# Chapter 24: Who Do You Think I Am?
However, just as Nostradamus was preparing to head to the Central Court Fleet together with Joshua to inquire about the current defense line situation, Joshua, who had been flying halfway, suddenly stopped advancing.
"You go alone, Master."
There was no light in the dark cosmic space. Even the radiance of the distant galaxy's sun, after crossing such a vast distance, had lost its function as illumination. Joshua's features appeared blurry in this darkness, his expression unclear. "I... have something to deal with."
"...Be careful yourself."
Nostradamus first furrowed his brow, but then shook his head and said somewhat helplessly: "There's going to be a great battle soon—perhaps the greatest war this old man will experience in his lifetime. You can't afford any mishaps."
Having said this, the old mage didn't continue speaking with Joshua. He carried a hazy, dim light, dragging a trail of blue radiance, and flew toward the Third Fleet, which was slowly turning toward the interior of the star system, leaving the warrior alone standing in place.
And a few seconds later, after Nostradamus had traveled nearly a thousand kilometers away, Joshua reached into his chest and 'pinched' a small light orb out from within his bosom. The warrior lowered his head to gaze at the light orb in his hand—Little Light, who had been unusually silent since the battle began—and asked with some confusion: "What's wrong? You've been trying to establish mental connection with me since earlier, but that was during combat. I didn't have time to play with you."
During the battle, Joshua, having transformed into a giant, had assimilated Ying and Lin into his own body, using the Divine Mechanism as anchor points to create a massive mass weapon—the Steel Sword—and an energy giant axe capable of cleaving space itself. Little Light, along with the Divine Mechanism siblings, had been placed into a special protective space within the warrior's body. It was from that moment that Little Light, who had always been lively and cheerful, had for some reason become unusually silent, only to repeatedly attempt mental connection with Joshua during the battle.
Joshua naturally wouldn't respond at that time. But just now, Little Light had once again sent an extremely strong communication signal, even hinting that she wanted to speak with him alone. This forced the warrior to temporarily leave Nostradamus and have a private chat with the light orb.
"Ding-dong... a slumbering kin... dong... wishes to speak with you..."
The light orb, which had been shrunk by the warrior and pinched between his fingers, seemed somewhat strange, as if still in a dream. Hearing Joshua's inquiry, it emitted a hazy, indistinct voice in response, followed by an even stronger mental communication signal.
"Why can't you just speak properly, just like your original body? You insist on mental connection to communicate." Shaking his head with some helplessness at the light orb's vague words, Joshua could only choose to open his mental connection to the other party, to see what message it wanted to convey to him.
With the firmness of his current will defenses, even beings at the level of the Seven Gods couldn't peek into his memories during mental connection without his permission. And if it were something like the remnants of the River God, which had already passed away, it might even cause self-collapse due to excessive consumption from analyzing the warrior's spirit. So he wasn't afraid that mental connection with the light orb would cause him any harm.
Thus, in the next instant, Joshua grasped the light orb, which he had enlarged to about the size of a fist, and pressed it against his forehead. The light orb cooperated, extending tiny light tentacles to connect itself to the warrior's head. Streams of shimmering light flowed, and the two minds began to connect.
And in that instant, Joshua saw it.
A colossal Steel Serpent, vast beyond measure, encircling the entire Starry World!
"World Will! But still slumbering now." At this moment, Joshua's mind only had time to flash this one thought—so the 'slumbering kin' Little Light had mentioned was the Steel Serpent! This was indeed a perfectly reasonable explanation. Then, as the scene of the real world shattered like a torn curtain, the vast starry dome... indeed, a thousand years was not long ago. After hearing the Steel Serpent's subsequent words, the warrior immediately pressed: "What ailment?"
"It is precisely 'them' that you have eradicated before."
'Star' nodded its head. The endless starry sky beside it began to twist, change, and finally transform into millions of rapidly flashing light screens. Within them, warships traversed the void, bombarding incoming enemies with blazing cannon fire. There were also primitive worlds, where barbaric psionic beings wielded crude stone spears, battling monsters born from the darkness. Fighters, small spacecraft, shooting lasers, humanoid robots, alien robots, warship cannons, endless missiles, biological technology, psionic power, and millions of various war methods flashed across the light screens. But what they faced were not other civilizations, but clusters upon clusters of hazy, twisted darkness and shadow.
"Chaos Monsters. Both you and that previous great existence called these invaders from the void by such a name. They are the enemies of civilization, the destroyers of worlds. They invade my body through various means, slaughter my children, and erode my flesh."
The Steel Serpent's voice echoed throughout the starry dome... Joshua would definitely be inferior to the Sage?
Thinking thus, Joshua raised his head and said without hesitation:
"Alright."
Thus, the contract was established.
The vast starry dome canopy dissipated into nothingness in an instant. The colossal Steel Serpent, vast enough to encircle countless galaxies, also vanished like an illusion. The warrior once again stood in the cosmic vacuum at the edge of the Distant Light Star System, gazing into the distance at the deep green psionic vortex that was constantly rotating, with the last words left by the Steel Serpent 'Star' still echoing in his ears.
"This companion of yours is the embryonic form of a World Will, a kin of mine. I do not know how you managed to keep it by your side, but without it, I would not have been able to reassemble my will."
The ethereal voice was still as clear as if it had just been spoken. 'Star's words gradually faded: "But it is far too weak. So, I have slightly strengthened it, as part of my thanks for your coming from across the Multiverse to save my children."
In Joshua's hand, Little Light, now fallen into slumber, had transformed into a thumb-sized light orb. Joshua gazed at it for a moment, then placed it back into his bosom.
After a long while, the old mage's voice, carrying ripples of space-time, returned from the direction of the Central Court Fleet to the warrior's side. He did not ask Joshua what he had been doing staying in place, but instead looked together with the warrior into the distance, at the psionic vortex that was constantly stabilizing and expanding.
"Can we really kill this Void Mother Beast?"
The old mage said with some worry: "According to the survivors of those Root Court Star Domain colonies, the Void Mother Beast's shields and self-healing abilities are both incredibly powerful to the point of absurdity..."
"Of course."
To this, Joshua decisively cut off Nostradamus's somewhat pessimistic analysis. He shook his head, then crossed his arms over his chest, and said:
"Who do you think I am."
At both ends of the star river, the Chaos Mother Beast from the void and two Legendary experts from across the Multiverse stared at each other from afar.
War was about to begin.