Chapter 30: The Ultimate Evolution
Flesh and lymph burned under the assault of blazing fire and radiant light. Pustules and tumors were crushed by mass fluctuations and shifting gravitational fields. Facing the full release of Joshua's Fusion Core Heart, where even devouring the enemy's flesh for energy was an acceptable cost, the Void Mother Beast's seemingly unbreakable self-immune system within its body was beaten back step by step.
The Void Mother Beast's colossal body, measured in tens of kilometers, was structured from the outside in: a chitinous shell, a horny layer of steel-like skin, high-density muscle tissue, and beneath cartilaginous septa, all manner of grotesque organs and fragile flesh. Crystal-like energy nodes, psychic crystal formations, supplied power to every part of its massive frame. This enormous body meant the Mother Beast itself was a kingdom—the thought center deep within was the king ruling all, while the source of the psychic crystals, the energy core supplying everything, was the heaven and earth upon which the kingdom's inhabitants depended for survival.
Surging forward like a raging tide, spreading destruction, Joshua's goal was to kill this king and destroy the heaven and earth of this kingdom. He was capable of such a thing.
But just twenty seconds after Joshua, moving at a speed too fast for the Void Mother Beast's nerves to react, had breached its shell and steel-like skin, plunging straight into the fragile internal organs and flesh structure, he suddenly stopped. Frowning, he stared at what lay before him.
What had abruptly appeared in front of Joshua was no longer the Mother Beast's body, stretching over thirty kilometers deep and composed entirely of dark green flesh and various lymph nodes. Instead, it was an unknown domain utterly different from everything before, completely swallowed by darkness.
Joshua stood in a chamber of the Mother Beast's peristaltic internal organs, surrounded by the stench of rot and burning. The greatsword in his hand, fluctuating with the rise and fall of Steel Force, generated gravitational fields capable of destroying cities. His body radiated enough heat to boil rivers. Behind him was a horror that wouldn't even appear in nightmares: tumors dripping with mucus and pus, pulsing like hearts, emitting green psychic light. Before him, however, was a pitch-black void like a starry cosmos, as if another world hidden in shadow had abruptly appeared, luring the arrogant to their doom.
Joshua stopped because his instincts were uneasy. Few things in this world could make a Legendary expert feel uneasy, and this black space within the Mother Beast's body was one of them. The warrior didn't stop out of fear, but because the remnants of Order Force within him were stirring like boiling magma, threatening to erupt, hindering the exertion of his power.
Just two seconds after Joshua halted, countless tentacles and flesh-balls, covered in blade-like teeth and maws—the 'white blood cells' and immune system of the Void Mother Beast—rushed out from the flesh corridor he had forcibly carved with brute force and high heat. They had been unable to keep up with Joshua's advance speed, but now, due to his pause, they successfully caught up. The moment these bizarre Void monsters, active within the Mother Beast's body, pinpointed Joshua's location, they opened their petal-like maws and sprayed streams of deep green energy, howling towards the warrior.
These energy streams seemed ordinary, but their corrosive power was terrifyingly immense. One stream from a smaller Void monster, perhaps poorly aimed in haste, struck the Mother Beast's flesh at an angle. Instantly, a large hole was corroded into the flesh wall that even Joshua, with his million-ton weight, needed force to breach. All matter within, whether organic or inorganic like psychic crystals, disintegrated into microscopic particles invisible to the naked eye. This was less corrosion and more like disintegration. If Nostradamus were present, he would surely exclaim that this was remarkably similar to the high-level spell 'Greater Disjunction.'
But all of this was useless against Joshua. The deep green energy streams collided with the warrior's steel body but scattered like ordinary water. The silver shell showed not even a scratch. The power capable of disintegrating crystal and steel was as harmless as clear water to the high-density Steel Force. Joshua didn't even bother dodging these attacks. He simply dispersed the silver greatsword in his hand and condensed a black battle-axe. Then, with a swing of the axe, several pitch-black spatial cracks flashed, bisecting all the Void monsters and tentacles in their path.
By charging his Steel Force, Joshua could instantly unleash gravitational fields of millions of tons to crush enemies—this was the prototype of the Steel Sword. By guiding this immense gravitational field to focus, tear space, and create small, uncontrollable spatial cracks, he achieved the principle of the Spatial Slash. After achieving Legendary status, the warrior had lost the Life Energy and Battle Qi that had accompanied him for so long, but gained a tool far more powerful and convenient.
After eliminating some of the pursuers behind him, Joshua didn't continue fighting the Mother Beast's nearly endless immune system. He turned his head and, without hesitation, resolutely charged at full speed into the unknown dark domain.
He knew, of course, that this unfamiliar dark space was surely a defense mechanism for the Void Mother Beast's core area, containing countless attacks that even he might struggle to withstand. But by observing the flow and convergence of psychic energy within the Mother Beast, Joshua also knew that deep within this dark space must lie the Mother Beast's thought center and almost all of its energy cores—his targets.
Without destroying the Mother Beast's center or energy cores, no one could kill this colossal super-lifeform. Unless it was pushed into a star and incinerated by the power of the 'First Flame,' Midgardian technology and his own strength were helpless against it. Back then, when Joshua proposed four suggestions to the Mother Tree, none were jokes; they were facts.
So, even knowing it was a trap and snare set by the enemy, Joshua would step into it without hesitation and destroy both it and the enemy together.
But just as Joshua burst into the dark domain, an accident occurred. He felt himself falling into an endless void. The flesh space behind him, filled with the Mother Beast's immense psychic energy, and the pursuing Void monsters all vanished, replaced by a layer of darkness impenetrable to sight. Furthermore, the warrior felt the Psionic Ascension power that had filled his body rapidly dissipating. In a single breath, the vast power gathered from billions of psychics on the Midgardian homeworld, enough to tear the void, was cut off by a sinister force from outside the void, leaving only Joshua's own inherent power.
The moment he realized this, his four-hundred-meter-tall steel body instantly shrank, reverting to its original height of nearly a hundred meters from the Mycroft World. In an instant, Joshua's volume became one sixty-fourth of his peak state. His power decreased less drastically, but was still only a quarter of his peak in the Starry World. The enhancement from the Psionic Ascension state was indeed terrifying. The power gathered from billions, combined with the Mother Tree, was far more potent than a deity's blessing. If it could be used multiple times, it might even be possible to directly challenge the Mother Tree. But now, this power seemed to have lost its signal, unable to cross spacetime to converge on Joshua.
Without time to dwell on this sudden weakness, Joshua never panicked over 'accidents.' He only did what was most necessary at the moment. After confirming he couldn't immediately return to the Psionic Ascension state, the warrior immediately used the Order Force left in his body by the Azure Orb, which had boiled for an instant earlier, to explore his surroundings with all his might, seeking the truth within the unknown dark space.
But what he saw were countless eyes, like stars.
No, not eyes. After his initial surprise, Joshua quickly realized that what hid in the dark space were not pairs of eyes staring at him, but countless signs flickering and extinguishing, floating in the void like neon lights at night. They hid in the darkness, yet came in various colors and sizes, their number seemingly endless, filling the entire space.
"Cut off the Midgardians' psychic energy supply, and this eerie... Mindscape World? Manifestation Barrier? Or an internal demiplane?"
All were possible. Nothing would be strange from an Evil God's minions. Numerous guesses surged in his mind, but Joshua had no time to ponder the truth behind the dark space. Relying on his keen energy sense, he immediately detected the undercurrents surging within this dark space. There were nine energy rivers, like great rivers, flowing from the Void Mother Beast's body and back again. Eight were dispersed in various directions, likely the energy cores. The largest and most massive poured into the center, probably the thought center.
Flexing his limbs, Joshua felt he hadn't become so weak from losing the Psionic Ascension state as to be helpless. So, the next moment, he flew directly towards the nearest convergence point of an energy river. Joshua didn't plan to directly destroy the Mother Beast's thought center. He hadn't seen any sign of thinking ability in it yet. Destroying that seemingly important thing might turn a monster with barely discernible behavioral patterns into a completely chaotic beast. So it was better to destroy the nearby energy core. Eliminating one would weaken the Mother Beast by an eighth.
A roaring sound erupted. The Fusion Core Force, born from the aggregation of matter particles, exploded from behind Joshua's shoulders and the soles of his feet, creating a long trail of light in the black space. But this light trail couldn't last more than a few seconds before being swallowed by the constantly surging, mist-like darkness. Joshua noticed this and mentally warned himself about this darkness, capable of devouring gas still at hundreds of thousands of degrees.
But before the wary warrior could reach the nearest energy core, the Mother Beast's thought center, located in the middle of the dark space, suddenly erupted with a powerful and vast psychic force, one that could only be possessed by countless lives merged into one. This psychic force even distorted space and struck Joshua, who sensed it but only had time to concentrate his will to resist.
And so, the next moment, darkness completely swallowed him.
Light and shadow shifted, as if a thousand sunrises and sunsets had passed in an instant. When Joshua quickly regained consciousness from the Mother Beast's psychic assault, he saw a wondrous scene.
A prosperous, peaceful, and tranquil world.
With thick clouds rolling, blocking the sun that appeared only once every few years, rain fell upon the entire Robel World. Yellow raindrops seeped into the earth. Specially cultivated fungi grew joyfully on the moist humus, spraying out large clouds of spore mist. Half-human-high fleshy plants stretched their leaves in the rain's nourishment, forming wide, deep-green roads. The Robel people, who had temporarily taken shelter indoors due to the sun's appearance, emerged, breathing the spore-filled air with relish. They stepped onto the green plant roads, crawling towards their respective destinations.
Living in a world with a thick atmosphere and almost constant rainfall, the Robel people were a peculiar lifeform. Their true form was a parasitic fungus, reproducing by occupying the thinking organs of other creatures. In their juvenile stage, they would slowly devour the host's brain, replace its thinking organ, and then, before the host body aged, spread spores for their offspring to parasitize other creatures.
It sounded sinister and cruel. But to them, it was as ordinary as humans hunting and eating wild beasts. The essence was no different. Competition between lives was that brutal.
But that was a long time ago. Ever since the Robel people spent six thousand years conquering the entire world and protecting all remaining unparasitized creatures in an ecological reserve, they had ceased forcibly occupying the thinking organs of other beings. In fact, these parasitic lifeforms, possessing astonishing intelligence, used miraculous biological technology to cultivate a worm-like, non-sentient artificial lifeform as a source of bodies for their race. After solving the reproduction problem, the Robel people truly began their journey to glory.
Having once parasitized countless species, their own gene bank contained endless data. The Robel people's mastery of biological technology was unparalleled. Two hundred years after unification, they completely solved the food problem by modifying the ecosystem. The spores sprayed by 'Food Mushrooms' spread worldwide were their favorite food. With the abundance of Food Mushrooms, the Robel people could sustain themselves simply by breathing in enough spores. Various strange modified creatures became their roads, their houses, their tools for flight and world exploration.
A great biological civilization. Crime, unemployment, and war were eliminated. All Robel people lived in peace and enjoyed the welfare provided by the Unified Coordinated Government.
Joshua watched this scene. Knowing that he might have unconsciously resonated with the Void Mother Beast due to his identity as the Soulflame King, the warrior had already tried to break through this illusion but failed. Helpless, he could only continue watching the illusion unfold.
The illusion continued.
Having solved the food problem and transformed the entire ecosystem into a paradise, the Robel people felt they had become gods. They could arbitrarily manipulate the genetic inheritance of life, creating creatures that existed only in fantasy. They even used extraordinary biological technology to create living spaceships capable of traveling through the void. This excited the Robel people, who had always yearned for new biological databases. They wanted to travel to other life-bearing worlds as much as possible, obtaining their life databases to contribute to Robel evolution.
But soon, these intelligent parasitic lifeforms realized that what limited them from leaving their world was not technology, but lifespan. A round trip for a void spaceship to explore other worlds took decades or even centuries. The average Robel lifespan was less than thirty years, and this was after several body modifications to delay death.
In the end, they were still just fungal lifeform aggregates. Their primitive kin lived and died in a single day. They themselves only lived a little over twenty years longer. Originally, the Robel people didn't care about individual death. But now, things were different.
—We must control the evolution of our race.
—Lifespan cannot be an obstacle to civilizational progress.
Discussions about lifespan began to spread through Robel society. These fungal lifeforms, which lived like plants most of the time, rarely had conflicts and rarely gathered to voice opinions to the government. But this time was different. The vast majority of Robel people proposed to the government to initiate the 'Enhanced Body Modification' project. They could accept not being able to travel to other worlds due to the hostility of other powerful races, but they could not accept being bound by a boring lifespan.
So the plan began. The [Sublimator] project was launched as a top national project, with intense research. Countless Robel people joined, contributing their strength to this great endeavor. Fifty years later, the project reached a milestone. Their initial goal was achieved.
[Sublimator Type VI], also known as [Fully Automated Life Modification Virus], a nanoscale artificial super-pathogen created by the Robel people using their most advanced biological technology. This virus, specialized for the life essence of the Robel people, would, upon entering every Robel body, modify all their cells like a plague. It would invade those primitive cells, transforming them into super-cells with unlimited division capability and the ability to supply more energy, greatly enhancing the Robel people's life activity.
Due to its viral nature, it didn't need to be injected like a vaccine into every Robel person. It could be dispersed into the atmosphere, achieving the ascension of the entire civilization and race. Five hundred voluntary test subjects performed well, showing significant improvements in both physical fitness and mental speed. After intense debate, the Robel government finally decided to release the Sublimator virus for free worldwide, completing the ascension of the entire race.
Joshua watched these incredibly intelligent fungal parasitic lifeforms create artificial molecular machine aggregates, visible only in the microscopic world—the so-called Sublimator virus—in their laboratories. His expression, which rarely wavered at any disaster, showed a subtle change. But soon, he had no peace of mind left.
On the third day after the Sublimator virus, created with the wisdom of all Robel people, was released worldwide, it completed the transformation of the entire race. They obtained the long-dreamed-of bodies with lifespans of over five thousand years, almost immortal. This sent all Robel people into ecstasy. They celebrated wildly, hailing the arrival of a new era, and decided to name this new epoch 'Sublimation.'
Only one thing slightly exceeded the expectations of these intelligent lifeforms. The Sublimator Type VI virus, which served as the basis for the transformation, was supposed to completely assimilate with Robel cells after sublimation, becoming part of their immune system to sustain their lives. But perhaps due to a slight mutation in one virus during its countless trillions of self-replications, the virus in some individuals did not stop its activity. Instead, it continued its faithful evolutionary modification of its hosts.
On the seventy-third day of the Sublimation Era, the Sublimator virus, which had not stopped modifying, completed its fifth automatic upgrade. Its structure was completely different from Type VI. Its hosts consequently gained ten times their previous strength and life activity. Thirty days later, Sublimator Type XIX gained the ability to sense free energy in the atmosphere. Hosts spontaneously awakened Transcendent powers. Superhumans became widespread in Robel society. Twelve days later, Sublimator Type XXX completed its self-evolutionary modification. They gained the ability to survive independently in nature.
Joshua felt a chill run down his spine. In the illusion, he saw rapidly fast-forwarded segments. Only because he was a Legendary expert could he see every step clearly. But even so, the warrior couldn't help gathering power in his hand, wanting to completely destroy everything before him. This super-virus, capable of self-modification and evolution at such an astonishing speed, was so terrifying that any lifeform would feel instinctive disgust and fear.
Immersed in racial sublimation and superpower awakening, the Robel people only sluggishly noticed the Sublimator virus rapidly spreading in nature. Four days later, the super-virus, having completely deviated from its original trajectory, ran wild on the cycle path of modification and evolution. It appeared in every corner of the world, from the minus seventy-degree polar regions to near submarine volcanic vents. The immune systems of organisms were helpless against it. Heavy metals and acid were powerless against the nanoscale polymer shells it had evolved. Panic gripped the Robel people, but the Sublimator virus, which had completely taken over their immune and nervous systems, cared nothing for its creators' thoughts.
Seventy-seven hours later, the Robel World's ecosystem began to malfunction. Countless mutated but highly active giant fungi and plants appeared worldwide. Some Robel people also underwent benign mutations. Fifty hours later, the entire world became a breeding ground for alien tumors and blisters. Robel people who tried to resist were, one by one, swallowed without painful screams by the already assimilated fleshy plants, forming new blisters, or rather, culture chambers. By this time, the Sublimator virus, having evolved over three hundred generations, still faithfully performed its duty. It used all its power to modify its creators, sublimating them to a state matching its own lifeform.
Twenty-four hours later, the Sublimator virus first touched sunlight.
Massive living tissues, like plant stems or fungal pillars, large enough to pierce the clouds, grew from the thick humus of the Robel World. They broke through the thick clouds covering the sky, entering the atmosphere. Facing the intense sunlight, these giant pillars opened and spread, absorbing energy while releasing immeasurable quantities of spores, completely transforming the entire Robel World.
Giant tentacles swept down from the atmosphere, pulling the remaining resisters from their fortresses. This was not for killing, but for assimilation, for sublimation into a higher form. Such a lofty goal was not recognized by the Robel people. Their resistance, their biological weapons, were like child's play in the eyes of their greatest creation. The Sublimator virus also realized this: assimilating its creators with itself was their sublimation.
And so, the once prosperous Robel civilization perished within a few short days. The super-pathogen, now completely transformed into an indescribable monster, completely devoured and assimilated the entire world's ecosystem, including the nearly infinite microorganisms in the ocean, after several dozen days. It extended its tentacles out of the atmosphere, forming wing-like umbrella leaves to absorb abundant solar energy. The super-lifeform, having completely assimilated the entire biosphere, achieved the primary purpose for which it was created: to bring the ultimate sublimation to the Robel people.
This was a demon created in the name of nobility, an evil nurtured in the name of evolution. It learned destruction under the nurturing of good intentions and swallowed the entire world.
Joshua stared silently at the Robel World, now transformed into a hell of dark green flesh. For the Sublimator virus, this might be a paradise. For other lifeforms, it was no different from the Abyss. Next, he saw that decades later, a living spaceship broke through the spacetime barrier, entering the void, searching for the next ecosystem to gather more and stronger evolutionary information for its parent body.
Created specifically for the ecology of the Robel World, this super-pathogen might not have such terrifying infectivity in other worlds. But its strong vitality, self-evolution, and assimilation abilities were not lost. This was the basis for it to gather and assimilate worlds one by one. Thus, without destruction, destruction occurred. The name [Plague Evil God] began to spread throughout the multiverse.
"This isn't an Evil God at all... A lingering spirit left after a world's death? What a joke!"
As the illusion slowly dissipated, Joshua, gripping his battle-axe tightly, muttered in the darkness. "This is a demon that broke free from its cage after devouring a world! Indeed, 'Evil God' is just a title. None of these Great Devourers can be understood by common sense."
The thousand years in the illusion were but an instant in reality. Joshua, who had accidentally received part of the Mother Beast's genetic memories due to its psychic assault, took a deep breath. Then, blazing fire flowed from his entire body, forming a massive gaseous corona. It spread in all directions, repelling the rings of green light rapidly pressing in.
The Void Mother Beast had intended to use its overwhelming psychic advantage to crush the resistance will of this tiny super-lifeform, then use its strongest means to completely destroy it. But it never expected that Joshua, who had witnessed the memories contained in Steel Force from countless worlds, might have far less psychic energy reserves than it, but in terms of psychic strength, even gods would be surprised. Coupled with the warrior's body's inherent automatic reaction, the impact of a thousand years in an instant caused no delay in his actions.
Joshua looked around at the rings of green light that had once annihilated an entire fleet on a Midgardian colony planet in an instant. Understanding dawned on him. The Plague Evil God was an artificial nanoscale super-pathogen designed by a biological technology civilization, possessing traits similar to molecular machine aggregates. Psychic power was just an ability it gained in the Starry World by assimilating local lifeforms. The Void Mother Beast wasn't as powerful as the Plague Evil God, but as its minion, a daughter plant, it still possessed the power to release massive amounts of nanoscale molecular mist, decomposing all non-assimilable matter.
The ultra-high temperature and shockwaves Joshua released could indeed indiscriminately destroy the rapidly surging decomposition mist. But in the Mother Beast's core area, the enemy's attack showed no sign of slowing, seemingly endless. It was like someone opening a dam gate, using enough water to flood a city to drown a spark. Even if the spark remained burning due to its incredibly high temperature, it would eventually be extinguished for lack of fuel.
The warrior watched as the heat and shockwaves he released were steadily compressed by the endless mist. But his expression remained unchanged. Joshua knew that under the attack of this nanoscale molecular mist, all matter would be decomposed. His steel body might survive, but once the molecular mist invaded through the wounds he had previously sustained and the furnace core in his chest, entering his body, he would surely die.
"Truly a vicious super-lifeform. Devoured its creators, feeds on worlds, and now roams the multiverse, spreading its seeds."
At this critical juncture, Joshua still had the leisure to mutter to himself. An ordinary person might think the warrior had completely given up, putting on a show of pre-death magnanimity. But those familiar with Joshua knew that this was when the warrior was most dangerous.
Sensing the locations of the surrounding energy cores and thought center, Joshua didn't even look at the weapons capable of killing him. He knew there was only one way to fight such a vicious and cruel super-lifeform.
Be even more vicious.
"Crack." Without hesitation, the steel giant's right hand pressed against its chest. The shell composed of high-density degenerate matter folded and opened layer by layer like a lid, revealing the furnace-like Fusion Core Heart and the crystal-like Jump Engine beneath. Joshua unhesitatingly grabbed the Fusion Core Heart that supplied energy to his entire body with his right hand and pulled it out of his body, leaving only a few pipes connecting it.
In that instant, immeasurable heat and intense light appeared in the dark space, in the alien realm eroded by the Void Mother Beast. The blazing light drove away the darkness, revealing countless 'eyes' hidden behind it.
The Robel World had been completely assimilated by the Plague Evil God's main body back then. The entire world, inside and out, was nothing but rapidly proliferating Sublimator virus that had lost life information and could no longer evolve. The alien ecosystem, like a sea of flesh, left not a trace of the original Robel civilization. Only this eye-like symbol remained.
It was the symbol left by the [Control Evolution] biological research organization that created the Sublimator virus, a trademark in their genes. Their greatest creation, after devouring them, had no intention of modifying this symbol and used it as its own emblem, spreading it throughout the multiverse.
And Joshua, holding his own Fusion Core Heart aloft, had his face illuminated by a light far exceeding the sun's surface, nearly as intense as a nuclear explosion center. His expression was unreadable. The warrior stared at the deep green mist retreating step by step under this intense light, then revealed a smile that was either carefree or ferocious.
"Energy core? I can make another one."
"But the chance to kill you? Only now."
Holding his heart high, the energy furnace simulating a star, Joshua recklessly drew upon the violent power within it. It was the residual heat from the dawn of this world's creation, the light that nurtured all life. As spacetime ripples appeared around the warrior's hands due to the immense energy fluctuation, a tide-like crimson radiance overflowed from between his hands, from the heart that simulated the Fusion Core Star, yet was far more powerful than that fragment of the sun.
The scorching heat capable of burning everything was drawn from his own heart. Joshua felt himself rapidly approaching a death called 'ash,' but the warrior didn't care. He hadn't ignited a small sun in the Mother Beast's core area for fun. He did it to completely kill the enemy, to kill this colossal super-lifeform.
If so, any price was worth paying.
"BOOM——————"
The sound of an explosion came from the Fusion Core Heart. The pipes connecting Joshua to the furnace snapped one by one. The completely out-of-control fusion core released violent energy, allowing heat and light capable of incinerating a small asteroid to pour out freely, completely illuminating the Mother Beast's core area. In the near distance, eight semi-biological, semi-crystalline cores, each several kilometers in diameter, could be seen pulsing like hearts. There was also a gray aggregate, seemingly formed from countless wrinkled flesh piled randomly—the Void Mother Beast's energy cores and thought center.
They were trembling now, fearing the destruction held in the warrior's hands. They tried to counterattack, but both psychic power and nanomist were futile. The Void monsters that rushed over couldn't even get close, incinerated to ash in the distance.
"Witness the flash of the blazing sun!"
Accompanied by the warrior's weak but unrestrained voice, a star ignited within the Void Mother Beast's body. Countless energy torrents, like solar flares, erupted in all directions. They even shattered space, tearing open countless flying spatial rifts. Finally, an irregular energy sphere crossed the not-so-long distance, instantly colliding with the Void Mother Beast's energy cores, triggering a terrifying chain explosion.
Time stopped there.