by Feng Yue
“You need not worry about other people, Grand Inquisitor.” The old musician sneered. “Worry about yourself first!”
As the 13 fortresses completely disintegrated, the power stored in them was completely integrated into the depths of Vanaheim. At the moment, beneath the ground, Vanaheim had become a huge refining cauldron.
It was a melting pot full of power and death.
It wasn’t just that, but Ye Qingxuan also sensed turbulent music theory of the Church within it. Since the old musician had fallen out with the Church, nothing was holding him back anymore. Even the dead saints were swallowed up by Vanaheim. All their music theory, movements, spirituality, and legacy were cast into the cauldron and became part of Vanaheim.
743 Apologies
Shortly after, the sea of aether appeared for the first time in the Physical World. At this moment, the old musician relied on the armor of divinity and connected the Tree of World to Vanaheim, and almost transformed himself into Asgard. As he pushed at full force, the sea of aether was completely sucked up and pumped into the mortal world.
It was a density that was tens of thousands of times greater than that of the black zone. Countless beams of light gathered together to form boiling mercury, which was capable of melting the streams of light that were coming together from all directions. This was the first time that Ye Qingxuan was experiencing the feeling of drowning in the sea of aether. It was like being thrown into a pool of strong acid.
The illusory aether torrents were filled with cries of pain and despair as the remnants of hatred and insanity of the dead were mixed within. Countless broken faces began to surface. They were screaming and crying and tugging at him with hands that did not hold any form or weight. At this moment, Ye Qingxuan and the incarnation of the catastrophe had both been completely submerged within this ocean of hatred.
It was just like how one needed to submerge minerals in decomposition liquid so that they would be completely disintegrated before proceeding to create some special alloys. Leave? No way! Of course, the old musician was never going to let Ye Qingxuan leave. The stove had already been built and the fire had already been lit. If he let their meal go, what would they eat for dinner?
Seeing how they were being pinched and nipped all over like soft persimmons, Ye Qingxuan calmed down instead. Only his eyes turned icy cold.
“Your Majesty, how are you with swords?” he suddenly asked Mary out of the blue.
“Ooh…” It was rare for Mary to reveal an awkward expression. “I’m not very good with royal swordsmanship. If I tried my best against Christine, who will only spar with me a single arm, it would probably be a draw match. Why do you ask?”
“Nothing much.” There was a complicated look on Ye Qingxuan’s face.
Although her swordsmanship was nowhere near the level of Lancelot, for her to be on par with Christine, who would only fight her with a single arm, this meant that she was already rather proficient when compared to the Knights of the Round Table. At the very least, she was hundreds of times more powerful than someone like him, who wielded a sword as if it was a stick.
He sighed and seemed to make up his mind. “In that case, the key to our victory lies with you, Your Majesty.”
“Hmm?” Mary looked confused. Although she possessed the power of catastrophe, all this while, she had always played the supporting role to Ye Qingxuan. It had never been her habit to rely on others but now that she was being thrust into the role of being key to the outcome of the battle and was about to face Odin, who was clad in armor of divinity and was on the brink of stepping into the domain of the Three Pillar God, she could not help but feel flustered.
“Even if we wish to leave now, I’m afraid the host will not allow it. We have no choice but to stay and play the role of a horrible guest.” Ye Qingxuan spoke coldly, “That old fellow’s plan is for everyone to fight on the aether engine, just before it explodes. We cannot sit by and do nothing about it.”
He did not bother to conceal his tone. In fact, the situation was clear. After gathering Asgard’s power for the past few centuries, Vanaheim had now become an enormous alchemy caldron. A huge amount of music theories were evolving every moment and could explode anytime if one was not paying enough attention. Not only would Asgard be completely destroyed, but the rest of the world would also suffer catastrophic consequences.
Right now, the old musician was half-threatening and half-extorting. By tying the entire world to his molten lead bucket, his intention was to put Ye Qingxuan in a situation where he would have no choice but to hold back in order to avoid harming the innocent. In order to defeat him, there must be no hesitation and panic. It must be done decisively and cleanly. In order to do so, Ye Qingxuan had to exploit his only weakness.
Right now, all the power was being connected to the armor of divinity through the Tree of World and the person that was in control of all these was not necessarily Odin, but the old musician. Without a doubt, this was his only weakness. In order to win, they would have to gather all the power in a single line, penetrate through it, and thoroughly yet accurately evaporate the old musician that was hiding within the armor of divinity.
“Will this…really work?” Although there was nothing wrong with the theory, Mary just did not feel confident. She kept feeling as if something was wrong somewhere. “With my level of swordsmanship, I’m afraid I may just make things worse.”
Ye Qingxuan laughed bitterly and looked at Mary, “Later, I will use the New Testament to break us through the aether current and domain of Vanaheim. After that, we will just have to count on Your Majesty.”
“I will try my best.” At this moment, the incarnation of catastrophe was shivering slightly. These dialogues had not been carried out without the old musician’s knowing. Although there was a barrier, the distance was so close that to the armor of divinity, it was no different from screaming beside his ear.
Ye Qingxuan was doing this on purpose. He was stranded between heaven and earth and within the armor of divinity but deep down, he was laughing to himself. Carry on, carry on putting up a front.
Right now, he was focused on tinkering with divinity in order to achieve a drastic miracle. It was not enough even if he devoted his full attention to it. It was already difficult enough to spare part of his attention for suppressing Ye Qingxuan and the incarnation of catastrophe, much less attacking them. In other words, before he could complete his preparations, there was no way he could retaliate. He had no choice to take whatever blows that would come.
Ye Qingxuan did not care to hide this point. Instead, he would lay out his plans openly and clearly for the old musician to see. I am going to poke at your heart. Are you going to block it or not? Can you block it or not? Am I purposely saying these to distract you from something else I have up my sleeves or is this all there is to it?
Guess. Keep on guessing. Ye Qingxuan was filled with cruel intentions.
This situation of being walled in by one’s worries was both a test and torture for both sides. Whoever gave up first would lose. Ye Qingxuan was used to exploiting others when they were at their weakest so this was nothing to him. At this moment, the old musician pretended not to hear what he was saying.
The Tree of World transformed into the iron giant and spewed out wings of light. The wings connected heaven and earth, turning itself into Asgard. Shortly after, it began to push against the immense power of divinity as Asgard. Above the glorious and majestic crown of light, divinity was devouring the endless aether continuously. Countless music theories would clash and be annihilated until they gradually appeared out of the alchemy caldron in a pristine state.
The element of ancient runes! Six rows of elements that glittered like stars transformed into gemstones and were on top of the giant’s crown.
With the appearance of the six elements, each representing different powers and orders, the silhouette of a final element gradually surfaced amidst the intertwining of the countless music theories. Compared to the six terrifying powers,
the last element was a complete blank that contained none of the powers of runes.
Amidst the emptiness, there seemed to be endless possibilities. This was the key to creation. Six ancient runes surrounded this tool, that was created from the most crucial blank slate. This blank slate was the only one that was capable of carrying the terrifying power of the creation of the world by God. It did not exist in any physical bodies yet it was omnipresent. The supreme element, void!
But right now, the void was congregating very slowly. Under the pressure of external forces, it was moving very slowly and was almost coming to a stop. This was due to the flawless light that was gradually congregating ahead. It was the sword blade that subdued catastrophe with mercy and justice, and solidified the foundation of the crown with the most sublime traits of humanity. It was the sword of coronation, Catinat! Only the most selfless people with compassion and justice would be able to wield this sword. Only those that showed mercy and kindness to all living creatures would deserve to raise that sword of glory.
Power flowed within the incarnation of catastrophe. Endless dragon fire gathered in a single line and lit up the glow of the sword blade. It was so pure that there were no flaws and it was so bright that there was not a single spot of darkness. It was so righteous that there could be no distortion and it was so gentle that it would not hurt any eyes that looked at it. It was as if all the most beautiful things in the world had been gathered here, and only light as pure as this could prove the value of justice and mercy, as well as declare to whom victory belonged to.
At the same time, a deep voice rumbled across the earth, “Build the foundations of the land and lift the vault of heaven. Renew everything in this world so that nothing will ever decay.”
As the New Testament Sword was stabbed into the ground, Ye Qingxuan made his declaration while gripping tightly onto the sword. The deep voice reverberated amongst the torrents of aether. The exquisite yet powerful glow of the blade of New Testament sword began to rise and split apart the ocean made up of torrents of aether. It chased away all howls of despair and curses.
Compared to the purity and harmlessness of Catinat, the glow of the New Testament was powerful and cold. It was as hot as flame and its edges and corners were clear-cut like metal. Just like justice and truth, it would not be gentle because of one’s kindness nor cruel because of one’s evilness. It would draw a clear and objective line between right and wrong, hence becoming a yardstick that all creatures would be measured against.
Ye Qingxuan’s actions allowed the New Testament sword to hack away most of the complicated music theory and chaotic aether. This paved a way for the incarnation of catastrophe and eliminated all obstacles. At that moment, the incarnation of catastrophe took the sword blade, that was glowing with purity and beauty, and laid it flat like a knight before getting into a stance as if it was ready to charge at the armor of divinity in the sky at any moment.
This stance would be flawless even under the critical eyes of Lancelot. An immense non-human power appeared amidst the ultimate bestiality as they served as fuel to keep the light burning bright. The light seemed to be able to devour anything. In the light of the descent of redemption, the incarnation of catastrophe broke out. At that moment, everything disintegrated beneath the light of the sword blade as the defense of the armor of divinity was penetrated cleanly. After covering a distance of a few hundred meters, it also pierced through the iron body of the armor of divinity.
Simply powerful! The light tore through the old musician’s body, evaporating him completely within it, before being pierced through the back of Odin’s heart. It shredded the long night sky and vault of heaven, and pierced through the mountains that stood in the way. Right in the middle was a gap with smooth edges and it kept going through until it had completely penetrated through the lands of Asgard and into the sky of the outer world. It stabbed into the original darkness of the universe at an angle before gradually disappearing amongst the stars.
“Have we succeeded?” Mary was stunned. All of the resistance and abnormalities did not take place as they had expected. Did the old musician simply allow her to pierce through the armor of divinity and kill himself? She could clearly sense that the old musician completely evaporated amidst the stream of light. There was no resistance at all. One could describe it as him encouraging her to pierce through the chest of the armor of divinity. In an instant, he was beyond dead. But why… why had it yet to stop?
Even after the old musician was no longer in control, the divinity within the armor continued to function within the network of the Tree of World and between the massive domains of the iron giant and Vanaheim. The majestic melody of the creation of heaven and earth continued…
“My apologies, Your Majesty.” Within the divinity of the armor, an old and frail voice spoke, “I have disappointed you. But how can a dead person die a second time?”
In the blink of an eye, the divinity within the armor began to fluctuate. The object without form, which seemed to be made from superior matter, spewed out from the armor and incredibly, it was Odin’s source of essence. But now, what was floating within was the face of the old musician. Just like what he had said, to someone who died before, there was no such thing as dying for a second time.
Back at the Ultimate, the old musician had already been killed by Paganini’s corrosion. Ever since then, it had always been his duplicates that roamed around the world. Although there were many limitations for duplicates, the biggest advantage was that he could create as many of them as he wished. Otherwise, if he had known about such a fatal weakness in the plan, why would he not prepare countermeasures?
Besides, after sacrificing hundreds and thousands and even tens of thousands of duplicates, he had finally been able to infuse his obsession thoroughly into divinity, which was something that even the Second Prince had failed to do back then! What he was pursuing was not the ability to control the power of catastrophe as a human, but the ability for the power of catastrophe to follow his will and command in order to complete the miracle. Therefore, he could afford to give up trivial things, such as his own will, his character, his consciousness, and more…
He did not do the same thing as what the other failures did, which was to dominate and control Odin’s divinity. Instead, all he did was infuse his own obsession within. If one duplicate was not enough then he would create ten, if ten was not enough then he would create 100, if 100 was not enough then he would create 1,000! He allowed himself to be evaporated within the divinity for thousands of times until he succeeded in infusing his obsession into it, or perhaps “contaminate” was a more accurate description.
When the last duplicate was finally killed, the old musician had finally completely transformed into a machine with a single purpose. He could be the same as the difference machine, that had only just come out into the world a few years ago, and give different answers depending on the circumstances, or implement different actions, or undertake different plans. But at the end of the day, he was no longer human anymore.
Under the influence of divinity, there was not a hint of his consciousness that remained. In its place was a puppet that was created from the interweaving of tens of thousands of pre-arranged plans, a machine of creation with only a single purpose in its heart! From this moment on, he had finally… become Odin!
In an instant, Gungnir appeared in Odin’s hands and stabbed at Mary! Mary was stunned, not because of the attack from Gungnir, but from the sword blade that had stabbed through her back. Simultaneously, Ye Qingxuan had attacked her from the back!
“Originally, I had a complicated and dangerous plan but after thinking about it, I decided that there was no point for Your Majesty to take the risk with me.” Ye Qingxuan sighed quietly and bade farewell to Mary, “Please forgive me for lying to you, and, my apologies.”
With that, the New Testament sword sank even further until it penetrated the core of Leviathan. The incarnation of catastrophe stiffened for a moment and shortly after, the power of
Ye Qingxuan burst out from the sword blade and cut off the connection between Mary and the incarnation of catastrophe.
A stream of light dragged her consciousness out through the sword blade and along the gap that Mary had just created. It was like an agile bird that was finding its way out of a cage and finally flying freely in the sky of Asgard. Finally, it was sent back into the net of aether.
When Mary opened her eyes once again, she was seated on the throne, but before she could even make a sound, the suggestion that Ye Qingxuan had planted in her consciousness finally sprouted, dragging her into the deepest sleep. In the final moment, she looked in the direction of Asgard and stretched out her hand, as if she was trying to grab someone that had been left behind. But shortly after, the darkness swallowed her entirely.
“Ye…”
…
This was Ye Qingxuan’s real objective. It was not to kill the enemy or destroy the old musician’s plan but for the after-effects, to get rid of the Vanaheim’s seal for the time being.
What they had to face was an old ghost that had already gone mad, a catastrophe by the name of Odin who was about to reach the domain of the Three Pillar God, and an entire Asgard at their beck and call. On the other hand, Ye Qingxuan and Mary were visitors to this land, and their chances of winning were already very small. He might as well send Mary away first. There was no time to explain anything, so he had to do what he did. He hoped that Mary would not be upset with him. He sighed.
After withdrawing Mary’s consciousness and the power of Catinat, Leviathan became a monster that had been unshackled. Its darkness and ferociousness could be felt but before things could escalate further, it was struck by Odin’s Gungnir with full force and was almost completely disintegrated.
Shortly after, the power of the New Testament sword burst out of the core. In an instant, the incarnation of catastrophe vanished and all that was left was Ye Qingxuan’s sword.