Chapter 17: If We Must Fight for Tomorrow
Joshua did not know how others reacted… because even he, when he first deduced this result, could not help but feel a bone-chilling cold, his body trembling.
So now, the warrior waited patiently, waiting for everyone's reaction.
He simply wanted to know whether these friends and comrades of his would show any attitude toward this news. Any reaction at all would be fine, even if they blamed him for telling them this uncomfortable, despairing news—that too would be acceptable.
As long as they did not abandon themselves to despair, it meant there was still room for a turnaround.
However, unlike what Joshua imagined, he soon had his answer.
Accompanied by a flicker of space-time fluctuation, the first person to appear before Joshua was Nostradamus, wearing a sour expression, with "I'm unhappy" practically written all over his face.
"You bastard!"
The old mage, who had found his way here via the address Joshua left behind, immediately rushed forward with a low growl upon seeing the warrior. He originally wanted to grab Joshua by the collar and shake him, but both the material of the clothes and the warrior's weight were a bit too solid. After realizing he couldn't make Joshua budge even slightly, Nostradamus reluctantly let go and pointed at Joshua's nose, cursing: "I was just reading a report, happy about the growth rate of Transcendent professionals in the Empire over the past few years, when you suddenly sent over this disgusting string of nonsense. Radcliffe, do you have a mental problem?!"
Facing a friend who rarely called him by his full name, Joshua was not angry at all. To the still-furious old mage, he even asked with some cheerfulness: "So, Master Nostradamus, how do you feel about this news?"
"Like a pile of dog shit." Without any bearing of a Legendary expert, Nostradamus cursed without mercy. He even spat, then said viciously: "Do you think that knowing this news alone makes you feel terrible, so you had to drag a few people along to suffer with you?"
"Let me tell you, don't even think about it! I am not—one bit—miserable!"
Hearing Nostradamus's words and seeing him make a vulgar gesture utterly unbecoming of a Legendary mage—one only used by the old generation of Imperial soldiers—Joshua shook his head with a smile, pretending he hadn't seen anything.
Then, whether Nostradamus had set the tone or not, soon the next Legendary expert—or rather, two Legendary mages—appeared.
Baniel and William, that pair of partners, also arrived with grim expressions, using the Myriad Realms Sacrificial Ground's teleportation to reach this place as quickly as possible. Upon seeing Joshua, the two old mages also wanted to point at his nose and curse him for being "inhumane" and "deranged," but upon noticing Nostradamus beside them, who seemed still simmering with anger, they reluctantly put their hands down to maintain their image in front of a fourth party.
But even so, they didn't shut their mouths.
"Couldn't you have waited a few decades, until after we've finished off those Evil Gods from who-knows-where, before telling us this news?" Baniel denounced Joshua's foolish timing in releasing the information. "Do you have any idea that after hearing this news, I didn't even want to do the Magic Net main server update anymore? I just wanted to come over and curse you out!"
"Damaging morale right before battle—honestly, Radcliffe, have you really led troops before? Who gives such a stupid pre-battle speech!" William belittled Joshua's thought process from a psychological perspective. "Don't you know about taking things step by step? Giving one small goal at a time? Who starts by revealing the final objective? This is—"
Before William could finish, a fourth space-time fluctuation appeared. This time, stepping out of the passage was the expressionless Ocean Sage, Faina.
She was holding a cup of magical potion. The Sage lady took a sip, then glared at Joshua. Took another sip, then glared again… She didn't seem to intend to speak, as if she wanted to glare Joshua to death with just her eyes.
The arrival of Legendary experts was practically non-stop.
The Fishman High Priest, Barbarossa, the Nature Mentor and the Elf Empress, the Holy Sword Bearer, the Psionic King, and the four puff-cheeked Fairy Empresses drifting in together—they jointly fired an elemental spell at Joshua. Naturally, it was just a venting of frustration, an attack with almost no force behind it, not even breaking the warrior's clothes.
The Seven Luminaries Grand Elder, the Whale Empress, and even the Nature Mentor's "friend," the Legendary magical beast Fluffy, came running over. The Dwarf Artisan was the last to arrive; he brought a barrel of ale, drinking and walking as he went, which seemed to be the reason for his slowness.
Almost the entire Mycroft continent—all Legendary experts—had come to this place. The gazes of the gods also projected here from other worlds. They did not manifest, but their will was with everyone.
To this, Joshua opened his mouth, as if he wanted to say something, but in the end, he just slightly curled the corners of his mouth.
No matter whether the Legendary experts felt anger or despair, decadence or doubt in their hearts, whether they believed the information he had conveyed or not—none of that mattered. What mattered was that, for the possible future of the world and civilization, they had voluntarily come to this place, wanting an "explanation."
Faced with darkness and despair, they did not shrink back into their lairs and palaces, hesitating for a long time. Nor did they think this matter was too far removed from them and completely ignore it. Instead, they made a decisive decision—to face it head-on.
Just this alone, Joshua felt, was enough.
Because, facing a terrifying future, they would at least act.
Facing the terrifying existence constantly approaching from the cold Multiverse, if the Legendary experts did not take action, if everyone remained indifferent, then that future would be truly complete darkness and despair.
Originally, the warrior thought that, facing the reality of the First Flame shrinking and receding, facing the fact that the Multiverse seemed to have no future and was about to fall into silence, even if the Legendary experts weren't crushed, it would take them a day or two to make a decision. But now it seemed, he had vastly underestimated these experts. These veteran Legendaries, who could become Super Lifeforms without the Magic Tide or the inheritance of the Unified Grand Database, were certainly not just lucky or coincidental.
Their resolve might not be as pure as Joshua's; they might feel fear and confusion. But in terms of tenacity, they were in no way inferior to the warrior. Their strength came from within, not from external things, and they were consistent inside and out.
"Joshua, you left an address at the end of the star system, so you must have something else to tell us."
Seeing that almost everyone had arrived, the Dwarf Artisan, Flo Ironfinger, stepped forward. The old dwarf raised his ale cup and said in a heavy tone: "If there's something to say, say it quickly. This old man still wants to go back early to drink and drown his sorrows. I don't have time to waste with you, you malicious brat!"
One could tell from his voice that the Dwarf Artisan's mood was very oppressed—and who wouldn't be oppressed? Especially since Joshua's method of transmitting information was to use Steel Force to directly compress a bunch of files and stuff them into the recipient's head.
If it weren't for Legendary experts, an ordinary person's brain and soul might have been burst by the terrifying amount of information. But even so, brief dizziness was unavoidable.
To this, Joshua originally wanted to start explaining the next batch of information right there—there was too much to say. He had spent a long time planning, including strategies for how to deal with the massive influx of Evil Gods heading toward the Mycroft World in the coming decades. But just as the warrior was about to speak, he suddenly noticed that two of his old acquaintances had not come this time.
The Northern Empire's Great Emperor, Israel Diamond, and the Seven Gods' Pope, Eagle, were not here.
This discovery immediately made Joshua's heart sink.
Israel and Eagle… they don't plan to come?
To be honest, if they were truly struck by the news he had sent and were still troubled and confused… that wouldn't be a bad thing. At worst, they would be a little late. It could even be said they were deep in thought and cautious. But if they had been completely crushed by despair and had started to abandon themselves…
No, impossible.
But just as Joshua was still thinking.
Suddenly, a hearty laugh pierced through space-time, ringing in everyone's ears.
"Hahahaha! I thought it was something truly despairing. Joshua, do you really think this is something worth fearing?!"
One could hear Israel's low voice, layered with echoes, as if sounding right beside one's ear, incredibly clear: "The sun will also go out, and the Star River naturally will too. Instead of fearing the day that comes, instead of fearing the existence that extinguishes the sun and the Star River, why not, before death arrives, do everything in your power to reverse all of this!"
At first, Joshua instinctively looked around to see if Israel had already arrived and was just hiding somewhere. But soon, he thought of another possibility.
*Whoosh*—accompanied by the sound of Steel Force activating at full power, beside the Silver Sky's Radiance, Joshua directly opened his Steel Force vision to maximum output. He raised his head, looking toward the direction of the Mycroft World. The warrior's gaze pierced through worlds and the void, like the most powerful detection spell, directly crossing the world barrier and projecting onto the sky above the Northern Empire's East Bannert Highlands!
And the moment the warrior projected his gaze there.
He saw a brilliant, incomparable crimson-gold light.
An extremely dazzling, extremely steadfast light, like the sun in the sky, illuminating the earth, annihilating all darkness and injustice with absolute power—the divine light of "Might's Justice"!
And beside this incomparably dazzling divine light, there was a circle of formless, qualityless radiance that would be impossible to notice without careful observation. But Joshua was extremely familiar with this radiance. He knew that the one surrounding the crimson-gold holy light, escorting Israel, was precisely the Seven Gods' Pope, Saint Eagle!
"The existence and battle of life never need meaning—Joshua, this is what you once told me. You said you were a simple person, and that was the life you chose."
Joshua could hear Pope Eagle's voice coming from the distant end of the world, carrying laughter but incredibly firm: "And now, I want to tell you—that is also the life I have chosen! I have long sworn to use my entire life to illuminate the path forward for all beings of the Mycroft World!"
"If one gives up from the start, then there will never be a chance to lift the darkness in the future. So, even a meaningless battle, one that seems destined to end, destined to fail, is not so bad, is it?!"
There was no time for Joshua to reply.
Because an endless radiance of divine power was shining over the land of the Northern Empire.
Everyone was raising their heads, looking at the sky. All the commoners protected by the Heaven Net system, freed from the hands of thugs, greedy merchants, and shameless nobles; all the ordinary people who, thanks to the Empire's recent policies, had gained opportunities for education, military service, and a skill—they all instinctively looked up at the sky.
All the soldiers, who under the leadership of a certain Emperor had crushed countless Orc armies and successfully wiped out this great human enemy, raised their heads, watching the crimson-gold sun that had abruptly appeared in the night sky.
In the Imperial capital, the Three Mountains Holy City, within the Morlai Palace, the Second Prince, Di Mo Er, raised his head with a complex expression. In every corner of the world, the Emperor's children all raised their heads at the same time, watching the sacred light floating hundreds of thousands of meters high, about to enter the void.
Under the illumination of this light, even the world and space-time began to tremble violently. One could see dazzling, radiant holy brilliance condensing within the light, as if it were about to form an abstract "sun" holy emblem!
Even if the divine office was the same, even if the philosophy was the same, the gods themselves were absolutely different.
If the God of Might and Justice, "Xing Zheng," viewed his own order as "Justice Without Light," with a holy emblem of a black ring, then at this moment, the "Ascending God," Israel, viewed justice as a "sun" hanging high in the sky with absolute power, sweeping away all darkness!
What is justice? Justice is when upright people can hold their heads high, and despicable people are reduced to ashes!
One could see a dazzling crimson-gold pillar of light rising from the divine power cluster where Israel was located. It pierced through space-time, straight into the Boundless Heaven. At the same time, a crimson-gold star gradually appeared above the "World Barrier" of the Mycroft World!
Within the radiance, Israel's form was completely invisible. The Imperial Emperor was now entirely surrounded by a cocoon of light. This cocoon contained seven-colored divine power, the most conspicuous of which was the black divine power from the previous God of Might and Justice himself. That departed deity, before choosing self-annihilation, had left behind enough power for his "God Awakener," hoping that after his own passing, the other could once again raise the banner of "Justice," flying at the pinnacle of Mycroft Civilization!
And Israel's low, firm voice came again.
"I will raise my divine throne, positioned in the heavens!"
But this is not to be above all beings, for I also come from the earth.
I am merely taking a step ahead, walking a step ahead, climbing one mountain peak among endless peaks. I have merely become a strong one, so I have the duty to lead you forward on the right path.
I will lead you toward the future of tomorrow!
Staring directly at this scene across the void of worlds, Joshua couldn't help but take a deep breath. He originally wanted to put on a serious expression, but the warrior's body, which should have completely obeyed his will, unconsciously revealed a twisted, stiff, yet utterly sincere smile.
"Is there still courage? Is there still hope?"
Facing the despairing, dark, almost nihilistic picture of the distant future, is there still anyone… who would want to continue fighting?
These were the two questions Joshua had originally wanted to ask all the Legendary experts.
But now, whether it was all the Legendary experts who had come before, or Israel and Eagle, they had all used their actual actions to give a perfect answer.
Yes.
If one must fight for the distant future, for tomorrow, then the beginning of the battle is absolutely not when danger descends in the days to come, absolutely not in the endless cycle of "tomorrows."
It is here and now.
It is at this very moment.