by Feng Yue
After years of studying, the world-famous singer had relied on her own insights to advance to the Resonance level and even arrived at the Distortion level. Otherwise, how could she reach the level of the aetheric resonance with the ideas contained in the melody?
The aether was tamed by the melody, spontaneously chasing along with the song and creating miracles! She mastered the aether with the will of man and created the light of heaven with the sentiment and faith of the ego.
Countless musicians were envious of her.
Everyone knew that Ms. Patty’s path to the top would be a smooth one. She had found her own subject. As long as she passed the completion stage, the creation of her symphony of predestination would be a small case. In just several years, a new grandmaster would emerge in the Sacred City.
She would be the best, even among the masters!
In the ballroom, the performance was about to reach its climax. All were intoxicated in the song. With eyes closed, they were guided by the song as if bathed in the divine light. If the previous a capella was a casual one, then with the advancement of the melody, the aether waves became even more powerful.
At that instant, many musicians sensed something and invariably raised their heads, staring at the stage above. The aetheric fluctuations that hung by Patty’s side wove a complex and melodic glow.
It was a breakthrough!
She was about to break through!
Patty was enlightened on deeper music theory during her performance. Now she was about to break through the shackles and take that crucial step toward the realm of grandmasters!
In her chanting, there was some kind of magnificent power building. A divine power was conceived in it. It was so vast and pure as if it would forge the path to heaven!
Seeing all this, the crowd gasped. They had underestimated her! She had spent so many years concentrating on faith and hymns and no one expected her to have accumulated such knowledge. The Scared City would have a new grandmaster now!
To be able to witness a musician breaking through the shackles of Distortion and stepping into the realm of the master, anyone would be excited. The crowd immediately became attentive to witness this legendary moment!
And now, everyone held their breath in the almost suffocating melody and voice. All were drawn by the song as if they were falling into the hopeless frontier with the singer. That power built and built. And then it was repressed and repressed. Until finally, the air was almost frozen for her and everyone was gasping for breath. As if expecting an earth-shattering explosion, they couldn’t help clenching fists and closing their eyes, ready to meet the peak of the storm.
At that instant, the glow of flames sprang from Patty’s body and divine light descended from the sky. Patty took a deep breath. She gathered the insights and beliefs of her life, ready to ascend into the clouds in the next moment during the climax. Countless aether cheered and converged from all directions. A substantive aether sea appeared, interwoven with the melody of light and shadow.
And just in that moment… Everything stopped.
Because a suffocating silence came.
Those who had closed their eyes to listen and had thrown themselves into the chant, prepared to meet the climax of the storm, were stunned.
Nothing more!
The song was gone! The melody was gone! All sound was gone! The huge contrast almost made them mad. They had thrown themselves into the song. The extreme accumulation could not be released, which almost made them spit out a mouthful of blood. All went blind. Rather than erupting, the melody perished in silence!
Everyone opened their eyes in shock and stared blankly at the stage, looking at the sluggish Ms. Patty. She opened her mouth but no sound was heard. She was frozen. Her face turned green and white. The force that had been compressed raged in the body.
Suddenly, her skin broke apart. Scarlet mist poured out from the pores. The thick blood flowed from all openings. Doubling over, she vomited and collapsed on the ground, unable to move. She did not manage to release the chaotic music theory, which totally destroyed her. Her sound of heart was defeated by her power! Her efforts, understanding, and penance of the lifetime were all buried in this silence.
In a silence, Bertrand first reacted. He rose and roared, “Why are you all standing there? Save her! Save her!”
Such an event happening at the National Day ceremony was a disaster! Especially since it involved a world renowned singer… He quickly pondered how to settle the fallout of the affair. But after roaring, he realized something was wrong.
Something was wrong… It was totally wrong!
He didn’t hear his voice.
Looking around, he opened his mouth and yelled but it was silent. It was as if the sound had been swallowed by something monstrous. Even the sound of breathing was frozen. Everyone was aware of the chaos and wanted to scream but they couldn’t make any noise. Glasses and plates fell to the ground and were crushed to pieces but it was still silent.
No sound, no sound! Everything was frozen in this sudden stillness!
What the h*ll was going on?
All the musicians got up. They stared at each other but could not sense any fluctuations in music theory. All the movements seemed to be impotent. The notes were swallowed by the cold silence as soon as they were produced. There seemed to be an invisible black hole in the air, devouring all the power. They felt that the aether was still there and that it covered the world. But the aether that they could once use at any time now had no response, resisting all calls. As if…the aether had fallen asleep!
This silence came suddenly like a ghost. And now, it was still spreading.
Just now, it was produced from an unknown place and spread in all directions. The terribly cold stillness was widening. In an instant, it swallowed up the vast embassy district.
If one looked down from the sky, he would find that at this moment, there was a big hole in the enchantment of Scared City. The hole covered the entire embassy district, forming a perfect circle.
It was so perfect and so quiet, as if the kingdom of death had opened his door and all things fell into slumber.
In deep sleep, someone quietly turned over.
The next moment, the Central Church’s shrill alarm went off!
450 Acciden
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! The copper door grated with explosive sounds. Before the frantic footsteps, six doors opened in succession.
Archbishop Albert, disheveled and with his shoes on the wrong foot, clutched his hat and rushed into the Central Church. It only took him two minutes to reach the heart.
“What’s wrong? What’s wrong?” Under the piercing alarm, he yelled, “What’s with the war alarm? Was the Northern Front destroyed? Did Anglo fall? Did the abyss blow out? Did the natural catastrophes invade?”
The priest on duty was ashen. Seeing Albert, he rushed over. “Archbishop, the enchantment was broken into! I-I don’t know what happened, I swear. I only spaced out a bit and when I looked up, there’s a giant hole in the enchantment!”
Albert was stunned. His expression darkening, the frail old man yanked the priest up. “Who did it?”
“D-don’t know…” The priest shook his head with all his might.
“Idiot!” Albert tossed him to the side and ran toward the ball of silver light in the center. As his fingers moved, the silver light changed, quickly showing the location of thousands of tuning instruments in the Sacred City.
The iron city was always covered by a vast surveillance enchantment. Cables hundreds of meters long extended to the various nations, connecting the world at all times. Countless steel towers supported the enchantment like a skeleton. Under the high tower were two thousand largescale tuners in coherence. They looked over the enchantment and aether at all times, controlling all music theory changes. Without a doubt, these two thousand tuners were the core of the core. The inner was divided between different levels but its importance was still undeniable. Now, under the observation of the Central Church, six
tuners had lost contact. The territory fell into a standstill. They seemed to have suddenly…gone on strike.
It would be okay if it was just a strike. The other tuners could share the pressure. Even if only one tuner remained, the enchantment could still be maintained. However, the enchantment in that territory had been undone silently. All music theory that entered it would lose contact. It was like ice melting in water. There would be no more sign of it.
This was more terrifying than direct damage!
If it was damaged, it could still be fixed. However, there was suddenly a hole in the Sacred City enchantment. If they could not figure it out, the consequences were unimaginable! Even worse, could someone have done this purposely?
Had someone discovered how to disrupt the Sacred City enchantment?
Cold sweat seeped from Albert. “Oh no, this is the embassy zone…” Realizing this, Albert almost turned green. “All the ambassadors are there. If something made a mess, the Sacred City would be humiliated!”
Before him, the projection flipped and revealed the status of countless music theory operations. It was obvious that the enchantment’s self-recovery had not stopped. However, any type of power that poured into that zone would disappear.
All aether had become ineffective! There, the observation showed a blank white space. They did not even know what happened there.
Why did it have to be now? Why did it have to be when Nibelungenlied was sleeping and self-testing? Albert could not even find someone to consult!
He stared at the enchantment’s control center before, sweat pouring down. His mind spun rapidly. None of the music scores were effective. This usually meant there was no aether but the aether density had not changed. After checking the operation status of the enchantment multiple times, Albert was going crazy. There were no problems at all.
Just then, the alarm suddenly stopped. After a slight bit of unrest, the bubbling Sacred City returned back to stillness. Albert looked up in confusion.
A beam flashed past and an indifferent voice said, “No problems in the enchantment, alarm retracted, all is normal.” It was an order from the King of Red!
The unrest that was growing in the Silent City was quickly quelled.
“No problem with the enchantment?” Albert thought for a long while, scratching his head and cheeks. His expression grew troubled. “Then the problem must be somewhere else. But where?”
Beside him, the priest on duty said quietly, “I have seen something like this in books before. Would it be something similar to a ‘restricted area’?”
The ‘restricted area’ was a technique passed down with the title of Bach. It could be said to be his trademark. Where he was, all aether would be controlled by him. His authority was above all. If he released his full power, Bach could even control all aether within a thousand mile radius to act according to his wishes.
The most important of this was establishing a restricted area within it. It was established with unimaginable forbidden attainments. Only his own music theory could operate; all others would dissipate. This meant that, if Bach wished, he could rob other musicians of their power. Even saints would be affected. This was the utmost highest author for the King of Black. It was the power that the king of all musicians deserved. However, Albert quickly rejected this idea after considering it.
“No matter if this is Mr. Bach’s restricted area, India’s ‘one with Brahma,’ or Taiyi of the East…these all have the control of aether, pulling everything under one topic. That is the only way to ‘control’ it.”
He paused, expression growing troubled. “However, in this area, there is no music theory remaining at all. According to logic, if there is no control, the aether would fall into chaos. But now, not even chaos exists. There is nothing.”
He paused, thinking, and suddenly reached out. The projection changed and revealed an inspection chart of the Sacred City’s aether. Controlled by the enchantment, the Sacred City’s aether was repressed. Most areas were harmless white zones. Important places were yellow zones and there were even dangerous red or black zones. However, it was extremely strange where the hole was.
There was no color. It was transparent.
An uncolored zone? Albert went blank. What was this?
To Indian ascetic monks, the world was divided into three realms—the Kāmaloka, Rūpaloka, and Arūpaloka.
The Rūpaloka was the world of form while the Kāmaloka only existed in concept in the aether world. It was a mysterious realm that could only be observed through aether.
The Arūpaloka, the formless and colorless world, stood between the two. It was like a blank space between them. There was neither form nor aether. There was only nothingness.
Apparently, true salvation and freedom existed there. Countless ascetic monks voluntarily went into nirvana just to experience this impossible existence in the moment between life and death. However, under the influence of something, all aether had sunk into silence. It was like an impossible ‘vacuum.’
Though they were very different, Albert still felt fear after thinking of the details and distance. He finally thought of what this emptiness was.
It was an aether dream.
This was the music score that had been lost for centuries…the Wyrmrest Enchantment!
“Open the star map! Show me all the musicians in the Sacred City!” Albert jumped up. Clenching his jaw, he was frantic and angry. “Let me see what b*stard dares to disregard the Sacred City’s rules and experiment consequences!”
The silver projection instantly changed. A vast starry sky appeared in the darkness once again. Countless stars shone and collided with blinding light. Each star represented a Resonance musician’s source embedded in the aether world.
The complex stars wove amongst each other, covering the entire human world. The levels of Resonance, Disturbance, and Distortion were obvious. Above the Sacred City, there was a glorious light. It was the King of Red.
And in the faraway Dark World, there was a similar sun lighting the darkness and opening up a new territory. That was the King of Black.
Outside the clouds, there was a faint sun operating soundlessly. It was fleeting and difficult to track. That was the King of Yellow.
The large field of stars flashed by. Soon, it zoomed in until only the Sacred City remained. Countless dazzling stars hung in the darkness. They rippled in complex patterns and operated silently. Just the countless music theories made one’s vision spin. The aether rose and crashed like tidal waves but were conformed to one frequency under the enchantment.
It was dizzying.
In the silence, the priest behind Albert looked up to observe. After looking for a while, he was stunned. “Nothing?” There were no abnormal signs. Just as before, every source was a registered musician. No one was extra or missing. However, Albert continued staring at the countless stars. After a long while, he pointed at a spot. “No, it’s here.”
The priest followed his finger and saw a patch of emptiness. But just as he was trying to distinguish it, he saw a blurry figure amongst the aether waves. The source seemed to be a black hole hidden behind the clusters of stars. It was impossible to see. It could only be sensed by observing the other stars. As Albert moved, the blurry star’s location was marked. It radiated with a terrifying vortex-like light that shot into all directions.
It was aggressive. It seemed to want to sweep all aether into eternal slumber. Amongst all the unmoving stars, only that source was moving.
Under the two pairs of confused eyes, it paced through the aether world, seeming to take a stroll among the stars.
“Who is it?” Albert muttered. He racked his brain. What strange creature had come from the aether world and caused a ruckus? Or was a secret school undergoing forbidden experiments?
In the next moment, the source suddenly disappeared. All aether was sucked into a vortex and disappeared as well.
The glow disappeared. It retracted all of its strength and hid into the stars again. It was difficult to
find its traces by observing the other stars. All that remained was a taunting afterglow that dissipated into the dark nothingness.
After a stretch of silence, Albert raised his head. “Nibelungenlied, you’re here, right? Something so big has happened. I’m sure you know about it.”
No one replied in the silence. However, Albert continued to look up at the ceiling. He seemed ready to wait quietly until the end of the world.
After a long pause, an indifferent voice rang out. “I was called forth by you, archbishop Albert. How may I help you?”
“Okay, old friend. Stop pretending.” Albert sighed. “What just happened?”
“It was just an accident. No need to mind it.”
“Accident?” Albert furrowed his brows.
“Yes,” Nibelungenlied answered. “The evolution of a musician’s music theory caused the theory in the enchantment to be bloated. An endless loop caused the surrounding tuning instruments to lose control and cause an accident. The playing has been restarted and all operations are normal. There is no need to worry.”
Albert looked at the ceiling coldly and murmured, “Hopefully.”
451 Out of Control
It was dim inside the tavern. The bartender smoked behind the bar. The smell was pungent. Under the faint light, he looked down at Charles who was sitting outside the bar. The light illuminated his bald head, casting a shadow under his brow bone. His expression was hard to see.
Crash! A fist-sized glass was slammed down before Charles. He jumped at the loud sound. The liquor sloshed, almost splashing onto his collar.
While he was freaked out, the bartender pushed the glass over expressionlessly. He bent down and said, “Shall we drink?” Beside him was a bottle with the label scraped off. Charles froze and looked back. He saw a few men in the corner staring at him coldly. Gulping, he looked up for help. However, there was nothing upstairs save for muffled arguments.
“What?” the bartender asked. “Don’t like it?”
“Uh…” Charles plastered on a smile. He was not stupid enough to say that he did not like drinking.