Chapter 36: Goliath
The mist that had shrouded the entire Sixth Abyss dissipated like an illusion, revealing behind it a gray-black, dim world barrier devoid of any light.
Worlds emit light. Born from the First Flame, every world in the multiverse is a union of fire and steel. The light it releases is the manifestation of the great cycle of energy and matter within the world, projected into the void.
Generally speaking, the more advanced a world's civilization, the larger and more intricate its internal energy-matter cycle, and thus the more dazzling its light. However, this does not mean that only civilized worlds emit brilliant light. Some worlds naturally abundant in energy, even if devoid of life and unsuitable for habitation, can shine brightly based on their inherent foundation alone.
The radiance of countless worlds cast into the void forms the endless stars visible to life across many worlds. Even in realms resembling a sea of stars, some star rivers are composed of real celestial bodies, but more stars are the reflected light of other worlds. When a civilization realizes this and grows curious, it marks the beginning of its journey into the void—a path toward the grand stage of the multiverse, puzzled and expectant of those "nonexistent starlight."
But if a world's internal cycle of energy and matter ceases entirely—a barren realm where both sun and core gradually cool and extinguish, where no new souls are born—then its image in the multiverse's void becomes a pitch-black, lightless dark world.
Just like an Abyss.
The thickness and resilience of a world barrier stem from the instinctive power of the great cycle of all things—a world's immunity. A healthy world, relying solely on this cycle, can withstand the attacks of malevolent evil gods. Void behemoths, being akin to worlds themselves, can breach this cycle with relative ease. But for a dead, silent world, the barrier's toughness may even increase. This is because all fires have gone out, the ashes have congealed, and the departed Steel Serpent has imbued its remnants into the barrier, a final shelter for all life within.
Yet even so, Joshua did not believe the world barrier of the Sixth Abyss could stop him.
The warrior had entered and exited countless worlds, and was himself a newborn world. His understanding of world barriers surpassed all others. No matter how sturdy the barrier, even if layered multiple times, it was but a thousand-layer cake to him. If Joshua wished, he could shatter the mist shrouding the Sixth Abyss and blast through the world barrier as easily as he had broken the barrier of the Sartre World.
He could do it, but there was no need.
This time, Joshua's purpose in visiting the Sixth Abyss was to enlist the strongest known demon faction—the Demon King Goliath of the Sixth Abyss and its subordinates—as a firefighting force for the Abyss, and incidentally to guide him toward the deepest layers. Before the crisis threatening countless worlds and endless star rivers, even chaotic demons were not beyond the possibility of communication.
"A thousand years ago, the Endless Abyss invaded Mycroft. You colluded with the evil gods, destroying countless worlds together... But clearly, demons and the Abyss gained nothing from it. Allying with the evil gods was obviously the worst choice."
Gazing at the dark world before him, which had withdrawn its defenses, Joshua spoke calmly. "Now, what we ask of you is simple: ensure that the demons within your domain do not become nourishment for the evil gods, and do your best to maintain peace among demons in other Abysses as well... That shouldn't be difficult for you, should it?"
*Goliath, the Gluttonous Demon King, who in a past life swept through surrounding Abysses, led multiple Demon Lords to invade Mycroft, and possessed strength rivaling true gods—you surely understand my meaning.*
Joshua said no more. Since the other side had withdrawn its defenses, it indicated its stance. He awaited its reply.
"...Those demons aren't us. Don't be ridiculous. When did the Abyss become a term for a single faction? 'Demon' is just a label you've forced upon us."
At that moment, a familiar voice spoke gravely. "The Abyss is a collection of countless destroyed worlds. We are not them... Mycroftian, are you saying this anomaly is caused by the evil gods? Do you have any evidence?"
"You are not Goliath."
In the void, Joshua frowned. His core furnace began to churn again. The warrior said in a low voice, "Ah, right. You're the Insect Demon Lord Saruka. You barely escaped with your life, and Goliath saved you... From your voice, you've recovered your original strength and even advanced further. Quite lucky."
*How can any luck compare to yours?!*
The Insect Demon Lord, transmitting information through the world barrier, felt choked with frustration. Since its severe injury, it had been hunting and recovering in other Abysses, engaging in continuous combat to heal its wounds. After all this effort, it had only barely regained its original strength. Yet the Iron Man before it had increased in power geometrically. Where it could once barely inflict damage, it now couldn't even guess the strength of this avatar.
It feared that, across the entire Sixth Abyss, aside from the Demon King Goliath, no one could oppose him. Even if they all attacked together, they would be easily annihilated... And given his personality, the fact that he hadn't punched the world barrier, shaking heaven and earth, was a sign of goodwill and sincerity. Recognizing this, Saruka dared to lift the defensive barrier Goliath had set up.
Otherwise, they would truly have taken a punch.
"Saruka, what you said is correct, but I don't want to chat with you right now."
After confirming the other's identity, Joshua waved his hand. The immense force stirred the space-time turbulence, scattering countless void remnants. "Your words don't count. Where has Goliath gone?"
"My king, it..."
Before he could finish, space-time trembled.
Saruka immediately fell silent, and Joshua looked up toward one side of the void.
He could sense that, from almost every direction in the void, waves of terrifying fluctuations were approaching. The energy of the magic tide was being devoured, the light of worlds was being obscured. He could feel multiple massive entities rapidly breaking through the space-time turbulence, heading toward the Sixth Abyss.
"Boom!"
On one side of the void, the space-time turbulence was breached. As the energy concentration suddenly surged, a deep red light began to flicker. Under Joshua and Saruka's gaze, a huge, burning vertical pupil appeared before the Sixth Abyss.
"My king!"
Saruka's voice came through, joyful. But soon, from other directions in the void, continuous rumbles echoed in succession.
As dense black mist seeped from the space-time turbulence, a thick Abyssal aura spread. What was called the "Abyssal aura" was the transcendent force of destruction and doom that permeated a world after its ruin. Beings born from the Abyss were inextricably linked to the power of their birth Abyss. Only when the Abyss was restored or destroyed could demons have a chance at rebirth.
But even demons would not easily abandon their homeland—or rather, their territory and stronghold.
The aura of the Sixth Abyss grew denser with the Demon King's arrival. Within the dense black mist, countless large and small objects could be seen flying out.
A massive arm, encased in black chitin, came hurtling from a distant void.
A tooth pierced through the void, carving a trajectory through the chaotic space-time turbulence.
Black particles, like a swarm of insects, brought an irritating buzzing drone, continuously spilling out from all directions, then converging into dark clouds. They began to self-assemble, automatically coalescing, and rapidly constructed a colossal form. It could be seen that these black particles were formed from the disintegration of countless bone fragments.
More and more, faster and faster. Muscles, blood vessels, teeth, hair, limbs, internal organs... Around the Sixth Abyss, extremely powerful limb fragments surged forth endlessly. They converged, adhered together, and finally formed a giant humanoid entirely composed of fragments. This humanoid was encased in black chitin, with sky-covering and sun-obscuring exoskeletal wings. Its upper body was immense—a single wing could cast shadows over a continent—while its lower body was a completely amorphous black nebula, with countless limb fragments like a swarm of insects constantly churning within.
Finally, a black-red, scorching heart shot out from the Sixth Abyss, plunging into this body. Only then did the entire giant humanoid seem to gain a core, showing signs of revival.
Countless blood-red veins began to spread from the heart's location, binding all fragments together into a powerful whole. Thus, a massive demonic form appeared in the void: six-branched horns, eight-eyed humanoid shape, two arms, two wings, a body covered in pitch-black bone armor, a lower body like a nebula, and countless blood-red veins running across its entire form.
Vaguely, one could hear filthy murmurs, like sleep-talking, spreading through the surrounding space-time turbulence.
"...Radcliffe..."
A low, echoing voice, like something from a nightmare, formed from shadows, sounded. The giant humanoid, the Gluttonous Demon King, Lord of the Sixth Abyss, Goliath, slowly opened the eight eyes on its head, gazing at the nearby Steel Titan. "You want to persuade us to jointly resist the evil god crisis?"
"Of course not. Why would it be persuasion?"
Joshua also gazed at the giant demonic form before him, a sense of absurdity rising in his heart.
*The Demon King Goliath of that past life was never this massive!*
But after all, the game of that past life was just a game. The warrior replied directly, "It is our 'demand' that you help those demons on the verge of self-destruction, to prevent the unknown evil god from awakening and plunging the entire star river into calamity."
"Remember, if not for this evil god's awakening, your Sixth Abyss would be our target for eradication. With multiple legendary beings among you, you are one of the few major demonic forces in the Abyss. We would not rashly embark on a journey to other star rivers without first clearing you and the other hidden demons in the Abyss."
Hearing this, the Demon King Goliath fell silent, as if pondering something. But Joshua began to analyze why its current form was so different.
Even in the past life, the Gluttonous Demon King's strength was clearly a cut above ordinary legends.
The Sixth Abyss was not the sixth-ranked Abyss; it was merely the sixth discovered by Mycroft. In reality, the insectoid demons born from the Sixth Abyss had formed the most powerful demonic organization in the last thousand years. Their faction was strong enough to plunder resources and souls from multiple other worlds—essentially pirates roaming the void, ceaselessly plundering resources and souls.
Ignoring the labels of "demon" and "Abyss dweller," the originally ordinary insectoid civilization, after being Abyss-ified, had advanced to a level surpassing ordinary void civilizations due to the rapid progress of individual strength. As for the reason... Joshua guessed it might be because, when the Mycroftians summoned demons back then, they taught those demons quite a bit of advanced transcendent knowledge. Coupled with the constant infiltration of demon cults, their technology had reached a relatively advanced level.
So-called summoning spells generally used magical elemental resonance, with sacrifices as counterparts, to call upon beings from other worlds. The reason most summons were demons and elemental spirits was mainly because the summoner's purpose was usually war and destruction, so demons and elemental spirits, with similar attributes, would respond. Of course, there was another reason: the Abyss and the Elemental Plane, due to their incomplete or abnormal world wills, did not strongly resist summoning spells. Summoning an intelligent being from a complete world would be much more difficult.
Moreover, demons that had traveled to multiple worlds would naturally gain experience and broaden their horizons. Thus, becoming stronger than before was not hard to understand.
Individuals called Demon Lords had undergone a qualitative leap in life essence, just like the legends of the Mycroft world. Back then, when the three Abyssal Gates opened on Mycroft, the first invaders were several Demon Lords. The Insect Demon Lord Saruka and the Eye Demon Lord Haier Mu were among them. Their strength was no less than that of legends, and in an Abyssal environment, they could even suppress them.
If it were only that, when the warring Mycroft factions united to counterattack the Abyss, the Sixth Abyss, lacking sufficient strength, should not have been able to hold out. Even if they had plundered resources from many worlds, the scarcity of high-end combat power prevented them from capitalizing on their battlefield advantage. But the emergence of the Demon King Goliath made it difficult for even multiple legends to defeat him, completely crushing the momentum of the first counterattack.
One legendary expert at the time evaluated Goliath, saying, "Perhaps only the resurrection of the previous Pope of the Seven Gods, or the descent of a deity, could match him."
Of course, now Eagle was not dead, and the Seven Gods had not gone to the Abyss's Nirvana Ground to suppress the unknown evil god. Not to mention them, even Israel was alive and well, possibly even advancing further. Mycroft's legends had not only not decreased due to civil war but had increased by several. The entire world was thriving. In contrast, the Sixth Abyss had been tossed around by Joshua several times, its numerous schemes and plots thwarted, now at a complete disadvantage.
But even so... what was this massive demonic form, nearly on a "celestial" scale, all about?