Soul of Searing Steel
chapter-74

Continental War was game with a very high degree of freedom where players could immerse themselves in completely. There were millions of constant players and hundreds of millions of registered accounts. It could be deemed as one of the largest masterpieces that crossed into a new milestone of a new era.

As the name suggested, the sword and fire, the blood and steel, and also the endless war was the main theme of the game. Under the light of the blazing sun and the twin moons during the days and nights, players continued to explore and take on adventures across the Mycroft Continent. They were slaughtering monsters in battle and completing quests one after another. Along with the passing days, the history of the game world was slowly moving forward.

The players could freely join in the progress of the history mode of the game. They could affect the direction where the world was heading in the story. The situation could be turned around as well. With the push of the players and all sorts of things happening around in the game, the story mode of the Continental War could be divided into four stages, or the four expansions.

In the first expansion, the main theme of the game was the war between different races.

There were the people of the north and the orcs, the people of the far south and the zergs, the people of the west and the mountaineers, the people of the east and the sea monsters. Regardless of whichever regions or areas they hailed from, the sides that the players chose to side with would have their own opposition race to deal with. Annihilating them or conquering them would be the choices and quests that the players need to complete.

In the previous life, the kingdoms of humans and elves from the far south had conquered the zergs. A covenant was signed during that incident which was later labeled as one of the historical events known as [The Eternal Vow]. Meanwhile, the Empire in the north had completely crushed the orcs across the northwest flatlands during the historical event called the [Glorious Expedition]. The orcs had been totally annihilated.

In the second expansion, the main theme was the wars between civilization and nature.

The Dark Tide from the Dark Forest was considered one of the most frequent and also the most dreadful natural disaster that civilization needed to face. Calming down the Dark Tide, find out the reason why the Dark Tide happened, or completely solve the problem that stagnated the growth of the civilization over the years were the main objectives of this game's expansion.

In the previous life, there was no force that could calm the Dark Tide down and find out the truth behind it. Everyone only managed to fend off the Dark Tide until it subsided. Then they would just let the matter drift along with time. Even though that was not considered as a failure, history continued to repeat itself like an endless loop, an existing cancer.

For the last two expansions, the main theme of each of the respective version would be the wars between the gods and the wars between worlds. Anyway, those events were still far in the future.

In any case, the tide of those times was replaced and pushed by countless legends and epic historical events. Furthermore, these events naturally required people to participate. Everyone would have the opportunity to become the center of the historical turning point. That being said, they could take the opportunity to become the so-called [Hero].

Before transmigration, Joshua was participating in the world-class epic historical event [Downfall of the Stars] in the fourth expansion of the game together with his party members. Their goal was to fight off the third invasion of the demon army. If they succeeded, they could then affect the world and reverse the course of history and make them real heroes.

Unfortunately, because of some people's betrayal, the warriors got themselves kicked out of the game at an early stage. Even though he did not see the follow-up on the event, however, since that even the captain was assassinated. So it seemed that they had failed in the end. They could not reverse the fate that befell Fort Naya.

However, the situation was quite different now.

Joshua had transmigrated into a world that was familiar yet not… After all, this was a world that existed for real.

Meanwhile, it was still many years from the failure in his other life. So there was still a long time for him to get ready for it.

Since that was the case, there shouldn't be anyone that could stop him, even fate. Facing the warrior that was attempting to change it, the fate would no longer be the same.

Joshua looked at Brandon Kaos that was standing right before him.

This golden-haired man was undoubtedly one of the most hardcore heroes in the fourth expansion [Continental War, Tens of thousands of worlds and tens of thousands of armies] in the previous life of the 'Continental War'. The warrior had worked together with him in battles before.

While Brandon was leading the other legendary champions into the abyss of Fort Tear Valley to slaughter the Demonic Baron [Goliath, The Demon Lord of Gluttony] that caused the invasion to happen in the first place, Joshua was leading his own party into the battlefield as one of the human alliance armies to battle against the massive demon army. The main task was to divert the enemies' attention.

The two of them did not really meet before. However, from a certain point, the two of them were really familiar with each other.

Therefore, Joshua was in disbelief about Brandon.

This bachelor… No, this celibate… when did he have a wife?!

"Since you can represent the Scarlet family to handle all matters in need of attention, then things should become much more convenient."

Even though his ingrained impression of Brandon was crushed, Joshua did not ask directly. He continued on with the previous conversation with a calm expression on his face. "My knights have been charging in the battlefield for quite a long time under such weather. Their bodies are exhausted at the moment. They are in urgent need of rest… Although it's a little rude to make such request, can you provide us a place and some food so that we can rest up?"

"It's a must."

Brandon nodded without any sense of hesitation as he agreed to provide food and shelter for them to rest up. Brandon would never reject such a simple request from the knights that came all the way to support them. He waved his hand and instructed a guard, "Tell the men behind over there to prepare rooms and food—the best ones there are."

"Thank you."

"That's something I should do. We should be thanking you for coming all the way here, my fellow warriors."

After showing gratitude towards each another, the golden-haired swordsman looked around before he spoke to Joshua grimly, "Mr. Count, now that the Dark Tide has retreated… if you're not in a hurry, I would like to discuss something with you in private."

"No problem."

Joshua had no reason to refuse. So he accepted and said, "You can tell me now."

"Then follow me."

Brandon nodded and turned around immediately. Then he walked towards the entrance to the spiral staircase by the corner of the city wall.

The warrior followed behind him.

The guard that was stationed near the stairs initially noticed the approaching of the two Gold-tier powerful beings. He immediately saluted the both of them. Under the signal of the golden-haired swordsman, That guard then nodded nervously and went outside to patrol around. He intended to give the two Gold-tier men some private space.

"Mr. Brandon, this place is quiet."

Joshua was not a person who spoke a lot or beat around the bush. After waiting until the guard left, he immediately said, "So no matter what it is, you can now tell me straight away."

"Nothing…"

After all the time, the swordsman remained silent instead. He furrowed his brows slightly, as though he did not know how to word it properly.

However, after a brief moment, this golden-haired swordsman with a handsome face shook his head and sighed lightly. "Let's just forget about it. It's quite troublesome to explain it from the beginning. However, you should be able to understand when I show you this."

After they were done with words, Brandon put on a grim expression, gripping the hilts of his two swords tightly. Then he slowly pulled the two swords out.

Joshua raised his eyebrows a bit. His red eyes were fixed on the waist of the man; he would not be mistaken that the swordsman would attempt to attack him of course. The warrior could see that Brandon was just trying to display his weapons.

Meanwhile, even if they were really going to battle each another, the warrior had absolute confidence in defeating the Gold-tier swordsman who would become a legendary Sacred Swordsman. He was confident enough to beat that pretty face so badly that the pretty face would cry out the names of his father and mother.

However, it was not the time to have those odd thoughts. As he was puzzled on why the pretty face was revealing his blades, Joshua's attention was completely fixed onto the two blades on the waist of the swordsman.

The two swords that were hanging from the waist of the golden-haired swordsman were not appealing at all. At that moment when both swords were pulled out slowly from their sheaths, with the Combat Aura of the golden-haired swordsman infused into both swords, a radiance shone across the entire spiral stairs along the pathway. Some sort of strange power was surging across the blades of the two swords slow and steady like waves rippling in the air, showing a slight tide of a wave.

This rippling felt incomparably in order like the rule itself. It was the most severe, but also the most gentle power—just like the power that was contained in the Azurite, or even exactly the same as it.

"Origin by fire, birth by steel, wisdom unquenchable, order eternal."

The golden-haired swordsman voiced aloud. He was wearing a smile on his face while he said, "This is the keepsake of the family, the sharpest among all swords, the ordinal blade. It was also the Sacred Swords that were forged by the third saint of the sage, the [Shrine Keeper's Dual Blades of Order]—just like the [The Sealed Guardian's Azurite] that you possess. It's a relic, an inheritance, and keepsake left by the sage to fight Chaos."

"The new Chaos Guardian. It's such an honor to see you here."