# Chapter 26: The Only Light (13600)
Many Transcendent Beings who specialize in combat often say that numerous and chaotic power is inferior to fewer but refined power—just like how a wall made of soft cake, no matter how thick, cannot block a sharp Adamantite long blade.
This point is indeed correct: for example, a Gold High-rank Mind Flayer that has devoured tens of thousands of souls, when facing a mere Gold Low-rank Clergy, the battle will never favor the former. The latter will inevitably use their more refined power to crush the former's grandiose but ineffective attacks. There are basically no exceptions. Because for the former, controlling that power is difficult enough—let alone preventing it from rioting. The latter only needs a divine spell to purify the undead souls, and the former will be burst apart and self-destructed by its own power.
In summary, this principle is correct, but... what if the former has devoured not tens of thousands, but hundreds of thousands, millions?
Or even tens of millions, hundreds of millions of people?
Not to mention whether the former will self-destruct—if so, merely by relying on the aftershocks of this vast power, the Mind Flayer would be enough to crush any who dare challenge it. Without reaching the Ultimate-rank, one wouldn't even have the qualification to approach it.
Let alone what would happen if the user could actually control this numerous and chaotic power.
—The power surged.
Infinite silver light mist swirled around the four-armed giant god, then transformed into dazzling light marks branded into the void. While hurtling toward the depths of the Silent Void, Joshua couldn't help but let out a long roar, causing the surrounding space-time to tremble and transform into a rushing storm.
By gathering the power of nearly all worlds and all Steel Serpents from an entire World Star River into one, forging incalculable terrifying energy into a warrior's armor—this last resort, used out of necessity, allowed Joshua to temporarily surpass ordinary Near-Saints, transcend his own limits, and reach an unprecedented realm.
Not a Sage, but certainly incomparable to ordinary Near-Saints. [Soulflame King·World Star River Form] was practically like the incarnation of a World Star River's will. He felt that with just a single thought, he could annihilate countless worlds, reverse the star river, and shatter the heavens.
"It hasn't reached the worst point yet."
He murmured to himself. Joshua gazed at the distant darkness. Although he now possessed unprecedented power, his mind and body were incredibly calm: "We still have time."
"We still have a chance."
No one fully understood the warrior's muttering. All the powerful beings following beside Joshua, swept along by him as they rapidly sailed through the void, could only interpret it as: 'Joshua now feels that with such power, he can fight against the endless darkness horde,' so 'we still have a chance now.' But his true thoughts—even Israel, who knew Joshua best, could not understand.
No one knew how much time had passed.
Just as Joshua dragged an endless stream of light, leading the bravest powerful beings of a World Star River, approaching the dark enemies in the Silent Void that were enough to drown everything—in the moment before battle commenced, gazing at the infinite Minions and Chaos Evil Gods that covered the entire field of vision, the warrior's heart thought something very ordinary.
[—All the star rivers of the myriad realms are surrounded by darkness. Where will this era go?]
[Will it fall into the abyss called eternity amidst the terrifying chaos that approaches?]
[Or will it be reborn from the flames, rising from the ashes?]
Joshua silently stared at the chaos horde that seemed to cut the void and the myriad realms in two, dividing the Multiverse itself. With such ordinary questions turning in his mind, the warrior revealed a faint smile. His hands gripping the Greatsword and Giant Axe tightened, while his empty hands clenched into fists.
[The answer to battle can only be found in battle.]
[And now, is the moment of battle!]
At the distant end of space-time, the dark horde was like tentacles, like tendrils, extending from the unknown place of chaos, preparing to invade the World Star River. But upon closer approach, one could discover that these infinitely hideous and ugly Chaos Minions, these countless writhing and pulsating Chaos Evil Gods, were actually a dark wall extending through the void—a Chaos Fortress!
Facing such a horde, even a Near-Saint would probably not dare to charge recklessly. Even if one held nearly infinite power, it was ultimately not truly infinite. If one were delayed by other Evil Gods and Minions, and surrounded by multiple Near-Saint Evil Gods, defeat would be inevitable.
But Joshua had no hesitation. He fiercely swung the giant sword in his hand, slashing forward, and then, without any hesitation, followed his own sword light and 'crashed' directly into that incomparably thick darkness!
Boom!!!
A silver giant sword, far larger than a world, swung with blazing red flames. The Chaos Minions it struck were like dry branches and withered leaves set ablaze, instantly turning into dazzling flames. And Joshua's main body, following closely behind, was like a doomsday meteor falling from the high heavens, smashing everything into ashes!
It was like a spark falling into a black oil field. Although the former was insignificant compared to the latter, and the latter was incomparably vast and thick compared to the former, the moment they touched, the former ignited the latter. While raising towering flames, it also opened an enormous gap!
"Don't stop, keep charging!"
With Joshua as the ramming horn, the powerful beings of order followed closely behind. A dazzling path of flame burned, forcing all Evil Gods back, creating a walkable road. They killed all the severely wounded Evil Gods that survived the impact, completely clearing this large area. Then, everyone followed the warrior and entered the chaos horde.
Instantly, everything around turned into complete pitch-black chaos. Twisted malice filled everything in the surroundings.
One could see that at the moment when the powerful beings of order collided with the dark tentacle, that dark tentacle paused for an instant. Then, a depression so large that it could be clearly seen even from the World Star River appeared on the chaos horde. This huge depression continued to push inward, deepening, until finally becoming an unhealable massive wound.
And at the very front of the chaos horde, amidst the endless darkness, Joshua freely swung his weapons. The giant sword burned, sweeping billions of sword lights, cleansing all the Minions and Evil Gods before him like sweeping away dust. Those seemingly endless Minions couldn't exist even for an instant, turned into nothingness by the flaming sword light. Even ordinary Evil Gods struggled to survive, desperately trying to endure before this surging tide of sword light, not to be cut into pieces.
Even when encountering some tough nuts—for example, existences more powerful than ordinary Evil Gods—the warrior merely gripped the black Giant Axe and smashed down. Under the bombardment of this final axe, which was essentially condensed from a black hole, there were no 'tough nuts.' Everything shattered into scattered fragments, then was swallowed by the Giant Axe, making it even stronger.
But just this alone was still not enough. Within the dark horde, even just the front end, the number of Evil Gods probably numbered in the billions. And among them, there were no shortage of Legendary Limit, even Near-Saint-level Great Evil Gods. If they came individually, they might only face the fate of being blasted into nothingness by a single sword or axe. But when such existences gathered in groups, surging forward like a giant wave, even the current Joshua had to frown and get serious.
But it was only getting serious.
The silver giant god raised his empty right upper hand. The steel-cast giant hand, wrapped with black-red patterns, opened wide, aiming at the oncoming wave of Evil Gods, as if wanting to grasp everything in his palm. Then, this giant hand suddenly closed, clenching into a fist!
Hum! A low hum sounded in the silent void. The moment the giant hand clenched, space-time twisted. An energy singularity directly formed in the void. It appeared right in front of the Evil God wave, directly compressing and swallowing several Evil Gods at the very front. Thus, it became a rapidly spinning chaos black hole. It stirred up space-time storms, continuously absorbing new matter and energy, growing larger.
But this was not the end. The silver giant god's right upper hand made a 'swinging' motion in the air. This still-growing chaos black hole, like a swung flail, like a whirled meteor hammer, danced through the void following the giant god's gesture, sweeping away large swaths of Evil Gods and Chaos Minions. Then, Joshua made a 'release' gesture. This black hole, accelerated to an inconceivable degree, immediately shot like a cannonball toward the depths of the void. It smashed through all the darkness along its path, even creating a deep, dark giant hole.
Before the fully committed Near-Saint Joshua, the army formed by ordinary Evil Gods and Minions was no more intimidating than insects, ants, chickens, or ducks. Even without using the Soulflame King·World Star River form, he could easily pierce through this Chaos Fortress, let alone now that he had become even stronger.
Facing Joshua and the others' rapid advance, the Evil God horde also began to react. One could see many Evil Gods joining together, forming layers of twisted and solid barriers, preparing to slow down the warriors' speed and drown them in the chaotic tide.
But facing the dark horde so vast it was unimaginable, and the dark barriers beginning to condense, Joshua shouted loudly, then tightly gripped the giant sword and axe, and his entire body began to spin. It wasn't simple spinning. He used the technique of condensing Evil Gods from before, beginning like a vortex to actively pull the infinite chaos toward himself, then condense, absorb, and evolve! He transformed into a huge spiral vortex, stirring the entire dark tentacle, then like a drill, in an explosive moment, pierced through billions of layers of dark barriers, creating a deep and profound path made of countless Evil God corpses!
And while the warrior was piercing through these billions of layers of dark barriers, Joshua and many Order powerful beings discovered that this dark horde, composed of countless Evil Gods, was actually layered.
Just like completely different rock layers in crustal sedimentary rock, the structure of the entire Evil God dark horde was the same. Each layer was composed of countless similar Evil Gods, and countless Evil Gods stacked layer upon layer, thus forming this endlessly long dark tentacle, where light couldn't reach the end.
The first layer of Evil Gods were mostly ordinary civilizations destroyed by various natural events—for example, civilizations destroyed by earthquakes and floods, by ice ages and great cold waves, by volcanic eruptions and poisoned atmospheres, by distorted planetary orbits, stellar supernovae, collisions between two galaxies, or even collisions between two worlds, leading to various irreversible natural disasters.
The second layer was mostly similar, but more inclined towards changes in the natural ecological cycle, defects in the essence of life itself, problems with their own social structure, invasions by other races, etc. The further back the Evil God layer, the higher the development level of its original civilization, and the heavier the distortion of possibilities. Most of these distortions were destructions caused by the distortion of possibilities of intelligent life and civilization itself. In other words, the further forward the Evil Gods, the more they died from indisputable natural disasters. The further back the Evil Gods, the more they died from self-destruction that could have been avoided, or even caused by a civilization taking a wrong path carelessly.
This had nothing to do with strength. Among the former, there were also high-level void civilizations destroyed by chain destruction of billions of worlds caused by changes in the World Star River. It's just that the further back, the more powerful Evil Gods there were.
"Perhaps, at the very back of this dark horde, the Evil Gods there are probably civilizations distorted by the mastermind behind the scenes personally. Or civilizations that actively threw themselves into this chaos, wanting to comprehend this power."
This was not impossible. After all, chaos was also a form of power. There was no shortage of existences wanting to study it to achieve sublimation. Those chaos believers were good examples. Such thoughts turned in Joshua's mind, but his hands never paused for a moment. He continuously swung his weapons, cutting down all the chaos that came.
And at this moment, as the warrior's gaze suddenly became solemn, as the bodies of many Order powerful beings following the giant god in slaying Evil Gods stiffened—with a call that resounded through the void, making people's hair stand on end while also stirring grief and remembrance, a twisted vortex appeared not far away, taking shape!
Within the chaos horde, the first Near-Saint Evil God finally appeared!
It was a shadow like a resentful spirit. Even Legendary High-rank powerful beings, if they didn't focus their mind and look carefully, couldn't see its existence at all—a void spirit body. It manifested from nothingness, then rushed toward Joshua at high speed.
This Near-Saint Evil God should be an Evil God at the 'Natural Disaster' level. Joshua saw through its essence and origin in an instant. It was a transcendent civilization destroyed by the high-energy transcendent revival brought by the Great Magic Tide. They relied on high-level transcendent mechanical parts, which became activated due to the overflowing transcendent power, causing almost all of the civilization's artificial objects to become unusable. Meanwhile, all the dead souls that had ever passed away in the entire civilization revived in a short time. Driven mad by the demon tide energy, these ghostly spirits strangled 99% of the civilization's individuals within a day, leading to the civilization's destruction.
This was an extremely powerful civilization, but it was destroyed by its equally powerful activated artificial objects and ghostly spirits. At this moment, this ghostly spirit Evil God was approaching Joshua. One could see that whatever it passed—whether Evil Gods or Minions—all seemed to be controlled, charging together with this shadow. And during this charge, these Evil Gods and Minions gradually dissolved, turning into semi-transparent shadows, then merging into this Near-Saint Evil God's spiritual substance.
Possession, assimilation, erosion, control! Seeing the enemy's eerie power at a glance, Joshua had no fear. Instead, he laughed loudly and actively went to meet it!
The warrior did not fear enemies coming from behind. Because the overly brilliant light, the overly conspicuous fire, even within this dark horde, all Evil Gods and Minions only had eyes for Joshua. Those Order powerful beings who followed him wouldn't even be attacked, or rather, they weren't even regarded as 'threats.' This was certainly a humiliation, but it wasn't a time to talk about honor. In any case, they could follow behind Joshua, attacking any chaos freely, killing Evil Gods coming from behind for Joshua, reducing his pressure.
One could see the four-armed giant god colliding with the invisible giant resentful spirit. Countless semi-transparent shadows, like tree roots, derived countless fine threads, seemingly wanting to adhere to Joshua's body, invade it to possess him. In other words, it wanted to activate part of Joshua's body, then let Joshua's body fight Joshua himself. Making the enemy destroy itself—that was its specialty.
But those soul body energies, before even approaching, were dispelled in the distance, even beginning to self-immolate. Before these spirit bodies could even get close, they were completely ignited by the flames burning around the giant god. Then, following the soul body energy, they burned back toward the Evil God itself! Just the aftershocks of the flames raised by Joshua's charge directly destroyed and scattered all the attack tentacles derived by this Near-Saint Evil God. Then, the warrior's straightforward slash with his sword brought an enduring red flame mark through the void. The powerful sword pressure swept, bending and scattering the ghostly spirit Evil God's main body!
The giant resentful spirit flew backward. Its body, ignited by Joshua's sword, was continuously decomposing and scattering. Thousands of millions of chaos fragments, as large as worlds, burned like meteors scattering. As they splashed and crashed into the Evil God army behind, they completely ignited them.
One could see that the largest fragment brought a violent impact through the dark horde. It burned, pulling a long trench through countless Evil Gods and Minions, black at the bottom and red-gold at the edges, raising endless flames!
But this blow only heavily wounded the ghostly spirit Evil God, not completely killing it. While being knocked back, the ghostly spirit Evil God devoured large numbers of other Evil Gods and Minions around it, rapidly recovering. And the second Near-Saint Evil God followed closely!
It was... one could only see a mass of shattered flesh giant claw extending from the void. But before this Evil God could fully manifest and reveal its complete true form, a silver iron wrist directly pressed down. Joshua didn't bother to see what kind of Near-Saint Evil God it was, what miserable past and reason for destruction it had. He simply used pure, vast, inconceivable brute force to directly press this Evil God down, pushing it into the subsequent surging Evil God horde! The terrifying force directly crushed the shattered flesh giant claw and the surrounding void into pieces, turning it into a blurry mass of flesh and chaos.
But soon, this iron wrist released. Instantly, this unknown Near-Saint Evil God roared, and the flesh giant claw began to condense again, seemingly wanting to condense its incomparably huge monster true form. Just the aftershocks before condensing blew away the surrounding Evil God horde. Countless weaker Evil Gods and Minions directly shattered, split, and while being destroyed, also became part of that shattered flesh.
But what greeted it was a giant axe capable of splitting heaven and earth. Before this Near-Saint Evil God could fully manifest, this giant axe, with the power to split hundreds of worlds, directly scattered it along with the subsequent endless chaos tide.
Even from the World Star River, one could see an extremely dazzling arc light up within the dark horde. It raced through the dark curtain, tearing a long stretch of chaos. This was certainly inspiring, but compared to the overall endless chaos tentacles, it was still very small.
But strangely, whether it was an illusion or not, all the dark tentacles writhing around the entire World Star River, at this instant, uniformly shifted a little.
This was not an illusion. After tense calculations by the many powerful beings staying behind in the World Star River, ready to seize the opportunity to carry many Sanctuary Worlds and follow the path of flame left by Joshua, they confirmed that the endless dark tentacles had indeed shifted a little. They were not completely rushing toward the World Star River but had turned a slight angle.
But this was not a good thing.
Because a greater disaster was coming in chain.
—One could see, from the endless chaos tentacles surrounding the World Star River, one after another extremely deep darkness, extremely twisted chaos, detached and leaped out. Those that made people tremble just by existing, that created countless strange phenomena just by racing through the void—without a doubt, all were Near-Saint-level Evil Gods.
Unseeable, unthinkable, unresistable—although few in number, these Evil Gods, whose aura seemed to overwhelm the entire chaos horde, began to converge around Joshua and the others. Even, one could see the Evil God armies at the front of many tentacles disintegrated. They turned into black mist covering the heavens, shrouding the entire sky of the World Star River.
The scene was like countless black moths surrounding a fiercely burning flame.
It was a dark horde capable of extinguishing all flames.
[Eternal!]
[Eternal!]
Countless Evil Gods called out in words converged from countless languages. The 'dead eternals' that could only see eternity, like moths that could only see flames, they called out, wailed, roared, and howled as they rushed toward the only light they could see, the eternal that was still alive, still burning, releasing endless heat and 'possibility.'
The cold wanted to lean on warmth, the dark wanted to approach light, the destroyed wanted to approach the undestroyed, the departed wanted to touch the still-existing... Evil Gods, in essence, were just unconscious instincts. They had no good, no evil, not right, not wrong. Evil Gods had no purpose, no desire. They didn't 'want to destroy.' Approaching would cause 'destruction.' So-called attacks weren't attacks, but simply using their own methods to 'touch.'
When chaos Evil Gods, who could see nothing but eternity, finally saw another bright, radiant eternal releasing light, what would they do?
And this was the truth of so-called 'Evil God invasion' and 'end of an era.'
Nothing more... than a story of moths extinguishing the flame.
Joshua had known this long ago. When he cut down the Death Evil God and listened to the countless chaos's mournful cries, he knew everything was like this and could only be like this. The warrior could only do this. So, the four-armed giant god swung his giant sword. Facing the again attacking ghostly spirit Evil God and flesh Evil God, he roared and slashed down. Vast power poured out, splitting the sea-like chaos tide, opening a wide and long passage. And Joshua led everyone forward, advancing as far as possible.
Not just Steel Force, not just the power of the Soulflame King. To defeat his opponents, Joshua would use any power. One could see invisible tides beginning to take shape in the void. Even in the Silent Void, the surging Great Magic Tide was stirred. The balance of all energy was broken. Enormous space-time storms began to form in the void out of nowhere, sweeping and blowing away countless Minions and weak Evil Gods, even shredding them into nothingness.
And transparent Aether shields formed as solid walls beside the warrior. They blocked a limit Great Evil God's desperate charge, like a moth's desperate collision on transparent glass, shattering itself into pieces. And endless Elemental spirits were summoned like they cost nothing, 'growing' from Joshua's body like fruit, then activated and given power.
Vast Divine Power and abundant Psionic Energy fused in the void, converged, and finally condensed at the crown of the Soulflame King above the warrior's head the 'Infinite Divine Energy Variable Source' that the Takur people were proud of. But this Infinite Divine Energy Variable Source, formed entirely by one person's power, surpassed the combined effort of the entire Takur race. It spun rapidly, as if spinning the myriad realms. The Divine Energy aggregate released seven-colored radiance. Just by existing, it reduced everything in all the places its radiance swept to powder, even shattering the space-time storms of the Great Magic Tide, eliminating chaos counted in billions and trillions.
Even Nature's Force and Emotion Force were used. Huge void plants began to take root on the corpses of Evil Gods. They absorbed vast energy, beginning to purify everything turbid around them. And one after another, illusory fleets appeared out of nowhere, activating astonishing main cannons, blocking other Evil Gods attacking from afar.
But even so, having eliminated billions and trillions, there were still ten times, a hundred times, a thousand times, ten thousand times, even endless chaos surging from all directions, from distant ends of space-time. The battle was far from over, far from the moment to relax. However, although it was extremely difficult, other gods could see that Joshua was smiling, laughing loudly.
—Could he find joy even in this worst of battles?
—Could it be that battle was truly his 'happiness' and 'meaning'?
Of course it was, and also wasn't.
Joshua swung the Giant Axe, this super weapon whose mass alone was enough to become a galactic core, like a toy. It grazed past, destroying the bodily structures of some weaker Evil Gods. Its aftershocks tore an enormous wound in the dark horde. Each loud laugh meant a powerful Evil God was destroyed, merging into the Giant Axe, adding to its destructive power.
—Happiness? Meaning? Perhaps so.
But for the warrior, living life was not just for 'self-meaning,' not just for 'self-happiness,' but for 'connections.'
The connection with parents when life is born.
The connection with friends and mentors when life grows.
The connection with partners, comrades, and colleagues when life strives.
The connection with family, spouse, children, and all sorts of people one knows when life reproduces and achieves success.
Does the existence of life itself exist only for one's own happiness, for one's own meaning? No, of course not. This has nothing to do with meaning, nothing to do with happiness.
A life may not be happy, may have no meaning. It may live in a daze, unable to realize ideals, unable to fulfill wishes. Even the things one likes can't be done every day. But should such a bitter, tragic, even damnable life be denied because it's not happy, because it has no meaning? What about all those connections, all those existences supporting life from behind? Should they be decisively 'cut off' just because 'success hasn't been achieved yet'?
No. Absolutely not. No matter how sad, how infuriating—even in a world without miracles, in an era of peace and great harmony, Joshua van Radcliffe would still strive to live, never giving up. That was his life. So he would never allow others, or even himself, to deny it.
At the beginning, in this world (Multiverse) without connections, the meaning of Joshua's existence was simply 'battle.' Because that was his only happiness and meaning. But as time passed, countless connections were born. He began to have family, friends, partners, and goals, guides and people he admired.
But now, his battle, his life, was no longer that of a pure 'simple one.' The man who claimed never to change had changed a little in this subtle place. His life no longer belonged only to himself, but to all his connections. Even if from now on, Joshua no longer loved battle, no longer looked forward to strong enemies, just for the beings who held hope and expectations for him, the warrior would still be a warrior, still fight with all his might, fighting with an open heart.
This was the connection between 'self' and 'all things.'
Now, the powerful beings of order had already penetrated very deep into the chaos horde. The passage they had opened was already inconceivably long, even longer than multiple World Star Rivers. And by now, more than ten Near-Saint Evil Gods had flown from distant ends of the void, arriving here, entangled with Joshua.
Even as the Soulflame King's World Star River form, achieving the most powerful strength among Near-Saints, facing more than ten enemies with different abilities, all equally powerful, capable of contending with him in a short time, Joshua still found it very difficult. Not to mention that he was currently within the chaos horde, with countless Limit-level Great Evil Gods using their own existence as a price to harass and attack the warrior, preventing him from going all out and concentrating on eliminating those powerful Near-Saint Evil Gods.
Once, because too many Evil Gods used self-destruct-style attacks, Joshua's block was slightly off. Two Near-Saint Evil Gods joined hands to strike his left chest, piercing a large hole through his body. Although flames immediately burned, turning the surrounding Evil Gods into fuel to repair the wound, Joshua had undoubtedly fallen into a passive position in this battle, continuously enduring increasingly powerful, all-out attacks from the enemy.
And at this moment, a familiar deity stepped forward.
The God of Love and Decay was originally positioned at Joshua's side-rear, helping the warrior block Evil God attacks from behind along with other Order powerful beings. It must be said that they did an excellent job. If Joshua was the drill, cutting a great path at the very front, then they were the ones pushing and maintaining this drill, allowing it to advance without any worries from behind.
But now, merely holding the rear might not be enough. So the deity stepped out, calmly facing their own end.
Standing on Joshua's shoulder, violet Divine Power began to dance, condense, and finally condensed into the holy emblem of a withered heart.
"I have reached my limit."
The Elven goddess, unlike her usual somewhat extreme emotions, was very tranquil at this moment. Like a deity not singing of love and death, but a true Elf, calmly gazing at the flying leaves and flowers of her homeland. But behind the joy and sorrow, the withered heart was reviving. It pulsed, rose and fell. The withered flesh began to become vivid, lifelike.
But correspondingly, the deity's Divine Power was wildly soaring. It was not at all a normal amplitude. Like an uncontrolled nuclear reaction, an unstoppable vast tide was accumulating at the far end of the Great Source, waiting for the moment to swallow the deity and their enemies together. The goddess paid no attention to this, continuing to speak.
"Only a dead heart can bear the intensity of love. All living things cannot endure the sorrow of not obtaining the 'beloved.' This spiral and limit of love and death, I have walked to the end. Between craving the 'beloved' and 'death,' I choose 'death.' But do not think I seek death, warrior. My death is also for the beings I love."
Saying this, the human form of the Elven goddess completely dissipated in this instant. And the fully revived withered heart—no, now it should be called the 'leaping heart'—like a heart beating intensely when one approaches the beloved—it pulsed violently, releasing endless life force, endless vitality. Just by beating, its vast Nature's Force, life force, and vast Divine Power deflected and blocked most of the attacks from ordinary Evil Gods and Limit Evil Gods!
And this heart, without any pause or hesitation, like an illusion, directly merged into Joshua's body, becoming one with him!
In this instant, all existences present could hear a violent roar from the surrounding chaos void.
[Joshua, I can see that what you might truly love is battle, is slaughter. But you never look forward to them, only wait. What you truly want, what you truly crave, is not these. But no matter what you love, what you want, go do it quickly. This is the final moment.]
[And in the end, I can only offer you my blessing.]
The four-armed giant god did not lament, did not mourn. He roared and continued charging forward. The attacks he had suffered, the wounds he had received, were all swept away. A deity entering 'Divine Annihilation' was within his body, using their own passing as the price to provide him with power. Facing a bizarre Near-Saint Evil God that constantly separated and aggregated like a prism, the warrior raised the burning giant sword high. Brilliant Divine Power flame burned, then he decisively slashed down!
In an instant, everything was torn apart. The prism Evil God was directly cut in two. And within its body, lava-like flames were eroding, spreading. The next moment, endless flames ignited from within this Evil God. Ruthless hot light streams pierced it, destroying every bit of structure within its body. With just this one sword, a Near-Saint Evil God turned into a torch, burning along with the endless Chaos Minions and Evil Gods around it, turning to ashes!
But killing one Near-Saint Evil God did not improve the situation much. Endless battles continued to erupt one after another. Chaos without end still surged like a flood. Facing the encirclement of more than ten Near-Saint Evil Gods, Joshua could only defend himself, with no spare strength to help other Order powerful beings. They had already killed to the depths of the chaos horde. Except for the burning path of flame behind them, everything around was writhing darkness.
To advance, for hope, one after another powerful being stepped forward. Some blocked an attack for Joshua, some left to lure away a group of Limit Evil Gods. They all sacrificed here. Thousands of years of cultivation, all wishes and expectations, ceased to exist.
Even, during this long assault, many powerful beings got lost. They left the range of Joshua's flames, were held back by Evil Gods, unable to leave. Their result was undoubtedly death, and silent, soul and spirit destroyed. But none of the powerful beings and gods present had any fear. Following Joshua to participate in this battle destined for death was originally the choice of all who were destined to die (all life).
But endless slaughter also had an end. Even the so-called infinite Evil God horde was ultimately not truly infinite. Moreover, what everyone wanted to pierce through was just one cross-section of them, a passage to open to the void on the other side of the Evil God army. While entangled with many Near-Saint Evil Gods, Joshua sensed that not far ahead, the end of that path was about to appear.
But now, only a few Legendary Limit powerful beings from other civilizations and several acquaintances remained by Joshua's side.
And blocking the front of this path were more than ten Near-Saint Evil Gods, different in form, powerful in strength, and eerie in ability.
On ordinary days, even one could destroy an entire World Star River, stirring up storms in the World Star River. Now, they surged out like bulk goods. If this wasn't called balance collapse, then this was undoubtedly complete balance collapse. Nothing similar had appeared in the entire history of the Multiverse. But what Joshua had to do was originally unprecedented, so it was natural to face unprecedented enemies.
Facing the full-force encirclement of these more than ten Near-Saint Evil Gods, without any self-protection awareness, even Joshua found it difficult to break through. Moreover, one could see that the path of flame left behind by the warrior was gradually being swallowed by darkness. The path of flame left by Joshua could force back ordinary Evil Gods. Moreover, Evil Gods only acted on instinct and wouldn't deliberately enter environments they disliked to chase the warrior. So this path left for the Sanctuary Worlds to transfer was actually very safe. Furthermore, basically all Evil Gods' attention was focused on the warrior, which further guaranteed stability.
But now, probably because the battle had been too long, this path of flame was dissipating. And Joshua, trapped by the encirclement of many Evil Gods, had no strength to exert force and maintain its existence.
So sacrifice was necessary, again and again.
First was a powerful being from a different civilization. It was a Legendary Limit like a mountain of magic crystal. Without much talk, it laughed loudly and charged forward. One could see the crystal mountain began to shatter inch by inch under the attacks of the oncoming Near-Saint Evil God. But with each bit it shattered, the crystal dispersed and disintegrated, and the light and power it released grew greater. The moment the entire crystal mountain completely shattered, the moment all crystals self-annihilated, this powerful being's accumulated tens of thousands of years of power completely erupted in an instant. Not only did it block this Near-Saint Evil God, but it also pushed it away, pushing it into the endless Evil God horde beside!
With one less Near-Saint Evil God blocking, Joshua finally had spare strength to free a hand and output power, maintaining the stability of the path of flame. But even so, it was still not enough. He couldn't defeat these Near-Saints one by one in a short time and open a path to the other side of the chaos horde.
So, the second.
"I know what you're thinking, young man."
The God of Protection and Progress stepped forward. The Dwarf deity used his iron-bound book as a flail, hammering away one after another attacking Evil God. At this moment, this Dwarf deity's face carried nostalgia. He didn't look at Joshua, only at the pitch-black chaos before him and the dim Evil God radiance. He sighed: "You are completely different from the Sage, yet completely the same. You geniuses, monsters strong to the point of inconceivability, do you really think that we mediocrities, we ordinary people, can't see your purpose?"
"Joshua, do you think only you can do it? At this point, don't we still need us to help you move forward?"
Joshua opened his mouth, seeming to want to say something. But Yi Zhe had already stepped forward, taking his final step. The Dwarf deity's human form dissipated. A thick book and hammer-shaped holy emblem appeared behind him.
[This time, I'll go first. I really don't want to see you, young man. Every time I see you, it reminds me of that happy, joyful, nostalgic but unreturnable... youth.]
Unmatched Divine Power, like a flood, under the vast force pushed to Divine Annihilation, induced power from the far end of the Great Source to howl forward. Another Near-Saint Evil God's attack was blocked, and its main body was pushed away, temporarily unable to return to battle. Joshua naturally wouldn't miss the opportunity of the enemy's formation being broken. He rushed into the enemy formation, heavily wounded several Evil Gods, and killed another Near-Saint Evil God, advancing a very long distance again.
Finally, with one after another powerful being's sacrifice, with Joshua killing one after another Near-Saint Evil God—in this fierce battle, let alone experiencing the enemy's path, Joshua could hardly see clearly what abilities the enemies had or what they looked like. But in the end, all the dedication and battle had meaning. One could see that as the warrior swept out an extremely heavy horizontal blade, sending a Near-Saint Evil God like an aggregate of luminous water droplets flying to the endless distance, a passage exit leading to the Silent Void on the other side of the Evil God horde appeared before all the remaining people!
"Finally! We succeeded!"
"There's a path, there's a path ahead!"
The remaining powerful beings all cheered. Even though the situation was tense and allowed no relaxation, even the calm Israel couldn't help but reveal a smile.
The Evil God horde could be pierced through. As long as the Sanctuary Worlds of many civilizations were transported through the path of flame to this place, then crossed the base void to other World Star Rivers, at least the 'seeds' of this World Star River's civilizations would be preserved.
As for the other lives remaining in the original World Star River, it was truly helpless... Even racking their brains, no one could think of a way to save them too.
This era would be left to the Evil Gods. And the next era, when many World Star Rivers joined hands to resist chaos, would certainly be better and more perfect than this era!
Through Joshua's specially made communication formation, everyone began to communicate. In the World Star River, all the powerful beings waiting received the news of 'successful breakthrough.' Everyone showed joy. Soon, the powerful beings who had prepared everything were ready to carry the Sanctuary Worlds and follow. They prepared to set out along the path of flame, heading to the other side of the Evil God cluster.
But at this moment.
Countless Restorative Pillars, countless exchange pillars, began to glow.
Blue flames began to spread from these bases spread across the World Star River toward other star rivers.
And while this sudden scene surprised everyone, a strange force, originating from these Restorative Pillars and exchange pillars, directly suppressed all the powerful beings in the entire World Star River who were preparing to carry the Sanctuary Worlds and set out, pressing them in place, unable to move! And those remaining Order powerful beings beside Joshua were also directly knocked down by the vast force, falling along the path of flame toward the original World Star River!
"Ahhh! What, what are you doing, Joshua!!"
No matter how hard they struggled, they couldn't break free. The God of Might and Justice, who was joining hands with the God of Life to push the Aether Ring World, let out an extremely angry roar. But silver chains emerged from the void, firmly locking all the powerful beings of Mycroft in place. Israel raised his burning with anger eyes, staring at the distant high heavens: "So many people sacrificed, so many gods gave their lives—they all did it to pierce through this path, for this moment! Joshua, don't let everyone's blood be in vain!"
But what greeted the roars and rebukes of countless powerful beings was the warrior's power activated to 'even stronger.'
Blue flames began to ignite the worlds of the surrounding World Star River, centered on countless pillar bases, catalyzing one after another Steel Serpent. Joshua began to forcibly converge the power of more World Star Rivers.
Although this power was far less than the well-prepared Lost Star River, due to Joshua's spread over the years, the Restorative Pillars and exchange systems had spread throughout countless star rivers. So purely in terms of quantity, in this period of time, the power converged by countless exchange systems was even greater than what the warrior had plundered from the entire Lost Star River!
One could see that because of this plunder, the light of the entire World Star River briefly dimmed a little. And these incomparably vast powers were crossing space-time, converging on that man.
"Ah, ughhh!!"
Unprecedentedly, Joshua's voice of pain resounded through the entire World Star River along with all flames and all Restorative Pillars. Even the angry God of Might and Justice was stunned. This was the first time he had heard the warrior make such a painful sound. Even when nearing death, he had never made such a sound. The deity couldn't imagine what kind of pain, what kind of pressure, could make Joshua let out such a cry of pain.
And the next moment, at the distant end of the void, at the dark horde.
An enormous 'Dominant Space' began to expand and erupt from the core of the silver giant god, fueled by the energy converged from countless star rivers!
The 'path' from the Ultimate Sublimation Aggregate was activating within Joshua's body. The silver Dominant Space, like an erupting light ball, began to race toward all the darkness. Then came contact, domination, erosion. The power from 'Absolute' was devouring many Evil Gods without restraint, igniting them, turning them into its own use!
One could see that all Evil Gods covered by Joshua's Dominant Space were directly turned into torches, providing and accumulating power vast beyond imagination. Even, this enormous Dominant Space in turn dominated the front end of this chaos tentacle. Like a combustion accelerator, it directly ignited the entire vanguard of this chaos horde, turning it into an unprecedented huge torch, burning fiercely in the vast Silent Void!
This wildly burning flame completely ignored friend and foe. It burned everything. Even Joshua himself was ignited. If not for the armor condensed by countless Steel Serpents, the warrior would also burn.
In this instant, the moment the flame burned infinite chaos, its energy level was so high, its amplitude so large, its sensing range in the void had already exceeded the scope of the World Star River. Like when the Sage activated the Myriad Realms Sacrificial Ground in the past, wanting to connect all World Star Rivers, all life in the entire Multiverse vaguely felt that something was happening at the distant end.
The more powerful, the more palpitations. Countless powerful beings and deities from other World Star River civilizations left their worlds one after another, coming to the void, startled and uncertainly gazing at the distant end, the highest point of the void. And they saw that there, a star was igniting, releasing endless radiance.
At this moment, Joshua had already activated all the paths he had mastered, all he could use, to the limit. After plundering the energy of many worlds in the World Star River, the warrior had pushed himself to the limit that the giant god body could touch.
And at this instant, in the World Star River, all those still observing the other dark tentacles were stunned to discover that in the void, all the dark tentacles had changed their direction of advance.
Their target was no longer the World Star River. The Evil God hordes that had converged, preparing to encircle and annihilate the entire World Star River, due to this change, would in calculations and predictions, trace an arc just barely brushing past the edge of the World Star River in the void, and then...
Gather toward Joshua's location.
—An individual, in this instant, surpassed the collection of all life in the entire World Star River.
—There's still time. It hasn't reached the worst point yet.
—We still have a chance.
The man's words seemed to have just been spoken. And now, the final chance had arrived.
Stopping the pain that seemed to tear everything apart, stopping the roar that seemed to vent anger, Joshua raised his head. He silently looked around at the surrounding fiercely burning, completely ignited chaos horde, and the many Near-Saint Evil Gods emerging one after another from the horde.
"With a bit of heat, emit a bit of light."
Gripping the sword and axe in his hands, clenching his fists, he laughed softly to himself, displaying his clumsy sense of humor in this place with no one else: "But what if I have billions of times the heat?"
The answer was simple.
—Then I am the torch.
—I am the only light.