Chapter 78: Blazing Sun Flash
Black Iron Revelation, Silver Radiance, Golden Glory.
From sensing and utilizing energy, to nurturing and strengthening it, and finally comprehending one's personal power, transforming into a Transcendent Being—this is the inevitable process of life's gradual advancement in a world of steel and fire.
In the first millennium after the world was first created and life was just born, all things were ignorant and unaware. They bathed in the most concentrated environments of Elemental Force and Arcane Power, yet could not utilize them systematically. Except for certain embodiments of primordial concepts, such as the Ancient Dragons, these ancient lives at most reached the Silver Realm. It was not until life gained wisdom and understood the meaning of 'self' that the Glory Force manifested.
But this does not mean that there were no existences surpassing the Gold Realm in that era.
By using certain items with strange powers, the ancient life of that era could still reach what is now called the Ultimate-rank, a realm transcending the 'limit'.
And the Fusion Core Star was such an item.
Fragments of the Sun—it was only at this moment, truly communicating with the Fusion Core Star using his own power, that Joshua understood the meaning of this title, because what this gem contained was endless, infinite radiance.
The wielder could command the blazing sun, control the light of heaven, achieving the 'Ultimate Essence of Flame'. Because the power obtained through this method could not elevate the essence of life, it has been abandoned by modern Transcendent Beings, but this by no means makes it weak.
The warrior, who had already formulated a plan in his mind, was slowly drawing forth its power.
At the edge of the Bloodmoon plane, a massive, azure-blue, scar-like fissure stretched across the void, with countless irregular black cracks extending from it. Its interior surged with chaotic light, appearing ethereal and indistinct, as if merely a phantom in a dream. But as time passed, the fissure became clearer, and one could even see the countless Blood Dragons waiting behind it.
Facing the spatial rift that seemed to be continuously extending, gradually transforming from illusion to reality, Joshua's body slowly rose under the effect of Battle Qi until it was parallel to it. A rippling crimson radiance emanated from between his palms, from the enormous gem suspended before his chest.
The searing heat capable of burning everything was drawn by the warrior from the Fusion Core Star and released into the Bloodmoon plane. The feeling was like igniting a blaze in a pitch-black abyss. A golden-red radiance burned in the void, creating a small, blazing sun within this world shrouded in blood-colored light.
And on the other side of the spatial rift, the Blood Dragons waiting for the collective teleportation to end also noticed the blurry figure opposite them.
"Human?"
"Why is there a human trace in the Bloodmoon Abyss?"
"What is he doing? Preparing to attack us?"
A burst of laughter rang out from the densely packed formation of Blood Dragons. These powerful and young Five-Colored Dragons, born and raised in the Abyss, possessed strong confidence. They had followed the strong members of their clan to conquer several weaker Abyss planes, and this time their mission was to return to the Mycroft World and attack the Land of Eternal Holy Light, the Seven Sacred Mountains.
Even facing such a powerful force, these Blood Dragons felt no fear, let alone a single human before them. Including the leader, they didn't even bother to think about how abnormal it was for a human to appear in the Abyss; they simply ignored him.
Just a mere Ultimate-rank—there were tens of thousands of Blood Dragons here. What waves could he possibly make?
Meanwhile, Robzek, who had just used the Holy Light Wheel to condense the power of several Sacred Artifacts and completely destroy the Abyss rift, also turned his head with Loranda and Saya to look at Joshua on the other side of the plane.
The temporal passage linking the Bloodmoon plane and the Mycroft Continent had been completely destroyed. Chaos and Holy Light power surged within this spacetime, and would not calm for centuries. Affected by this, the sea area of the Abyss of Anos would become a spacetime turbulence zone, and it would be absolutely impossible for the Abyss to pass through from here.
The mission of the Church of the Seven Gods was complete. The temporal formation inside the Time Vessel had also begun to operate. The priest group, always ready in the Far Sea Holy Mountain, was preparing a reverse summoning ritual to recall the Pure White Ark back to this world.
The time required for the ritual was not long, but it was enough for the Blood Dragons to tear them all apart. Everything depended on whether Joshua could do what he said and block these enemies of order on the other side of spacetime.
"Wooooom——————"
The dark red gem, held in Joshua's virtual embrace and suspended before him, was slowly brightening under the impetus of his power, releasing restless and unstable energy. The heat and radiance capable of vaporizing steel burst forth, illuminating an entire stretch of void.
Power from the Azure Orb was continuously extracted and injected. The warrior gazed at the half-human-high small sun before his chest. The golden-red radiance, containing the Order Force, made all darkness and chaos unable to hide. He turned his head to look at the spatial rift that was nearly materializing, then revealed a cold smile.
Even with his strength, he could not fully control the fully activated Fusion Core Star, but he didn't want to control it anyway. Golden energy turned into lightning, coiling around his arms.
"Although it's a bit sorry to His Majesty the Emperor—I still want to see the power produced by fully activating an Ultimate-rank treasure!"
How could the warrior of his past life have had the opportunity to waste such a high-level Transcendent item as a disposable tool? Raising both hands, a piercingly dazzling golden light lit up at the edge of the dark abyss. Indescribably terrifying energy condensed in Joshua's palms, causing the originally half-human-high enormous gem to suddenly expand, transforming into a dozens-of-meters-wide enormous golden fireball.
This fireball surged with heart-stopping scorching energy. Streams of energy, like solar flares, erupted, releasing heat that cracked space itself, before returning to its core.
"Witness the flash of the blazing sun!" (Stoner Sunshine!)
Laughing loudly while holding this small sun, under the illumination of this light, Joshua's pitch-black body had crimson flames burning in his eyes as well. His gaze fixed on the spatial rift, and then, seizing the moment—he fiercely hurled the fireball in his hand!
At that moment.
The entire Bloodmoon plane was shrouded in golden light. The broken world, which had long lost its sun, finally welcomed sunlight. Most of the plane seemed to return to the past, and all chaotic and evil auras were instantly purified and suppressed.
And the enormous light mass, after being thrown by the warrior, immediately accelerated to an extreme, transforming into an irregular energy sphere. It instantly leaped over thousands of meters to arrive before the rift, then violently crashed into it!
"Could it be?!"
On the other side of the spatial rift, the leading Blood Dragon finally reacted, roaring loudly. Its eyes were filled with uncontrollable shock. This Ultimate-rank demon dragon had no idea what the human in the opposite plane had done, actually unleashing such a powerful attack capable of destroying spacetime structure in just a few seconds.
How was this possible?!
But no matter how shocked they were, it was useless. Sword-like golden beams of light pierced through the spatial rift that was about to fully manifest. Endless light broke free, causing flames to spread and burn the void. Incredible energy flows instantly pierced through the formation of the demon dragons. The violent explosion and searing heat swallowed hundreds and thousands of Blood Dragons.
"Ahhhhhh damn it!"
"What's going on?!"
"That damned human, he shattered the spacetime node! The teleportation channel is closing!"
"————BOOM————"
Amidst the furious and panicked roars of the Blood Dragons, a violent rumble propagated through the void. A spherical golden energy barrier continuously spread at the edge of the plane. The azure-blue spacetime ripples were completely obscured. Under such terrifying energy eruption, the enormous spatial rift rapidly became illusory. It twisted, flickered for an instant like a screen with a lost signal, and then vanished into nothingness.
"It's over."
Clapping his hands, Joshua couldn't be bothered to care about the fate of the Blood Dragons on the other side of the rift—the Blazing Sun Flash, fully activating the Fusion Core Star and releasing all its energy at once, would definitely throw them into chaos, making it impossible for them to gather the power to penetrate the gaps between Abyss planes for the time being.
At least, it would be absolutely impossible within the dozen or so minutes they were waiting to teleport back to the Mycroft Continent. The heavily struck demon dragons would definitely need several days to regroup, and their morale would plummet to rock bottom. As for those Blood Dragons that had already entered the temporal channel, their fate might be even worse than being swallowed by the Blazing Sun Flash.
Turning to fly towards the Time Vessel, the warrior descended onto the ark's deck under the silent and shocked gazes of the others.
"...Sigh."
Faina, who had transformed into human form, walked forward. She heavily patted Joshua on the shoulder. The blue-haired woman opened her mouth to speak but couldn't utter a single word. Beside her, the church trio—Robzek, Loranda, and Saya—looked at the warrior with expressions of disbelief, incredulity, and pity respectively. The exhausted Dragon Girl walked to his side and hugged her master's arm.
By now, everyone understood Joshua's approach—he used the Order Force and his own power to activate the positive energy contained in the Fusion Core Star, then used it as a super bomb, directly throwing it over to blast the spatial rift apart.
It had to be said, the method was simple and crude, but ordinary people really couldn't do it. The method to activate the energy within the Fusion Core Star required extremely fine control. Of everyone present, only Robzek and Saya could barely manage it, but both of them were in poor condition and might have ended up sacrificing themselves if they tried to use their power.
Moreover, and more importantly, this Fusion Core Star didn't belong to the Church of the Seven Gods at all—it was the property of the Northern Empire, the Diamond Royal Family. The two upright church Paladins and the High Sister would never recklessly use someone else's property as a bomb. And Faina, being a dragon, would be satisfied just not trying to claim the gem for herself; there was no way she would have thought of this.
"...This time, we owe it all to Lord Count Radcliffe. Otherwise, our operation would have definitely ended in failure."
Robzek took a deep breath, recovering from the shocking solar eruption. He looked around and spoke to everyone present in a low but clear voice: "Now is not the time for idle talk. Go back inside the cabin and rest well. The teleportation still has a dozen minutes. Until then, everyone conserve your strength and prepare for any unexpected situations."
At this moment, the entire Pure White Ark was protected by the residual power of the Radiance Spark at the top of the ark. Most of the Abyss aura in the Bloodmoon plane had also been expelled by the Blazing Sun Flash. Barring any accidents, the crew would wake up soon. Someone would need to lead them in reorganization and repair the damage inside the ark to ensure the Time Vessel wouldn't disintegrate during the teleportation.
There was nothing much to say during this time. Joshua bid farewell to the exhausted group and brought the drowsy Black to the top of the ark. He injected some Order Force into the Spark formation. He quietly looked at the multi-layered composite divine technique formation composed of countless gears and sacred runes, white Holy Light reflected in his crimson pupils.
This time, the warrior had obtained quite a bit of new information from Norland, including some top-secret news that even players of his past life didn't know.
The Mycroft World was already dead, only surviving by burning Chaos. The Evil God [Plenty] was the fuel, but now it was almost burned out.
The organization behind Norland clearly knew this fact very well. So they secretly stirred up war, and then, while all forces were off guard, opened the Abyss Gate, attempting to plunge this world into the Abyss to gain the power to prolong its existence.
But now it seemed that the invasion of the Demon Lord's army was beyond their expectations. That's why Norland helped Joshua and the others resist the demons in his past life, yet betrayed them when they were about to succeed and completely expel the Abyss power.
"Giving up hope—what a pathetic sight."
Sighing softly, Joshua shook his head. He princess-carried the exhausted, sleeping Black back inside the cabin.
The truth of being betrayed in his past life was no longer important. What mattered was another piece of information.
—Sage.
Leading the gods to repel the Abyss, slaying many Evil Gods, and using the corpse of the strongest among them, [Plenty], to reshape the continent—the power displayed by the Sage in Norland's description far surpassed that of deities, reaching an inconceivable, unimaginable realm. It was too strange that such an existence would disappear after the Era of Radiance, leaving behind only four inherited items.
There was no evidence to prove the Sage was still alive, nor any evidence to prove he was dead.
"Still too little information." Returning to his cabin, putting Black on the bed and covering her with a blanket, Joshua sat on the edge of the bed, frowned, and nodded, making up his mind: "Last time, I wanted to borrow Brandon's Order Twin Blades to take a look, but it was interrupted by the demon ritual. After returning to the Northern Lands, I must borrow them to see if there are any new inheritances within."
Wooooom————
A slight vibration came from the core area of the Time Vessel, the central hall, emitting a fluctuation the warrior was familiar with.
It was the fluctuation of reverse traction teleportation using a spacetime beacon.
Just like the Gale, but stronger and more stable. Under the ritual of the priest group at the Far Sea Holy Mountain on the other side of the world, continuous azure-blue ripples appeared around the entire Time Vessel. Its form began to become illusory, completely wrapped in a cocoon formed by spacetime fluctuations.
Finally, the entire broken ark vanished with a soft hum of spacetime.
...
[Legendary Event - Gloomy Moon]
[Year 833 of the Falling Stars Era, an exploration team from the Seven Sacred Mountains set out from Eda Ash Island, heading for the Abyss of Anos, which contained an Abyss rift. Along the way, the exploration team repeatedly thwarted the schemes of the Five-Colored Dragon Clan, crossed the Abyss rift, and arrived at the Bloodmoon plane. On the gloomy Blood Moon, the exploration team endured a bitter battle, ultimately defeating the Crystal Demon Dragon Man Da Jia Er, ending his evil plan to merge the two realms.]
[Legendary Achievement - Gaze into the Abyss]
[—Only the most steadfast can gaze into the Abyss.]
...
Having lost the Crystal Demon Dragon and the church exploration team, the Bloodmoon plane fell silent once more.
The Abyss, a wreckage, a long-shattered world, now only had enormous stone islands floating in the void. The calm red moon released its gloomy light, illuminating all that was dead and still.
But for some reason, the originally calm, motionless blood sea suddenly rippled slightly. On this crimson moon, the viscous blood began to undulate gently, as if something was stirring in its depths.
Gradually, a hand, enormous beyond measure, formed from countless condensed blood, rose from the deep sea of the red moon. Although this hand appeared slender, its arm alone was a hundred kilometers long. At first, the hand had no fingers. It sometimes transformed into a dragon's claw, sometimes into a human's five fingers, as if hesitating over which form to choose.
But in the end, it chose to take the form of a human hand.
This slender, graceful enormous blood arm, resembling a woman's arm, swayed on the red moon, seemingly delighted with its new form. After a while, the enormous blood arm moved slightly. It tore through the void, reached the edge of the plane, and 'picked up' something.
They were some dark red gem fragments. They emitted the light of the sun, flowing with scorching positive energy.
"Sun..."
A voice, indistinct like a baby's, sounded from the enormous blood moon. A great existence, yet unborn, muttered joyful babbling sounds, then placed these fragments into the deepest core of the red moon's blood sea.
A broken world, and fragments of the sun.
Their meeting might be some kind of fate.
—Volume Six, Gloomy Moon·End