Silent Crown

The crystal chandelier gave off a beautiful, soft glow. A warm fire was burning in the fireplace, and the fragrance of burning incense lingered in the basement. In the emotional singing, girls draped in tulle danced in the gentle melody. Their toes sunk deeply into the cashmere carpet, and were engulfed by the soft wool. The charming girls swayed their bodies, exuding a seductiveness full of desire.

Piercing laughter rang out.

The middle-aged man who was only wearing a pair of shorts drank the last bottle of wine in the whole of the Caucasus. He stood up straight, his fat belly in full view, and jumped into the group of dancing girls, wriggling his body along with the melody. “Commonwealth of Caucasian, the world’s greatest nation. All the other countries, their kings are such dummies!”

Intoxicated, he sang the national anthem loudly, altering the lyrics without feeling any semblance of shame. “Oh, Commonwealth of Caucasian, the first in *** exportation, all the other countries, their *** are of low quality.

“Oh, Caucasus, your Mother River is a great miracle. It is 200 meters wide, the waste and the feces, 80% is removed by it…

“Ah, Commonwealth of Caucasian, friends with every nation, just not Burgundy, their noses are big and the people gossipy, they’ve got shit for brains and they’re nutty…” As he sang, stuttering over the words every so often, he took off his shorts and hugged the petite girl nearest to him, grinning. “Please come shake hands with the great d*ck of His Majesty, we invented begging, aphrodisiac and toffee…”

Suddenly, the melody came to an abrupt stop. As the door opened, a cold wind that should not belong here swept across the room, causing everyone to shiver. At the same time, an old figure that should not be here showed up as well.

Gaius.

“Leave us,” he said.

So, the entertainers and dancers hurriedly gathered up their things, lined up and quickly left. Only the man lying in the middle of the carpet remained.

“Why are you here again?” Displaying his private parts unabashedly despite the other person’s presence, the man, who was intoxicated with song and dance as well as alcohol, waved his hand impatiently. “Haven’t I already put you fully in charge of everything?”

“I’m just here to inform you that the war has begun.” Gaius said, “The war has a direct bearing on the fate of the Caucasus. From sentiment and reason, you should at least take a look.”

“Now, the Caucasus no longer has anything to do with me.” The man continued to pour spirits into his mouth, “Gaius, I am a king. Could you please respect me a little? When you were promoted to the representative of the Sacred City back in the olden days, I voted yes, so you owe me one.

“You see, I have handed the right to command over to you fully, and instructed everyone to cooperate with your orders to the best of their abilities. You are their savior now.

“You have taken all I have, surely you can’t ask me to do work on your behalf again at the eleventh hour…”

His Majesty the King shrugged and belched. “Especially when I’m planning to have some fun one more time.”

Gaius frowned. “Like it or not, you are a king.”

“I must race against the clock and have fun while I still can, exactly because I’m a king.” The king rolled his eyes and patted his round belly. “Be it victory or defeat, someone must take responsibility for the deaths, right?”

Gaius was silent for a moment, and nodded. “Yes.”

“Other than the king, is there anyone more suitable?” the king questioned once more.

Gaius shook his head. “No.”

“Then what’s wrong with me having fun before I die?” The king waved his hand impatiently. “Now, if you don’t mind, I’d like to continue. Before going out to save the world, please help me call my girls back.”

Gaius withdrew his gaze and glanced at the girls standing in a row in the corridor, hugging each other and shivering in the cold wind. He pointed towards the room.

The girls were visibly relieved and returned to the warm basement once more, snuggling up to the fire, like canaries returning to their comfortable cage.

So, a smile appeared on the king’s face once more. He randomly grabbed a girl, and pinned her to the ground, groping and kissing her recklessly. He laughed loudly.

Gaius took a final look at him and withdrew his gaze in disgust. He turned to make his leave, but heard a hoarse laugh behind him.

“Here’s to your new world, Gaius.” The king murmured softly in his state of intoxication, “You better pray that your trump card will come in handy.”

…

On the battlefield, torrents swept through.

No miracle occurred after the torrent of eagles swept through.

Nothing was left.

Only a ghastly spread of blood covered the frozen soil, melting the snow and turning it into a sickly sweet mud. It was as if he had gone into a trace for a moment and the whole world had changed when he opened his eyes.

Charles stared blankly at the pitch black sky, then lowered his head and saw his split-up body. Blood oozed out of his broken limbs, limbs twisted and fractured, and bones scattered on the ground.

His internal organs had been pulled out of his abdominal cavity and were soaked in warm blood, like a cooling pot of hot soup.

But he couldn’t feel the pain.

Because bright flowers bloomed from the blood, a gentle, warm wind caressed him, and some singing rang out in the distance, like a lullaby, drifting one off to sleep.

A gentle palm stroked his cheek, rubbing against his weed-like beard and touched his lips lightly.

She held him in her arms.

So he smiled happily, shedding tears and sniveling in a flustered manner. He clung to the gentleness, sniffing the red hair falling on his cheeks tenderly.

The red hair is so beautiful, he thought. Like embers of flames.

“Mom,” he whispered softly, “it’s been a long time. I finally see you again.”

“I have always been here,” a soft voice answered, making him feel more secure.

“Have you been alright?” he asked.

“Haven’t I always been like this?” The soft voice answered him, “Lonely, but not really feeling good or bad, probably sad? What do you think?”

Charles looked at the corners of her mouth and asked confusedly, “But aren’t you smiling?”

“Because it’s what you want to see,” the voice answered him.

Lithe hands cupped Charles’ cheeks, and the woman kissed his forehead. “Charles, what you’re seeing is an illusion. I’m already dead, don’t you know that very well? Nothing will be left after death, no hell, no heaven, no place for the soul to go.” She held on tightly to Charles’ cheeks and whispered in his ear, “Right from the start, humans have never possessed souls.”

Charles’ eyes widened, but he couldn’t see her expression clearly. He just felt confused and uneasy, and wanted to hug her, but couldn’t feel his hands.

“You don’t have it as well?” he asked fearfully.

“Of course I don’t,” his mother answered.

“But you…” He looked at her as if he was in a trance and muttered to himself, “You’re right here, you told me so…”

“Don’t you know the answer very well?” The voice gave a cruel laugh as if she had already understood what he was thinking. “I am not happy, Charles, I’ve never been happy.

“I never attained happiness or relief, the world has never changed for the better, and you won’t be able to gain salvation and hope. Why do you always like to deceive yourself?”

Charles was stunned. He wanted to hug her, but felt nothing in his arms. The cruel illusion gradually thinned, disappearing into nothingness.

Just like his own absurd fantasy.

So, he finally understood. “So that’s how it is?”

“Yeah,” the voice replied. The gentle hands gradually became cold. They dissipated, losing all color and contours, and returned to nothingness.

He couldn’t help but cry hard and murmured hoarsely, “Have I always been alone?”

No one answered.

The gentle illusion had disappeared.

The only comfort in his nightmares abandoned him, leaving him by himself, with the ice-cold flowers that bloomed from his blood.

“So that’s how it is,” Charles murmured softly and opened his eyes.

…

At that very moment, in the muddy puddles of blood, the demons with eagle bodies that were pecking at the broken limbs were startled and flew up high into the sky, only to freeze motionless in midair.

In the world that had gone still, in the pool of blood, the scarred eyes slowly opened, revealing golden pupils. They resembled burning suns.

Countless beautiful and alluring illusions flitted across the suffusing fresh blood. Pure white flowers sprouted from the sickly sweet mud, and bloomed. In a flash, the flowers had spread all over. The arms with exposed white bones slowly lifted from the pool of blood, five broken fingers holding the scorching triangle. His flesh and blood that had almost completely been eaten quickly proliferated, the shattered bones healed, and soon, intact arms and hands grew out, but the triangle had disappeared, seemingly integrated into the bones.

In the pool of blood, Charles, who had been reborn from death, stared at the pupils on the sinister face in the huge shadow, and his expression resembled a smile.

It wasn’t deliberate, nor was he expressing his emotions.

It was just instinctual.

It was the look of natural scorn and indifference that a monster at the top of the food chain would have when it looked down.

He reached out and tapped like he was hitting the triangle.

Crisp notes reverberated between the heavens and the earth.

It evolved into a majestic movement that swept in all directions, pulling everything into a violent turmoil.

Countless music theories emerged from the finger, and thousands of strands gathered together. From notes, they condensed into combinations of intervals, then music theory was constructed and the movement revealed itself.

In the end, even the vast sky was completely covered by the movement.

In an instant, a power strong enough to stun countless musicians brewed… Construction of music theory over a super vast domain!

Then, the overture of destruction followed closely. Amid continuous loud bangs, all the air, all the aether, and all the power were cruelly extracted and converted into torrents, spraying in all directions. But in the sky, the vacuum descended!

Countless nature interference took place at the same time, and the result of layer-by-layer evolution was the complete repulsion of everything. The horrifying change in air pressure caused the ions in the air to collide, thunder burst forth, and lightning struck. The gases in the air condensed into a viscous liquid and flowed wantonly in the vacuum without restraint, destroying everything within reach.

1812 Overture!

At that very moment, all the survivors cheered and screamed in joy, “1812 Overture!”

The discontinued legacy of the saint had descended upon the world once more.

It brought wonders to the battlefield.

No… Miracles!