Silent Crown

by Feng Yue

  The skull was indifferent. “Don’t be deluded by the appearance, Paganini. We searched for sixteen cycles in the realm of aether to find it, and spent a great price transferring it into this body.

  “If you ask me whether it is what you want, I will tell you, it is.

  “It is the loving mother who has nurtured countless lives, the venomous woman who has destroyed countless lives, the female saint who has saved countless lives, and the godly prostitute who is bearing countless lives in her.

  “She is the catastrophe that has far surpassed countless catastrophes, an existence that is one of the four living creatures.

  — The Dark Gaia! “

  The swollen woman didn’t have the slightest bit of reaction to being sized up. Her eyes had an empty look and she merely breathed sluggishly. It was a container, a modified container.

  The actual Dark Gaia did not even have a body, and no one could even summarize its state. Only by storing it in a physical container could it be transported from the distant realm of aether to the Physical World.

  So, one need not pay attention to the appearance.

  What really mattered was the internal.

  Paganini looked at her, and she looked at Paganini.

  Suddenly, Paganini’s face felt itchy. He reached out and touched it, but he found that spot-like calluses had grown on the perfect body he had crafted. Meanwhile, a crack had appeared behind his ear where it itched, and something that resembled parotid glands was slowly forming.

  He was shocked and took a few steps back. Then only did the abnormality on his face slowly subsided.

  In the short span of just a few seconds, even the body created by Paganini had mutated under her gaze. Other than the Dark Gaia, no one in the world could do so much.

  The skull had no expression, as if it was not deliberately watching him make a fool of himself.

  “Paganini, do use it carefully.” It said, “It is the most valuable asset of the abyss.”

  “I understand.” Paganini took a white cloth from his lap and carefully unfolded it. He lifted his hand and draped the white gauze on the face of the swollen woman, obscuring her gaze. His movement was gentl, as if he was putting on the veil for a bride.

  “Follow me.”

  He held the hand of the obese woman flanked by the abyss sages, carefully guiding her, and walked toward the depths of the tomb. After passing through a long corridor, walking past innumerable cold, creepy reliefs, and entering dozens of doors, they walked onto a high, suspended platform.

  Under the high platform was countless flashes of aether burning.

  The silver streams of light converged into a vortex, and blazing flares rose into the sky. It was so glaring that it was impossible for one to look straight at it.

  It was where Gaius cast Hecatoncheir in back then. It was also where the Anglos fished out the Lance of the Dragon Slayer once more. At the moment, after experiencing hundreds of years of whale fall, from the deepest part of the deep well of death, a horrifying existence was slowly brewing up once more, and it would soon wake up.

  Paganini pulled her to the edge of the high platform, reached out, and took a stone knife from his hand.

  The stone knife crafted from obsidian reflected Paganini’s face.

  The calm face that resembled both man and woman was so sere in the reflection of the blade.

  A light flashed across.

  671 War

  There was complete silence. The stone knife sliced across the throat of the swollen woman, cutting off the blood vessel on her throat. In that instant, the woman was completely stunned. Her swollen body began to tremble violently. She raised her head suddenly and let out a piercing cry of despair.

  It was a horrible cry. It was sharp and insane, as if millions of fetus were dying in her womb, or millions of children were being born. It was a mixture of pain, insanity and also happiness.

  She was screaming, shrieking and also singing. Her sharp voice pierced through every parts of the land and reverberated in everyone’s ears. Everyone could only see darkness as they were all almost scared out of their wits by the terrifying cry.

  Soon after, blood gushed out from her wound. It was hard to fathom that so much blood could be stored in that swollen body. Blood gushed out so rapidly from the gigantic wound that it was like a waterfall of blood.

  There seemed to be no end to the blood flow and a sea of blood was gradually being formed. It represented the red elemental quality of the Dark Gaia pouring into the deepest part of the Ultimate, adding a layer of red to the countless shimmer of silver.

  In the end, not even the body remained. Only Paganini, who was still holding onto the knife, stood alone on the platform and was looking down on the sea of blood that was gradually mixing with silver light.

  Since then, the world no longer existed within the Dark Gaia… Paganini threw the Dark Gaia into the depths of the Ultimate. As one of the Four Living Creatures, it was able to provide water for this baby, that was about to be born. It was also able to more than make up for all the deficiencies with hundreds of times of power.

  This was the pure power of life!

  There was a roar from the whirlpool. Beneath the blood-red whirlpool, there seemed to be a gigantic uterus and within it was the movements of a catastrophe. The elements that the Sacred City had spent so much effort to infuse into it were broken all of a sudden. Instead, the elements of the Changing Music Theory and the Dark Gaia have already been tightly fused with the core of the Ultimate and could no longer be separated.

  The entire Ultimate was trembling violently. The ancient building has already collapsed completely and the waves crashed relentlessly. Countless spots of mud fell from the sky and landed onto the ground to form a small man that was the size of a thumb. It ran around killing before dying again very quickly to return back to the dust.

  Catastrophe was about to be born!

  –

  At the same time, a crow landed on the shoulder of a knight just outside of the Sacred City. The flaming-red horse hooves were buried within the mud. Water evaporated and released a foul odor. The blood-red war horse advanced slowly, one step at a time, all the while stomping on the corpses that have been littered everywhere. Far away, in the Iron City, the sound of the bell could be heard booming throughout as figures rose up to the sky, one after another, to be on guard to face a great enemy. In contrast, the expression of the knight on the war horse remained dull. His body was stiff and his eyes showed no spirit, as if there was no soul in him whatsoever.

  That was because it was just a puppet. Its body was made from willow twigs; its face was made from the core of the tree; it was made to look more majestic by decorating it with gemstones and its 10 fingers were made from skillful carvings.

  But none of these could change its true nature, for it was put in place by something that was of a much deeper level. As a result, it would be pure and would not harbor any intentions to kill. It was not human, yet it was better than humans. It did not have a soul, and neither would it need one. It was created to be a weapon. When Hyakume shredded the abyss, it gave this puppet the true nature of the abyss, as well as the sense of duty towards Hyakume.

  “Destroyer is here! Destroyer is here! Destroyer is here!” On the shoulder of the willow twig knight, the crow’s eyes were bloodshot as it crowed, “All beings with blood are like grass, yet all grass must dry and all flowers must wilt one day. Between blood and death, destruction is coming!”

  The blood-red war horse stepped forward. The sparks of molten rocks beneath its hooves rose into the sky, turning the sky into a burning-hot iron curtain. Beneath the iron curtain, stars rose from the Sacred City.

  The majestic bell rang once again. For five times.

  The Holy Spirits awoke in the coffin. Under the will of Nibelungenlied, the black metal door of the hall of heroic souls opened gradually. Countless beams of light rose from the ground and floating in the sky as they shone like stars. Agni turned into a gigantic flaming-red star. T
he wind and lightning of the Holy Spirit would forever be entangled, as they brought about hurricanes and thunder to form a binary star…

  The bell never stopped ringing and every time it rang, a crack that led to the realm of aether would open. Endless aether would gush out and irrigate the stars so that the latter would continue to shimmer, until thousands of them shone on the land.

  The Holy Spirits were finally waking up after such a long time. Hundreds of hymn groups were all busy try to sing the songs and praises of the Holy Spirits. Amidst their voices, light turned into armors and long swords so that the Holy Spirits were fully armed. But it was those that were alive that reacted much quicker than the Holy Spirits.

  The scepter musicians that have been practicing in the monastery were the first to turn into blistering light. The first to bear the brunt was the elderly Orlando. Orlando already knew when he would die and had even prepared the process of turning into a Holy Spirit. At this moment, he no longer looked old and frail, and looked full of youth instead. His hair was shimmering with gold and his body was well-built like a demi god. The metallic alchemy formation has already been mounted on his body and the power of scepter coursed through it.

  The majestic howl reverberated between the sky and the ground, as if countless whales were singing together at the same time. Wherever the blistering light went, gullies would crack open and extend outwards from the Sacred City. In the blink of an eye, across many kilometers, the song of Orlando set the elements in motion and trigger an incredible power from the realm of aether to crash towards the physical world.

  With a single hit, the entire sea of aether trembled, as if a terrible blow has been produced from the realm of aether that would extend downwards and pierce through nine layers of sea of aether. But in the next instant, before the terrible blow could surface, it has already completely dissipated.

  The willow twig knight raised its head and the two red rubies on its face showed the reflection of Orlando’s image. He raised his fingers and struck. No one could see what happened, but in the next instant, he was already gripping Orlando’s throat. Within the grasp of his fingers, the scepter broke apart.

  Shortly after that, the right arm was raised before it sent the knife crashing down. There was a clear and crisp sound as fresh blood spurted out. Orlando’s head fell cleanly from the well-built body, as if a ripe melon had fallen from a tree. Soon after, a second one followed.

  The sound of knife cutting through bone was clear and crisp as heads rolled onto the ground one by one, only to be trampled by the war horse’s hooves. Regardless of Master or scepter, they all suffered the same fate.

  Very soon, all the musicians have increased the distance between themselves and the knight. In order to avoid any more casualties from the knife that could not be seen, the Cardinal Bishop has ordered that only the musicians that specialized in long-distance music theory structures would step onto the battlefield, under the heavy protection of the Knights Templar.

  Soon after, the scream of the war horse tore through the entire path as a red beam of light suddenly shot out and across a distance of thousands of meters. But in the very next instant, the red light has already returned to its original spot.

  The willow twig knight was completely charred black and its body was blazing with flames like a meteor. Soon after, the terrifying gullies appeared on the battlefield and wherever the red light swept across, everything in its path would be completely broken down.

  It did not matter if it was a knight or musician, and whether he was wearing an armor or holding a shield, everything was no longer what they seemed. The terrifying shriek finally came. Even if there were thousands of soldiers and horses against a single red war horse carrying a dull-looking puppet, all of the former were completely scared out of their wits.

  “All the musicians that are not of the upper-tier caliber, please step back.”

  The Holy Spirit that had woken up was staring at the war horse that was slowly approaching them. It sighed, “This is one of the Four Living Creatures that Hyakume created before his death. They are the clones of his hatred against the world. To humans, this is the incarnation of ‘war’. Only war can destroy war. Other than that, anyone else would only be sacrificing themselves for nothing.”

  Everyone looked terrible. 10 minutes ago, this has already shaken the entire Sancta Sedes. If they were forced to interfere again, the Sacred City would lose its authority and presence.

  “Don’t worry. Let me do it.”

  The anonymous Holy Spirit stretched out his hand and the priest of the showroom of holy weapons stepped forward to present him with a heavy bronze horn. Patches of dried blood could still be seen on the horn, along with some spots of rust.

  ‘Horn of Disaster’!

  Even as everyone heaved a sigh of relief in their hearts, they still took a step back unknowingly. There was respect and fear in their eyes.

  A hundred years ago, when the lighthouse of the Sacred City was first built, a few scepters of the School of Revelation had borrowed the lighthouse and the power of Nibelungenlied to create this artifact. Unfortunately, it went against The Way of Prophecy that the School of Revelation pursued. Therefore, after exhausting all ways and means, they finally combined it with the power of the Holy Bible in order to focus on guiding the fates of every phenomenon towards the same destination. It could be said that its mere presence was an act of blasphemy against the School of Revelation.

  All these alone would not have incited such fear in everyone. However, according to historical records, every single person that has wielded this weapon has had their fates deserted. Nothing good awaited any of them and even their future generations were not spared. The Indian prophets and curse musicians named this power as ‘karma’, and karma would always achieve an equilibrium at the end of the day. In order to leverage karma, one would have to use his own fate in exchange.

  This was a lose-lose situation.

  To a Holy Spirit, the price of using this weapon was the complete destruction of his presence. The moment the horn was blown, he would be crushed into nothingness by the incredible pressure of the realm of aether and the rebounding of the Originator, and his consciousness would be lost. Of course, the enemy would not end up well either.

  In that instant, the horn was blown loud and clear.

  672 Wormwood

  A horn sounded from the end of the sky.

  The people on the turbulent sea outside of the Ultimate could not help but look up at the violently changing heavens.

  It was as if a huge brass horn had been sounded, but when they looked in the direction that the sound came from, they could see no one. It was even difficult to sense with their aetheric perception.

  It was a sound that had come from outside of the Ultimate.

  In some distant place people were burning, and this blowing horn warned of that disaster.

  Then, everyone saw a huge crack open in the firmament, and everyone beheld the original darkness off the universe that had been hidden behind the blue sky.

  To the naked eye, it was nothing but a magnificent fissure. But to a musician’s senses, it was a huge crack that led into the realm of aether.

  Something terrible began to rise slowly from the fissure.

  It was a star.

  The crimson star rose from the chaos behind the fissure like an indifferent eye slowly opening, and then casting itself over the world. Starlight gathered together and then descended towards the north.

  Even if they didn’t look directly into that strange eye, everyone could feel the hairs all over their body stand up. Their hearts were heavy, and there was nothing they could do to relieve it.

  Aboard the flagship of the Royal Navy, Sylvaine stared at the horror scene revealed in the ball of aether and could not help but gasp.

  “What is that?”

  “…Wormwood!”

  “The great star Wormwood!”

  The Revelation Musician who served as lookout was stunned for quite a while befor
e he screamed, “The Sacred City has blown the Horn of Disaster!”

  Everyone on the ship was plunged into dead silence as everyone’s uneasiness grew.

  Several minutes before this had started a great chaos had erupted from the Ultimate, and the sea outside was likewise thrown into turmoil and horror.

  The tide had sprung up out of nowhere, causing all kinds of ceaseless turbulence, and the sound of neighing continued.

  In a flash, the sea that had once been dark blue with faint traces of black turned blood red. The scarlet color stung everyone’s eyes. The sea monsters lurking in the depths floated up to the surface and began madly attacking everything.

  After drinking the blood red seawater, the sea monsters began to change rapidly, becoming more and more ugly. There were giant fish with human faces, enormous sea snakes with four limbs, deformed turtles covered in barnacles…

  Fury rose up from the bloody water.

  High-pitched alarms sounded out one after another. At the musicians’ warning, each fleet commander had already ordered all of his men off deck. Those unfortunate few who were too slow were bathed in blood and were soon either covered in strange tumors and cysts, died painfully, or were transformed into monsters.

  Military officers wearing heavy armor, gas masks and hazard clothing walked onto the deck, coldly killing those who had transformed. Then the musicians called forth fire, burning them all together. But their deformed skeletons screamed in the flames. Even when they were nothing more than ash they still clung to the deck like moss, and were very difficult to clean off.

  Soon, the ocean was boiling.

  The hot temperature was accompanied by a scalding wind. The lookout turned his head, and could see nothing but a red-hot city of steel.

  It was the Asgardian sea fortress.

  After the alchemy arrays had been adjusted, thousands of waves of aether burst out from the sea fortress one after another. After the numerous waves had combined into one, the city of steel on the sea began to glow red-hot.