Qianyi: I Did My Best, I Did My Best

"Who said a band had to be a band?" Qianyi raised both hands, then suddenly clenched them as he entered speech mode, his words turning sharp. "A Community of Shared Destiny can be a band! The Dimensional Chat Group can be a band! Great Britain can be a band!"

Morgan froze for a moment, then began to ponder thoughtfully.

Great Britain could also be a band, and Qianyi wanted to impose a Band Dissolution Tax.

So that's it. I misunderstood him. Qianyi wanted to form a Great Britain with me that would never break up, which was why he was doing this!

Thinking that, she looked at the young man before her, unable to suppress the impulse rising in her heart. She beckoned to him, signaling him to sit closer. "Sir Qianyi, you do not always need to shoulder every responsibility. You do not need to be so restrained today. Come, keep me company and chat for a while."

"Let's try to talk about work," Qianyi corrected her.

"Mm..." Morgan found herself liking the young man before her even more, especially his devotion to Great Britain. "If this is what you want to do, then do it to your heart's content. It does not matter if it is extravagant or wasteful. This is necessary state funding, so do as you please."

After making that promise to Qianyi, she had just intended to use her daughter Bavhanxi as a topic to chat with him about everyday matters, only to discover that he had already vanished.

Beast Morgan.jpg

???

Steel Prison Big: Cheer for me! Applaud me! I am finally taking the first step toward achieving my dream!

I want to eat Mei-flavored instant noodles: What dream?

Steel Prison Big: I have already persuaded Morgan. The Band Dissolution Tax can now be tentatively implemented in the Fae Kingdom.

Child of Prophecy: That's amazing! Qianyi, we finally did it!

Customer Service Xiangzi is at your service: Can Britain's faeries even understand what a Band Dissolution Tax is? Is it really useful to impose it in a place without even guitars or basses? I suggest you do not do something like this.

Steel Prison Big: Precisely because nobody here understands it, it can be implemented even better. That way, when someone wants to dissolve a band in the future, they will discover that this law already exists. How could they then disband so casually? I will not chat with you all any longer. I need to prepare the relevant festival.

Lower District Flying Head Barbarian: A festival? You need a festival just to enact a law?

Steel Prison Big: What is the point of simply issuing a law that nobody knows about? I am going to build a grand theater in Camelot and invite all the faeries of the Fae Kingdom, letting them experience the beauty of music. Once the performance ends, I will naturally introduce the Band Dissolution Tax. Perfect!

Steel Prison Big: If you have time then, remember to come watch.

After closing the group chat, Qianyi eagerly went to find Artoria and Bavhanxi. The three of them could form the most basic band, and depending on the situation, he could later bring in Melusine, Fae Knight Lancelot, Barghest, Fae Knight Gawain, Woodworth, and others.

This was his breakthrough from zero to one, and it also made him pick up his instrument and start practicing again.

One month later.

As the first Round Table Concert in the Fae Kingdom of Britain approached, groups of faeries from all over Britain and from every clan arrived to enjoy the musical performance.

"Lia, are you nervous?"

Inside the Round Table Music Theater, Qianyi, Artoria, and the three great Fae Knights had gathered together. Noticing the Boar Princess's body trembling slightly, he could not help asking with concern.

"N-No, I'm fine. Calm down. Just act like usual..." Artoria desperately comforted herself.

"Get it together. You're our lead singer. If you mess up, I'll kill you~!" Bavhanxi fiercely plucked her guitar strings, producing a piercing sound.

"It is time for battle. Straighten your back and adjust your attire." Fae Knight Gawain, Barghest, slapped Artoria on the back, helping her straighten up.

"Lia, believe in yourself. You are better than anyone, any faerie." Qianyi patted Artoria on the shoulder and comforted her. "Once this is over, I'll take you to my world for barbecue."

"A private world for two?" Melusine quietly voiced her thoughts from the corner, looking completely unconcerned.

"Hey, I want to go too!" Bavhanxi immediately raised her hand.

"No problem. We can all go together then. I'll treat you to delicious dishes that do not exist in this world," Qianyi said generously.

Although World Travel Tickets and Companion Tickets were precious, all of this was worth it.

"Popping champagne at halftime is not something a captain should do," Barghest corrected him.

"Do not worry. Only declaring victory when you cannot confirm the final outcome counts as popping champagne at halftime. I have already locked in the final victory and begun studying our opponents after the Great Expedition." If Qianyi had learned fashion design, he would already have been preparing custom skins for everyone.

The moment they stepped onto the stage, incomparably enthusiastic cheers erupted from below.

As he looked at the crowd beneath him, a familiar feeling welled up. Once upon a time, when he performed onstage, the audience below had been just as numerous, just as lively. A long-lost surge of excitement rippled through the sea of his heart.

"Stop."

With a single gesture and thought, he made nearly a thousand people fall silent in an instant.

The stage had already gone quiet, but Qianyi still did not speak. He merely watched the people before him as the atmosphere grew heavier second by second, making everyone afraid and uncomfortable.

Back when Michael Jackson appeared to perform, he would remain silent for three minutes to build the atmosphere. What Qianyi was using now was precisely this technique for stirring the audience's emotions, placing all their feelings in his hands for him to control.

Then the performance began. The unprecedented style of performance and music made the faeries feel freshness and passion. Though many of them could not understand it, they inexplicably felt that it was trendy and stylish.

Below the stage, madness had already begun.

Affection, admiration, longing—all of it crashed into Qianyi's heart. All excitement, all hope, everything had been bestowed by him. This is what I desire, what I have been hoping for—the real thing... music!

"Amazing..." Toyokawa Shoko was seeing Qianyi perform for the first time below the stage, but she could clearly feel that his bass possessed a soul, and that his music was the cry of a soul.

At the height of the performance, Camelot suddenly shook violently. Within the enormous Cernunnos's Great Chasm, a gigantic furry horned creature slowly poked its head out.

The humans and faeries who knew this creature's true identity all turned grave.

Horned God Cernunnos, the ancient god of the Fae Kingdom of Britain, messenger of paradise, the source of the Calamity of Norwich...

The original land of this Lostbelt had been made after the Six-Winged Faeries killed Him with poisoned wine and fashioned it from His body. As for "humans," they had been created by cutting the Horn God's witch into many small pieces while she was still alive. Thus, this god hated these faeries born with original sin.

Yet for some reason, after the Horn God's corpse left the Great Hollow, it had not unleashed calamity upon the Fae Kingdom. It merely revealed its head and silently watched Camelot.

Morgan, who had fully activated all twelve holy spears, looked at the Horn God quietly listening to the music. Her grave expression turned incredulous. "Even the long-dead Horned God Cernunnos was moved by their music?"

It was said that Cernunnos's curse would be lifted when the faeries truly repented for their sins from the bottoms of their hearts. Could this be that moment?

After all the scheduled pieces had ended, Bavhanxi looked toward Cernunnos's corpse and inexplicably felt a calling, a calling of the soul. Within that calling, there seemed to be some kind of... unique ballad.

Unable to stop herself, she began to play according to that ballad, performing music that had existed only in the distant past.

Qianyi froze for a moment. There's another song? But Bavhanxi had already started playing, and the audience below had begun cheering again, so he could only continue playing along with her.

Isn't it just an improvised performance?!

I can handle this much!

The other three faeries were no ordinary people either. They immediately realized the shift in the situation and threw everything they had into playing with complete focus.

This was a ballad from the distant past twelve thousand years ago, one that the Priestess of the Gods often hummed while atop Horned God Cernunnos's head. It was now being replayed across time and space in an entirely new style of performance, but the meaning of this song was somewhat thought-provoking when it reached the ears of Horned God Cernunnos's corpse.

The song his priestess often hummed was now being played by the faeries who had killed him and brutally murdered his priestess...

This caused the wrath of the god who had been slain—the curse upon the faeries—to begin raging. Yet His mercy still wanted to show these faeries some favor, so long as they repented in their hearts for the sins they had committed...

"This song is so boring."

"It is not even close to the same level as the earlier ones. It feels outdated."

"Verdict: they're out of ideas."

The faeries below the stage were utterly uninterested.

In an instant, countless calamities and curses poured forth, driving the Horn God's corpse. The great calamity that had once destroyed Great Britain and slaughtered every faerie erupted once more.

The Fae Kingdom of Britain was about to be destroyed.

The furious roars within the Great Hollow subsided, returning to silence like receding seawater. Horned God Cernunnos stood beneath a blood-red sunset, His massive shadow cast upon the cave walls like a silent ancient idol.

Beasts only roar warnings when threatening their enemies. Once a beast decides to attack, it always maintains a deathly silence.

When the last sliver of sunlight disappeared beneath the horizon, when night surged across the sky like a tide, the curses and calamities accumulating within the Great Hollow finally erupted. Like Pandora's Box being opened, they crazily poured outward. The earth trembled and wailed beneath this power, and even the hardest mountains cracked apart.

At the height of the tremors, all living beings, human and faerie alike, wore undisguised terror on their faces. Even Camelot, the City of White Chalk, began to suffer. Its dome collapsed, the ground split open, and faeries fled in all directions through the royal palace. Only Morgan, Queen of Britain, remained seated upon her throne, watching the Horn God advance bit by bit as she sought to suppress these calamities about to break free with her strength alone.

The twelve holy spears stood ready to fire.

The Ultimate Spear: Rhongomyniad. This was the true form of the barrier magecraft called the Wall of Light, which covered the entire Britain Lostbelt, and also the Fae Kingdom's most violent firepower. When it fired, the far-reaching spears that shone while singing the light of the stars would erupt like volcanoes, sending endless radiance soaring into the heavens and igniting the night into day.

"This is my Britain! How could I allow you to destroy it!"

Morgan unleashed all her magical energy. The throne operated at maximum output as the twelve holy spears bombarded Horned God Cernunnos without pause, forcing Him back into the Hollow. The temperature inside the Great Hollow instantly rose to six thousand degrees Celsius—the temperature of the sun's surface. Under such heat, even the calamities and curses inside began to evaporate and vaporize, and that was merely the effect of the light and heat produced by the holy spears' firing.

The twelve holy spears bombarded Him continuously for over a hundred minutes, unleashing her magical energy without reservation against the god.

Had she won? Had the god who brought endless calamity and curses to Britain been killed?

Impossible.

If He could truly be killed so easily, then the moment Rhongomyniad had been completed, the Horn God's corpse would have been blasted until not even scraps remained. Yet from its completion until now, the corpse had remained within the Great Hollow. Britain's oldest god could at most be restrained, not killed. The only way to kill the Horn God was to load either Morgan or Artoria, the two "concepts of the Holy Sword," as ammunition.

As the smoke cleared, several patches of white fur on the Horn God's enormous body had been scorched, but He had not suffered any fatal wounds. Then crimson spheres of light appeared around Him and suddenly erupted. Hundreds upon thousands of lasers poured down like a rainstorm, sweeping across forests and cities. Blazing flames instantly devoured everything. Amid the faeries' screams, lush green trees and buildings beneath the sky all turned to ash in the inferno.

This scene left Morgan feeling indescribable. Neither sad nor joyful, she was blank and silent, as though everything in the world had been shut out from her senses. The only thing she could feel was perhaps the weariness seeping from deep within her marrow, silently spreading through every cell—a heavy, impossible-to-ignore thread of fatigue.

"Qianyi, what do we do?" Artoria looked at Qianyi.

"Should we fight?" Kiana flashed to Qianyi's side and entered her Herrscher form. Having already fused the Serenity Gem and Pestilence Gem, she was terrifyingly strong now.

"Would poison work on this big furry thing? If it does, we might win easily." Seele loved fighting huge enemies like this. Hydra's Poison dealt precious true damage; once it hit, it could wildly poison the enemy's maximum health.

"Big body, lots of fur. It should be weak to fire." Talulah analyzed the enemy's weakness.

"Do not worry. Even though fighting Melusine earlier cost me one life, I can still blow myself up ten times. Then, Qianyi, you can steal my skill. We can chain-explode it, and after that, we can see whether we can keep exploding once we combine into complete Heracles." Toyokawa Shoko was already prepared to transform into the Thunderfire King and start mindlessly bombing.

Everyone chattered about how to fight the Horn God, but in reality, they were merely waiting for Qianyi to open with Tens of Thousands of Proverbs. So long as Qianyi used Tens of Thousands of Proverbs, they would follow with a round of ultimate moves first to test the enemy's strength.

If it could not endure, it was merely a stray dog by the roadside. Only if it could endure did it deserve to be our opponent!

However...

"Persona, Zio." Qianyi summoned Izanagi and fired a bolt of lightning at the Horn God, but it failed to pierce His armor. He instantly gave up. "I tried my best, I tried my best! The Horn God is too strong. Even with all my strength, I cannot defeat Him."

"No, bro?" Kiana was completely dumbfounded.

"Where is your Tens of Thousands of Proverbs?" Talulah could not help asking either.

"What kind of skill is Zio?" This was the first time Toyokawa Shoko had seen Qianyi use such a skill, and was its power not a little weak? It even looked weaker than getting shocked by a leaking appliance in her house.

"Thunderbolt is my strongest skill, yet it cannot deal even the slightest damage to the Horn God. I can fight no longer. I tried my best, I tried my best." Qianyi looked deeply frustrated.

Everyone: "..."

What was Qianyi's strongest skill? Tens of Thousands of Proverbs absolutely deserved the title. Savior's Heal worked as a support skill too, and the Soubi form probably counted as a skill. Holy shit! What even was Zio?

It had the same aesthetic as Erlang Shen searching through the Three-Pointed Double-Edged Spear, the Heavenly Law Manifestation, the Mountain-Splitting Axe, and the rest, only to dig out the Chaos-Covering Cloak from his skill list.

Qianyi slowly spoke. "They say the world created by God must be fair and just. If someone makes a mistake, they should pay the price. A hand should be cut for a hand, a foot should be cut for a foot. If someone can make a mistake without paying the price, then who would still believe in God? Who would still be willing to defend God's glory? I am not Jesus. There is no need for me to save these faeries. Besides, I have already enacted the Band Dissolution Tax. I have fought the good fight, finished the race, and kept the faith. From now on, a band that will never break up shall be reserved for me."

"Huh? You enacted..." Seele scratched her head, about to ask when he had enacted it since they had only just finished the concert, but Toyokawa Shoko covered her mouth.

"Still, some faeries do not deserve to die. I only have five tickets that can carry people across worlds, so I can only take five people. Who has some support points?"

"Me!" Toyokawa Shoko immediately took out all of hers. "Is this enough?"

"Mine too!" Artoria immediately took hers out as well.

Though she did not quite understand why they suddenly could not beat the Horn God anymore, it appeared that they had all been defeated, so it was time to run.

Next, running away would be very useful.

???

Camelot Throne Room.

Morgan sat upon the throne and contemplated for a long time. Her magical energy was nearly exhausted, and she could no longer fire ammunition from the holy spears to stop the Horn God. But if there was no ammunition, she only needed to load something else. She was a faerie of paradise, and she herself, possessing the "concept of the Holy Sword," was the best ammunition!

"I am the King of Britain. Britain belongs to me. I already... do not want to lose Britain again!"

"The Spear of the End that shines is my magecraft. Then, if I connect the throne's magical circuits to my heart, I can turn the holy spears into the Holy Sword—"

"Projection, begin."

As Morgan prepared to burn herself away, the Alien Apostle who had received the Alien God's orders silently arrived behind her throne. A replica of Tomoyuki Muramasa was projected into his hand, piercing through both her and the throne together.

Morgan spat out a mouthful of blood. Chikago Muramasa was about to continue his attack and complete the order to assassinate Morgan when nine bullets trailing fiery tails launched attacks from different directions along different trajectories.

Chikago Muramasa switched from offense to defense and swung his katana. He accurately severed all nine bullets, which clattered down around him. He narrowed his eyes as the nine warheads transformed into flames and vanished. "Hundred Head Slayer? Who is it?!"

"I'm your dad!" Qianyi had no mood to entangle himself with Chikago Muramasa. He slashed out with his blade.

Chikago Muramasa raised his sword to block. Upon seeing who had come, he cried out, "Fuck! You really are this old man's dad!"