298 That’s All

The dark musicians did not even need to think in order to know what the guy was holding—holy nails from the Silence Governance!

These days, the only ones who would carry these chant material were either ascetic monks from the Church’s Ministry of Faith or silent monks from the Sacred City’s Silence Governance. Either way, it was not good news!

The former were executioners trained by the religious judiciary. They existed to tie everything heretic onto stakes to be burned. The latter were the trademarks of the Silence Governance. They were musician killers—musicians who existed to hunt musicians! Neither of them were anything good.

This guy looked like a newly official musician but everything could happen in this strange place. At this critical moment, they would not have any hesitation or relaxation. If they acted, they would not hold back—they would rip him apart and burn him to dust. Otherwise, they would be the ones being burned to dust.

An explosion happened amidst the cacophony of sharp and chaotic singing. The wind tunnel in the abyss was opened. One could see the darkness going wild beyond the tunnel, creating waves in the air. Thick darkness poured out and covered the moonlight, swallowing everything.

A ferocious demonic limb flashed across the darkness. It was abruptly torn apart. Blood sprayed out like rain. Fireworks of sparks and light flashed and cast destructive power like meteorites. There was also cursed ghastly green fog and a spray of splitting rays.

It destroyed all illusions, shields, and obstacles; sealed all exits; and made sure the prey could not escape. Then…a skeletal hand emerged from the wind tunnel. It reached out, tore the air with a deafening boom.

No one knew which Summoning musician had risked burning his blood to use his best card and summon this mysterious existence from the aetheric world.

The hand was so big that merely a knuckle was meters long. It shot torrential winds, thunder and lightning, fire, and frost to the youth. Explosions boomed. The scrapes of giant stones sounded continuously. Even pure iron and a fortress would be pulverized under this orangutan pressure. Powder flew, scorched dirt cracked, and a gaping hole appeared on the earth.

Finally, the giant skeletal hand disappeared. The darkness in the fog was ravaged. There was only the sound of the dark musicians breathing heavily. They sensed the aether waves with confused eyes.

"Is he dead?"

"Can’t sense any breathing."

"No corpse or skeleton."

A dark musician scoffed. "Ha, that’s all he is."

"Yeah." A soft sigh came from the nightmare fog. "That’s all."

All the dark musicians instantly felt a burst of cold air shoot from their feet to their heads. Their expressions flipped and they attacked again in their shock.

The nightmare fog swelled and the demonic shadows overlapped. This time, they did not care about keeping their best cards secret anymore and acted as one. However, a pure white light emerged from the fog at the same time.

It was so clear and pure. This flawless light was not moonlight nor did it come from the sun. It did not belong to this world. It was as if heaven really existed. God was sitting on his throne and radiating with this glow. Under it, all strength became submissive, all demons were purified, and all heresy surrendered.

God lived within this light. Though the light only existed for a flash, countless dark musicians screamed. Their eyes were scorched and they had become useless trash! This light could not be looked at directly!

"The Requiem!" someone yelled while covering his eyes. "Don’t look at the light! That’s from the Requiem!"

"Holy!"

The youth stood upright in the ray of light, amidst the dissipating nightmare fog. He lifted the brim of his hat and smiled. He bathed in the light. The glow was thin but isolated him from all the dirtiness of the world. It seemed to come from another world. All the power in this world was nothing to it.

"This was personally created by the gods. It’s a priceless holy gift…"

Countless deities seemed to sing in the light, "Holy! Holy! Holy!"

This was Holy, the music score passed down from the School of Stone Heart, one of the sources of the School of Abstinence! The power was not expressed in elements, nor did it create or destroy. This was a pure territory created by music theory, the prototype of all scepters, and the foundation of all precincts.

Ye Qingxuan used the resonance between his sub-originator and the Elizabeth Tower to borrow the power of Avalon’s enchantment. Using the music theory and chanting, he activated the inherited music score in his hat.

Thus, the source crossed the nine layers of aetheric sea from the aetheric world and covered the material world with the song. It changed the rules, twisted the laws, and created a protected zone that could not be violated. No music score under the Scepter level could disturb it.

The dark musicians’ fatal mistake was that they did not know Ye Qingxuan had moved the enchantment into his own heart! Now, the large enchantment of Avalon was his source of power. It continuously supplied him with endless aether.

As long as he was under the Elizabeth Tower, he would have no shortage of strength. Only something as strong as the Avalonian enchantment could provide the strength required for the music score Holy.

Ye Qingxuan could feel the terrifyingly large amount of aether being put into the music score at every second to maintain this absolute boundary. Merely acting as a fulcrum caused him to feel that his soul had been ignited. Using Jiu Xiao Huan Pei’s detailed control to guide the strength used up all his energy.

However, now…

"…Is it my turn?" Ye Qingxuan grinned at the dark musicians.

The long nails in his hands clanged. The frantic melody and blaring of the horn shot out! The majestic melody resounded under Jiu Xiao Huan Pei. Using the sub-originator within him as the fulcrum, Ye Qingxuan was able to experience the aether he had transformed for the first time. He could interact with the aetheric sea and tried resonating with the world. Thus, the world replied with a boom.

He was performing above his level!

For the first time, the Resonance level of Night on Bald Mountain shot from his hands. Using the sub-originator as a fulcrum, Ye Qingxuan leveraged the majestic strength from the aetheric sea.

In the next moment, the expressions of the rapidly retreating dark musicians changed. Because the ground cracked open, blazing red light spewed out. It was as if the entrance to hell had opened. All sinners were dragged toward the fire.

The rapid melody resounded in everyone’s ears. Silver light shot out and dozens of long narrow nails trembled along with the song of punishment. The endless darkness seemed to solidify. It shook under the crashing song. Then the horn blared and black steel stakes broke through the earth, wrapping around the dark musicians.

The stakes were like a forest. They overlapped and sealed all exits. The silver nails whistled through the air. The runes carved on the surface glowed with blazing light. The invaluable alchemy equipment had now become one-use material. They let out all their power in the blazing light.

Piercing sounds came one after another. Everything with a demonic aura were pierced cruelly and nailed to the stake, cutting off their ties to the aether. Then wildfire poured out from the cracks in the earth.

Firelight shot to the sky, burning it red-hot amidst the cries of pain. Hellfire burned vigorously. This was the infamous score used by the Ministry of Faith when it was still known as the Inquisition. The stakes that were rooted across the wilderness lit up every dark night. Using demons as firewood, they created inextinguishable flames that announced the coming of dawn! The judged ones paid for their sins in the fire. Otherwise, they would burn to the end of time!

Within a snap of the finger, the unlucky souls nailed to the stakes were burned completely. Their bodies turned into flames and melted into the music score, providing Ye Qingxuan with an endless source of fire.

The remaining dark musicians huddled together. They resonated with each other and kept trying to fight back. However, this was Ye Qingxuan’s show the moment Night on Bald Mountain became complete. They did not have the chance to turn the tides. The melody roared and pushed the score to the climax.

Ye Qingxuan charged and commanded the fire of judgement. Firelight rolled and burned the surviving dark musicians. The fire burned away the aether they had gathered and counterattack melodies as well.

Once a music theory from the School of Abstinence was formed, it would reject power from the other schools and suppress them. With the enchantment as a power supply, Ye Qingxuan finally experienced how it felt to have the upper hand.

He would return to his original state once he left the Elizabeth Tower but he had to have fun here and practice with the dark musicians! He had to hurry though. He did not know how long he could maintain the temporary enchantment.

"So scary," Naberius murmured as he gazed at the youth from the shadows. "How much has he accumulated? He had just become an official musician and is already close to the Resonance level. If not for the barrier of knowledge, he could probably upgrade directly. So terrifying…"

Listening to the youth’s thunderous melody, his ears moved as he distinguished the weaker rhythms. His hands quickly created pieces of metallic muscle.

"Sorry, Mr. Holmes, let’s not fight face to face. I haven’t transformed this new body yet and don’t have much power…but I’m a dark musician. You won’t find it odd if I make a despicable sneak attack, right?"