by Feng Yue
Ye Qingxuan soon understood the statics. “I see…” looking behind him at the courtyard of the stronghold, he murmured.
“Grand Inquisitor, you are so smart.” Shi Dong smiled. “You know everything about this sort of statics.”
“Just sensed the movements of the aether.” Ye Qingxuan smiled. “This should be very effective to eliminate these demons. I have learned a lot from this.”
Just then, the ghosts had reached the line of the defense. Endless dark-green poured onto the defense line like waves hitting the rocks on the beach.
Endless dark-green waves.
Blood and flesh flew.
From behind the tower shield, the cavaliers raised their spears which were heated to a burning-red color and easily cut the ghosts into pieces. The dark-green “waves” were separated by the “rocks,” yet after the defense points, they gathered again and rushed to the gate of the stronghold.
This was the disadvantage of this tactic. Without enough attacking forces to eliminate the enemies, the defense line was useless. Yet behind the walls made up of the shields and surrounded by the heavy cavaliers, the purifiers raised their flags of fire again.
They shouted, “Light of the heaven, fall upon here.”
The next moment, horns sounded.
Night on Bald Mountain! No one was more familiar with the melody than Ye Qingxuan. In the courtyard of the stronghold, the purifier musicians, gathering within alchemy metrics, played the magnificent symphony.
There were 40 musicians in total. With 40 Resonance Musicians, the aether waves were neat and strong.
On the top of the stronghold, the fire column began to circle around rapidly. Then, the fire soared up into the sky, tearing up the dark clouds. Endless aether fell from the sky and poured into the metric. A stake at the center of the metric began to burn, shining with hot light. Then it soared into the sky.
In just several seconds, there were 13 stakes up in the air. They gave off glaring light, rising above the wind and rain, shining in the sky like burning stars in the endless night. Then, the stakes rushed toward the ground, guided by the fire flags. The sound of the stakes piercing through the air generated hot airwaves as if they were burning aerolites falling from the sky.
553 An Unfamiliar World
The wave of dark green became still immediately.
The scorching red stakes easily penetrated the earth due to their own hefty weight and acceleration. Like the blade of a sword, the stakes were deeply wedged into the ground, and the horrific force of impact spread outwards in all directions, followed closely by the Purifying Fire that was almost impossible to escape from once one had been licked by its flames!
One after another, circles of a scorching red color spread within the wave of dark green, the fire sweeping across the demons like a flood. Wherever the fire had passed, all the nixies within reach were engulfed in flames.
Nixies in the core area bearing the brunt of the impact from the stakes were instantly vaporized into ashes, whereas those slightly further away were compressed into burnt carbon blocks by the impact and the high temperature of this purgatory. As for the nixies swept up in the aftermath, they struggled madly in the endless fire.
Flames had fallen into the firewood. In the blink of an eye, what they ignited had become a great fire.
In the flames, the clergymen raised the banner high, using it to indicate their coordinates and to continuously summon stakes which fell from the sky, achieving centimeter-precision in striking the nixies.
“It’s a pity that they acted just a bit too early,” commented Shi Dong. His mouth twitched as he sighed softly and said, “These youngsters still lack patience. It’s early by 15 seconds, otherwise, they could have carried out a thorough attack covering the whole region.”
Ye Qingxuan looked at his regretful expression and couldn’t help but sigh. He asked, “Didn’t you claim to be an accountant? Why are you so experienced on the battlefield?”
“Yup, it’s true, my main job is to be an accountant and a treasurer,” the old man replied.
Shi Dong managed to squeeze out an honest-looking smile on his aged face and said, “At the same time, I held a concurrent post as the deputy head of the first generation of the Knights of the Witch Hammer.”
Ye Qingxuan was stunned for a good while and felt a mouthful of blood getting stuck in his throat, as he wanted badly to spray this old asshole’s face with it. [1]
A concurrent job! How can such a position be considered a mere concurrent job! Shouldn’t working as the deputy head be his main job, and the job as an accountant and treasurer be considered concurrent posts instead?! Furthermore…
His gaze became increasingly shocked. The first generation… This old devil here is actually the first generation member of the Witch Hammer, meaning that he witnessed its creation! Moreover, he was the deputy head, and must have held the actual power since he managed both the internal affairs and finances!
Simply put, he is very much a walking and talking version of the historical records of the Religious Court of Inquiry! What’s more, the history we’re talking about here is one that is full of dark secrets and shocking inside stories, heavily classified and inaccessible by most! Ye Qingxuan thought.
Shi Dong chuckled, wearing a cheerful expression on his face which suggested that he knew what Ye Qingxuan was thinking. The snide expression made his rugged, aged face look so bitchy that Ye Qingxuan could hardly resist the temptation to punch him in the face.
After two rounds of attack that involved thirty stakes each, guided by the movements of the flame banner, a forest of flames was successfully erected on the shore outside the stronghold.
The six defensive positions had turned into meat grinders, harvesting the lives of the disorganized demons nonstop. A few of the knights in heavy armor who were initially on standby behind the towers of shields also left their comrades to hunt down demons that posed a threat.
One could basically say that, at the moment, the onslaught of the demons had been completely curbed. The humans had even gotten the upper hand.
After several rounds of counter attacks from the humans and losing countless of their own to the flames, from the midst of the wave of demons came a vague hiss, produced by something hiding in the sea, beneath the water surface. Soon, the demons’ attacks grew sparse as they slowly retreated under the order of the voice. They stared unwillingly at the stronghold and the defensive positions behind them, withdrawing into the sea ploddingly.
“That won’t do,” murmured Shi Dong. He furrowed his brows as his expression changed to one of dissatisfaction, and said to himself, “It shouldn’t be like this, should it?”
“This is no way to fight a war.” He stared at the humongous shadow in the sea and declared, “A war between humans and demons should have no end until one side is completely annihilated.”
“Stay here, don’t you leave us.” When he uttered those words, his tone was sweet and gentle, like he was speaking to his lover by his side. Then, the retreat of the demons came to an abrupt stop.
The nixies furthest away that had previously succumbed to the command to retreat stiffly turned back, their bloodshot eyes staring at a clergyman behind a tower of shields. The clergyman stuck the flame banner on the ground beside him and pulled out a dagger from its strap at his waist. He rotated the blade, pointing it towards himself, and put it on his wrist, slitting it…
Thus, thick and sticky blood of a sickening red color flowed out of the wound. It trickled down his fingers and dripped onto the soil, accumulating and forming tiny lakes with a sweet, tantalizing smell.
One, two, three… All the clergymen cut themselves, and the scent of blood from their wounds spread outwards. Like an irresistible temptation, it ignited the fire in the hearts of the nixies driving them… completely insane!
The creature in the deep sea raged and roared, creating turbulent waves, but to no avail. The screams of the mad nixies rang out again. More and more nixies on the shore turned back a
nd crawled towards the stronghold, enticed by the smell of blood, and madly pounced on everything that could move.
The war had begun once more.
“Right,” Shi Dong remarked. “That’s right. Now that is the right way!” Carefree laughter rang out from Shi Dong’s prosthetic vocal cords made of metal. Satisfied, he embraced the war that had returned once more.
In the metal fortresses, the gears of the war machine started turning again. The armored knights smeared blood on their foreheads, held up their halberds and epees. Armed with weapons of such formidable weight, they exited the defensive positions behind the towers of shields and descended on the battlefield, killing and attacking in an unrestrained manner.
Summoned by the flame banner, the flames created by the Night on Bald Mountain continued to fall from the sky. Each time a blazing stake descended, a large number of nixies would be burned completely into ashes.
The fire raged and the wind swept violently. The last few remaining demons were rapidly reduced to cinders.
In the deep sea in the distance, the massive creature lurking beneath the surface of the sea rose slowly, revealing a blurred shadow, and it cast a look at the stronghold. From its gaze, one could almost feel the damp, cold and ghastly breath of the creature. Wherever the eyes fell upon, everyone in its vision felt a sense of suffocation, as if they were engulfed in seawater and the ocean was swallowing them whole.
In the end, it fixed its eyes on Ye Qingxuan.
Ye Qingxuan looked up and stared straight at it.
After a good while, the creature in the sea averted its gaze. It restrained its remaining subordinates, and they proceeded towards the depths of the sea, detouring from islands, no longer paying any attention to the demons on the shore.
Other than Shi Dong, who kept his eyes down, no one else noticed that the war had unilaterally come to an end.
“The credit belongs to Your Honor,” Shi Dong praised Ye Qingxuan.
Ye Qingxuan shook his head. He smiled and said, “Regardless of my presence or absence, there would have been no other ending. The Witch Hammer is the rightful protagonist here.”
Shi Dong stared at the battlefield for a long time, before turning his gaze away, albeit reluctantly. He had a complicated and serious look in his eyes.
“Is there anything wrong, Elder Shi Dong?” Ye Qingxuan inquired.
Shi Dong turned back, a self-mocking smile on what remained of his aged face, and said, “Nothing, it’s just that I haven’t seen such things in a long time, and they brought back certain memories from the past.
“For so many years, we have been wallowing in the past. Without us realizing, the world has become a strange and unfamiliar place. In the times to come, surely it would become increasingly chaotic and cruel, I fear?”
Ye Qingxuan stood in silence for a long time. “Does the Religious Court of Inquiry know fear as well?” he finally asked.
Shi Dong replied, “Your Honor, we are merely skilled at dealing with demons. We stomp on the enemies’ claws, pull out their teeth, and then we behead them, burn their remains to cinders, sprinkle the ashes into barren fields, and look forward to having fertile soil the coming year. That’s all we do.”
Shi Dong slapped the wall of the stronghold with his palm and laughed as he continued, “Your arrival has changed many, many things. This place no longer feels dead, and the youngsters below anticipate the future with excitement. But I cannot shake off my sense of trepidation, Your Honor. The world may not be as simple as they imagine it to be, nor as you see it to be.”
While saying so, Shi Dong reached out, using his cold metallic prosthetic hand to catch a few specks of ash blown over, and studied them. Then he let go and threw them back into the wind. “Your Honor, it has been nearly 200 years since the establishment of the Religious Court of Inquiry,” Shi Dong said.
He continued, “Over the years, we have explored hundreds of tactics targeting different demons, and the pieces of music composed accordingly by musicians numbered more than a hundred training methods, combat methods, alchemy techniques, mechanical drawings…
“We have spent an astronomical amount of money on them. At the peak, millions of people were in our service, directly or indirectly—that was the most glorious era of the Religious Court of Inquiry.
“We are the war machine that the Church created to help it cope in the past era, an instrument to survive desperate times. But once their time has passed, old machines that outlived their purpose will be locked in warehouses to gather dust, as newer things replace them.”
“Newer things?” Ye Qingxuan interjected.
“Yes.” Shi Dong nodded. He suddenly asked, “Your Honor, have you heard of the Water Tank?”
Ye Qingxuan pondered briefly and replied, “Within Anglo, there is a special factory in the Royal Institute of Research that is directly under the jurisdiction of the royal family. The only person who knows its exact location is Maxwell. As far as I know, one of their ongoing projects is related to this term, and its level of confidentiality is even higher than that of the Industrial Revolution’ project.”
“Such cautious treatment is only natural given its nature,” Shi Dong remarked. He gave a steadfast nod and said, “I can tell you in advance that this is the code name for a particular heavy weapon. It is said to involve epochal technology and has yet to be revealed.
“Only when this epoch ends, after the declaration of the beginning of the next epoch by the church, will it be allowed to make its debut—epochs are determined by high-ranking officials within the Church, as a method of partitioning the development stages of the human world. As for the specifics, I have no idea.
“For many years, various countries have been conducting private research in secret, and the progress is probably nearing completion. The prototype should be done by now, I think?
“All along, everyone has scruples about the lack of permission and authorization from the Sacred City, so it has not been employed on the battlefield directly. But with the current state of affairs in the world, after the fall of Hyakume, the abyss has descended, and the Sacred City is preoccupied with its own troubles. The world has broken away from the control of the Church. What will the world become in the years to come is anyone’s guess.”
After hearing his words, Ye Qingxuan was lost in thought for a good while, his brows furrowed. Finally, he asked, “What you are trying to say is that this technology has been developed by the Sacred City a long time ago?”
“I would use the word ‘archived’ instead of ‘developed’.” Shi Dong’s expression was that of a weird-looking smile, with strong mockery. He said, “Your Honor, you may have misunderstood one thing - The role of the Technical Office of the Sacred City has never been about research and development, but rather the stipulation of whether a certain development can be allowed. Otherwise, why would there be so much banned technology?”
Ye Qingxuan remained silent for a long time, before nodding slowly. “I see,” he said.
“I take it that you have grown aware of the abnormalities of the world?” Shi Dong asked. His withered face wore a mocking smile, as he went on, “Although everything seems to be running very smoothly, there is a certain air of abnormality seeping out from them all. Politics, economics, history, linguistics, biology, alchemy, mechanical engineering… Every single part is perfect, yet at the same time, none of it fits in with the rest of the world.
“The Church wants to explain the contradiction between them with theology, painstakingly creating layers and layers of buffering. They mend and they patch, taking pieces from here and there, but in the end, more and more flaws are showing. It is as if more and more lies are being created to cover up a lie.”
[1] Chinese metaphor, expressing extreme exasperation.
554 The Dark Future
“As the backbone of the Church, are you sure it’s appropriate for you to say that?” asked Ye Qingxuan.
“Every high-level officer of the Church should know one thing: the faith is
for the worshipers only. We don’t need to fool ourselves with that.” Shi Dong smiled weirdly. “I’m old anyway. Old men tend to have some wild thoughts.”
“You can say whatever you like,” said Ye Qingxuan. Shaking his head, he continued, “You may continue. I’m curious about the secret of the Religious Court. What on earth is it?”
“As we are only used by the senior officers as tools, we shall not get to know too much. If you want to know that, you may need to ask the Pope.”
“I have asked him actually.”
“But he didn’t tell me.” Ye Qingxuan shrugged.
“Then there is nothing we can do. If the popes don’t want to tell you, no one can help you.” Shi Dong shook his head pitifully.
Shi Dong obviously knew about the truth of the King of Red as he said “popes” instead of “pope.” but it was normal as he was once the most powerful leader of the knights.
“The Forbidden Technologies you mentioned just now, are they all from the Church?” Ye Qingxuan asked.
“Part of them, yes,” Shi Dong answered.
Shi Dong explained, “The other part came from Catastrophes. It was like a jigsaw puzzle. We humans have part of it, yet the rest were taken by the catastrophes. We, as tools to fight against the catastrophes, are only allowed to know this much.”
Ye Qingxuan walked behind Shi Dong, thinking along the way. For a very long time, the Sacred City had led the development of the countries with its technology which was tens of years ahead of all countries. The Church controlled the best technology. Even the Chainsaw Fraternity, who got separated from the Church, had technology far better than what anyone could think of.
The beacons for detecting Aether density and transmitting information, churches and the refuge facilities in churches, as well as the Aether balancers, they had such great achievements in all subjects.
The Church’s budget on research was far below that of any research institute. Yet they got so much ahead of those other research institutes. This was puzzling.