Chapter 33: Peace Walker Part 1
The legendary expert from the Era of Radiance, the jailer Yalna Milo, had said everything that was roughly in line with Joshua's speculations. The unnamed evil god about to awaken was not an insurmountable threat; at the very least, there was a possibility of forcing it back into a dormant state and resealing it. With good luck, it might even be possible to directly purify all the chaotic forces and reshape the cycle of the World Star River.
This made things much simpler. Since it was possible to prevent all of this from happening, Joshua had the confidence to do his best. The other legendary experts could be notified by others, but for now, the warrior had to prepare for everyone's next actions.
Soon, Joshua, who had reformed his avatar in the center of the Myriad Realms Sacrificial Ground beneath the Silver Sky Radiance, directly sent a signal to communicate with the Myriad Realms Sacrificial Ground.
"Dominant Will, connect to all high-energy worlds within the World Star River. Divide them by energy concentration and life fluctuation intensity, with both factors combined. Worlds with only a single extremely high value should have their selection weight reduced!"
Joshua directly stated his request to the Dominant Will, and as the core of the Myriad Realms Sacrificial Ground, the Dominant Will promptly carried out Joshua's instructions without delay: "Star River database online. Corresponding target screening in progress. Relative coordinates determined... Data as follows."
Soon, a dense cluster of golden light points appeared in Joshua's mind. These points were the coordinates of worlds within the Myriad Realms Sacrificial Ground's database that had relatively high energy concentrations and life fluctuations.
According to the information Joshua and Yalna Milo knew, when the 'Genesis Maelstrom' transformed into the 'Unnamed Evil God' and disturbed the Star River, the destroyed civilizations would transform into evil gods. Regardless of whether the evil god was eliminated, the chaotic forces would intensify the pollution, accelerating the unnamed evil god's awakening. Conversely, as long as the conflicts these civilizations faced were pacified, its awakening speed would be greatly reduced.
However, even the Myriad Realms Sacrificial Ground could not accurately detect which worlds contained civilizations. It could only determine whether a world had life and whether its energy concentration was high. But having life did not mean having a civilization—the crab-exporting world with only giant arthropods was an example. Similarly, high energy concentration was not definitive either. Was the energy concentration of the Fire Elemental Plane high? Out of a hundred Fire Elemental Planes, it was unlikely that even one could give birth to a fire elemental civilization.
Therefore, when the Foreign Exploration Department explored valuable foreign worlds, they set certain conditions. For example, mineral resource exploration avoided life worlds to prevent mining from interfering with native life. For foreign world biological exploration, they selected life worlds with low energy concentrations to avoid encountering powerful native creatures—the Elite Squad's encounter with the dominant squid was a special case. It had hidden too deeply, evading the Myriad Realms Sacrificial Ground's rough scan, causing its world to be classified as an unknown foreign world with unclear data. This led to the Elite Squad, who had gone in with a relaxed attitude, being chased in utter panic and chaos.
Only worlds with both high energy concentration and high life fluctuation had a chance of containing civilizations. Of course, this was not certain either. There were numerous high-energy worlds that nurtured powerful beasts, magical beasts, or even dominant behemoths. These primitive worlds were like the Jurassic era of dinosaurs—though they had high energy and high life environments, their value was extremely low, and the excessive development cost made them not worth exploiting.
Nevertheless, this was still the fastest method for Mycroft Civilization to find other civilizations.
The data scanning organ activated. Joshua directly memorized all the coordinates and began analyzing which worlds might contain civilizations through detailed data. The Dominant Will did not ask the warrior why he needed this data—though it had self-awareness, it was essentially a normal artificial intelligence that followed instructions without questioning reasons.
Shortly after, Joshua confirmed several thousand target worlds and transmitted the data back to the Dominant Will: "Later, other legendary experts will also come and travel to other worlds through you. At that time, directly give them this list. Tell them that the first hundred worlds are mine, and they can divide the rest among themselves."
"Complying with your instructions," the Dominant Will replied calmly. "Any other commands?"
"Yes. Teleport me to the outer side of World Number 1."
"As you wish."
...
The sky was red as blood, and iron fire fell from the heavens.
The rumbling start of steam armor filled the high altitude of the plains. The smell of burning coal, carried by black smoke, soared into the clouds. The clash of metal against metal and the roar of cannon shells colliding made the earth tremble. The desperate cries and wails of dying soldiers could be heard, along with their final roars and shouts.
On the continent of Longmu, since the birth of intelligent life, the most terrifying, longest, and bloodiest war between civilizations had already lasted seven full days and nights.
The Eastern and Western continents, divided by the Transverse Mountain Range, had been in a long period of confrontation, probing, negotiation, and provocation between two great empires. Not long ago, a full-scale war had erupted. Their main forces engaged in an unprecedented decisive battle on the Zotam Plains at the center of the continent. Over three million troops were committed to this front. Every pebble, every patch of land, and every particle of air on the plain was covered with rotting flesh and broken machinery, filled with boiling water and the choking smoke of coal.
The blue blood of the Longmu people burned, steel twisted and melted. On the battlefield, even carrion birds dared not approach. The toxic ether steam was enough to kill any creature not wearing a gas mask.
In this war, the Eastern Empire deployed its most advanced steam armor. These massive constructs, over five meters tall and powered by ether steam furnaces, possessed the force to tear apart an entire thousand-man battalion. Their thick arcane armor could withstand 88mm armor-piercing cannons head-on. The deployment of two hundred steam armors gave the Eastern Empire a huge advantage at the start of the war. But the Western Empire also had its hidden trump card—small flying machines that soared three hundred meters in the air, continuously dropping bombs. These war machines, called 'Fire-Throwing Birds,' were easily shot down by concentrated fire, but their massive production numbers and air superiority brought the battle back to a stalemate. The entire plain became a meat grinder, constantly consuming the young men of both sides.
Solar Calendar 1774, the seventh day of the decisive battle. The Longmu people's casualties had already exceeded four hundred thousand. Secret weapons like 'Arcane Guns,' 'Steam Armored Vehicles,' 'Death Charge Soldiers,' and 'Ether Wave Cannons' were successively put into practical use. Each time these new killing machines appeared, they caused thousands of casualties. Compared to a hundred years ago, when they fought with chainsaw swords and steam armor-piercing drills, the Longmu people, who had evolved from arthropods and now used exoskeletons, had undoubtedly made great progress in self-destruction.
The front line had become a complete blue hell. Those trapped within could only fight to the death. The endless blood feuds made it impossible for anyone from the top to the bottom of either empire to stop this war. No one could retreat.
But in contrast, the rear areas of both empires were a desolate, pale white.
Female Longmu individuals were stronger than males, so almost all adults of suitable age had been conscripted into the army or were in reserve training. Only older workers and craftsmen, along with the elderly and young, remained in the cities. The war had lasted seven days without ending, and the world had already turned to mourning. Countless children lost their parents, countless parents lost their children. Those with foresight despairingly realized that if the war continued, it would drain the last drop of blood from both empires. The entire social structure would collapse, potentially leading to the extinction of their civilization. Only a few Longmu young would grow up in the empty ruins of cities, struggling to rebuild civilization.
The Longmu people were just an ordinary ether civilization that had not yet discovered the existence of the void. Their existence or non-existence had no relation to the multiverse. If they continued to exist, they might destroy themselves in the future. If they were destroyed now, it would be silent. This was a common scenario of internal conflict leading to civilizational collapse—not unusual for the multiverse, but rather quite common.
But fortunately, or unfortunately, the fate of the Longmu people would no longer be in their own hands.
Solar Calendar 1774, late at night on the seventh day of the decisive battle. The high-ranking officials of both the Eastern and Western Empires were shocked to discover that a suddenly appearing sun had illuminated the night sky, turning the lightless darkness of the Longmu continent into day.
At the same time, a metal pillar pierced the world's barrier.
A silver light point ignited at the highest point of the sky. It broke through the clouds and atmosphere, dragging a trail like a shooting star, and fell straight toward the center of the battlefield.
An incomprehensible yet immensely grand voice could be heard.
"Myriad Realms Sacrificial Ground, teleport me to World Number Twenty-Three."
The next instant, the suddenly appearing sun vanished. The world returned to darkness. Only a silver ribbon stood at the center of heaven and earth, like a star descending into the mortal world.
The war did not end because of this anomaly. The soldiers immersed in slaughter did not have the luxury of the high-ranking officials. They continued to drive their steam-belching steel machines, smashing the bones and flesh of their enemies into mud, smearing it across the already deep-blue plain. Even when the silver metal pillar crashed into the center of the battlefield, creating a massive crater and raising endless smoke, it could not draw their attention.
But soon, the Longmu soldiers heard an unknown language with a strong electronic tone coming from the depths of the smoke.
"Collecting target world data... Deploying war components... Temporarily lifting Level 9 material conversion protocol... Loading Joshua System... Beginning form transformation."
"Power Limit: Ultimate Peak. Action Principle: Gentle Suppression. Mission Objective: World Peace."
"Safety Supervision Protocol online: Mediator-Peace Walker Unit 17 activated. For a better world."
Startled by this unknown voice, the soldiers of both the Eastern and Western Empires simultaneously opened fire on the smoke pillar. Instantly, the light of ether and gunpowder explosions illuminated the center of the battlefield like a small sun. Steel melted, earth vaporized. No matter how solid the material, its structure was destroyed under temperatures nearing ten thousand degrees.
But the Longmu soldiers nearby all changed expression.
Because they saw a thick silver arm suddenly rise from the smoke, catch a rapidly approaching ether oscillation bomb, and effortlessly crush it into a shower of sparks.
The next moment, accompanied by the roar of the trembling earth, a giant war machine, fully ten meters tall, slowly emerged from the center of the battlefield. Its mirror-like silver armor reflected all attacks, deflecting every shell and armor-piercing drill. This massive four-armed humanoid war machine continuously absorbed surrounding soil and metal to grow larger. Numerous uneven, dragon-scale-like blast-resistant plates began to appear on the mirror armor.
Soon, the metal humanoid, having collected a large amount of data on this world, began to rapidly transform its form. Countless cannon muzzles and ether oscillation generators appeared on the shoulders and waist of the steel machine. The giant's four arms also transformed into four massive pile drivers. It effortlessly flattened an ether oscillation cannon into a small pancake, then fired a long-range artillery salvo that sheared off the peak of a mountain in the distant Transverse Mountain Range. Demonstrating its physical peace-making ability, it began broadcasting in fairly fluent Longmu language from the center of the battlefield.
"Longmu people, you are surrounded. Drop your weapons and raise your hands to surrender. This is your only way out."
The high-ranking officials of both the Eastern and Western Empires stared blankly at the four-armed giant, which was still growing and had now reached a full one hundred and eighty meters tall, along with its cannon muzzles larger than their armored vehicles. Involuntarily, like their arthropod ancestors from hundreds of thousands of years ago, they unconsciously spat out some white foam from their mouths.
"Gurgle gurgle gurgle..."
Similar scenes occurred in many worlds.
Arcane Calendar 901, the strongest wizard organization on the southwestern peninsula of the Neil continent, 'Blazing Iron Bones,' began its assault on the core region of the continent's center.
This rapidly growing body-refining wizard organization, which focused on physical transformation and life sublimation as its mainstream path, had a natural conflict with the elemental-control wizards who emphasized mastering mana and controlling elements. In the wizard decisive battle five hundred years ago, the body-refining faction was defeated and exiled to the endless desert at the southwestern edge of the continent, while the elemental-control faction occupied the most fertile central region.
But five hundred years later, the body-refining wizards had recovered their strength. They had not forgotten the hatred of being driven from their homeland five hundred years ago, nor the pain of being exiled like stray dogs. With three newly promoted first-rank grand wizards, they were unwilling to continue staying in this harsh desert. They wanted to take revenge on the elemental-control faction and prove the superiority of body refinement.
'Blazing Iron Bones' was the vanguard. Gloomy, cold, and evil wizards did not hesitate to treat their own companions as cannon fodder. Similarly, gloomy, cold, and evil wizards did not hesitate to treat mortals as cannon fodder. They drove a slave army of over a hundred thousand lowly mortals toward the southwestern fortress of the elemental-control faction.
In the Neil world, wizards were the supreme rulers. Whether body-refining or elemental-control, they possessed supernatural power that mortals could never resist. For these supernaturals, who numbered only one ten-thousandth or even one hundred-thousandth of the total population, the remaining 99.99 percent were nothing but lowly slaves, experimental materials, and gray livestock. Only wizards could barely be considered peers.
Wizard wars indeed caused many wizard deaths, but before that, ten thousand times that number of mortals would turn into bones.
And the wizards never cared. Cold and selfish supernaturals would even use themselves as experimental materials in pursuit of greater power, let alone ordinary people who were merely numbers in their eyes. The wizard war between the body-refining and elemental-control factions would undoubtedly sweep the entire world. And this time, both sides had made progress, possessing the power and potential to completely destroy the world's ecological balance.
So, on the late night of Arcane Calendar 901, just before the Blazing Iron Bones wizard organization and their slave army were about to launch a night raid on the southwestern fortress.
A silver star fell from the high sky, shocking countless wizards and drawing their gazes.
And a grand voice resounded throughout the world.
"Power Limit: Legendary Low-rank. Action Principle: Unconditional Suppression. Mission Objective: World Peace."
"Protection Enforcement Protocol online: Judgment-Peace Walker Unit 29 activated. Light will surely illuminate the darkness."
Dozens of seconds later, at the center of the Neil continent, the mountains shook.
A Titan, as massive as a mountain, stepped forward and began to suppress the entire dark world.
In the void, countless life worlds with civilizations experienced an unprecedented change. Suddenly erupting conflicts stirred up the accumulated contradictions and disputes within civilizations. All ugliness and filth were brought to the surface. Because of hatred, because of grudges, because of bloodlines, because of love, wars began for countless reasons. Killing was carried out in the name of justice. Prosperous cities were burned to the ground. Once-miraculous towers were toppled by siege engines. Supernatural power was no longer used to pursue the truth of the world but to better kill one's own blood kin.
But some suddenly appearing steel machines, magical avatars, war treants, and psychic units entered many worlds, forcibly pacifying all disputes and contradictions. Not only that, soon, numerous elemental armies, holy light projections, and psychic aggregates also gradually appeared in these worlds, selflessly bringing peace to other worlds.
Those willing to accept peace mediation were fine—these suddenly appearing strange beings did not act recklessly. But those unwilling to accept mediation would face an arbitration that was not at all fair, just, or standard. They would be thoroughly persuaded. A kind and considerate education would make these stone-headed individuals understand and comprehend the importance of peace.
But even so, the power of legendary experts had its limits. Even though the World Star River was gradually dimming, the number of civilizations that had not yet entered the void still exceeded what the legendary experts could coordinate.
On a pale blue ocean planet, a world with the space of a solar system, a giant steel giant intimidatingly dismantled the planet's moon. This terrified a highly advanced native civilization that had almost reached the point of entering the void into immediately ending all hostile actions against each other. They even cried and shouted as they began building temples for the giant god, preparing to change their faith and worship a new deity.
As for the original gods... well, they were non-existent anyway, so changing them didn't matter. Moreover, if there really were gods, they would surely endure humiliation for the sake of the civilization's survival.
But the steel giant did not care about the thoughts of these jellyfish-like little creatures. It simply continuously transmitted information to its main body.
"Time: Day 4. Serial Number 100 suppression complete. Detected low-intensity chaotic interference lodged in the moon's core. Cleared."
"Discovered 41 civilized worlds. 13 destroyed worlds. Eliminated 1 evil god embryo. Purified 24 chaotic infections."
"Chaotic disturbance frequency increased, but it can be confirmed that the rate of increase has greatly slowed. The unnamed evil god's awakening speed has been suppressed. We will have more time for preparation."
Even with Joshua's power, finding all civilized worlds and suppressing the gestating chaos was no easy task. Moreover, as time passed, the chaotic disturbance grew more severe, and the unnamed evil god's awakening drew closer.
Joshua knew he had done everything he could. Next, his power could not be dispersed to suppress these ordinary civilizations. He had to go to the deepest layer of the Abyss and begin purifying the chaotic forces there.
But suppressing these internally conflicted ordinary civilizations was not something ordinary experts could accomplish. Even in ordinary worlds without supernatural power, at least Gold Peak, or even Ultimate-level power was needed to resist varying degrees of conventional weapons. Legendary experts' avatars, projections, and summoned creatures could naturally do all this, but their numbers were severely insufficient. Without the Myriad Realms Sacrificial Ground, they would need several days just to travel between two civilizations.
"Not just legendary experts. The Ultimates of Mycroft, and even the Gold-ranks, must also act. No one can be idle. Everyone must contribute."
Thinking this, in the void, the giant god's main body called for the Myriad Realms Sacrificial Ground's teleportation. A curtain like a starry sky began to cover the giant god's body, transporting it to its desired destination. At this moment, thinking of his students, Joshua sighed slightly. "For them, this is also a form of training."
And this training also aligned with the purpose for which the Myriad Realms Sacrificial Ground was created—the true essence of the Myriad Realms Plan.
"Help... and save all civilizations? I never thought the Myriad Realms Sacrificial Ground would be used for its designed purpose at a time like this."
Just as the warrior was thinking, the Dominant Will's calm voice came: "Heir of the Sage, Joshua van Radcliffe, please report the next teleportation target."
Interrupted by the Dominant Will's voice, Joshua exhaled. Four consecutive days of continuous civilization suppression and subsequent cleanup had stirred up many distracting thoughts in his mind. Now, the warrior dispelled all distractions and reported the location of his final planned target.
"The Sixth Abyss."
He said this, his tone calm, without emotional fluctuation. "Teleport me to the outer void of the Sixth Abyss."
"As you wish. Teleportation beginning."