by Feng Yue
Ludovic took off his thorn garland and held the grand crown in his hands. There was a bit of bloodstain on the inside of the crown, and surprisingly, the crown even smelt a bit fragrant.
“I like this,” Ludovic murmured and smiled, then put the crown on his head.
The atmosphere was very solemn and filled with grandeur.
The followers began to scream with the utmost joy. Ludovic smiled and held his Scepter up high.
Everyone could see the two crossed keys on the scepter. One stood for the path to heaven, the other stood for the place that the soul belonged to.
Despite everyone’s expectations, the Enthronization ceremony went very smoothly. From now on, Ludovic would be the new pope.
Ludovic was standing on the platform and smiling to all his followers.
“Just a few days ago, we encountered a terrible crisis.”
“But now, we have managed to rise from the ashes like a phoenix. We now become as tough as iron.”
“Today, I become the new pope, but there is more than this…”
He smiled, holding up his scepter and saying rather seriously, “I, as the representative of the only God in this world, shall tell you and this world that a new era will come!”
492 The Limitation of Ideas
“A new era.”
In a bar hazy with smoke, Albert held a bottle of beer in his hand and screamed, “The new era will soon arrive! People like us who belong to the old age don’t have the qualifications to sit in the boat that heads to the new era.”
“The huge wave of the new era is coming. My friends, let’s drink one more bottle before we are drowned!”
Albert took out a wad of bills and threw them into the air.
“Let’s drink more!”
People around him began to cheer when they realized they now had free beer, and some of them wondered how much money this weird old man had in his pocket.
Albert finally put the beer on the table and tears began to flow from his eyes. Maybe it was because of the smoke.
Bang!
The door opened. A heavily armed group came into the bar and kicked away the drunk men who were in their way. The priest who lead the army took out an arrest warrant.
“Albert archbishop. You are arrested for your neglect of duty, and having caused a huge loss for the Sacred City,” the priest said coldly. “Please come with us.”
“Oh?! You already come to catch me?” Albert shook his head with a drowsy look. “Just let me have one more drink, okay?”
Seeing Albert’s withered face, the priest sighed.
“Fine, but only one more drink.”
“One more drink will do.”
Albert laughed, held up a mug of beer, and started to drink. The beer flew out of the corner of his mouth and wet his beard.
It dropped on his chest like tears.
“Mr. Wagner, we shall leave now,” the priest said coldly, standing in front of Albert.
“I am too old now, can you help me with the luggage?”
Albert looked at the end of the street and didn’t see the old man he was waiting for. He sighed, “The old b*stard, he didn’t show up at last.”
It seemed that he thought something through. Then Albert sighed and decided to leave with the armed men.
“Fine, let’s go.”
He turned around and stepped onto the boat that was headed to the dark world.
He knew that there was a significant chance that he would never come back.
“It’s a new era now, and we should celebrate it, right?”
Ye Qingxuan listened to the sound coming from the Aether ball, and looked at the other side of the enchantment.
“How about some wine?”
No one answered back.
“Brother Zhiyi, why have you put on such an indifferent face?” He sighed.
Ye Qingxuan’s hands were tightly fixed to the wall and he could not move at all.
Half of his body was soaked in a dark purple liquid. The liquid continually absorbed his vitality. Ye Qingxuan was too weak to lift even a finger, and felt very dizzy and sleepy.
“Brother Zhiyi, your master Paganini is my very good friend, he will be very angry if he knows this.”
“Brother Zhiyi, are you male or female?” Ye Qingxuan asked in curiosity. “Although you are just a set of clothing, clothing should also have its own sex. You come with Paganini? I once saw Paganini performed in the ‘Dance of the Witch,’ and, well, at that time, I could not tell if Paganini was male or female. Could it be possible that you—”
“A brother is just like a man’s hands; beauty is like a man’s clothes.”
Ye Qingxuan was silent for a while and said, “Since you are called the ‘clothes of original sin,’ not the ‘hands of original sin,’ so you should probably be a girl! Am I right?”
“Ye Qingxuan…”
A hoarse voice came from the darkness. “There are many means of torture in this world, and if you keep talking, I will make you suffer.”
“Alright, alright.”
Ye Qingxuan sighed. “We’d better change the subject. I should not have killed Samuel. How was he?”
The clothes of original sin sneered and said, “Almost two-thirds of his body was burnt by you. How can you be so shameless as to ask about this? He is still soaking in the blood pool and wants to kill you… I should make you accompany him.”
“I never thought you would come to the Sacred City.”
Ye Qingxuan sighed. “Earlier, I made the third floor, but you appeared and put me in the bottom of the underground palace… Why get involved in this damn business? I should have realized this would happen. You must have been staying in this underground palace for a long time, right?”
Hearing this, the clothes of original sin sneered but gave no reply.
Ye Qingxuan whistled. He didn’t give a sh*t whether the clothes of original sin replied or not.
Since the last war of Auschwitz, the musician group “Perishing Praise” had been hiding in the Sacred City.
They inherited the music theory of “Channeling Change,” and were very good at disguise. Some of them had managed to make connections with people in the higher class in the Sacred City, and had helped their peers.
Since Paganini himself was too important, it was not easy for him to avoid being recognized by people, while it was very easy for the members of the musician group to disguise themselves and work under Ludovic.
Paganini was still recovering, and Ye Qingxuan never thought that the clothes of original sin could have already recovered its strength and even grown much stronger.
It seems that Paganini was greatly inspired by the fight between him and the Gate of Heaven.
“Hey! Brother Zhiyi.” Ye Qingxuan was feeling very bored and asked again, “How is your master doing, recently?”
The clothes of original sin sneered and looked at Ye Qingxuan in a terrifying way. “My master has been missing you very much, and if there is a chance, he will want to meet you in the abyss.”
“I do not want to meet with him.” Ye Qingxuan shook his head. “We shall never see each other again.”
The clothes of original sin laughed and said, “It is not up to you.”
Ye Qingxuan became silent for a long while, then said, “Hey, Brother Zhiyi, I have a question for you. I sincerely hope that you can give me an answer; it will be very nice of you to do so.”
The clothes of original sin sneered and didn’t reply to Ye Qingxuan. Ye Qingxuan didn’t care about its cold face at all, so he laughed and asked, “Technically, you are not even human, right?”
Hearing this, the clothes of original sin grew very gloomy. It looked at Ye Qingxuan and found that his face was very sincere and serious.
It frowned and said, “So what?”
“Sorry, I do not mean to laugh at you,” Ye Qingxuan murmured. “If we look at this in a different way, it may be a good thing. I mean, my way of thinking may be limited, while yours is not.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean…” Ye Qingxuan answered, “as a piece of clothing, you do not care about people’s lives, right?”
“Yes, you are right.”
“Beautiful, ugly, rich or poor all mean nothing to you, right?”
The clothes of original sin nodded.
“As a piece of clothing, your owner could not be called a mortal, which means that if you won’t even come to the physical world if you don’t feel it necessary, am I right?”
“As a divine weapon, you won’t give a sh*t about the ordinary clothing of a mortal, right? No matter if they were made of cloth, iron, or silk, and you can’t find anything valuable in them, can you?”
“…”
The clothes of original sin was confused by his words and asked, “What on earth do you mean?”
“I mean…” Ye Qingxuan was clearing his mind and trying to speak logically. “One day, if you go to great pains to hide yourself in a pile of ordinary clothes… can you tell me what would be your purpose of doing so?’
The clothes of original sin said without thinking, “I would do it only if my owner asked me to do so.”
“What if you didn’t have an owner?” Ye Qingxuan chipped in.
“…”
Ye Qingxuan had confused it. It could not understand what “not having an owner” really meant, and besides, it had never thought about what it would be like to be without an owner.
In its mind, it was impossible that it would be alone.
Ye Qingxuan became very confused and excited. He then said, “A divine weapon won’t ask for anything from any clothes. When you see a coat sewn with blue and golden silk thread, or a piece of armor, or a pair of underpants, you won’t feel jealous… You are so very different from those clothes and there is no need for you to hide in them, unless… unless…”
Ye Qingxuan was suddenly in a daze.
“Unless…”
Seeing this, the clothes of original sin frowned and became alert, “What are you murmuring to yourself? Unless what?”
“Unless… hahaha…”
Suddenly, in Ye Qingxuan’s head, it all came together.
He became very excited. If he was not fixed to the wall, he would definitely have danced.
He was staring at the clothes of original sin and said, “Unless you would hide yourself in a pile of ordinary clothes to find another divine weapon! Am I right? As a divine weapon yourself, it is only possible that you would take great pains to find another divine weapon… I see, I see!”
Ye Qingxuan was becoming manically excited, as if he was crazy. He murmured, “I was wrong earlier. Well, I am a human, so my way of thinking is limited… even if Ludovic becomes the new pope, still, it means nothing to Hyakume. I thought he only wanted to get the Holy Ax, but I was wrong, since the Holy Ax is just a symbol to commemorate the event of humanity’s changing the Originator. What Ludovic wants is probably the thing hidden behind the Holy Ax!”
Hearing this, the clothes of sin became gloomy and said, “Ye Qingxuan, what on earth are you talking about?”
“I mean Ludovic, no, the real body of the former Dark Pope—Master Hyakume, his real purpose. He wants to master everything humanity has written into the Originator via the Holy Ax and the rule of music theory set by the musicians of the seven systems. So he can avoid the suppression of ‘Quiet Moon,’ and merge himself with the sheer void! Then he would become the only God who truly mastered the Originator!”
493 Resurgence
In the dark palace, the dim flame lit the face of a broken statue of a saint. The statue was covered with moss, and small cracks crawled all over it. It held a torch in its hand and gazed into the darkness.
In the huge palace, the green air moved like a snake. Accompanied by a scary melody, the green air expanded and shrank, again and again. Every time the air shrank, someone in the darkness screamed with pain. In the depths of the palace, a few people moaned and cursed.
“Ludovic, how dare you usurp the Pope?!”
“Black musician… as the Cardinal, how dare you collude with the Black musician?! You have infuriated God! You will soon be burnt to death by God!”
“Lord Ludovic, I give in, I would do anything for you…” Before he finished his sentence, he suddenly screamed in extreme pain. Crack! A bone was broken.
A man said with a hoarse voice, “Ludovic, you can kill us if you want! Even if you are the new Pope now, the sacred Palace of Sarroman will never be blasphemed by you! The glory of the Sacred City that has existed for thousands of years will never be tarnished by you either!” Meanwhile, a holy light appeared in the poisonous green air and was soon devoured by the sheer darkness.
In the darkness, these people were being chewed, their blood splashed onto the face of the statue, and soon the face of the statue was covered with red blood.
Finally, silence reclaimed the palace.
The green air began to wriggle and gather together, then turned into a shred of fluorescent light and went back into a skull-made wine glass.
An old and withered musician held up the glass and smirked. He turned around and said, “My Lord, they have died.”
A group of priests walked into the darkness and stopped next to the torch. They wore the sacred ferraiolone and scary beak-shaped masks on their faces.
When the green air finally dispersed, Ludovic took off his mask. He stood next to the corpses and looked at them coldly.
“They are such idiots! Why there are so many of them?”
No one answered.
Ludovic held the scepter in his hand and walked to the bottom floor of the underground palace. In front of him, there was a bronze door. He stopped and stared at the terrifying relievo on the door.
There were three bronze statues of ugly sinners on the huge door. Their necks were shackled and their faces were twisted as if they were in great pain. The relievo looked both scary and magnificent. It consisted of hundreds of bronze statues. It was a scene of hell; they were suffering in hell, and the light of heaven was shining upon them. They desperately looked up to the man who was shining and surrounded by numerous angels.
This door was the door of hell and redemption.
Ludovic reached out his hand and touched the faces of the bronze statues of ugly sinners. Then he showed his sympathy and smiled.
The holy Sarroman temple was a forbidden area that only the Pope could step into, and the Holy Ax was sealed in this place. Besides, only the King of Red knew about this place, and only he could reign over it.
“Nibelungenlied,” Ludovic said.
“Pope, what can I do for you?” A sound came from the roof.
“Nothing in particular, I just want to show you my gratitude.” Ludovic stared at the Three-inch Void in front of him and solidly said, “The holy temple of Sarroman is hidden in the deepest part of the Sacred City. If it were not for your guidance, I could never manage to cross the ‘Minotaos road.’”
“It is my duty to lead the Pope.”
“So you regard me as the new Pope?” Ludovic smiled. “You are funny. So many people consider me a usurper, while you, a catastrophe, regard me as the new Pope.”
“For me, a Pope is a Pope,” Nibelungenlied replied. “I made an agreement with humanity, and my duty is to record their stories. In my view, a Pope is just the same as everyone else. Since you have been elected to be the new Pope in the Sixtinum conference, you are the official new Pope, and after you drink the sacred blood, you will become the new King of Red.”
“You have no stance on this issue?” Ludovic joked. “I never thought a catastrophe would be someone without their own stance.”
“As a recorder, I am not allowed to have a stance; otherwise, my records would be biased,” Nibelungenlied said. “‘Three Wise Men’ coexist with humanity, and they have their own personalities and ways of life. I am neither a leader nor a mentor, I am simply a witness. It is my duty to record the happenings and stories, and I won’t stop anyone from reading these stories or try
to rewrite them. If you think I have bad intentions, you can choose not to believe me.”
Hearing this, Ludovic laughed and said, “Nibelungenlied, you really think you know everything?”
“Not now,” Nibelungenlied replied, “but as long as I continue to witness, record, observe, one day I believe I will be able to know everything.”
“I think it is impossible, but still I hope you can turn it into reality one day.”
Ludovic waved his hand and Nibelungenlied stopped talking.
The palace became quiet again.
“Finally, it is going to begin,” Ludovic murmured, while staring at the huge door in front of him.
The light was dim in the palace. His followers all gently backed off and knelt. Ludovic walked forward, held up his scepter, and read out the spell to open the door.
“The mortal shall all die at last.”
Bang!
As soon as the scepter was put into the hole in the ground, the whole plaza began to shake. On the ground, countless bronze rings began to rotate, and the gears hidden beneath revealed themselves. The gears rotated quickly and collided with each other. Numerous sparks appeared, and the gears kept running against each other and created a magnificent power.
This magnificent power was created by the collision between the gears made of iron and bronze. It surpassed the physical material, life and the death. The force was unimaginable. The power permeated the sheer darkness and created the sound of a dragon, and at the same time, the fire was lit and the iron melted.
A tornado appeared, and in the next moment, the Door of Hell opened.
Ye Qingxuan woke up in great pain. He raised his head and looked at his hands.
Both of his hands were nailed to the iron wall, the silver nails covered with his blood. Sometimes, having a strong vitality was not a good thing at all. Although his wounds had recovered, once he made a move, he would suffer great pain.
A man walked out of the darkness.
“I never thought you could recover in such a short time,” the man said.
The clothes of original sin glanced at Samuel who stood outside of the cage.
In the dim light, Ye Qingxuan found that the man was actually Samuel.