Half an hour ago, the clattering of hooves sounded in the barren fields outside Auschwitz. A dark stallion walked through the field. The knight was covered in armor without an inch of skin showing. The heavy armor was created from hundreds of detailed yet hefty pieces. Rather than seeming fat and cumbersome on him, it looked like another layer of skin or a sharp skeleton outside the body. He carried a black kite shield covered in gashes and scratches. One could vaguely see the design of two keys.
This was the representative of the Sacred City.
The two overlapping keys represented the joining of heavenly and human power, expressing that the pope had indisputably high status.
A bladeless sword hung at the knight’s waist. The hilt was narrow and all forty centimeters was pure black. It clanged against the leg armor as the stallion moved. The crisp sound seemed neither powerful nor fierce.
“Sir, this way,” a fawning voice said. A ragged old man carried a lantern and walked quickly beside the horse, guiding it. “Sir, let me guide you.”
The entire way, this old guy kept talking nonsense while the knight kept silent. The old man’s words were extremely dramatic. Even if he saw a crack, he would exclaim, “Ah, watch out, sir!” When the stallion crossed the crack, he would praise, “Sir, you are so impressive. You’ve worked hard!”
The knight remained silent.
In the still wilderness, the man and horse walked forward in solitude. After a long while, the knight suddenly stopped his steed. He looked down at the old man beside him. “Mr. Caligula.”
The man halted and looked up. “Sir, how can I help you?”
“Here will be enough.” The knight looked down at his small meter for a while before putting it away.
Knowing his place, Caligula took a few steps back. The knight grasped his sword with both hands and raised it to his eyes. With a spin, a holy chime seemed to sound in the distance. Blazing flames rushed from the sword! The dark night was suddenly illuminated by the blinding light. The blade of flame that spanned countless meters rotated slowly. When it shot up to the sky, the blazing light swallowed the knight.
Grasping the sword of light, he raised it to the sky. The blade flickered and changed its length to an unknown rhythm as if calling out to the distance. Then hundreds of thousands of whales started singing above the black clouds. It was a thunderous rumble from thousands of meters above the sky.
The dust on the earth shook and hundreds of waves rippled through the sea-like clouds. Under this majestic thunder, fire was ignited above the blackness. It was as if hundreds of meteorites were burning and about to fall.
The steel curtain of clouds was torn apart. A black shadow rode the flames and broke through the long night. It pressed down slowly and hung in the air.
There were suddenly dozens of suns. Under the blazing light, the entire world was covered in a layer of silver white iron. Above the flames, a giant object covered the entire sky. The iron dazzled, turning the entire sky metallic.
Like a group of whales, countless flying ships migrated from the endless sea and rode the wild wind into this wilderness. Using invisible technology and secret collaborations between alchemists from various countries, the Sacred City created this terrifying fleet that could soar through the skies. It was Knights Templar!
Explosive thunder rumbled in the air. Among them, countless black dots fell from the largest Holy ship like rain. These were landing capsules that did not contain any deceleration measures. They crashed toward the earth, tearing the air apart. They burned red from the friction with whistles that sounded like roars. The earth shook. Rumbles sounded continuously like the wail from dying whales.
It was the whale fall!
As the world shook, a landing capsule landed before the knight. The cabin door opened, releasing scalding steam. A burly figure walked out of the white steam. He was covered entirely in solemn armor. The bronze and dark gold on him wove into a holy emblem. He looked like the iron men who guarded the throne in the Holy Temple. His servants walked out of the cabin and helped him put on the heavy chainsaw sword and large shield.
The iron knight stood on the wilderness under the blazing light, casting a vast shadow on the earth. Before him, the guidance knight lowered onto one knee. He lowered his head with the respect of a follower to a god.
“His Excellency Bann,” he reported solemnly. “I await your orders.”
The iron giant slowly opened his mask, revealing a coldly handsome face. He nodded slowly and looked over. “Elder Caligula.”
“I’m here, here!” The old man came over and put on a smile. “My lord, how can I help you?”
“Before coming, his majesty the Pope requested for me to take the utmost care for everything related to Auschwitz and to not harm the innocent. However, we arrived too late.” Bann looked behind him to the city covered in darkness. “Do you have any suggestions now?”
“How can an old guy like me have any suggestions?” Caligula shrugged. “We’ve been watched by dark musicians for so many years. Isn’t Knights Templar here to save us now? I have nothing to say. I hope that you can act without holding back.”
Bann looked down at him. “Even if we kill all Romulusians who had turned into demons?”
“Sir, that’s nothing,” Caligula said softly as he bent over. “With something like war, casualties must happen. If my family and brethren can break free from the natural catastrophe, then all sacrifices are worth it. I just hope the Sacred City can remember our sacrifices.”
“Of course, all sacrifices should be remembered.” Bann gave him one last glance. “But I hope you understand that you won’t be the only one making sacrifices.” He turned and gazed at the dark city in the distance. He raised his sword; the chainsaw blade shone with the light of god.
“Holy Choir, ready!” he commanded gravely. His voice was like steel and it echoed in the air. The iron whales responded one after another and shone.
“Battle Mass!”
The world was stifled. Under the solidified wind, a hoarse song began. This was a sacred song that announced the gospel from heaven. Thus, God’s apostle told the mortals, “I am here, not for peace, but to call you to arms.” Soon, God’s apostle would shake the heavens, earth, the sea, and the nations!
A grand melody sounded along with the drums and instruments. It filled the air with bells and resounded in all directions. The bell at the peak of the Sacred City rang; countless bells followed. Ripples started in the aether sea.
The bells traveled into the aether world, awakening the holy city within flames. In the sacred resting place, countless burning souls opened their eyes. They sang hoarsely and joined the majestic battle mass.
In that moment, holy light fell upon the darkness in Auschwitz. A crack appeared in the black sky like a path to heaven. Thus, heavenly light shone under the Holy Choir’s grave singing!
However, the glow was neither warm nor merciful. It was cold as steel and full of murder. The darkness began shaking under the light. Cracks appeared on the dark atrium from the holy light.
The Garment of Original Sin was burning and crying out like countless dying demons. Between the sky and earth, between the light and darkness, a flat and blurry crack seemed to appear. This was the battlefield of countless music theories.
The temperament was distorting; the boundary between existence and nonexistence was blurring. The foundation of the material world was torn apart and dragged into the aether current, dying in the quakes.
The center of this was Auschwitz. The high walls shattered instantly, caving in, revealing the burning city.
Countless figures soared into the sky instantly. The hiding dark musicians now went into coherence to fight against the battle mass. Immediately after, a wind tunnel from the abyss opened. The Dark Gaia’s flesh appeared from the ashes. It transformed into countless statues and rushed toward the Knights Templar fleet.
Bann looked at the wailing city. He raised his hand and commanded, “Falling Star!”
A roaring music score played under the help of Modifications musicians and alchemy arrays. The immense meteorites from the aether world came forth. They passed through the nine levels of the aether sea and crashed toward the material world.
They passed through the dying ‘flesh enchantment’ and exploded with light! This was an attack that burned and killed everyone it touched. Everything was shrouded in destruction. Both friend and foe.
“Yezi, I’m sorry…” Bann murmured. He pulled down his mask and climbed onto his steed under clangs. The war stallion whinnied. Sparks flew from its nostrils and its eyes were blood red. Its whinny sounded like a dragon’s roar.
“Notify the second legion…” The chainsaw sword in Bann’s hand lit up in flames, transforming into the blade of God’s punishment. Hoisting it, he declared, “Prepare for Whale Fall!”
Countless black dots fell from the fleets again like a thunderstorm. The Knights Templar descended from the sky. The moan of the Whale Fall filled the sky.
God’s apostles had sounded the horn of slaughter!
The moment the Garment of Original Sin tore apart, the dark atrium trembled. The invisible cage in the abyss was at the brink of collapse. A crack appeared and six beams of light shot into the sky. Within a few hours, Auschwitz turned from a barren city into Hell on Earth. The grandmasters gazed at the tragic state with furrowed brows. After closing their eyes and sensing, their faces darkened.
“At least half are gone…”
“I can’t sense Grandmaster Koch. He was probably slain.”
“Is this Knights Templar from the Sacred City? Have they already started fighting? It’s too fast. The young musicians haven’t left yet!”
The grandmasters exchanged glances. During their confusion, a bell rang vaguely. A light projected here from thousands of miles away, falling into the hands of the lead master. The blockade music theory came undid automatically. It attracted the aether and transformed into a scroll. The end was stamped with the Pope’s seal.
“An order from the Sacred City?” Stunned, he looked up. Broadcasting his voice, he announced, “The order decrees for all nations and the Sacred City to call for all musicians. The trial’s goal has been changed: defeat the dark musicians, foil the plan of the natural catastrophe, and safeguard humanity from the Dark World!”
The survivors who had been dumbfounded and helpless were now ecstatic. They quickly shrugged off their disguises to reveal their aether waves and approached the Knights Templar. They either went for protection or to join the battle.
In the city, the dark musicians and knights fought furiously.
The knight on the mountain outside the city galloped in on his eight-footed horse. Covered in armor, he lowered onto one knee in the bloody dirt before Bann. He looked extremely tragic. He reported something quietly. Bann nodded and waved. He turned and joined the battle again.
Beside Bann, something downcast flashed past Caligula’s eyes. “Still haven’t found her?”
“The knights have already searched within a hundred meter radius of the location you provided. Sadly, they still have not found Miss Elsa.” Bann glanced at him. His words were emotionless. “You should be prepared. She is probably dead already.”
“I know.” Caligula hung his head sadly. “I know.”
“Actually, the Sacred City has another question that we hope you can answer for us.” Bann supported himself with his sword and looked down at Caligula coldly. “What did the King of Yellow do in Auschwitz behind the Sacred City’s back?”
Caligula froze but quickly laughed. “I am equally confused. However, no matter what he did, isn’t the result as you see now? As sinners, we Romulusians were born with curses and fated to fall into darkness. Now we are shrouded by the disease and will never be cured.”
He looked down and said hoarsely, “The average mortal cannot guess what the high and mighty three kings wish to do. But for the Romulusians who live under others’ mercy, we can refuse neither your torture nor blessing. After all, our demon blood is our original sin.”
After a long silence, Bann shook his head. “What the King of Yellow did has nothing to do with the Sacred City. Before he disappeared, he had forced his way into the palace and discussed with the two other kings. However, things ended unhappily. We could not find him after that.
“Before I arrived, Nibelungenlied told me that the ‘lighthouse’ had observed that the King of Yellow’s scepter has been in Auschwitz all these years without moving. I believe he has been hiding and observing us. Or even worse.”
Bann stopped and did not continue. Without a doubt, the Sacred City had already suspected that the king who had never gotten along with the others had joined the natural catastrophes in anger. If this was the case, then it would be the biggest betrayal to humanity. No nation or the Sacred City could allow this to happen!
“If I may ask,” Caligula suddenly said with a troubled voice, “if the worst case scenario truly happened, what will the Sacred City do?”
Bann looked down at his sword of punishment in silence. His eyes reflected the cold sharpness of the sword. He had never hesitated or weakened.
Ever since the Dark Age had ended, the three kings were the pillars of the human world. If a king betrayed his throne, there would only be one solution for the Sacred City—kill the king!
–
As the destructive light shattered the dark atrium and fell into Auschwitz, it seemed to come to life. It moved in the air, continuously refracting into thousands of small rays. The light that was attracted by the abyss music theory fell onto the shocked dark musicians. It was as if a bucket of boiling oil had been poured into a jar. Pained cries sounded one after another.
The strongest beam crashed down onto Naberius. Even hundreds of meters away, the heat was enough to make his hair curl. The power was terrifying. The Battle Mass contained a requiem for heretics and demons. Under this glow, everything burned.
This was great. The problem was…Ye Qingxuan was right next to him!
In that moment, Ye Qingxuan felt his scalp go numb and his vision go black. Coldness jumped from his toes to his head and exploded. Every pore was screaming for help. Without waiting to think, he subconsciously activated the Governor. To increase his strength, he even added the power of Indrah’s Eye!
He shot back like an arrow! The electric current was enough to burn him to crisp. The Governor acted with the overload, each piece radiating with strong magnetic power. If he had not worn the Governor outside and anchored his bones, this movement would probably have dislocated his neck. However, the destructive light started falling before he could get far enough away.
Gritting his teeth, Ye Qingxuan activated Holy. An invisible realm descended and covered him. Then chaotic light swallowed everything.
There were piercing screams that cut off abruptly. The shattering sounds did not stop. There was extreme heat but Ye Qingxuan could only see whiteness.
Wild aether lifted him into the air and threw him back, crashing into a wall. He rolled out in the rubble. Thankfully, he was able to cover his face. However, he was now as ragged as a beggar.
The explosion still rang in his ears. The blazing light seemed to have forever stopped before his eyes. Every pore on his body was screaming in pain. The air seemed to be burning. He could not breathe; every breath was like swallowing lava.
After a long, long time…
Ye Qingxuan finally recovered. He crawled out of the rubble but everything was spinning. Images flashed by. It sounded like he was underwater. He could vaguely make out cries and fighting.
When his mind was finally clear, he bent down. With difficulty, he found a surviving vial of green medicine from his broken first aid kit with his left hand and drank it all. As if cold water had rushed into his brain, all murkiness was gone. Then he gasped and stopped himself from crying out.
Clenching his teeth, he held his right elbow and yanked it up. After the crack, Ye Qingxuan gurgled in pain. He was seriously crying but his dislocated arm was back in place. Thankfully, his body was still complete. Nothing was missing even though he was now as pathetic as a beggar. Without a doubt, the Governor had taken the brunt of the attack and was now…destroyed.
Hissing from pain, Ye Qingxuan yanked out the metal shards stuck in him. The bent plates were still red from heat. They fell onto the ground with sounds like ice shattering. Breathing in the burning air, he climbed up.
He saw that Auschwitz was burning!
–
The dark atrium had been completely shattered. The earth that had been transformed by the abyss now smoked with black steam. Demons crawled out of caves of flesh and roared to the sky. And in the sky, an immense shadow moved, roaring.
Like giant whales swimming in a red ocean, they continuously rained down seeds. When they landed on the ground, they broke apart. The ‘fruit’ jumped out.
Fully armored knights wielded swords of fire and fought the demons and dark musicians. Blood, screams, and explosions were everywhere. The blood fell onto the scorched earth like a black river within the fire. Other than the redness of fire and blood, all that remained in the world was the cold metallic light of swords and aether.
Black figures walked in the glow. Whether burly or frail, they seemed to dance in the fire. The world was instantly thrown into hysteria.
“Is this…war?” Ye Qingxuan gaped at everything. He seemed to have left his familiar world and gone into hell. That was why the world so unabashedly showed its ugly side.
For some reason, the Sacred City’s aid had finally come but he could not be happy. It did not feel good to be saved. Instead, he felt exhausted.
In the rubble, he lowered his head and gazed at the fire burning in the distance. Everything here was destroyed. Everyone he knew was most likely dead. His friends, his enemies, and even strangers… They would all be wiped from this world.
But under the chaotic din, he heard a gentle song. It came from afar.
Amidst the collapsing and burning city, under the rumbling and screaming, the gentle song flowed. It was whimsical like a hallucination. “Please give me the courage to fly.” The tender voice resounded amongst the flames. It evaporated like a dream and scattered. Only the echo remained. “Test my heart; don’t say you regret it…”
There seemed to be a music box spinning slowly under the voice with a clear melody. The song was gentle and out of place in this cruel world.
“The old house is glowing yet sighing. There is only silence for evermore…”
The song was so clean and clear that it felt fragile as if it would break at a mere touch. Ye Qingxuan raised his head and stared blankly into the distance. He crawled out of the ruins and stumbled toward the song. He could still remember. It was Elsa’s voice.
She was still alive!
Ecstasy supported Ye Qingxuan. He tossed down the cumbersome weight and raced through the ruins, searching clumsily. He followed the gentle and weak voice.
Along the way, he saw the shattered bodies of demons and the distorted metal of the Knights Templar after they were torn apart. He also saw broken cocoons. The bloody bodies within had been yanked out. They were speared with bayonets and hung in the burning wind.
Finally, he found the source of the song on the burnt street. The long hemp-colored hair was covered in dust. The white nightshift was charred and dusty as well. She curled in the corner of the street, alone, hugging her knees and watching the chaotic world. Beside her, a broken music box spun with difficulty. Finally, after managing a circle, the gears cracked. The voice cut off too.
Elsa looked down at the broken box. She opened her mouth but did not know what to sing. Without the box, she could not remember the melody clearly. Her memory was evaporating rapidly.
“Elsa?” Seeing her, relief filled Ye Qingxuan. “You’re still alive!”
She looked up with confused eyes. “Do you know me?”
Ye Qingxuan nodded. He reached over to pull her from the crack but she did not move. She just looked at him as if he was a stranger.
Rumbles sounded in the distance. Some knights were swallowed by demons and blinding light exploded from their helmets. After the light and explosion, both knight and demon were gone. All that remained was the scorched earth.
In the shaking, Ye Qingxuan asked, “Why aren’t you hiding?”
Elsa tilted her head. “Why should I hide?”
Ye Qingxuan blanched. He wanted to ask why she wasn’t afraid that this world had become so crazy. But then he realized that maybe she did not remember what the world should be like. Maybe she thought it was always like this, with fire burning, the ground pitch black, the sky burning like a red sea.
The best comfort when living in hell was not knowing that one was in hell. That was why she did not run away. She still thought she was at home. This was how to feel happy…
“Where’s your…dad?” In silence, Ye Qingxuan looked around for Caligula but he was gone. There was no trace of him. He may be dead or may have gone into the abyss long ago.
“Daddy?” Elsa shook her head. “I don’t know. Maybe he disappeared like Mommy… I remember I was looking for someone but my friend book is gone and I can’t find anyone.” She looked back. The burning road was littered with corpses. Their eyes were closed, seemingly in peace. There were even ragged blankets on them.
“Everyone’s asleep. I know it,” she murmured. Lowering her head, she curled up. “I’m a good girl and gave everyone blankets but they don’t feel cold and don’t talk to me. But I’m scared by myself.”
Ye Qingxuan reached out and ruffled her hair. He said gently, “Your dad won’t leave you behind. Let’s go find him, alright?”
As if this was a joke, someone laughed in the rubble behind him.
“You’re the first person I see after opening my eyes. Such fate.” After a string of sounds, the broken tiles were pushed away. A bloodied man climbed out. He was covered in burns and he breathed with difficulty. But when he looked up and saw the two, a ghastly smile appeared on his face. “My friend, as expected, you and I are both alive. Or have we met in the afterlife?”
“Who knows?” Ye Qingxuan shrugged and looked at him indifferently.
Naberius snickered and climbed up. Unabashed about his naked body, he looked up at the red sky. “It’s become like this…It must be Caligula’s tricks. He sold Auschwitz to the abyss and now wants to use us as sacrifice for the Sacred City’s forgiveness. I really don’t know if he’s cutely naïve or stupidly brash…” Cackling, he cocked his head and looked to Ye Qingxuan. “If I were you, I’d be more careful.”
“Oh? Please tell me more.” Ye Qingxuan looked interested. To be honest, he really wanted to act now and truly end this guy for good. However, Naberius’ fearlessness scared him. After all, Mordred had not appeared yet. If possible, he wanted to drag things out longer and wait for the Knights Templar. At that time, Naberius would not be able to escape.
He heard the scraping of metal close in from the distance.
“Mr. Holmes, it seems that I must go.” As if sensing Ye Qingxuan’s plan, Naberius chuckled. He wiped the blood from his face. His eyes were filled with greed and pity. “It’s such a pity that I couldn’t drag you in this time.”
“There shouldn’t be regrets in life. You can keep trying,” Ye Qingxuan suggested earnestly. “After all, the worst case would be ‘dying with regrets.’ Plus, your friends are all fighting heroically now. Isn’t it bad to just abandon them?”
“The bond between two is precious but sadly, life is more valuable. The perishing praise still has some tricks to turn the tides but I’m worried that more will happen later. Leaving when things go wrong is the best way to achieve longevity.”
Clanging metal sounded from all directions. The Knights Templar with their swords of fire were approaching in formation, their murderous intent thick. Naberius bowed, giving him a very polite farewell.
In the night sky, Mordred descended as a half dragon and grabbed Naberius’ shoulder. The man laughed as he flew into the air. A black cloud swallowed them.
The two disappeared.
Finally, a voice rang out in Ye Qingxuan’s mind. “Mr. Holmes, do not continue to be so naïve. This is my last advice to you as a friend,” Naberius said. “Caligula is ambitious. He sold us to the Knights Templar, but the Knights Templar might be one of his products too…
“Things aren’t over yet. They’re not as simple as I thought and not as simple as you thought.”
Naberius had hidden meanings in his words, but Ye Qingxuan was unsure whether it was a genuine reminder or if he was trying to sow discord. Something strange flashed past his mind like inspiration but he could not catch or remember it.
While he was thinking, the Knights Templar surrounded them. The lead knight raised his hand and the other knights put their weapons away. The former walked forward and studied his trademark silver-white hair. “Ye Qingxuan from the School of Anglo?”
Ye Qingxuan nodded. “That’s me.”
“Very good.” The knight nodded. He turned and reported to the lion head emblem on his shoulder, “Found Ye Qingxuan and a Romulusian girl.”
An unclear voice came from the emblem, low and full of static. The knight nodded. “Understood.”
To Ye Qingxuan, he said, “It’s too chaotic here. Please follow me. We’ve established a safe zone outside. Leave the rest to us.”
To be honest, Ye Qingxuan sorely needed that.
Having found survivors, the knights formed two teams. One continued with the mission. The other team of three took Ye Qingxuan and Elsa away.
No major dangers occurred during the journey. They quickly passed through the toppled city walls and left the center of the battle. Ye Qingxuan turned back. Seeing the battlefield shrouded by smoke and fire, it felt like worlds away.
They soon arrived at the refugee camp. There were injured musicians crying out everywhere. Choir musicians in white walked amongst them. Some doctors walked over to give Elsa a checkup. A knight who was waiting by the entrance walked to Ye Qingxuan.
His armor was made of green gold and was slimmer than others. He had sacrificed a lot of defense mechanisms to raise the agility. This was a messenger knight who sent the orders of the commander. He showed Ye Qingxuan his identification and moved to guide him.
“Please follow me. The commander wishes to see you.”
“See me?”
“You are the musician we’ve found deepest in the battlefield. Perhaps he wishes to learn more about the dark musicians’ situation.” The knight did not say much and gestured to guide him again. “Please follow me.”
Ye Qingxuan shrugged. He was prepared to go but he heard a shriek. He froze—it was Elsa.
Ignoring the knight, he walked in that direction. The two knights standing outside the infirmary tried to block the charging young man but they missed. The moment the mirror illusion dissipated, Ye Qingxuan kicked the door open. He saw the cold infirmary and Elsa who was strapped down to a surgery table. The three doctors under the cold light looked up at him, frowning.
“What are you doing?!” Ye Qingxuan pushed aside the assistant and glared at the doctors. “She’s a little girl!”
“She’s Romulusian,” the messenger knight behind him said. “She’s the only normal Romulusian we’ve found in Auschwitz as of now. The others have all been cocooned and demonized. We must ensure that she isn’t tainted…”
“So?” Ye Qingxuan looked at him darkly. “So she has to be dissected? She can’t even remember anything. Do you think you can find it yourself?”
“Listen, Ye Qingxuan. Don’t get worked up.” The knight walked up. “The Choir musicians only want to give her a checkup. There will be no harm done. If you’re worried, you can wait here with me. After the checkup, she’ll be taken to the resting area to be cared for—”
Before he finished, everything started shaking. The earth seemed to be an old carpet that was beaten by a stick to get the dust out. The walls groaned and cracks appeared. Under the pale light, everyone stumbled.
At the center of Auschwitz…a solid plume of black smoke rose to the sky.
The perishing praise had started their counterattack!
–
Ten minutes ago, dozens of steel whales hung in the air. They radiated and shone as they circled Auschwitz, forming a ring. At the center, a hole opened up in the aether world. Light that represented heaven solidified and shone down from the crack.
For centuries, countless kings, elites, and musicians grouped in the Sacred City. They created a path to the Originator using music theory from the seven schools, reaching into heaven.
When the light created from those music theories descended from the sky, it crushed the music theory from the abyss. It wiped away the geographical advantage that the dark musicians had and endlessly purified them, causing them to run from the light like flies.
With help from the light of heaven, Knights Templar was able to advance steadily. But just as the battle was at its most intense, Crowley sighed sadly within the broken dark atrium. “It seems that the Pope has only sent Knights Templar and won’t come personally.” Dozens of black figures in the shadows beside him cackled.
“It’s okay. Capture all the knights will be an incredible achievement too. The Lord will be happy.”
“Then let us do so.”
Crowley reached out. The dark night solidified into a violin and appeared in his hands. The strings sighed faintly like murmurs in one’s ears, producing hallucinations. This was the weapon blessed by Paganini, the fallen saint and one of the dark followers.
As the abyss grandmasters went into coherence, Crowley lifted the bow and played the violin. The plaintive instrument sounded. However, the melody was filled with joy.
It was like a captured prisoner thirsting for freedom and waiting for liberation. In the darkness, a terrifying power was accumulating and brewing. As the melody spread, the demons and dark musicians in Auschwitz trembled. A mysterious power suddenly surged in their bodies. It was as if the deep abyss was projected inside them. They no longer feared the light outside.
The abyss music theory blessed them all, pushing them to fight back without fear. As the mournful melody brewed, boundless darkness rose from the earth. It wrapped around every inch of land, catalyzing the demons, making them go wild.
However, no matter what they did, they could not sate the fury and impulsiveness inside them. It kept growing, growing, and growing…until finally, everyone felt that the wild fire would burn them to nothing. The moment they would explode, the mournful melody changed.
The freedom that they had yearned for in the darkness, the fresh blood they had thirsted for, and the murder burst from their bodies. Thousands of aether fluctuations set off at once like a symphony. Everyone was connected and they played the hysteric melody together.
The melody burned like fire and shot forward crazily. It was an once-in-a-lifetime celebration. They must let out their anger and fury now. The abyss music theory surged forth like a fountain once again. It battled with the heavenly radiance. All dark musicians were raised up three levels.
Never had so many dark musicians gone into coherence in such a small place. The tangible wild power converged, creating countless hallucinations. The illusions were the inner desires that could not be satisfied!
This was the Carnival of Venice! The fallen saint Paganini had composed this score the day he betrayed the Sacred City. It celebrated the bottomless abyss within one’s heart.
A crack opened in the abyss and their hearts. Every dark musician became one who acted on behalf of the abyss. They instantly crushed the Knights Templar back.
The broken Garment of Original Sin changed abruptly. Mended again, it transformed into a vast wind tunnel. The dark tunnel clashed with the heavenly light. Countless music theories were created and torn apart each instant. They crashed, intensified, burned, and self-destructed. The density of aether shot up.
It went from a red zone to black zone to…all of Auschwitz was completely covered by the wild aether sea. The sea that could only be observed descended onto this land as the many music scores clashed.
At this moment, the aether world and material world overlapped in the sky. In the dreamy silver sky, the waiting Sacred City attacked the deep abyss. Countless rays of light and tides of darkness annihilated each other, creating a turbid vortex.
On the earth, the knights and dark musicians reached the climax of their battle. Cries and roars sounded every minute and every second.
“The holy must carry on!” the knights roared. They wielded their swords of fire and chainsaws, hacking in the bloody sea. Their armors were stained red but they walked in the puddles with their cracked armor. They swung their swords, slaying the desperate demons. The chainsaws hacked the demons into pieces and the fire burned them to dust.
As they advanced, the buildings collapsed. The bloody knights walked into the ruins. Their chainsaw swords whirred and they slew the Romulusians who had become demon cocoons.
Boom! Cracked tiles shattered.
The knights froze. The demon cocoons were unharmed. The whirring swords went past the cocoons as if they were nonexistent. No matter how they hacked, they could not harm it. Even the swords of fire could not burn it.
Everyone in Auschwitz realized with shock that the demon cocoons had become something untouchable. The sleeping Romulusians had become shadows, unharmed no matter what method was used.
Deep inside the scorched earth, a faint light and unclear glow rose. It rooted itself in the burnt dirt, grew, and branched into a blurry body, radiating with color from another world.
The faint and blurry flower—the Cereus!
It was like rain falling on the ground. There were just few drops at first. Then the color spread and covered everything with the blue color.
Countless shadowy Cereuses grew out of the burning land and covered the demon cocoons. In the turbulent music theory, countless ice-blue flowers constantly bloomed on the earth. They were so exquisite and beautiful that they seemed unreal like a mirage.
On the battlefield, everything was in silence. The blood-stained knights walked amongst the knee-high flowers and looked around blankly. The scratches and blood on their armors were illuminated by the flowers’ fluorescence which made them look tender. But in the tenderness, the knights lowered their heads to feel the gentle wind. A small piece of ash flew with a red light, dancing gently in the wind.
In the wind, someone was singing softly.
“What is…this?”
For a moment, countless fireflies seemed to have been startled. They flew out from the flowers, soaring in the wind. It was the fragments of countless souls that had been burned so that the fragments still contained the glow of the dead. They were so weak and small, but radiant. It was the family flame that was extinguished with the death of Saint Aeneas as well as the shelter of countless ancestral souls of Romulus.
Fragmented lights rose slowly from the fire that had been extinguished earlier and danced in the darkness. In the dark night, countless flames soared in the sky, drifting like tidal waves, setting off faint waves in the wind and converging into the ocean.
Up in the sky, the Knights Templar’s iron whales soared with the heavenly glow. Above the earth, the abyss music theory of the perishing praise was interwoven. It constantly let out whines. Endless tides of flames surged between the sky and earth.
It was the souls of the ancestors of Romulus. They could not ascend to the heaven but were unwilling to fall into the abyss, so they wandered between heaven and earth, forming the grand river of souls. They gathered, swelled, and sang hoarsely. So everything faded and the sudden shadow was cast.
At that moment, everyone could feel that there was something in the glow of the aether sea where music theories of heaven and abyss were entangled. Between the heaven and earth, something huge was…slowly forming!
A maiden’s sang softly there. The voice was so soft and mournful.
“Elsa…” Caligula looked up at the light of the flames and whispered, “Sorry.”
–
“Elsa!” Ye Qingxuan turned back blankly. At the moment that endless flames drifted, a soft song sounded from the girl’s chest. The plaintive but gentle song seemed to come from ancient past. Sad and gloomy, it mourned the beauty and glory that had vanished in the torrent of time.
Thus, faint aetheric fluctuations emerged from her body, spreading and covering entire Auschwitz in an instant. Countless blue shadowy Cereuses danced for this. Even that huge but invisible object in the sky resonated with it. Some faint lights lit up, silently breaking the garments and ropes that restrained her. Nothing was left.
She was suspended in the air. Threads of gold appeared in her flaxen hair; she glowed. Layers of alchemical matrices emerged on her skin, overlapping. The matrix was so complex. They had been hidden in the girl’s body for a long time and melted in her life with the heartbeats and blood. And now they finally woke up.
They were singing.
“Stop!” The herald knight stepped forward and uttered coldly from his armor, “Romulusian, stop your music immediately!”
In mid-air, Elsa was still sluggish. However, lights constantly flashed in her dim eyes, interpreting the inner chaotic changes.
The herald knight was startled. He quickly sighed. “Sorry, I will atone for this.”
Before he finished his words, hot steam spewed from the dark armor like a dragon’s shouts. The sound was sharp. The high temperature emerged under the armor, driving the gears of the armature, the power loading, the structural operation…until it reached the end.
In an instant, the herald knight stepped forward with an inconceivable speed. He set off a severe storm in the closed operating room only in three steps. The air pressure was almost suffocating.
In these three steps, the curved narrow knife in his waist popped out of the sheath. The ejection mechanism in the scabbard added to it the horrible speed like a crossbow arrow flying. It combined with the impact of the knight’s tread. When the knight straightened his back, a perfect arc was made in the air.
Screams cut out the soft song.
The blade stabbed into the girl’s chest.
He rampaged too fast without the slightest sign or process as if the result had come at the same time that he acted. Ye Qingxuan did not even react. He had only raised his hand when the knight’s blade cut Elsa’s clothes into pieces and stabbed into the flesh and blood.
Then everything suddenly came to a halt. The knife was frozen in mid-air, unable to move. The frenzied potential energy and momentum had not been spent. The energy rolled back, cracking the knight’s armor, exposed the blood oozing skin under.
The soft voice was still singing. However, the voice was vaguely different. It seemed to be colder and more resolute like scraping steel.
Elsa raised her head. A kind of serious glow appeared in her eyes. Like the gods overlooking the earth, it was so majestic yet so indifferent.
[Unknown situation, terminate coherence]
[Analyzing…]
[Threat is found. Launch the plan-The Majestic March, third movement]
[Continue coherence]
Thus, impassioned melodies burst out of thin air in an instant and a dignified ring of light appeared above Elsa’s head. Behind her, three pairs of huge wings of light emerged and wrapped her in it.
The wings flapped. It fixed the wind, destroyed the iron, and set off a frenzied storm.
In the blink of an eye, the knight was pushed away by the strong wind. The whole room was completely destroyed. Ye Qingxuan’s sight went black. He was crushed into the ground; his bones cracked and popped.
What was worse, the Governor was already broken! He could hardly stand up with his weak body. But…what was going on with Elsa?
He looked up with difficulty, looking at Elsa suspended in mid-air.
On her chest where countless gold-smelting matrices intersected, a double-snake heraldry emerged. She seemed to be the Apostle of the Gods in the world. The immense toxicity, beasts, or swords could not hurt her.
What was more shocking was that even though the blade was pushed away, a thumb-sized crack still remained in her chest. It was disturbing. No blood oozed from the crack; there were no traces of broken flesh and bone. It was empty… Like an empty shell.
Behind that rift, the faint glow of fire leapt silently, unleashing indistinct light—it was the remaining family flames of Romulus, the Sacred Fire passed down from the Pantheon.
It existed in Elsa’s body as if it were kept in a seedbed specially tailored for it.
In the sky, the burning river of souls was called forth. It flowed into the flames. They transmitted the last bit of fire and heat between each other, pouring the light and power into the Sacred Fire. Finally, it turned into white ashes that fell down like a blizzard.
The souls had been burned completely, sacrificed in exchange for the powerful Sacred Fire! This was the flame created by the memories, lives, and souls of countless Romulusians!
“Elsa!” Ye Qingxuan pushed back the terrifying pressure and stood up, looking up at the now-unfamiliar girl. He seemed to understand something but he refused to believe it. “Can you hear me?” he yelled. “Answer me!”
A drop of rain fell from the sky onto his face. It was a tear.
Amongst the fire, the blank eyes finally brightened. She curled in pain, enduring the agony of burning to death. When she looked at Ye Qingxuan, her eyes were blank yet pained.
“Don’t be scared. I’m coming…” Ye Qingxuan pushed forward in the ruins. When his feet sank into the gray-white ashes, it felt like walking in freezing snow.
“Don’t come!” Elsa murmured. But her voice was like thunder. Frantic pressure appeared, lifting him and blowing him away. Ye Qingxuan gripped onto a crack in the wall. He looked up at the girl in the air.
She held her head and struggled. “I am—her—no, I’m not—I’m…” She murmured incomprehensibly but her voice suddenly cut off. She stared at the crack in her chest and the inhuman flames in the crack.
“What am I?” she asked.
Ye Qingxuan opened his mouth to answer but a flood of fire fell from the sky.
It swallowed her.
–
In that moment, everyone saw the dazzling and majestic Sacred Flame reach into the sky. It hid the heavenly light and covered the dirt of the abyss. It even…swallowed the aether flood when absorbing the strength of the two!
“What is this?!” Within the shaking dark atrium, Crowley furrowed his brows. Under the gloomy melody, darkness shot into the sky. It transformed into a giant hand that clawed at the firelight. But then the hand froze in mid-air. A pocket watch carved with a double snake emblem somehow flew into the Sacred Fire. A low and faraway voice said, “Let time stop.”
It said, “Verweile doch, du bist so schön.”
Stay a while, you are so beautiful.
It was as if a key was inserted into the lock. In that moment, countless alchemy arrays in the sky, on the earth, and within the ruins were awakened. They absorbed the power of the Sacred Fire and turned. Time seemed to stop because the fire was so beautiful. All foreign music theory was frozen in this dimension; all change was forcefully stopped. Even dust could not escape its clutches.
This was Faust, the culmination of the School of Modifications and Abstinence!
All was frozen. All that remained was the Sacred Fire formed by countless family flames, burning in mid-air.
Under the light’s brilliance, illusions appeared in the sky one after another. Those were the last traces left behind by passed away souls and time. Called by the Sacred Fire, the seam where the material and aether world overlapped suddenly rippled.
The looming shadow over the earth grew heavier.
The seam swelled under the rumbling melody. It grew and…as the world shook, the vast city ‘fell’ from the aether world, fell past the nine layers of the aether sea, and appeared in the material world!
The city seemed to have slept for thousands of years. It was covered in elegant carvings and soaring spires, radiating a sharp but graceful beauty. It was also carved with the hideous design of two giant snakes.
The Sacred Fire slowly descended onto the altar within this city, glowing brightly.
Amidst the stunned silence, the sharp and rugged city hung between the sky and earth. It cast a terrifying shadow over Auschwitz.
The world held its breath!
–
“That’s…how it is… That’s how it is!” In a pile of rubble, it suddenly dawned on Colt. He gritted his teeth and murmured, “The Romulusians used all their effort to absorb strength from Heaven and the abyss to create a Scepter and turn humans into natural catastrophes…and become a god! Caligula, that guy, he seriously…”
Seriously what? Was fearless? Daunting to the extreme? He could not even imagine it. He was shaken by everything he saw.
From the ground to the sky, as far as one’s vision extended, everything was covered by the alchemy array’s glow. Everything was connected and turned into parts of a whole. They had become variables in an ‘equation’ and all struggles were futile. The result on the other end of the equal sign had long been decided.
Was there someone else in this world who could create an alchemy array at such a terrifying scale and hide it under everyone’s eyes?
What kind of beast had the Romulusians found?
Colt was swallowed by the coldness.
–
“Yes, I did it.” Hermes nodded in the Holy Temple. “I set up the alchemy array in Auschwitz and I was the one who transferred the Sacred Fire into Elsa’s body. I created the array to attract Cereus and I helped them find the King of Yellow. And finally, I gave that city to them.”
“Hermes, why?” the gentle voice asked in the air. “We all know what that city represents to you. It’s your source. If you gave yourself to them, you will end. It’s suicide.”
“It’s simple, Nibelungenlied.” Hermes smoked and suddenly chuckled. “Have you ever thought about truly becoming a person? Not a creature, not a spirit, but a real and live human?”
Nibelungenlied fell silent.
“To be honest, it was quite hard to make this decision.” Hermes sighed. “Thinking that my body would change and get fat, I almost couldn’t bear it. But it doesn’t matter. After all these years of hesitation, there had to be a result. Now, I’m finally not a strange creature. To be honest, this feeling isn’t bad. Other than dying, there aren’t any shortcomings.”
“Aeneas’ death affected you.”
“That’s part of the reason.” Hermes shrugged. “It’s my fault for owing him. At that time, I didn’t mind but now, I realize that the interest of this debt is too high. I want to pay him back, but the hole in the bill is so big I can barely fill it in…So why shouldn’t I be generous and make a sacrifice, giving something I don’t want to others?”
Nibelungenlied paused. After a while, it said, “We cannot understand.”
“You don’t need to understand.”
“Don’t you hate killing?” Nibelungenlied asked. “Then why did you sacrifice Caligula’s daughter.”
“First, Elsa is not Caligula’s daughter. She inherited Aeneas’ blood. She was born with the duty to inherit the fire,” Hermes replied indifferently. “If the empire still exists, then she would be the current emperor of Romulus, the ‘Augustus’ of all Romulusians.
“Unfortunately, the empire no longer exists and the people have no home. They were at the brink of extinction…she must take this responsibility. Only she can inherit the seed of the Sacred Fire but she won’t die. Instead, she will receive the power and become a new holy spirit. The price is that all her memories will be used as firewood and burned completely.
“This is a cruel matter, I know, but someone must make sacrifices. And…” He paused, his expression turning troubled yet filled with anticipation. He murmured, “And I am curious. Is there anything in a man’s heart that cannot be burned?”
Clumps of white ash fell to the ground like thick snow. However, rather than coldness, what met the people was a burning heat. The shadow covered the earth as far as one could see. Everything was covered with a layer of gray-white, distant and cold.
In the ruins, Ye Qingxuan looked up to the sky. Where the material and aether world overlapped, one could vaguely detect the distorted boundary. There, everything froze, creating a world of eternal stillness. There, one could only see a cold yet sharp city. It used the power of heaven and the abyss to go through the material and aether world. Absorbing the energy, the Sacred Fire burned, brewing something terrible.
Ye Qingxuan gaped at the shadow. After a long while, he hung his head and caressed the object in his hands. It had fallen to the ground and was covered in ashes. It looked like something left over from the fire. It was the only relic.
“F*ck…” he muttered, clenching a fist weakly.
After who knew how long, the stillness shattered. Clanging sounded again. An old man in armor walked through the ruins. Dust flew, pushed to the side.
“Ye Qingxuan?” It was a familiar voice.
Ye Qingxuan turned around and sank into shock. After a long while, he lowered his head with a wry smile. “Father, long time no see. It seems that I’m in a pathetic state whenever you see me.”
Bann did not reply. He gazed at the child whom he had raised. The boy’s features were still the same and he was still stubborn, but something was different. He could not describe it and did not know what to say.
“Long time no see.” Bann reached out and patted his shoulder. “You—as long as you’re okay.”
Ye Qingxuan looked at Bann’s sword and the badges on his shoulder. Noticing the respectful knights around them, he laughed. “I didn’t think Mr. Wolf Flute was right. Father, you really rose in rank.” He still joked around but Bann could not sense any cheer. Ye Qingxuan was like an awkward actor forcing himself to recite lines with fatigue.
“This isn’t the place for reminiscing. Go rest.” Bann patted the dust from Ye Qingxuan’s hair. “I heard about what happened. You did your best and it’s good enough. You remembered what I taught you and did nothing against your morals. As for everything else…leave it to God.”
Ye Qingxuan turned to leave but a knight walked over. He wrapped Ye Qingxuan in a blanket to take him away but he did not move. He stayed there, watching Bann’s back.
“Father,” he suddenly called hoarsely. “I need to ask something of you.”
Bann halted and turned around. “Ye, you never begged me for anything but today, you called me ‘Father’ and are requesting something. I will not reject you if it is something I can do.”
Ye Qingxuan chuckled bitterly. He said, “Bring me there.”
Bann froze and frowned. “Ye Qingxuan, you’re asking for death!”
“That’s okay but I can’t let her be alone there.” Staring at him, Ye Qingxuan rasped, “I should have understood early on that she’s scared—”
“She has nothing to do with you!” Bann said coldly. “Ye Qingxuan, do you really think that you’re her friend?”
“Father, she must have sensed something. Perhaps she realized that this wasn’t her home, her family might’ve already disappeared, and everyone she knows is dead. When I found her, she was hiding in a corner. She said that she’s waiting for someone. I thought she was waiting for her father but now I realize that she was…waiting for me.”
Ye Qingxuan raised his hand and unclenched his fist. One could vaguely make out a small doll in his palm. It was a strange doll made of dried grass. Crude and simple, it was extremely ugly.
Ye Qingxuan had found it in the ashes. Elsa had been holding it without letting anyone see as if it was her most precious item. She did not have her white rat, her hair clips, or even her friend book anymore, but she still remembered to take this. As long as she had it, someone would remember her. Even if she no longer remembered why she made the thing and that she once had a friend…
“She still remembered that she needed to give this to someone.” Ye Qingxuan looked down and clenched the straw doll. “That’s why she was there, Father. She was waiting for someone to find her. She was waiting for me. Father, I can’t let her wait for too long. I must go there.”
Ye Qingxuan uttered, “If I abandon her, no one on this world will remember her anymore.”
In silence, Bann furrowed his brows. He soon raised a hand. The knights around them walked over to drag Ye Qingxuan away, but another voice rang out.
“Wait, wait…don’t be so impatient.” The Angloian grandmaster that had been MIA for a while ran over. He stopped some knights and pulled Bann to the side.
“Don’t rush to lock him up, Father. Just let him go. I’ll look after him!” The master did not speak like a musician. Instead, he sounded like a gangster trying to do business. “As for Faust’s frozen time, you don’t have to worry about him at all. How do I say it…well, he’s thought of highly by that man. With him in the next step, he might be helpful.”
“This has nothing to do with you.” Bann looked at him coldly. “Even if you’re the grandmaster from Anglo, please do not disturb the Knights Templar.”
“Ah, don’t be like that.” The master stomped his feet and sighed. He discreetly stuffed something into his hands. “Look at this. Do you still not trust me?”
Bann looked down at the object and he frowned. He looked coldly at the grandmaster who still wore a hood and chuckled. After a long while, Bann looked toward Ye Qingxuan in the distance.
Ye Qingxuan was looking back at him.
“Someone give him armor!” After issuing the command, Bann left without another word.
Soon, an iron whale in the sky threw down an iron cabinet. The black cabinet was carved with complicated designs. Two knights opened it, revealing the armor sleeping within.
The dark movement armor was assembled around Ye Qingxuan under the help of a few knights. The heavy metal armor did not hinder his sense of aether. In fact, it was even clearer now.
The last piece—a manmade spine—was put against the iron muscles and pulled tightly. The complex yet sturdy pieces went taut without any open seams. The heavy armor fit Ye Qingxuan well as if it was tailored for him. His movements became more agile and his body felt light as if he could fly.
The armor’s style was similar to the heraldry knight’s. Without the cumbersome structure, it ensured lightness and agility. It only had added protection to his vital parts.
Finally, the knight passed him a document with a wax seal. “This is the activation command for the Blade Dancer. It also has critical parameters and usage methods. You have ten minutes to memorize everything and you are forbidden to pass on the information.” Ten minutes later, the knight burned the document in front of his eyes. Before leaving, he said, “His Regency ordered to report in three minutes. We won’t wait.”
Only then did Ye Qingxuan have the chance to thank the grandmaster who never really cared for him.
“No problem.” Under the hood, the grandmaster seemed to be laughing. His voice was strange and flirtatious. “I have to take responsibility for you, right?”
Ye Qingxuan could not reply. He just scooted back so this mysterious and unknown grandmaster would not do anything he truly needed to take responsibility for.
–
Three minutes later, a small cabin descended under the shadow of the iron whale with a wire. It opened. Other than Mr. Hu who was not under the Sacred City’s jurisdiction, the other temporarily recruited grandmasters entered. Ye Qingxuan, who arrived last, was stopped at the entrance by Father Bann.
“You will now accompany the grandmasters there as part of the Knights Templar,” Bann said seriously. “Remember, the Sacred City does not allow the Romulusians to enter the abyss’ territory. Half an hour. You only have half an hour. If you all are still not back after half an hour, I will activate Heaven’s Door and request His Highness, the Pope, to use Fate.”
Fate… Thinking of the ultimate music score that represented God’s judgement and punishment, Ye Qingxuan shivered. He quickly nodded and walked in.
Bann gave him one last glance before closing the cabin door.
It was pulled up with rumbles and rose into the sky. One minute later, it would whale fall into the frozen city. Bann watched as the cabin disappeared into the distance.
After a long while, a knight approached him and whispered, “Caligula is finally willing to speak.”
–
The raw material from the iron whale was quickly used to construct a command center. Caligula sat on a chair within the metal prison cell, his hair unkempt. He did not seem to have been treated cruelly but he was still thin and pallid. He seemed to have aged decades within one night.
Father Bann gestured for the others to stand guard. With the door closed, he sat before Caligula and studied him. “You asked the natural catastrophes for help. Why?”
Caligula looked up at him and laughed. “Was I supposed to ask your non-existent god?”
Bann remained indifferent and just raised his voice. “I asked you why?”
“Why?” The elder scratched his white hair and repeated the question in confusion. “If you want to know why, I’m not sure either. Perhaps…I had to.”
“Probably…this is the only way.” Looking at Bann, Caligula took out a stone, placed it on the table, and slowly pushed it to the middle. The fist-sized scarlet stone looked exquisite and beautiful. “What is this?” Bann frowned.
Caligula smiled. “You know what? When I was young, I lived in Burgundy.”
“That was a good place. My wife and I got married there. She was smart, beautiful, and attractive. She was the best. She died so early and it was my fault. She lived a bitter life with me. In that year, the nations expelled the people of Romulus, which caused riots. The kingdom wanted to imprison me. She stood up to vouch for me. She promised that this matter had nothing to do with me.
“Then she… Later, she died. She swore to the gods that if I were innocent, her heart wouldn’t wither. But how will gods bless such a man like me? I was imprisoned for ten years, soaked in a dungeon, and was not even able to attend her funeral. I didn’t even know she was dead.” Caligula stretched out his hand and rubbed the stone red as flesh. “Look, this is her heart… She confirmed her oath. I took it to visit many people, but ten years had passed. Everyone forgot her. Even the files of that year were gone. No one in the world remembers her, and no one remembers me either.”
He looked at Bann and said in a measured, slow pace, “The cruelest thing in the world is this: there are some things you haven’t forgotten, but the world has forgotten because they don’t care.”
After a long silence, Bann lowered his eyes. “So you have resentment against the nations because of this?”
“No, I don’t hate them.” Caligula shook his head. “Hatred is meaningless. Any sensible man can see that there is a reason for everything the kingdoms have done to Romulus. You can say they are forced to do so but are we doomed to perish?
“We are born guilty. There is no door for us to heaven, so should we just die obediently before falling into the abyss?” Caligula, holding the scarlet heart, gazed at Bann. “A sinful man is also entitled to salvation, Mr. Bann. If you don’t care, I’ll do it.”
–
The dark steel cabin was in silence. Ye Qingxuan felt a sense of weightlessness, like suddenly falling into the deep sea, surrounded by pressure that almost crushed him.
It was a sudden shock caused by the whale fall. But at that instant, his sight went black as if everything fell into stillness. He fell into the icy sea, and every part of his body was frozen. His thoughts, as well as the sub-originator in his body, stopped operating. All music theories were completely solidified in situ.
But then the odd feeling disappeared again. The sub-originator slightly vibrated, emitting inexplicable fluctuations. Where the fluctuations passed, those shackles were untied. Ye Qingxuan’s stiff body suddenly trembled. He was drenched in sweat, gasping intensely.
In the cabin, the grandmasters glanced at him in astonishment. They did not agree for this knight to join the team although it was the Knights Templar’s delegation. Unless someone unfolded the symphony of predestination and temporarily prevented him from being intervened by Faust by breaking a hole on the wall between the material world and aether world, everything would be frozen in time under Faust.
Since the Knights Templar had ensured that the new knight did not need any care, they had no objection to his participation, but they had not expected that Ye Qingxuan could overcome such a strong power. Even they needed to unfold the symphony of predestination to resist it in all force. Only the grandmaster from Anglo looked at him meaningfully and whistled.
To tell the truth, Ye Qingxuan also did not understand what was going on. He just vaguely sensed that the melody and music theory of Faust did not work on his body as if he was totally ignored.
“We have entered the range of Faust. Once landed, you need to be more careful,” the master whispered in his ear. “Although we are masters, we need to use the symphony of predestination to resist the influence of Faust, so we will be equivalent to the ordinary distortion level when we fight. No one knows what will happen. If you see something wrong, do not worry about us. Just turn around and run.”
Ye Qingxuan was speechless. He complained in his mind, who was the one that guaranteed the priest he would protect me?
The black-robed master smiled. Before he could say something, the earthquake came. It was like he suddenly hit a wall. Ye Qingxuan only felt the shaking all over his body, his bones rattling. Even if there were two layers of shock absorber system, his body still almost fell apart.
The cabin landed! Bang. The cabin’s door snapped open and flew away. It was designed to save time and make it easier for the Knights Templar to operate the whale fall. But now, the cabin, which had just been detached from the masters’ protection, was frozen in the air.
A few of the masters under the cover of the symphony of predestination stood up and reached out to press the door. The frozen door crashed and then flew for several meters before freezing in the air again.
The door opened.
Ye Qingxuan breathed heavily. He untied the chains and fixtures on his body and staggered to get up. He followed behind and poked his head out to look.
The whole world seemed to be frozen and covered in an icey blue. The cabin had crashed into the ground of a square. Layers of fissures spread around. Gravels flew but were solidified in the air. Time stopped at the moment of their whale falling. It was so bizarre.
At this moment, they had entered the strange city, but when looking at the towering buildings, they were overwhelmed by that kind of dark and sharp beauty. This was definitely not the style of the Romulus. This was completely different.
The Romulusians advocated squares or circles with preference of white. The frame of their buildings was magnificent. But in this city, there were no white buildings.
These emaciated gray buildings towered with their sharp tops piercing the sky. On both sides were carved lifelike statues and on the floor, every piece of tile had slender complex lines drenched in gold. Meticulous and exquisite decorations filled every corner. But such magnificent architecture had not brought any sense of closeness. Instead, it increased the distance between each other so that the buildings became sparse and lofty.
Along the way, Ye Qingxuan could not tell the specific role of those buildings. It was as if this was not a city built for people, but a huge artwork. The whole city was like a huge shrine, enshrining the only god. However, the god had left the throne and disappeared. Only a light was forever illuminated in the Holy Church at the center of the city.
However, the only light that illuminated the dark city made people more repressed. Along the way, it seemed that they were climbing the stairs before the temple. The closer they got, the more they could feel a nameless majesty. The majestic oppression pressed onto their backs. It was to force the comers lower their head to worship the god, to respectfully serve their all.
“Is this city built by the Church?” Anglo’s master murmured with displeasure, “Why is it like the Sacred City? It makes you feel like dust wherever you go.”
“This has nothing to do with the Sacred City. Although it feels the same, the style is totally different,” Ye Qingxuan lightly said by his side. “If I must make comparisons, it is more like…” He suddenly stopped and sank into speechless silence. He unexpectedly found that the style was most similar to the Anglo Royal Academy of Music.
Ye Qingxuan looked back, staring at the square they landed. After coming so far, he looked back, only to find that on the ground of the square was engraved with a huge emblem that showed its presence to the comers.
Double-snake emblem. It was the double-snake emblem again.
“Boss, why the f*ck is it you again?” Ye Qingxuan cursed. He had known that the guy Hermes always acted secretly and mysteriously, but he did not expect that he was so crazy… If Hermes descended from the sky with small wings on his back right now and said that he was actually an angel, Ye Qingxuan would also believe him! However, no one descended from the sky with little wings.
Instead, thick blood emerged from the ground between the green tiles. Wailing suddenly sounded as distorted faces emerged in the void. The darkness pumped, rising up like mist.
“Dark musicians!” Ye Qingxuan whispered.
“That bunch of bastards came too! How can they be so fast?”
Unprepared, they did not realize that they had stepped into the dark musicians’ trap. The dark musicians had the Garment of Original Sin as camouflage. They did not find anything wrong at all. How the h*ll did those guys have time to arrange this trap?
Before he could figure out the reason, the trap launched. In the dark movement, many masters were instantly suppressed and fell into the blockade from the Garment of Original Sin.
In the blink of an eye, the music theory suppressed them completely. The tiles under their feet quickly decayed into the rotten soil of the abyss. The soil was pushed up, pale palms stretched out and grasped at the living men.
The master from the School of Modifications huffed angrily and waved his hand. An inexplicable fierce melody sounded. In a few seconds, the rotten soil was burned into pure white tiles again. The tiles’ color was so pure like milk.
Ye Qingxuan saw this and his face twitched.
This grandmaster really had a peculiar taste. He had crushed the pale hands and dried them. Then they were put into the soil and together burned to make ‘bone porcelain’. Just in an instant, the master separated the bones and burnt them into the stone. It was impressing. He even prevented the enemy from playing any other tricks with the bony hands. The sticky blood evaporated, drifted in the air, and melted into the black mist.
In the dark, a few vague figures sneered, playing strange melodies, and pounced toward the crowd.
This time, Ye Qingxuan was not nervous anymore. If the sky fell down, there were taller ones to hold it up. There were so many grandmasters here. He did not need to fight at all.
But, even at the same rank, the grandmasters were coming off worse! Those dark musicians seemed to be free and unrestricted in the shadow of Faust. They fought back and in an instant, the struggling people were forced to a precarious situation.
Then the sound of the gurgling water rang out. In the darkness, a cold river emerged with a biting blast, extending around the crowd. In the river, colorful illusions constantly flashed. People would be trapped in it once they glanced at it, dazzled and unable to wake up.
In the trance, Ye Qingxuan felt a hit on the back of his head.
“It’s killing you! How dare you look at Styx,” the master from Anglo hummed coldly.
Ye Qingxuan was shocked awake. He hurriedly drew back his sight. The moonlight lit up in his eyes to resist the deadly illusion’s erosion. But he felt more chilled. It was the Styx! Hyakume had truly retrieved the Styx from Originator. It was true…
With the power of the Styx, no wonder the enemy had no fear at all. Even Faust which could solidify time could do nothing with the Styx which represented the death and end. When everyone grew gloomy and became too tired to fight, suddenly a voice sounded, “Don’t be afraid. Watch me!”
“Don’t be afraid! Watch me!” That came from the mysterious Angloian grandmaster. However, then he gripped his chin and pondered for a long while before suddenly asking, “Oh right, little Yezi, what school do you study?”
Ye Qingxuan was speechless. Why did he have to call his name so intimately? Were they that close? But despite being annoyed, he replied honestly, “Abstinence, and also Illusion, Mind, and Revelations.”
“Oh…oh?!” He was shocked. “Uh, you learned all that? That’s great! But how come none of them are for fighting? Are you a pacifist?”
Ye Qingxuan was speechless again. “Just tell me what you need.”
“Sure!” He pointed somewhere. “Later, watch my face. Once I make a gesture, take your most destructive music score and bomb in that direction, got it?”
Ye Qingxuan nodded. Then he looked up at the shadowy ‘face’ under the hood and almost died. “Can you show me your face first?”
“Ah, then just watch my eyes…err, whatever! Just do it!” Here, the weird master gave up on faces and eyes. He just rolled up his sleeves. Taking out a very familiar flute, he created the echoes of wind and sand. Instantly, a wolf howled. It seemed that pair after pair of beastly eyes lit up in the long night. Those eyes shone with green light, like will o’ wisps.
Then pained cries sounded in the darkness. The Styx halted. A tiny and practically imperceptible ‘opening’ was created. Without time to think, Ye Qingxuan pulled out the sword in his knight’s armor and wiped his finger on the blade.
Jiu Xiao Huan Pei’s strings surged with lightning. Layers of electricity lay on the blade in his finger’s path, forming music notes. It instantly wove into a complex yet majestic symphony of predestination. Then the blinding electricity disappeared, replaced by moonlight as blue as water. The sword seemed to reflect the nonexistent moonlight and cast a tangible murderous spirit.
All grandmasters within ten steps felt the hair-rising murderous intent converge on that sword. Even the fierce green gold sword could not bear the heaviness and clacked as if it would crack soon.
Ye Qingxuan gripped the hilt and hoisted the sword up. Scalding heat sprayed from the plate of armor on his back, giving him unprecedented power. Then he thrusted the sword forward.
Under the chilling melody, the sword of moonlight whistled and flew out! It was the symphony of predestination of Moonlight—the eighteenth measure Sword! The sword that seemed to be singing buried into the darkness. Like a pair of scissors, it cut apart the black velvet. The darkness cried out and evaporated.
The moonlight left a straight slash in the air. White waves rushed forward.
Everything was collapsing!
An explosion followed.
Pained cries sounded again.
One could vaguely see a grandmaster hidden in the darkness get slashed by the blade. A hole burst in his chest. The sacred bell in his hands was pierced too. It shattered, destroyed by the explosive moonlight, and transformed into black shards that flew in all directions.
The Styx called forth by the bell shook and disappeared.
Ye Qingxuan was more surprised that he had hit the mark. The moonlight was destructive against demons and dark musicians but was uncertain against people at the grandmaster level. A properly trained knight would never give his enemy to chance to aim at him.
The purification music theory within the moonlight could be sensed in a hundred-foot radius. Without waiting for the dark musician’s reaction, the abyss music theory within him would turn on its own and try to avoid the moonlight. It could instantly destroy Ye Qingxuan. However, despite the odds, he had hit his mark and even pierced the weapon that controlled the Styx.
He quickly saw the answer.
The spreading moonlight illuminated a silver arc that swept back and forth. Its speed was incredible. It jumped and spun in place like a beam of refracting light. Everything in its path was ripped apart. No obstacle was an obstacle to it.
The dark musicians did not expect that a music score could cross the Styx and be used on them. Shocking gashes appeared on them.
The one who had been fatally wounded by Ye Qingxuan’s Sword had his legs bitten. Unable to dodge, the silver light returned and pulverized his head. All that remained was a pile of writhing meat. It could not resist the moonlight’s corrosion. It was instantly close to death.
“What the f*ck is this!” Crowley roared.
The Garment of Original Sin appeared to swallow the silver light. Darkness closed in instantly, blocking off all escape. However, the silver light disappeared strangely and the Garment missed.
The light appeared behind its master. This time, Ye Qingxuan finally saw the true nature of the light…It was extremely familiar. It was a seemingly real, seemingly illusory silver wolf!
In that moment, it flashed freely within the aether sea while appearing in the aether world and material world at the same time. Then it disappeared at once, ‘jumping’ out of the surroundings. With this power, it was understandable that the Styx could not block it. All enchantments, obstacles, and defenses were useless before this silver wolf!
“You?!” Ye Qingxuan gaped at the familiar flute in the grandmaster’s hands. It finally dawned on him.
“Who is it?” Crowley roared. He stared at the man hidden in the darkness of the hood. “I know all the information of the grandmasters from these thirty years. There is no symphony of predestination from Summoning like this! Who are you?!”
“Grandmaster? I’m not a grandmaster anymore?” The man lifted his hood, revealing his hidden features. Facing everyone, he grinned. “You flatter me. I’ve only recently entered the Scepter level. You all can call me Wolf Flute.”
Wolf Flute! Ye Qingxuan’s mouth dropped open. His shock was partly due to the pleasant surprise of meeting an old friend and partly due to Wolf Flute’s abilities.
When he first met Wolf Flute, he thought the man was a highly skilled musician. Ye Qingxuan never thought that he was a grandmaster! Within eight short months, he had upgraded his ‘symphony of predestination’ to a ‘scepter.’ Rather than a grandmaster, he was closer to a saint!
This was different from ‘mock scepters’ that masters such as Koch made from combining their symphonies of predestination with sacred weapons. The difference was like that of a sword and plain metal. They were both weapons but worlds away.
This was the first guy Ye Qingxuan had met who upgraded faster than him!
“Scared?” Wolf Flute whacked the back of his head. “If it wasn’t for you, I wouldn’t even come this time. So, the letter of recommendation I gave you was pretty good, right?”
“Ha, yeah, pretty good.”
Pretty good? No, it was f*cking amazing! Other than a document stamped by the King of Red from the Pope’s hall, nothing was more highly regarded than a letter of recommendation from Bach! Thinking of this, Ye Qingxuan almost coughed out blood. It was rare for Wolf Flute to be reliable but that was too reliable!
But as they spoke, an abyss musician suddenly shot out a green beam. Ye Qingxuan rolled back reflexively. Then he felt dust falling from his helmet—it was all rusted flakes!
The green gold that was touched by the green light instantly rusted into dust. A foul odor lingered in the air. If Ye Qingxuan was not covered by the Blade Dancer and breathed using the liquidated oxygen within it, his lungs would probably be rotten now.
Wolf Flute’s face changed, darkening considerably. The most infuriating thing in the world was someone coming up and slapping you when you’re happily pretending to be cool…
“Yezi, stand behind me. Let me kill these failures!”
“Yezi, stand behind me. Let me kill these failures first!” Wolf Flute rolled up his sleeves and suddenly joined the fighting. Behind him, the silver shadow flashed constantly. It transformed into a shooting beam of light that swept a melody of wind and sand. With its speed, it could travel thousands of miles in an instant.
The body of the translucent silver wolf was like smoke. It would disappear under a slight breeze. However, it ripped off a large chunk of flesh from the musicians whenever it appeared. When it closed its teeth, it was filled with undisputable beastly aggression. It did not come from a man’s wild thoughts. The wounds it created was only secondary. The biggest concern was that whenever it gnashed its teeth, everything around it would be shattered.
Demonic flesh was chewed!
Mutated organs were chewed!
The dark music score was chewed!
The abyss music theory was chewed!
The silver wolf’s beastliness contained a strange music theory. The damages it created could not be recovered as if it was forever gone. It was terrifying. The dark musicians subconsciously scooted deeper into the dark atrium.
The musicians from the abyss instantly fell back.
With Wolf Flute’s scepter, the grandmasters fought even more fiercely. They were even able to surround the musicians within the dark atrium.
However, Crowley who had been quietly observing now looked up with a strange smile. “That’s it?” He reached out. Layers of music scores lit up on the Garment of Original Sin. The dark atrium shifted and a black cubic enchantment appeared out of thin air. The cube closed in, swallowing the silver wolf, and spun wildly.
With a flash of light, the silver wolf jumped out of the cube. However, when it jumped again, it realized that it was still inside the enchantment. Under everyone’s eyes, the strange black cube caved in and contracted. Then another cube appeared outside it. In an instant, it doubled, tripled, quadrupled, octupled, sexdecupled…it endlessly caved in and regrew.
Before composing a symphony of predestination, a musician must go through a completion stage. During this stage, he would learn the basic theories of all schools in addition to his own to complete his shortcomings. However, Crowley’s attainment of Abstinence was far beyond Ye Qingxuan’s expectations.
The compound enchantment of sixteen layers was a masterpiece and top skill even in the ‘territory path.’ In addition, he was inside the dark atrium and was supported by the Garment of Original Sin!
The silver wolf continued to jump inside the cube to avoid being destroyed by the collapsing enchantment. However, it could not escape.
Wolf Flute’s expression stiffened.
So what if the beast could jump freely through the material world like a wind tunnel? As long as it could ‘jump’ faster, all of the wolf’s destructive power could only be wasted on endless jumping.
Wolf Flute furrowed his brows. He let go of the scepter’s power and the silver wolf disappeared. It re-appeared beside him. This time, he did not order it into the dark atrium.
“So that’s your scepter? I’ve never seen such a weak one before.” Crowley peered over amidst the wild melody. “Even though we’re both at the scepter level, there is still a difference! You think you’re qualified to defeat me?”
“Mr. Cowley, isn’t that a fact?” Wolf Flute looked at him with pity. “There’s a difference between those who break through the Barrier of Knowledge by themselves and the cowards who beg gods. There’s also a considerable difference between self-made scepter musicians and fakes like you who need objects like the Garment of Original Sin to reach the scepter level. Don’t you think so?”
“You are overreaching!” The dark atrium shook. Piercing bloody light flashed in Crowley’s eyes. “Then let us see!”
Instantly, the dark atrium that everyone thought had been restricted now expanded suddenly. It combined with the scepter from the Garment and stirred a storm in the aether sea. It instantly swallowed everyone.
Wolf Flute furrowed his brows. Silver light snaked around him and tore the darkness apart. However, the grandmasters had already disappeared. He flashed and reappeared. But the darkness was still around him. There was layer after layer, dimension after dimension.
If he jumped across an enchantment, there would be another one. If he passed through the dark atrium, there would be another one… It was as if he had walked into a kaleidoscope and was lost in the endless darkness.
Now, everyone was separated under the dark atrium. They were all fighting for themselves. However, Wolf Flute was imprisoned in the depths of the dark atrium alone.
It would be so easy for Crowley and the abyss musicians to destroy his helpers and then kill Wolf Flute. His expression darkened. But he quickly smiled in pleasant surprise. “You’re here!”
The melody of wind and sad sounded. The silver wolf pounced and transformed into a beam of light with him. They followed the darkness and shot forward. Their tracks were very strange. Sometimes, they would turn; other times, they went straight or even retreat.
After hundreds of turns, he gathered his energy and burst through the enchantment! Then he saw what the darkness had hid.
The abyss music score rumbled and Crowley cackled crazily. A dim moon managed to rise under the smile but it was quickly pushed down by the dark atrium. The moonlight disappeared completely before it even fully appeared.
Ye Qingxuan spat out a mouthful of blood. The sub-originator within him dimmed.
The Garment had transformed into a quagmire that swallowed him bit by hit. He could do nothing about it. Isolated within the four-fold enchantment, destroying a musician was easier than drinking water for a Scepter level man! But unfortunately, no one would think about his surroundings when drinking…
Wolf Flute smiled. “Your vertebrate is pretty nice.” He poked out of the air and caressed Crowley’s neck. He grinned. “It’s great for teething!”
The man’s expression changed instantly. He charged forward but the silver light followed him closely. The wolf gnashed its teeth and tore a hole through Crowley’s chest.
If not for the Garment’s automatic protection, he would have been hacked apart by now! Even so, he had been still been wounded. Strange silver hair grew around the injury, messing with his internal organs. Half of his body was contaminated, turning him into a werewolf.
It was the beastly nature’s encroachment!
However, the intangible beastly nature was incredibly thick. It seemed to have combined the wildness of a pack of wolves and transformed into a poison! Crowley dodged quickly and the Garment covered his twisted body. After terrifying sounds of scraping bones, blood sprayed but his body recovered.
What truly injured him though was the music theory that had entered his body. Coming from the School of Summoning, it was detailed and complex. It spread the moment it entered his body, wrapping around his muscles to transform him into a wolf.
Like a starved wolf pack charging into a city, it lapped up blood aggressively. The music theory seemed to be alive. Spirited yet cunning, it turned his body into a battlefield.
Crowley had no time to act methodically. He could only use the most violent method and destroy both his own music theory and the enemy’s using the Garment’s power.
It was like burning an entire village to kill the wolves. The wolf poison was gone but his body was still damaged. He could not recover unless he reconstructed the abyss music theory.
As the Garment recoiled, Ye Qingxuan struggled out. Panting, he glared at Wolf Flute. “You’re so slow!”
“Your hints were too vague. I didn’t even discover…” Chortling, Wolf Flute looked at his waist. There, he saw an undetectable thread of light. It was the perception thread made from moonlight. The source was gripped in Ye Qingxuan’s hands. Wolf Flute had followed this thread.
Ye Qingxuan had cast these threads to help with Wolf Flute’s attack but it had unexpectedly saved his life.
“We meet again, Mr. Crowley.” Wolf Flute looked back at his enemy. “How about we decide the winner now?”
“I see now…no wonder you don’t feel the backlash of the beastly nature…” Under the cracked sound, Crowley vomited blood. Looking at Wolf Flute, his bloodshot eyes filled with understanding. “The transformation…between human and beastly nature…You fused your humanity with the beastly nature! The scepter isn’t with your human part but with the beast…You turned yourself into a demon!”
“No, no, no. You’ve misunderstood again. I didn’t turn myself into a demon…” Wolf Flute smiled but it was incredibly evil. His green eyes seemed to glow like a demon ripping apart his disguise. “I turned myself into a human!”
For a moment, Ye Qingxuan had a hallucination. In his daze, wind and yellow sand swept over a barren land. Under the cold moonlight, Wolf Flute grew tall but his back hunched. He grasped a gold cane and a scale; he was clad in white clothing and green gold. Under his grave crown was an indisputable jackal head!
This was the god from Theban myths, the existence who guided the dead to the Underworld, the king who judged one’s sins, the god who represented death and eternal peace!
“Anubis…” Ye Qingxuan gasped.
Wolf Flute lifted his nail and played it with his eyes closed. Blazing wind blew from the desert. Howling sounded in the distance.
The melody’s theme was no longer cold moonlight or burning sand. The hot wind and barren land were all changing under the howls.
The wolves had arrived.
