Chapter 32: Swift and Decisive
"Very good. Thank you very much for your answer."
Joshua was naturally very satisfied with Yarnamilo's simple and direct response. He nodded seriously, reached out to help her up from the repair platform, and made the legendary powerhouse of the Radiant Era stand face to face before him.
Of course, Yarnamilo instinctively flapped her wings to float in the air; otherwise, in terms of height, she would only reach Joshua's waist.
At this moment, Nostradamus and the others also entered the laboratory. Joshua paid no attention to his friends' gazes and continued asking: "Although you have just awakened, the situation is urgent, and there is no time for idle talk."
As he spoke, he raised his hand and directly transmitted the current situation—including the anomalies in the Shatar people and the Abyss world—to her through Steel Force information.
"My name is Yarnamilo·Azure Wing."
While receiving the information, the winged legendary closed her eyes, nodded slightly, and stated her name.
If this were still the Radiant Era, she might have also mentioned her status in her clan, her position in the Radiant Joint Government, whose disciple she was, whose descendant, what inheritance she carried... But now, those once-glorious, ancient names filled with countless stories and historical significance had lost their meaning, so she only spoke her name.
"Chaos chain reaction, civilizational internal strife, possible birth of an Evil God embryo..."
In just three seconds, Yarnamilo fully understood the current situation.
She knew that this was now a new era different from Radiant—a civilization called the Falling Stars, growing on the ruins of the homeland. And now, they were facing the crisis brought about by the awakening of 'that existence.' So, even before Joshua could ask further, she already knew what he wanted to inquire: "You want to know what 'that existence' really is, whether it is an Evil God, what method can be used to suppress its awakening, or even completely eliminate it, right?"
"Correct." Joshua was not surprised that she could guess his thoughts. He said in a deep voice: "Do you know the answers to these questions?"
"Some I know, some I don't, but most of this information is classified."
Yarnamilo looked around the laboratory. Apart from Joshua, whose presence was extremely strong, the other three legends also stood nearby, seemingly waiting for her answer. To be honest, the winged legend couldn't help but feel a bit emotional. The Falling Stars Era was truly worthy of being their successor. In ordinary civilizations, unless they specialized in 'Transcendent Power,' the probability of producing a legendary was very small. For an entire void civilization, having one or two legends as the pinnacle was already quite good.
A Heavenly Mandate Legend represented the inheritance of a transcendent power, a path of sublimation. In a civilization, the emergence of such a powerful and complete inheritance meant that other weaker inheritances would lose their meaning. In a 'Life Energy-rich world' where Battle Qi developed far faster than magic, it was basically impossible for a legendary mage to appear. Similarly, in a plane where Aether concentration far exceeded elemental forces, no path other than Aether Arcana could emerge. In ordinary worlds, once a legendary powerhouse—a top-tier force capable of suppressing an entire world—appeared, it was basically impossible for another legendary of a different path to arise. Even if there were multiple legends, most were disciples or inheritors of the first.
This was not suppression or exclusion. In reality, upon reaching the legendary realm, no one would have such a lowly mindset. Witnessing other paths to perfect oneself was the fastest way for all legendary powerhouses to progress. The problem was, since a complete and proven successful path already existed, why would later generations forcefully try to open another new path? Even the entire form of a civilization would change due to the legendary's path, at most deepening and optimizing it. It was like a certain upright ape's energy system—from burning coal to boil water at the start, to natural gas, oil, and nuclear energy to boil water later. Who, having reached the extreme of the 'boil water' path, would be so bored as to forcefully find a new one?
But those were ordinary civilizations. Perhaps due to the world's bias, they could only specialize in one path, or because of racial peculiarities, they couldn't adapt to multiple transcendent powers.
However, from the very beginning, the Mycroft World civilization—born in a high-magic world, possessing almost all systems of transcendent power, and having numerous races and civilizations adapted to different systems—was naturally destined to walk the path of specializing in 'Transcendent Power.' The concept of transcendent power was merged into a whole in this world, not divided into categories like 'Battle Qi,' 'Arcane Power,' 'Aether,' etc. Different races cultivated different transcendent powers, appearing on this continent in different civilizational forms.
Yarnamilo knew that in any other world with similar conditions, in the end, the strongest race would eliminate or assimilate other alien races, thereby achieving unification of the path. Only then could a civilization maximize the integration of all resources, reach the extreme in one aspect, and achieve sublimation.
But the Mycroft World was different... Before the civil war among the numerous races and gods, there was an existence that suppressed this trend toward unification. He forcibly halted the war, brought peace to the world, forcibly made the transcendent paths bloom like a hundred flowers, and forcibly cultivated thirteen legends with completely different paths. With his own strength, he made the Mycroft civilization take a different trajectory from other civilizations and worlds. Even thousands of years later, the Mycroft World had a hundred times more legends than other civilizations, along with countless brilliant civilizational crystallizations.
That person, because of this, was revered by all as the 'Sage.'
All these thoughts took only half a second. Yarnamilo's distraction was because she vaguely sensed the aura of the Sage from the powerful man named Joshua standing before her. The winged legend's thoughts spun thousands of times in an instant. She pondered the 'Secrecy Agreement,' 'Top-Secret Information,' and numerous 'Absolutely Undisclosable Dangerous Information,' then decisively made up her mind.
Yes, the Radiant Era was over.
There was no reason to remain silent because of a ban from thousands of years ago.
Moreover, this man seemed to be the Sage's successor... And his power was enough to kill the Decay Evil God—at least easily crush the currently weak version of herself. Judging from the attitudes of the other legends, he might be the 'Sage'-like figure in the Falling Stars Era... Even if not, he was certainly the most special one.
Yarnamilo could see through souls. Even if the other party was also a legendary, she could at least discern attitudes and basic emotions. After confirming that the people before her were not eroded by Chaos and could be considered reliable, the winged legend let out a slight breath and calmly said: "'That existence's' original form was once the 'Genesis Maelstrom' located at the bottommost layer of the Abyss, responsible for the cycle of order."
"As is well known, the First Flame illuminates all realms. After creating the current Multiverse, it burned at the axis of the Multiverse and fell into slumber. All created World Star Rivers have internal cycles of world birth and destruction to maintain their own existence."
"The Abyss is the gathering place for all destroyed worlds that have reached the limit of their lifespan. There, 'civilizational failures,' i.e., demons, gather. A small portion of Abyss worlds, due to the continuous plundering or repair of certain active demons, can be reborn into new worlds. But the vast majority of Abyss worlds will turn into pure Steel Shards and enter the 'Genesis Maelstrom' at the bottommost layer of the Abyss."
The information Yarnamilo spoke of, even during the Radiant Era, was top-secret data only accessible to those with 'Permission Level 6 and above.' Those below the legendary realm simply could not access information about the Abyss, demons, and the cycle of order, nor did they need to know such things.
"The Genesis Maelstrom is a tide composed of pure Steel Shards. It is not large, but new world embryos continuously form there, transforming into new stars and returning to the World Star River. The forces of Order and Chaos cycle there, maintaining the existence of the World Star River. It is also the most dangerous forbidden zone in the Multiverse. Even Void Behemoths dare not approach, because the constantly surging world embryos will tear apart and destroy any existence that dares to get close. Only True Gods can barely move there."
Speaking of this, Yarnamilo shook her head slightly: "But that was before the Final Battle."
"After the Final Battle, the corpses of countless Evil God minions and Evil God remnants, mixed with Chaos power, polluted the Genesis Maelstrom. An anomaly occurred there for reasons unknown, shaking the very foundation of the entire World Star River's existence."
As the winged legend narrated, Joshua and the others listened with serious expressions and furrowed brows.
It sounded like things were not looking good.
The Genesis Maelstrom was the place where Order and Chaos balanced. Only when flames burned Chaos could new worlds be born. But during the Final Battle, a large amount of foreign Chaos power from outside this World Star River—that is, the Chaos of the Evil Gods, filled with despair and annihilation—carried the wreckage of countless destroyed worlds into the Genesis Maelstrom.
This was unprecedented, a situation impossible in the natural cycle. At that time, the Radiant civilization, having barely driven away the enemy and still licking its wounds, did not notice this. By the time relevant powerhouses realized that no new worlds had appeared for a long time, 'that existence' had already begun to gestate within the Genesis Maelstrom.
"The entire World Star River gradually dimmed... More and more worlds decayed, stars went dark one by one, but no new worlds were born. When the vanguard legendary returned heavily injured and reported the news, we discovered that the original Genesis Maelstrom had been polluted by the Chaos of the Evil Gods. The entire bottommost layer of the Abyss had basically become a breeding ground for Evil Gods."
When she said this, Yarnamilo couldn't even force a bitter smile; her face was full of worry: "At that time, many people and gods believed that we should abandon the Mycroft World and go to other World Star Rivers. But the Sage vetoed this opinion. He believed we should stay. Perhaps because this mess was originally caused by us, the Sage wanted to solve this problem. So, after a period of intense research and deduction, we formulated the 'Rebirth Plan,' intending to use the power of the 'Decay Evil God' as sealing material to gradually suppress the Chaos power in the Genesis Maelstrom, restoring it to its original state over thousands or tens of thousands of years."
"In this way, the power accumulated in the Genesis Maelstrom over these thousands of years would even create an incomparably perfect Order World. The heavily wounded Radiant civilization could also be reborn and rise again in this world. So we also called that place the 'Abyss Nirvana Ground.'"
Regardless of the plan's success rate, at least the Radiant civilization at that time had a corresponding countermeasure. That unformed Chaos existence was sealed and suppressed from the very beginning. They only needed to wait for thousands or tens of thousands of years, and the Radiant Era could harvest an unprecedented perfect world.
But unfortunately, due to a World Star River-level strike by an unknown existence, the time dilation caused by space-time expansion introduced countless errors and loopholes into the plan. The Radiant civilization was also destroyed in internal strife. Joshua's killing of the Decay Evil God further rendered the original sealing material for suppressing the Abyss Nirvana Ground ineffective, causing 'that existence' to truly begin awakening.
"It seems this trouble is actually of our own making."
After hearing all this, the legends of the Falling Stars Era looked at each other with wry smiles. No one blamed Joshua for being too heavy-handed. Because if he hadn't killed it, someone else would have. At that time, the Mycroft civilization had no intention of leaving the Evil God alive. Even the Seven Gods didn't know this. They seemed to only know that there was something important in the Abyss Nirvana Ground, but what it was, how important, and its relationship with the Decay Evil God—they didn't know.
The Seven Gods didn't know.
After all, they were gods who awakened only in the Falling Stars Era. No matter what they originally were, this fact couldn't be changed. Moreover, the Seven Gods' memories were incomplete; they couldn't possibly be as well-informed as the legendary powerhouses of the Radiant Era.
"The Decay Evil God has completely perished, so the Rebirth Plan naturally cannot continue... But that doesn't mean we have no way to deal with 'that existence.'"
Although the situation was dire, Yarnamilo did not show a look of resignation. The winged legend slowly flapped her wings, causing countless azure light particles to fall. She unconsciously bit her right thumb and said seriously: "At its root, its original form is the Genesis Maelstrom. It's just that too much Chaos power from the Evil Gods has accumulated, causing the anomaly. As long as the Chaos power is purified, the Genesis Maelstrom will naturally return to its original state."
"Of course, this is very difficult and cannot solve the current urgent situation. So our current goal should be to prevent that existence from continuing to awaken. That is, we should do our utmost to stop the Chaos chain reaction occurring in the current World Star River and prevent the self-destruction of numerous civilizations. Beyond that, we need multiple powerful beings to go deep into the Abyss Nirvana Ground and disperse the awakening Chaos power."
"After all, that existence has not fully awakened yet. It hasn't become an incredibly powerful Evil God. So, as long as there are powerhouses strong enough to withstand the impact of the Genesis Maelstrom and disperse the coalescing Chaos power, we can delay its awakening, or even gradually purify it."
Back then, the Radiant Era wasn't incapable of solving the pollution and anomaly in the Genesis Maelstrom. But for them, doing so was also very difficult. However, accustomed to creating miracles, they wanted to turn a bad thing into a good one, so they went to great lengths to formulate the Rebirth Plan.
"This is a last resort."
After speaking, Yarnamilo sighed. She had no idea how many legends and True Gods the current Falling Stars Era had, but she guessed not many. If the number of powerhouses was insufficient and the speed of dispersing Chaos power couldn't keep up with the speed of awakening, then all this would be nothing but futile struggle.
Moreover, the most important thing was to stop the Chaos chain reaction, to prevent civilizations and worlds from being destroyed and giving birth to new Evil Gods. In this way, even if those newly born Evil Gods were eliminated, the additional Chaos power would accelerate the awakening of that existence.
As a jailer guarding the Decay Evil God and a member who knew the Rebirth Plan, the legendary powerhouse Yarnamilo·Azure Wing felt she had done everything she could. Overly exhausted, with her soul only just repaired, she sat back on the repair platform. She raised her hands and looked at them with a bitter smile: "Unfortunately, to fully recover my strength, I need at least half a year of rest. Even to regain basic combat capability, it won't be possible in just a month or two... If all nine of us could recover our strength, things might be a lot easier."
As she spoke, she couldn't help but recall her other eight companions who had sealed themselves at the same time, a look of nostalgia on her face.
At this moment, Nostradamus, the Nature Mentor, and William had already begun contacting other legends and even the Seven Gods through communication arrays, relaying this extremely important information to prepare for the upcoming large-scale operations... At this point, it didn't matter whether they believed it or not. This was a calamity targeting the entire civilization, even the entire World Star River. Even if the winged legend's mind was muddled by Chaos erosion, as a precaution, they had to treat it as true.
Moreover, as legendary powerhouses, they could clearly see that Yarnamilo was not lying. Everything she said was true. With such an urgent situation, who would dawdle?
But at the same time, Joshua stood still, lost in thought.
It seemed that the Void Great Maelstrom where the Siberia World was currently located was likely a natural phenomenon born from the World Star River's self-adjustment, used to replace the original Genesis Maelstrom, just on a smaller scale. It was only recently, due to the Siberia World's ascension, that creation phenomena had begun to appear.
And it also explained why, even before that existence had awakened, its Chaos disturbances could affect the entire World Star River. After all, the original Genesis Maelstrom created new worlds, and newborn stars were also flung to random points in the World Star River. It was inherently a World Star River-level existence.
Yarnamilo's suggested countermeasures were all correct. First, stop civilizational self-destruction and the Chaos chain reaction from birthing new Evil Gods, cutting off the supply for that existence's awakening. Then, send powerhouses to shatter its Chaos power and gradually purify it. Although it seemed very simple, it was also the only solution. When things had reached this magnitude, there were no fancy shortcuts.
The truly puzzling question was only one.
Joshua thought to himself.
According to Yarnamilo, it seemed that each World Star River was responsible for its own world cycle... And the First Flame had fallen into slumber, no longer creating new worlds.
But the First Flame had always been creating brand new worlds... At least, during the era of the Plenty Evil God's original civilization, the First Flame was still producing countless world embryos.
Joshua couldn't help but recall the various illusions he had seen in the Plenty Evil God's memories... Countless Steel Forces dispersing, unable to coalesce into new worlds, scattered civilizational wreckage, the collapse of infinite orbits, and the slowly contracting First Flame.
No.
Joshua shook his head, ending this train of thought.
Now was not the time to think about these things.
With this thought, Joshua's avatar began to shatter directly, turning into endless Steel Force fragments that scattered.
"Wait, Joshua, what are you planning to do?!"
Seeing this, Nostradamus, who was simultaneously contacting Israel and the God of Might and Justice, looked confused. He had originally planned to have Joshua contact Pope Eagle and the Fairy Queens to get them prepared, but he didn't expect the warrior to just leave without a word.
"What else can I do? I'm going to act now to resolve the upcoming crisis."
By this time, Joshua's avatar had almost completely dissipated, leaving only the warrior's calm voice echoing in the air: "I'll first go find those worlds mired in conflict and bring them peace and hope."
"Then, I'll go to the Abyss Nirvana Ground and deal with those unawakened Chaos powers."
Before the words faded, the Steel Force fragments scattered into nothingness, and Joshua himself had vanished.
On the repair platform, the exhausted Yarnamilo looked somewhat dazedly at the silver light particles before her, then turned to look at the others, asking in a low voice: "This... is he always like this?"
"...Yes."
Shaking his head slightly, not knowing what to say, the old mage could only sigh: "Act first, think later. Swift and decisive."
"He has always been this way."