Silent Crown

Chapter 375: Embers

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.

Chapter 376: Faust

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?”

Chapter 377: Must

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.”

Chapter 378: Into the City

“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!”

Chapter 379: You Flatter 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!”

Chapter 380: Wolf

“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.