Chapter 44: The Weight of Wisdom
All things in this world are born from nothingness, with countless different origins, but there are only a few methods that can return all things to the nothingness of non-existence.
And now, one such method of destruction appeared in this world, unleashed by Haier Mu with all his might.
Accompanied by a violent tremor that rendered sound, color, touch, and direction meaningless, a piercing radiance carrying the scorching heat that melts all things completely engulfed half the world. The surging tide of light turned everything in its path to ash in an instant. The remnants of city walls scattered like dust, fragments of towers danced and burned in the air, and even the River Styx rippled in response, allowing the stillness of annihilation to spread.
This was ultimate destruction, a radiance that made even souls tremble. Along its path, anything and everything would evaporate into nothingness. This was the supreme spell comprehended by Haier Mu alone among the countless eye demons of the Abyss: [Star's Blaze].
Three hundred and seventy years ago, the Demon Lord had once arrived at an unknown world due to a failed teleportation. In that world, the void was vast and boundless, continents curled into spheres, revolving around a burning giant seed of fire, with countless races and civilizations thriving upon them.
That world had scarce arcane power and abnormally rejected high-energy beings like Haier Mu. Had it not been for the accident of the failed teleportation, he might never have been able to reach it. And just as he was about to be expelled from that world, the Demon Lord witnessed the destruction of a civilization.
It was light. Spreading from the depths of the endless star sea, vast and mighty, a blazing radiance that destroyed continents and stars.
The civilization on that continent seemed to have long anticipated the arrival of this light. Layer upon layer of massive energy shields, which even Haier Mu found astonishing, rose from every corner of the continent. They seemed intent on resisting and confident they could withstand it. The Demon Lord inwardly scoffed, thinking that even if the entire Sixth Abyss launched a full assault, such formidable defenses could not be breached. But when destruction descended, Haier Mu finally understood what vastness and finality truly meant.
When that apocalyptic light arrived, even under the protection of powerful shields that distorted space-time, the peculiar continent curled into a sphere ignited in an instant. In less than a second, the azure-blue oceans boiled. After a few seconds, all liquid existence evaporated. Within just a few breaths of the Demon Lord's stunned shock in the gap of space-time, the entire continent was burned into crystal, then pushed out of its orbit, plunging into the rapidly dispersing giant seed of fire.
Like an eggshell being shattered, liquid high-temperature gas erupted, then was blown away. A complete world cycle was extinguished.
A few breaths. The annihilation of a world. This was the ultimate destruction, the power Haier Mu had single-mindedly pursued for nearly four hundred years. Now, without hesitation, he unleashed the incomplete light copied from the far side of the star sea, using it to confront an enemy of unprecedented strength.
—You do not understand my power.
The Demon Lord silently recited: Without witnessing the destruction of a world, how could one comprehend such might?
And at the same time, in this moment of life and death, the warrior was also reflecting.
How terrifying and yet pure, an attack that seemed utterly unlike that of a demon.
Ultimate radiance, ultimate heat, ultimate destruction. The microwaves released by the energy-level transitions at the finest scales of matter were ordinarily negligible, but if a Demon Lord used all his power to drive them, they were enough to evaporate most of the material realm. Before such power, anything could be said to be fragile as paper, utterly defenseless.
This indeed deserved to be the trump card of a Demon Lord, and it was enough to make him proud. Facing the oncoming tide of light, the warrior could not dodge. His massive steel body was incredibly sturdy, forged to imitate the strongest steel born from the destruction of a star. If it were a complete form, it would indeed fear no attack, easily withstanding even a tide of light. But now, he was not yet complete. Joshua's progress in body transformation had not exceeded five percent, and his body density was completely unable to withstand the assault before him.
If it truly struck, he would die. But he felt no tension at all.
A demon is, after all, a demon. They are not human. Haier Mu was wrong about one thing.
Facing the converging tide of light, the giant god did not dodge, did not block. He opened his four arms. Flashing lightning transformed into thick beams of thunder, rapidly spreading between his limbs. Vaguely, an invisible field of force, a vast net, enveloped the giant's entire body.
Where does power come from?
Power does not come from muscles, nor from talent. Even wisdom and will can be biased. For the most primal explorer, true power is none of the above, but rather the means of observing things.
Human eyes can perceive visible light. They transmit color information to the brain, which then forms images, allowing intelligent life to know the face of the world. Among all things in existence, this means of observation is considered advanced. Compared to lower life forms that can only perceive the presence or absence of light, this is already beyond comprehension, closer to the truth of all things. Thus, humans, with this advantage and wisdom, became the lords of creation.
But this is not the limit. Even visible light is merely one frequency band of electromagnetic waves. If a life form could truly see most electromagnetic waves and possessed intelligence comparable to humans, then humans would absolutely be unable to compete with them. For they would be born able to see fragments of reality. What might take humans decades or centuries to pursue as truth would be mere common sense to them, and they would be left far behind in the accumulation of wisdom, let alone the transcendent power derived from wisdom.
Now, Joshua could see most frequencies of electromagnetic waves. He could see the flow of energy, and even the boiling Dirac sea in the vacuum.
Naturally, he could also see the incoming light and clearly discern all its details.
"You are wrong. I do understand."
Joshua said: "On the contrary, you do not understand your own power at all."
As he spoke, the giant god clenched his fists. His four arms became four massive anchor points. Substantialized powerful electromagnetic fluctuations began to spin wildly around them. Under the stirring of this force, space-time itself roared, and the light began to show slight distortions and fluctuations. Under the magnetic field fluctuations, even more intense than the previous magnetic field rotation cannon, the soil and dust of the surrounding earth began to spontaneously dissipate into nothingness. This was because the force constituting their essence was disrupted, and material particles could no longer link to each other, collapsing into self-annihilation.
A magnetic field so powerful it could deflect all charged particles took shape in an instant. It layered upon itself, forming the most impenetrable invisible shield. And in that instant, the vast tide of light struck the deflection field surrounding the steel giant god. In a moment immeasurable by time, intense light and heat were simultaneously released, completely engulfing Joshua!
The tide of light howled and surged. After passing over the warrior, it continued diagonally into the distance, piercing through clouds and the high sky, breaking through the black firmament, and plunging into the endless void. On either side, the continent melted, the air burned like molten steel, and ink-like waves of dust and magma surged like a tsunami toward the surroundings. The shockwave's tremor could destroy everything.
This terrifying energy flow lasted for one moment, two moments, three moments. Accompanied by the return of darkness and the suddenly audible, weary breath of the thousand-eyed serpent, all remaining conscious minds realized that the tide of light had extinguished, and the battle had come to a pause.
It should be over. Whether the Demon Lord or the other surviving onlookers thought so. They did not believe the warrior was weak, but were genuinely shaken by the terrifying radiance just unleashed. Like Haier Mu, they could not imagine any life surviving such an attack.
It had already surpassed the possibility of life itself.
But the so-called strong are those who do the impossible, see the unseeable, and crush the unstoppable.
"Demon, have you ever thought?"
Amid the dissipating dust and afterglow, a clear, metallic clanging voice came from the giant pit that had completely melted into magma. A massive, broken figure stepped forth, each footfall shaking the minds of all who heard it, appearing in the blackened world between heaven and earth.
"Have you ever thought about how to constrain the energy of a particle stream, making it more concentrated and less susceptible to magnetic deflection?"
Accompanied by a violent roar louder than thunder, the giant stepped forward. A huge circular gap could be seen from his chest to his lower abdomen. At the wound, high-density liquid matter slowly dripped. Each drop that fell to the ground caused a terrifying explosion capable of killing a Greater Demon. A clump of solid steel flowers solidified at the center of the explosion, trembling with the giant's steps.
"Have you ever thought about how to adjust the wavelength of microwaves to counter various enemy defenses, making this tide of light a truly indestructible force?"
The giant was rapidly shrinking. Like a liquid robot, he was repairing the massive wound that had melted more than half of his chest and abdomen by reducing his size. In just a few seconds, the steel giant god, originally over eighty meters tall, shrank to a steel giant just over thirty meters. In return, all his wounds had healed completely, though his aura had weakened considerably. Now, with solid, dazzling red light flickering in his eyes, he approached the stunned, incredulous thousand-eyed serpent, stretching his four arms.
"Have you ever thought about where your power comes from, where it originates?"
Faced with these inexplicable questions, Haier Mu had no idea how to answer. He stared at this being that had somehow blocked his full-power attack and survived, then let out a maddened roar like a wild beast, swinging his body and charging with all his might!
—His size has shrunk too much. Though exhausted, he now has the advantage in pure power!
And the warrior, seeing the thousand-eyed serpent charging without hesitation, likewise raised his four arms without a moment's delay. Though the giant's four arms appeared motionless, they were actually spinning rapidly under the influence of the strong magnetic field. Now, the naked eye could no longer discern the shape of the arms, only four steel spirals capable of piercing through anything!
Of course you haven't thought. You are a demon. You are an existence from a dead world, from the end times. You only know that this is powerful, that the attack has great destructive force, so you use it. You know nothing of the principles, the logic, the knowledge behind it.
There is a difference even in acting without thought. A demon is the former, called recklessness. The warrior considered himself the latter, called decisiveness.
You know nothing of power and battle, Demon Lord Haier Mu. You are merely a beast that knows slaughter, utterly ignorant of the true source of strength. Life has its limits, but truth does not.
To be honest, Joshua had somewhat forgotten the original plot. He had no memory of the strength of the thousand-eyed demon Haier Mu, who only appeared in the setting collection. Everything about the enemy was unknown to him, a brand-new opponent.
But so what? He was already a Legendary, the pinnacle below the gods.
If there is an enemy, defeat them.
If there is danger, eliminate it.
Therefore.
"Taste the weight of wisdom!"
The warrior spoke, and his iron fist shot forth, shattering dust and splitting the sky.