Silent Crown

by Feng Yue

375 Embers

  It was like rain falling on the ground. There were just few drops at first. Then the color spread and covered everything with the blue color.

  Countless shadowy Cereuses grew out of the burning land and covered the demon cocoons. In the turbulent music theory, countless ice-blue flowers constantly bloomed on the earth. They were so exquisite and beautiful that they seemed unreal like a mirage.

  On the battlefield, everything was in silence. The blood-stained knights walked amongst the knee-high flowers and looked around blankly. The scratches and blood on their armors were illuminated by the flowers’ fluorescence which made them look tender. But in the tenderness, the knights lowered their heads to feel the gentle wind. A small piece of ash flew with a red light, dancing gently in the wind.

  In the wind, someone was singing softly.

  “What is…this?”

  For a moment, countless fireflies seemed to have been startled. They flew out from the flowers, soaring in the wind. It was the fragments of countless souls that had been burned so that the fragments still contained the glow of the dead. They were so weak and small, but radiant. It was the family flame that was extinguished with the death of Saint Aeneas as well as the shelter of countless ancestral souls of Romulus.

  Fragmented lights rose slowly from the fire that had been extinguished earlier and danced in the darkness. In the dark night, countless flames soared in the sky, drifting like tidal waves, setting off faint waves in the wind and converging into the ocean.

  Up in the sky, the Knights Templar’s iron whales soared with the heavenly glow. Above the earth, the abyss music theory of the perishing praise was interwoven. It constantly let out whines. Endless tides of flames surged between the sky and earth.

  It was the souls of the ancestors of Romulus. They could not ascend to the heaven but were unwilling to fall into the abyss, so they wandered between heaven and earth, forming the grand river of souls. They gathered, swelled, and sang hoarsely. So everything faded and the sudden shadow was cast.

  At that moment, everyone could feel that there was something in the glow of the aether sea where music theories of heaven and abyss were entangled. Between the heaven and earth, something huge was…slowly forming!

  A maiden’s sang softly there. The voice was so soft and mournful.

  “Elsa…” Caligula looked up at the light of the flames and whispered, “Sorry.”

  -

  “Elsa!” Ye Qingxuan turned back blankly. At the moment that endless flames drifted, a soft song sounded from the girl’s chest. The plaintive but gentle song seemed to come from ancient past. Sad and gloomy, it mourned the beauty and glory that had vanished in the torrent of time.

  Thus, faint aetheric fluctuations emerged from her body, spreading and covering entire Auschwitz in an instant. Countless blue shadowy Cereuses danced for this. Even that huge but invisible object in the sky resonated with it. Some faint lights lit up, silently breaking the garments and ropes that restrained her. Nothing was left.

  She was suspended in the air. Threads of gold appeared in her flaxen hair; she glowed. Layers of alchemical matrices emerged on her skin, overlapping. The matrix was so complex. They had been hidden in the girl’s body for a long time and melted in her life with the heartbeats and blood. And now they finally woke up.

  They were singing.

  “Stop!” The herald knight stepped forward and uttered coldly from his armor, “Romulusian, stop your music immediately!”

  In mid-air, Elsa was still sluggish. However, lights constantly flashed in her dim eyes, interpreting the inner chaotic changes.

  The herald knight was startled. He quickly sighed. “Sorry, I will atone for this.”

  Before he finished his words, hot steam spewed from the dark armor like a dragon’s shouts. The sound was sharp. The high temperature emerged under the armor, driving the gears of the armature, the power loading, the structural operation…until it reached the end.

  In an instant, the herald knight stepped forward with an inconceivable speed. He set off a severe storm in the closed operating room only in three steps. The air pressure was almost suffocating.

  In these three steps, the curved narrow knife in his waist popped out of the sheath. The ejection mechanism in the scabbard added to it the horrible speed like a crossbow arrow flying. It combined with the impact of the knight’s tread. When the knight straightened his back, a perfect arc was made in the air.

  Screams cut out the soft song.

  The blade stabbed into the girl’s chest.

  He rampaged too fast without the slightest sign or process as if the result had come at the same time that he acted. Ye Qingxuan did not even react. He had only raised his hand when the knight’s blade cut Elsa’s clothes into pieces and stabbed into the flesh and blood.

  Then everything suddenly came to a halt. The knife was frozen in mid-air, unable to move. The frenzied potential energy and momentum had not been spent. The energy rolled back, cracking the knight’s armor, exposed the blood oozing skin under.

  The soft voice was still singing. However, the voice was vaguely different. It seemed to be colder and more resolute like scraping steel.

  Elsa raised her head. A kind of serious glow appeared in her eyes. Like the gods overlooking the earth, it was so majestic yet so indifferent.

  [Unknown situation, terminate coherence]

  [Analyzing…]

  [Threat is found. Launch the plan-The Majestic March, third movement]

  [Continue coherence]

  Thus, impassioned melodies burst out of thin air in an instant and a dignified ring of light appeared above Elsa’s head. Behind her, three pairs of huge wings of light emerged and wrapped her in it.

  The wings flapped. It fixed the wind, destroyed the iron, and set off a frenzied storm.

  In the blink of an eye, the knight was pushed away by the strong wind. The whole room was completely destroyed. Ye Qingxuan’s sight went black. He was crushed into the ground; his bones cracked and popped.

  What was worse, the Governor was already broken! He could hardly stand up with his weak body. But…what was going on with Elsa?

  He looked up with difficulty, looking at Elsa suspended in mid-air.

  On her chest where countless gold-smelting matrices intersected, a double-snake heraldry emerged. She seemed to be the Apostle of the Gods in the world. The immense toxicity, beasts, or swords could not hurt her.

  What was more shocking was that even though the blade was pushed away, a thumb-sized crack still remained in her chest. It was disturbing. No blood oozed from the crack; there were no traces of broken flesh and bone. It was empty… Like an empty shell.

  Behind that rift, the faint glow of fire leapt silently, unleashing indistinct light—it was the remaining family flames of Romulus, the Sacred Fire passed down from the Pantheon.

  It existed in Elsa’s body as if it were kept in a seedbed specially tailored for it.

  376 Faus

  In the sky, the burning river of souls was called forth. It flowed into the flames. They transmitted the last bit of fire and heat between each other, pouring the light and power into the Sacred Fire. Finally, it turned into white ashes that fell down like a blizzard.

  The souls had been burned completely, sacrificed in exchange for the powerful Sacred Fire! This was the flame created by the memories, lives, and souls of countless Romulusians!

  “Elsa!” Ye Qingxuan pushed back the terrifying pressure and stood up, looking up at the now-unfamiliar girl. He seemed to understand something but he refused to believe it. “Can you hear me?” he yelled. “Answer me!”

  A drop of rain fell from the sky onto his face. It was a tear.

  Amongst the fire, the blank eyes finally brightened. She curled in pain, enduring the agony of burning to death. When she looked at Ye Qingxuan, her eyes were blank yet pained.

  “Don’t be scared. I’m coming…” Ye Qingxuan pushed forward in the ruins. When his feet sank into the gray-white ashes, it felt like walk
ing in freezing snow.

  “Don’t come!” Elsa murmured. But her voice was like thunder. Frantic pressure appeared, lifting him and blowing him away. Ye Qingxuan gripped onto a crack in the wall. He looked up at the girl in the air.

  She held her head and struggled. “I am—her—no, I’m not—I’m…” She murmured incomprehensibly but her voice suddenly cut off. She stared at the crack in her chest and the inhuman flames in the crack.

  “What am I?” she asked.

  Ye Qingxuan opened his mouth to answer but a flood of fire fell from the sky.

  It swallowed her.

  -

  In that moment, everyone saw the dazzling and majestic Sacred Flame reach into the sky. It hid the heavenly light and covered the dirt of the abyss. It even…swallowed the aether flood when absorbing the strength of the two!

  “What is this?!” Within the shaking dark atrium, Crowley furrowed his brows. Under the gloomy melody, darkness shot into the sky. It transformed into a giant hand that clawed at the firelight. But then the hand froze in mid-air. A pocket watch carved with a double snake emblem somehow flew into the Sacred Fire. A low and faraway voice said, “Let time stop.”

  It said, “Verweile doch, du bist so schön.”

  Stay a while, you are so beautiful.

  It was as if a key was inserted into the lock. In that moment, countless alchemy arrays in the sky, on the earth, and within the ruins were awakened. They absorbed the power of the Sacred Fire and turned. Time seemed to stop because the fire was so beautiful. All foreign music theory was frozen in this dimension; all change was forcefully stopped. Even dust could not escape its clutches.

  This was Faust, the culmination of the School of Modifications and Abstinence!

  All was frozen. All that remained was the Sacred Fire formed by countless family flames, burning in mid-air.

  Under the light’s brilliance, illusions appeared in the sky one after another. Those were the last traces left behind by passed away souls and time. Called by the Sacred Fire, the seam where the material and aether world overlapped suddenly rippled.

  The looming shadow over the earth grew heavier.

  The seam swelled under the rumbling melody. It grew and…as the world shook, the vast city ‘fell’ from the aether world, fell past the nine layers of the aether sea, and appeared in the material world!

  The city seemed to have slept for thousands of years. It was covered in elegant carvings and soaring spires, radiating a sharp but graceful beauty. It was also carved with the hideous design of two giant snakes.

  The Sacred Fire slowly descended onto the altar within this city, glowing brightly.

  Amidst the stunned silence, the sharp and rugged city hung between the sky and earth. It cast a terrifying shadow over Auschwitz.

  The world held its breath!

  -

  “That’s…how it is… That’s how it is!” In a pile of rubble, it suddenly dawned on Colt. He gritted his teeth and murmured, “The Romulusians used all their effort to absorb strength from Heaven and the abyss to create a Scepter and turn humans into natural catastrophes…and become a god! Caligula, that guy, he seriously…”

  Seriously what? Was fearless? Daunting to the extreme? He could not even imagine it. He was shaken by everything he saw.

  From the ground to the sky, as far as one’s vision extended, everything was covered by the alchemy array’s glow. Everything was connected and turned into parts of a whole. They had become variables in an ‘equation’ and all struggles were futile. The result on the other end of the equal sign had long been decided.

  Was there someone else in this world who could create an alchemy array at such a terrifying scale and hide it under everyone’s eyes?

  What kind of beast had the Romulusians found?

  Colt was swallowed by the coldness.

  -

  “Yes, I did it.” Hermes nodded in the Holy Temple. “I set up the alchemy array in Auschwitz and I was the one who transferred the Sacred Fire into Elsa’s body. I created the array to attract Cereus and I helped them find the King of Yellow. And finally, I gave that city to them.”

  “Hermes, why?” the gentle voice asked in the air. “We all know what that city represents to you. It’s your source. If you gave yourself to them, you will end. It’s suicide.”

  “It’s simple, Nibelungenlied.” Hermes smoked and suddenly chuckled. “Have you ever thought about truly becoming a person? Not a creature, not a spirit, but a real and live human?”

  Nibelungenlied fell silent.

  “To be honest, it was quite hard to make this decision.” Hermes sighed. “Thinking that my body would change and get fat, I almost couldn’t bear it. But it doesn’t matter. After all these years of hesitation, there had to be a result. Now, I’m finally not a strange creature. To be honest, this feeling isn’t bad. Other than dying, there aren’t any shortcomings.”

  “Aeneas’ death affected you.”

  “That’s part of the reason.” Hermes shrugged. “It’s my fault for owing him. At that time, I didn’t mind but now, I realize that the interest of this debt is too high. I want to pay him back, but the hole in the bill is so big I can barely fill it in…So why shouldn’t I be generous and make a sacrifice, giving something I don’t want to others?”

  Nibelungenlied paused. After a while, it said, “We cannot understand.”

  “You don’t need to understand.”

  “Don’t you hate killing?” Nibelungenlied asked. “Then why did you sacrifice Caligula’s daughter.”

  “First, Elsa is not Caligula’s daughter. She inherited Aeneas’ blood. She was born with the duty to inherit the fire,” Hermes replied indifferently. “If the empire still exists, then she would be the current emperor of Romulus, the ‘Augustus’ of all Romulusians.

  “Unfortunately, the empire no longer exists and the people have no home. They were at the brink of extinction…she must take this responsibility. Only she can inherit the seed of the Sacred Fire but she won’t die. Instead, she will receive the power and become a new holy spirit. The price is that all her memories will be used as firewood and burned completely.

  “This is a cruel matter, I know, but someone must make sacrifices. And…” He paused, his expression turning troubled yet filled with anticipation. He murmured, “And I am curious. Is there anything in a man’s heart that cannot be burned?”

  377 Mus

  Clumps of white ash fell to the ground like thick snow. However, rather than coldness, what met the people was a burning heat. The shadow covered the earth as far as one could see. Everything was covered with a layer of gray-white, distant and cold.

  In the ruins, Ye Qingxuan looked up to the sky. Where the material and aether world overlapped, one could vaguely detect the distorted boundary. There, everything froze, creating a world of eternal stillness. There, one could only see a cold yet sharp city. It used the power of heaven and the abyss to go through the material and aether world. Absorbing the energy, the Sacred Fire burned, brewing something terrible.

  Ye Qingxuan gaped at the shadow. After a long while, he hung his head and caressed the object in his hands. It had fallen to the ground and was covered in ashes. It looked like something left over from the fire. It was the only relic.

  “F*ck…” he muttered, clenching a fist weakly.

  After who knew how long, the stillness shattered. Clanging sounded again. An old man in armor walked through the ruins. Dust flew, pushed to the side.

  “Ye Qingxuan?” It was a familiar voice.

  Ye Qingxuan turned around and sank into shock. After a long while, he lowered his head with a wry smile. “Father, long time no see. It seems that I’m in a pathetic state whenever you see me.”

  Bann did not reply. He gazed at the child whom he had raised. The boy’s features were still the same and he was still stubborn, but something was different. He could not describe it and did not know what to say.

  “Long time no see.” Bann reached out and patted his shoulder. “Y
ou—as long as you’re okay.”

  Ye Qingxuan looked at Bann’s sword and the badges on his shoulder. Noticing the respectful knights around them, he laughed. “I didn’t think Mr. Wolf Flute was right. Father, you really rose in rank.” He still joked around but Bann could not sense any cheer. Ye Qingxuan was like an awkward actor forcing himself to recite lines with fatigue.

  “This isn’t the place for reminiscing. Go rest.” Bann patted the dust from Ye Qingxuan’s hair. “I heard about what happened. You did your best and it’s good enough. You remembered what I taught you and did nothing against your morals. As for everything else…leave it to God.”

  Ye Qingxuan turned to leave but a knight walked over. He wrapped Ye Qingxuan in a blanket to take him away but he did not move. He stayed there, watching Bann’s back.

  “Father,” he suddenly called hoarsely. “I need to ask something of you.”

  Bann halted and turned around. “Ye, you never begged me for anything but today, you called me ‘Father’ and are requesting something. I will not reject you if it is something I can do.”

  Ye Qingxuan chuckled bitterly. He said, “Bring me there.”

  Bann froze and frowned. “Ye Qingxuan, you’re asking for death!”

  “That’s okay but I can’t let her be alone there.” Staring at him, Ye Qingxuan rasped, “I should have understood early on that she’s scared—”

  “She has nothing to do with you!” Bann said coldly. “Ye Qingxuan, do you really think that you’re her friend?”

  “Father, she must have sensed something. Perhaps she realized that this wasn’t her home, her family might’ve already disappeared, and everyone she knows is dead. When I found her, she was hiding in a corner. She said that she’s waiting for someone. I thought she was waiting for her father but now I realize that she was…waiting for me.”

  Ye Qingxuan raised his hand and unclenched his fist. One could vaguely make out a small doll in his palm. It was a strange doll made of dried grass. Crude and simple, it was extremely ugly.

  Ye Qingxuan had found it in the ashes. Elsa had been holding it without letting anyone see as if it was her most precious item. She did not have her white rat, her hair clips, or even her friend book anymore, but she still remembered to take this. As long as she had it, someone would remember her. Even if she no longer remembered why she made the thing and that she once had a friend…