by Feng Yue
As the inferring reached this step, the conclusion was already clear as day. For centuries, Leviathan’s targeting of Anglo had definitely not been an act of revenge. She was so deeply in love with Arthur, despite him robbing her of power, life, and everything else…
Although the holy operation failed at the last juncture for reasons unknown, once the alchemy array was activated, the first to be destroyed was definitely Leviathan itself. This much could be established beyond any doubt.
The real Leviathan had died a long time ago. It had died a few centuries ago…
600 The Way of Relief
Now Ye Qingxuan understood what Mary meant. It was not Leviathan that
was to be resurrected. It would never be…
Ye Qingxuan deciphered the alchemy metrics, reading the remained
messages in there to dig out the dark facts that had been buried there in the
long history of time and piece them together to get the facts.
No body knew exactly why Arthur had failed to finish his path of godly
ascension. However, the path didn’t seem to have failed, it was rather paused
due to some unexpected cause.
All the alchemy metrics that were running smoothly indicated this. everything
was running perfectly as anticipated by Hermes. All the steps were taken,
except the final crucial step – to turn Arthur into a catastrophe.
The consciousness of the Leviathan was wiped out and all its power
separated from her, waiting to be endowed upon Arthur.
Yet the path stopped right there. And with this one final step less, the path
went nowhere.
Although no one knew what happened exactly, the result was as seen by
everyone. The failed Arthur was sealed in the palace in the Shadow of Avalon
and the power of Leviathan, separated from its owner, turned into a periodical
phenomenon and tried to converge to its core to finish the last step of the
path.
That as the cause of everything. The hundreds of years of suffering and pain
began.
As long as Arthur was alive, the power of Leviathan would never disperse and
would come back again and again. And what’s the funniest, was the fact that
it was the descendants of his – his descendants who had inherited the dragon
blood and the curse that had been stopping Arthur taking the last step in the
hundreds of years.
On one hand, every generation of the royal family had tried to reinforce the
seal of the Shadow of Avalon. Yet on the other hand, they sucked the power
of Leviathan out with their dragon blood royal family members as bait, and
then destroy the power together with the family member to postpone the last
step of the path of godly ascension.
This was a paradox. Without the dragon blood, the royal family member could
not control the defense line of Anglo to stop Leviathan’s power from coming
back. Yet anyone with the dragon blood could not resist the order given by
Leviathan, or we should say, Arthur. The bloodline of Leviathan endowed
them with power, and with it, the curse.
Just like Ye Qingxuan, he could not fight against even several drops of blood
of Leviathan, not to mention Leviathan itself. Ye Qingxuan could never get rid
of the threat of the curse without the Blood of Deva which was not afraid of
the iron of decay.
Once the dragon blood got dense enough to wake up the firebird, the beast
nature in the dragon blood would gradually control the consciousness of the
host. It would break the stability of the host’s mind and cause wickedness and
madness. Mary was the example for this.
Ye Qingxuan fell silent. After a while, he suddenly raised his head and looked
coldly at the bottle in Shi Dong’s hand. “Is there anything you haven’t told me
yet?”
The shadow in the bottle shivered and said frightfully, “I’ve told you
everything! I’ve told you everything that I know.”
Ye Qingxuan heaved a sigh and waved his hand. Shi Dong smiled and raised
his hand. Then, he began to shake the bottle violently. He liked this so much,
and would never miss any chance to do it. While playing with it, he felt he
could live for another hundred years.
The fire writhed like water, bringing suffering and pain beyond the limit. This
was the fruit of hundreds of years of wisdom of the Religious Court of
Inquisitors, and it was inflicted upon the Dark Sovereign without any mercy.
He shouted curses; he roared in pain; he moaned in weakness; and finally, he
could not give any sound. He was like dead. Shi Dong stopped shaking the
bottle.
Looking at the bottle coldly, Ye Qingxuan said, “is there anything you want to
say now? like, why did you make so many efforts to control Mary and bring
her to the Palace in the Shadow of Avalon?”
The figure in the bottle twitched in pain and managed to say, “body… Arthur
needs a new body…”
The figure in the bottle didn’t dare to hide anything anymore and spilled out
everything he knew, “Arthur cannot hold it any longer. His body is dying and
was jointing with the seal…To get freedom, he must have a new body…”
Silence fell. Sitting on the ground, Ye Qingxuan lit up the cigarette on his lips.
“You should tell earlier.”
Understanding the order, Shi Dong went to the side and began to shake the
bottle like crazy.
Ye Qingxuan smoked the cigarette in silence, looking grim. He finally figured
out why Maxwell rebelled: he had to kill Mary. He had to do it because the
dragon blood in Mary’s veins was too dense. She should have died 15 years
ago after all the suffering and pain. Yet Hermes prolonged her life, together
with the curse – the dragon blood would grow stronger with time. If Ye
Qingxuan got it right, Elizabeth’s dragon blood was too dense, it was beyond
the limit. To pass the throne down to Mary smoothly, she turned herself into a
monster.
Yet at the same time, she became a spare body for Arthur.
After Maxwell’s assassination, Elizabeth got killed by the Lance of Dragon
Slayer. The dragon blood in her body began to deteriorate and the body was
thus unusable. That left Arthur only one choice.
Mary.
To control Arthur, the Dark Sovereign struck first. He planned to take Mary in
his hands and use her to threaten Arthur. Otherwise, if Arthur was resurrected
and took control of Leviathan’s power, he would have the combined power of
the scepter of heaven and the power of the king of hell and there would be no
chance to have him under control.
Yet, he planned everything except one thing – he was abandoned by Arthur.
Or, Arthur had never trusted him from the very beginning.
Ye Qingxuan raised his head and gazed at the dark sky above.
Is it too late now?
-
In the darkness, Lancelot lit up a fire. The fire lightened up his face and the
withered man by the throne ten steps away. On the throne, there sat the king,
who was no longer breathing.
As if sensing something was coming to him, the withered man raised his eyes
and looked at Lancelot.
Showing no expression at all, Lancelot, lowering his head, lit up the lamp and
put it on the ground. Gentle light lightened up the shabby hall.
Raising his head, he looked at the old man on the other side of the barrier of
the Stone Sword. “Maxwell, long time no see.”
Maxwell sneered and shook his head. “As expected, it was really you.”
“Em.” Lancelot nodded his head. He didn’t show any sign of shame when he
admitted it. He was calm and indifferent as usual.
He looked at Maxwell and the ancient sword tossed on the stairs. After a long
while, he heaved a sigh and said, “for all those years, there was one thing that
I could not figure out: why the Stone Sword had picked you instead of me.”
“What is that you cannot figure out?” Maxwell said coldly, “you should have
gotten the stone sword. But there was original sin remained in your heart.”
“Me?” Lancelot laughed. “Compared with you, I think, I’m intact in terms of
morality.”
“Stop insulting morality, Lancelot.” Looking at him coldly, Maxwell said, “if my
guess is right, you chose the clan instead of the happiness of your sister,
right? White raven…You sold out Ye Lanzhou to the Church secretly, so that
your father had to make the tough choice between the family and his
daughter. He had to exile his daughter and killed himself due the guilt brought
to him by that. At last, it was you that had it all.”
“My father was too weak. He had forgotten the destination of the Lancelot
family.” Lancelot was still calm, “the existence of Ye Lanzhou would destroy
everything. The family had to be saved at any cost.”
Maxwell couldn’t help but sneered. “I should congratulate you, then. You’ve
gotten everything you want. You had you family. So why did you ask for
more?”
“The Lancelot of every generation were dead fulfilling their duties to the royal
family. I am no exception.”
“Yes. But the king you serve is different from the one that others have
served…”
“This has been the destination of the Lancelot family from the very beginning.
It was the curse on the family line…It was not only the nation and the royal
family that were cursed. We are cursed too…”
Lancelot asked coldly, “what had we done wrong? Nothing! We have
sacrificed everything for Anglo, and now we don’t even have anyone to
continue the bloodline. We have to force ourselves into the cage after we
were born. Every head of our family was only a prisoner of this armor. We
have to struggle and sacrifice everything, even our kids. When Christine was
born, everyone was dancing and singing. But do you know how painful I felt?
She always felt ashamed that she was not a man and could not inherit the
Lancelot armor. Yet, I didn’t want her to have this tragic fate at all! You tell me,
Maxwell, what have I done wrong? I just want to find our relief!”
“So that you stamped the glory of your ancestors? So that you sold everything
out? You surrender to the catastrophe?”
Lancelot laughed, finally. It was a sneer. “Wasn’t this country made by
catastrophe?”
Maxwell didn’t answer. He lowered his head and laughed self-mockingly. “It is
my fault. I should not talk about those meaningless things with you. After all
those years of intrigue against each other, your have become muddleheaded
and have forgotten your initial intentions. You may fool yourself with that set of
excuses of yours, but that was nothing but bullshit to me. I almost forgot if not
reminded by someone else. A mistake is a mistake, even when it was made
for the so called ‘big picture’. Mistakes must be punished. Otherwise,
‘correctness’ would lose its meaning. We have lived too long so that we’ve
forgotten why everything became like this.” He paused for a moment, a shiny
of coldness sparkled in his eyes. “I should have figure all this out earlier,
Lancelot. It was a pity that I made up my mind too late.”
“Yes. You chose to slay the king.” Looking at Maxwell, Lancelot said, “I
underestimated you…There was only some trivial signs, yet you put on your
guard. I once thought that I could never defeat you. Your vigilance and your
determination are both terribly beyond me. You are so frightening, Maxwell.”
Maxwell shrugged. “Sorry, I am born like this.”
Lowering his head, Lancelot heaved a sigh. “If it were not you, his majesty
should have been resurrected long ago. It should not have taken so long.”
In the silence, Maxwell got transfixed. He raised his head after a long time.
“What were you just saying, Lancelot?”
“Is there anything that you’ve forgotten? Glanced at Maxwell, Lancelot turned
his head and wave at outside the gate. Then he said gently, “please come in,
your highness.”
Then, a thin boy came in from outside the gate, holding an iron box too big for
his size and looking around timidly.
Maxwell’s expression changed when the boy showed up.
He was the prince! The prince that had been forgotten by everyone, the prince
with birth defect, the retarded…
Caressing the hair of the prince, Lancelot raised his head and looked at
Maxwell. “I know that you have poisoned him to prevent him from being the
carrier of Arthur’s power. However, he was after all the blood kin Arthur.”
“Uncle Lancelot, where is my sister?” hiding behind Lancelot in horror, the
prince looked at Maxwell timidly and finally looked at the throne. “What’s
wrong with my mom? Why didn’t she speak?”
“Don’t be afraid. Her majesty is asleep.” Comforting him gently, Lancelot
raised his hand and pointed at Maxwell. “It is the guy with the beard that has
killed her majesty.”
“Lancelot!!!” Maxwell shouted, “do you know what you are doing now? It’s not
late to give it up now!”
Ignoring him, Lancelot lowered his head and whispered by the prince’s ears,
“do you want to protect your mother, your highness?”
Glancing at Maxwell in terror and frightened by Maxwell’s anger, the prince
nodded his head, “I do.”
Lancelot smiled.
601 Welcome Back
“Excellent. Your Royal Highness is indeed a good boy.” Lancelot patted the prince on the shoulder and said softly, “Then open the box, open it and you’ll be able to protect your mother.”
“Shut your mouth!” At the moment, Maxwell roared like a lion. His eyes were lit up with a flare as brilliant as gold. He grasped his sword and moved forward, as the heavens and the earth roared. A brilliance as bright as the sun gathered around the blade.
Lancelot put himself between Maxwell and the eldest prince. He looked at Maxwell indifferently, his hand already pressing against the hilt of the sword at his waist. As they brushed past each other in an instant, countless sparks flashed.
It was as if endless time had been compressed into an instant.
Then, the sound of steel shattering rang out. The stone sword was pressed against Lancelot’s neck, making a bloody wound.
In Lancelot’s hand, the long sword that had accompanied him for many years broke. Lancelot was silent for a moment, sighed, then threw the hilt down. What remained of the long sword fragmented on the ground and shattered into iron sand.
“You’re really fast, faster than I expected.” Lancelot whispered, “Fortunately, I’ve come prepared.”
He raised his head and looked at Maxwell.
Lancelot reached out and pulled out the stone sword from his hand. The stone sword felt like a scorching hot branding iron in his hand and instantly charred his five fingers, but all of its glow dimmed rapidly. As he loosened his grip, the sword landed on the ground, and returned to its original state of dullness and normalcy, no longer possessing any unusual magical powers.
“I spent the first half of my life preparing to inherit the sword, and although it did not pick me… I know where its power lies better than anyone else.” Lancelot walked up the steps and pulled out the Lance of the Dragon Slayer that had been wedged into the throne, letting Elizabeth’s body slip off the throne and onto the ground.
He turned back and continued looking at Maxwell. “Surely you didn’t think that I would confront it without making any preparations?”
Bang! The Lance of the Dragon Slayer broke through the air. Thrust by Lancelot, it pierced through Maxwell, pinning him to the ground, but no blood came out of his wounds. As if scorching hot molten copper was pouring into his body, Maxwell convulsed in pain. The violent power of the lance burned his blood vessels and the flesh around his wounds. His skin cracked inch by inch, and his bones whined forlornly.
“You shall witness it just like this.” Lancelot looked down on him indifferently. “Witness how your nightmare returns.”
At that moment, the cowardly boy finally opened the iron box.
A hoarse laugh seemed to come from within the dark iron box.
The eldest prince was stunned for a moment and raised his head, wanting to look at Lancelot. But at that moment, a shrill voice burst out from the iron box, rose up high into the sky, and swept towards all directions.
The ocean shook. It was a mighty roar resembling that of a dying dragon.
A terrifying pressure was born from the air.
Then, a seemingly endless tide of darkness spewed out from the tiny iron box, flooding the entire throne room. Countless illusions of hurricanes, storms, thunder, and lightning emerged from within. In the depths of the darkness, a pair of dim red eyes lit up, filled with supreme joy.