Silent Crown

Ye Qingxuan racked through his brains but he just could not come up with the names of these four people. These four additional saints had appeared out of nowhere and that left Ye Qingxuan feeling uneasy. Since when did creating saints become easier than giving birth to children?

What made him even more uneasy was how Charles was doing over at the Golden Palace. In actuality, Anglo and Caucasian had yet to officially become allies. The way both sides had been able to collaborate with each other so effectively and seamlessly was all due to the familiarity between Ye Qingxuan and Charles.

To him, the sooner the Caucasian and Gaius died, the better. But he definitely did not wish for that outcome to be at the expense of losing Charles’ life. Fortunately, he knew that Charles was a crafty fellow who would definitely try to flee if he knew that there was no chance of winning.

…

The sky cracked and the metal vault of heaven broke into pieces. The holy light of Eden shone on the entire Golden Palace. The rays of light were so intense that the entire palace was heated up into a red color. Compared to the abnormal-looking sky right now, the earth seemed so far away and the palace seemed so small and fragile like the shell of an egg.

The land was covered with countless dust, which seemed to be looking up at the vault of heaven and praying for the disaster to come to an end. But the light of salvation continued to shine above the vault of heaven as the mighty power of God’s punishment remained within Eden. The light-filled sky looked so beautiful and grand. It was as if a single drop of light was capable of destroying the entire earth.

The mortal world screamed in despair as they had nowhere to hide. Their eyes were filled with hopelessness as they looked at the sky and prayed for a swift ending to all these. Or perhaps, the end had already come. As for the war, the war continued. Make no mistake, it was a war.

A single person was facing all of Asgard and the entire Sacred City at war. No, if someone was that confoundingly powerful, should he still be considered as a human?

Everyone who was watching the battle had the same doubt in their minds. Is this a power that human bones can support? A power that human muscles can push? A power that the human will can control? Or is he… a God?

The crown of light descended from Eden and between the wings of light and shadow, Charles stood above the vault of heaven. He stretched out his hands in anticipation of the incoming attacks, curses, and illusions from all directions, yet also remaining unmoved.

With a quiet sigh, saint Liszt closed his eyes. The power, which had been constrained by the human body all this while, suddenly exploded. “May my sacrifice be worth something…”

In that instant, the ultimate element of transformation, which was the fruit of destruction that humans had been building for centuries, finally appeared. It was like a giant ax and it had crushed all physical matter. Amidst the chaos of elements, a figure of light appeared. It rose from ordinary objects and up into the domain of God. It was the final “Mazeppa.”

Annihilation blackhole spun like the stars and struck Charles continuously. The cave of annihilation, which could easily destroy an entire city, landed in Charles’ hands. It broke like an illusion, one after another.

Before the terrifying impact could truly explode, it was completely contained within the projection of Eden. No matter how many powerful and violent torrents of fire there were, they were still unable to achieve a breakthrough.

“Chopin, how long do you intend to just sit by and do nothing?” Mendelssohn stared furiously at his companion but all he saw was a bittersweet smile.

“Actually, from the beginning until now, I have been trying to break through the defense of his mind.” Chopin laughed self-deprecatingly as blood began to ooze out from the organs of his five senses. “But only now did I realize that he has no defenses whatsoever. All my attacks have been only been devoured by him…”

It was not that there was no way of breaking through, but that there was no response whatsoever. It was like trying to give suggestions to a rock. There was no such thing as ‘consciousness’ in the enemy’s body, only an ocean of light that was so deep and wide that almost drowned him.

Was this really the consciousness of a human? It was as if he was facing the terrible silhouette of Hyakume again. All he could see was a bottomless pit of darkness and an emptiness that was not human. Could a monster like that possess a human personality?

“I’m sorry.” Chopin replied hoarsely, “There’s nothing more that I can do.”

The ear-piercing sound of the breaking of scepter could be heard from his body, leaving Mendelssohn completely stunned. In the blink of an eye, the glow of Mazeppa had died. Liszt, who was completely burnt by now, fell from the clouds and the ashes disappeared into the endless light.

But with his sacrifice, not only did the projection of the Holy Caldron not dissipate, it began to gaze even more. The color of blood swayed in the caldron and brand-new elements rose from within, one after another. Above the vault of heaven, stars began to fall as the light from the Sacred City descended onto the lands of Asgard. Within ten minutes, the first batch of reinforcements from Sacred City had arrived. They represented the hope of clinching victory, but at the same time, everyone that as watching the battle could not help but shiver in fear.

Six saints! It was another six saints! Egor, Gluck, Rossini…

Those foreign holy names appeared from the elements. Shortly after, the relics, that had been sealed by the Sacred City due to the third legislative amendment of various countries, appeared in their hands. Amongst them were artifacts that were comparable to Gate of Heaven, and there were even three items that were newly-casted weapons…

Those were weapons that were not cast in order to spread the glory and truth of God. They were cast against the truth and for the purpose of destruction, massacre, and annihilation. Their existence alone shook the entire mortal world.

The cruel shine of the blade was reflected onto the musicians that were standing behind Paganini, leaving them crippled with fear. It was as if a moment of carelessness was all it would take to melt them completely. Yes, melt. They would melt under the light of judgment and would be put through cleansing as if they were mud.

The instant that they appeared, all the saints attacked the same time without any hesitation or mercy for the commoners. They did not care if the entire Golden Palace would be embroiled in the attack!

In the blink of an eye, Charles was pushed into the core of Eden so much so that the domain of Eden was almost broken. The light of destruction, which had been sealed in Eden, poured out like a storm in all directions.

The expression on Charles’ face changed. He paid no attention to the relics that were coming towards him. Instead, he forcefully expanded Eden’s projection, as if he was trying his best to hang onto a horse carriage that was out of control. He was finally hurt by the blade of the sword. A terrible wound appeared on his arm but there was no blood. It was as if there was no longer such a thing as blood in this body anymore. He had no choice but to dodge the attacks of the saints. He could see that they were prepared to go all out just to destroy him.

“Are you all trying to destroy Asgard!” He gritted his teeth as he stared at his enemy. But the saints did not say a word. They only continued to attack without any reservations. They did not care about their own lives or the lives of others. They no longer cared if they were destroying the good along with the bad. All they cared about was destroying this false God in front of them.

“Is that so? I understand now…” Realization finally dawned on Charles and the expression on his face became cold. “In that case, it doesn’t matter even if you are killed by me, right?”

In that instant, a chill ran down the spine of Mendelssohn, “Why is that the Sancta Sedes still refuses to step in even at this stage?” He began to mutter in panic, “If we had ‘Destiny’.”

Indeed, with the movement of “Destiny,” surely even the false God would be no match for it? Chopin took a glance at him and countered, “What if ‘Destiny’ fails to kill him?”

Mendelssohn kept quiet. He did not consider the possibility. If the last resort of Sacred City, “Destiny,” failed to kill him, what else could they do?

…

Not everyone possessed the courage to face this battle that was beyond human imaginations. When the first batch of Sacred City’s reinforcements came, the scepter musicians behind Paganini began to turn pale.

“Are we not retreating?” Someone finally mustered the courage to ask, “We will only get in the way of Lord Charles by staying here right?”

Paganini did not look back. He was fully focused on the battlefield. “No, we must stay.” He remained unmoved. “There is a purpose in us staying behind.”

“Are we supposed to applaud and cheer on the son of God?” Someone shook his head bitterly. “Other than that, what is the use of us staying behind?”

“Witness,” Paganini muttered quietly as he continued to stare at the battlefield intensely. “All we have to do is to bear witness.”

They had to stay behind. They had to witness everything. They had to witness the outcome of this battle. Would mankind triumph over God, or would God destroy mankind?

Regardless if the battle concluded with a victory or a loss, what awaited mankind would not be a perfect ending. If God was able to destroy mankind, then what was the purpose of mankind’s struggles for the past thousands of years? If mankind triumphed over God, then what were all the prayers and devotion for?

Therefore, what would the outcome be? Paganini waited with bated breath.

…

There were earth-shattering surges coming from the Golden Palace. Ye Qingxuan could see burning beams of light rising from a distance away but he had no time to investigate further. In the instant that the armor of divinity appeared, he had already been surrounded and attacked by the four saints. He had no chance to support Mary in her catastrophe transformation.

Leviathan versus Odin. The ruler of the ocean against the king of thunder and Ye Qingxuan was in no position to interfere at all. He had to focus on dealing with the four saints in front of him. If not for the net of aether, which helped him to suppress the enemy, he would have been completely defeated if he had many any mistakes.

The four saints seemed to be used to working with each other as there were no gaps or discrepancies in their movements. One would support, one would restrain, one would attack, and one had not made any moves thus far except to search for any weak spots that Ye Qingxuan might reveal. There was a chilly aura about this last one that left Ye Qingxuan feeling very uneasy.

Ye Qingxuan did not expect the four saints to be able to put their pride and ego aside and attack him altogether at once. At the same time, he did not expect that their powers were much weaker than what he had expected. The pressure that all four of them were giving him only exceeded that of Wagner slightly, but not by too much. He could not figure out the reason behind this. If each of the four of them had been at the same level as Wagner, Ye Qingxuan would have no choice but to flee for his life.

Although he had expected such unconventional saints to possess weaknesses, he did not expect their weaknesses to be so obvious. Just what exactly was the Sacred City thinking?