405 Wash Blood with Blood (1/2)
”Time, please stop because you are so beautiful.” Under the distant song, the climax of Faust was activated. Time turned, burning red-hot, and almost self-destructed. The time flowing through the aether sea suddenly stopped. All music score changes were forcefully frozen.
This time, the melody had followed the music theory of Abstinence, rather than targeting the 'stopping' of the material world. Instead, it acted directly upon the aether, forcing the aether sea to stop changing and reacting to the world. It cut off the path for musicians to resonate with the sea and forced all musicians below the Resonance level.
At that moment, an overlooked knight in the procession suddenly raised a finger. His armor shook and countless music notes flowed from his fingertip. It sketched out a vast structure, going toward the frozen aether sea. The surrounding air warped as if tugged at by a strong attractive force. The mature music theory was disturbing the materials, distorting reality.
It was the Distortion level! There was a musician only one step away from becoming a grandmaster hidden in the knights!
Endless changes were put into the music theory. The multileveled formulas operated instantly, measure by measure. They transformed into a burning hammer that shattered the ice.
Boom! Music theories collided. The piercing noise made everyone's vision go black.
The expression of the 'knight' changed. His raised finger shook and splintered like a segment of bamboo. Fresh blood flew out. The droplets evaporated in the disordered music theory, froze, or disappeared. From his fingertip to his arms, the armor twisted like dried seaweed. It cracked apart, revealing mangled flesh.
”How…” he murmured blankly. Something broke inside of him and his organs shattered. He fell off the horse.
The aether sea froze completely.
In the crowd, many people paled. It felt like they had suddenly lost an important sensory organ, as if they had gone blind, deaf, mute, or could not touch anymore. Resonance musicians co-existed with the aether sea at every second. They rose up in levels and developed due to it. As the aether sea froze and their resonance with the source disappeared, they instantly fell from the Resonance level.
People yelped in shock belatedly. Riot spread through the crowd. Controlled by the hidden Mind score, terror, and panic burst. The crowd scattered and chaos formed outside the city gates.
”Ye Qingxuan…” Within the mess, Colt stared at the musician's broken face. He looked up in all directions, yelling, ”Come out, Ye Qingxuan! I know you're here!”
No one replied.
In this afternoon, under the hot sunlight and among the flying dust, a hoarse song traveled from the distance.
”The final judgment will arrive; fire will spread through the graves, burning the organs. The souls will wander from the underworld.”
Under the city gates, the old musician strummed his instrument. He sang quietly to bless the hero, ”Oh, Lazarus, how will you repay your debt? Oh, Lazarus, are you panicking?”
Colt's head shot up and looked through the crowd. In the back of the crowd, the musician sang with his head lowered. As if a switch was turned on, the eyes of the black-robed priest behind Colt suddenly went blank. He raised his hand subconsciously and pulled a crossbow out of his robes.
As if he had practiced this thousands of times, he pressed it to the back of Colt's head and pressed the trigger. The springs let go, and a poisonous dart shot out. That moment, Colt lowered his head and rolled off the horse. The arrow scraped past his messy hair and nicked the shoulder of the lead knight. Only scraping the skin, the knight instantly fell off. Half of his body went numb, and his lips quickly turned dark blue, his face bloating.
This was not toxic poison. It was something more terrifying—blood clotting agent. Choir musicians used it to stop gravely wounded soldiers from bleeding. If the decimal of the density level was changed, it could turn the wounded into a rubber toy. All the blood would coagulate, and nothing could fix it.
”There is no way to break the curse, to medicine to heal you, nowhere to go. To where else can you go to plead?” the musician sang. ”Oh, Lazarus, how will you repay your debt? Oh, Lazarus, are you panicking?”
Missing the first one, the priest aimed his crossbow again and pulled the trigger. Colt grabbed a knight's shield and blocked the arrow. Whistles and crashes sounded continuously. Arrows landed on the shields, caving them in and shattering them. The shields were pulverized by the frightened horses.
Behind a shield, Colt pulled out his sword and stabbed the neck of the priest's horse. The stallion screamed and stood up. The blank priest fell off, and the panicking horse quickly trampled him into ground meat.
However, until death, the priest's eyes were still blank, and his mouth was open, murmuring something silently.
”Ye Qingxuan…” Colt spun around. He glared at the musician menacingly. ”I knew it was you!”
”Time is short, and death is rushing,” the musician sang hoarsely as he played his instrument. ”Look, fire is burning my body. It's burning my soul, seeping into my bones. There is nowhere to hide, no way to run. There is nowhere to run to!”
”Capture the attacker!” Colt roared to the knights. ”No, kill him! Kill him now!”
Controlling his horse, he studied Ye Qingxuan's face coldly. ”Stop dreaming, Ye Qingxuan,” he murmured. ”You can't kill me in Hell, and you can't kill me here! I'm the winner, and it'll be like that forever!”
If he had been terrified before, he was no longer scared now. Ye Qingxuan had gone completely crazy… This was the Sacred City! There were so many different schools, grandmasters, and musicians here. The world's largest enchantment enveloped this city day and night. The Starry Temple controlled the aether waves of the human world. This was the most guarded place in the world!
Even the Secret Keepers could not protect him here. The moment he chose to act, he already became the enemy of the entire Sacred City!
No one could save him anymore!
But for some reason, Colt felt a tinge of panic. Why…didn't the Sacred City do anything yet? He glanced at the city gates with his peripheral vision. The bustling streets were still the same; nothing had happened. No one had realized that there had been an assassination attempt right before the city gates!
With every second that passed, the unrest grew. What was happening?
Clenching his jaw, he gripped the reins until his knuckles turned white.
The knights unsheathed their swords; the stallions panted, and the metal hooves sounded like a thunderstorm. Dozens of knights urged their horses over, galloping and dragging their heavy swords, gouging the ground.
Besides Colt, the knights took off their helmets. They performed a music score, gathering the aether. Though they were no longer at the Resonance level, they could still perform countless restraining scores under coherence.
The earth rumbled, fire brewed, and the air condensed… Dozens of music scores shot out at once, sealing off everywhere the enemy could hide.
The clattering hooves arrived. The knights cast black shadows from above the horses. They raised their long swords and brought them down on the musician!
At that moment, the wind lifted the musician's hood, revealing bone-white hair.
”Can't you see my regret? I will make your life worth it…” he sang with his head down. ”Greed and lust, death and dust, can you see my smile within?” Under the gales of wind, his long hair danced like electric silver. Beside him, the cane leaned on the wall suddenly erupted with blazing electricity. It flooded out!
Thunder and lightning cracked. Electric light moved like a cobra, leaving black scorch marks in its path. Like an angry whip, it tore apart all music scores! Surging forward, it jumped between the armor and long swords. The metal melted into red-hot liquid, the horses fell with screams, and the knights vaporized.
The countless wild lightning bolts seemed to weave into a vague yet awesome image—it was the god of thunder, Indrah! Everyone, including Colt, was shocked.
With the aether sea frozen, it was hard for anyone to resonate. Restricted like this, they could only rely on the free aether in the air. No one expected that someone could so easily complete such a vast music score and fight enemies that outnumbered him. He could even recreate a fallen saint's spirit!
”This is definitely not the musician level…” A middle-aged priest stared at Ye Qingxuan. Studying his chest, he tried to find the heart of sound. However, no matter how he probed, the chest cavity was empty. There was no response or any resonance! It seemed to be an empty hole. There was no music theory or aether. All that existed in a shocking void that swallowed all noise…
Sensing his probing, something started brewing in the darkness. It was like the sapling of destruction, showing the tip of the iceberg. In an instant, the priest's eyes filled with blood. The corners cracked, and tears of blood streamed down his white face.
He screamed, ”Wha-what are you?!”
Behind the flying dust, the man kept his head lowered as he played the six-stringed instrument. His hoarse voice spread throughout.
”Lazarus, do you see the wildfire burning so richly? Do you see the hellhound, staring so intimidatingly? Are you panicking now? But Lazarus, how will you repay the debts?”
Under the low song, lightning burned and danced wildly. On the cane, the cracked gem shattered completely. In its place, the fallen Holy Spirit was reborn in the lightning. Unprecedented, it opened its eyes.
The world roared! As the land shook, the iron walls reflected the blinding electric light. The song transformed into a judgment from the underworld. It filled the air.
”Lazarus, the wildfire is burning,” he sang. ”It is burning, fire shooting into the sky. The faraway stars will not be able to guide you… I will write my name with blood. Lazarus, wash blood with blood and write thy name! Wash blood with blood and create thy name!”
The instrument strings snapped. The weathered six-stringed instrument broke apart. Lightning poured from it.
The world was so dark.
Lightning solidified in his hands. With the apparition of Indrah, he aimed at his enemy, locking onto Colt. Pained by the lightning, Colt's face reddened. All the blood seemed to collect on his face.