Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Amidst the tranquility, aether waves seemed to be coming from the fog below. Fleeting music theory was concealed amongst the fog and was secretly creeping towards the connection of the alchemy array. Its intention was to see what was going on but it had no idea that Ye Qingxuan had been watching its every move.
“What is this?” Ye Qingxuan could not help but laugh. “Should I say you are too naïve or too courageous?”
The cold and bitter moonlight glowed beneath his eyes. The Staff of Fate trembled slightly. When the Symphony of the Moon, the Stone of Sage and Catastrophe Resonation were combined together, the Symphony of Predestination was in motion. An immense pressure formed by music theory was unleashed from the connection. It was as if the crushing force of mountains was unleashed on a single strand of thread. In the blink of an eye, the other party sensed that something was amiss and was in a hurry to try and break away from the connection but it was completely tangled up by the music theory of Jiu Xiao Huan Pei. It decided to turn the tables on the attacker and initiated control over the connection. Thereafter, the incredible pressure gushed downwards.
Boom! On the bridge of the flagship of the Phantom Fleet, the revelation musician, who was chuckling while holding onto a ball of aether, suddenly howled in pain. He flopped off his seat and his eyeballs were broken. It was as if they had been burnt by the rays of 100,000 blazing suns. Soon after, the sound of his heart broke. Amidst the screams of pain, his body expanded into a ball before exploding. Blood splattered in all directions, smearing more than half of the entire bridge.
As the blood splattered, a deep voice from above could be heard from amongst those broken bones, “Trash, scram!”
Just by using the connection of perception, a revelation musician was completely squashed to death like an ant by a music theory that was buffered by a Saint. There was a chill in the hearts of everyone on the bridge.
The commander, whose face was half-covered with blood, was completely stunned and rooted to the ground. He did not expect the revenge of this Avalon Prince to come so swiftly and devastatingly… If he wished, he could very well have controlled the unlucky fellow and turned him into a bomb and destroy half of the bridge. Instead, he has chosen to mete out only a small punishment…
What was this about? Giving face to the Saint?
In the dead silence, the Schubert nun was expressionless. Her eyes continued to hang low while chanting the teachings in the bible. The commander was looking around furiously, and Raymond began to feel awkward. They could not afford to maintain their original stance and wait for Ye Qingxuan to bow to them. They had no choice but to initiate contact with the Mountain of Nomadism in the sky.
“Mr. Ye, perhaps we can talk.”
After a long period of silence, Ye Qingxuan chuckled. “It’s you? Bishop Raymond, what game are you playing? Refusing to submit? The Church is colluding with the Burgundies to attack my fleet, where is the justice in this? Is this the Church’s stand? Or an order from the Sacred City?”
Before Raymond could say anything, Ye Qingxuan was already throwing accusations at him non-stop. This enraged the former. As a proper principal of the Congregation for the Discipline of the Sacraments, he would not be daunted by a war of words. But Ye Qingxuan had the upper hand at the moment because Raymond did not expect him to bring up the Burgundies immediately. Raymond could not afford to let Ye Qingxuan muddle the issue so the first thing he did was to remove himself from the equation, “No, Mr. Ye, you are mistaken. This has nothing to do with the Sacred City.”
The moment the words left his mouth, the commander of the Phantom Fleet stared at him with fury. Didn’t we agree that we were in this together? Now, you are drawing a clear line between us? he thought
Raymond awkwardly hinted at the commander to remain calm. Once that was settled, he decided to try and wrest over control of the situation. “But the Church can help to mediate the misunderstandings and conflicts between Anglo and Burgundy.”
“Oh?” Ye Qingxuan could not control his laughter. “But at what price?”
“You and I both know the answer to that question,” Raymond answered coolly. “Mr. Ye, I’m sure you don’t wish to see the royal fleet being destroyed right?” He knew that that would be too high a price to pay even for Ye Qingxuan. As a country by the sea, the Anglo navy was an essential part of their military. After the battle against Leviathan, it was no secret that the royal fleet suffered significant losses, but no one truly knew just how dire their situation was.
At such a critical juncture, the moment the Anglo navy displayed any signs of weakness, Anglo would be put in such a bad situation that its ability to protect itself might even be questionable. Besides, this critical juncture concerned the Ultimate. Now that Raymond has wrapped his fingers around the situation, he would be able to poke at this paper tiger if he so wished. No, in fact, he would be shredded into pieces. Now, not only was Anglo’s dominance over the seas at stake, things could easily worsen very quickly… Ye Qingxuan could not afford to let that happen.
There was complete silence. After a long time, Ye Qingxuan finally spoke, “Let me talk to Sylvaine first, okay?”
“No.” Raymond shook his head “First come, first serve. Since I came first, you have to talk to me, Mr. Ye.”
Ye Qingxuan’s voice turned cold. “I will talk to Sylvaine or we will not talk at all. Do you understand, Raymond? No room for discussion!”
Ye Qingxuan’s stubbornness was beyond Raymond’s expectation but this did not change the fact that the former was finally seated at the negotiation table. Since negotiations had begun, all that mattered now was how to negotiate…
Raymond laughed coldly. “I hope you understand, Mr. Ye, that this will be the only time I will give in. You are wasting it on the wrong place.” With that, he looked at the Schubert nun and hinted for her to remove the shackles in the fog. Even so, he had no intentions of allowing Ye Qingxuan and Sylvaine to establish communication on their own. Their communication signals would be centralized at the flagship of the Phantom Fleet. Raymond did not try to disguise the fact that he was in control of their communication. In fact, he saw this as a tool that he could use to exert pressure and control.
“You can speak now, Mr. Ye.” Raymond sat on his seat. His mind was occupied with different negotiation strategies when he heard Ye Qingxuan speak, “Admiral Sylvaine, do you still remember what you told me when we first met?”
The Sovereign was silent for a moment. After some time, Sylvaine finally replied, “Anglo hopes for its people to fulfill their duties to the very end.”
“Very good.” Ye Qingxuan seemed satisfied. He quickly followed it up with an order, “Next, I will start firing at the Burgundy navy with my cannons. When the time is right, please carry out self-destruction as a form of reinforcement.”
Raymond was stunned. The entire bridge fell into complete silence. He jumped up from his seat and screamed, “Mr. Ye, please do not play such meaningless and foolish tricks!”
But Ye Qingxuan ignored him completely. Sylvaine spoke, “Your Highness, will you lead Anglo to victory?”
“Yes.” Ye Qingxuan replied, “Definitely.”
“Good.” Sylvaine smiled and shut off communications without even waiting for Raymond to do so.
Only Ye Qingxuan’s teasing laughter could be heard. “Looks like there is no need for me to negotiate with the Church anymore.”
“You…” Raymond’s face turned black. Just as he was about to speak, he was disrupted by Ye Qingxuan, “In that case, let us resume the War of the Roses!”
