Chapter 39: Raising the Holy Mountain
An unparalleled flash appeared at the very center of the Bloodmoon Abyss, a radiance comparable to a supernova explosion. Visible to the eye, five-colored light surged forth from the void, swallowing half the abyss's core in the blink of an eye. Whether stone islands or air itself, everything touched by this light burst into raging flames, then turned to ash and vanished.
This light pierced through matter, through space-time; it even pierced through the barriers of worlds, spreading outward into the entire void. In that instant, the Mycroft World and the surrounding battlefields were shaken. On the continent, millions upon millions of people looked up in shock at the 'sun' that had abruptly appeared on the other side of the sky. This sun burned with silver flames, overshadowing the light of another star.
In the Seventh Abyss, 'Ocean Sage' Faina stood upon a land that had completely transformed into a sea of molten rock. Boiling golden magma burst at her side, yet it could not make this legendary expert so much as furrow her brow. Before her stood a mountain peak, once the highest summit of the Seventh Abyss. It had been shattered halfway by the battle between Eagle and Joshua, but now a dragon coiled around it—an Ether Dragon, its dozen or so eyes glowing with orange light. Even half its body was far larger than this multi-thousand-meter mountain.
The two had been locked in fierce combat. The Sage held the secrets of soul and matter; as long as she was willing to pay the price, she possessed boundless energy. The Ether Dragon, a super-lifeform born from the void, nested on celestial bodies and could devour worlds. Even at minimum power, its breath could instantly vaporize a city. These two super-lifeforms, with nearly infinite reserves, fought in the Seventh Abyss, which was gradually freezing over due to energy depletion. Thick beams of light crisscrossed, and the excess energy not only melted the ice but turned the land at the world's center into a sea of molten rock.
But now, the Sage and the Dragon both raised their heads. They saw light coming from afar, and their eyes reflected the silver starlight in the sky. This light pierced through all things; even the Myriad Realms Sacrificial Ground could not block it. It illuminated the Seventh Abyss, where the sun had long dimmed, causing the water droplets in the air to refract countless rainbows.
In a small, dead world near Mycroft, the entire world shook violently. Vast clouds of dust and gravel were flung by the violent shockwaves to the top of the atmosphere, then slowly fell as rain of sand. This was the world where the Dwarf Artisan and the Leviathan were battling, but now neither side could be seen. At the world's center, a colossal metal 'mountain' rose and fell continuously. From a distance, it was hard to understand, but drawing closer, one would be astonished to discover that the so-called 'mountain' was actually a pile of steel giants, each as large as a mountain peak. They were joined together, seemingly suppressing something, and the entire mountain range, weighing over six hundred million tons, heaved with the movements of the suppressed entity.
The Artisan had merged himself into the mountain, controlling the countless steel giants. But how could the void-roaming Leviathan be crushed by a mere mountain range? Their battle shook the foundations of this small world. The continental shelf collapsed, the crust cracked, and the already solidified mantle structure crumbled, causing the two immensely powerful beings to slowly sink into the planet's core. Yet even so, they noticed an intensely powerful energy radiation shining from the other side of the world, lighting up half the sky.
In the Nature Domain, the Nature Mentor sat on the tentacle of a beast as large as a floating mountain. The beast coiled its thick tentacles to form a seat. Galannod sat on the soft grass covering the tentacle's surface, communicating with this monstrous but harmless creature through her mind. Green light flowed in her eyes, and the beast occasionally shot air columns from its back, as if in response.
"You're not an Ancient Dragon, yet you've reached the level of a perfect lifeform. But why... ah, I see! You are the aggregate of all life in your world! You are a massive hive-mind, and this is merely a part of your body!"
The Nature Mentor happily communicated with the harmless entity. Resolving things without a fight was indeed the best outcome. Through her research on life, Galannod quickly discovered the extraordinary nature of this beast—it was not a single individual, but a convergence of countless beings. Countless different lives, like different cells in a human body, formed a vast ecosystem covering the entire world, and this ecosystem itself had given birth to a self-aware will!
It was one, yet it was all. It was all things, yet it was an individual. It came to the Mycroft World not to compete for the seat of the World Will, but because, as the collective will of all things, it sensed a similar 'kindred spirit' and simply wanted to 'take a stroll'.
To be precise, it came to watch, to see the excitement.
The multiverse is not filled with malice. Powerful beings do not necessarily have to destroy the weak. Communication between different races can also be born of goodwill. But the Nature Mentor knew how rare such a pure lifeform as this beast was. Once interests and desires were involved, even goodwill was merely a gentler form of exploitation.
Just as Galannod was about to discuss with the beast how such a naturally occurring, living hive-mind came to be, silver light pierced the clouds, illuminating the land. The Nature Mentor looked up and saw a light piercing the sky.
On the Mycroft Continent, in the Boundless Heaven, all the experts sealing the World Will sensed the terrifying aura coming from the Bloodmoon Abyss. They all saw the silver light. The Sword Saint remained unmoved. Barbarossa narrowed his eyes. Israel raised an eyebrow, clicked his tongue, and muttered, "That Joshua guy..."
"Joshua van Radcliffe is under siege by the Black Dragon King Keano and two Demon Lords."
In the Boundless Heaven, the wills of the gods were uniting. They used their divine power as a medium between Mycroft and the Boundless Heaven, lubricating the fusion process. At this moment, following the guiding light shot by the Sword Saint Lamotte, the Boundless Heaven had already fused by nearly half. Only then did the Seven Gods have the spare energy to pay attention to the outside world.
"Keano has fallen. The Dragon King's soul is scattered. Haier Mu and Saruka are jointly besieging Joshua. That warrior's combat ability far exceeds our expectations. In a frontal battle, he can match three legendary experts of the same rank."
"He is, after all, the successor of the Sage. They are all like that—strong because they are simple."
"Do we need to help him?"
"Of course not. He can handle it himself."
As the gods' whispers ended, in the void outside the Mycroft World, the Five-Colored Dragon God raised its five heads. Instantly, five completely different yet vast and majestic forces shook space-time—the eternally burning, inextinguishable flame; the extreme cold domain that freezes souls; the tide of negativity that erodes existence; the wind of convergence and dispersion that controls particles... and at the very center, the life-giving light that bursts forth all things.
The five forces merged into one. It burned all, froze all, eroded all, and destroyed all. Incapable of being measured, the destructive power transformed into millions of light pillars, like a rainstorm, shooting towards the Boundless Heaven. Each pillar had the power to instantly destroy a city. If they struck the Boundless Heaven, the gods' centuries of effort would be ruined in an instant. Yet, even so, facing such a torrent of light, not a single god stepped forward to stop it. They calmly continued their work.
Because they were fearless. Because it was unnecessary. Because they disdained to act. Because they were unmoved... Most importantly, because someone would step up to block it. Because their appointed earthly agent, Pope Eagle, was here. So the Seven Gods and the other deities had no need to act.
He alone could handle everything.
Facing the millions of seemingly endless light streams, the tiny, almost invisible figure of the old man in the void simply raised his pure white scepter. Instantly, the chaotic currents of space-time in the void twisted. These ripples from the world, originally as turbulent as a raging river, solidified under the Pope's power, becoming like a pitch-black water surface. Eagle swung his scepter, and all the light streams were intercepted by these black surfaces. The light, upon entering these black surfaces, became trapped, as if in a quagmire. They could normally travel three hundred thousand kilometers per second, but within the black surfaces, they could only crawl like snails.
Slowing down the speed of light, creating a low-light-speed black domain? No, such profound techniques were unnecessary. The old Pope simply folded space-time, turning the originally planar space into a trap for light. Instantly, the pitch-black surfaces began to be lit up by the light, and rainbow colors began to differentiate within these 'water surfaces'. It was a beautiful spectacle of light and energy of different wavelengths in an ultra-low-light-speed state.
"Facing a deity, you dare to be distracted?"
Silver light flared in the void. Eagle seemed unmoved, but in reality, his hand slowed for an almost imperceptible instant. Instantly, a deity's sneer shook the void: "Too arrogant."
"When the Black Dragon King died, you were also distracted."
In response to the Dragon God's taunt, Eagle replied calmly: "You are nothing but a fragile old father, too soft-hearted."
The Dragon God did not rage at the response, but during the battle, it added another measure of force. A multi-layered composite strike of fire, ice, particles, and negative energy came like starlight. The old Pope, seemingly suppressed and unable to fight back, actually blocked them all appropriately. The battle between the Pope, who controls light, and the Five-Colored Dragon God was like this—they had plenty of time to probe and attack each other.
Eagle was not anxious at all, because time was on his side. Although the Dragon God was powerful, its race was nearly extinct. Its power could not be sustained indefinitely. Moreover, once the Boundless Heaven merged with the Mycroft World, the Seven Gods would be freed from their restraints. Even if exhausted, the gods could drive the Five-Colored Dragon God to the ends of the multiverse.
Furthermore, he had never fought alone. Now, reinforcements had arrived.
The old Pope showed a cheerful smile.
As a majestic holy light surged in the void, a pure white phantom began to emerge on the world's surface. The Dragon God turned one of its heads and saw a super-battleship, over seven kilometers long, rapidly shuttling through space-time, materializing in the void. The Dwarf Artisan, in collaboration with the Alchemy Department of the Far Sea Holy Mountain, had built it. Three legendary experts from the Northern Empire provided technical support. The Elf Clan gave their cyclical blessings. The Fishman High Priest provided a self-regeneration array. The Sky-Piercing White Tower designed the weapon system. The Sage of the Eastern Sea provided the power core... This colossal vessel was the crystallization of the entire Mycroft World. Before it, the Northern Empire's void warship, the Apocalypse, was nothing but a small speck.
The Dragon God stared in shock at this warship. The holy emblems of the Seven Gods shone brilliantly under the holy light. On the ship's body, as massive as a mountain, were inscribed an endless number of divine runes. The Dragon God was very familiar with these runes; it had seen them countless times before. They were the runes of the Holy Mountain, the space-time locks of the Far Sea Holy Mountain, the ultra-large composite arrays that the Church of the Seven Gods had spent centuries designing and completing—
That was the Seven Gods' Holy Mountain!
"You turned the Holy Mountain into a warship?! A void fortress?!"
Without stopping its attacks, the Dragon God still asked in shock. It had once been a part of Mycroft. It had watched from beginning to end as the Church of the Seven Gods transformed the Holy Mountain from an ordinary stone mountain into an ironclad fortress. During the Holy War back then, even when three legendary Dragon Kings struck, raising tsunamis and even unleashing a divine artifact's power, they hadn't harmed the Holy Mountain's body in the slightest... But that didn't mean the Holy Mountain was fragile. In fact, it was the most impregnable bastion of the entire Church of the Seven Gods, an unassailable fortress!
But now, the Church of the Seven Gods had raised the Holy Mountain, placing it into the void. At this moment, in the Far South's Far Sea, on Ash Island, the entire center of the island had turned into a giant pit. Residual, powerful holy light could be seen emitting silver, gold, and gray light. All clergy members were either shocked or overjoyed. Whether they knew of this plan or not, there was no doubt—they had succeeded!
"Don't be too surprised, Dragon God."
Blocking all of the Dragon God's attacks, the old Pope's smile grew even more cheerful. He looked at the distant Seven Gods' Holy Mountain—now to be called the 'Glory Fortress'—his heart full of pride: "It's just a mountain. We've been preparing for centuries. It was time it rose."
"Listen. We of Mycroft are destined to tread the distant stars. It's not just a Holy Mountain. Even the entire Mycroft Continent, one day, will be raised into the void by us, radiating infinite glory, receiving the worship of countless races and civilizations!"
The massive Holy Mountain warship, the Holy Mountain Fortress, was turning. Its shape was like a diamond-shaped mountain, its core surrounded by rings of silver, gold, and gray light. All the Ultimate-rank clergy and the High Priests of the Seven Gods were piloting this majestic vessel. Holy, sacred light flashed repeatedly around the fortress. Millions of light streams turned into a rainstorm, striking at the Dragon God's back. This was exactly what the old Pope had been facing before.
"Five-Colored Dragon God, surrender now and accept judgment. Your sins are unforgivable, but for the sake of ten thousand years of coexistence, we will leave a path of survival for your descendants."
Still fighting, Eagle said patiently: "You have committed great wrongs, but do not endanger the other dragon descendants. The Metal Dragon clan, to guard against the Seven Gods' encirclement, has fully withdrawn into the Dragon Island small world to live in seclusion. Your mistakes should not be borne by them."
"They deserve it."
To this, the Dragon God had only one sentence in reply: "Dragons never retreat, and they need no mercy."
And in the Bloodmoon Abyss.
Ruthless light flashed. An energy current capable of destroying all matter erupted like a solar corona. But if one could look past the blindingly intense light, they would find that at the very center of the radiance, a huge humanoid figure still existed.
As the gods had said, Joshua was not dead. Even Saruka behind him was not dead. The Insect Demon Lord had shrunk itself into a thick cocoon, hanging behind the warrior. Joshua's body had blocked most of the impact, allowing it to survive.
But the warrior's situation at this moment was very dire.