576 The End of Solomon (2/2)

This was my exercise class, then? He went forward at his normal speed and felt that the pressure was becoming more and more tense.

Suddenly, something like a dying beast howled from afar. It sounded so familiar. Ye Qingxuan was so surprised that he raised his head to see what it was. Numerous monsters with blood-red eyes jumped at him, howling. There were also waves of little bugs in the air, extracting aether from the air, which created a temporary vacuum around Ye Qingxuan.

Ye Qingxuan heaved a sigh and waved a sliver of moonlight from his fingers. Numerous music notes were played in such a short time that the sound was not even distinguishable. Then, fire and light spread around very quickly and quietly. All the monsters and bugs were burned into nothing, leaving not even ashes.

In the fading light, Ye Qingxuan looked to the direction of the howling.

It was Firebird. And he was familiar with that.

”Mary?”

…

In the ruins of the church, black blood spurted and fell on the mask. A giant monster was cut in half. It fell on the ground, twitching and howling. Yet more monsters were coming.

Surrounded by layers of monsters, a knight shouted angrily. He waved his sword again with his great power, generating a gust of strong wind which cut through the space.

The wind tore everything apart on its path and chopped up all the monsters within a hundred-meter radius. With the blood of the monsters sprayed on the ground, the smell of blood was even stronger.

Behind the knight was a girl who was crying bitterly. ”They are here, Christine. They are here. They are here. They are right here.” Her gown torn, her arms were shown. Ye Qingxuan could saw there were red scales showing and disappearing on her arms. Her pupils changed forms as if she were a beast one moment and a normal girl the next. She was struggling between being a beast and being a human.

”It is looking at me.” Mary murmured, ”Christine, give me the sword. Quick! Give me the sword. It was inside me. I saw it. It is tearing me apart.”

”Your Highness!” Christine half-kneeled on the ground, shaking her violently. ”Don't give up! Don't be defeated by it!”

”It is killing me, Christine.” Mary raised her head. Her eyes were full of emptiness. She could no longer see the knight but the felt the beast inside her.

”Give me the sword, Christine, give me the sword.” She held Christine's arm and begged. Her strength was so mighty that she crushed the steel of Christine's armor and left her indentations from her fingers on it.

She looked at Christine, red-eyed as if she were a demon. ”Give me the sword! I can kill it!”

Christine became silent. She was so sad that she couldn't help but shed tears.

”My princess, it is you that you will be killing.”

Then, the armor suddenly split apart. The girl knight reached out to Mary and grabbed her. Pressing Mary's neck down, she injected a shot of tranquilizer into her artery. At the same time, her arm was broken by Mary. The bones in her arm were fractured and her arm began to bleed.

The tranquilizer was injected into Mary's body, yet the beast in her veins wouldn't surrender; it was still fighting and howling. After several seconds, though, it calmed down.

Mary lost her strength and fell into Christine's embrace, gasping.

”Don't fall asleep, Your Highness.” Christine carried Mary on her back. ”Hold on for a moment. It will pass soon. Remember the song you liked most when you were a kid?”

Mary seemed to answer her. She murmured something as if singing.

”Solomon was born on Monday, baptized on Tuesday, got married on Wednesday, became ill on Thursday. His illness became serious on Friday, he died on Saturday, and was buried on Sunday. This was the end of Solomon. This was the end of Solomon.” In her murmuring, Christine straightened her arm and put it back into the armor. Then she put the mask on.

The tranquilizer would become useless very soon. In the beginning, the effect of the tranquilizer could last a whole day, but now it could only calm Mary for ten minutes. Christine knew well that Mary must be treated to cleanse her blood, otherwise, she would collapse under the Blood of Curses and turn into a blood-thirsty monster.

Time was running out.

”Don't be afraid, my princess.” Suffering great pain, Christine raised her broken arm to stroke Mary's long hair. ”I will protect you. I will.”

Yet in the silence, the melody came again from afar. It was the Requiem—Requiem VI—which was played during the funeral of musicians to pray for the spirit of the dead so that he or she could ascend to the Originator. Yet now, it was so dark and savage.

Ashes came with the cold wind, forming a vague shadow which was torn apart from the inside, revealing pale skin and hollow eyes. The musician in white stepped out from the shadow. Wearing a crystal crown, the musician had dark and cold aether movements around him, surrounding Christine like snakes.

The spirit of the dead musicians came back from the realm of the deceased in such an ugly appearance.

On the white clothes was an emblem of the royal musician group, and the body, which had been petrified due to the effects of the drug of Penglai, came forward, step by step. The petrified neck of the middle-aged dead musician cracked irritatingly when he stared at Christine. Then he locked his sight on Mary.

”I sacrifice myself to the great emperor.” The musician stepped forward again, his hollow voice full of enthusiasm which made people sick. ”May God bless the kingdom and my king bless me!”