As the last echo of Levi’s song drifted into silence... for half a second, the viewers said nothing. It was as if the entire place forgot it was supposed to be loud, chaotic, and filled with aggression.
Levi’s song hadn’t just made everyone more in touch with their emotions; it made them feel a new way, healing small parts of their traumas and showing them that there was more to life than just what they were living.
It gave them a small taste of what it meant to be one with the world, each other, and the universe... through harmony.
Clap... Clap... Clap! Clap! Clap!!...
In return... a wave of applause and cheers rolled across the combat room as people jumped to their feet in their rooms, raising their arms, clapping so hard their palms turned red.
Some even whistled, others shouted words that didn’t even form sentences.
They didn’t care that the move wasn’t an attack.
They didn’t care that it didn’t damage anyone.
They didn’t even care that almost no one understood the point of it.
For the last two minutes, they had been pulled into something extraordinary... a performance that reached them in ways a battle never could.
Voices rose through the noise:
-God... I haven’t thought about my childhood in years... That tune... those soft parts... it felt like sitting under that old tree with my cousins again...-
-Why did it make me remember my family’s funeral? The part where the strings dropped... it was like hearing the last time I stood over the graves... I bought a ticket to forget, instead, here I am bawling my eyes out... Celestial, you’re so beautifully cruel.-
-Damn... It felt like someone took a memory out of my head and turned it into sound. I attended tens of concerts, and this was a first...-
-I swear I saw my home village for a second... Just from a few notes, I got to relive those precious moments again... Thank you, Celestial... You just made me into a fan.-
Even races that normally avoided one another seemed to share the same sentiment... whatever the differences were between them, all of them had paused during those notes and listened the same way.
That’s the power of music, of melody... the power to touch everyone’s emotions and senses regardless of their origins, differences, or whatnot.
Yet, Levi heard none of their words, applause, or cheers... still, he felt their emotions pushing against him through the fading link he still held from the Melody Aspect.
He felt their warmth... he felt memories that were not his... he felt small bursts of joy, grief, peace, longing... they brushed against him gently and Levi didn’t push them away.
Under his mysterious and scary mask, his lips lifted into a gentle smile...
He lowered his head and looked at his violin... he remembered the day he built it and named it... Requiem of Despair and Hope.
This was the reason... it wasn’t just a weapon of destruction and abuse... but also, to remind the world that something beautiful could exist even in a field of violence.
To show them, if not for a slight moment... a sliver of hope.
’I knew you could do it,’ Ash’Kral said with a faint smile. ’You were always close to unlocking the Melody Aspect... you just needed to understand it.’
The most common and reliable method to unlock Aspects was through bloodlines, innate abilities, and relying on the seeds to unlock them based on these links.
However... before there were bloodlines, there was the period of exploration and understanding of the universe’s marvels at an intimate level.
Everyone’s ancestors had no path built for them... they had to build it on their own through understanding of a single element, a single affinity, a single aspect of life.
They had to be in tune with the Aspect to the point... the seed would unlock it for them solely due to their closeness to it.
But of course... this was easier said than done. Before one could even attempt to connect with a certain Aspect on a deeper level to unlock it, they needed to have something already connecting them to it.
’Hmm.’
Levi nodded, said nothing back, knowing that Ash’Kral was right.
He always had the pieces... a close connection to sounds due to his disability from childhood, and most importantly, a body wired like an instrument due to the Harmonic Spine’s silver threads touching upon every nerve, muscle, tendon, and bone.
The Harmonic Spine was born to communicate with sounds, frequencies, and lastly, vibrations at their quantum foundation.
It was the Instrument of the Universe... all he lacked was emotional understanding and connection with the frequencies... and he finally reached it.
Now the world around him looked different.
Where others saw only air, Levi saw thin threads of frequencies sliding through space... some threads flickered fast, some slow, some moved like fading lines, and some throbbed like tiny hearts.
Every object... every stone, every piece of metal, every living body... had its own natural frequency, like little creatures embedded in existence, and made it exist as it was.
With Melody Aspect awakened, Levi could finally speak to them through the language of Melody.
Levi checked the timer... twenty-nine seconds left before his turn ended. He knew this wasn’t the time to explore the Melody Aspect in detail.
He had three attacks left, and he intended to make use of them... Levi raised the violin again. But this time, he didn’t prepare a melody. He simply placed the bow on the string and pulled it once.
A single note.
The note spread out across his vision with a beautiful design and color... glowing faintly as it touched the room floor, the walls, the roof, and the platform... every time it touched something, small sparks of reaction flared off with different responses.
The note slid past everything... spiritual and physical, nothing stopping it... until it touched a dark spherical barrier hidden deep inside Light Eater’s mind. It didn’t care if he was in a black hole form or not; anything with a natural frequency reacted to Levi’s note in its own way.
Levi felt it immediately.
Light Eater’s subconscious shell was vibrating at a unique frequency to his tune... he knew immediately, this was Light Eater’s soul’s true natural frequency!
The moment Levi sensed that hidden frequency, everything lined up perfectly in his head.
He slipped Eternal Mirage through an actual sound-based attack, releasing a powerful, giant sound blade with a mere draw of his bow.
"Did you just waste everyone’s time for this?! How laughable!"
Light Eater was nervous at first during Levi’s performance, but now... he scoffed in ridicule as he watched the massive sound blade getting twisted and devoured by the black hole, too.
Unbeknownst to him, the real spiritual attack had slipped through the note like a fish through clear water... Light Eater’s spiritual strength wasn’t good enough to pick up on such a hidden spiritual attack that assaulted his soul through its natural frequency.
It was like a bridge was established between them through frequencies acting as the medium.
The moment the spiritual link was created, Levi planted the image Light Eater most wanted to see: Levi at his limit, exhausted, out of attacks, unable to push further. But he added one slight difference... the flow of time was hastened in his vision, but he couldn’t notice it!
Then Levi lowered his violin and switched to the Starpiercer in a smooth motion... he dropped to one knee and balanced the rifle on his thigh.
Then, he aimed at the black hole.
"Did the Celestial figure out a way to break Light Eater’s defenses, or is he just winging it? There is barely any time left!" Gamemaster Gamble commented on what was in everyone’s minds, having no clue what Levi had planned.
All they saw was the rifle’s muzzle suddenly displaying a golden glow that was getting brighter by the second.
Seven seconds remained.
Yet, Levi didn’t fire his gun... he just kept charging it nonstop until its surface began to glow as well. The viewers remained confused, watching as the time was running out, while Levi still refused to fire his gun.
However, with three seconds remaining on the clock, the watchers’ confusion changed to shock after noticing Light Eater’s monstrous black hole form twisting rapidly.
"What the..."
Even Gamemaster Gamble was stunned at the sight of Light Eater canceling his black hole form on his own, returning to his humanoid form.
Then, he lifted his long, misty, shadowy hand and pointed in the direction of Levi.
"If I don’t erase your existence in our duel, I am not fit to be called a Half-Obli..."
"You were never fit to be called one."