Chapter 313: Confrontation

“Hey! I say, everyone, have you all forgotten about the second half of the sentence of ‘may God bless the kingdom’?”

Sylvaine was stunned. His eyes were wide open. “Prince, Your Highness?”

“Yup, that’s me.” Amidst the hoarse laughter, someone whistled into the comms set, “Where’s the applause? Anglo, no, the ultimate warrior and champion of the east and west, Ye Qingxuan, is here to save all of you with 100,000-strong reinforcements!”

In that instant, the huge iron beast burst out of the clouds! The Mountain of Nomadism appeared above the vault in heaven along with the hurricane, but instead of the 100,000-strong reinforcements, there was actually nothing else other than this single ship. Sylvaine did not even have the time to cheer before sinking into confusion.

Wait a minute… What kind of reinforcement is this?! What are you trying to do, Your Highness? We were all ready to die a heroic death, what did you come here for? Are you trying to die with all of us?

“Don’t worry.” The voice continued calmly, “Although the 100,000-strong reinforcements may not be in sight, I meant what I said about coming here to rescue you. Sylvaine, you will not die here.”

Sylvaine awkwardly put out the cigar in his hands, slightly regretting how embarrassingly he had acted just moments ago.

Sigh! If only I had known that the situation would turn out like this, I would not have had to cry.

He recovered his stern expression and coughed once. Everyone on the bridge averted their gazes and decided to put the embarrassing scene out of their minds. They were ready to move on from the anxiety and despair that they felt previously.

For some reason, there was a mysterious and almost blind sense of trust that the Royal Fleet had towards this Avalon Prince. After witnessing so many miracles that had been possible because of His Highness, they had all become numb to them. Right now, even if the earth was to shatter before their eyes and His Highness was to assure them that everything would be fine, they would trust him wholeheartedly as well.

“In that case, we are counting on you now.” Sylvaine leaned back against the chair. His entire body was sore and he was completely spent.

“But still, try to be a little nervous.” Ye Qingxuan sighed. “I’m still fighting a war after all.” Just as he had completed his sentence, Bang! The Staff of Fate was slammed against the deck of the Mountain of Nomadism. Against the hurricane, Ye Qingxuan, in a deep voice that could be heard in all directions, declared, “I hereby give up my life for the almighty Emperor. May God protect the kingdom, as the Emperor protects me!”

During the declaration, a hot glow gradually rose from his body and transformed into a golden crown. The figure of scepter appeared from behind him and the blueprint of the Land of Dreams transformed rapidly into the projection of a golden hound. This was the first time since the battle against Leviathan that Ye Qingxuan was fighting someone in Anglo.

After he had been conferred the title of the Prince of Avalon, Ye Qingxuan was on the same level of status as the Deputy Ruler of Anglo. Within the lands of Anglo, Ye Qingxuan would be able to enjoy the same catastrophe status left behind by Arthur, just like Mary, and evolve into the Chapter of Golden Victory! At the same time, as the Keeper of the Seal, he possessed the right to adjust half of the aether reserves of the homeland defense front and could unleash them at the level of a catastrophe.

At the moment, Mary was focused on defending against the attack of Gungnir, so Ye Qingxuan would not be able to utilize the aether reserves as that might mess things up for her. Nevertheless, he could still rely on his own possessions!

The Heaven Ladder music theory expanded according to Ye Qingxuan’s actions and linked all the remaining warships of the Royal Fleet together. Then, they were absorbed into the resonant system before the illusion of the scepter was also infused in it shortly after.

In an instant, the flagship was transformed from the Sovereign to the Mountain of Nomadism, and the glory of the Royal Pride was transferred to the huge iron beast in the sky. As the vehicle of the Emperor’s patrol, which was now being driven by the Deputy Ruler of Anglo, it was ten times more agile compared to when it was being driven by Sylvaine!

In the midst of the earth-shattering howl of the dragon, the illusion of the gigantic golden dragon appeared amongst the fleet and aimed its howl at the Stronghold on Sea. With the boost of Firebird, the broken armors and facilities of the warships were remodeled and repaired. The Royal Fleet, that was all set on charging towards the Stronghold on Sea without a care for its fate, was now being controlled by the scepter and was executing a last-minute sharp turn on the sea. It was even more exaggerating than a horse carriage.

The scene was hilarious. It was as if someone was being chased by his enemy for a huge debt but finally had nowhere else to run and decided to pick up a random knife for a final confrontation. But at the very last minute, when both sides were about to clash with each other, this person was informed that he had just struck the lottery, and so the confrontation had suddenly transformed into a retreat again. Basically, they left behind their enemy, whose defenses were already well-prepared, and fled from the battlefield. Simultaneously, they gathered enough firepower to launch a round of cannon attacks at the weakest area of the armor of Stronghold on Sea!

The result was incredible! It was a fantastic feeling. However, the price to pay for such a maneuver was that the terrifying centrifugal force resulted in all of the crew members passing out for a short while, while those that were already weaker would vomit blood.

If they had not been warned of this maneuver and had not stabilized themselves sufficiently, they would probably have been thrown hard against the wall. Very soon, the roar of the movement could be heard from the Stronghold on Sea. The earth-shattering Sword of Flame rose from the Stronghold and aimed carefully at the Royal Fleet before striking down viciously.

If it had been in the past, they could have tried to make use of their speed to avoid the attack. But right now, the Royal Fleet was too close to the Stronghold. In their suicidal charge towards the latter, they had entered the latter’s killing range.

Trying to flee after pulling a fast one? Not a chance!

On the Royal Fleet, the projection of Ye Qingxuan’s scepter, the Dragon of Gold, turned back and took aim at the incoming flames before opening its mouth and breathing out fiery dragon’s breath. The Sword of Flame and the destructive dragon’s breath clashed against each other and even though it might seem like fire against fire, the clash resulted in a roar of metals.

Between the fleet and the Stronghold, the entire surface of the sea sank underneath the terrible turbulences and formed a gigantic rift valley. Shortly after, sea water quickly flowed back in to fill the rift and the sound of waves crashing against each other resembled the collapse of mountainous caves. At the same time, the left eye of God hung high and locked on to the location of the Dragon of Gold. Shortly after, the projection of Rommel’s scepter appeared out of nowhere. Countless musicians gathered together and combined their scepters to form “Scepter of Messiah,” which was shaped like a long spear, and stabbed at the Dragon of Gold.

Even if its location had only been locked on to, it was enough for the projection of the Dragon of Gold to be dissipated. As the symbol of the artifact that the savior used to gather and control his believers, the power possessed by the Scepter of Messiah included its grasp and control over the spirit of music theory. It was a power that could swoop underneath the surface and attack the spirit. To the School of Summoning, it was almost like their natural enemy.

This was the biggest reason why Hendel was in charge of the Silence Governance. Regardless of a catastrophe or the giant golden dragon or the consciousness of artifacts, as long as they fulfilled the two conditions of aether circulation and spirit of music theory, any amount of power would be rendered useless in front of Scepter of Messiah.

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When movements lost their spirits, they would collapse; when phantom beasts lost their bestiality, they would be just like the walking dead; when artifacts lost their personality, they would be useless; when catastrophes lost their consciousness, they would fall…

At this very moment, the long-awaited Scepter of Messiah suddenly crashed down and shook the Dragon of Gold and the consciousness of Ye Qingxuan. In the next moment, a majestic and grand melody was playing above the Mountain of Nomadism.

Ye Qingxuan, who entered “vacuum,” turned into an aether projection and appeared on the back of the Dragon of Gold.

Everyone was instantly stunned. What the hell are you doing?

At the end of the day, the scepter projection of a musician was the same as that of a grand master, in the sense that their body must enter the aether circulation and their consciousness must be placed on the scepter, which had been transformed from the Symphony of Predestination. It was equivalent to transforming oneself into a strange creature of the realm of aether. When facing the Scepter of Messiah, this was just like seeking death!

But shortly after, as the Scepter of Messiah came crashing down, Ye Qingxuan raised his head towards the sky and smiled. “Hey, friend, that walking stick of yours look pretty familiar. Don’t tell me you bought it from the same shop as I did?”

In the next instant, he raised the Staff of Fate in his hands in anticipation of the blow from the Scepter of Messiah. The majestic and grand melody finally reached the climax that was filled with destruction and killing, which was “Day of God’s Fury!”

With the change in the quality of aether, the Music Theory of Reform, which had transformed into electricity, gathered and formed the blade of the long sickle that the Staff of Fate had transformed into.

The Sickle of God’s Wrath, which attacked anything that was heretic and evil, clashed with the Scepter of Messiah, which herded the people in this world. The clash of these two artifacts resulted in a huge roar. Gigantic waves were raised in the sea of aether while over at the room of sacred weapons in Sacred City, a crescendo of roars could be heard.

As the first two generations of Violence Governance of the Church, the Religious Court of Inquiry and the Silence Governance was finally facing off against each other. In the Avalon black box, countless old fellows that were watching the battle were clearly envious but were also waving their fists in support and cheer. Finish off those b*stards!

Boom! The force and impact of the clash were so incredible that the after-effects rippled outwards, hurricanes gathered and eventually transformed into tornadoes. Seawater was churned up into the sky only to splash down again. The grating metallic sounds caused by the clashing of countless water droplets pierced the eardrums of everyone nearby.

The Scepter of Messiah and the Sickle of God’s Wrath were both repelled at the same time. Neither had gained the upper hand but the music theory of the Day of God’s Fury had already dissipated and the Staff of Fate had reverted back to its original form. He might seem to be at a disadvantage now but Ye Qingxuan did not seem depressed at all. Instead, he looked in the direction of the Stronghold on Sea and smiled coldly. It did not matter if he was at a disadvantage now, what mattered most was that he must win in the end!

The greatest power of the Staff of Fate lied not in its attack but in its resilience. Its resilience was so incredible that it could handle every impact of music theory. Even if it was struck by all of the power of the Scepter of Messiah in a single hit, the worst thing that could happen was that the blade of the Sickle of God’s Wrath would dissipate. The movement could still be played, albeit requiring a little more effort. Ye Qingxuan was not hurt at all, but Hendel probably ended up worse off than him?

…

In the central aether pool on the Stronghold on Sea and amidst the piercing siren, tens of chorale musicians were all pouring healing movements on Rommel’s body, without a care for how much they might cost. Rommel grit his teeth and continued to grip tightly on the Scepter of Messiah, which had now been burnt into a fiery red. The entire right hand and even half of his body had been horribly burnt by the high temperature caused by the clash of music theories.

He could only watch as Ye Qingxun led the Royal Fleet away until they achieved a safe distance. They had the perfect opportunity to obliterate the entire Royal Fleet… If only I still had some strength to set up the region of “Messiah,” or if only I had been a little faster just now, or if… He was so upset he was about to go mad.

…

At the same time, Ye Qingxuan was also on the verge of going mad. Going mad with poverty. He might have seemed confident and terrifying just moments earlier but he was only able to do so by spending plenty of money in exchange. Within just three minutes, in the “black box” of the boundary of Avalon, half of the aether reserves of the Fifth Division and the Religious Court of Inquiry were used up!

Amidst the pain and anguish in his heart, Ye Qingxuan finally understood deep down that wars were fought with money. No, in fact, they were fought with banknote printing machines! Even for someone as rich as him, he could not afford a battle of such scale either!

The only thing was that after that close shave, a question that Ye Qingxuan had been wondering had finally been answered. After the previous confrontation, the thing that pleased Ye Qingxuan the most was the suggestion that he had planted in the Asgardians. Without removing the suggestion, there was no way the thousands of hydrophobic crew members would be able to continue working, much less operating a structure as massive as Stronghold on Sea.

But right now, not only could they operate the structure, but they could even maneuver it freely. That could only mean that the suggestion had been removed. Although he had not held too much hope, he was still not pleased by the fact that the music theory that had been passed down the Ye family for so many years could be removed so easily. Therefore, he had been wondering to himself for the past few days about how they had managed to do so.

Only now did he realize that the Asgardians had not bothered about the suggestion that he had planted. They only added a new suggestion beside his suggestion: if the crew members were hydrophobic, then they would just have to convince them that they were not on the seas!

The problem was solved so easily and bluntly. There might be more difficulties if they were working on typical ships but for Stronghold on Sea, which was such a massive structure that was comparable to a city in terms of scale, almost more than half of the crew members did not even need to work on or above the deck. As long as the windows in the cabins were sealed and they headed straight down to their workplaces without seeing any water, then there would be no fear nor chaos.

As for any repercussions, once they returned to Asgard, these repercussions would be resolved gradually and the worst outcome would be schizophrenia. They could always be replaced with new crew members since there were so many people in Asgard. The most important thing was to deal with the issue at hand. Anything else could be discussed after that.

Ye Qingxuan was so enraged that he almost burst out laughing.

But now that Ye Qingxuan was here, it should not be a problem leading Royal Fleet into a fight with Stronghold on Sea. But if it dragged on, there was always the chance of the ship flipping over. At the end of the day, the battle could only be won with proper tactics. But right now, the Anglo navy was severely lacking in combat experience…

“Sigh…” Ye Qingxuan sighed. He was having a headache. “I wonder how Hua Sheng is doing?” For some unknown reason, he began to worry. Nevertheless, there was no need to worry too much about such things. Ye Qingxuan still had confidence in Hua Sheng’s capabilities. Besides, Hua Sheng knew what he was doing. It was only a matter of time.

No matter how bad the situation might turn out to be, surely the discussion would not break down completely? Just as he was still deep in thought, he suddenly felt an evil chill. Over at Stronghold on Sea, countless buildings were rising and falling like the keys and the entire iron city was like a piano. Immense power was being gathered as the sacred light of Messiah began to shine. Ye Qingxuan was dumbfounded.

“Have they gone mad?”