Silent Crown

Chapter 166 The Blood Ritual Begins

The clouds in the pure black sky were blood red with the reflection of the flames. Ashes flew in the hot wind. They rose into the sky and faded, vanishing. It was like fiery stars were rising gradually. The fire was at its climax.

On the street, the killing had reached fever pitch. In the fighting and attacking that had spread to every corner of the city, roars and wails rang in everyone’s ears.

An eerie and strange chill was in the air, but it was covered by the burning flames. The vague laughter and chanting snaking around everyone’s ears was replaced by the roars and screams, and then became too faint to hear.

Covered by layers of bricks, hundreds of meters underground, the glorious yet hoarse singing boomed like thunder. This was the final laboratory in the central security room.

The resounding singing and music echoed above the circular plaza. It rolled between the walls, rushed into the darkness above the dome and spread in all directions. The burning mercury flowed in the cracks between the bricks, forming secrete music notes and scores. The scores transformed quickly, warping like an asphyxiated snake.

"How sweet is the grace of god! Sinners as I have gone astray but have gone been led back, have gone blind but can now see again…" Above the designs, dozens of musicians clad in blood-red cloaks stood in the eye of the resonance. Their souls were connected as they sang the fallen hymn with fervor. Their eyes rolled as they chanted and sang. It was as if the song had ignited their nerves and they were immersed in the endless song.

It was a holy hymn and melody, but now, it was indescribably wild and ferocious. A tidal wave of aether rolled off their bodies, transforming into a hellish red light. Bursts of roars and rips came from thin air. It was as if the gate to hell was about to open and the demonic world would descend!

This was one of the twenty songs from the Codex Calixtinus. As an ancient record written by earlier saints, it was a treasure passed down through the generations of a certain sect.

Later, it was stolen by the followers of Satan during a war in the Dark World. Using Hyakume’s power, all twenty hymns were tainted and transformed into satanic hymns!

As they sang the hymn wildly, fresh blood poured out of thin air. It was an immeasurable amount of red, flowing and converging from all directions. It formed a surging river.

The red tide covered the dome, the earth, and everyone’s breaths; it overlapped and built up into an ocean of devastation. It was the blood that had been filtered and purified countless times—the vitality squeezed out of so many lives!

The tidal wave of blood surged in the air, seeming to create a giant vortex. Even the air around the vortex seemed to be warped.

"Red Eye, the Blood Path is about to be activated. Hurry up!" the masked Robin ordered outside the blood formation. He gazed at the light brewing inside the blood with fanatic eyes.

At the heart of the blood formation, the dark musician Red Eye consumed the immeasurable amount of vitality. The chanting leaving his mouth grew more and more hoarse yet shrill.

The vortex quaked.

Soon. It was soon!

The Blood Path would soon be activated!

The Robin chuckled and his figure melted into the darkness.

-

Boom! A burst of thunder boomed in the black clouds above the burning downtown. This was the natural phenomenon formed by the enormous flow of aether, but it was as if the gods above the clouds had been angered and were roaring.

A crack of lighting fell from the sky, hitting the tip of the Tower Bridge like a whip. The faces of the police turned white in fear. After the thunder ended, the sounds of crashing waves outside the city disappeared strangely, but the wind did not stop. The wind brought an eerie chill that made one’s scalp numb and body shiver.

The thunderstorm had arrived!

The world seemed to hold its breath.

In this moment of suffocating stillness, the police officer at the Tower Bridge felt waves of uncertainty. They were so intense. Behind him, the clattering of hooves came from the darkness at the other end of the bridge. Dozens of metal wheels rolled over the tiles in the darkness, producing thundering noises and flying sparks.

They were carriages. At least an entire squad was rushing over from uptown!

The officer’s legs began to tremble. He subconsciously looked in the direction of the messenger, but he saw no one—the messenger had been there a second ago! In his shock, the thunderous galloping neared.

"Halt! Turn immediately…" the guards at the other end of the bridge ordered angrily, but the carriages sped up abruptly. They rolled over the center of the checkpoint, crushing the fragile obstacle.

Like a nightmare in the dark night, the line of carriages crashed through the checkpoint, charged onto the bridge and galloped across the narrow lane, charging directly toward downtown!

The giant stallions were at least three meters tall and were large as demons. They pulled the carriages at a gallop. Their metal hooves shattered the green tiles, called up wind and thunder, broke through the darkness and obstacles, and charged toward the large gate without hesitation. It was as if the gate did not even exist!

"Are they crazy?" The police officer’s face was deathly pale as he stumbled back. "Move out the way, move…"

Boom! The giant horses and carriages swept past him with a whoosh. The wild wind forced him to the ground. The din as countless metal wheels rolled over the ground sounded in his ears.

The line of carriages came like demons riding the wind. The checkpoints and obstacles in their path were all crushed. The carriages rammed directly at the steel bars locking the Tower Bridge.

The two stallions that did not seem to be made of flesh let out shrill whinnies. There was no fear in their black eyes as they went toward the obstacle before them, their hooves clattered against the ground like thunder.

And then came a furious shake that forced everyone to the ground. First, it was distorted, then it caved in, and finally it warped and broke down! Faced with the giant stallions’ attack, the bars thick as an arm suddenly shattered. Metal shards flew and buried into the stone ground. The black carriages broke through the last lock and charged into the flaming downtown.

The police officer gaped as the large line of carriages crossed over the checkpoint brazenly. His mind was completely blank and dazed. There was only raw terror in his heart.

"Catch," someone beside him said and tossed something into his arms.

He looked down blankly and saw a head—it was the head of the royal messenger that had just been ordering them around.

His body shook and his lips quivered, but he could not even scream in fear.

"Don’t be scared. He’s fake." The man in a dark gray raincoat patted his shoulders. "His death has nothing to do with you."

"Fake?" The officer looked up in confusion. "But he had the royal em…"

His voice cut off because a silver emblem of a dragon’s head was placed before him. The man in the dark gray raincoat shook the emblem. "Have you seen a real one before?"

The man took the emblem back. Reaching behind him, he grabbed the last carriage and flipped up, flying back and disappearing with the line of carriages.

In the last moment, the officer saw the raincoat flapping in the wind. The last bit of firelight illuminated the dark red emblem on the coat. It was a red dragon and a sword!

"The Royal Musicians?" the officer muttered as he gazed blankly at the carriages disappearing into the burning darkness.