Soul of Searing Steel
chapter-154

Joshua looked nostalgically at the savage Aragami army that was charging towards him. The surfaces of numerous moving crystal shells were reflecting fine lights, making the tidal wave of Aragami army looking like a sparkling wave of fish on the sea.

This scene in front of him flashed across his eyes. Between the blur, the eyes of the warrior seemed to be able to see two worlds.

In one of the two worlds, the sky was scorching like a red vortex of fire rising into the sky. The gurgling wind blew over the ground, turning the solidified gray stones back into lava form. Along with thunderous roaring, the devilish army of Aragami was stomping on the flowing lava, flowing forward like a swarm of insects.

In the other world, the sky was dark. With the layers of dark clouds covering the sky, the land was dark as well. One could barely see anything down there. Right in the sky, the sun was about to be extinguished. The freezing cold winds were sweeping everything, causing ashy tornadoes to form from the ground across the desolated land. Meanwhile, the army of Aragami were remaining silent as they charged across the cold sealed land as if they were a 'wave of death' that would devour everything.

In that instant of a trance, the two worlds gradually collided. Joshua felt as if he was back in the ruins of Fort Naya; in his enchanted armor, armed with his golden greatsword, standing side by side with his comrades of his battle party, getting ready to battle against the demon army that came from the abyss.

However, a breeze of cold air blew past him and woke him up from the trance.

Right in front of his eyes, there was no boundary to the land and sky he was looking at. The Aragami that emerged from the cracks across the land had told him that everything that happened stay in the past. This was no longer the world that he fought in in the past. This was a completely new battlefield.

"Phew…"

Joshua breathed out a deep breath and his eyes became sharp and bright once again. He looked at the surroundings for a bit. Moreila, Clyre, and Ling were looking right into his eyes. The old dwarf and the elf nodded slightly and showed their weapons up front to indicate that they were ready to engage in battle anytime now.

Upon nodding back at the others, Joshua knew that he was no longer the legendary warrior of Continental War.

Currently, he was the head of the Radcliffe family, the Chaos Guardian that would annihilate Chaos. He was currently standing in the Karlis world that was about to come to an end. He was currently standing on a metallic moving fortress that was as large as a mountain. He was currently facing an endless horde of Aragami. He was currently ready to engage battle.

Woo woo woo woo-

The fortress was still moving forward as its thunderous blares shook the sky. White mist that gushed out of the fortress exuded resplendant magic light. The rumbling sound of the steel had suppressed the sound of the wind. Meanwhile, the Aragami were pursuing it closely.

Along the way, they could also see the ruins of countless cities. Occasionally, they also saw that there were some high-rise stone buildings which still retained the image of the world over a thousand years ago. For instance, one of the buildings was like an extremely tall lighthouse not far from where they were standing. Right on the top of it, there was still a faint glow. However, as the Aragami army rampaged across the ruins, the building was destroyed, turning it into dust during its collapse.

"Everyone."

03's projection suddenly reappeared before them. She calmly said, "We're about to go into the mountainous area. The moving speed of the fortress will definitely slow down a little. Some of the Aragami will surely catch up with us by then. I have the automated rune defense system. However, this system is not perfect. During that time, I hope you will help me drive away those Aragami that manage to get onto the fortress."

"Of course."

Joshua naturally agreed to 03's request. He knew that the steel base carrying the fortress had already been in ruins. This was certainly the traces that were left from fighting the Aragami over a thousand year. The warrior also knew that 03 had her own means to handle the Aragami that could get onto the fortress. However, the fortress would definitely be sustaining a certain amount of losses for doing so. Furthermore, Joshua and the others originally came out of the fortress to battle against the Aragami. So there was no reason for them to turn down No.03's request for help.

"Thank you very much."

Upon nodding gently, No.03's projection turned her head over and looked at the army of the Aragami. She remained in silence.

Soon afterward, a weak tremor came in and the fortress had moved all the way over to the mountain area. The movement speed of the fortress had obviously slowed down.

Meanwhile, the Aragami with different appearances disregarded the terrain of the ground as they made minimal effort to maintain their movement speed on pursuing the fortress. The army of Argami was catching up on the fortress. The vanguard Aragami were on the verge of touching the metallic bottom of the fortress's back.

"10… 8, 7… 5, 4…"

Joshua could vaguely hear 03 doing a countdown as gently as she could. The black wings of that A.I flapped rapidly as if she was a little excited.

"3, 2, 1."

At the end of the countdown, 03's expression came to life. After all, her face had been extremely calm all along since the beginning. That emotionless face finally revealed a vague smile. She seemed a little excited as she spoke, "Attack ready!"

Along with this command that was given by the A.I who was controlling the entire fortress, countless weapon firing ports popped right out from the sides of the fortress, followed by the appearance of countless translucent magic circles that looked like honeycombs in front of the fortress, completely shrouding the fortress that was as huge as a large city. Meanwhile, the middle of each of those magic circles were gathering golden radiance, charging up.

"Glowing concentrated light cannon—Full launch ahead!"

For over a thousand year aimlessly moving around without a target, having no goal left since long ago, this A.I which had the thirst to destroy Chaos was cackling joyfully. "Got to hell! Chaos!"

Under her command, the magic circles came together, followed by countless light beams converging into one straight line, striking straight at the formation of the Aragami army. The golden beam of light burst out instantly. Just like countless mini suns, the light beams tore the dark mist apart like they were nothing. In an instant, there were countless glaring beams cut straight into the forces of Chaos.

Steady streams of light were generated out of those magic circles endlessly. Each beam was as fast as lightning. They flew across thousands of meters and landed straight on the Aragami army that was charging right behind the fortress. Again and again, the explosions hit the horde.

However, the number of the Aragami were countless! Even though the attacks of the fortress were powerful, however, the attacks could not inflict obvious damages to the enormous Aragami army. In between their breathing, right in the middle of the rising dark mist, the holes made by the explosions on the horde were filled back up repeatedly.

03's projection did not have an unpleasant expression on her face though. She seemed to be accustomed to fighting a large number of enemies at the same time. Meanwhile, the Aragami army that was suffering the bombarding attacks from the fortress had once again caught up to the metallic bottom of the fortress. Some of them even started climbing up.

Meanwhile, the A.I shook her head and spoke gently, "Activate."

"Rumbling…"

Under of the commander's command, the deep roar of the steel's moving friction came echoing into the surrounding intensely. Right at the top of the gigantic steel pyramid, by the surroundings of the crystal sun, there were countless metallic giant towers rising up. Each tower was surrounded by innumerable complicated runes, forming endless magic circles.

Clyre who was gathering magic power ready to charge up to the top of the fortress was stunned for one brief instant. Moreila who was charged up with his Combat Aura was awestruck to see it as well. Even Joshua had to lift his head up to look at the countless magic circles that covered the sky right above the fortress.

The enormous and complex energy amount enough to distort the space around it was flowing out from the core of the metallic pyramid like the water of a river gushing out. The energy then formed into a layer of golden light that looked like starry clouds. That golden light then began to expand under the support of countless magic circles. Meanwhile, the expansion of light has given rise to a tremendous amount of power of Order. The space around it had also been distorted. The blooming light was shining bright like the real sun, faintly emitting a buzzing sound that rumbled the heaven and the earth.

"Blazing Sun Flash—Fire away!"

03 gave her command once again. Upon hearing that voice, even without the need to see her face, Joshua could predict the facial expression on 03's face. It was obvious that she was extremely excited as her face was filled with the best smile she could offer.

Meanwhile, right after the command had been given out loud, the wind stopped.

The people from the Mycroft Continent finally witnessed the terrifying power that the Karlisi had to offer during their best days, the mobile fortress.

"Phew."

A soft vibration that could not be described with words was heard buzzing in everyone's ears. Joshua instantly felt his body suddenly sink momentarily as if the gravity had been increased. Meanwhile, along with that phenomenon, the light ball right above the crystal sun was illuminating like how the real sun shone upon the heaven and earth. Even the mountains and hills under the clouds were illuminated. The world that had been ruled by Chaos and darkness for over a thousand years had once again ushered in the presence of that light.

After that, the light ball turned into streaming lights and was blown straight towards the Aragami army!

Rumble—

The beams of light then bombarded onto the surface of the earth violently, causing water-like ripples. At the same time, the dirt and dust got bombarded so violently that they were stirred into the sky all over the place. Under the terrible assault of the beams of light, the army of Aragami that seemed endless had been cut in the middle. Tens of thousands of Aragami had been turned to ash with that single strike.

A tunnel filled with lava at the bottom of it appeared on the ground over a certain amount of distance, looking like a scar. Meanwhile, the formation of the army of Aragami was actually disrupted, as they were pushed to different directions over hundreds of meters.

However, that terrifyingly powerful attack could not destroy all of the Aragami.

Several giant creatures, twinkling with strange lights, broke right through the smoke and dust caused by the explosion. Their bodies were covered in crystallized shells that looked wretchedly intimidating. There was not even a single scratch on their bodies. These monsters that looked like a bunch of insects opened their mouths wide and let out roars that trembled their surroundings. After that, they rushed toward the only living beings at the lower base of the gigantic fortress—Joshua and his comrades.

Not a single one of that had fear written on their faces. They even laughed.

"03 did what she could."

Joshua looked at the Aragami that seemed to have the strength of Gold tiers charging at him. Turning his head around to look at his comrades, he stretched his left hand out to his Divine Armament and said, "Now it's our turn."

After the warrior grabbed Ling's hand firmly, a wave of light broke out. With that blinding radiance, an extremely heavy and extremely heavy giant battle axe with a long handle and two blades on both sides appeared right on the hands of Joshua. By the end of the axe's handle, there was a black chain attached. Meanwhile, the other end of the chain was chained around the wrist of Joshua's left hand.

He waved his black axe in his hand. The air had been sliced open by the sharp blade of the axe. The wind howled for that one brief moment at the same time when the axe was waved. Joshua then charged himself up entirely with his red Combat Aura. He then roared out loud, "To battle!"