# 1351
Chapter 1351
Chapter 1352: 「Skyward Bard」
Mist.
Above the surging waves, a rainbow light flashed across the sky.
A petite figure emerged from the rainbow light, her disheveled hair swaying in the wind. She turned to look at where the rainbow light had vanished, tears uncontrollably flowing from her eyes.
"Sister…" Skuld's voice was somewhat choked.
As the goddess of "Future" among the Three Norns, Skuld could clearly sense that the auras of "Past" and "Present" had vanished… This meant that Urðr and Verðandi had died at Odin's hands.
Skuld rubbed her reddened eye corners, surveyed her surroundings, chose a direction, and rushed toward it!
That was the direction of Great Xia.
Since her two sisters had risked their lives to let her escape Asgard, she absolutely could not turn back. She had to find Lin Qiye.
Suddenly, a crisp sound of a zither echoed in her mind.
Dong—!
Skuld froze, her body coming to a halt.
She looked around in astonishment, but couldn't find the source of the zither sound… In this hazy mist, where was this music coming from?
"Skuld…?" At that moment, another voice rang in her ears.
Skuld recognized that voice.
"Brother Bragi?" she exclaimed in delight, "Where are you?"
"…Fortunately, you weren't corrupted by them…" Bragi didn't answer her question. His voice paused for a moment before continuing, "Skuld, next, I will sever your connection to Asgard's source. Whatever you hear afterward, don't look back, understand?"
Confusion appeared in Skuld's eyes. Just as she was about to speak, another zither sound rang out!
Dong—!!
From deep within Skuld's body, a shattering sound suddenly echoed. She abruptly lowered her head to look at her palm.
"Asgard…" she murmured to herself.
She could clearly feel her connection to Asgard's source suddenly break. The faith power that had been continuously drawing from the source also came to an abrupt end.
She… had been expelled from Norse mythology?
Skuld stood stunned in place for a long while. Gritting her teeth, she picked up speed and rushed toward Great Xia.
Although she didn't know what had happened to Bragi, or why he had severed her connection to Asgard, she believed Bragi would never harm her.
Before Skuld had flown far, faint zither music drifted from the emptiness at the edge of the sky…
It was the sound of Bragi's harp.
This indistinct zither music drifted about Skuld's ears. Though she couldn't hear a complete melody, for some reason, an unprecedented sorrow suddenly surged in her heart…
Skuld reached out and touched her cheek. When had she started crying?
"Brother Bragi…" Skuld murmured,
"Are you,
in grief?"
…
On the shattered remnants of the sacred mountain,
Bragi's fingertips gently plucked the harp strings. Two clear tears slid down from his closed eyes.
Even though several strings had already snapped, when Bragi's fingertips swept across that void, clear music still emanated… As if the music didn't come from the harp in his hands, but from his heart.
His tattered robe danced in the blood rain. The mournful and elegiac melody echoed across the dead silence of the earth.
Dong—!
With a zither note, ethereal light scattered from Bragi's heart. This phantom light, accompanied by the music, spiraled through the air and gradually gathered into clusters of white light.
The light radiating from these clusters rippled outward, revealing within them sheets of snow-white paper, falling like snowflakes from the sky.
Lin Qiye stood within this paper snowstorm, raised his hand in confusion, and caught a white sheet. He lowered his gaze:
【April 16th】
【To my eternal beloved, Idun:】
【I have received your reply. Hearing that everything is well with you there puts my mind at ease. I have something I wish to share with you. Today a new patient came to the asylum, wearing a gray robe, looking quite fierce. His name seems to be Gilgamesh…】
Lin Qiye's gaze swept along the handwriting, and he was slightly moved.
"Letters?" Lin Qiye raised his head, staring at the漫天 snow of letters swirling around Bragi. "These… are all letters?"
Lin Qiye made a rough estimate. These letters condensed from the phantom light numbered approximately two thousand, basically matching the quantity of Bragi's letter paper stored in the asylum's warehouse.
These… were all the letters Bragi and Idun had exchanged during this time.
As these letters appeared, within that mournful and elegiac zither melody, a faint voice sounded, as if softly reciting something.
Lin Qiye listened carefully and realized the voice was reciting the content written on these letter papers.
"This is…" Lin Qiye seemed to have thought of something, his eyes slightly contracting.
The letters swirling in the air multiplied. The reciting voices increased. By the time all two thousand-plus letters had taken flight, the dense chanting overlapped重重, like a tide surging beneath the heavens!
"【To my eternal beloved: Idun…】"
"【The weather at the asylum is quite nice today. How about where you are? Is it cold…】"
"【I miss you so much. I want to see you as soon as possible…】"
"【Last night I had a dream. I dreamed we were back in that garden…】"
"【When can we meet again…】"
"【……】"
These recitations overlapped, gradually forming Bragi's own voice. Each syllable he uttered contained over two thousand recitations. Accompanied by the mournful and sorrowful zither melody, it seemed to contain a certain magic, spreading to every corner of the Norse divine realm.
At the southern edge of Asgard,
Several Norse gods wrapped in growths suddenly raised their heads, closed eyes gazing toward the direction of the sacred mountain. Their anguished cries abruptly ceased.
Crimson worms squirmed across their skin. Those tightly closed eyes quivered slightly.
Two lines of bloody tears traced down their pale cheeks…
These Norse gods who had lost their self-awareness seemed to once again perceive the emotion of sorrow. Staring toward the direction of the sacred mountain, they shed silent tears.
…
…
Someone said that asking for votes in the 9th month lacks sincerity…
Since that's the case, I'll change my approach. Starting today, on the first day, I'll immediately release four chapters in an explosion. There are about twenty-plus days until voting ends. That means if everyone works together, I'll keep releasing four chapters for over twenty days straight, with a cumulative explosion of over twenty chapters!
This is much more sincere than exploding five chapters only after winning the award, right? |??ω?`)
Without affecting quality, even if I have to sit at my computer all day for these twenty-something days, I will fulfill this promise. If for any reason related to the plot or important matters I can't release four chapters, whatever I owe everyone can be recorded, and I will make it all up after the period ends.
My sincerity is already maxed out. I hope everyone shows the power of "Slash" fans! We aim to be first!!
Today we're still in second place, but today's four chapters are my demonstration of sincerity. There will be two more releases tonight.
Everyone can vote three times per day. The voting channel is in the post I made in the book circle. Let's go, everyone!!
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