As soon as Ethan spoke, Victor and the others understood what he ant.
"But... but still," Ery Shaw muttered, letting out a weary sigh.
"There’s no ’but.’ Letting this matter fade away without consequence? That’s too easy for them," Ethan said, his eyes fixed on the chaos below. There wasn’t a trace of pity in his expression.
A few minutes later, the sixty-eight agitators lay on the ground, beaten beyond recognition. Yet the enraged crowd showed no sign of stopping. One woman in particular had completely lost control.
"I gave you the best seven years of my life, and this is how you repay ? You bastard! I’ll eat you!" she scread. In her frenzy, she bit off the ear of a man who was already dead.
"Enough! They’re dead!" Ethan shouted, but the crowd was too far gone to listen.
He tried to use his Soul Power to calm them, but their rage was too overwhelming. He didn’t dare push too hard, afraid he might seriously hurt soone, and frustration darkened his face.
He had only wanted them to vent their anger, to reclaim so sense of justice. He hadn’t expected that once ordinary people were driven mad, they could beco more vicious than any Energy user. Killing was one thing—but this was desecration.
Earlier, Kiara had told Ethan what she’d overheard. The girl was gifted in musical arts and possessed incredibly sharp hearing. Even in total darkness, she could distinguish voices and footsteps. Just monts ago, she had even heard Starfall Caelum murmuring under his breath.
Zheng! Zheng! Zheng!
Just as Ethan was running out of options, the sound of plucked strings echoed through the air.
Everyone turned toward Kiara. Sohow, she had conjured a Zither and was now seated cross-legged on the ground, the massive instrunt resting across her lap. Its size made her look almost childlike beside it. The zither was strange—eighty-one strings, each shimring faintly—but no one stopped to wonder about its origin. The crowd was transfixed.
A faint violet aura shimred around Kiara’s small fra. Her fingers moved lightly over the strings.
The lody that poured out was ethereal, like sothing that had drifted down from the heavens. The clear, crystalline notes brushed against the hearts of everyone who heard them. Each pluck of a string felt like a drop of cool water falling into a clear spring.
The tune was unlike anything anyone had ever heard. As she played, the crowd imagined tiny Fire Phoenixes rising from her fingertips—shimring, graceful, and alive. The phoenixes swirled and danced in the air before scattering across the crowd. They passed through bodies like warm spirits, yet their touch was cool, soothing, washing away the fury that had consud them monts ago.
Slowly, the thousands of people below began to calm. One by one, they stopped moving. They straightened, their eyes softening, and turned toward Kiara, listening quietly to her heavenly song. The screams and sobs faded until there was only silence and the gentle hum of the strings.
The sa crowd that Ethan couldn’t control had been subdued by a single lody.
Zheng! Zheng! Zheng!
Kiara’s fingers quickened across the strings.
"Spirit Calm," she whispered.
Her hands swept forward, striking a deep, resonant note.
Zheng!
A crescent-shaped halo burst from the zither, gliding through the air like a gentle breeze. As it washed over the thousands below, people tilted their heads back, eyes fluttering. The halo dissolved into faint threads of light that sank into their foreheads, and the tension in their faces slowly eased.
"Soul Wipe."
Zheng! Zheng! Zheng!
Three sharp notes rang out in quick succession. Three gray halos flew forth, one after another. Ethan watched as Kiara’s small face flushed red. Her hand trembled slightly as she raised it, hesitating.
Zheng! Zheng!
Kiara bit her lip, and two more gray halos shot out, sliding into the foreheads of the crowd just like the breeze-like crescent before them. In that instant, distant gazes went blank.
"Soul Control!" she called.
Buzz!
Kiara gave a small, sharp cry and then slamd both palms down across the strings. The lody cut off like a snapped thread. A flash of red light burst from the instrunt as her hands hit it, washing over the people below.
Those who had been tilting their heads back suddenly let their heads fall forward. Their eyes closed, but they did not collapse. They simply stood there, still and quiet.
Kiara stood up and let out a long, trembling breath. Her face had gone pale.
Ethan rushed to her side. "Kiara—" He started, the concern in his voice plain.
Ptoo! Ptoo! Ptoo!
A strange sound ca from nearby. Ethan turned and saw Starfall Caelum clutching his chest. Three small pools of black blood had darkened the ground at his feet; the odd noise had co from him.
"Uncle Starfall, I’m so sorry! Did I hurt you?" Kiara cried, the zither vanishing from her hands as she sprinted to him.
Starfall coughed once, twice, and then forced a laugh. "Cough, cough, cough... I’m fine, I’m fine." He rubbed Kiara’s head gently while she patted his back.
"Congratulations! I’m afraid I’m no match for Brother Starfall anymore!" Regis called, cupping his hands toward Starfall as people gathered. His tone made everyone look at one another, puzzled.
Starfall laughed, the sound warm and relieved. "Ha! I owe it all to this little one. With the music from her Zither of the Eighty-One Strings, she forced more of the Necrotic Blood out of my heart."
"Oh! So I didn’t hurt Uncle Starfall after all! That’s good!" Kiara exhaled in relief and pressed a small hand to her chest.
Ethan let out a breath he hadn’t known he was holding. Seeing Starfall cough up blood had squeezed at him—an odd, visceral anxiety that had nothing to do with reason.
"You’re Kiara, right? I didn’t expect you could wield the Zither of the Eighty-One Strings," Starfall said, his expression softening with admiration. "The Quinns have produced an incredible talent. If I recall, no one has mastered that instrunt in over three hundred years."
"Really? I didn’t know that," Kiara said, surprised. "My mother—er—my master always says I’m clumsy. I can only make twenty-seven strings sing so far. The others won’t sound no matter what I try." She pouted, half embarrassed and half proud.
Starfall smiled and ruffled her hair. "Then you are already remarkable, Kiara. Don’t be complacent; keep practicing. Play for again when you’ve learned a few more strings."
"Okay! Next ti I’ll help you force all the Necrotic Blood out!" Kiara pumped her fists and grinned.
"Good." Starfall’s smile was steady. Ethan watched the man and the child together, and, inexplicably, a small twinge of jealousy pricked at him. He shook his head, baffled by the feeling.
"Kiara, what did you do to these people?" Markham called from the edge of the crowd as he circled, prodding a man who slept with his chin on his chest.
"I used Soul Control," Kiara shouted back. "I also wiped five days of their mory, so you don’t need to use the mory Wipers. Those things harm the brain; there’s a risk they’ll turn people into idiots. These people have suffered enough."
"Oh!" Markham hurried over and grabbed a man from the back of the crowd.
"Here’s another one! Hey, sis, hit him with that thing too!" he called, holding up the wiper with a grin.
Kiara glanced at the assembled crowd, at the n and won whose faces now wore the blank, easy calm of those spared a terrible mory. Her shoulders slumped a fraction as if a small weight had finally left them, but the strain of the magic still showed in the pale color of her cheeks.
Ethan stepped closer and lowered his voice. "You pushed yourself hard. Are you all right?"
Kiara offered him a shaky smile. "I’m fine. I just... I couldn’t let them keep hurting people. Music is the only thing that answers ." She looked up at him, steady despite the tremor in her hands. "Besides, Starfall said it worked."
Ethan nodded, but the knot of unease in his chest did not fully release. Around them, the town went quiet under the lingering echo of the zither’s last note, and for the first ti that day, the air felt like it might actually heal.
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