act18side

You intend to rip the Voice of Mundane out of both of them. Bold.

However, what will you do after that? Are you going to become the new vessel?

In Biegler's eyes, Gertrude has gone completely insane.

She mumbles to herself in the direction of the concert hall, as if conversing with a dear friend.

My dear spy, would you like to hear my performance?

Gertrude seems to be addressing Biegler, but is also muttering to herself at the same time. As she speaks, she walks toward the harp sitting in the corner of the room.

My patience is running out, Gräfin Strollo.

I bought this house for a reason.

It sits outside the Afterglow, but you can still hear the music coming from the concert hall clearly. A wonderful location, isn't it?

I love listening to the music that passes through here.

This way, he doesn't have to see me, and I don't have to see him.

She begins to play as she speaks.

Gräfin Strollo, the Arts Units in this building have already been disassembled.

And even if they weren't, don't think your Arts will work on me. Men easily swayed by music don't make good spies.

I only want to play the harp, my good spy.

Czerny hates me. He hates me for not treating music with purity. He hates me for using it as a tool.

I once sought to defend myself and explain it away, but I later came to realize, I might actually be exactly the woman he says I am.

Even if he carved my heart out, I would never able to treat music with purity.

Tell me, how could one who has committed fratricide; a woman who, for over ten years, has been hell-bent on exacting revenge on those puppetmasters, possibly achieve anything close to purity?

As much as Biegler doesn't want to admit it, Gertrude's performance is excellent, not at all paling in comparison to the echoes drifting in from beyond the window.

Without a doubt, this is the level that all outstanding Leithanian nobles should aspire to.

But, the words that come out of Gertrude's mouth make him shudder.

Wait, revenge?!

You're a clever man. You should've guessed that my tragic failure last night was not the result of impetuousness.

But you don't know what I'm hiding. You believe I've exhausted my plans, which is the only reason you're here chatting with me.

The truth is, I do want to buy time, but some words have been festering in my head for far too long, which is why I can't help but ramble on.

I do hope you pardon my rudeness.

Furthermore, I must apologize that you'll be dying here with me.

What the hell are you doing?!

It truly is an eye-opening piece of music – or, so it was at the beginning.

Just as the title implies, the music weaves a shattered illusion from the very beginning, making one's heart sink to the bottom of a valley as if dark clouds are blotting out the sun.

However, the tune changes almost immediately, the sonorous cello uplifting the flute's clarity with the piano behind them both to break through the layers of gloom, singing a paean to the joy of glimpsing the light of day.

O, Light!

This is the singular thought in everyone's head.

They immediately understand the 'Licht' in 'Licht und Schatten.'

They begin to look forward to the 'Schatten.'

However, a feeling of unease begins to set in to some members of the audience.

Because they see the expressions of suffering creeping across the faces of the three performers.

As if something is gnawing away at them from within.

Beautiful.

An exemplary musician, devoting his life to fighting the power left behind by the Witch King.

Just as he is about to pull this doomed battle back to a stalemate, he loses not to the Witch King, or to himself, but to the obsessions of an old acquaintance.

Hey, what are you going on about?

Do you hear the harp's voice?

Huh? A harp? Why would there be a harp? Isn't this supposed to be a trio?

Philistine.

Listen to the sound coming from that small building in the distance.

The shrill laughter erupting from the depths of despair is equally beautiful.

As for you, my former student...

While I was teaching you to speak using the violin, I heard the motif of your fate... What a cruel melody it was.

But I never expected that you could develop it into such a brilliant opus.

I salute all of you, people I may or may not know.

I shall listen. For that is the only way I know to pay my respects.

I was the one who restarted the Voice of Mundane program, my good spy.

You alone?

First, the Voice of Mundane is exceedingly rare. And after that ordeal, you ultimately took control of two of them.

Second, past research has proven that an individual who isn't blood-related to the Witch King cannot possibly withstand this type of experimentation.

In other words, even after you people tore apart that plan, it was not completely abandoned, merely shelved.

In the end, the Voice of Mundane program originates from the worship of the Witch King, but how many are there who, from the depths of their hearts, can truly worship fear itself?

They only wanted a weapon to overthrow the Twin Empresses, just as the Twin Empresses overthrew the Witch King.

As for me, after I realized that my brother's incompetence would bring ruin to our entire house, I had no choice but to act.

Nevertheless, I still never found a way to show my value to those shadowy worshipers.

Music, Arts, money, authority, even my body... Nothing worked.

Finally, I found these dust-covered plans in a pile of my father's old writings.

The reboot of the program brought a fresh breath of opportunity for me. They began to think that I might amount to something.

But what they didn't know is I've already had enough.

I don't want to be at their beck and call anymore.

So, I set this plan into motion. Not for the sake of overthrowing anyone, unfortunately.

I just want them to get a taste of what it's like to suffer.

I sucked up to them and invited them to come appreciate the fruits of my research.

If you go take a walk around the concert hall now, you might find proof of some things you've long suspected.

Everything from the human experimentation facility in the sewers to the dossier on the Voice of Mundane program... Did you deliberately allow me and Ebenholz to find them?

Those were only meant for the eyes of you spies. I never expected Graf Urtica to go looking for you people.

And you tipped your hand to keep them from discovering what you had really done to the concert hall.

Of course. The amplifiers are nothing more than a small distraction.

With those amplifiers, all of the Afterglow would have been made to suffer.

With the amplifiers dismantled, the Afterglow is indeed spared, but the same cannot be said for those inside the concert hall.

The remodeling of the concert hall began after my research into the Voice of Mundane had progressed to its next phase.

Czerny is trying to use his own composition to draw the Voice of Mundane out of the boys––

But what I'm trying to do is much simpler. The moment they try to pull out the Voice, they will realize that nothing is in their control.

I have tampered with the melody and Resonanz of the Voice of Mundane. Anyone who tries to become the new vessel, regardless of who it might be, will have to endure turmoil and chaos a hundred times greater.

The Voice, unable to find a suitable vessel, will collapse into an all-consuming void within the concert hall built by the Witch King himself, swallowing everyone within.

Of course, I am a part of this performance, and I equally have no hope of escape.

As for you, my unfortunate spy, if you don't take this chance to escape, then you can only bemoan your ill fortune.

My, what a fierce look you have in your eyes. I know what you want to do.

But my apologies. I can no longer extricate myself from this song.

Killing me would be no different from killing the three men on that stage. All it'll do is bring about those deaths a little faster.

Czerny desperately wants to stop the performance.

But he cannot do it.

The moment he begins to reel in the Voice of Mundane, he feels a single strand of abnormality. But in that solitary moment, it is already too late.

The concert hall begins to absorb and reflect their performance like a massive Arts Unit.

Resonanz. True resonance.

He immediately realizes that Gertrude's alterations were far greater than just some simple amplifiers.

The concert hall itself has become a weapon.

Why did you do this, Gertrude...?

Herr Czerny, if we continue on like this...

Don't stop!

The Voice of Mundane has already destabilized due to the interference of the concert hall.

If we stop now, not only will both of you, but everyone in the venue will die along with you when Voice rampages out of control after losing its vessels!

(But––)