Silent Crown

by Feng Yue

  Shi Dong looked at him and said, “Such a disgrace.”

  “Yes, a disgrace.” As if he did not realize that Shi Dong was criticizing him, Mephistopheles wore an indifferent expression. “After all, it’s a shameful secret of the royal family.”

  “Anglo and Leviathan are mortal enemies, but hasn’t the royal family ever explained why? Countries on the sea are aplenty, but why has Leviathan been targeting Anglo and only Anglo for so many years…” Shi Dong asked.

  “Explain? How to explain?” Mephistopheles said. “Surely they can’t say that it is all because of the wrongdoings of their ancestors? Just look at them. In order to explain how wise and brave King Arthur was, they have even gone to the great lengths of making up a tale about the Lady of the Lake.”

  “Whose idea was it? It totally sucks… Look at the terrible script written by some third-rate writer.” Shi Dong couldn’t help but want to spit. “The wise and brave King Arthur won the heart of the Lady of the Lake. The fairy lady gave him a sword, a kiss, and her blessing, so he became the king chosen by destiny.

  “He conquered the seven seas, made Avalon his capital, built the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth, and made it his betrothal gift to the Lady of the Lake. He married her and made her his queen, and let her give birth to his descendants of dragon blood.

  “God knows where did the dragon blood come from. Arthur was merely a fisherman before he met the Lady of the Lake… From the beginning to the end, you all have refused to admit that the so-called royal family is the actual vile spawn of the sea.

  “The so-called Lady of the Lake, the so-called queen — is Leviathan, which King Arthur killed! “

  “We can’t admit it.” Mephistopheles shook his head. “How can we admit it?”

  In the silence, Stone leaned back against the chair, closed his eyes, and hummed the hallucination-like song. “The king and his accomplice kidnapped the queen and jailed her in the dream… We have the power, yet where should we go? Oh, men, hoist the sail!

  “Pull, thieves and beggars, we’ll live forever…”

  “Stop singing, it gives me the willies.” Mephistopheles threw the cigarette on the ground and crushed it, putting out the flame.

  “It’s ridiculous, Mephistopheles, a catastrophe falling in love with a human.” Shi Dong said calmly, “She loved Arthur so much, loving a human being to the extent that she did not hesitate to give him her own power, and did not hesitate to satisfy any wishes of his… She used her power as a catastrophe to foot the bill for Arthur’s wild ambitions.”

  Mephistopte shook his head in pity. “Unfortunately, the interest charged is too high for Arthur’s descendants.”

  “People have to pay their debts. After all, Mephistopheles, Anglo should have gone bankrupt a long time ago.” Shi Dong said coldly, “Like what I said—If an old house is on the verge of collapse, one should consider other options besides fixing it. I can sort of understand why Maxwell has rebelled now. Such a kingdom has been founded on wrongness from the very beginning.”

  “Actually, he has always held the role of the one fixing the house.” Mephistopheles smiled bitterly. “Despite the fact that he has failed to resolve many internal and external issues if it isn’t for him, I’m afraid that the declining royal family cannot even survive until now, we have to give him that.”

  “I have been pondering this question for a long time. Is he a representative of one of the old devils?” Shi Dong wondered out loud.

  Mephistopheles replied, “I don’t think so. Why would a person with such abilities hide behind the scenes? Moreover, choosing someone like him to be one’s chess piece is not just a matter of having difficulties in controlling him, but a decision that is way too dangerous.”

  “What else do you know about him?” Shi Dong asked.

  “Next to nothing.” Mephistopheles shrugged. “He is a person who suddenly appeared in this city one day. We know nothing of his roots and origins, nor do we know anything about the identities of his father and mother. It’s as if he came from the stone split opened by the stone sword.

  “At the beginning, when he first appeared, he was serving as the private secretary of the previous emperor. Later, he succeeded the Principal of the Royal Academy of Music. Then, his scope of power began to expand rapidly and got out of control.

  “In many instances, he acted without scruples, being willful to the extent that it was impossible for any emperor to tolerate him by right, but he remained deeply trusted. He was even appointed as the sword bearer, and many domestic affairs were entrusted in his hands. He was even allowed to form the Fifth Department, a twisted intelligence agency.

  “His own ability can only be described as incredible, and he knows everything that happened in this city. In the past few decades, all of Avalon was like a toy that he could fiddle with in his hands…”

  “A descendant of the royal bloodline?” asked Shi Dong.

  “Impossible. No records of him have been found, and he doesn’t match up with anyone born into the royal family in these years. If he had royal blood, how could anyone else have a chance to sit on the throne?”

  Mephistopheles sighed. “Unfortunately, he is not the emperor.”

  “Yeah.” Shi Dong smiled gloatingly. “Fortunately, he is not the emperor.”

  Mephistopheles remained silent for a long time, and his expression became one of vigilance. “What mischief are you plotting this time around?”

  569 The Evil of Humanity Part 2

  “What mischief are you plotting this time around?” asked Mephistopheles.

  Hearing his words, Shi Dong couldn’t help but laugh heartily and gave a wave of his hand. “No, no, don’t overthink.”

  But Mephistopheles still remained vigilant and stared straight at him. “Mr. Shi Dong, Anglo is miserable enough, don’t torture it further by causing more trouble.”

  “Now you aren’t even bothering to address me as ‘sir’.” Shi Dong sighed. “Do I look like a cruel man to you?”

  Mephistopheles snorted coldly. “Isn’t the Religious Court of Inquiry such a cruel place?”

  “Mephistopheles, you know us very well, but not well enough. After all, you have never been one of us,” said Shi Dong.

  “Yeah, because my conscience is in the way,” Mephistopheles replied.

  “No, because of cowardice.” Shi Dong looked at him. “You witnessed the lives of monsters with your own eyes, so you are afraid to be regarded as a monster by others, And so, you have never understood the real Religious Court of Inquiry.”

  “Since the world is the land God has promised to mankind, what we possess is a madness allowed by God.”

  Shi Dong said calmly, “Mephistopheles, we are madmen, yes. We get our job done, by hook or by crook, and we stop at nothing. If a person is involved in collusion with demons, even if he’s a child, we can burn him without any hesitation.

  “Humans fear us because we are evil.

  “But at the same time, humans need us, because such evil is necessary and meaningful. Someone must act on behalf of the evil of humanity. Such is the purpose of the Religous Court of Inquiry. If we are to do something, it must be something humans need us to do, even if we will be spat upon for doing so.

  “We are the monsters created by mankind, the evil of humanity contrary to benevolence. We are driven by justice, as mankind knows it. With the morality that has been trampled under foot by human beings, we judge demons and measure the starry sky.

  “Such is how we live as monsters. Otherwise, what difference is there between us and demons?”

  Mephistopheles was silent for a good while, then shook his head. “In the end, it’s nothing more than highfalutin words. I don’t think Ye Qingxuan can accept such means and ideas.”

  “Don’t underestimate him, Mephistopheles,” Shi Dong disagreed. He said in a disapproving tone, “You specialize in guarding over the believers, so you can perceive their spiritual weaknesses, but Ye Qingxuan is different the rest; if we are monsters, then he is the king of
the monsters that I picked.

  “He has his weaknesses, and many human frailties, but he has witnessed the evil of humanity in himself. He faces his own desires and the ugliness in his nature better than anyone else, and he is stronger than anyone else.” He continued, “Just wait and see. He will save the country and take back everything he deserves.”

  He added, “At all costs.”

  …

  It was four in the afternoon, and the sky was still dark. A carriage stopped at the end of Queen’s Road, the entrance to the uptown. The silver-haired young man got out of the carriage, raised his head and looked up at the pitch black sky, and the huge seal that glimmered with a faint, flowing glint. Then, he stepped forward and entered the forbidden area.

  A whizz sounded in the sky. Burning wings of light descended and made a rough landing on the ground, resulting in a loud bang and stirring up a hurricane-like wind.

  The grand knight in the archangel armor raised his head, and the eyes that were not covered by the helmet reflected cold red light. “Who are you?”

  Ye Qingxuan snapped his fingers. A bronze badge flew up and shot across the air in an arc. It was caught by the knight. He looked at the coat of arms on it, which comprised of the sacred emblem in fire.

  “Religious Court of Inquiry, Grand Inquisitor, Ye Qingxuan.” Ye Qingxuan looked at him, “Kindly inform Mr. Haydn of my arrival. Tell him that I come to him to seek advice as a junior.”

  The grand knight looked at him for a while, put away the badge, and flew away without saying anything. Soon, the sealed door was opened.

  “Please follow me.” A Knight of the Round Table walked out and led the way for him.

  A terrifyingly hot wind blew in their direction. The streets along the way were dead silent, and only the sonorous clanking of metal could be heard as the patrolling Knights of the Round Table walked. Nothing was burning, nor was there a fire, but one still felt hot and sweaty in the streets.

  The high temperature was the product of massive amounts of aether flowing.

  After entering the door, in Ye Qingxuan’s sense of aether as a musician, it was as if the entire uptown was shrouded in glaring sunlight. The sea of aether here was like a leaking hole, with flood-like waves of aether being drawn from it all the time. The aether waves advanced along the huge array and became part of a huge movement.

  Genesis!

  With the Avalon enchantment as the base, a massive amount of aether was extracted, and the vast domain created by Genesis engulfed the entire uptown. Just by sensing it from afar, one would experience the frightening illusion of falling into the corona of the sun.

  After walking around the entire uptown for quite a bit, Ye Qingxuan finally saw the old man who was directing the royal musicians to reinforce the seal.

  The contemporary saint, Haydn.

  “Is that Ye Qingxuan?” From a distance, Haydn saw the visitor. He wiped his sweat and waved to Ye Qingxuan. “Just come over, there’s nothing secretive here.”

  Most musicians generally disliked being watched by others when they were playing a musical instrument to avoid exposing their core music theory and secret tricks, let alone saints who had directly inherited their holy names. They themselves were the embodiment of music theory, and what they had mastered was the essence of mankind’s music theory, hence others were not allowed to snoop around. But since Haydn had said so, Ye Qingxuan did not refuse and went straight in.

  He had come into contact with Ye Qingxuan in the incident regarding the shadow of Avalon last time, and he regarded the young musician talented in the path of abstinence quite highly. But he hadn’t expected that the young man, whom he believed would lead the school of abstinence after 30 years, would have achieved the level of Master when they met for the second time. Furthermore, the young man had been granted the title of archbishop by the Sacred City, an honor no less than his own, and was even mandated to re-establish the Religious Court of Inquiry to begin the crusade against demons and catastrophes.

  In the short span of a few months. It was beyond everyone’s imagination…

  “Master Haydn.” Ye Qingxuan nodded but did not bow, as his status made it inappropriate for him to do so.

  Haydn smiled and just praised, “Good job last night. The first battle of the re-established Religious Court of Inquiry was a good start.”

  “We still have a long way to go.” Ye Qingxuan shook his head. “Killing one or two of its descendants won’t hurt Leviathan at all.”

  Haydn didn’t reply, but reached out and pointed to the vast enchantment beside him—Genesis. “You are here for this, right?”

  “Yes.” Ye Qingxuan nodded. “How much has the situation uptown deteriorated?”

  Haydn shook his head. “You can see it for yourself.” He waved. The ancient scrolls suspended in the sky slowly closed, removing the disguise produced by Genesis, and revealed the actual view of the forbidden area.

  The first thing Ye Qingxuan saw was the black mist. Like ashes that remained after everything had been burnt away by fire, the particles were flying and floating about in the uptown, covering the entire area. Everything within it became vague and difficult to see. However, from his location outside the uptown, Ye Qingxuan could see the whole picture clearly.

  The streets were still deserted, but vast spreads of buildings had collapsed. Vine-like blood vessels grew within, spreading from the palace in the depths to the surrounding area in all directions. They even rooted themselves in the rocks, pulsing slowly.

  In the pulsing of the blood vessels, a dark red glow rose upwards, forming countless strands that fluttered in the sky. They extended beyond Avalon, into the endless ghastly white mist.

  They were one.

  The fog and the sea were parts of a monster, and the earth and rocks of Avalon had mutated, becoming its flesh and body, whereas the strands formed by the pulsating, blood-like glow was its red-colored veins…

  The entire Shangcheng District had become a living thing.

  “Leviathan is inside,” Haydn said in a low tone. “It has broken through the second seal and is resurrecting. Even rock and steel have been eroded by its breath and are coming alive.”

  Ye Qingxuan was silent for a long time, and finally looked up, asking, “Is there no way to destroy it?”

  “My specialization is not destruction.” Haydn shook his head. “Genesis can only create a fake world that could contain it, forcefully creating a chasm in the realm of aether.

  “I can turn it into an extremely harsh environment. In fact, I have done so. You could probably sense the nature interference within.

  “The Cup of Hope here with me. The air inside uptown has been replaced with lethal poison. The temperature settings alternate every morning and every evening, and the difference in temperature is up to thousands of degrees. And other harsh conditions. I have turned it into hell.

  “But the activeness of the catastrophe’s body is too terrifying. It has even evolved in favor of resistance genes specific to my settings. The only things that can cause damage to it, the stone sword and the meteorite metal, have been lost inside.”

  Ye Qingxuan nodded.

  Ultimately, Genesis is not a movement used to bring destruction, he thought. Saint Haydn specializes in constructing music theory domains covering vast regions. Originally, the intention of Genesis is to open up safe zones in the black zones of the World of Dark and adjust them, not to destroy them.

  “It would be great if Wagner or Tchaikovsky is here.” Haydn couldn’t help but sigh, “Unfortunately…”

  Unfortunately, neither of them can come to Anglo, Ye Qingxuan completed the sentence mentally.

  What each generation of Saint Wagner passes down is the movement titled Valkyries, also known as the embodiment of war. Its divinity overpowers all forms of bestiality in the School of Summoning. The movement can summon the mythical Army of the Valkyries. Hence, Saint Wagner alone can defeat hundreds of armies.

  But tens of days ago, he has set off to the Wor
ld of Dark to assist the King of Blue in conducting a border patrol, to warn the other catastrophes and defend the borders of the human world.

  Among the saints, Tchaikovsky has a similar specialization as Haydn—interference over a vast region, from the school of abstinence. However, as opposed to Haydn, he specializes in the opposite of creation—destruction.

  Let’s not talk about secret symphony movements like Sorrow and so on. Despite only being an overture, the 1812 Overture can create a hellish vacuum with a radius of ten thousand miles once played. In the violent nature interference, nothing can survive or even remain. But the Tchaikovsky of the previous generation has already passed away…

  He had no descendants nor students, and there is no one suitable to inherit his legacy. The Tchaikovsky of the new generation has not even been elected. Otherwise, he would be responsible for guarding the Caucasus region, and most likely won’t suffer multiple defeats at the hands of the Eagle Wing Mother…

  The situation really is terrible.

  Ye Qingxuan rubbed his temples. “How much longer do we have?”

  Haydn gave a smile full of resignation and self-mockery. “Who knows?”

  570 Friend, Please Wait for One…

  In the Siberian wilderness of the Caucasus, dim fires flickered in the dispirited city in the distance.

  The stench lingering in the wasteland had yet to dissipate.

  The ignited ruins were still emitting pungent smog, and the extinguished embers gave off a dark red glow, which flickered in the cold wind, like the breaths of a dying person.

  The powder-like snow that was drifting profusely fell in the cold wind and covered the earth. It descended upon the world, accompanied by the pervasive cold wind that sprinkled it into the fortress.

  The wounded soldiers lying on felt croaked difficultly, trying to breathe. They exhaled white clouds of air as if souls were dissipating as death gradually drew near.

  The war with the catastrophe was about to end.

  The shadow cast by the Eagle Wing Mother marched across the territories of the Caucasus, passing straight through the Siberian wilderness, and was about to descend upon the country’s last line of defense. It had consumed millions of lives greedily, hatching countless eagle-bodied demons from blood and carrion. They surrounded the supreme king of the sky, the great Eagle Wing Mother, and had swallowed most of the kingdom into their bellies.