733 Afterimage (2/2)

Perhaps this was the biggest reason for the revival of the saint… the true power of Cereus!

…

For a long time, countless people tried to study the sunflower of illusion that bloomed in various concentrated zones of aether. But at the end of the day, they still found it impossible to reach its spirit and marrow. In fact, they could not even figure out the reason and pattern for the appearance of these sunflowers of illusion. Eventually, they had no choice but to give up. It was only after Charles had merged the Cereus that he managed to find out the reason why the musicians had been studying the wrong thing all this while.

Those sunflowers that bloomed amongst the shadows were just reflections in the water. It was useless putting in so much effort on the reflection of the moon on the surface of the sea. It was simply meaningless. Their studies were never on the right path in the first place…

From the very beginning, the Cereus was only a single flower. Centuries ago, it had already bloomed and once it had done so, it was destined to wilt. Since then, it was sealed in amber as a specimen and had been traveling across various countries as a piece of art.

For centuries, it had been passed around tens of families and had been owned by more than a hundred people. But none of them could have imagined that this specimen sealed in amber, treated as a plaything in their study rooms, was the Originator of one of the four living creatures. In the end, the sixth Caucasian king grew tired of it and discarded it in the treasury. Since then, it was left to be covered in dust and no one seemed to care about it anymore.

To the Cereus, its life and its bloom had probably ended very soon after that day. What men were observing were just signs of its nature interference through the Originator. It had died long ago, most likely even before men had observed it. But its death was also a confirmation that it had once lived.

It was an afterimage anchored in the past, long sealed within the grains of time. All it represented was a sunflower that bloomed for a day. Its birth and destruction had been buried in the past, and men, who would always be rooted in the present, would never be able to come into contact with its existence nor understand its nature.

Men observed its posture by looking into the past through the Originator but they would always be blocked off by time. It always seemed so near yet so far. The traces of the presence of life was the nature of the Cereus. This was the reason why it was labeled as one of the four living creatures, along with the other catastrophes, by the three sages.

Dark Gaia represented ”the maternal body that birthed life,” Hecatoncheir represented ”the limit of growth of life,” Leviathan represented ”the foundation of evolution of life,” and the Cereus was proof of the existence of life and traces of the past and the limited amount of time that life occupied.

Right now, what had been settling at the depth of the Originator but had now reappeared in the world, due to the summoning of Charles, was not life but the residues of the past. It was a reflection that had been produced by the gathering together of records of the past, and a miracle that had been molded after the traces of history. As a result, the dead had been reborn, like ashes being reignited once more.

Before too long, Paganini understood the nature of this miracle. When he looked at Charles, there was a complicated look in his eyes. What price have you paid for this miracle this time around?

At this moment, other than Charles and Paganini, the projection of the saint Tchaikovsky had also joined in the battle. ”Looks like it's three against four now.” Charles smiled as he looked at his enemies. ”Victory no longer seems so certain, doesn't it?”

Liszt remained indifferent and unshaken. ”Your authority and power were obtained through stealing, you have usurped the truth and you falsely declare yourselves as God… You are demons disguising yourselves in robes of the Church. What right do you have to claim victory?”

With that, holy light, hundreds of times hotter than before, burst out of his body as countless streaks of lightning and flame surrounded him. Under the castigation of music theory, reality was being distorted…

That was the purest form of a destructive element. A power, that was known amongst the saints as the number one destruction, had appeared. It would burn one's consciousness, light up one's body, without any care or concern for one's life or future.

Liszt was ready to go all out.

After he had taken the lead, all the saints began to light up their own music theories as if they were martyrs. The power, that had already exceeded the standard, rose once more. Under the resonance of each other, the projection of the Holy Caldron descended once again!

As he stared at the Holy Caldron, which seemed to be filled with fresh blood, a hint of cruelty flashed across Paganini's eyes. Just as he had predicted, the Church had been keeping a low profile all this while not because they were content to sit aside and watch, but because they had been making their final preparations for battle. All this while, the Church had probably gathered the reserves of the past few centuries and the most precious fortunes of the Sacred City and thrown them all into the Holy Caldron.

At this moment, the fresh blood represented power that originated from catastrophe! For centuries, all the actual bodies of catastrophes, that had been gathered by the Sacred City through the Religious Court of Inquiry and the Silence Governance, had probably been thrown into the Holy Caldron to be used as its food!

This was a top secret that probably even the saints had no idea of. It was just as he had guessed many years ago that saints were merely the products of the Holy Caldron, even if they seemed very precious and important. As long as the actual bodies of catastrophes continued to be thrown into the Holy Caldron, the number of saints that could be produced might even exceed the original number.

This power that could convert catastrophe… must come from the same source as Charles' abilities!

They might be in the thick of battle but an even stranger thought appeared in Paganini's mind. But very quickly, that thought was buried in the depth of his heart and was sealed forever. It would even be erased from his memories without leaving behind any traces. Its existence could only be proven by that moment of shiver.

”Oh God…”