Silent Crown

by Feng Yue

  The day had finally arrived! The boundless darkness surged.

  In the darkness, only the shrill scream of the eldest prince could be heard. “It hurts, mom, it hurts.! Save me! Sister, sister… Arghhh!!!!” The mad scream lasted for tens of minutes.

  Across the thick darkness, it seemed as if a furious behemoth was pounding on the ground, causing the entire floor of the throne room to fall apart. In the end, countless masses of darkness swirled inwards, drawn by the terrifying pull, and collapsed towards the center.

  Clouds of dust swelled. The opened iron box was thrown onto the ground, already distorted during the prince’s painful struggles and vents. In the center of the hall, on the ground covered in cracks, the thin body panted exhaustedly, sweating profusely.

  It was as if, in a flash, the boy had suddenly grown up. The boy slowly lifted his head, revealing the dark, elongated, beast-like pupils, and rose from the ground slowly.

  “Thin, too thin.” He frowned, examining his hands, and croaked in a hoarse voice that sounded like steel scraping against each other, “Lancelot, this body could hardly be of good use!”

  Lancelot went down on one knee and kept his head low. “Please pardon my incompetence.”

  The ‘boy’ moved his body. With his subtle movements, the dragon scales emerged faintly from under his skin, the grotesque bestiality restrained in the cage within his five fingers. But for some reason unknown, a forbidding scar appeared on his chest. It was like an old wound of his past that had already healed, yet had almost torn his entire body apart once.

  “In the end, it still can’t be patched up.” He asked, “Where is Mordred, that useless scum? He can finally be of some use.”

  Lancelot answered, “Pardon my incompetence, His Royal Highness fled six months ago.”

  “Is that so?” The hoarse voice took on a meaningful tone. “Then we have to come up with some other way.” As he lifted a finger, Firebird as black as ink oozed out of his body, winding in and out between his joints and muscles, and the cracking of bones constantly sounded. His body increased in height once more, and his face began to change. In the end, the Firebird turned into grand, majestic attire, covering his naked body, and only weak traces of the boy’s original facial features were left.

  In place of the boy’s face was a face full of indifference and coldness—Arthur.

  He turned back, looked at the man who was pinned to the ground and laughed. “Maxwell? It’s been a long time since I last saw you.” Stepping on the shattered floor, he walked over to Maxwell, lowered his head, and looked down at him with a nostalgic expression. “It seems that you like the name very much and have actually used it until now.”

  Maxwell raised his head difficultly and examined the face for a good while, before replying hoarsely, “It’s been a long time, Your Majesty.”

  “It seems that you still remember me. I thought that items like you would quickly put their creator behind them after having a new master.” Arthur crouched down and reached out, clutching Maxwell’s hair and forcing the old man to look at him.

  “Did you know? For so many years, in the cage, I always missed you.” Arthur reached out and pressed the skin of his chest beneath the clothes. When he touched the scar, his fingers twitched slightly, as if he felt the fierce phantom pain once more. “I was always thinking, how should I punish your betrayal?”

  “Betrayal? You’ve got to be kidding…” Maxwell shook his head and asked, “Your Majesty, when you created me, didn’t you intend for me to be the one to betray you?”

  So, Arthur’s gaze became colder. “Anybody else could be the one, Maxwell.” He gazed at the discomposed man in front of him and said, one word at a time, “But not you. Life, tenacity, soul… I gave you everything.”

  “You gave me too much, Your Majesty.” Maxwell interrupted his words and looked at him, no sign of fear in his gaze. “So much that it made me resentful. Didn’t you create me for your own personal achievement during the holy operation?

  “I can die for you, but others have owed you nothing. When you were alive, the Blood Path was already leading to the shadow of the city. After you ascend as a god, the mortal realm will become hell.

  “From the moment you made Gawain your guinea pig, causing him to be stuck in such a state, for the sake of your ascension, I have known that you have become a monster. Leviathan’s blood has dominated you, and you have become a demon!”

  “Ridiculous!” Arthur said coldly, “I am the one in control of everything!”

  “Forget it, Your Majesty.” Maxwell laughed indifferently. “You can’t even control me, can you?” Having said so, he looked at Arthur’s chest, and his gaze turned more and more mocking.

  The scar. As he looked at it, Arthur felt as if the phantom pain had returned once more.

  Arthur’s expression turned uglier and uglier, and he gazed at Maxwell coldly. His gaze was all it took for Maxwell’s body to crack and let out a forlorn whine in the process. Maxwell’s face was pale. Being powerless to resist, he convulsed, and the veins in his face bulged.

  “It seems that you really cherish your current identity.” Arthur reached out and knocked on his face. “It’s just a shell, but it looks fairly adequate. If not for your words just now, I would have almost forgotten what you are.

  “I shouldn’t have bothered talking about concepts like gratitude in the first place to items like you that can’t even be considered human. My bad. ” He paused briefly, then suddenly reached out and grabbed Maxwell by the neck, forcibly lifting him from the ground. The Lance of the Dragon Slayer tore his wounds apart, causing Maxwell to roar fiercely.

  “Listen, Maxwell, the reason I have yet to completely take you apart into a pile of trash at the moment because you’re still considered slightly useful.” Arthur looked at him coldly. “If you really feel any sense of attachment to the world, when everything is over, I can leave you Avalon, this godforsaken place, for you to play your little game of love and kindness with human beings. But now, you better be more cooperative.”

  “Never!” Maxwell squeezed out a word.

  Arthur sneered. “It isn’t up to you to decide. Don’t forget who created you.” He reached out, and the stone sword lying quietly on the ground flew up by itself and fell into his hands, causing him to smile mockingly. “See, even if you have a rebellious streak, you must still obey.”

  Arthur flipped his right hand, lifting the stone sword, and stabbed at Maxwell.

  Bang! Although it was a sound resulting from metal penetrating flesh, a loud bang resembling that of a giant bell being rung was given off.

  Pierced through by the stone sword, Maxwell’s body cracked to form a large gap, revealing no organs within. A fiery flare operated within. It was the result of countless strands of music theory intertwining and evolving into a blood-like stream of a river. At the moment, as the stone sword pierced into it, the fiery flare immediately shook violently, and threw itself into the blade against its will.

  Maxwell’s body shattered inch by inch. In the end, his face turned into ashes and dissipated in the wind. Meanwhile, in Arthur’s hand, the ancient long sword was no longer dull nor cracked, and it had returned to the majestic and lush state it was in centuries ago. It seemed as if it had been forged out of blazing sunlight, and the elements formed by the seven virtues operated within, establishing its core.

  Just by watching it, one would experience hallucinations. It made one feel as if the world was revolving around it.

  As King Arthur waved it, the blade cut through the air, producing a clear whistling sound pleasant to the ears.

  “Welcome back, Maxwell.” Arthur examined the blade, and a pleased smile appeared on his face. “My stone sword.”

  602 The Path to the Top

  In the quiet palace, Arthur turned around and walked slowly to his throne, the

  Stone Sword in his hand. After so many years of departure, the throne, smelt

  of the sweetness of the blood, felt still so familiar to him. He c
huckled and

  said, “it feels so good to come back here again!”

  Sitting on the throne leisurely, he looked down to the place by Lancelot’s side.

  “Long time no see, Gawain. You are so weak and timid, as usual.”

  Lancelot turned and looked to his side. There was no one there. But he could

  hear someone breathing nervously.

  “I was just awake from the sleep and you are already here to see me. By this,

  you’ve shown your loyalty to me. I can spare you from the punishment for

  doing nothing in those hundreds of years.

  “Your majesty…” From the emptiness in the air came a trembling voice,

  “I…I’ve come here to give your majesty some advice…”

  “Oh?” Arthur burst into a splutter of laughter. “The coward who hid himself in

  the armor and didn’t even dare to speak now has the courage to remonstrate

  against his king? It seems a lot of things have changed during these years.

  Considering your loyalty, I’ll give you a chance to say what you want.”

  Supporting his chin with his arm, he said, looking intrigued, “show me what

  you have learnt from those glib-tongued courtiers.”

  In the silence, only the gasping of Gawain was heard. Then, Gawain

  summoned all the courage he had and said, with a voice like a child’s, “things

  could turn better if your majesty could abandon your pursuit of godly

  ascension. The people have been waiting for your majesty to come back, and

  if you show your mercy to them, the heaven on earth will revive in no time.”

  He stumbled over his words, and couldn’t say any more.

  On the throne, Arthur looked down with both pity and mockery in his eyes.

  “That’s all?”

  “Yes, your majesty.” Gawain said, nervously. That’s all I ask of your majesty.

  Please take my humble advice. I’ll take any punishment your majesty

  considers proper on me. I’ll try all the experiments and never say no to your

  majesty.”

  “Or?”

  Gawain didn’t answer.

  In the silence, Arthur heaved a sigh and touched the hilt of the Stone Sword

  with one hand. “You are still so annoying, Gawain, even after you’ve turned

  into ashes.”

  Numerous broken pieces of crystal emerged slowly in the air and struggled to

  converge together. Finally, an incomplete figure of man showed up, with many

  voids and cracks all over the body.

  The man had a handsome face that is almost as pretty as a girl. But now that

  the face was full of cracks and dust, it was like a discarded mask.

  At the corner of the eyes, there was still stains of tears.

  “Then…” The figure held the invisible sword in his hand and aimed it at the

  throne. “Please pardon me for betraying your majesty.”

  In the silence, Lancelot lowered his head. He stood still, as if there were

  nothing happening around him.

  Boom!

  The sound of clashing of metals was heard in the darkness, and was drowned

  by the sound of storm. In the grim light, a cracked crystal ball fell from the

  body that had collapsed into pieces with a crisp click.

  Then, there was only the moaning of the Stone Sword.

  The ashes flew away.

  “I thought you have grown stronger than before.” Arthur shook his head

  disappointedly. “You are on the brink of death yourself, how dare you draw

  your sword on me? This country has deteriorated in the several hundred of

  years. They have lost their manners in front of their king, and even have lost

  their awe to their king and their senses…Oh, whatever. Now that I have come

  back, I will restore order in this country in no time. And to achieve that, I will

  wipe out all those obstacles in my way.”

  Saying that, he put the stone sword into the stone in front of the throne. With

  both his hands holding on the hilt, he depressed the violent resistance of the

  sword against him until the light on the blade went out and the sword became

  quiet.

  “Let’s begin, then.” He raised his eyes, in which the dark sun emerged again.

  Staring at the fires and fighting in the city, he sneered. Then, he shouted with

  a coarse voice which depressed all other noise in the rioting city and

  thundered in everyone’s ears, “the path to the top of the world!”

  The earth shook. The dark clouds covering the whole country were torn into

  pieces and the dark night sky was revealed, where numerous stars were

  twinkling dimly, as if they were to fall onto the earth at any moment.

  Endless dark firebirds spurted out of Arthur’s body and surged into the sky like

  dark flood. Then, the firebirds turned into the shape of hands and rushed to

  the shadows of the stars. Pulled by the firebirds, the light of the stars

  converged and then was devoured. The pull of the music theories twisted

  reality and time, a huge booming noise thundered between the sky and the

  sea.

  The path to godly ascension was re-opened!

  At that moment, everyone saw it. Along with the collapse of the dark firebirds,

  a huge crack was cut open at the center of the sky, through which glaring light

  poured in. The violent sun, born out of the endless music theories, cracked

  open the shell of the firebirds and hang in the sky, spraying out piercing light

  that was like fire.

  With the stone sword as the channel, Arthur sucked the power of Leviathan

  and began to generate the catastrophe like the sun.

  In the cheers, Arthur closed his eyes and laughed.

  Suddenly, his laugh stopped.

  Something was wrong. The operation of the path of godly ascension was

  stopped by something.

  “What is this?” Shocked, he lowered his head and looked at the ocean which

  is full of glaring light. There should be nothing in that place. Yet the smooth

  sea surface was covered with light, by which the reflection of Avalon was

  shown.

  That was the Country in the Shadow which had been sleeping in the

  darkness!

  The insulation between the physical world and the aether world was broken.

  Therefore, the ruined city asleep in the unreal image was reflected in the sea.

  In the reflection, there was a white-haired young man looked at the sun over

  the sky and gave a weird smile.

  Arthur stared at the young man, shocked.

  The young man raised the shabby scroll in his hand slowly. And he said, “let

  there be light…”

  Then, there was light.

  A pure white moon quietly raised out of the reflection in the sea. It was

  shinning brightly. The light full of peace and tranquility filled the whole country

  of shadow, giving life to the deserted realm of the dead. The grand music

  theories of the Genesis were operating in the moon light and covered the

  whole city in the shadow. By the will power of Ye Qingxuan, the combination

  of ultra-light domain music theories and ultra-fine music control brought great

  changes to the situation. It was as if time were flowing back.

  The shattered streets were coming back to its original appearance, the

  collapsed walls began to rebuild themselves and broken beams and columns

  began to rise from the ruins. Then, bricks flew back to their original position

  from all over the city. The city was being pieced together<
br />
  In a short time, the city was intact again as if nothing had happed to it at all.

  The floor was clean, the walls were shiny, and the oil painting on the roofs

  were as fresh as it had ever been.

  The hundreds of years of time was turned back in a split second. The heaven

  on earth, which had been sucked out of all its resources and values, revived

  from the ruins and was now full of moonlight and miracles.

  And all the power needed for this, was drawn from the path of godly

  ascension, which should have belonged to Arthur only.

  Like a burglar broken into a treasure vault, he stole all the treasures and then

  used all of them up in a blink of his eyes. Everything was wasted. And all this

  was done in front of the owner of the vault.

  This was ridiculous!

  “This is not right! Not right!” Arthur opened his eyes and stared at the sword in

  his hand. He figured everything out instantly and roared, the firebirds rioting

  around him, “the sheath, where is the sheath? Maxwell! Where is my

  sheath?!”

  Arthur drove the firebirds onto the stone sword, which shook violently, causing

  the breaking of numerous music theories. The soul in the stone sword

  suffered great pain, yet instead of moaning, he burst out a crazy laugh.

  Where is the sheath? Where can it be? Of course it was where it should be!

  At that moment, with the heaven on earth being restored, the rhythm of the

  Chapter of the Golden Victory sounded all over the space, from the center of

  the country of shadow.

  In the imperial court, the white-dressed young girl who had been prisoned by

  Arthur for hundreds of years sat on the throne. Golden firebirds filled the

  whole space like ocean tides.

  All the power that Arthur had prepared for himself for the godly ascension was

  under the control of the new king. With the power of the whole Anglo

  converging with her, numerous music theories weaved a virtual figure of the

  sheath in the ocean-deep golden firebirds behind her.

  In the reflection, the figures of the golden hunt dogs were looming. They were

  looking at Arthur coldly. They were as proud as ever.