Chapter 50: They Really Don't Welcome Guests
As Georg appeared and Joshua moved to suppress him, all the Legendary experts of the joint fleet rose simultaneously, without hesitation tearing through the walls or ceilings of their respective areas, directly entering the void and flying at top speed toward the warrior's location.
They had long been prepared for the arrival of powerful beings from another star river, with all corresponding countermeasures in place. Now that the opponent appeared to be alone, no matter how strong he was, facing the combined might of over a dozen Legendary experts, he would inevitably be forced to flee.
As for fighting with numerical superiority, that was the foundation of warfare—nothing to be ashamed of, even something to be proud of. Who told the other side they couldn't match the numbers? That was a problem for the enemy to reflect upon.
Among the many streaks of light, a profound shadow spread through the void. The Demon Lord Goliath charged at the forefront, clearly ahead of the others.
His strength was extremely high—one could even say that among those present, only Joshua surpassed him. In one-on-one combat, he could gain the upper hand against any other Legendary expert. At this moment, he saw this as a perfect opportunity to display both loyalty and power, since ganging up on an otherworldly expert didn't seem particularly dangerous—in fact, it seemed like a good assignment.
But he was mistaken. Interfering in a struggle between two of the most top-tier beings from two observable universes was not as simple as he imagined.
On the neutron star body, a sky-upholding hand was grinding down the being pressed beneath it against the surface. Under such colossal force, even atomic nuclei would be forced to undergo fission and fusion. Nothing in the material world could withstand this for three seconds—but with a roar, a purple-blue beam pierced through the back of the sky-upholding hand. Its momentum undiminished, it tore through the chaotic space-time currents of the void's darkness. The aura of psionic energy and divine power spread, and this beam pierced through everything with the solemn dignity of a holy lance.
Goliath happened to be at the forefront of this holy lance's path. Facing this divine-psionic beam that had been weakened by at least one level after piercing the neutron star's armor, the Demon Lord directly brought out his newly forged twin scythes and, without hesitation, struck at it with all his might. It was hard to discern any expression on Goliath's ferocious face at this moment, but one could see countless shadow-derived demonic phantom forms turning to ash before this beam. Even the shadow main body could only retreat step by step, barely holding on by virtue of its powerful essence, managing not to be pierced through.
Three seconds later, the holy lance's light extinguished. Goliath stood motionless, clearly having blocked this strike. But even the Nature Mentor, who could barely read demonic expressions, could clearly sense the Demon Lord's heavy mood.
*If I use my true strength, I can block the aftermath of the main battlefield... but if it's only this... tch, is that otherworldly expert really this strong? And facing such an expert, Joshua can suppress him and gain the upper hand...*
Pope Israel had indeed said that beings capable of matching him and Joshua existed in other worlds. But if that 'strength' reached such a level... then what level had he and Joshua actually reached?
No more time was left for Goliath and the others to think. Joshua's grand voice echoed through the void.
"Don't worry about here. Go to the edge of the star river."
At this moment, on the silver star, twelve starlight-condensed halos shone above Georg's head. Surging psionic energy waves shattered all chains and space-time anchors. The one-eyed giant, with his aged and simple appearance, rose from the crater where he had been smashed down. With one hand, he lifted the sky-upholding hand that was as heavy as a continent. The High Patriarch's expression was calm—he truly hadn't expected that Joshua's true form wasn't the already powerful enough human body, but the silver star beneath him.
He had suffered a loss, but the High Patriarch had fought for thousands of years and was experienced. He wasn't bothered. The twelfth star in Georg's twelve-star halo shone brightly. The Takur-rune-engraved characters for 'Illusion' emerged in the void, and his form instantly became illusory, causing the descending sky-upholding hand to miss. Georg was about to take this opportunity to distance himself from the opponent's main body and consider his next move, but his expression immediately changed. Three sky-upholding hands, their surfaces burning with the three transcendent forces of 'Psionic Energy,' 'Arcane Power,' and 'Aether,' pressed down simultaneously. They blotted out the sky and crushed all subspace channels along their path, leaving the High Patriarch no room to dodge.
Boom! With a flash of solar brilliance, Georg was once again pressed into the neutron star's surface. Joshua's serious voice came again: "I'll handle this one. An ultra-massive reaction has appeared at the edge of the star river—one, or perhaps several fleets are approaching—" Another holy lance beam pierced through the suppression of the sky-upholding hand, reducing a floating world wreckage in the void to nothing. But Joshua paid it no mind and continued, "Baniel, stay behind and continue debugging the space-time hub. Everyone else, take the fleet and our 'secret weapon' to deal with those guests who have traveled so far."
After that, Joshua said no more. He didn't concern himself with the other Legendary experts deploying their forces, but focused entirely on dealing with the powerful enemy on his body.
On the silver star, Georg, who had failed several times to break free from the neutron star's surface, remained expressionless. The twelve-star halo above his head shone, a strange mixture of unknown divine power and psionic energy forming a power that was incomparably strange and stronger than ordinary transcendent forces. Facing Joshua's continuously attacking hands, the High Patriarch kept releasing various powerful psionic techniques—Repulsion Halo, Final Holy Lance, Annihilation Torrent, and the Annihilation Order's signature Annihilation Divine Art. But these techniques, which in ordinary worlds could easily alter stellar structures and reduce countless fleets to insect-like dust, could at most temporarily repel the giant hands when striking the neutron star armor.
But this was merely testing the strength of Joshua's armor.
"I see."
The High Patriarch, who had roughly understood Joshua's life form, nodded thoughtfully. After figuring this out, thick psionic lightning burst forth from his entire body. In an instant, he was wrapped in a blinding divine light. The surging psionic lightning formed a halo-like structure, and a enormous repulsive force surged out, firmly holding several simultaneously descending sky-upholding hands above his head. But soon, this Repulsion Halo, which in the past could lift entire stars, began to shatter layer by layer. The broken rune structures turned into lightning, producing a continuous series of loud crashes.
But Georg didn't waste a single word. Instead of trying to escape the neutron star's surface, he directly unleashed a massive Final Holy Lance at the surface. The incredibly condensed divine power and psionic energy actually broke through the star's surface, tearing a wound in the silver planet. Three of the twelve-star halo above the High Patriarch's head lit up—the divine power runes of 'Illusion,' 'Banishment,' and 'Sanctuary' shone. Braving the intense lightning flashes, he charged without hesitation into the wound's interior.
Then, he rushed into a metallic ocean composed of superfluid liquid at a billion degrees Celsius!
Boom! Even the shield formed from condensed divine power and psionic energy was ignited and burned to nothing by such extreme stellar temperatures. This was no longer within the category of burning or flame, but one of the most extreme material transformation phenomena in this world. Here, even fire element lords, flame elders, or even extreme flame emperors, who claimed elemental immunity, would be torn apart and burned to death by the overly violent material transformations—let alone ordinary life!
But Georg was the supreme leader of a super interstellar void civilization. How could he not know the internal structure of a neutron star? Two more of the twelve-star halo above his head lit up—'Indestructible' and 'Steady'—the purple-blue divine-psionic light reorganized his shield, allowing him to survive in such extreme conditions.
*As expected. He isn't entirely composed of neutron star matter. Behind the solid surface armor lies the superfluid part that supports movement and thought!*
Through the shock from multiple attacks, the effects of energy impacts, and feedback data, Georg calculated the general structure of Joshua's body, even deducing the internal construction of Joshua's stellar body. He concluded that Joshua's thinking center should be at the very center of this silver star. Rather than wasting effort trying to escape the surface, it would be better to charge into the enemy's most vulnerable area and completely crush him!
A billion-degree superconducting fluid was no obstacle to him. In fact, this overly violent energy flow could provide great convenience for his next attack.
The twelve-star halo lit up continuously. The runes of 'Distortion,' 'Decomposition,' and 'Reality' formed layers of light wheels that directly blocked the surging neutron superfluid outside, even forcibly dominating it, transforming its material properties directly into raging primordial psionic energy. The three runes of 'Creation,' 'Transformation,' and 'Sublimation' condensed this primordial psionic energy into an unseeable, lightless black dot in Georg's hands. Blazing light and darkness spread together, dazzling runic light wheels and destructive dark spirals emerging simultaneously!
"Again!"
With a shout, as nearly infinite divine power poured into the halo, the twelfth star rune, 'Annihilation,' was finally lit. At this moment, the High Patriarch revealed a smile. He raised his hands inside the neutron star, and the condensed to the extreme lightless black dot, which had already begun to affect the surrounding physical laws, started to contract further—
*Psionic Singularity!*
When matter collapses to its limit, the result is a black hole, the ultimate stellar body. When transcendent power is condensed to its limit, the corresponding 'Transcendent Singularity' appears. It is the highest priority power in the entire observable universe. No rune, no ability, can block its attack before its condensation degree surpasses it. This is also the top-tier weapon used by top-tier transcendent experts to kill each other when they possess abilities like 'Immortal,' 'Indestructible,' or 'Undying'!
The High Patriarch wanted to create a true psionic singularity—at least for now, he couldn't. But creating a smaller miniature singularity, enough to use as a bomb to destroy this ultra-density stellar life form's main body, was sufficient. After all, the Annihilation Order specialized in the path of annihilating all things. They had techniques to create uncontrolled 100% mass-energy conversion under certain conditions, allowing a small psionic singularity to destroy stars or even galaxies far larger than itself!
"Is that all?"
But just as the High Patriarch was about to unleash the miniature psionic singularity condensed in his hands, Joshua's grand, yet somewhat unusually hurried and strange voice came: "You are one of the few who can break through my defenses. But is it really wise to enter my body like this?"
This series of words didn't slow Georg's hands by even a femtosecond. The High Patriarch continued his attack without hesitation—but only then did he discover with shock that his body, no, everything inside and out, including his soul and energy, all of it had begun to contract and shrink. His movements had completely fallen into a stagnation like slow motion!
*He had been hit—but when?!*
Outside the neutron star, in the void, Joshua's human form stood far away from his avatar main body. He controlled the entire silver star's contraction, manipulating the unparalleled gravity to distort spacetime. Joshua expressionlessly controlled all things—before the God of Steel, who had walked the 'Path of Matter' to its limit, even 'Time' and 'Space' were merely toys to be corrected and played with.
By distorting gravity to create completely different time reference frames, he created an artificial time trap, temporarily sealing Georg, this otherworldly expert. Joshua had enough time to analyze the energy flow and structure of the miniature psionic singularity, even having spare time to chat. But to Georg's ears, his voice sounded like noise accelerated dozens of times, unusually hurried and strange. Joshua didn't expect a reply either, but leisurely dismantled the psionic singularity through analysis.
Then, through space-time pressurization, he crushed the High Patriarch located inside his body, decomposed him, and absorbed him as part of himself.
Georg had thought correctly. To kill Joshua in a frontal battle, one had to shatter the neutron star battle body's center, break the core controlling this colossal entity, so that with the stellar defense out of control, one could slowly destroy this being whose mass exceeded that of a star... But the problem was.
There was no such thing as a thinking center or core.
Every part of Joshua's body could think. He had no center. Georg's risky move was futile. Moreover, the interior of the body was the area Joshua controlled most strongly. This was merely one avatar. If the opponent charged into his inner world, then no matter who it was, they would likely taste the same fate as being suppressed and worn down like the Chaos memories.
"So this is the vanguard scout of the multi-star river's powerful beings? Truly strong... I wonder what level their strongest would be..."
In the Jetram Star Domain, the silver star slowly expanded back to its original size—excessively high density was also an unnecessary consumption for Joshua. It was fine during battle, but in peacetime, it was better to conserve. Just as the warrior's human form landed on the planet's main body and was about to jump together to the star river's edge to join the other Legendary experts in resisting that fleet, which was a bit too massive, he suddenly stopped, raised his head, and looked at the nearby void.
Soon, with a purple-blue light dot appearing and then rapidly expanding into a halo, another aged one-eyed giant, draped in a brilliant war robe, stepped out—Georg's face was now full of solemnity. In his hand, he held a strange weapon with a head like a scepter and a tail like a spear. A ring-like crown adorned his head, and all eight of his fingers were covered with layer upon layer of rings.
The space-time coordinates had already been planted from the previous attack. This star domain would temporarily become a direct teleportation zone for the Takur Annihilation Order.
"This..."
Sensing the familiar aura and familiar situation, Joshua couldn't help but change his expression slightly. Even though he was actually an otherworldly creature face-blind and couldn't tell who this was, based on the identical aura and even stronger energy fluctuations, he could tell that the being before him was the same psionic energy expert he had fought before—this time, he had come fully armed, armed to the teeth. What shocked the warrior even more was that this person, who had clearly died, could reappear in full condition.
"So, you're also an avatar."
Realizing what was going on, Joshua couldn't help but shake his head. Since he could use avatars to fight, naturally others could too. Moreover, if it was an avatar capable of super-space-time information sharing, it could serve the best reconnaissance purpose. There was no reason not to use it.
"What? You're an avatar?!"
But upon hearing the warrior's information stream vibrating through the void, Georg's psionic avatar, who had just stepped out of the space-time rift, looked the most shocked. His expression changed drastically, and he looked like he was about to turn back immediately to prepare some new equipment on the other side of spacetime.
But before the two avatars could engage in a second round of combat, suddenly, both Joshua and Georg turned their heads, looking at another part of the void.
"...This energy level."
His expression shifting from the initial ease and slight seriousness to the utmost solemnity, Joshua's human body frowned deeply. The stellar main body also slightly contracted and expanded, reflecting his agitated mood: "...So strong! Very strong! Unfathomable—even comparable to my true body!"
"A, MO, SI, EM, PER, OR!"
Unlike the warrior, who was merely getting serious about an unexpectedly powerful enemy, Georg's psionic avatar, who at most held 'malice and hostility' toward Joshua and the joint fleet, now spread only one emotion through the void's information stream: 'Hatred.' As if sensing the High Patriarch's existence from afar, the terrifying aura approaching from the distance also released earth-shattering abhorrence and hatred. In an instant, Joshua saw that this otherworldly civilization's powerful being's avatar had withdrawn all its attention from him and, without a second word, regardless of whether Joshua would sneak attack, flew directly toward the direction of that terrifying aura!
"...So many have come. This multi-star river really doesn't welcome guests—no, it seems they aren't particularly friendly with each other either."
The mutual hatred between the two sides was the abhorrence sediment over millions of years, the blood feud brewed by the annihilation of billions of lives. Joshua naturally wouldn't sneak attack the enemy at this moment. It was perfect for the two sides to fight each other, saving the Mycroft side from being attacked on two fronts.
But he didn't just stand there, experiencing the emptiness of being left aside and the anger and killing intent born from countless battles between the two void civilizations. In fact, the successive appearance of two powerful transcendent beings made Joshua feel a sense of crisis. He believed he had to take action.
So, a crimson halo appeared out of thin air in front of the silver star. Violent psionic energy distorted spacetime. Without any hesitation, the warrior continued according to his original plan, activating the jump engine to head to the star river's edge, the front line.
Joshua wanted to see if these attackers were really so petty, determined to drive the Mycroft joint fleet out of their own star river!