Chapter 30: Near-Saint 5600
"Civilization passes down knowledge, beasts continue their bloodline. In my view, the difference lies in whether a life, aside from leaving behind offspring, also wishes to leave behind the thoughts and beliefs it upholds, or merely hopes that its descendants simply survive and luckily endure."
"Of course. Even as I say this, the instinct of a beast should not be underestimated. If humanity abandons its own bestial nature, it will lose all motivation. After all, for the vast majority of lives, without descendants to inherit, no matter how grand the ideals and beliefs, they are but empty talk and delusion. These two can coexist—no, they must coexist."
"I am merely strong enough to have surpassed this step, and thus can speak in this way."
In the dark void, two enormous luminous bodies were drifting. Their radiance was so dazzling that even the largest stars could not compare. Under the illumination of this light, all chaos in the darkness shattered like phantoms, dissolving into clouds of fundamental particles scattering through the vacuum.
Even billions of years later, at the edge of distant galaxies, nascent civilizations would still detect the flickering of these colossal quasar-like objects with their primitive observation equipment, and benefit from the order and tranquility they brought.
"I leave behind beliefs, I spread emotions. I hope that among the myriad galaxies, there will be those who walk the same path as me. If I am to go to a place of certain death, what I leave behind will surely be my thoughts. After all, what meaning does my bloodline have? It is nothing more than some DNA, genetic information, a cluster of information that cannot even be called complex."
"If I wished, I could casually create countless lives bearing my bloodline, just like my own offspring—it would pose no difficulty at all. And I could guarantee that every single one would be my child, closer in bloodline than anyone—anyone."
"But what meaning does that have? I am not an insect, not a frog, not a fish. I am human. I am the Transcendent, Joshua. I do not need that kind of boring and hypocritical bloodline to deceive myself."
Among the enormous luminous bodies, the giant god radiating silver light reached out and swept toward the galaxy before him. With merely a casual wave, a tremendous gravitational storm erupted in the vacuum. Like a violent hurricane sweeping through a city, it raged across the entire galaxy, blocking all hyperspace transmissions, cutting off psionic leaps, and trapping all the chaotic minions that were stirring, trying to escape, within the galaxy.
Like a planet, the plague mother beast orbiting the chaotic Dyson sphere roared, whether from instinct or fear. Its body emitted a fluorescent green glow, causing obvious warping in the surrounding space. With this power sufficient to shatter celestial bodies, the mother beast accelerated toward the oncoming storm. Its trajectory left a clearly visible luminous torrent in the vacuum, charging forward in a desperate assault.
Then it was crushed to dust, like an ant raising its forelimbs to block the falling sky as heaven and earth closed in.
"Thus, mere continuation of bloodline cannot truly pass on anything or prove anything. The offspring born to my siblings are also close to me in bloodline. Genes are not the only thing. The only unique things are human will and belief. Especially for an existence like me, only similarity in spirit can be called inheritance."
In the Starry World, at the front of the second spiral arm of the Dark Galaxy.
Joshua and the Triple Veil were once again taking action in this galaxy, the earliest to be tainted by the Evil God.
Some time ago, during the period when the Limit Plague manifested out of thin air, Joshua and the Triple Veil had joined forces to eliminate or interfere with and neutralize the wave pollution spreading through this world. The military forces of the Galactic Guardian Alliance, previously tied up, were finally able to converge and launch a major counteroffensive against the Evil God's minions.
Over eight thousand five hundred civilizations, thirty-one thousand main fleets, seven million four hundred and forty-four thousand independent units—eighty percent of the Alliance's military strength was gathered here. It was a steel river of stars whose very passage would disrupt galactic rotation. This steel river of stars aimed straight for the deepest part of the Dark Galaxy. At the galactic center there lay the largest nest of the chaotic minions. The Eternal Void Portal of old had been opened and destroyed there, but merely destroying the portal only temporarily interrupted the Evil God's erosion of this galaxy; it could not stop the chaotic minions from growing stronger.
As long as that place was destroyed and a full-scale cleansing of the Dark Galaxy was carried out, then the chaotic minions in other regions of the Starry World would become insignificant troubles. As long as the Guardian Alliance existed, they would never be able to grow and hinder the continuation of civilization.
Now, with the four Emotion Fleets as the vanguard, the main fleet of the Guardian Alliance had already cut into the Dark Galaxy from its second spiral arm and established hundreds of stellar strongholds at key points along the arm—a number that was steadily increasing.
As for Joshua's main body and the Triple Veil's incarnated entities in the material realm, they were like a sweeping hurricane, advancing rapidly along the front lines. They would destroy the powerful fortresses and strongholds of the chaotic side, annihilate the overly massive chaotic mother beasts, but they would not linger long to completely eliminate all scattered chaotic minions, leaving the remaining work to the follow-up forces for takeover and cleansing.
"Triple Veil, I have found several paths that might lead to the Sage."
And while clearing a path toward the deepest nest at the center of the Dark Galaxy, Joshua calmly spoke words that would make even Legendary limit experts take notice: "Three, or perhaps four. Mere speculations, and they might even need to be combined to reach that point... I will share my thoughts with you, to repay you for providing me with all the underlying data."
[Listening: I am listening attentively]
This was the most sincere attitude the intelligence collective could express.
"First, bestial instinct. The known Transcendent power closest to this path is Life Energy, representing material change. In fact, among the many combatants in the multiverse, the rudiments of this power are gradually emerging. I have merely summarized and organized them."
As he spoke, a silver virtual humanoid figure appeared in the giant god's hand. The figure showed a look of deep fear, as if facing indescribable danger, on the verge of death. But soon, in the figure's brain and body, a red light suddenly flared. It surged through countless energy channels and virtual muscles within the flesh and soul, instantly sending the virtual humanoid into a berserk state, displaying power far beyond before and extremely terrifying fine control over the body.
"It is the desire to survive, erupting. Its effect is to squeeze out the limits of potential between life and death, gaining extraordinary wisdom and strength... To describe it, it is like unlocking a lock on the limiters of life and genes, unleashing the fierce emotions born from struggle, war, and survival, and perfectly mastering them. From body to mind, from the grand to the minute, thus breaking through the limit."
"If this power is pushed to its extreme, fully releasing the light and strength of instinct within the heart, even a god might not be able to overcome it, right? Starting from Life Energy and embarking on this path, if carried through to the extreme, it should be possible to reach the Sage level—but the final step of that deduction, I have not yet figured out."
Dispelling the virtual figure in his hand, Joshua did not name this path, because he himself had not fully understood it. But that did not matter, because 'possibility' itself was precious. The warrior and the Triple Veil continued forward through the vacuum, and the giant god calmly continued: "But this is merely the path of an individual. A heart too independent will become isolated from other intelligences, forming an exceptionally solid barrier."
"Excessively delving into the power within oneself, liberating one's body and mind, relying solely on this—a Transcendent can easily degenerate into a beast... Alone as one, no matter how powerful, as long as one cannot achieve 'acceptance' and 'fusion'—that is, understanding the power of others, understanding the 'differences' that are unlike oneself, gathering the wisdom of all beings—as long as it has not surpassed the limit that spans between Legendary and Sage, then it is nothing more than that."
"Thus, the second path is the path called 'Divine Power.' The earliest Transcendent power in this multiverse, currently no powerful being seems to have mastered it. It remains in its primitive and instinctive form. I imagine that if Divine Power were perfectly utilized, it might be the fastest shortcut to achieving Sagehood, haha! But speaking of shortcuts, mastering Divine Power is no easy task. Even a born god will eventually be annihilated by its own power."
"However, a 'True God' requires an entire civilization's individuals to contribute wisdom, while simultaneously bearing two completely different or even opposing divine natures. This essence of 'acceptance' and 'fusion' might be the first step on the path of mastering 'Divine Power.' If the Radiant Civilization had not been destroyed back then, or if the Transcendents had not been destroyed, and they had continued their research on the path of Divine Power, they might truly have been able to use this as a foundation to step into the Sage realm."
[Understanding: Yes... you are right... I sense it, this is indeed a possibility! A brand new possibility! Indeed, if one could master all divine natures without being devoured by them, then that individual would naturally be a 'Sage of Gods' who has mastered 'Complete Divine Power'!]
[Reflection: Perhaps the gods' destined self-destruction was because they came into contact with the ultimate essence of this primal power too early...]
In the past tens of millions of years of history, the Triple Veil had not failed to deduce from the data on Divine Power left by the Founders. He had also considered in-depth research on Divine Power. But as a psionic energy collective, if he were to utilize Divine Power, he would inevitably have to tear open a rift in divinity billions of times larger than that of an individual life. If not for this, given his scale, he simply could not obtain enough Divine Power for research.
This was not impossible, but the risk was too great. Divine Power was almost a power destined for self-destruction. And as the life preservation program overseeing all life in the entire Starry World, the Triple Veil would not violate his own 'nature' to do something that would hinder his continued watch over civilization. After all, with his power, the aftershocks at the moment of divine annihilation would likely cause irreversible damage to the entire Starry World.
At this moment, Joshua's tone shifted again, a faint smile appearing on his face: "But neither the 'instinctive' berserk nor the 'fused' Divine Power is complete enough... Being able to master instinct and desire, being able to accept the unknown and the different, is not enough. If one cannot look ahead and to the sky, one will eventually drown in the swamp of 'yesterday.' If one does not pursue 'what lies ahead,' does not 'move forward,' and create new possibilities, no matter how prosperous and powerful a civilization or individual, they will meet their end."
[Thinking: It sounds like your several paths are completely opposite to the Evil Gods and Chaos]
Hearing this, the Triple Veil also fell into thought.
[Summary: Indeed, they seem very much like paths that you, who have been fighting the Evil Gods all along, would conceive]
"Perhaps. After all, what the Evil Gods represent is something called 'the eternity of the old days.' That is indeed completely opposite to me, who lives in the present and gazes toward the future."
Even though his words were interrupted, Joshua did not mind. He reached out and destroyed several more chaotic minions in a galaxy along their transit route, then said: "Those civilizations that died long ago but could not rest in peace have turned into the chaos of heaven and earth. They are already dead, so naturally they have no 'instinct' for survival. They have already merged into one, becoming mindless, senseless, pure evil beings, so naturally they have no need to understand the unknown or the differences between each other. Finally, being eternal, they naturally have no need to chase the changes and possibilities of 'tomorrow' and 'the future,' but instead dwell forever in 'yesterday,' dominating the unchanging 'past.'"
"Thus, the third path, I..."
[Forceful Interruption: But the true enemy the Starry World faces is not the Evil Gods, but the 'Super Lifeform' you call the Limit Sublimation Virus. All along, what we have been fighting, though indeed 'plague,' is not the 'Plague Evil God']
For some reason, the Triple Veil interrupted Joshua again. Facing the warrior with a puzzled expression, the psionic energy collective calmly sent a message.
[Warning: Do not speak it. Do not spread it. You only need to know it yourself, Radcliffe. In this dark multiverse, at least for now, you cannot be so generous, because behind the scenes, there exists something that neither you nor I can currently withstand, correct?]
[Inquiry: So now, tell me the true identity of that enemy]
"...Yes, he is not an Evil God."
Facing the Triple Veil's admonition, Joshua was silent for a moment. He looked deeply at the light mass beside him, which was a seamless whole, its shape indiscernible, only known to be a manifestation of the essence of 'psionic energy,' and then said softly: "He is a beast... the most powerful beast."
Once, Joshua van Radcliffe, after observing the Multiverse Star River, had believed that Void Behemoths were the most powerful beasts in this multiverse, and the Phoenix Void Behemoth, a creature whose birth cry was marked by a supernova explosion, was the pinnacle of them.
But he was wrong.
If a beast is merely a conscious existence, its purpose only to survive and reproduce, to continue itself or its information... then if there were a beast whose very reproduction and survival were for the sake of acquiring knowledge, to better sublimate, to become stronger, stronger, so strong that nothing in this world could hinder its survival and reproduction...
Then that kind of beast would likely be the most powerful, the most terrifying beast of all.
Thinking this, Joshua raised his head. His gaze pierced through everything, seemingly able to directly look beyond the Starry World, to see behind the world barrier, that immensely powerful existence.
And outside the barrier of the Starry World, as countless threads slid through the void, countless runes and Transcendent powers were inscribed upon them. It could be seen that, under the manipulation of a giant cocoon of light, an unprecedented enormous array was being woven into shape, then covering the shell of the Starry World.
"Thought and self-will are illusions. It is a puppet of instinct... No, at this level, it is the embodiment of instinct!"
"The desire to survive, the desire to explore, the desire for curiosity, the desire to dominate... the desire called 'existence'! If there is a Transcendent power in this world called 'existence,' then the one who has walked the farthest on this path is it."
So powerful. Even the Evil Gods are but its tools. Joshua's main body clenched all four fists. Outside the Starry World, Joshua's avatar, preparing the 'plan,' also clenched all four fists. He could feel it—from that unprecedented powerful enemy came waves of pure, unadulterated desire.
—Wanting to advance—
—Wanting to survive—
—Wanting to become stronger—
—Wanting to resist—
—Wanting to reproduce—
—Wanting to dominate—
—What is wanted is all realms, all things, all for me, to achieve 'complete existence'—
Outside the Starry World, the woven array was activated. It took on an irregular elliptical shape, as if a world had been flattened, all its matter transformed into a not-so-perfectly woven spiderweb. This web-like array was layered, as majestic and vast as a world. Within it, runes meshed with precision like gears, spinning and unleashing unmatched power, causing even the torrent of the Great Magic Tide to deviate.
It began to descend, to draw close, to fully touch the shell of the Starry World—that barrier separating the void from the world's interior. It could be seen that this barrier, so sturdy that even Joshua's main body using full force, or the giant cocoon of light pounding with all its might, could not completely destroy it, could only damage its outermost, most insignificant layer of shell, was beginning to slowly lower its defenses under the erosion of this array, as if acknowledging the 'array' as part of itself, slowly melting away.
At that moment, an exceptionally powerful alternate space fluctuation appeared at the center of the Dark Galaxy. Following it came multiple equally powerful, but relatively less conspicuous, sub-signals. But upon sensing these sub-signals, the chaotic minions that had gathered from all over the Starry World to the Dark Galaxy boiled over. These emotionless, mindless monsters trembled and writhed their bodies, as if trying to show submission to the starting point of their own existence, the source of meaning.
It could be seen that in several chaotic star systems at the center of the Dark Galaxy, massive energy surges appeared. Along with the opening of one Eternal Void Portal after another, exceptionally active space-time fluctuations began to oscillate from that source, as if some colossal entity was about to descend into this world!
"This feeling... is it an Evil God?!"
Sensing the anomaly immediately, Joshua and the Triple Veil looked toward the core of the Dark Galaxy. The warrior's face was solemn. He had long known this day would come, which was why he had taken the initiative to strike, to seize the advantage.
Meanwhile, as the Starry World experienced an unprecedented void space-time fluctuation and the invasion of a malicious external existence, across the entire multiverse, all Limit Beings, and even the ordinary lives around them, felt a palpitation—a fear originating from the source of their bloodline. The unmatched might of a Super Lifeform, powerful to the extreme, was spreading in a peculiar way.
Even in the distant Mycroft World, in the Moldavia Territory, the Legendary expert Loranda, who was assisting in command under the Lord's Manor, keenly sensed a tension, an indescribable, instinctive wariness.
Throughout the multiverse, wherever the Limit Virus had reached, all Super Lifeforms who had surpassed the Ultimate, all Legendary experts, felt the same tension and wariness without exception.
[——Near-Saint · Ultimate Sublimation Aggregate——]
An existence that controlled multiple Evil Gods, was migrating toward the end of the Great Magic Tide, toward the place of the First Flame. Its very existence brought calamity and destruction.
An entity that, having determined that within the Starry World there was something that attracted its desire and curiosity, was now invading with full force.
It was roaring.
And its voice swept across all heavens and myriad worlds.