Silent Crown

“Is this the failure that you had predicted?” The lively looking Naberius squatting beside him whistled. “You just had to be impetuous. Wasn’t it you who was always telling us to keep a low profile?”

“Failure is no great obstacle,” Paganini replied softly. “Besides, things are settled overall, right?”

“Seems like it.” Naberius shrugged. “You know how important this opportunity is to us.”

Paganini said nothing.

For a long time, the World of Dark had been filled with all kinds of madness. People often regarded Dark Musicians as akin to demons, evil spirits and catastrophes, but even so, there had never been any strife between them. Even in the process of exercising their power they had never gone to war.

As soon as Paganini entered the Abyss, he was among the best of the ministers when compared to the catastrophes under Hyakume’s command. But he had never really taken on a leadership role.

The prevailing faction in the Abyss had always been made up of Hyakume’s subordinates and descendants: catastrophes, demons, and even half-dragons, moon spirits, iron dwarves and more.

After the fall of Hyakume, the monolithic Abyss had splintered into a number of factions, and there was fierce fighting over who would become the new leader. But for some reason, among the many beings in the Abyss, only Paganini the Abyss Sage had been recognized as having the best chance.

This was a turning point for the Dark Musicians.

If he could prove his ability, then he would surely receive the support of the dark ministers. But if he failed, then Dark Musicians would only be able to serve as thugs and cannon fodder in the Abyss.

“To be honest, I’m curious. How did you convince those stubborn fools?” Naberius made a circling motion around his temple.

After swallowing up tons of the darkness of humanity, those “geniuses” who had ingested tremendous amounts of consciousness and elements of the Abyss, and had been turned from demons into humans by Hyakume itself, were the dark, deceitful demons known as “abyss sages.”

Their function was just like the College of Cardinals in the Sacred City. They provided counsel to Hyakume and order to the Abyss.

After the Abyss collapsed, they had mastered all of the secrets and powers left behind by Hyakume. Now that the dark ministers sought to unite the Abyss, their assistance was naturally indispensable.

But everyone was very curious, why had those “geniuses” chosen Paganini…

“It’s very simple,” Paganini said softly. “I told them: this has been a mistake from the beginning.”

Naberius was dumbfounded.

“Hundreds of years ago, the Abyss started to penetrate out from the realm of aether. But from beginning to end, they had only followed the so-called gods. I told them that this was a waste of effort.”

Paganini was casually denying the will of Hyakume. Naberius couldn’t help but sigh. “You really dared to say this?”

“Why not?” Paganini asked him. “Humans cannot guess the intentions of the gods, and the gods cannot understand humans. Humans’ perspective is too small, so small that such vast entities have difficulty comprehending it. Even when Hyakume reduced itself into the former Dark Pope in order to try and understand humanity, it still could not. Humanity has never been controlled by the gods. As far as humans are concerned, the gods are too big. And to the gods, humans are too complicated. Humans cannot understand the existence of the gods, and the gods will never pay attention to so-called mortals. If we allow ourselves to be guided by the vast, empty will of the gods, we will never be successful in the tiny Physical World. So, I only had to say one thing to convince the abyss sages: let humanity try it themselves. Not as demons, not as catastrophes, and not as Dark Musicians, but as we who were once humans.”

“…” Naberius fell into silence. After a while he whispered, “Are you fighting for leadership of the Abyss just like the catastrophes? Let the Dark Musicians dominate the World of Dark…”

Paganini glanced at him. “The plan will go even smoother than I expected, right?”

“But it will be hard to avoid a few minor incidents.” Naberius picked up the broken crystal and weighed it in his hands. He sighed softly. “A bright crystal that can be used to infiltrate the Saints and motivate the will of the kings dwelling in the depths of the Ultimate. Tricking the tiger into swallowing the wolf, doesn’t that sound familiar? He probably doesn’t even know that someone is hindering him.”

Paganini, who had created Changing Music Theory, was best at silent interference and distortion, whether it was of music theory or personality. As long as he was given a small opening, he could corrode and transform someone’s will and music theory from within.

Changing Music Theory was also a dangerous tool that he had created. It may have been easy to use, and had a variety of forms, but once one was lost in that infinity of changes, sooner or later they would be eroded by the change, lose their self, and become a part of it.

By the time the user discovered this, they would already be trapped and unable to extricate themselves. It was through this trick that he was able to cultivate a nest of Dark Musicians right under the nose of the Sacred City, and pull almost half of the musicians there into the Abyss by the end. Even the Pope had not suspected anything.

Unfortunately, he had run into the snag that was Ye Qingxuan.

“I tried to use the kings to distort his will, but unfortunately it seems like he does not have the slightest bit of respect for them. And he never allows others to interfere with his ideas.”

“I did remind you that you were treading on dangerous ground.” Naberius shook his head. “He is much stronger than me. At least that much is clear.”

Paganini did not care in the least about his own setbacks. “I can’t win, but the Sacred City is also at its wit’s end when it comes to him. He was always destined to be an outlier, a freak who would shake the foundation of the Church sooner or later. Even if I did nothing, the kings would never allow such a person to elevated into the Ultimate, and sooner or later the Sacred City won’t be able to tolerate him anymore. He’ll have nowhere to hide. When that day comes, where can he go save the Abyss?”

Naberius said nothing. He just leaned on the cold stone bricks.

He closed his eyes and listened to the melody.

Amid the dark underground crevices and the putrid scent of moss, there was only a dim, far away flame and a low echo.

Crack…crack…crack…

Crack! Crack! Crack!

It was like rotten wood being cut with a chopper, like a dead branch being snapped, but also like… something was devouring the most delicious of meals.

The sound of chewing was fascinating to listen to.

“That sounds delicious.” Paganini was envious.

Crack…crack…crack…

The flickering candlelight illuminated the motley frescoes at the top of the dome. The ancient vessels that had been carelessly discarded on the ground were already broken. The bronze swords were rusted all over. The gems on the ancient crown had been exposed to wind and dust.

The faint light cast a deformed shadow on the wall. One could faintly discern that it was a human-like figure that crept across the ground. The freak looked like a rabid dog hunched over its food to devour it.