Chapter 33: Future Observation, Part 1 (5000)
Meanwhile, within the inner side of the world, in the Starry Hall, Fatlervi, having shaken off the restraint of the Steel Giant, could finally unleash his full power.
Radiant bands of light gathered at the center of the hall, like surging rivers. At the dark edges of the world, faint blue specks of light flickered. They drew closer from afar, gradually converging into a mighty torrent that arched across the Starry Hall. Within the entire world of Siberia, nothing could withstand or evade these four heavy punches.
But Fatlervi blocked them—or rather, dodged them!
In that instant, Joshua felt a series of illusions flash before his eyes. He saw Fatlervi, as if possessing precognition, had already anticipated every nuance of energy flow in his heavy punches. Before Joshua even threw his punches, the Star River Giant had already prepared, creating four small black hole force fields in front of himself, then directly blocking his light-speed straight punches.
He also saw Fatlervi evading before he even threw the punches. The Star River Giant retreated with extraordinary agility, avoiding the maximum force of the near-light-speed punches, needing only to deal with the shockwaves—which was naturally effortless for him.
Joshua even saw Fatlervi discerning the flaws in the energy flow of his straight punches. Just as the power of the near-light-speed punches was about to be unleashed but not yet fully released, he used godlike technique to intercept Joshua's attack sequence, causing energy backlash, and thus snuffing out the light-speed punches into nothingness!
Then, the endless illusions converged into one, as if the future had finally collapsed. With a muffled grunt, Joshua took half a step back. The four hands he had used to throw the near-light-speed punches all simultaneously suffered the backlash seen in the illusions. Countless cracks appeared on them, and energy streams gushed out like blood. It was only at this moment, as if the facts were finally confirmed, that the warrior's mind began to recall Fatlervi using techniques so exquisite they were almost inconceivable to halt his light-speed punches!
"..."
Joshua silently gazed at his four damaged hands. The next second, accompanied by the grating sound of steel friction, matter writhed and coalesced, energy streams flowed back into his body, and his four arms repaired themselves. The Steel Giant raised his head, staring at the Star River Giant's faceless body, which resembled the void of the cosmos. Then, he once again stomped through space and charged forward.
"It's useless."
Boom—a low explosive roar. A massive figure flew backward, crashing heavily into the center of the Starry Hall. Large patches of runes, energy sparks, and black mist scattered. It was Fatlervi's body. But the next second, he stood up again, seemingly unharmed. He had perfectly defended against Joshua's millions of furious strikes unleashed in an instant, merely being sent flying by the unavoidable impact force, suffering no injuries.
Fatlervi seemed about to speak, but the warrior left him no chance for idle chatter or rest. He once again transformed into a streak of light, lunging at his opponent, trailing endless scorching flames behind him. Five microseconds later, Joshua arrived before the Star River Giant. A jab from his right hand seemed to pierce Fatlervi's chest, but was blocked by the opponent's raised elbow. Meanwhile, the knife-hand strikes from his two left hands, just as they touched the energy layer on Fatlervi's body surface, were dodged by a hair's breadth, inflicting no real damage.
"Everything is within expectations." A voice devoid of emotion came, like a mockery from hell.
Joshua struck out with fists and feet, as if wielding axes and chisels. The terrifying mass of his steel body sent ripples through space. Plasma flames mixed with electric fluid spread throughout the inner side of the world. The mere aftershocks of his attacks could dim the stars. Yet Fatlervi blocked all these attacks, capable of shattering mountains and continents, with minimal movements—he parried punches, evaded kicks, used exquisite footwork to dodge grapples, and twisted space to deflect the high-energy beams shooting from Joshua's eyes. After a series of attacks, he remained completely unscathed.
But Joshua was unconcerned. A hint of a smile even tugged at the corner of his mouth. A glint of exhilaration flickered in his golden-red, lava-like eyes. Facing Fatlervi, who could directly withstand all his attacks and still be alive and well, he took a deep breath. An instant later, the close-quarters combat between the warrior and the Star River Giant intensified instantly—they parried each other's attacks, fist against fist, palm against palm. In a flash, the two transformed into billions of overlapping afterimages. A continuous, terrifying series of explosions mixed with the crisp shattering sounds of space breaking erupted at the core of the hall. It could be seen that the entire Starry Hall began to shake violently, and a deep crack appeared in its center!
Joshua's arm vibrated. One of his right hands began to vibrate at an amplitude of hundreds of thousands of times per second. It swung down fiercely, like a high-frequency wave blade that could shatter everything. Under this near-light-speed knife-hand strike, weighing hundreds of millions of tons, even the space within the inner side of the world shattered layer by layer, with countless spatial and void cracks intertwining.
Facing this attack, Fatlervi neither dodged nor evaded. The star river within his body spun unceasingly, erupting with deep blue light. His fist also blazed with dazzling radiance. Fatlervi struck it out directly, meeting the high-frequency wave blade head-on. But this seemingly ordinary straight punch contained chaotic energy flows that could reversely disrupt the high-frequency vibrations. As a result, at the moment the knife-hand and the punch intersected, a small part of the warrior's indestructible degenerate matter body spontaneously collapsed, triggering a violent explosion akin to a supernova!
"Useless. The more techniques you use, the more potential vulnerabilities you create. As long as there is a possibility for you to make a mistake, it will certainly happen!"
At this moment, the Star River Giant even took the initiative to attack. The future illusions flowing around his body grew more numerous. In a hazy blur, he even transformed into several completely different forms in Joshua's eyes: a close-combat type, covered in energy armor and weaponry; an authority type, with runes spinning and countless magic circles swirling around him; an invisible type, completely unobservable, only perceivable as a vague existence, its location indeterminable... The illusions were simply too many, like infinite possibilities of the future appearing simultaneously, then being freely selected by the opponent.
But Joshua remained unfazed. He didn't say a single extra word. He simply lifted his head slightly, looking at the starry dome—above, two more stars had dimmed. At this rate, these stars couldn't all be extinguished within eight hours. Confirming this, the warrior lowered his head again—immediately, around the colossal Steel Giant, light began to warp abnormally. A magnificent silver light began to radiate outward from his center. Drifting stardust, like nebulae, floated beside the giant's body. Visible spatial fluctuations once again sent ripples through the hall at the world's center, like a stone thrown into a calm river surface.
Boom! A thunderous roar sounded. At the center of Joshua's chest, the golden-red Fusion Core Heart turned incandescent white. But just as Fatlervi was seriously preparing to counter the warrior's next wave of charging attacks, a crimson beam of light shot out from a position slightly below the Fusion Core Heart, aimed directly at the Star River Giant. And then—
The Psionic Leap Engine activated!