701 The Land, the Sky, this World (2/2)
The old musician laughed bitterly as he looked at the broken stone plate that he was hugging. The wedge-shaped music notes on the stone plate were glowing with fluorescence very gradually.
”Your Majesty, strictly and logically speaking, I am already dead.” The old musician sighed, ”I am but just a duplicate that I had left behind beforehand.”
”In that case, continue to serve your empire as a duplicate, on behalf of your original self.” The Emperor continued, ”You are still of use to the Empire. You are not allowed to die yet.”
The old musician bowed. Behind the cracked opening of the dark clouds, countless eyes within the darkness have already been shut and have vanished completely.
”Every single trace that Hyakume had left behind has been erased.” The old musician described to the Emperor what he had observed through the lenses, ”With the immense supplies from Caucasian, the Orthodox Church has launched a holy prayer ceremony of the biggest scale that anyone has ever seen. They would convert the abyss and transform the godly nature and status of Hyakume. After today, Hyakume will be replaced by the new God and all of its powers will be inherited by the new godly nature. The structure of the Three Pillar God will be changed forever.”
With that, the dark ancient night came to an end, and the holy light lit up the night sky.
Amidst the praises of countless musicians and priests, the sounds of hymns filled the air, lit up the gloomy clouds and poured out onto the land. From east to west, from south to north, the entire world was bathed in this sacred light. Above the vault in heaven, a world, that shone with everything that was good, appeared. God's throne gradually appeared amidst the countless beams of light and on the throne sat a blurry figure that looked down at the world.
On the other hand, the Emperor was raised his head with difficulty, and stared sharply at that blurry figure that was looking down at him. It was as if he had deemed the God to be his enemy. The Emperor never shifted his gaze until the light vanished and the night sky reverted back to peace and quiet once again.
”What was that?” The Emperor asked.
”Eden,” said the old musician. ”That was the heaven that the Orthodox Church had created. It was made from the netherworld and the abyss. It is a place where all souls will eventually return to.”
”Hmm.” The Emperor nodded, ”That makes them our enemy.”
”Your Majesty, please think twice.” The old musician lowered his head and prayed softly, ”Now that we have already lost Odin, it may not be wise to go against Caucasian.”
”I thought that Asgard has always valued dying with honor and courage in battle?” The Emperor's face was grim. He leaned against his crutch and shuffled his body back onto his throne, ”For the past few centuries, we have always chased after the northern wind. Now, the northern wind has brought war back with it, and so we shall fight.”
”Many people don't think this way, Your Majesty. There is more than just one voice in Asgard.” The old musician shook his head, ”Now, many people are saying that 'that lunatic will only be satisfied when everyone in Asgard has become a cripple like him'.”
The Emperor smiled and patted his deformed leg. He looked at the old musician, ”That may not be a bad thing either, don't you think? Then, all of you understand that when a cripple wishes to walk, he must rely on his crutch.”
The old musician was stunned.
The Emperor stretched out his hand and drew out a bronze pipe and threw it to the old musician, ”Take a look at this.”
He opened the bronze pipe and took out a scroll from within. At the end of the scroll was the national seal of Asgard and the seal of the King of Red. As the old musician read the clauses on the scroll, he became silent.
”Since the enemy has their own God, then we must seek a God for ourselves.” The Emperor continued quietly, ”From this day on, Asgard will embrace the Church as the national religion. We will form an alliance with the Sacred City and renew the third, fourth and ninth Amendment Acts. The Sacred City will be part of our power! Even though a new era has come, the honor and glory of the Empire will never be lost. I will wait for the heroic spirits of our ancestors to be with the stars! As long as the northern wind continues to bless us, Asgardians need not fear any of our enemies!”
With that, the night sky was lit up once again. It was the holy light from the Sacred City. Thousands of iron towers rang and light poured out in all directions. Beams of light pillars shot up into the sky, sweeping away all the haze. Under the command of the King of Red, the gigantic Iron City was booming with melody once again.
The door to the room of relics, which had been sealed up for a hundred years, suddenly whipped open. In the middle of every major church, countless believers and priests were praying and amidst the hymns of the countless musicians, artifacts glowed and rose up from the altar, one after another.
With the collapse of the abyss and the rise of Eden, the turbulent realm of aether welcomed another new sun. Stars rose from nothingness. Saints that had already passed away were being conferred titles once again.
For the past few centuries, the Church's multitudes of reserves were activated again and again as armies from all over would come over on iron whales. The tolling of the bell would summon the Knights Templar, Guardian Knights, Merciful Knights, Southern Allied Knights, the Monastic Order of Gladiolus, and the Knights Templar of Hospital, who have risen once again after not being heard from for many years.
The automated and armored metal boots stepped on the metal ground of the Sacred City. Metal against metal signified the beginning of war.
---
At the same time in Anglo, on the ninth satellite island on Avalon, there was a voice that was counting down in the silence and darkness.
”Ten! Nine! Eight! Seven! Six! Five! Four…”
”Three!”
”Two!”
”One!”
In the instant when the countdown was complete, there was a roar from the middle of the island. Countless beams of light of Firebird lit up the night sky. Flames shot out in the darkness in all directions as terrifying power gathered within to push the gigantic metallic structure up into the sky. Bit by bit, it overcame the pull of gravity, as it rose higher and higher. It tore through the darkness and layers of clouds as it rose above the storm and land. It kept rising up into the sky. It was like a giant's bow that was shooting at the sky with arrows with no return.
Golden beams of light poured out from the 'arrow' and hung in the sky miraculously. It started out slow before progressing into such a high speed that a naked eye could not catch up, and after tens of seconds, that metallic structure had already flown so high that it was difficult to determine where exactly it was. Then, it rained down beams of light that were even brighter than the stars!
Amidst the dead silence in the central command room in the Royal Institute of Research, Newton was gripping so tightly on the arm of the person beside him that his fingers had already practically dug into the poor fellow's flesh. But the atmosphere was heavy and solemn, so no one seemed to be aware. They were all staring at the changing icons on the wall that would calculate the path of that arrow. The voice that was reporting updates was dry and tired. Breathing was heavy and eyes were filled with blood vessels. In the end, even the voice that was reporting updates stopped.
The silence was hot and humid. Beads of sweat fell onto the ground. All of a sudden, there was a hoarse voice, amidst the background noise, speaking through the comms set.
”Hello? Test, test. Can anyone hear me?” The hoarse voice coughed and reported, ”I have reached the end of the path. The location has been set. Everything is normal. Please acknowledge if you hear this. I repeat, please acknowledge if you hear this.”
”We hear you, Your Highness.” Newton could barely contain his excitement as he snatched the comms set over, ”We hear you loud and clear! Please report the height, Your Highness, please report the height!”
”Height… height… let me see…” There were some ruffling sounds before the hoarse voice read out the figures on the altimeter, ”940 miles, everyone, I'm currently 940 miles in the air. The clouds are beneath me and the land is a circular shape… We did it, everyone, we did it! We have succeeded in fixing a gigantic instrument of harmonious melody at a height of 940 miles! We have reached the vault in heaven!”
The silence was finally broken by wild cheers. Everyone in the Royal Institute of Research was absolutely overjoyed. They were dancing, cheering, hugging each other, screaming, crying, and even tossing the papers in their hands up to the ceiling. The moment to witness this miracle had arrived.
Newton kept his composure. He only smiled and lowered his head to rub his nose, which was rather red by now. He stretched out his hand to the burly man beside him, ”Thank you so much for your help, Patriarch, thank you for the technical expertise and cooperation provided by the Chainsaw Fraternity. Without your help, this man-made star would not have succeeded so quickly.”
”This is all because of how talented you and His Highness are. All we have done was just to provide some old information and techniques.” The old and burly Patriarch shook hands with Newton and continued, ”In that case, as according to our agreement, the Chainsaw Fraternity will now form an alliance with Anglo. I hope that we will be able to create a real future for mankind.”
Newton laughed out loud, ”That's the way to do it.”
---
It was 940 miles away from earth. The vault in heaven was dark and there was no air. Even the gravitational pull has become insignificant. The metal star hung high in the universe and gradually spun around the earth until it anchored itself up in the skies of Anglo. It formed a resonance with the Net of Aether and rained down the beams of light of Firebird.
Above the stars, the white hair of the young man flowed like river. In the silence, he lowered his head and looked down at everything. The land, the sky, this world. So beautiful.