Silent Crown

A voice rang out in every corner of everyone’s consciousness.

At this moment, all tranquility and meditation were broken by that indescribable sound. Everyone was forced to listen to the low voice that came from the sky, whether they had ears or not.

Unseen lips opened, and words like flowing water poured out from the highest places, immersing everyone within them.

There was no sound left in the world.

All that was left were his whispers.

“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea.”

Then, in a flash, the watery blood pouring from the sky solidified and stopped in the void as if it had been frozen in amber. Then the sound of shattering crystal rang out from the blood that was spread out on the ground.

Numerous crimson crystals grew out of the blood like sprouts out of fertile soil. In a flash, crystal plants grew all over the ground.

The blood rain that had solidified in the void also grew. Like the condensation of snowflakes under a microscope, complex prisms grew and crisscrossed, forming a perfect pattern and a symmetrical topological sequence. Under the interference of endless essence, the whole solidified world turned into a huge reactor.

The blood rain was refined into a huge, still crystal forest. Countless crystals hung in the air, turning heaven and earth into a wonderland. After a few short moments of strangeness and terror, it was overflowing with dignity and beauty.

Eventually, a finger crooked, reached out, and tapped on the blood crystal in front of it.

Bang! The clear sound spread out.

It was like the roar of a frozen ocean.

The spores erupted, and the sound of cracking spread out all over the ground. There were loud roars as lava and layers of ice collided, and the sharp sound of scraping metal was everywhere, becoming a grand elegy that was difficult for human ears to bear.

The rupture spread amid the massive resonance.

White cracks emerged in the blood crystals, splitting them from the inside out. In the end, all the material in them was completely torn. They dissipated into powder along with the roaring collapse, returning to nothingness.

The blood rain that had permeated the heavens and the earth disappeared without a trace.

The earth was restored.

It changed from hell back into the world of humanity, even if it was still devastated.

Then, the pair of eyes in the sky turned and gazed at the earth.

“For you were made from dust, and to dust, you will return,” the voice said. “That which has not lived shall not live again.”

A roar rang out from the earth, and the dark green insect eggs quickly faded, losing their color. In the end, they became pure particles of dirt.

In the thick green fog that filled the air, there was the buzzing sound of the wings of numerous flying locust, but soon the harsh noise became scattered.

This was because their wings were broken, and began to wither.

The staggeringly huge locust lost their wings and fell from the sky.

This was different than the bloody, scorched earth caused by the poisonous curse. This was a weak spirituality caused by violent bestial nature being immersed into the soil. The broken bestial natures that remained had gathered together in the aether, forming hundreds of millions of poisonous locus with nearly no bestial nature of their own. They had no consciousness, but their faint bestial nature endowed them with viciousness and the hunger of a beast that could never be sated.

But now, that unthinkable amount of terror was not in use.

Under the gaze of that pair of eyes, the highly polluting bestial nature was easily erased. As their scales were shaken off, they turned into nothing more than swollen gray moths. They quickly died one after another on the ground. They broke apart, and their cracked bodies left behind only dust.

With the divine power running through the earth, the rushing tide of quicksilver solidified in place, forming a lifelike silver sculpture. The white storm roared, but as it became slower and slower the madness no longer…

The world that was full of catastrophes was being changed.

Light shone on everything.

Everything greeted its redemption.

“Do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not leave any leeway for demons.”

In that instant, all the Holy Spirits felt powerful suffocation, as if they had been plunged into iron and stone and their lungs had trouble operating. Even though they did not have lungs within their aether incarnations, they still felt a strong sense of suffocation. Even the aether flowing through their bodies no longer obeyed their orders.

It had a new master.

Under the gaze of that pair of eyes, the projection of the Holy Cauldron dissipated and was expelled amid the loud noise of ringing bells.

The surviving Holy Spirits quickly retreated.

Silence suffused this confrontation.

“Withdraw,” Chopin ordered hoarsely.

Mendelssohn looked back angrily, “The College of Cardinals ordered us to fight to the death, and you still want to escape?”

“If the College of Cardinals wants a fight to the death, they can do it.” Chopin looked indifferent. “With things the way that they are, would a fight to the death mean anything? Or,” he pointed at the god far off in the sky and smiled coldly at his comrade, “do you think it will take that thing a lot of effort to kill us?”

Mendelssohn was silent.

“Retreat. I will take responsibility for the consequences.” Chopin closed his eyes. “In the face of this kind of thing, no amount of sacrifice would make a difference.”

…

At that moment, endless power worked in the magnificent light. Everywhere that the light shone, a supreme power held everything, guiding the multitude of chaos towards order.

Rising out of the physical world, the ran through the sea of aether, forcibly settling the storms. Next, it went up, up and up and broke through the boundaries of the realm of aether, completely splitting the source of catastrophes.

Everywhere the magnificent light went, all disasters and adversities were smoothed out.

All catastrophes were completely eliminated!

Paganini’s smile became stiff. What are you doing, Charles?

This was not consumption and absorption, this was pure destruction. After paying such a great price, God was completely wiping catastrophes from the earth, even destroying the source.

After this, the Eight Phenomena would disappear without a trace.

Then, the light hanging in the sky fell.

God’s will was in motion.

The roaring earth was restored to stability again, and the sinking rock stratums were supported by new ones underneath. Volcanoes roared and exploded, but the boiling lava came too late to spurt out, and it slid back into the earth’s crust through the cracks in the rock stratums.

The anger of the mountains and the earth was redirected, and the flowing rivers of lava cooled and hardened. They burned no more. Then, a new river developed and springs surged forth, making it run again.

The sulfur in the air dissipated, and the dark sky that was formed by accumulated ash was split open, revealing the dark starry sky behind it. Moonlight once again fell upon the land, but it could not hide God’s glory.

His glory ran above the earth, flowing like water, causing dust and gravel to rise up and collapsed walls and ruins to return to perfection. Everywhere it went, cries of mourning ceased.

Pain and torture could not continue, for relief was extended to everyone.

It only left nothing for itself…

The divinity burned.

God bathed in the fire of creation.

The originally pure divinity was controlled by the will of a small body. Among the flames, his drooping eyes struggled to open and looked up. The glow of a human was revealed, pained yet firm.

“If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away.”

He bent at the waist with difficulty, reached out and grabbed his face. The magnificent voice dissipated, and the revelations from the mouth became a hoarse whisper, “It is better… to lose one part of your body than for… your whole body to be thrown into hell…”

Taking advantage of the scripture that had inexplicably appeared in his heart, determination flashed in Charles’s eyes. His hand shot out, and a twitching, plaintive cry rang out from his throat.

The roar rang out through the sky.

It was like the world had flown into a rage just as his finger pierced his eye socket.

At that moment everyone was dumbfounded as they stared at the madman in the sky as he painfully, and with difficulty, dug out his own right eye, cutting off the road to the Originator.

The King of Yellow recovered from his shock and his face went hard. But beside him, Ye Qingxuan was laughing and laughing, as if the person who had lost their bet was not him.

Amid the sound of small cracks, Charles slowly lowered his hand. He opened his fingers, revealing the right eye of condensed divinity within.

All that was left where the eye had been was a hole.

Blood ran down his face.

The wound had not healed, because his omnipotent power was rapidly dissipating.

It was as if he had completely torn himself in two. The strong part of him had been ripped out along with the loss of his right eye. Even the projection of Eden became unstable due to this and disappeared once again.

His giant wings abandoned him, dissipating into the depths of the realm of aether.

God was no more.

The young man fell from the sky towards the earth, as if he had been expelled from the Kingdom of God.

He had no power left.

Wind rushed against his face. In his long descent, long-forgotten pain and weakness filled his body. The earth that rushed up to meet him was like death opening its arms, waiting for the final embrace.

But he felt no fear.

He was just satisfied.

“Hello everyone.” His mouth curled into a grin with difficulty as he stared at the human world with his remaining eye. “I’m back,” he whispered softly.

Darkness engulfed him.

…

When he opened his eyes from the dirt, he heard Paganini’s voice, “If I hadn’t reacted quickly, you’d be dead.”

“Yeah?” Charles forced a smile, feeling only the painful convulsions in his limbs. “I’m…”

“Badly wounded,” Paganini answered indifferently. “I only came in time to keep you from dying. Your spine is badly damaged, both your legs are broken, and your internal organs are bleeding. You’re already severely anemic, and relying on divine support. After losing your divinity you immediately tried to drive yourself to your death. After we get back to the Commonwealth of Caucasian you’ll probably have to stay in bed for a few years.”

“Sounds terrible.” Charles sighed. “Was it you who saved me?”

“You saved yourself,” said Paganini. “One of the Asgardians you saved was a chorale doctor who gave you a blood transfusion.”

“Ah, thank him for me.” Charles smiled abashedly. He wanted to scratch his head but could not lift his arm.

“He’s dead.”

Charles was stunned. His smile froze. After a while, he sighed softly. “I see. Is it because he saved me?”

Paganini did not answer.

“Do you have a cigarette?”

“No, I don’t smoke,” Paganini said coldly. “You’d better quit smoking from now on. As a mortal, your body can’t withstand those bad habits anymore.”

“Ah,” responded Charles. Paganini didn’t know if he had heard him as he stared at the sky with his remaining eye. He watched the countless human figures hurrying up from the ruins and flying towards the illusory kingdom. They were like souls flying into the sky, fleeing from the suffering of life and heading for the world of the dead.

“What are you looking at?”

Charles stared at the phantoms that flew into the sky. After a while, he whispered softly, “Maybe it’s heaven?”