24 Performance (1/2)
The twelve musicians in the paintings depicted the twelve great masters of the western world.
The three portraits in the forefront were the three kings named after the impressive, and glorious ”Bach”, ”Mozart” and ”Beethoven”, followed by other gurus like ”Chopin”, ”Haydn” and ”Brahms”.
In addition to their extraordinary abilities, these big musicians inherited their names from the saints of the Dark Age, who were also in charge of terrifying power and technology.
Because of the countries' confidentiality policies and the masters' wishes, some of their abilities were unknown.
For example, Mr. Haydn, the one who was permanently stationed in the Sacred City, secretly guarded the sheet music considered taboo, Genesis. The last time Genesis was played was forty years ago.
The phenomenal natural catastrophe called Holy White Storm, from the tip of the northern sea, invaded human countries. It had completely flattened half of the land and the population. This was followed by an invasion of beasts which completely destroyed one of the countries. Mr. Haydn had then led the holy choirs to the northern wall, where the power of Genesis took out all the aether within a thousand mile radius, completely defeating it in one swoop.
The power of the irresistible force was beyond any ordinary person's imagination. It got into the fertile plains, turning them into burning lava. Mooen Mountain had been turned into a huge valley by the exhaustive power. With hundreds of millions of tons of water coming in, most of the plains had sunk into the ocean forever.
It was still a wetland. The wealthy city had completely vanished, only leaving skeletons under the sea.
The power was miraculous and could not be controlled by the call of humans. When the power of the weapons was too strong, it did not matter who won or lost, because it lead to extreme loss and tragedy on both sides.
Although there were two musicians who had inherited from Chopin and Brahms on the border of the Anglo Kingdom and the Burgundy Kingdom, they had never fought against each other before.
It was said that in the East, the musicians of the powerful Imperial Nine Musicians were so strong that they could not even control their own power. They could not stay in one place for a long time. Otherwise a disaster would follow known as Armageddon.
A well-deserved icon of the Western musicians named 'King of Black--Bach, permanently lived in the Dark World, opening up the land for mankind. After inheriting the holy name, he never returned to the hinterland of the civilized world.
And the papal of the generation, in the succession of inheriting the name King of Red-- Beethoven simply lived in seclusion in the Sacred City. All educational affairs were given to the Cardinals. Beethoven's mind was devoted to the Guarding the Abyss mission.
As for The King of Yellow--Mozart, he had been missing for many years. No one knew where this genius was.
The twelve portraits represented the twelve giants. But four portraits were still missing, which meant that no one was entitled to those names yet.
Looking at those blank portraits, Ye Qingxuan felt a little bit sad. If that even did not happen, that man would probably be one of them.
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”Your Royal Highness, Mary, I did not expect you to come. I am quite surprised.”
In the corner, an old white-haired man saluted the blonde girl in the front of him. The girl nodded back. She had a slender neck and looked dignified with soft beauty.
She wore a blue dress, with her hair in a simple bun behind her ear. She did not look like a girl going to a banquet, but more like a girl walking in the park.
”This is not a formal meeting. Please don't be too serious, Mr. Principal.” The girl's voice was very gentle. She looked around with admiration, ”I came to handle other matters, but I saw this admission dinner and decided to attend, feeling that many students will be the pillars of the future.”
She was almost as old as these students, perhaps even younger, but she seemed superior when she spoke.
”Just a group of children, who knows what they'll do in the future?” The old man shook his head emotionally, ”But every time I see them, I always feel that I am getting old.” He sighed, ”Honestly, I have been a scared three times already by a waiter today. I will go and ask the supervisor whether they recruited a Persian assassin to work in the school. ”
”You are exaggerating.” Mary could not help but chuckle softly, ”But I'd love to see the person who scared the Principal three times.”
At this point, the gentle band music gradually stopped. Most of the commotion in the hall had returned to silence, and everyone looked towards this corner, puzzled.
Based on the schedule, it was time for the Principal's speech, but the Principal was not willing to step on stage. He stood in place, not moving and just sipping his champagne.
”Principal, your speech,” Sidney whispered to remind him.
”Sorry, I don't feel well today. Let's not have a speech today.” He looked at the stunned Sidney. ”Maybe you can go up and say a few words?”
Sidney was surprised for a moment. ”Maxwell, you initially wanted to...”
”Oh, don't be too rigid. How could you take my random idea seriously? Plus, I hate advising people. What if I say something inappropriate?” Maxwell waved lightly. ”Skip it, skip it, let's move on. Did you say that there was a young man here praised by Master Schumann? Let's request a piece. Music please! I like the sound of the piano.”
Sidney was speechless. He felt that the school board and himself had been played by this guy once again. It was like watching a strong enemy raise his palm, anticipating him to strike, then watching him gently put his hand down. Although there was no slap, it still made people upset.
But what could he do?
All the people who hated him so much had no way to deal with him because he was Maxwell, the guardian of the blood of Anglo, the ruler of the Royal Music Academy. He had shown off from a young age, never giving anyone respect, nor caring about other's opinions.
He did whatever he wanted, not afraid of messing up. It was arbitrary chaos, he never cared about consequences too much.
For decades, he firmly occupied the seat in the Parliament and the supreme hegemony of the school, ignoring even the Queen's order. Obviously he was from a noble family, but he had offended almost all of the families, and was even absent from three consecutive roundtable meetings...
Sidney sighed, ”Next.”