Soul of Searing Steel
chapter-973-30041322

From there, Joshua could just about confirm several facts.

Firstly, any new Extraordinary power had to be established from existing ones, like how mana was based on Psi, elements on mana, and Holy Light on both mana and divine powers.

Secondly, when Extraordinary powers debuted, they would become a fundamental force of the Multiverse without any form of hierarchy, like how elements could be used to create unique lifeforms such as fairies and elements completely independent from mana. Even Psi, an ability assuredly originating from divine power, was equal to its very roots—like the divine energy that the Takur Ruin Cult used, the two were completely balanced with no signs of either being superior to the other.

Thirdly, the Extraordinary powers of the Wise Ones were equal and could be completely modified to enrich the very essence of the Multiverse. It was akin to how Psi had granted souls to all living creatures, magic and lifeforce inspired a new era, while elements and ether created a whole new biological system and a form of living world.

Holy Light should have had such a tendency as well, but it was developed too late to accentuate that tendency. However, Joshua and the Pope's personal experiences confirmed that every star in the Multiverse—or Flame Seed—presently had a partial self-cleansing capacity. With that tendency, every realm of the Multiverse would have been naturally resistant against Chaos.

There was no doubt that a whole new era was to be established as well.

As for the power of Shadow…

Having experimented multiple times with Goliath the Demon King, Joshua discovered the power of Shadow to be the essence that altered certain aspects. That power was genuinely able to convert space itself into a subspace realm of shadow separate from ordinary space, while objects pervaded by the ability assumed a unique form that could hardly be observed in the real world.

It was also why creatures who awakened the power of Shadow were able to hide in the shade for concealment or teleportation—because they had actually entered a certain subspace, lurking and warping within a small area.

It was a mysterious correlation with Holy Light.

That link had distinctly manifested in Roland, the newly ascended Legendary Holy Knight and Joshua's friend. His particular Holy Light had the trait of changing matter, resembling Shadow in that respect. Still, while it could still restore a certain object's quality to its original state, it was a trait that was at once distinct yet similar.

In other words, if the Holy Light restored a certain object to a certain point in its past, then Shadow would have changed it from that point instead. Either way, the altered object would have been independent from the ordinary Multiverse, with only the Holy Light able to restore it.

Indeed, Joshua had a bold theory about the power of Shadow and the Wise One of Shadow who had yet to appear—based on the fact that Goliath was the first individual to awaken Shadow as the Demon King, he deduced and was generally certain of the Wise One of Shadow being an intelligent individual or civilization born in the Abyss of a certain galaxy.

Abysses were essentially aberrative worlds, and Holy Light could have restored Order upon such worlds, and gradually reshaped its cycles with the power of the Flame. On the other hand, Shadow would have utterly mutated the Abyss, turning it into a realm of death separate from the Multiverse… or a world that lived from a different perspective.

Should the power of Shadow have spread, it was likely that the Abysses, being the grave of worlds and the place of birth for new realms, would have become a different dimension outside of the Multiverse, with most Abyssal creatures and demons becoming creatures of Shadow—like the New Demons protected by Goliath, who were born with a normal soul and innate Shadow ability.

It would have significant kept the Abyss separate but stable, even barring Chaos corruption. It was similar to how the Vortex of Creation of the Lost Galaxy mutated into the Evil God of Birth—there would no longer have been Chaos energy corrupting the Root and creating galactic-class Evil Gods, which unquestionably maintained the stability of life in the Multiverse.

"That also means that Holy Light and Shadows are Extraordinary powers created to specifically counter Chaos… at least, with such a trend, and unlike the other Wise Ones who developed their Extraordinary powers without noticing Malevolent Chaos, the wielders had created those two powers with the knowledge of their existence."

***

Joshua was intricately studying the link and essence between all Extraordinary powers because it was fundamental if he wants to become a Wise One, an existence that could direct confront the Masterminds behind the darkness of the Multiverse.

The appearance of Emotional power and its spread had provided the warrior with much vital information. At the very least, Joshua now knew why the Sage had trained his friends and apostles in Holy Light before becoming a Wise One—Holy Light had yet to be completely separated from other superpowers, but was merely a unique application of other powers and a singular composite.

From the information, Joshua could even deduce that if Emotional power were to become a new Extraordinary power independent from Psi and lifeforce, it would have vastly changed the Multiverse. First and foremost, every intelligent body would have had potential since even robots, which showed 'obstinance' in carrying out orders, would have had a chance of awakening it. Though not necessarily so, there was still a major chance for Extraordinary individuals to appear in the face of calamity and hence open new doors for civilizations.

For instance, the Evil God of Calamity originated from an arcane civilization that was destroyed by a massive asteroid from the skies beyond and had no lack of Legends amongst them, but their power yet could not counter that threat. However, if Emotional power had existed then, a champion with the most fitting emotional conditioning would have ascended temporarily as the feelings in all of civilization prayed for salvation.

Leaving aside the matter of destroying the asteroid, alleviating the threat or at least protecting a part of civilization would have presented a significant chance of preventing total annihilation.

Or indeed, civilization would have been increasingly stable despite super disasters, including developing resistance against Chaos.

It was merely speculation, since Joshua could not have actually known the outcome of Emotional power spreading through out the Multiverse.

"If I want to create an Extraordinary power, then my considerations must start from the kind of change it would have on the Multiverse… although I am sure that Extraordinary powers which are are illogical and threaten the balance of the Multiverse would be impossible to create."

Having conjured the spectrum of diverse Extraordinary powers in the world within his body and observed them, Joshua calmly muttered, "After all, even the force I call Malevolent Chaos simply killed everything alive including civilizations, reducing them to dead eternals… it was change, not harm."

It was perhaps harmful for intelligence and civilizations, but not necessarily for the Multiverse.

"Come to think of it, it is weird."

Recalling the Evil Gods, Chaos invasion, and conflict upon thinking of Malevolent Chaos, Joshua's imagination was wandering around at that moment, instantly thinking of the present state of Stellaris and becoming puzzled. "The Chaos spawns have been retreating so significantly recently, even from their strongholds by the galactic fringes, and it is only in those faraway strongholds in which they have remained…what are they planning?"

And why had no Evil God come, even now?

***

Joshua had originally visited Stellaris in search of inferior Evil Gods or some that he could have jointly handled alongside local forces on Stellaris, defeating and thus dissecting them. After all, the world of Mycroft had archetypal examples of all Extraordinary abilities from magic, Holy Light to Shadow. However, there were no samples for Malevolent Chaos apart from the Evil Gods Death and Wither, which he had eaten.

It was not to mention that he could not have regurgitated something he had already digested…

"This shouldn't be… I must be missing something."

Prepared to warp after charging his power, Joshua's brow furrowed in thought at the very last second before the jump. "It seems that I can only guess correctly after reaching the core system of the Triple Curtain to obtain a complete star map of this world and see how things are. I can't stay too long in this world anyway, and I have to capture an Evil God within a few years, or I would have to move on to another place to accomplish that."

Ultimately, the power he wanted to created is a force that was truly tailored against Malevolent Chaos. That also meant that he wanted to create a superpower which was a foe of Chaos, and not a secondary power of Order such as Holy Light that was derived from restoration. That was Joshua's true goal—emotional power was simply his experimental starting point, and far from his end game. Fighting and destroying Chaos, or perhaps utterly vanquishing the supernatural force known as the Malevolent Chaos was Joshua's present and grandest objective.

If the other Wise Ones' intent was to change the Multiverse by inventing a new power that ushered in new futures, Joshua's intent was to change the Multiverse by inventing a new power that could put an end to a mistaken past. Unlike the other Wise Ones whose purpose was to create Extraordinary power, what he truly wanted was to utterly extinguish another supernatural force.

He stopped thinking then, and the warping ended as soon as it began—it had all happened in an instant.

Profound energies that could distort galaxies gathered, altering space and shifting coordinates, moving one individual to another spot millions of light years away. It sounded so simple, but it was only accomplished with the Psyweb of Stellaris: a psionic network that permeated countless galaxies that not even the empty Galactic Trench would have been missed. Or indeed, that seemingly empty cavity was the real hub of the network, a converging point free from the interference of other lifeforms.

In just an instant, Joshua had warped directly from the outer reaches of a fringe galaxy to the vicinity of that dark planetary system composed of several Kerr black holes.

Around the black hole, a massive metal ring glittering in silver-blue that was composed of various machine assemblies began to echo.

[Commencing welcoming ritual: I am the Third Curtain, the Beacon of Perpetuity and the External Defense Mechanism.]

Around the black hole, a triangular mechanical network distributed equally around the planetary system, forming a massive net of energies, and echoed.

[Commencing welcoming ritual: I am the Second Curtain, the Observer Hall and the Core Processor Hub.]

A hexagonal net-shaped beehive that had been whirling incessantly around the black hole and changing its trail without pattern or precedent fixed its position and echoed as well.

[Commencing welcoming ritual: I am the First Curtain, the Engine of Possibility and the Central Maintenance System]

[Collective: We are the Triple Curtain, the Infinite Seekers and the Life Preservation Sequence. The Creators had entrusted us the duty of watching over the never-ending possibilities where life would be born upon Stellaris. Hence, we preserve life and record the possibilities, while watching their future and ensuring their safety.]

[Collective: Joshua van Radcliffe, formidable individual of another world, the Triple Curtain has assembled. We hold the highest authority.]

[Collective: Commencing bottom-layer information exchange.]

***

In the Galaxy of Bloodbath on the other side of dimensions, while the Giant God of Steel and the Unlimited Divine Armaments began bottom-layer information exchange, the galaxy which had been pervaded by Extraordinary pestilence and Emotional power had changed drastically.