Silent Crown

by Feng Yue

  Malpas’ body swelled rapidly because his blood absorbed the aether. It bubbled as if boiling. Each feather contained burning power that could wipe an entire street off the map.

  “I offer this feather to you, the creator of all, Eagle Wing Mother!” Murmuring hoarsely, he recited, “I offer this blood and bone to the mighty followers of the darkness; I give this soul to the almighty lord!”

  “He has arrived!”

  “He has arrived!!”

  “He has arrived!!!”

  The wild incantation came from the black vortex. His screams lifted wild waves in the nothingness of the aether sea. The power that had shot upward from the Distortion level now transformed into flames that burned the hallucination. The endless snow field and blizzard were ignited instantly, turning this place into a hell.

  Deep within the hell, Malpas had swelled to his limits. The giant eagle that wanted to swallow everything radiated with light and fire. He burned himself endlessly, transforming into an aggressive sun.

  The overlapping music theory shattered and the hallucination scattered. Huge tremors traveled thousands of miles with the broken music theory and crashed onto Lola.

  She shook. Slicing the air with her fingers, the music theory suddenly disappeared. The dozens of demons trapped in cages around her suddenly shook and died with an explosion.

  Blood trickled out of her openings. Her entire body jolted violently as her moon spirit blood boiled. She could barely control it.

  Demons were maniacs after all. They would explode without any forewarning. If she had not retreated in time, she would have been swept into that ball of light and burned to death as well.

  Before she could catch her breath in the dark alley, she injected the remaining Deva’s blood into her body to forcefully cover her wounds. Gritting her teeth and holding onto the wall, she stumbled toward the slowly crumbling white tower.

  Yezi, you must live. If you die…if you die… She lowered her eyes. Sharp fangs pierced her scarlet lips. Then let this entire city die with you!

  -

  In the heavens, Malpas finally burned completely inside the sun. His body transformed into a black vortex that endlessly sucked in the aether and exploded. However, a heraldry appeared in the center of the vortex—the Eyes Within the Eye.

  The skies and earth shook! The vortex pierced the boundary between light and shadow and opened a crack that led straight to the abyss. And within the abyss, something…was coming!

  293 Final Words

  “Am I finally going to die?”

  He was at the top of the white tower, the highest point of the dark city. It was silent amidst the corpses. The Robin and Mordred had gone. Only the youth was alone in his puddle of blood. He had given up on struggling.

  Emergency sewing was useless. He had not learned any healing scores and they would be useless too. As for the medicine, he had eaten them all and they were useless. In other words, he had tried everything to no avail.

  His heart had completely shattered and the poison had spread to all his organs. He had lost two-thirds of his blood. Ye Qingxuan lay in the warm blood and stared at the sky. He felt himself going closer and closer to death.

  “It’s so quiet.”

  Gazing at the darkening world, he unexpectedly did not feel any fear. He only felt regret. There were so many things he had not done and so many things he had not said.

  A pity. It was such a pity…

  Faint footsteps sounded in the silence. The footsteps walked through the puddles of blood and stopped beside him. Clear eyes looked down on him.

  “Ye Qingxuan, you’re dying soon.” The faraway voice sounded in his heart. It seemed like a hallucination but was so familiar. However, he could no longer hear it clearly.

  “To be honest, I don’t want this either but I can’t do anything, Ye Qingxuan. No one is immortal.”

  “Are there no other ways? I think I can be saved.”

  “Ye Qingxuan, you can’t be saved.” The comer gazed at him pitifully and shook his head sadly. “I’ll miss the days we played marbles together.”

  “Really? Seems like there aren’t any solutions.” Ye Qingxuan closed his eyes in regret. “I’m sorry. It’s been so long but I never asked your name.”

  “Gawain,” they said. “You can call us Gawain.”

  “Gawain?” The youth sank slowly into darkness. “Since you can read my mind, can you help me leave some final words?”

  “Yes,” Gawain agreed. “Anything else?”

  “Take…my heart out…”

  -

  Late at night, the waves of Avalon were abnormally angry.

  First, the rumbling from the Elizabeth Tower sounded throughout the city, shocking everyone from their dreams. However, they then sank into another nightmare.

  Next, the enchantment of Avalon collapsed. The entire city fell into chaos. Without the restrictions of the enchantment, the heaviness of aether rose rapidly. Within a few hours, the white safe zone had become a yellow zone. It even showed signs of becoming a red zone.

  The Musician Union and Church had acted and activated their own enchantments. However, they hardly had an effect. Who would have expected that the century-old enchantment would collapse?

  Then a black sun appeared in the sky. The chaotic vortex of Avalon’s Shadow emerged and hung above the moon. It swallowed everything and emanated the thick aura of the abyss.

  Every musician’s heart shook. They were afraid any movement would cause their souls to be tainted by the aura. Every connection and message to the outside world was suddenly cut off… Right now, Avalon had truly become a lonely island in the sea.

  However, a man sitting on a bench in the dark alley of the chaotic downtown slowly opened his eyes. Outside the alley, the noise of metal scraping sounded.

  Hundreds, thousands… The military had acted at this critical moment. At least a small battalion now rushed into downtown. They raised their shields and were covered in armor as if they were stepping onto the battlefield. Their spears reflected the cold moonlight.

  Endless clangs of metal sounded in all directions. Countless people swarmed over. Their eyes were filled with cold murderous intent. Their steel boots crushed all obstacles; the rumbling rang in their ears.

  “It seems that the parliament…has finally acted.” Coldness flashed through Ghosthand’s eyes. He looked back at the closed door. “Sir, it’ll be too late if we don’t go now.”

  The dark room behind him was silent. The Shaman opened his eyes as if he had woken from a dream. “Let’s wait a bit longer,” he said and closed his eyes again.

  The darkness was still.

  Taken aback, Ghosthand sighed in frustration.

  “Is this what you mean by ‘guard the door and don’t let anyone in’?” Ghosthand rubbed his face and sighed. “Mr. Shaman, this is an entire armored battalion. Your command is a bit hard to follow.”

  Clunk, clunk, clunk. The locks snapped. The black glove restricting his invisible arm fell onto the floor.

  The cold light of metal appeared at the entrance of the alley. The incoming heavy-armed military hoisted their spears and aimed at the old man before them.

  Amongst the group of soldiers, someone yelled, “Kill him! Kill him! Drag the Shaman out. Anyone who fights back will die!” The wizened man with a hunchback waved the heraldry in his hands and yelled, “These are the Queen’s orders! Do not be doubtful and follow the command!”

  Elegance and grace no longer existed in Ingmar. His hair had practically all fallen out during these short few days, revealing his spotted scalp. With his hunchback, he looked decades older.

  The immense withered flower medicine cured his mental illness but also twisted his mind, causing him to become heavily addicted. Within the short few days, he had sunk to this crazy state. He would obediently follow any command if his mind was filled with hints, no matter how strange it was. He was like a ragged puppet.

  “What are you waiting for? Hurry! Hurry!” he yelled and hurried th
em like a clown.

  The mind of the commander beside him was clearly controlled. He sat woodenly on his horse. Hearing Ingmar’s orders, he raised his hand and pressed down.

  Boom! The armored soldiers stepped forward in unison, charging like a forest. They shattered the wall and crumbled the tiles as they pushed toward the lonely old man.

  “We’re…starting now? At least let me get ready.” Ghosthand was taken aback. He quickly ripped a piece from his shirt and tied up his graying hair. His face was filled with regret. “I should’ve drank some wine.”

  His muddled eyes raised and reflected the wailing and growling battalion.

  Ghosthand licked his lips. “Give me some blood…”

  -

  Ten minutes before, the sound of metal scraping sounded in the center of the city swallowed by fog and darkness. In the heavy fog, a large door suddenly appeared. Before it, all men were as insignificant as dust. One could vaguely see a terrifying shadow between the tightly closed crack.

  “What…is this?” Charles’s voice almost cracked.

  “What else can it be? It’s the palace.” Jerome tossed a piece of paper into his arms. “Don’t waste time. If Gavin fails, there won’t be time for you to hesitate. You have to create a defense with fifteen people and four-hundred spears of Mary. Newton promised that you can do it. I hope you won’t disappoint me.”

  “That’s impossible!” Charles shook his head in shock. “Do you know how many calculations I have to do for the defense fulcrums of four hundred spears in such a big place? You need to at least give me a manually-powered calculator.”

  An aether ball was tossed into his arms. “You have four minutes and forty-five seconds.”

  “An aether ball is useless!” Charles threw the aether ball in anger but then picked it up again. “Whatever, it’s better than nothing. F*ck, there’s even the Tetris that we developed. Your score is pretty high.”

  “You still have four minutes and thirty seconds.”

  “Okay, I’m working now. Shut up, old man.” Charles glared at him. His expression was crude and frustrated as if he was glaring at an idiot who was disrupting his work.

  Taken aback, Jerome quickly looked away. “Whatever.”

  He spread a few feet of paper on the ground. Charles used the aether ball as light and studied the complex map and aether parameters. He was immobile as if he had turned to stone.

  No one spoke in the silence. The only sound was his heavy breathing. His pupils trembled as he scanned the map over and over. Sweat seeped from his neck and forehead, rolled down his chin, and dripped onto the map, leaving wet trails.

  Three minutes.

  Swallowing thickly, he took out his pen. After short hesitation, he quickly pressed down and drew three overlapping ovals on the map. The palace was the center of the ovals.

  He rapidly marked the parameters and positions with scrawled handwriting amidst the fine ink blots. He focused entirely on it to the point of forgetting his surroundings.

  Two minutes.

  He tossed his pen to the side. The sound attracted Jerome’s attention. He looked back and saw Charles, collapsed on the ground, and the map filled with markings.

  “Done.” Charles glared at him and panted. “What are you looking at? I’m awesome when I get serious.”

  Two minutes and fifteen seconds. He was so fast!

  Jerome’s eye twitched. He waved and the royal musicians with sealed weapons quietly disappeared into the fog.

  Sharp sounds came continuously from the still mist. It was the sound of long nails being driven into the ground.

  “You’re even more amazing than what Newton described.” Jerome stood before the towering gates and looked back at him. “No wonder you’re the genius of the Royal Research Institute. Your calculation abilities are incredible.”

  Charles shook his head. “I just have a good head. There’s nothing impressive.”

  …As if!

  Charles actually felt guilty inside. He was drenched in sweat and now his expression froze. Have a good head? When had he ever used his brain since he started?!

  Charles had used his good looks and gut feeling to survive in Avalon for so long! So basically…he had just made wild guesses for the positions.

  This type of work would take a group two weeks even with a mechanically-powered calculator but he only had five minutes! What a joke? It would be easier to suddenly fly!

  Thus, he became even more anxious after he turned in the results he had guessed with his instincts. If the activation was not successful, would he be killed by those angry royal musicians? And what did these *ssholes even want to do? Holding sealed weapons before the palace…did they want to pull a coup and start a revolution?

  Who else would try to seal the palace?! No, this group was too weird. He had to find the chance to escape. But the moment Charles made this decision, he realized that everything was silent.

  294 It Comes!

  Everything was silent. Even the gradually dissipating thick fog solidified in the air. The musicians breathed heavily in the depth of the mist. Before the iron gate, Jerome took the bag from his back and opened it layer by layer. He melted the red wax of the royal seal and the broad seal to unlock the shackles.

  Thus, a coarse black iron spear was revealed from the linen cloth. With dried scarlet blood on it, it was captivating. When it was swung, it howled like dragon roaring. It cut the fog but also stung the eyes.

  “St. George’s spear?” Charles gasped. Something felt wrong. “Wasn’t this thing lost long ago?”

  Among those few remaining artifacts which were admitted to own the power of a ‘scepter’, Anglo possessed three of them nominally. They were respectively the ‘Sword in Stone’ for governance and declaration of kingship; the ‘St. George’s Spear’ which could completely destroy the natural catastrophic dragon; as well as the ‘Holy Grail of Destruction,’ which was known as the worst and wildest deterrence. Once it was triggered, both the whole country and the enemy would go to ruin.

  Among these three deadly things, the ‘Holy Grail of Destruction’ possibly did not exist in the world. The successive emperors would only tell the next successor the relative information before death. No one else in the world knew where it was.

  As for the Sword in Stone, it had disappeared since the fall of King Arthur. It was claimed to be kept by the royal family but no one knew whether it was still there. St. George’s Spear had appeared once. However, it was said that ten years ago, it had disappeared too for some unknown reason. Now the spear appeared so abruptly before Charles that he temporarily could not accept it.

  “This was the spare made by the current King of Black after St. George’s Spear was lost.” Jerome clenched the weapon in hand with all his strength to restrain the force that could erupt at any moment. “I never thought that I would actually use it one day.” Jerome looked determined. “I’m afraid this is the worst solution.”

  “Hey! Hey!” Charles was terrified. He immediately clenched Jerome’s pant legs. “What the h*ll are you going to do, man? Don’t mess around! Can someone please tell me what the h*ll are we doing here?”

  “Don’t you understand, Charles?” Jerome looked back at him with a serious look. “When necessary, we will isolate the area with a seal and then, with the power of St. George’s Spear, completely destroy Avalon’s Shadow and banish the palace to the deepest place of the aetheric world.”

  “Is it necessary?” Charles was confused. “If you’re going to do this, you’ll definitely be killed by the royal family. And you’ll die in the most painful, cruelest way!”

  “Rest assured. At that time, I’ll be banished forever along with the palace.”

  “But I’m still here!” Charles was speechless. “I have an eighty-year-old teacher and an underage sister to care for. Can’t you just let me go? How come you don’t think about anyone else? I don’t even have a girlfriend. How unlucky am I!” He was trying to squeeze out some tears and cry, but his collar was yanked up.r />
  “Listen, Charles!” Jerome glared with cold and solemn eyes. “Complaining can’t solve any problems. You have your own responsibility! Today, even if we all lose our lives, we shall not allow those d*mned dark musicians to…to defile His Majesty’s remains! Understand?”

  Charles froze. “Re-remains?”

  “Hundreds of years ago, His Majesty failed. ‘Kingdom Come’ fell into the Shadow and the westernmost line of humanity was crumbling—since then the royal family had tried all means and sacrificed many people to maintain this fragile balance.

  “Now, His Majesty’s throne and remnants is the core of Anglo’s security. Once this security collapses, all the sacrifices of hundreds of years would all be in vain.” Jerome’s voice was resolute and hoarse like rubbing metal. “We will make every effort to protect His Majesty from being transformed to a natural catastrophe by those guys!”

  Bang! The whole world shook. The whole city trembled.

  Burning light spread above the dark sky and illuminated Charles’s pale face. In the distance, the white tower stretching to the starry sky trembled, crumbled, and collapsed. A dark vortex turned into the sun and slowly rose into the sky. It was telling the coming of destruction. The breath from the abyss descended from the sky.

  “What a shame.” Jerome lowered his eyes. “It seems that we have no time to hesitate.”

  In his hands, the dark sacred spear dug into the ground. The earth echoed as if the dragon sleeping underground woke up and roared with wrath.

  Around the palace, the spears of Mary wedged into the earth on the dozens of fulcrums. They roared with a sharp resonance. Lightning projected and hot light connected to each other, which turned into a huge matrix of melting gold.

  As Abraham had said, Charles was a genius, and there was no one who had more gifts than him on the musician’s path. He could find the best fulcrums merely using his guts.