Silent Crown

by Feng Yue

  —

  “Objection!” Charles yelled. “Edmund is using recovering drugs!”

  “Objection not valid.” Brian gazed at him lazily. “Drugs, alchemy equipment, and chanting material are all part of being a musician. They are allowed during the challenge.”

  Charles retorted angrily, “What the f*ck? Why don’t you just get some opiates and have a drug party? It’ll be so much fun!”

  “Please watch your language, or else I’ll have to ask you to leave.” Brian pointed at Charles and then at the exit. “I am the teacher here. If you want to stay, then you will follow my rules!”

  Bai Xi laughed coldly and opened her mouth to retort, but someone pressed down onto her and Charles’s shoulder.

  “Calm down.” An old man suddenly appeared beside them. The faint smell of engine oil came from his metal arm.

  “Teacher?” Charles flinched. “When did you get here?”

  “I’ve been here since the beginning,” Abraham said. “How could a teacher be unaware that his students left early in the morning to take part in the concertmaster challenge?”

  Awkwardly, Charles said, “I was just worried that you’d get worried.”

  “Don’t be so impatient. No matter what you do, the duel will still continue.” Abraham patted Bai Xi’s shoulder, telling her to sit down. Seeing Charles send secret signals to Ye Qingxuan, he knocked on the side of his cheating student’s head. “There’s no need,” he said quietly. “Yezi isn’t looking anymore.”

  Charles froze and glanced at the youth. He finally realized that the youth had stopped paying attention to his signals for a long time.

  Ye Qingxuan was completely focused. Staring at his enemy, his irises were filled the reflection of his enemy. The usual coolness and light pity in his eyes were gone, replaced by a fiery enthusiasm. The corners of his lips curled, as if smiling. He had begun putting his all into the fight. He wanted to win—to win fair and square…

  “The fight has suddenly become challenging.” Ye Qingxuan studied Edmund’s red face and murmured, “Let’s just try a bit.” In the bone-numbing coldness, he suddenly took a deep breath. The coldness pierced his lungs, but his mind finally became clear. He did not need drug stimulation or a long break. An enemy was the best stimulant. It was something that he could try out his new skills on.

  In the midst of the dodging, Ye Qingxuan suddenly stopped. Standing straight, he lifted up a hand. Aether from all over gathered in his direction, as if something was about to be awakened.

  Sensed by everyone, the ring on Ye Qingxuan’s finger sucked in aether and radiated cold, silver light. The instrument sleeping within resonated and woke.

  “An instrument! This guy…” Features tightening, Edmund took a step back to wait and see. He had not expected that Ye Qingxuan would keep an instrument as his trap card. And this was Moldable—one of the most valuable types of instrument too. It could be kept by one’s side and used at any time!

  Just as he was waiting, the light on Ye Qingxuan’s ring suddenly extinguished. It was as if there had been rolling thunder, but not a drop of rain. The instrument went back to sleep just as quickly as it had woken up.

  Ye Qingxuan had tried multiple times to wake up the Jiu Xiao Huan Pei in his ring over the past few days, but sadly, his resonance with it had stopped halfway every single time. It was as if he lacked the most crucial thing and could not continue.

  “Uh…I guess I still can’t do it,” Ye Qingxuan chuckled awkwardly. “Sorry, I was just trying to show off…”

  Edmund replied with countless angry frost arrows, almost turning Ye Qingxuan into an icicle. Ye dodged humiliatingly and took a deep breath, starting to chant.

  “It’s too late to start now!” Edmund mocked, hearing the chants. He reached forward, continuing to shoot frost.

  Attacked with a gust of coldness, Ye Qingxuan began fleeing. Ignoring the tossing of his stomach, he chanted quickly as he moved. The air around him surged to the rhythm of his chants.

  Edmund glanced at the youth charging toward him, disdain flashing through his eyes. The closer Ye Qingxuan came, the less ability he had to dodge, and the more powerful the strength of the frost became! Yes, he was definitely out of his mind.

  Edmund raised a hand, pointing at Ye Qingxuan’s body once again. Frosty light began brewing crazily on his fingertip, icy coldness coming from all directions.

  The distance between them was closer than ever. The cold light illuminated Ye Qingxuan’s eyes.

  Seeing that Ye Qingxuan was within five steps, murderous intent flashed in Edmund’s eyes. Immediately, frost twice as strong as before shot out!

  Regular frost could freeze internal organs from that distant, but after raising the intensity, the coldness could turn someone into an ice statue instantaneously!

  At that moment, the audience yelled out in surprise because Ye Qingxuan was still charging forward, not dodging at all! The explosive arrows shot out, straight toward Ye Qingxuan’s forehead.

  But the air around him suddenly started rippling. It was as if the arrows ran into a boundary, and the scene changed. The wavering air twisted randomly, blurring Ye Qingxuan’s features.

  When the frost arrows pierced into blurriness, they shook and almost frantically changed their direction. They had slightly changed course by a few degrees, and the arrows brushed past Ye Qingxuan’s hair.

  Edmund gaped. His eyes reflected Ye Qingxuan’s face closing in on him. “What is going on?!”

  —

  “Rune · Haze!” In the crowd, Abraham’s eyes lit up as he murmured, “That’s right. This is how you do it!” All of the runes that Ye Qingxuan had learned until then had been chosen one by one by Abraham for their effect.

  Light could provide illumination in the darkness and guide the sun; Flow could increase physical strength and purify water; Air could control wind, erase one’s body scent to hide from animals and protect oneself from poisonous gas. Haze was for stealth and protection against long distance attacks! It was a rune that every scout musician had to learn.

  By stirring the air with aether, Haze could create a shield of air. It did not provide any protection on its own, but the musician could manipulate it and add pressure to it.

  The effect of the chaotic pressure was like a lens. Endless lenses overlapped, refracting and bending light randomly, blurring the object.

  In a dim environment with complex rays of light, Haze could blur the edges of an object and make it blend into the environment. It could not exactly shield one, but it could affect the arrows’ trajectory. There was not a more cost-efficient effect.

  Outside the ring, Abraham stared closely at the youth who had just brushed shoulders with death. Pleased, he thought, “Yes, this is how you should do it. Lead the enemy on and activate Haze at the last moment. After that, he should close in even more and then…”

  —

  Inside the ring, the youth stepped past the five-step boundary. He stalked forward, the complicated syllables overlapping in his mouth, sending shockwaves of aether. As he chanted, a vortex-like rune gradually lit up in his heart, preparing for launch!

  In the next heartbeat, Ye Qingxuan was right in front of Edmund.

  Seeing him raise a hand, Edmund shrieked instinctually. He raised his elbow, shielding his face, and stumbled back. He pointed a finger in panic, getting ready to release more frost.

  But the expected fist had not landed on him. Ye Qingxuan was no longer chanting for Flow anymore either. They were a hair’s width apart as Ye Qingxuan uttered the last syllable!

  In that instant, Edmund shrieked again. Frantically and wildly, his hands scrambled to shoot frost arrows. Then he felt a hand press against him, gently on his chest.

  Boom!

  The shrieking silenced.

  84 Dragon Breath Ring

  For a second, it felt like his entire chest trembled. His lungs spasmed uncontrollably, swelled, shook…

  The moment Ye Qingxuan’s hand touched him, Edmund’s chest suddenl
y ballooned, as if his lungs had filled with air, about to burst. The shrieking silenced. The runes he were about to say died in his throat.

  Shocked, Edmund grasped his throat, suffocating for a moment. The frost arrow that he had been about to shoot broke off. His ruddy faceturned a ghastly white—so white there was no sign of blood in him. The ‘betrayal’ of the aether took away all ability to fight back.

  Eerie silence fell both inside and outside the ring.

  —

  Dominic chuckled softly in the shadows. “As expected, it’s similar to the standard reaction of captive musicians in war…Rune · Air.”

  Rune · Air was originally made to create a small breeze, but he had gone past the muscles and bones of the chest, and aimed it directly at the lungs. All of the layers had weakened Air’s effect though, and it had only resonated with the air inside the lungs.

  It probably felt like…someone had punched his lungs?

  Application: air cavity resonance! It was a classic application from the School of Abstinence. It could directly cut off someone’s breathing and speaking. If the intensity was raised, it was possible to make the lungs implode too.

  This step used Saint Tchaikovsky’s music “Overture solennelle 1812.” Its first movement was even enough to make a vacuum implosion on the battlefield. Everything within a thousand mile radius would be thrown into a hopeless and silent hell. All organisms would implode from their own pressure. Explosions would sound one after another like fireworks. But there was be a better choice now, right?

  “Why not use Flow?” Dominic muttered in dissatisfaction. Clenching his fists, he said, “Just press down on his chest and say the syllable, then he’ll pop like a pimple, bleeding from all of his pores and fall over. Too young, still too young. Or maybe his heart is too soft?” He studied Ye Qingxuan’s back and shook his head, “This one doesn’t look like a wolf cub.”

  —

  In the silence, Edmund fell to his knees, panting heavily. After a long time, he finally knew how to breathe again, but tears and snot flowed out from his eyes and nose. He looked as sad as a stray dog.

  Kneeling on the ground, he lifted his tear-stricken face. His eyes were still fierce and angry. “You think—you—you won like this? You—you b*stard!”

  Ye Qingxuan furrowed his brows, his expression changed quickly. He had wanted to raise his foot and kick that guy out once and for all, but then he realized that his foot would not move. It was rooted to the spot.

  “Ha, did you find out?” On the ground, Edmund laughed, wiping the tears and snot off of his face. “There was no way I wouldn’t guard myself against you. Scum is scum. You don’t even know to watch out for alchemy equipment…” He pushed himself up with difficulty. Stumbling back, he smiled tightly and pulled down his collar. Under the collar was a golden button. A ruby flashed brightly on the elegantly carved button.

  Without a doubt, this was alchemy equipment…the crudest kind. Five of the simplest runes were written on it: Shackle! Shackle! Shackle! Shackle! Shackle! It only needed a simple spell to be activated and cast those five runes. Anyone in the proximity would be shackled to the ground, unable to move.

  Now, Ye Qingxuan could not move at all.

  Edmund finally stopped retreating. He pulled out a handkerchief to wipe his face clean. His eyes were filled with murderous intent, “You forced me to do this.”

  “No one forced you.” Ye Qingxuan gazed at him coolly. “You were just making things hard for yourself this entire time.”

  Edmund’s expression changed, revealing undeniable savagery. “It’s a pity I can’t rip your mouth apart. Scum never know how to show respect to the honorable bloodlines. But it’s okay, you can keep talking now,” he paused and raised his right hand, “because, in a bit, you’ll never have the chance to speak again.”

  The black amber ring on his forefinger shone brilliantly under the torch, radiating with cold and sharp light.

  “Dragon Breath Ring!”

  Outside of the ring, Charles’s face changed immediately. “How can they bring something like that?”

  One could say that the other defense alchemy equipment and drugs were just to protect against accidents during the duel. But that thing—that was to kill.

  Charles understood immediately what that thing was the moment he saw it. A century ago, mysterious Asgardian alchemist Elric once offered equipment to his king to be used in his royal guard—Wild Hunter Corp. This included thirty identical rings. The king ordered a two-headed eagle to be carved into the black amber and given to loyal subordinates. Those thirty rings were engraved with the third movement of the Song of Nibelungs. This movement recorded the natural catastrophe Black Dragon Nibelung’s actions and strength. A Resonance musician could let out enough dragon breath to destroy a village. Even a student could create a light strong enough to smelt iron. It contained limitless light and heat. It was the catastrophic fire from the Black Dragon. Alchemists created it with destruction in mind, and it cast an eternal curse on its enemies. Even full knight armor would be melted into goo before it.

  “Yezi, surrender!” Charles screamed. “Surrender!”

  But the room had become soundproof and his voice resonated outside but could not enter the ring. Charles blanched. He turned toward the judge, saying, “Hey, stop, we surrender…”

  But there was no response.

  Brian twiddled his thumb as if he had not heard anything at all.

  —

  “Hey, I think they’re telling you to surrender,” Edmund laughed coldly. “I’ll give you one last chance. Kneel and apologize for what you did. I’ll let you go.”

  “Why do you think that I’ll surrender? Just because you have Dragon Breath Ring?” Ye Qingxuan studied the ring on his finger. “Listen, Edmund. I wouldn’t do that if I were you. You can’t handle that…”

  “Haha, scared?” Edmund cackled. “It’s so rare to see you scared! But sadly, I have to tell you something…” Smirking, he clenched his fist. The Dragon Breath Ring shone faintly with fire. “You’ve missed your last chance!”

  He began chanting quietly. The dancing flames in the black amber grew wild, turning into the head of a dragon roaring soundlessly. Terrifying heat emanated from his ring. Despite his efforts to control it, Edmund’s eyebrows and hair started sizzling from the heat too. The air before the ring started wavering. Catastrophic fire began brewing inside the ring.

  Seeing Edmund entirely focused, Ye Qingxuan suddenly spoke up in his hoarse voice, “Actually, I have something to tell you too.”

  Edmund’s head shot up. Ye Qingxuan dug into his pocket and clenched his fist, as if he were pulling something out. Before Edmund’s shocked eyes, Ye Qingxuan slowly opened his hand revealing a small glass bottle. He had shattered the bottle and silver liquid flowed out. It hovered in the air, slowly melting into the aether.

  “I know instantaneous runes too.”

  —

  In the wild rippling of the aether, the mercury on his palm tossed like boiling water before disappearing. Silver light from who-knows-where illuminated their faces. It made Edmund’s face pale too.

  Edmund glared angrily at Ye Qingxuan, and sped up his chanting. He would do whatever it took to completely obliterate Ye Qingxuan!

  But across from him, a crisp voice sounded. It was like the ticking of a clock’s minute hand.

  The pocket watch decorated with two snakes lit up from Ye Qingxuan’s hand. He began chanting quietly, “All is dark, only the Tree of Life is forever green.” Mysterious light ignited in his eyes.

  As if Ye Qingxuan had been pulled out of the shell of his body, his vision started climbing in altitude. He looked down upon the tight space.

  Was this the pocket watch’s power? It did not do anything to him, but his communication with the aether was tighter than ever. The aether had become an extension of him. Even the smallest change was reflected in his heart.

  He could smell the rotting scent blown in from the underground palace. He could see the beads o
f sweat on Bai Xi’s cheek. He could touch the carved snake-man’s twisted face. He could hear everyone’s breathing, like wind in the catacombs. It was as if he had returned to that night.

  Ye closed his eyes, and the changing rune appeared in his mind again. The ever-changing rune worked in favor of his tenacity, reflecting it like a river. When he sensed the rune, the rune also sensed him. It was an unprecedented connection. Was this the state of instantaneous runes?

  Opening his eyes, he chanted, guiding the waiting aether to gather in the front. The mercury in the aether lit up in all directions. The sound of ice cracking came out of thin air. It was the sound of countless aether crashing, changing, and crystallizing. The crystals appeared from out of the air. They bonded with each other and transformed into something solid. They shone with metallic light, solidifying into the object from the youth’s memory.

  In the end, the broken pieces fell into their spot with a slight metallic tremor. The mighty matrix had appeared once again in this world.

  Outside the ring, everyone held their breath.

  Someone murmured, “What is this?”

  85 Winner

  Mirror! Mirror! Mirror! Mirror! Mirror! Mirror!

  Inside the ring, something finally revealed its true appearance like a blossoming lotus.

  Seventeen “Mirrors” hung in the air, forming a matrix. Like an active rail, it transformed, following a nonexistent track. Opening like a lotus flower in the rain, they were close to one another and wrapped around Edmund, creating a kaleidoscope of reflections. Mirror was the only rune that Ye Qingxuan could activate instantaneously. It was also his biggest accomplishment from the past ten days.

  After that night, that rune that had been left over in his memory was imprinted into his brain, turning into an instinctive ability. With the help of the double snake time meter, he had finally reached the ability to use instantaneous runes. Using mercury as supportive material, he was able to create mirrors identical to the ones in a lighthouse. But this rune seemed to be useless right now.

  Edmund froze in the surging heat. He could not believe that the mirrors were Ye Qingxuan’s last attempt. “You think this can stop my Dragon Breath?!” It was absurd.