Silent Crown

Chapter 453 Bell

Chapter 453 Bell

"Did you run into trouble?" Looking at Charles' dispiritedness, Constantine grew confused.

"No." Charles shook his head and squeezed out a smile. "Don't worry about me. I'm great. I don't have any morals so nothing in the world can scare me."

Constantine studied him. He knew Charles was lying, and after a while, he shook his head. "The troubles of youth?" Sighing, he lit his cigarette. He had been smoking constantly these days. He could not sleep at night and in the morning, there would be a mountain in the ashtray.

Seeming to remember something, he could not help but laugh at himself. "Before, an Easterner called Ye told me a joke. He said that young people shouldn't be sad because of a period of pain. There are many more days of pain in the future…hahaha.

"It sounds heartless but it's true. When I was your age, I often thought that the world would end and grew hopeless. But later, I ran into more troubles and instead grew numb."

He paused and patted Charles's shoulder. "It'll pass, Charles. It'll all pass," he said. "All pain will pass."

Charles shuddered and did not reply. For a moment, he almost wanted to stand up and tell Constantine that he was a spy from the Sacred City. He was going to betray the man to Gaius.

But he did not dare.

Charles wanted to cry because of his weakness and something else. He just lowered his head and said, "Thank you, sir."

And Constantine smiled. "Oh right, this is for you." He pulled out a small packet and placed it into Charles' hand. "I'm actually quite sorry for dragging you into this."

Taken by surprise, Charles opened it and found that it was a new identification card. It was clean, well-maintained, and free of any criminal records.

"I forgot to tell you yesterday," Constantine said, "Gaius agreed to meet me today."

Charles froze as if he had turned into a rock. It felt like someone had hacked his brain open and Constantine's words crushed all his thoughts.

Gaius? Meet Constantine? Today?

"Scared?" Constantine smoked and looked out the window. "Some things must come to an end. I will help you with Gaius. If I die, just leave the Sacred City. This is an identity I prepared for someone else but now he's dead. I'll give it to you so you can help live for him as well. In the future, don't be a musician…"

The sudden change was like lightning in a clear sky. It completely shattered the Silent Authority's plan. No matter what, the result would be clear today.

It was fast. Too fast. So fast he could not react.

The situation had suddenly fallen into the abyss. Constantine was ready to set things clear with Gaius even if it meant he would die. The result would be Gaius getting rid of him. He already knew this ending. But because it was Constantine's decision, the Silent Authority's next step was foiled, losing the restriction on Gaius.

In a daze, Charles felt relaxed for some reason. Perhaps he would never get any results and perhaps he would spend the rest of his life in the Judgement Tower. But at least, at least…Constantine would not die in his hands.

He would not need to be a traitor. He was ashamed by this feeling. Then he suddenly felt a gust of coldness. This almost tangible coldness came from his bones. His heart pounded and his face turned shockingly white. His veins were transporting blood but there was no warmth.

This was a sense of danger.

Horrible danger.

Headache.

His head pounded.

In extreme pain, Charles sank into a daze but his consciousness left his body. It followed the sense of danger and he could faintly see a bleary image.

"Charles…what's wrong?" Seeing Charles twitch, Constantine was shocked. But then Charles shot up from the seat and grasped his hand like a vice. He kicked the door open without hesitation. An explosion of aether tore apart the lock. There were countless carriages racing through the bustling city but Charles dragged Constantine out the car!

The sudden change caused a ruckus. There was a string of explosions, whinnies, yells, and roars. Dozens of carriages crashed while trying to avoid them. Some innocent drivers even fell to the ground with broken legs. The innocent passersby all screamed and dodged.

In the mess, everyone glared at the two who jumped from the carriage. Charles and Constantine tumbled on the ground. Constantine was old and had not processed everything until he fell. He moaned to Charles, "Are you crazy?"

But Charles seemed not to hear. He just turned and stared at the carriage they were on. It was still going forward but slowing down. Finally, the two horses whined and the carriage stopped. Then the driver fell from his spot. When he landed on the ground, his flesh turned to dirt and slowly melted away, revealing the blackening bones.

He was dead.

The two struggling horses also melted away, blood spurting. Soon, all that remained was a pile of bones connected by tendons and clumps of fleshy dirt.

A gust of wind blew. The carriage shook and turned to dust.

Constantine followed Charles' eyes and gasped.

Now, the faint ringing of a bell finally traveled over. In its path, everything started shaking. Despite being so far away, their limbs were controlled by the shaking, making the people feel limp and nauseous.

It was the Bell.

This was written by the past saint Liszt and used the vibrations of aether to destroy everything. Even forged alloy would be turned to dust under the shaking. It also had a more commonly known name.

"…The curse of dust!" Constantine muttered. Before he could finish, a gray-clothed man walked out of the crowd and advanced toward them. He sighed. "What did I do wrong?" he murmured. "You shouldn't have been able to sense any aether waves… Was it you?" When he looked at Charles, an eerie light flashed through his eyes. "Whatever. Good luck always ends."

Raging wind and fire grew in his hands. A music score played. The rhythm from his heart of sound rang out. Everything in its path began to melt away. This was the most extreme effect of the Modifications' field of dissolving. What followed was the fatal blow of the School of Modification.

It was A Hero's Funeral!

Now, his motive was clear. Without caring about the innocent bystanders or that this was a main street in the Sacred City, he was going to destroy these two! He acted like a bomb. Even the Silent Authority that had been watching did not expect this.

Charles raised his hand instinctively. His fingers snapped and notes played. Instantly, delicate yet complex music notes appeared.

Shield, shield, shield, shield… In just a snap, identical shield runes shot from his hands. He could not use music theories but Charles's control of simple notes was incredible. No one had ever thought about the effect of adding thousands of pure notes together.

They could not do it. But it was natural for Charles.

A shield instantly went from colorless to white and then from white to black. It shot up like a solid object, blocking the sweeping attack from the front.

And then…it fell apart.

Before the attack, the shield crumbled into pieces. Music notes were only music notes, just as how ants without a command were only ants. Charles could not control music theory—any theory would go out of control in his hands. This was his fatal flaw and the reason why he could not become a musician.

Everything he did was just to delay death one second.

This one second was everything.

In an instant, a furious huff sounded in the air. Transient moonlight flowed out of nowhere. Everything illuminated by it felt less real. The surging fire, suffocating Foehn wind and air pressure, and the curse of dust that followed close after…everything was like a fake projection, like a cool and clean breeze.

"What are you waiting for?" Lola's cold voice rang out beside Charles. "Run!" Her blurry figure appeared in the moonlight. With a snap, she hid their traces. Moonlight covered their bodies. They disappeared instantly.

-

At the same time, the gray-clothed musician huffed. He pounded the air with his right fist. Behind him, a bell tower's apparition emerged. The bell rang! This was Liszt's Bell—a heart of sound movement formed with the curse of dust. In its path, Distortion level power billowed, twisting the material world under the pounding theory.

Everything was destroyed!

Faint sound waves swept out, turning everything to powder. Even more terrifying was the attack on music theory! The School of Modifications did not only control changes of material and energy. Its core was the attacking, shaking, and changing of music theory…

Now, he used the bell as a medium to forcefully pull all music theory in the region into a state of turmoil. They all fell apart under his music theory. This was why Modifications was known as the way to end all ways when it was at its highest level!

When the music theory collapsed under the turmoil, Lola's figure appeared in the air. Behind her, the moon in the water only shook for a moment before recovering. The moon came from the sky. The reflection shook but the moonlight was untouched. It shone out from the broken water surface once again.

Faced with the bloodthirsty gray-clothed musician, Lola chuckled. Her smile was extremely unnerving. The demonic blood within her radiated with a sinister and cold aura.

"Such good luck. I haven't eaten recently."

The bone flute played a wailing melody. She narrowed her eyes at the enemy before her. He looked…tasty.