Soul of Burning Steel

The Imperial City Royal Masters Association, the president's office.

"Listening to your request, I can probably guess your purpose."

Behind the table, the old sorcerer who had recently been promoted to the legend could distinguish the consistency of the space-time coordinates and the remaining fluctuations in only one tenth of a second. He raised his head, looked at the young man in front of him, frowned and said: "You are going to the abyss ?”

"Yes." Joshua replied bluntly, "I want to go."

"Nothing in this world can stop you." Nostradamus shook his head slightly, and he said helplessly, "If you want, you can do it, but I still have to make a point."

When he said this, he leaned back on the comfortable armchair, then stretched out his right hand and rubbed his forehead, as if he was recalling something: "The abyss is very dangerous—it's true for everyone, not just Legends, even gods have to be careful in them."

Because that is a dead world, in such a time and space that is gradually decaying and dissipating, any incredible and dangerous things are possible, even the immortal strong can easily fall into deep Trapped in it, just like the two five-color dragon kings who disappeared many years ago.

"Listen, Joshua, I know the two masters Barnier and William. At that time, the space-time fluctuations were written by Barnier. They directly took the initiative to go to the abyss. It is impossible for the two legendary mages to enter without the slightest preparation. Different world."

After thinking for a while, Nostradamus still planned to try to persuade the warrior, but as expected, Joshua was unmoved, so that the old mage who wanted to use his rich life experience to educate the other party could only do so. Being able to shut his mouth, he shook his head regretfully: "Forget it, I can't stop you—yes, the breath is the same, and the teleportation target of that space-time fluctuation is the sixth floor of the abyss."

"In any case, if you really want to go to the abyss, you must be careful. It is different from the normal world. It is a place where the remains of all things gather, and all the dangers are in it."

"Thank you." On the other end, Joshua didn't feel impatient with the old mage's nagging advice, and he even showed a smile. After expressing a brief thank you to Nostradamus, the soldier lowered his head and said in a deep voice to the things in his hand: "Let's go, remember to lead the way when the time comes."

And the Balrog Syndicate, who was housed in a half-person-high transparent cylindrical crystal jar, looked at the two legendary powerhouses in front of him discussing how to go to the abyss in despair. He felt that something was wrong, but with most of his power sealed away, he didn't have any The only way to break free from this 'cage' is to escape reality and curl up into a ball like a slime, praying—well, it's a demon, and praying to no one will work.

Joshua's actions are always swift and resolute. Under the perception of Nostradamus, the legendary warrior who walked out of the company and his black dragon mount quickly left with the imprisoned Balrog. The old mage didn't even see a trace of thinking in this person's actions. He seemed to have determined his actions and even the trajectory of his life a long time ago, and since then, he has been carrying out his actions without hesitation. .

Slowly getting up from the big chair covered with soft cashmere cushions, Nostradamus came to the window of the Royal Mages Association office. He just watched the soldier's back until the other party left the city and the imperial circle. It also left his perception range, and then he whispered to himself softly: "It is always difficult for human beings to understand each other."

The old mage knew this a long time ago, just as those nobles could never understand him, and he could never understand the nobles.

A commoner becomes a strong man because of various "accidents" and struggles, so he should join the upper class as a matter of course, become part of the nobility, and become the new upper class. Then, in order to maintain his status and the privileges of his descendants, Then block the ascent channels of other civilians.

How foolish.

In this multiverse full of darkness and evil, they hold the inheritance that can make most people become extraordinary, but they don't try their best to think for everyone in the world. Instead, they wholeheartedly suppress their own race and ignore the diversity. Countless threats and terrors in the universe are focused on the mere one-third of an acre of land in front of them, blocking the possibility of the future for the meaningless inheritance of tiny rights. This kind of short-sightedness, this kind of noble thinking logic, the old man can't understand.

This is just the simplest part of logical conflicts. In fact, all the conflicts are enough to write another two million-word thesis. The logical conflicts in all aspects of human beings are endless. It's like the old mage doesn't really understand Yisrei well. The means by which you raise your offspring is as if he has never been able to understand Joshua's mode of action.

But the difference between the two men is not annoying.

It is precisely because of these differences that humans are interesting.

Unlike the nobles, Nostradamus admired them, so he was willing to help them.

Of course, it's not all because of this reason. Thinking of this, the old mage looked away from the window, smiled and sat back behind the desk, then closed his eyes, and his thoughts escaped into the void.

More importantly, he wants to see what kind of storm this young legendary warrior, who has never been peaceful, will stir up in the long-silent abyss of the multiverse in the near future.

At the same time, with the wailing sound of the Abyss Spellbook, Joshua once again forcibly opened the Book of Eibon on the deserted grassland outside the imperial capital, forcing him to open the summoning time-space rift leading to the abyss .

Dead silence, depressing, the atmosphere full of sulfur scorching and strong radiation toxins gushes out from the narrow and long space-time channel in an instant, and the abyss with relatively high pressure continuously sprays a huge amount of poisonous gas, causing the surrounding green grasslands in spring to burn yellow and wither. , although the Balrog contained in the jar couldn't sense the changes in the outside world, it still subconsciously squirmed its highly poisonous radiation body, wanting to drill back to its 'hometown'.

Neither the soldier nor the black dragon girl standing beside him looked indifferent, the sulfurous smell and toxins of the abyss were nothing to them. With a wave of Joshua's hand, these auras full of chaos and death immediately dissipated like a natural enemy, and stopped surging, and the withered and yellow land instantly turned green again.

"Let's go," he said, and then he carried the Balrog, and stepped into the space-time rift—Joshua seemed to dislike the small passageway, so he kicked it, and the time-space rift obediently expanded More than half of it.

It feels no different from the inside of the volcano.

After the gap in time and space widened, the black dragon girl followed behind the warrior with a happy face, and she thought excitedly: No wonder the master only took me out to play this time, and I'm sure I'll envy Siying and Rin when I go back!

As soon as one person, one dragon, and one demon disappeared into the space-time rift, this inconspicuous passage quickly closed, leaving no trace on the Mycroft Continent.

【Confusion breeds destruction, uneasiness breeds despair.

——Abyss Diary, Volume Three, Chapter Seventeen. 】

When Joshua stepped across the space-time rift and stepped on the gray-black earth mixed with black gravel and poisonous rot, he couldn't help trembling slightly, and faint silver arcs flickered all over the soldier's body. The 'force of steel' was responding to the existence of certain things, but it wasn't until the black dragon girl also walked through the space-time passage and the crack closed that Joshua nodded slightly and closed his eyes.

Time went back in his brain, light and shadow intertwined in his mind, and countless phantoms, or images of the past flickered in his consciousness.

The world was frozen in a winter seven thousand years ago.

At that time, the black gravel was still fertile soil, and the poisonous land was still a vibrant jungle and grassland. On the top of a hill that Joshua did not know, he looked at a city not far away—a spiral bulge The magnificent metal spiers and translucent pipes like spider webs make up this magnificent city, and the six-legged insect intelligent life with carapace built it. The top of the metal spire is submerged in the clouds, and there are shuttle-shaped vehicles shuttled up and down in the pipeline. They connect every corner of the city, like blood vessels.

At this moment, the world is still thriving. All kinds of creatures that soldiers have never seen before live in the vibrant grasslands and jungles. The civilization of insects is integrated with nature. They use the heat of underground magma to drive huge steel machines to run , building one after another spectacular buildings like beehives, everything is so smooth, and everyone is full of hope for the future.

At the same moment, the dark tide is raging among the civilizations. In order to compete for the leadership of the world, several insect-human powers do not hesitate to provoke wars in every corner of this peaceful continent. They use agents to fight each other and conduct arms races frantically One kind of terrifying war machine after another has been manufactured, and then mounted on the most advanced weapons, a world war is imminent.

So time freezes here. At this time, technology exploded and developed, all kinds of novel things were invented, civilization was not extinguished, the world still had hope, the land was fertile, the forest was verdant, and the air exuded a refreshing fragrance of grass and trees. Birds fly in the sky.

This scene of their peaceful life is engraved in the history of this world by the power of steel, and it will last forever.

But Joshua stared at this world. Guided by the resonance of the power of steel, his gaze penetrated the entire paused illusion, looking at the "future" that this solidified world will never come, that is, the land of seven thousand Years ago in the 'past'.

The roaring warheads descended, and huge mushroom clouds rose up in the cities of spiral spiers. The solid metal buildings festered and fell like melting ice cream under the high temperature, and countless high-strength glass pipes were blown away by the terrifying shock waves. Turned into crystal debris flying all over the sky, countless insects were killed in an instant, and the remaining ones also died in the high heat and poison. The originally prosperous city turned into huge lava pits.

Thick black clouds were formed out of thin air in just a few seconds, thunderclouds rolled, lightning storms raged, and thick thunder pillars rained down. The violent electric current killed all living things, destroyed all high-precision metal objects, and destroyed all The remnants of civilization have been completely wiped out, and not even a single microbe can survive on this earth full of the smell of ozone.

The strange plague spreads, death spreads in silence, without any dazzling lights and shadows, and without any thrilling process, the end of a city is just a few coughs that are not straightforward, in the second day when everyone is bedridden In the early morning, there were no longer any living creatures other than microbes in the metal spire, and there was no longer any shuttle-shaped vehicle running inside the busy pipeline in the past.

Tens of thousands of insects just died in a sudden, mutual destruction war. Their civilization and the world were destroyed by their own hands. The survivors hated, but they didn't know who to confide in, and the survivors were uneasy. , the destruction called Wasteland silenced all of them.

They can only struggle to survive, and reproduce painfully generation after generation in the world they destroyed. One thousand years have passed, two thousand years have passed, and the world continues to fall to the deepest part of the multiverse. In the third millennium, a new layer was added to the abyss, and a new member appeared in the nearly endless category of demons.

All this happened in just a thousandth of a second. This short time can't even make people do anything, but for the warrior, he watched the destruction of a civilization.

Joshua opened his eyes, his eyes were still bright like flames.

The soldier didn't hate these illusions, nor did he like them. He raised his head and stared at the barren wasteland plain in front of him. This is a common sight in most worlds in the abyss. Joshua crossed his arms and glanced silently. Looking at this world, the scenes of seven thousand years ago overlapped with seven thousand years later, he seemed to understand something, but shook his head again.

Joshua van Radcliffe. Legendary warrior, bearer of the power of steel, heir to the sage.

King of burning souls.

Knowing the past and destruction of a world is the duty of the king of burning souls, the bearer of the world. No matter which world he goes to, or which corner of the multiverse he goes to, things will not change in any way. The most prosperous side of civilization is shown to him, while the destroyed world is lamenting, reappearing the scene of its own destruction, and warning all the civilizations that still exist.

This is his prerogative and his responsibility.

Joshua suddenly remembered the words of the God of Might.

Show no mercy. The words that the tough god of justice said not long ago echoed in his heart. Don't show mercy, because this is arrogance. In the face of the destruction and doomsday brewed by wisdom itself, no one, not even God, can claim mercy and salvation. Human beings who are still alive only need to learn lessons carefully and warn themselves.

Those sad survivors are already demons.

Even so, though, the warrior couldn't help but think of the sage.

The kind boy who wanted to save all beings, the young man who grew up to seek peace with strong means, the sage who quietly watched the development of civilization and watched over the world.

In the last scene, an old man stands in front of the endless space-time channel. He stands in front of the world and all living beings, leading the gods to fight against endless evil.

he. Joshua couldn't help thinking. If it was him, if it was a sage, if it was this person who also possesses the power of the Burning Soul King, what would he think?

I don't know, so I'm curious.

Joshua has never been so curious about a person, so he wants to try to experience that idea that has long since disappeared in the other side of the multiverse.

The sage once went to the abyss and obtained the prototype of the Azure Orb.

Therefore, soldiers have to go to the abyss once.

"Syndicate, come out."

Casually throwing out the crystal jar in his hand, Joshua released the seal and released the Balrog, and Syndicate, who was suffering from being stuffed in the jar, immediately turned into a red light and sprang out, looking like an ooze monster. The black viscous body immediately ignited raging flames, turning it into a pure flame figure.

Logically speaking, the Balrog should try to escape as much as possible at this time and get out of the fighter's control, but it couldn't help but did not do so, and respectfully knelt before Joshua's death, waiting for the other's next order.

"This is the sixth layer of abyss, the Hell of Molten Sea and Fire." Scanning the surrounding land, the warrior quickly analyzed the abyss he was in, and he calmly issued an order: "I came here this time to find someone—you I am more familiar with the abyss, and I will lead the way when the time comes to find other demon territories."

"Yes, Your Majesty!" Even though he already knew that the other party was actually a human being and not some demon lord, the Balrog still called Joshua this way according to the habit of the abyss, and at the same time, its simple mind also There are some small thoughts surging, so I am willing to obey the dialect.

Of course, the soldier could see what a mere Balrog was thinking, but he didn't care. After letting the Balrog set out to explore the way first, Joshua turned his head and looked at Hei who had already run several hundred meters and was looking around curiously. snapped his fingers.

And hearing the voice of her master's permission, the black dragon girl immediately let out a cheer—accompanied by an astonishing fluctuation of magic power and a huge roar that shocked the body and mind, a giant black dragon with a height of ten stories and thirty to forty meters appeared just like that It landed on the gray and black wasteland, and then let out an excited dragon cry.

"hold head high--------"

While the black dragon was chanting, Joshua had stood on top of the black dragon at some point, and a battle armor transformed from the power of steel appeared around him, covering him instantly. Under the helmet of the dragon head, one could see Two scarlet light spots flickered, and the warrior stroked the strong and sharp horns of the black dragon beside him, and chuckled lightly: "Let's go."

— Nostradamus did not understand the abyss.

The soldier thought so. The most he knows about the abyss is nothing more than some literature, or the brief communication when summoning demons, which is too superficial.

But he is different. He has been to the abyss, and he has been there many times. He knows how to act in the abyss, and he also knows how to find people in the strange world of the abyss.

That is to be as loud as possible.

He stood on top of the dragon's head, his helmet covering his smile.

There is absolutely no need to be so cautious. Even the dead world is still the world, as long as it is strong enough, there is no difference. Ordinary people can walk their dogs in the Mycroft Continent, but as a legendary powerhouse, he can walk a dragon in the abyss.

"Follow the syndicate, and you can do the rest." The soldier said: "Run as you want."

Hearing this, the black dragon immediately let out an excited dragon roar. Following the roar, a hot red storm wrapped in a huge amount of fire elements suddenly appeared in front of it. It blows away, forming a sky full of smoke and dust, and the giant dragon just stepped through the smoke and dust, and began to chase the conspicuous flame figure in front of it and began to run rapidly.

Joshua's Journey into the Abyss officially begins!

5000 words

Changed to a new computer, the update was late, it took 5 hours to install yesterday, and I nearly lost my eyes when I plugged in those power cables on the motherboard...

The abyss is different from the evil god, and is classified as "self-destructive destruction" and "unwillingness to be terminated by others" in the setting