217 Steelheart Widow

“Is this what you meant when you said that anyone can become a star? It sounds so dignified, but in the end, you still need the help of the Moon Realm to succeed?”

William mocked the old man in front of him after seeing who the phantom in the distance was.

The elder calmly replied, “We’re just partners with the same goal. Besides, if you hadn’t brought us into this Moon Realm domain, it would have been difficult for us to reveal our trump card. To be honest, I wasn’t even sure if She would really be willing to help us. But since She chose to help, your failure is destined.”

William felt a headache when he saw how confident the other party was.

“A partnership with the Moon Realm’s Void Sovereign? Until today, I thought the Tacma Church was very intelligent. Also, why don’t you guess why those Lunar Monsters called me Calamity back then?” he asked.

“But you still lack a weapon to deal with Her, don’t you?” the old man replied.

Before William could respond, the old man continued, “Moreover, you will never be able to retrieve that weapon—the weapon called Judgment 3.”

His tone carried a hint of gloating.

With these words, William decided that after the matter here was over, he would choose a painful death for this old man.

He cast his gaze into the distance, where a thin and sickly woman was floating in midair. She wore a black veil and a solemn black evening gown, the kind usually only seen at funerals. She seemed to float in midair alone,

with an indifferent expression and no sadness or joy on her face. There was a huge hole in her chest, and where her heart should have been, there was only a deep void. She held a shriveled heart in front of her in her bony hands.

At that moment, the other party was facing a dark cloud formed by ravens swirling in the sky.

Void Sovereign, Steelheart Widow, Aiur.

Although she was a BOSS from the past, it was difficult for William to consider Her an old acquaintance. There were very few quest lines related to the Steelheart Widow in the game, and most of them were used as meaningless filler. She barely interacted with players. Other than the final BOSS battle mechanism being slightly unique, there was nothing memorable.

Oh, right, there’s also Her strange name.

In summary, Aiur was an existence that everyone might have forgotten about when discussing the BOSS with the weakest presence in the game on the forum.

The domain She symbolized was numbness, silence, and coldness—the opposite of everything related to love in the world.

The opposite of love wasn’t hatred, but neglect.

William had a question he couldn’t figure out.

The reason why the Seven Holy Spirits could truly appear was that the Holy Spirits Church had gathered the myths of the various races on the Vic Continent and summarized similar gods into a unified prototype of faith. To a certain extent, this was a ceremonial magic system formed through high-level planning.

However, the mythical prototype of the so-called Eighth Holy Spirit had never appeared in the legends of the various races. It had only been constructed using the deeds of mortals out of thin air – whether it was William’s deeds or Terra’s deeds, it had only used the deeds of mortals to truly achieve divinity. This didn’t sound quite scient… occultic.

In history, there were numerous rulers who claimed to be gods, but no one had ever become an existence like the Eighth Holy Spirit who could provide a weak blessing just by touching its figurine.

However, when William saw that the person confronting Blake in the distance was the Steelheart Widow, he seemed to understand what the Eighth Holy Spirit’s divinity manifestation was.

William remembered his conversation with the Eighth Order Holy Maiden, Diana, on his way to Ava State.

Diana had told him that she received a divine revelation from the Eighth Holy Spirit because she found an amulet that William had enchanted and created. After that, she helped Myriad Feet City get rid of the Blood and Tears Plague and was given the title of Eighth Order Holy Maiden.

William found it strange. The amulet he enchanted didn’t have any healing powers, and the Eighth Holy Spirit’s authority shouldn’t have anything to do with healing. So, how did Diana get rid of the plague?

But when William saw Steelheart Widow descend, it became clear—the Blood and Tears Plague wasn’t actually expelled by the Eighth Holy Spirit. Instead, it was the Void Sovereign who created it, Steelheart Widow Aiur, who stopped it.

The Eighth Order and the Tacma Church were partners with the Moon Realm.

Whether from the beginning or at some point, the Eighth Holy Spirit’s birth was definitely connected to the Void Sovereign.

William even believed that it could be traced back specifically to Steelheart Widow Aiur, the Void Sovereign.

In the game, when fighting Aiur’s Void Incarnation, the other party’s special abilities were Silence and Instant Death.

With the title of Steelheart Widow, while it was unknown why Aiur had the word “widow” in her name, the word “steelheart” was the best explanation for Her symbolic domain.

Metal spells were also called Death spells because metal was the final stage of magic power sinking and condensing in the Creation Model. It was magic power that had died and lost all its vitality.

The concept of Steelheart matched this—the numbness, silence, and coldness of losing passion sealed all creativity in cold reality.

Now that William thought about it, the two powers displayed by the so-called Eighth Holy Spirit—magic nullification and the unreasonable Instant Death—seemed similar to Steelheart Widow’s, whom William fought before.

However, he never considered the Moon Realm or Steelheart Widow.

A raven flew overhead in a staggered flight. William curled his index finger and let it land.

“Presiding Judge, Void Sovereign Steelheart Widow’s projection, descended upon Black Crow Gaze with the mark on the girl from before.”

The raven spoke in Blake’s voice.

“Is it possible for the other party to enter Black Crow Gaze or Currere through this projection?”

William paused to consider before asking, “More than half of Black Crow Gaze has already merged with Currere. The World Shell’s protection will also apply to us. Unless the other party kills me and takes control of Black Crow Gaze, it’s impossible for Her to enter Black Crow Gaze or even Currere with Her true body.”

In other words, the other party was just a projection.

Upon hearing this, William breathed a sigh of relief.

As a magic chanter, he didn’t have much power against Steelheart Widow compared to the other 12 Void Sovereigns, but if it was just a projection, he should be able to handle it without fully gearing up or using Judgment equipment.

“Are you okay?”

William noticed that the raven Blake had sent, who was now injured.

As the Father of the Crows, every raven in Black Crow Gaze was an extension of his strength, so Blake’s injuries would be reflected in the ravens.

“Fortunately, the other party was only able to achieve a surprise attack at the beginning. She hasn’t made any further gains. However, it doesn’t seem like She’s interested in fighting,” Blake replied through the raven.

It was good that the other party wasn’t interested in fighting. After all, it fit Her character.

William jested inwardly and continued asking, “Can you handle it alone, or do you need my help?”

As a Moon Realm existence second only to the Void Sovereign, William believed that even without his assistance, Blake should be able to defeat the other party.

“It’s easy to deal with the other party. As long as I stop maintaining the coordinates in Moonlaw City and bring Black Crow Gaze closer to Currere, the other party will be forced back to the Moon Realm by the World Shell,” Blake responded through the raven.

However, as soon as these words were spoken, the raven froze.

William felt the raven on his finger become heavy and cold. Before he could react, it flipped over and fell to the reef below with a metallic sound.

The raven spirit, formed by Blake’s strength, had turned to metal.

I have a deal to discuss with the Calamity. You can banish me after I’m done.

A crisp and cold voice that sounded like iron clashing echoed in everyone’s minds.

The next moment, the woman in the black evening gown appeared in front of William, her hands holding a steel heart.