# Chapter 1: The Darkness Among the Stars
When Kira set foot on the frost-covered northern lands, her memories could not help but return to that distant afternoon thirty-four years ago, when her father had taken her to the Sorrowful Sea at the edge of the world to watch the ice.
That place was at the southernmost pole of the continent, thousands of kilometers away from the Mycroft Continent. Her father had once said that a thousand years ago, this land had also been a paradise where life flourished. Countless adorable, waddling black-and-white fat birds had lived there, and a special race called the Xinreya people had also inhabited this continent made entirely of ice, surviving by hunting seals and fishing, living a peaceful and tranquil life under the protection of the Earth Mother Goddess and the God of All Oceans.
Kira did not care much about the past of those black-and-white birds and primitive people, but that place was precisely the stronghold of the last remnants of the Earth Temple, which had once flourished a thousand years ago as the universal faith. She could certainly tell the difference between north and south, but when this young female elder of the Earth Temple saw the familiar sky filled with snow and ice, she could not help but feel some emotion in her heart.
Now, the Earth Temple had been torn apart. That isolated castle in the ice field was no longer the headquarters of their branch.
Walking along the wide stone road outside the city into the satellite town, where guards and knights patrolled from time to time, Kira passed calmly under the eyes of the Radcliffe Family's personal guard knights—young but imposing, riding tall horses. After entering the city, her elegant appearance immediately attracted the attention of many. Although people on the Mycroft Continent had all sorts of hair colors, those with hair the texture of purple gemstones were extremely rare. Moreover, this unfamiliar woman exuded an inexplicable charm that made others involuntarily want to approach her.
"A high-rank professional." Quickly shaking his head to snap out of the natural charm, a knight immediately said nervously to his colleague beside him: "Her strength should be at Gold High-rank. Notify the White Dragon Knight Corps to prepare for emergencies!"
"Isn't that making a mountain out of a molehill? Several Gold-rank experts visit the Lord every day in the main city now... Who would dare to make a move under the eyes of a Legendary expert? That would be suicide."
Another knight patted his warhorse, which was panting heavily beneath him. He hadn't been charmed, but his horse couldn't control itself, almost wanting to kneel and submit to her. This made him curse with a laugh: "I've fed you for so long, and yet you still..."
But before he could finish, the city guard squad that was more like an escort than a guard had already passed by. Kira noticed that their armor all bore faint magical rune patterns, which meant they were at least enchanted equipment. Judging by appearances, every city guard patrolling the streets had the same equipment, which almost meant they had popularized magical armor—something unimaginable before the Great Magic Tide.
Before this feeling of amazement could fade, Kira soon arrived at the city wall tower not far away. At the entrance of the tower, the city guard squad that had 'escorted' her disbanded on the spot and returned to their posts. But the female elder, who had been quite relaxed throughout the journey, unconsciously took a few rapid, deep breaths to alleviate the sudden tightness in her chest and trembling.
"This pressure... it even surpasses the divine artifact reactions in the Great Temple..."
She took a deep look at the tower. It was not to relieve the pain, but rather to share this pain with everyone in the world, to make all people feel the terror of the world's impending destruction.
Now, due to the joint efforts of the Church of the Seven Gods and the southern kingdoms to suppress the hidden forces of the Earth Temple on all fronts, both the conservative and radical factions had fallen into difficult situations. The radicals were one thing—they were already madmen similar to cultists. But the conservatives had a considerable headache. Although they had indeed plotted many schemes before, now that the flames had been rekindled and the land had regained its vitality, they had lost their original motivation and drive. They had no interest in starting anything now, let alone confronting major powers like the Church of the Seven Gods. Within the organization, voices calling for surrender and reconciliation were widespread. Helplessly, the Great Temple could only dispatch numerous envoys to every faction they had ever opposed to some degree, intending to bleed themselves for peace talks.
Joshua, as the Conqueror of the Abyss of Anos, a participant in the Mad Dragon War, and someone who had faced a replica of the Ember Earth Divine Sword, the Earth Temple indeed owed him an explanation. Moreover, he had a close personal friendship with the Pope of the Church of the Seven Gods. If possible, they hoped he could introduce them.
"Even saying things like that... he's not lying." Joshua nodded. There weren't many people left who dared to lie to him now, and Kira was not one of them. Although she could speak calmly and fluently in front of him when he showed hostility, she was still far from being able to conceal things without changing her expression.
But since she wasn't the main person in charge, he had no interest. There was originally no enmity, and peace talks were meaningless. Just as Joshua was about to end this conversation and send this divine descendant out of Moldavia, Kira seemed to sense something and suddenly said: "The High Priest once said that given your personality, you would certainly have no interest in such matters. So we are willing to honor you as the [Mountain Envoy] of the Earth Temple, holding the highest authority within our branch of the Mother Goddess's descendant organization..."
"Mountain Envoy?"
These words immediately made Joshua frown slightly. In his previous life, he had also conquered the Earth Mother Goddess's Divine Calamity Mist [Rock Mountain Giant God]. He naturally understood what the title of Mountain Envoy meant—it was authority comparable to that of the Temple's High Priest, and the honor of being able to communicate directly with the divine.
"But..." The warrior temporarily dismissed the idea of sending Kira away. He asked with some confusion: "Isn't that a title only granted to Titans?"
Mountain, Thunder, Forest, River... titles like these should only be granted to the sons of the Earth Mother Goddess, pure-blooded Titans. For these people of the Earth Temple, who were willing to drag the entire world into the abyss for the sake of the already-dead Earth Goddess, even if they had to fight the Church of the Seven Gods head-on until their destruction, they would never make concessions on such matters.
"Aren't you one who possesses the bloodline of the Mountain Titan?" This time it was Kira's turn to be surprised. She even subconsciously raised her head and said: "The Steel Force on your body is the best proof!"
"Interesting. Since when did I become a Titan bloodline descendant?"
Touching the battlements of the tower beside him, Joshua smiled. He didn't think the Earth Temple's guess was unreasonable, because his Steel Force had indeed been guided by the Mountain Titan Urbandini of the Grandia World. His true form was even a Steel Giant similar to a Titan. It wasn't strange for this familiar aura to cause them to misjudge. He even had to praise their keen perception.
And everything made sense now—they had accidentally offended one of their own before, so of course they wanted to reconcile as soon as possible.
"But this reason isn't enough. Continue. Tell me the whole truth."
Joshua certainly knew he wasn't any Titan descendant, but because he thought of Urbandini's guidance to him, the warrior decided to give these people a chance: "Your heart is beating rapidly. I can see your blood flow and the trembling of your muscle fibers... You cannot hide anything from a Legendary."
Feeling the increasingly intense pressure, Kira only then realized that Joshua had deliberately restrained his pressure before. Amidst hallucinations of demonic roars and spreading darkness, she barely managed to explain: "Because... in this world, only the Mountain Titans possess the prototype of Steel Force. Other Titans only have ordinary elemental power... Even at the peak of the Earth Mother Goddess Temple's power, those who held the Origin Force were few. And in this world now, you are the only one..."
"We have lost the inheritance of Steel. It is precisely because of this that the Great Temple faction declined and the radicals seized power..."
Almost trembling all over, Kira's voice grew softer and softer. Sensing that she was about to faint, Joshua slightly restrained his pressure so she could speak smoothly: "The High Priest means to befriend you at all costs. To this end, we can offer the scriptures left by various Mountain Envoys and Origin Force practitioners from a thousand years ago, even from the Era of Radiance!"
"Why didn't you say so earlier?" Blinking, Joshua really hadn't expected such an unexpected gain. He thought for a moment, planning to first have someone take this female elder, who was sweating nervously and almost collapsing from exhaustion, down to rest for a while. Then he would contact Eagle to ask about the situation before making a decision. But to his surprise, Kira seemed to think this meant the warrior still intended to refuse. So, with a hint of madness in her eyes, she raised her head and looked directly into the warrior's eyes.
"You will definitely be interested!"
Coughing as she spoke, Kira's voice, almost suffocated by the resentment and pressure emanating from Joshua, revealed a morbid distortion: "During those tormented days, we did everything. We infiltrated various countries, studied ancient sorcery, searched for ancient dark ruins, analyzed the Black Forest's environmental restoration... This was our original limit. The Earth Temple was originally just a loose organization of divine blood descendants who gathered spontaneously. Even if we thought for ten thousand years, we couldn't figure out how to plunge the world into the abyss, nor could we possibly have connections with the Five-Colored Dragon Clan and the Abyss Lords..."
"What are you trying to say?" Not expecting there to be hidden information, Joshua immediately straightened his expression and pressed further. But by now, Kira had collapsed on the ground, almost in shock, only able to murmur a few words.
"It's them..."
"The darkness among the stars..."