, while at the precise center, Joshua acted as the divide between divine power and Steel Strength!

”What in the world?!”

Dropping off from the tail of flame and back to the cosmos proper, the God of Order and Destruction fixed his eyes upon the Void and exclaimed in bewilderment. ”Divine power and Steel Strength—is there actually such a way to use both?!”

”Almost divine… and simply unbelievable! Such an overlapping use of Steel Strength and Divine Power is very much enough to ascend as a Demi Saint, even advance as a Wise One…could this be the path he has chosen? No, no! This is entirely different from the power he had demonstrated before, but a brand-new path reaching at once towards the Wise Ones! Has he actually paved so many paths by himself?!”

Soon, however, an even louder roar echoed.

”Wait, hold up! Why are you still drawing divine power?! If this keeps up, you are really going to become a god!”

Along the trail of flame, the God of Law and Freedom was yelling in rage. ”At the moment, you are still able to maintain the delicate balance between divine power and Steel Strength, which at most, makes you a demigod or a quasi-deity. Even so, allowing this to continue and if you really become a god…”

”If you really ascend as a divine being, there would be no turning back!”

The others and the champions of other civilizations could hardly understand the loss of composure in both the God of Order and Destruction or the God of Law and Freedom. After all, was there anything unusual about becoming a god? In the face of an unstoppable and powerful enemy, was it not very normal to choose to become a god and obtain the power therein? Instead, it was actually incomprehensible to them as to why Joshua had not ascended as a god early on.

But as Merlin and Scottson's words soon allowed them to realize what was happening with a start, it also left them with a feeling as if they had fallen into a frozen cavern.

”Why give up on the path towards the Wise Ones—Joshua!?!”

***

Regardless, just as how the Giant God had ignored their words before sending them flying back into the cosmos while also tethering them where they were, the Giant God was ignoring them now as well. Proceeding along as if it was his own business, he hence ascended as a divine being by using the infinite surging power from the Root.

Running?

Breaking through the encirclement?

For what? What purpose does it even serve!

It was a darkness with an end Joshua could not illuminate even after he shone over it at his full power! It was a swarm of Evil Gods, and their total mass outsized the total mass of their own cosmos over untold times!

Those were the ashen bones of all fallen civilizations across the Multiverse until this day, the summation of all despair and darkness!

There was no person stronger than Joshua, and as such, no one knew that more than Joshua. How would they be able to break through? How would they able to escape?

Merely from what he could see, the vanguard of the unending ranks of darkness hs already consisted of forty-five Demi Saint Evil Gods, and even when they had managed to delay them ever so slightly just now, more of those Demi Saint Evil Gods were already closing in on them… neither the gods nor the Ultimate Legendary champions could sense it, and it was only the warrior who had surpassed the level of ordinary Demi Saints could feel their presence.

And now, he detected what was over hundreds of Demi Saint Evil Gods pouring forth, leaving the rear of the infinite Chaos swarm.

With enemies such as this…

Carrying the shelter realms to break a siege? What a joke! It would probably be less than halfway through when he, the Demi Saint, would die as he wore himself out.

On the other hand, if he were to flee alone, he just might escape with his life despite the legions of Demi Saint Evil Gods. Should he bring even one person along, the success rate would plummet altogether.

That being said…

[The day may come that civilization and Order could change the world so that it is more comfortable to live upon, but today is not that day. Before all else, there must be one who would stand up and fact, and sacrifice himself.]

Those were the words of his cheap father in this existence.

And yet, it had come true, personally carried out by the countless champions and gods of this existence who saw it as the Truth.

Did so many gods, champions, and familiar faces all sacrifice themselves just to give him company and pave the path towards inevitable death? Just so that Joshua alone could escape so pitifully?

Even if every being across the cosmos would rather that he left by himself to preserve that so-called 'hope', he would not fall so low to allow such a thing.

Instead, he would strangle and choke out his hope with his own hands…and hence fight, whether he would live or die.

The Giant God of Steel, with the divine wheel Φ rotating on his back, hence faced the many Demi Saint Evil Gods which had broke through his scarlet radiant circle of divine power and rushed towards him. Closing his eyes for a moment before opening them again, limitless divine power was unleashed from within, just like infinite burning blades.

Like a rain, a downpour of edges imbued with divine powers, the unending burning blades appeared to be moving on their own as they struck with utmost precision at the Evil Gods that were charging once more. Therefore, in that single instant, millions or more Evil Gods were destroyed, with only burnt ashes left of the billions of Chaos beings, having been ignited as a gigantic bundle of flame in the Void.

Even the Demi Saint Evil Gods could hardly stop the rapid rain of divine blades. Their bodies would be penetrated entirely when hit, with unstoppable flames burning at their wounds and leaving them utterly maimed—but with the immeasurably bright God of Eternity just in front of their eyes, they were not at all concerned with those injuries, instead simply leaving their burnt body portions to rapidly charge at Joshua.

Still, Joshua, in response, did not keep swinging his great sword or his giant axe, which were alight in divine fire. He turned to look at the gathering walls of Evil Gods that were trying to surround him and suffocate him in their endless formations, before tightening his fist and promptly striking out—instantly, a supermassive World Barrier similar to the one belonging to Stellaris directly crushed the Void, pulverizing the swarm of Evil Gods that were keen on stopping him into broken pieces!

A single path headed to the other side of the cosmos—a trail directed to the distant Void with an end none could see hence appeared before him. Without hesitation, Joshua hence darted away along the path, heading out over the infinite distance!

It was also in that very moment that even more dark blinks of gloom began darting out from the unending squirming tentacles of darkness which were approaching Joshua. The very presence of those blinks left the many gods and champions in the cosmos, whose eyes were still leveled upon the Void, altogether breathless. They could not imagine at all why there was such a day that hundreds of Demi Saint Evil Gods would all appear in the same place, especially considering that a single Demi Saint could hardly be born upon a cosmos even as eras passed.

And those hundreds of Demi Saint Evil Gods were all making a beeline for Joshua at the top of their speed.

***

Presently, amongst the people in the Mycroft civilization who were in the know, even the slowest of them were catching on to the very simple idea that the Mastermind had.

There is simply no person who would underestimate the Wise Ones.

Therefore, Demi Saints that were the original form of Wise Ones certainly were very important targets that must be wiped out.

If one was not enough, it would send ten.

If ten was not enough, it would send a hundred, along with unending legions of Evil Gods along with hordes of Chaos that could drown an entire cosmos. It would keep adding any more force as it could, a star-breaking cannon that would not hold back even if its opponent was an insect— it would go all-out and exhaust every option, mobilizing as many forces as it could.

Even if the surprise of surprises would come to pass, that the Demi Saint would be able to ascend as a Wise One amidst the endless siege of Chaotic Evil Gods, they would still be forced to the source of the Initial Flame, thereby bringing along those boundless warms of Evil Gods away from their home cosmos and coming towards the trap that it had laid.

So what if its victims would bide their time to cull those unending ranks of Evil Gods? It was even more agreeable since it would delay the pace of the Wise One—no matter how many Evil Gods were used up, it would be worth it.

Such was its deceit, a scheme which allows none to advance.

Still, though knowing that it was a trap, Joshua was forced to spring it. Even if what lay before him was a dark and hellish abyss, he would assuredly stride within it.

But it was not as if he did not have any measures to counter the trap.

”Courage is the will in beings to face everything that they do not want to confront.”

Scarlet divine patterns were still extending over the body of the Giant God. The infinite divine power was altering Joshua's very body in cultivation and transformation—it had ought to be a process which could only be maintained in the midst of slumber, but it was still gradually accomplished under his profound control and in the process of a battle.

Meanwhile, Joshua said to himself calmly, ”And the greatest courage is the sacrifice of self.”

[Flesh is fated to never triumph over calamity, just as hot-bloodedness could never douse an inferno. Courage, resolve, hope, and love that relies upon expectation, prayer, and heart is absolutely never going to defeat the Darkness. That is the fall called Eternity, the disaster called Infinity.]

[Still unable to understand? In the face of the unending, inexhaustive, borderless, limitless, boundless, and infinite Eternity of emptiness within this Multiverse, the nonfinite Chaos and its determined future, the whatnots such as solidarity of wills, strength of resolve, or power through unity—all the diligence and struggles of intelligent beings, the so-called unyielding consciousness and belief, are shades of bubbles in the stream or tears in the rain. It is dust to be crushed under the will of time and ashes of no significance.]

Even so…

Even so—

Even if that was reality, the Flame would keep on burning!

***

Streaking away over the infinite distance, Joshua clenched his sword and axe. The warrior was feeling the two likewise burning minds, and hence laughed heartily as he held them tightly.

The final flame was now ablaze! In the Silent Void, the crimson Giant God shone upon the darkness with the brightest fiery radiance, drawing a stroke most firm upon the dark skies, just like a falling star.

As he bounded towards the distance, Joshua was swinging both sword and axe in attack. Parallel rifts were immediately cut into the Void from which crimson divine radiance welled out, destroying millions of Chaos and Evil Gods. If it had been within the cosmos, that light would have been able to shine throughout the stars, allowing countless civilizations to bath under its sacred splendor.

Joshua would actually turn occasionally as well and swing out his axe at the top of his power. Unlike the great sword, which was emanating boundless radiance, it was ink black, like the embers after all life had ended. Still, it could split galaxies apart with its direct and simple chopping motions—even the Demi Saint Evil Gods would be directly cut apart and destroyed if they tried to stop it, and hence Chaos would become a torch, the endless probabilities diminishing and restored to the Multiverse.

Still, countless more would come at once after one was destroyed.

A Demi Saint Evil God ignited and torched would see the cascade of Chaos by the hundreds, killing the flame and advancing while embodying what strength it had left—it was a force that could compel the warrior to fall back, but he simply took no mind of it as he persisted in his provocation and continued fighting.

Raising the spirit to fight and bring salvation to dire affairs!

As he fought on and darted away, every Evil God and Chaos tentacles had assumed the form of a single long queue—a chain of boundless darkness that was pursuing Joshua from the rear!

[In spite of fated death and failure, even if there would be nothing to gained from doing their best, intelligent life have always been fated to battle on, to struggle and to resist with no hope at all!]

[Just like how foolish humans would foolishly engage their own kind in mutual slaughter, the foolish intelligent life would also foolishly fight without purpose—against their own, against the Multiverse, against the eternal and endless despair and darkness!]

Intelligent beings were destined for folly in the split second that they obtained their wisdom. Hoping that they could stay rational forever was greed, and whether it was stupid mutual slaughter or idiotically provoking a foe they could never defeat, it was all caused by that fated foolishness in life.

And that was because if they did not act out of foolishness, the inevitable would certain never be broken and all probability would not be shattered!

If beings were not foolish, they would certainly not do things that they knew would not work, and therefore be unable to change the fated future!

Such was the path of the fool, just as it was the warrior's tenet!

Just as Joshua left the reaches of the cosmos to arrive upon the very limits of observation, while bringing along every horde of Evil God and darkness and departing towards the endless distance…

Even so, the warrior who would never turn back could not resist turning his head sideways, using the corner of his eye to watch the darkened cosmos.

Joshua had taken away the power of every Steel Python in the galaxy, the l.u.s.ters of the cosmos and leaving countless worlds in stillness, no longer able to grow life or cultivate the Extraordinary…likewise, countless civilizations would not be able to return to their home world for a long time, and could only live in the shelters.

However, he still left the seeds of rebirth, and should the day come that a new King of Searing Soul would awaken, the stars would certainly regain brightness.

That would also be the exact factor which denied the Evil Gods their target of 'Eternity' should he fail, meaning that they would never come to the darkened cosmos, instead picking other cosmoses of bright splendor…that was perhaps the warrior's last act of selfishness.

The darkness as Chaos chased after the light, while the crimson star darted away to the distance, leaving corpses of Evil Gods as far as the eyes could see. Endless worlds had hence fallen, countless lives hence perished, but what lay within the infinite destruction was infinite salvation.

”All the lives…”

Thus, in the instant that the cosmos would completely vanish from the corner of his eyes, the warrior turned around determinedly to gaze upon the empty Void before him, softly murmuring his last words in his life as a human being.

”which I—”

—tenderly love.