Chapter 24: The Forerunner and the Follower, Part 1
Just as Ge Er solemnly handed his seal to a bewildered and clueless Number 3, in the distant heavens above, within the Boundless Heaven, several gazes filled with majesty and sanctity were watching this scene.
[Another old friend has left us.]
[He got what he wished for, dying without regret.]
[Being able to obtain the ending he sought is also a fortunate thing.]
If no one had explained it, Joshua might never have known that the beginning of all these events was because of him.
According to the original trajectory, the Sky God's seal would have fallen from the Boundless Heaven along with other main god-level divine seals and the Seven Gods several years later. However, due to his battle with Pope Eagle in the Boundless Heaven a few months prior, the stability of the entire heavenly realm had decreased slightly. This chain of reactions caused Ge Er's seal to fall early, arriving in the territory of the Northern Empire.
It was also because of him that, several years ago, he went to the Carlis World to eradicate the Wild Gods and brought back Number 3, who had wished to perish together with the Carlis civilization, to this world. Again, because of him, needing to study the Soul's Ultimate Essence, he sought to observe the Divine Calamity Mist... The convergence of these various factors gave this sudden yet incredibly coincidental event a reasonable conclusion: Ge Er found a successor for his race, and Number 3 gained a goal to strive for in the future.
The clouds in the sky dispersed, and golden sunlight shone upon the city, making this pale gold floating city even more brilliant. The howling wind swept the cold air of the high altitude, blowing from east to west, causing the top of the central tower to begin swaying slightly.
"It's over." After Ge Er sent out the seal in his hand, his body was on the verge of complete dissipation. The god's face was a blur of chaos, showing no expression, but his voice carried a sense of relief: "I still regret it, I still resent it, I still want to continue fighting."
"But my era has passed, your era has come..."
"Your Majesty..."
Number 3 held the Winged Seal in her hands, the girl's face full of confusion. She still didn't understand what was happening; she couldn't comprehend why, just because Joshua said a few words, the originally disappointed Ge Er suddenly changed his mind.
But soon, Number 3's expression became serious: "I will not disappoint your expectations!"
Joshua watched the nearly dissipating Ge Er expressionlessly. He wanted to speak but ended up just sighing. The warrior could certainly hear the deep resentment in the Sky God's heart. He wanted revenge, wanted to rise and fight again, wanted to protect his race once more... But he had long been dead, just like Ougena. The main body of his soul had been annihilated in that war long ago, leaving only the last wisp of remnant soul condensed within the seal, waiting for a successor to come.
"I see it, a new civilization is sprouting... It is walking the path we once walked, and going deeper and more resolutely than we did..."
Ge Er's soul was nearly transparent. At this moment, the chaos on the god's face began to gradually recede, and it became possible to see clearly—a pair of pure azure eyes in their sockets. He looked up, no longer gazing at Number 3, but as if he could pierce through this world, whether illusion or reality, to see the true Mycroft Continent. Ge Er murmured to himself: "The corpses of my race are strewn across the high mountains of Siberia, the centaurs are extinct on the Tartarus Plateau. There, the ruins of the orcs have not yet cooled, and the bones of the lizardmen have already settled into fossils in the great swamp... The Era of Radiance has ended."
With that, he lowered his head. Ge Er's soul now only had the last head left undissipated. The god stared at Joshua and spoke softly: "Tell me, what do you call this era?"
"The Era of Falling Stars," the warrior replied.
"Is that so? Then, in the name of the Sky's Sovereign, the Master of Storms, I bless you with my final divine power."
Upon learning this, Ge Er smiled. Suddenly, large patches of black smoke billowed from his face. The chaotic forces wailed and retreated. His face could now be seen—a dignified, weary, yet never-yielding, weathered winged human face. Then, Ge Er's final soul began to shatter inch by inch. Countless fragments scattered out, turning into light and dissipating around them.
But even so, his voice could still be heard clearly echoing in this world, at the top of the tower.
"Followers of the Era of Falling Stars... surpass us."
"In this vast multiverse, go further than we did!"
As the last trace of this sound faded away within the dying god's dream, the 'world' began to shatter. The sky started to fall like broken glass, shedding countless fragments, while the sea, as if riddled with countless holes, began to vanish rapidly, finally turning into nothingness. This collapse was rapidly approaching the floating city. The dozen or so Storm Giants supporting the city closed their eyes, reverting to gale winds with a hint of a smile. The giant pillars formed by tornadoes also gradually shattered, finally vanishing along with the wind.
The floating city also began to collapse. The exquisite and spectacular spired buildings shattered along with the towers. Countless ruins and streets simultaneously fell into darkness and void. On the central tower, everyone watched this scene. Hei was exclaiming, and Number 3 also instinctively felt a trace of nervousness. But at that moment, a single hand swept both girls into an embrace.
"Don't freeze up. Let's go."
Joshua took the two—to be precise, because his right hand was carrying the box containing Number 3's main body, he tucked Hei under his left armpit and placed Number 3 on his shoulder. Watching the shattering of the illusion world, he knew this meant the god's trial and inheritance were over. Understanding this, the warrior took a large, decisive step forward, and this step cleanly broke through the illusion space, creating a black fissure. Joshua led the two through the fissure.
Outside.
The vast sea of mist that had originally covered half of the Berlin Mountains began to shrink rapidly amidst the exclamations of countless officers and soldiers in the fortress. The scene was like a massive nebula being sucked into something at its center. In just over ten seconds, the Divine Calamity Mist, which had been churning violently and required a crystal wall to block, completely vanished, revealing the valleys and forests it had previously concealed.
Following orders from their commanders, two hundred-man squads urgently equipped themselves and went out to investigate, wanting to know what had caused this mist, which even Ultimate-rank experts were helpless against, to disappear. But after a half-hour forced march, they had to regretfully admit they found nothing. The center of the valley was empty; the mist had simply dissipated silently.
At the same time, in the skies northeast of the Northern Empire, on the back of a massive black dragon, Joshua and his party, having departed quietly, were flying rapidly towards Moldavia.
The black-haired man stood on the black dragon's head, while a winged girl stood behind him, holding a small seal in her hands.
That was the blessing from the forerunner of a bygone era to the follower.