Soul of Burning Steel

Forty-four years ago, seven hundred and eighty-nine years after Starfall, in the western mountainous area, at the border of a small kingdom.

In the black forest on the border of the Western Mountain Kingdom, a group of ferocious monsters followed their instincts and attacked a nearby border town on a certain winter day.

The attack was so sudden that the frontier town was attacked by the monster without any resistance. The bloodthirsty monsters broke through the stone wall and slaughtered most of the humans in the town with ease. They chewed human bones, bit flesh and blood, and spewed flames and frost, turning the entire living place into ruins.

The defenders who were caught off guard sent out a distress signal, but it was a group of mysterious men in black who arrived earlier than the kingdom's army.

These monsters, who were wearing hooded robes and completely enveloped themselves in black, were unexpectedly powerful. They used strange spells to expel the monsters in the city, and then hurriedly searched for something back and forth in the city. For the only survivors in the town, the black people had no mercy or sympathy, they roughly gathered these people together, and then checked back and forth.

In the end, a middle-aged man with eagle-eyed eyes found a peaceful boy in the corner of the crowd. The dark red compass in his hand was trembling violently, and the pointer was firmly pointing at him.

The boy had long dark green hair, and his delicate face was covered with blood, but it wasn't his own. Even when encountering something like a monster attacking a city, his expression didn't change at all, and he was always extremely calm, as if the burning city around him didn't exist at all.

"Are you here to find me?"

Not paying attention to the scrutiny of the men in black around him, he turned his head and looked at the middle-aged man. The boy said softly, "I can see the excitement in your heart. It seems that I am indeed your target."

"That's right." Hearing what the other party said, the middle-aged man finally couldn't restrain the ecstasy in his heart. He laughed, then bent down and stroked the boy's face: "My son of prophecy, after seven years, we finally found is you!"

Survivors gathered around were suddenly in an uproar. A middle-aged woman stood up trembling. She pointed at the boy with fear and said in a trembling voice: "My lords, this child... he, he is weird! No matter what kind of beast , what kind of crops, if he touches them, he will get sick or even wither, even his parents..."

She originally wanted to remind the men in black who had saved their lives to be careful of the strangeness of the boy, but the next moment, a gray beam of light hit the woman, instantly disintegrating it into pieces. Viscous acid and bones.

Amidst the panicked shouts of the crowd, the middle-aged man who had just released the Liberation Ray said to the men in black around him in a cold tone: "This matter is the biggest secret of the sect... let them shut up."

"Yes, my lord priest!" Hearing this, the people in black smiled grinningly and raised their weapons, turning their heads to look at the shivering survivors.

Blood splatter.

The bloody massacre began, but this cute boy with long dark green hair didn't change his expression at all. From the beginning to the end, he watched all this indifferently, whether it was the man who was so passionate about him and called a priest, or those who Pigs and dogs were generally slaughtered, and the neighbors who lived together for nearly ten years seemed insignificant to him.

Life was fragile, like frost at noon, and it would disappear in an instant, he had known that, the boy had known it since the day his parents died.

"Herras, you are unique, a treasure bestowed on this world by my lord."

Not paying any attention to the massacre that happened beside him, the middle-aged man stood beside the boy, and he said in an uncontrollable excited tone: "You bear the blood of the void, and you have the power to absorb and control life! You are born to join us!"

Maybe so.

In the eyes of the boy, clusters of gray-white ectoplasm mixed with turbid life energy detached from the corpses on the ground, changing into various strange appearances in mid-air, and the boy knew that he could manipulate them at will, as if controlling himself arm.

Since the accident that killed his parents a few years ago, the boy named Herras began to deliberately exercise his own strength. Whether it was others' or his own, the boy could easily control it and absorb it into his own. In the body, weakening livestock and withering vegetation is only the most basic ability. As long as Herras is willing, he can even directly cause a person to lose his life and die of 'aging'.

Perhaps, this is the power of the 'blood of the void' that the middle-aged man said.

And mortals feared this power, they alienated him, and more than once the people of the town tried to drive Herras out, but never once succeeded. As long as a strong man is within five meters of the boy, he will collapse to the ground, and the weak man seems to have not eaten for several days. His gaze can deprive everyone of their courage and make the crowd that has finally gathered collapse.

At least these people are willing to accept me. Herras thought so, so he followed the group of men in black back to their base, a temple located in the deep mountains.

He spent twenty years there.

In the past twenty years, the former boy grew into a teenager, and from a teenager to a young man. Finally, on a night of bitter snowstorm, the 28-year-old Herras replaced his teacher. A young man became the high priest of this underground sect.

The extremely aging old priest looked at his student and muttered as if he wanted to say something. The man could see that a gigantic vortex of life was spinning around the opponent, absorbing the life of all creatures within hundreds of meters. His aging was also because of this. Otherwise, with his golden peak power, he would at least have Can live another ten years.

But so what? The old leader didn't have the slightest resentment. He looked at his young and outstanding student, and couldn't help showing a weak smile. Herlas' strength had surpassed him, and he had touched the edge of extreme intention. This was when he was in his fifties. Just reached the realm.

He was willing to die, using his own body as a stepping stone for the other party.

Herras can naturally see this.

"Don't worry, teacher." The man said with a calm tone: "I will fulfill your wish."

So the old priest closed his eyes.

The affairs of the religious order are boring, nothing more than destroying everywhere, spreading the plague, and proclaiming that the end will come, but Herras is serious and completes them one by one without any restlessness or slack, like a tireless machine.

He doesn't understand good and evil, and he doesn't care about good and evil. To him, killing and destroying is no different from eating and drinking. Although this man doesn't even know what the ultimate purpose of his religious order is, his behavior symbolizes the truth. Unconscious chaos in the sense, so countless cultists worship him, worship this man who is as simple as a beast.

He is called the High Priest, but Herras does not hold any real power in the church. The priests under him occupy all the power, but he doesn't care about this little thing at all. The man just spreads chaos day after day, doing What I should do, because of this, the name of the man gradually spread throughout the western mountainous area.

The cult high priest who destroyed more than a dozen towns and killed tens of thousands of humans, the title of [Herlas the Blighter] [Envoy of Decline] is enough to stop children from crying, so much so that the name itself has become a curse .

And the strength of men is also growing day by day, as if there is no end.

The rapid growth of Herras's power has shocked the entire western kingdom. Every time he appears, his strength will be significantly improved. Gold Peak, Extreme Intent, Extreme Intent Beginner, Extreme Intent Intermediate, until Extreme Intent It only took a man more than ten years to reach the peak of his mind, and grow from being unconcerned to making the Western Kingdoms Alliance feel like an enemy. This is because he, as the leader of the sect, cannot practice all the time. Otherwise, Hull Russ' strength must be even better.

The siege against Herras ended in several disastrous failures, and the most recent one, the power he showed made everyone frightened - three veteran extreme powerhouses teamed up, and he actually killed two of them , and these two people didn't have any obvious wounds on their bodies, as if they just died of normal aging, which meant that his power had gradually broken away from the limit of Ultimate Intent, and began to extend to the realm of legend.

Just thinking about a legendary level cult priest would make many rulers of small countries without legendary powerhouses tremble.

But all of this meant nothing to Herras. The middle-aged man walked silently in the dense winter forest. Wherever he passed, the vegetation withered and all living beings withered. All the vitality was plundered and incorporated into his body.

The power of life is the power of steel, whether it is battle qi or the power of blood.

But it is rumored that at the beginning of the creation of the world, there were ancient giant beasts wandering in the void, and what flowed in their bodies was not the power of life, but the purest crystallization of steel.

People with similar powers can naturally manipulate the lives of lower-level people. Herras has a premonition that as long as the life force in his body, which is as majestic as the sea, condenses into steel crystals, then he will become a legend. when.

Of course, not now, but in the future.

A man who does not know good and evil, does not understand morality, is as savage as a beast, and as regular as a machine, stopped the meaningless thinking in his mind.

His goal is the Northland.

And Moldavia in the north, late at night.

Joshua stood on the top floor of the Lord's Mansion, quietly looking at a notebook in his hand.

This notebook looks brand new, but someone has recorded a lot of information in strong and powerful handwriting. The soldier read the content in the darkness intently, looking very devoted.

What is recorded in it is the record of the experience of the strong who have comprehended the ultimate meaning of power and advanced to legend.

Although on the surface, Joshua was banned in the Northland by Israel, this does not mean that His Majesty the Emperor has forgotten the many contributions made by the warriors, whether it is gifting divine crystals, or going to the holy mountain to slay dragons, The empire has always had many rewards and compensations that were not given to Joshua.

Israel, who was rejected by the warrior, offered compensation in terms of money and property. What he asked for was the empire's experience records about [Perfect Body] and [Extreme Intention of Power].

To be honest, this kind of experience is far more precious than money, but His Majesty the Emperor didn't take it seriously, and even personally excerpted a lot of notes and presented them to Joshua. But it's icing on the cake.

Thanking Israel for his trust in his heart, the soldier glanced at the last few lines of this notebook, and he muttered to himself: "The so-called perfect body is to enter the extraordinary, get rid of the shackles of the mortal body, and nearly The product of one-step sublimation... so only those who advanced with the ultimate power can touch its threshold. Israel is advanced with the ultimate skill, so he doesn't know the secrets, and these experiences say There are very few, and there are not many people with this kind of talent and expertise."

After reading, Joshua closed the book.

To him, this little notebook is better than gold and silver, and Joshua has benefited a lot from it. You must know that it contains the precious experience of the legendary powerhouses of the empire, or the peak powerhouses of extreme intentions. By comparing and referring to the problems they encountered during their cultivation, the warrior feels that he has gradually grasped the key to advanced legends and perfect bodies. The essential.

That is the life force that is extremely pure, sublimated to the level of 'steel power'.

All things are born in fire and exist in steel. The initial fire promotes the birth and expansion of the multiverse, and the steel of origin creates life and all things. Dou Qi is a derivative of the power of life, and the power of life is a diversion of the power of steel. Joshua has been healed many times through the Azure Orb, and recovered from the critical point of life and death several times. He has been able to manipulate the power of life, and It's not just battle qi, the way he healed Ivan before was the proof that his strength has become more and more pure.

But the power of steel is different from the power of life. Except for the rain of steel that fell from the steel python of the world's will in the world of Karlis, the warrior has never seen pure power of steel again. At that time, his It is a pity that the realm is too low to experience the pure power that can purify the entire world.

"When I come back from Moldavia, I might go back to the world of Karlis."

Thinking of this in his heart, Joshua involuntarily recalled the contents of the notes in his hand.

In the history of the empire, there is no shortage of strong men at the peak of ultimate intent, most of them are warriors, but most of these warriors who have reached the top of the mortal world are stuck on the level leading to the legend, unable to advance an inch .

This is because they simply don't know where to go and how to improve.

The purification of battle qi into the power of life is the end for the vast majority of extreme powers. They have never seen a higher level of power, so how can they know their goals? The power of steel spreads all over the world, and it is everywhere like space, but because of this, it is difficult for people living in this environment to experience this invisible power. Even Israel frankly admits that, My advancement was just a sudden feeling, and I suddenly realized one of the original powers in this world, and then advanced to legend.

But Joshua didn't want to rely on luck. His chances are far higher than Israel's, and even everyone else's. He has traveled to different worlds many times, and the power of steel in these worlds must be different. The soldier believes that as long as he goes to other worlds again next time world, then he must be able to understand from the slight difference between the original power of the two worlds, and then detect the trace of the power of steel, and touch the threshold of the legendary realm.

He has already seen the gap between Ultimate Intent and Legend, all that is left is to wait and break through, continue to polish his body, and practice Dou Qi and the power of life.

In the darkness of the night, Joshua raised his right hand, he clenched his fist, and a layer of black and red flames gradually appeared on it.

This blaze is his fighting spirit, black is the power of glory that devours the soul, and red is the pure power that represents high temperature and impact.

The cold winter wind blew across the street, making a slight humming at the corner of the eaves, and with the sound, the color of the black-red flame on the warrior's fist gradually deepened and purified, until finally, it became It was extremely dark, as black as an abyss.

fire of life.

It is extremely deep, as if all the colors are converging into black, which symbolizes Joshua's vitality. This power is so thick, as majestic as the sea. Numerous treatments of the Azure Orb have made the warrior's body adapt to this power. , he can freely manipulate it to heal allies and kill enemies.

Joshua even had such a premonition: as long as his strength continues to grow and the power of glory is further advanced, then he can manipulate the vitality of other creatures around him and use it for himself, just like a powerful mage can He can easily control the magic power of mages who are lower than him, counteract them at will, and control their spells. He can also absorb the vitality of others at will, just like those great demon kings in fairy tales.

But who would do that? The soldier shook his head indifferently. Other people's lives have unique imprints. As long as they are normal people, it is impossible to arbitrarily absorb the power of other people's lives. If they do so, they will completely lose their self-awareness and become a lunatic like a wild beast.

The black flames were burning silently. At this time, if Joshua's body was viewed with energy vision, it seemed to be a sun falling on the earth, covering the entire main city of Moldavia and even the surrounding wasteland. Within the range, monsters retreated in fear, insects and ants huddled in their nests, and all human beings felt inexplicably at ease, as if they were in a warm embrace.

The long black and red energy lines, starting from the soldier's right hand, continuously spread and covered his body, which meant that Joshua had used all his strength, and the invisible ripples spread in all directions, making all the soldiers in the city People with certain strength were shocked.

Artanis got up from his own bed in the church. He hurried to the window and looked at the Lord's Mansion not far away. Although the old bishop's eyesight was not good, he could still see the figure clearly with the help of divine magic. .

Instinctive fear came from the bottom of my heart, it was the suppression on the level of life. Artanis took a deep breath, and said to himself with some envy: "Have you come to this point... Joshua... Berouo and Fan will be proud of you."

And the artificial intelligence lady floating in the night sky also turned her head and stared at the top floor of the Lord's Mansion. She wanted to go over to see the situation of the soldiers, but the powerful life energy fluctuations stirred up the magic elements of the entire city, and No. 3 even felt This projection of herself was about to be cut off from the main body, she stopped where she was, and couldn't help showing a wry smile.

In addition, many people have noticed the fluctuations coming from the direction of the Lord's Mansion, most of them are some elite adventurers or powerful guards in the caravan, but they dare not pay attention directly like No. 3 and Artanis , but stayed in his room with some fear, waiting for the fluctuation to end.

Joshua didn't care about the attention of his surroundings, he continued to stimulate his own strength, let the black flame burn blazingly on his right fist, and then produced a qualitative change.

Black and red lines have spread all over the warrior's body. All the muscles, tendons and internal organs of his body are moving violently. The powerful lungs swallow air, producing an extremely long echo like a dragon's chant. Qiao Xiu Ya stared at the flame in his hand, without any relaxation.

I don't know how long it has passed, and suddenly, a silver light appeared in the black flame.

Joshua was taken aback for a moment, he didn't know whether it was his own illusion or something happened, but the second he was about to take a closer look to confirm, the black flame of life went out.

The soldier staggered back a step. This experiment to sublimate the power of life actually consumed all of his majestic fighting spirit, so that Joshua is now at the weakest moment except for being seriously injured and dying.

But the four hands supported the warrior's body from the back, Joshua looked back, and it was Hotaru and Rin.

The two gods immediately came to the top floor of the lord's mansion after they noticed that the warrior was emitting a powerful wave of life on the roof, and watched silently behind him.

"What a good boy."

Leaning against the wall, Joshua gently hugged the two of them in his arms. He looked at the two silver moons in the dark sky, and his eyes were shining red.

The power of the Azure Orb surged, quickly restoring the fighting spirit in the warrior's body, and quickly restored his ability to move.

Is that silver flash just now the prototype of the power of steel? The soldier doesn't know, but he knows that this road is feasible. As long as he continues to walk, then whether it is the legendary realm or the perfect body, it is the scenery that can be seen on this road.

"Firefly, Rin."

He said softly: "I will set off tomorrow to Moldova."

The soldier didn't seem to be explaining his decision, but was talking to himself: "I have a hunch that maybe fighting against an evenly matched opponent will allow me to perceive the essence of the power of steel more clearly... probably from Organa. Give it a gift, my hunch has always worked well since that time."

"Yes." The young girl in Joshua's arms echoed softly. They are the fighter's magical machine and his weapon. They will never oppose what the master decides to do, but support it.

This is trust.

Because of this most loyal trust, they will accompany the warriors all the way to the end of this world.