294 It Comes! (1/2)
Everything was silent. Even the gradually dissipating thick fog solidified in the air. The musicians breathed heavily in the depth of the mist. Before the iron gate, Jerome took the bag from his back and opened it layer by layer. He melted the red wax of the royal seal and the broad seal to unlock the shackles.
Thus, a coarse black iron spear was revealed from the linen cloth. With dried scarlet blood on it, it was captivating. When it was swung, it howled like dragon roaring. It cut the fog but also stung the eyes.
”St. George's spear?” Charles gasped. Something felt wrong. ”Wasn’t this thing lost long ago?”
Among those few remaining artifacts which were admitted to own the power of a ‘scepter’, Anglo possessed three of them nominally. They were respectively the ‘Sword in Stone’ for governance and declaration of kingship; the ‘St. George’s Spear’ which could completely destroy the natural catastrophic dragon; as well as the ‘Holy Grail of Destruction,’ which was known as the worst and wildest deterrence. Once it was triggered, both the whole country and the enemy would go to ruin.
Among these three deadly things, the ‘Holy Grail of Destruction’ possibly did not exist in the world. The successive emperors would only tell the next successor the relative information before death. No one else in the world knew where it was.
As for the Sword in Stone, it had disappeared since the fall of King Arthur. It was claimed to be kept by the royal family but no one knew whether it was still there. St. George's Spear had appeared once. However, it was said that ten years ago, it had disappeared too for some unknown reason. Now the spear appeared so abruptly before Charles that he temporarily could not accept it.
”This was the spare made by the current King of Black after St. George's Spear was lost.” Jerome clenched the weapon in hand with all his strength to restrain the force that could erupt at any moment. ”I never thought that I would actually use it one day.” Jerome looked determined. ”I'm afraid this is the worst solution.”
”Hey! Hey!” Charles was terrified. He immediately clenched Jerome’s pant legs. ”What the h*ll are you going to do, man? Don’t mess around! Can someone please tell me what the h*ll are we doing here?”
”Don't you understand, Charles?” Jerome looked back at him with a serious look. ”When necessary, we will isolate the area with a seal and then, with the power of St. George's Spear, completely destroy Avalon’s Shadow and banish the palace to the deepest place of the aetheric world.”
”Is it necessary?” Charles was confused. ”If you're going to do this, you'll definitely be killed by the royal family. And you’ll die in the most painful, cruelest way!”
”Rest assured. At that time, I’ll be banished forever along with the palace.”
”But I'm still here!” Charles was speechless. ”I have an eighty-year-old teacher and an underage sister to care for. Can’t you just let me go? How come you don't think about anyone else? I don’t even have a girlfriend. How unlucky am I!” He was trying to squeeze out some tears and cry, but his collar was yanked up.
”Listen, Charles!” Jerome glared with cold and solemn eyes. ”Complaining can’t solve any problems. You have your own responsibility! Today, even if we all lose our lives, we shall not allow those d*mned dark musicians to…to defile His Majesty's remains! Understand?”
Charles froze. ”Re-remains?”
”Hundreds of years ago, His Majesty failed. ‘Kingdom Come’ fell into the Shadow and the westernmost line of humanity was crumbling—since then the royal family had tried all means and sacrificed many people to maintain this fragile balance.
”Now, His Majesty's throne and remnants is the core of Anglo’s security. Once this security collapses, all the sacrifices of hundreds of years would all be in vain.” Jerome’s voice was resolute and hoarse like rubbing metal. ”We will make every effort to protect His Majesty from being transformed to a natural catastrophe by those guys!”
Bang! The whole world shook. The whole city trembled.
Burning light spread above the dark sky and illuminated Charles’s pale face. In the distance, the white tower stretching to the starry sky trembled, crumbled, and collapsed. A dark vortex turned into the sun and slowly rose into the sky. It was telling the coming of destruction. The breath from the abyss descended from the sky.
”What a shame.” Jerome lowered his eyes. ”It seems that we have no time to hesitate.”
In his hands, the dark sacred spear dug into the ground. The earth echoed as if the dragon sleeping underground woke up and roared with wrath.
Around the palace, the spears of Mary wedged into the earth on the dozens of fulcrums. They roared with a sharp resonance. Lightning projected and hot light connected to each other, which turned into a huge matrix of melting gold.
As Abraham had said, Charles was a genius, and there was no one who had more gifts than him on the musician's path. He could find the best fulcrums merely using his guts.
The four hundred spears of Mary trembled. They resonated and projected electric light among each other. On every fulcrum, there was royal musician in black, chanting the movement.
”...It's me, I shall confess with my hands and feet in Hell.”
They cut their wrists and their blood fell into the earth. The blood spread under the chant, flowing like a snake into the vast matrix. Life passed in that rapidly growing power. The resolute musicians chanted hoarsely. ”My soul shall be whipped and shackled, as you have suffered...”
Passion.
This was the movement for the martyrs of saints. They offered their lives in exchange for the miraculous melody. Once it was triggered, their lives would be forever buried in a dark world whether they would succeed or not. The vast enchantment started from the fulcrum and covered the entire palace in a twinkling. The palace was totally isolated.