Silent Crown

“Retreat ten nautical miles?” Sylvaine exclaimed, “Are you kidding? Abandon the Ultimate completely? What about His Royal Highness and Madam Mabel?”

The musician of the school of revelation held the aether ball with both hands, and after confirming it once more, the look on his face became more complicated. “Sir, it is the Prince’s order.”

In the rumble, the aether waves rising one after another became more and more terrifying. Having no time to hesitate, Sylvaine gritted his teeth and gave a wave of his hand. “Execute the order immediately!

“Activate the highest level of propulsion, everyone, get ready for impact prevention! ”

Crisp sounds rang out constantly, and everyone in the bridge used a lock to connect their belts to the chairs welded to the floor.

After a few seconds, the navigator took a deep breath and pushed the valve stem to the very top.

Boom!

Terrifying flares emerged from the Firebird above the fleet. The ocean water rolled and boiled. On the huge fleet, light converged, forming a huge ring.

In the ring, the sea water almost floated upwards from weightlessness, and a massive amount of water vapor rose, forming a mist and gushed in every direction.

The next moment, a huge power burst forth from the Firebird.

The sharp sound of steel twisting rang out one after another. The harsh sound stung everyone’s ears, and the sudden thrust made their vision darken. Had they not fasten the lock, they would probably be thrown off their seats.

In the short span of a few seconds, the fleet had accelerated to an incredible extent.

It seemed as if invisible ropes were towing hundreds of ships, making the ships travel backwards rapidly. Large ships shook violently, and fine gaps had cracked open on smaller warships with thin armor.

The method of emergency retreat in wartime was so violent. By applying the ability originally developed with the intention of evading large-scale taboo movements of the enemy, the fleet had reached its maximum speed after just a few seconds, and was even accelerating further still.

But it still couldn’t be compared to the impact sweeping towards them.

At the very moment when the fleet accelerated, a blood-colored ray of light rose from the bottom of the sea, dyeing everything between the sea and the sky red. Then, above the Ultimate, the madly expanding torrent of aether abruptly erupted and swept towards all directions.

The first to bear the brunt was the Asgardian’s Stronghold on Sea.

When a catastrophe was about to be born, the most terrifying anomaly that would emerge was such torrents consisting purely of aether. In the realm of aether, the Originator had cast a new projection, setting off a mighty impact, and in the aftermath, the raging sea of aether was venting out on the physical world.

There was no music and no melody, only a horrifying roar and the impact that followed closely.

The pure torrent of aether caused only pure destruction.

Against the silver waves sweeping towards it, layers of shields suddenly appeared on the stronghold. The shields scraped against the torrent, like walls wailing forlornly under a tsunami, and horrifying gaps constantly cracked open.

Countless buildings rose and fell, like piano keys being pressed, playing a melody. Like thousands of strings, thousands of roads echoed the same rhythm, tersely withstanding the sweeping aftermath.

In the middle of the city, the Second Prince sat on a huge iron chair, with cables inserted all over his body. His right eye, which was his only remaining eye, was closed, as if he was meditating with his eyes shut.

But thunderclouds hovered in the empty left eye.

Fierce light burst forth, and he was so majestic that one could not look at him directly.

The divinity of Odin, the man-made catastrophe, operated in the body, and also controlled the Stronghold on Sea, unifying the power of hundreds of giant aether furnaces.

The phantom of the giant of light emerged from the fortress. It reached out, resisting the impact of the torrent of aether.

But other people were not so lucky.

The fleets of the various nations that did not retreat in time all wailed mournfully, crushed by the torrent of aether, and the hulls quickly shattered. Then, the overloaded aether furnaces were detonated. Before they were torn to shreds by the torrent, they were shattered in the explosion.

Next, the musicians lurking in the deep sea were melted by the aether at the first instant, and not even their bones were left.

In the rumble, as the heavens and the earth quaked, the sound of warships shattering seemed like crisp bell-like peals of accompaniment, resonating with the cruel melody of war.

The impact of the torrent pushed the entire Royal Fleet tens of nautical miles outwards. The violent quaking had just ended when Sylvaine climbed up from the chair and stared at the Ultimate that had been shrouded in destruction from the porthole. His face was ghastly pale.

It was so terrifying even at the periphery, what on earth had happened in the core?

Could anyone… still survive?

“We’re finished.”

He leaned back on the chair helplessly, felt a bleak coldness in his heart, and couldn’t help but want to cry. “His Royal Highness… His Royal Highness… has been killed in action in the Ultimate!”

“Bullshit!” A furious voice sounded from the channel of communication with the Mountain of Nomadism. The voice was so hoarse, yet so familiar. “I am still well and alive, Sylvaine, what the heck are you crying for!”

Selvin looked up, stunned, but in an instant, the emptiness in his heart was filled with ecstasy. After processing what had happened, he itched to dance madly in the bridge.

Amid the piercing background noise, the hoarse and fuzzy voice roared, “If you… don’t want me to die… Switch on the test machine… Resonance valve… Immediately! Do you hear me!”

Subconsciously, Sylvaine fished out the key that Master Newton had handed him before his departure, and inserted the heavy key into the keyhole at the command post of the bridge.

He twisted it.

It rotated by just one inch, but he almost used up all his strength.

It was as if sleeping monster had been awakened.

The Sovereign shook violently.

Countless gears rotated rapidly. At the bow, the hull and the deck flipped, revealing the huge instruments of harmonious melody beneath and an alchemy array that was so complex that it was astonishing.

The test machine that the team led by the Royal Institute of Research finally completed after working on it in a rush for six days and nights activated slowly. In the low rumble, the instruments of harmonious melody shook wildly, emitting a terrifying amount of heat.

The alchemy array operated. The four layers of outflowing, forming, creating, and circulating were completely linked, and the main axis was connected.

The performance began.

Terminal 001, the test machine of the Net of Aether, was started.

The next moment, notes collided, intervals pieced together, music theory evolved, and movements formed.

In the end, the music theory named the Heaven Ladder flowed out of it, sending its own coordinates to the chaotic sea of aether.

The next moment, in the Ultimate covered by layers of turbulence, the music theory that was exactly the same was awakened.

In the blink of an eye, a resonance began across innumerable sources of noise and obstacles.

A moment of silence ensued.

The next moment, the staff of fate tapped.

In the low sound, using itself as a pivot, it shook the frenzied sea of aether. Under the pressure of the Symphony of Predestination, a crack in the torrent blocking off the inside and the outside was pried open.

Then, electricity broke through the air.

As if traces of the lighthouse had been found amid an eternal darkness, in the turbulent flow, a sharp ray of electricity abruptly galloped out, moving straight forward.

It rose from the Ultimate, crossed the boiling ocean and the aether turbulence, penetrating all obstacles.

Invisible strands of music theory interwove into a bridge, riveting the two together.

The Heaven Ladder was complete!

It was a bridge.

It was a path that provided direct access from the chaotic Ultimate to the outside world.

As if the ocean and the aether had been parted to two sides, at the huge gap, an illusory bridge stretched forward and connected itself to the Sovereign.

Wherever the Heaven Ladder passed, all chaos was forcibly suppressed. The impact dissipated, the aether slumbered, and the turbulent surface of the sea returned to calmness. The calm sea reflected a slowly rising indigo moon.