Chapter 14: The Truth Behind the Saint's Descent
“You can actually contact me through ‘Light’… It seems that Steel Fragment still possesses functions I am unaware of.”
Holding Light, whose surface had already transformed into a metallic silver glow, in his arms, Joshua conversed mentally with the Steel Serpent Carlis, who was at the other end of time and space. He frowned slightly, seemingly a bit dissatisfied with the other party’s abruptness. “You should have told me earlier.”
“That Steel Fragment is, in itself, a part of me. Using it to contact you was one of the original purposes for giving you that fragment.”
Carlis’s tone was as gentle as ever, speaking softly. “I just didn’t expect that you wouldn’t fuse with that Steel Fragment, but instead give it to this nascent collective will… It seems you’ve also given it fragments from other worlds?”
Carlis’s tone shifted to surprise. “How generous.”
Generally speaking, if an ordinary person obtained a World Fragment that could grant them the authority to wield power, they would undoubtedly use it themselves without hesitation. After all, this was a miraculous item capable of instantly elevating a mortal to the level of an Ultimate-rank expert. The Steel Serpent operated under this logic, believing it could directly contact Joshua through the fragment.
But unfortunately, the warrior truly wasn’t interested in these fragments… The authority Carlis granted was the manipulation of wind, rain, thunder, and lightning—natural phenomena released through the elements. Joshua could achieve these feats with his own power, without needing the fragment or its authority. Precisely because he found it useless, when Joshua thought these things might benefit Light, who was also a World Will, he simply fed them to him.
“That fragment has no other abilities besides communication. This child merely heard my voice and thus came to you to establish contact.”
Carlis explained briefly, then shifted its tone. “Joshua, I’m contacting you this time because of an important matter.”
“What is it?”
Joshua could sense no malice from Carlis, and Light had indeed helped the other party contact him of its own volition, so he didn’t dwell on the fragment issue. Conversely, the warrior clearly understood that for the Steel Serpent Carlis to expend its limited power to contact him across worlds, it must be for something significant.
“Though it’s hard to believe, Joshua, in my perception, the Mycroft World is dying.”
Using the simplest, most straightforward words to convey an astonishing revelation, Carlis’s tone was also filled with disbelief. It didn’t pay attention to Joshua’s equally bewildered expression but continued, “I witnessed the rekindling of the Mycroft World’s flame and felt the vibrant life within it… Unlike my own world, the Mycroft World should have fully become a normal world. Its lifespan may not be infinite, but it should remain stable for at least several tens of millennia to come.”
“Yet, I perceive the wail of a world on the verge of extinction… That sound is exactly like when ‘Famine’ descended.”
As it spoke, the Steel Serpent writhed its colossal body, which spanned past and future, its gem-like serpent eyes flashing with red light, as if expressing its confusion.
World Wills cannot communicate with mortals. They are beings of an entirely different dimension from ordinary life—‘existential’ lifeforms. Only Soulflame Kings, who hold the authority of the First Flame, can communicate with them. Upon observing this phenomenon, the Carlis World immediately thought of Joshua. Only Joshua could communicate with it now and discuss the truth of this phenomenon.
Perhaps ‘Light’ could also be considered a being capable of communication, but Light lacked combat capability.
“A sound similar to the descent of the ‘Famine’ Evil God? In the Mycroft World? A wail of impending death? This is not something to joke about lightly.”
Upon hearing these words, which struck like bombshells, Joshua’s expression couldn’t help but change slightly. Matters involving Evil Gods and world destruction left no room for carelessness. Even if Carlis had made a false report, he had to take action—it was his responsibility.
“Why haven’t I sensed anything… Tch, this is too significant. I need to inform the others.”
Though still puzzled, Joshua immediately stood up from his seat. He planned to first contact Israel and Nostradamus, then communicate with Pope Igor, who had the means to contact all Legendary experts.
However, just as Joshua was about to contact the Emperor and the old mage, he suddenly thought of another possibility.
“Carlis, in your perception, does everything in the Mycroft World seem normal?”
He emphasized, “The world itself.”
“No abnormalities… But the wail of impending death, carried by the waves of the Great Magic Tide, is spreading endlessly into the surrounding multiverse void.”
At the other end of time and space, the Steel Serpent was somewhat puzzled by Joshua’s question but patiently replied, “I came to contact you immediately upon noticing the anomaly, so the sound may not have spread too far yet… But if it persists, it might attract some terrifying entities.”
Carlis didn’t specify what those terrifying entities were, but what could make a World Will wary, if not Evil Gods? Then, the Steel Serpent emphasized further, “The temporal realm we inhabit is connected to the Abyss, where many ancient evils dwell. Upon sensing the wail of a world about to be destroyed, they would not hesitate to come and feast on the world’s remains.”
“I see. I think I understand.”
Joshua narrowed his eyes. He had a rough guess, but it wasn’t something he could share with a World Will like the Steel Serpent. After a moment of contemplation, he strode out of the study toward the Lord’s Manor. The sight was truly spectacular—even the warrior had to admit he had never witnessed such a grand scene. But with his preconceptions, the more Joshua looked, the more familiar the fusion of the two worlds seemed.
To put it in simple terms, it was like ‘hammering a nail.’ The Boundless Heaven was the nail, and the Mycroft World was the wall being nailed. An invisible hand, leveraging the power of the Great Magic Tide, was driving the Boundless Heaven—a mysterious plane that had existed since the Era of Radiance—into the Mycroft World…
Then, to completely suppress, or even eliminate, some entity.
“Could it be…”
Shocked by his own speculation, Joshua couldn’t help but mutter, “Regardless of whether the world’s flame was rekindled, when the Great Magic Tide descends and all realms tremble, ‘it’ becomes the most unstable factor… So, the gods descend to the mortal world, walking the earth as Saints.”
—The gods voluntarily descended… to suppress the World Will of the Mycroft World.
Joshua found this highly plausible.
In his previous life, after the gods of the Boundless Heaven descended, aside from enriching the inherited mysteries of the various churches and temples, they did nothing. They acted as if they were still in the Boundless Heaven, hardly interfering in any mortal affairs. Even when the Abyss eventually invaded and the gods stepped forward to fight against the countless ancient evils, Void Behemoths, and Abyss Lords, it seemed as if they were forced to act, compelled by circumstance.
This was very strange, highly unnatural. Players in his previous life speculated that it was a limitation imposed by the operators to prevent divine-level combat power from descending into the mortal world too quickly. But now, it seemed the gods’ descent itself carried a major mission—they simply had no time or energy to care about other matters!
—If the Steel Serpent Mycroft, this entity with immense malice toward civilization, broke free, even if it couldn’t directly destroy the ecosystem, it could subtly alter the world’s environment, making it unsuitable for mammals. It could even cause accidents or trip up civilization during its war with the Abyss… If this World Will, sealed for a millennium, went mad upon breaking free and insisted on mutual destruction with the Mycroft Civilization, no one could stop it.
Thus, the gods had to descend to reinforce the seal… Until this was accomplished, they would not attend to other matters. This also explained why, in his previous life, the Mycroft World descended into chaos through internal strife, yet the Church of the Seven Gods took no substantial coordinating action. Only after the Abyss invasion did a few hasty divine oracles descend, uniting the world’s active forces.
Joshua had deduced the truth, but he didn’t know how to tell the anxious Carlis… After all, it too was a World Will. Compared to the more childlike civilization, the Steel Serpent was its kin. If Carlis, upon learning of the Steel Serpent Mycroft’s predicament, wanted to rescue it, Joshua didn’t know how to respond. He also didn’t know what had happened at the end of the Era of Radiance that turned a World Will that had fought alongside civilization against the Abyss and Evil Gods into an enemy.
Carlis had come with good intentions to warn him; Joshua couldn’t just brush it off.
Just as the warrior was troubled by this, in the distant Boundless Heaven, a beam of light seemed to notice Joshua observing them. A deep purple stream of light instantly traversed the void, descending before Joshua.
“Joshua van Radcliffe, inheritor of the Sage, rekindler of the flame. A pleasure to meet you.”
An ethereal, faint female voice, carrying a double echo, rang in the warrior’s ears. Information was received simultaneously through multiple means of communication—eardrum vibration, mental connection, and data streams. Joshua looked up at the majestic symbol gradually coalescing within the brilliant light, which hovered between purple and blue.
It was a withered heart, with vast divine power condensing within the symbol.
“A pleasure to meet you, Lord of Love and Decay.”
Joshua gazed at the gradually forming withered heart and nodded solemnly, expressing his respect and reverence. Though he had never communicated with it before, the warrior, who had close ties with the Seven Sacred Mountains, naturally knew the identity of this symbol’s owner.
“Your Majesty Yolanda.”¹
As Joshua spoke, a slender elven female form materialized from the void.
With the slow pulse of the withered heart, everything was saturated by surging divine power. The turbulent energy of the Great Magic Tide seemed to act of its own will, naturally converging everything in the void to form a translucent image of an elven woman.
This elven woman held an oak staff and wore an intricate, heavy, petal-like robe of purple and blue. Joshua couldn’t make out her face—it seemed to be a visage that couldn’t be observed, couldn’t be defined as beautiful, ugly, old, or young. She appeared extremely beautiful, yet also like pale bone. Pure white energy formed ribbon-like wings that slowly fluttered behind her.
In response to Joshua’s salute, the God of Love and Decay nodded slightly in acknowledgment. Her voice was ethereal and emotionless, as if all passion had been burned away. “I noticed your unexpected actions, Joshua. The gods are watching you.”
“Your observation of the fusion between the Boundless Heaven and the Mycroft World—is it out of curiosity, or because you’ve guessed something?”