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THE CRUCIFIX. Gothica from the depths of the abyss.

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Prelude:

Sooner or later, you need to let people go, even if they're only living inside your head as a persistent image that makes you move forward. Living in reality and being yourself is much more important than living in the past. Rose Requiem is an album about finding yourself, your path, and inner motivation. This is an album about giving up illusions, accepting your true nature, and trying to live without relying on a comfortable past. Rose Requiem is an album about how to bury the past in order to see the future down to its bones.

This is an album that tells the story of what happened between Gothorum Aurora and Silicon Soul - Chapter 1, and combines the lines of all 9 past albums together. This album is also NEEDED to understand what will happen next in the Silicon Soul and 2165 sequels. Stay here, turn on the music, and don't think about anything else. Let the story begin:

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Rose Requiem:

The Doomsday King sits upon the throne inside his vast palace. A few days ago he lost everything. The one who is guilty of causing this - Averia, is already returning to the palace for the one thing that remains to be taken - the life of the King. Having single-handedly destroyed an entire empire, he strides heavily, turning the earth to dust. Thousands of years ago, it was he who gave the mark of the crucifixion to the King, and now he comes to collect the payment. First, he took the King's pregnant wife, Eurydice. She was killed by her own son - The Inquisitor. His mind was clouded by Averia, who pretended to be the Goddess Of The Moon. Afterwards, the two sons of the King - The Inquisitor and Darkwinged, clashed in a wild fight, dying together. Now, the entire family of Godhunters is in danger of disappearing from the face of the earth.

The heavy doors open and Averia enters. Neither tall nor short, neither thin nor fat, neither handsome nor ugly, he is infinitely young, and probably immortal, because he is not a man; not even a living being. He wears a sarcastic smile, frozen upon his face as he looks at the enraged King. The King was not going to give up the throne, and therefore, a battle ensued between them. Alas, it is impossible to defeat the one who gave you your strength. Averia, of course, toyed a little with him, and was even surprised at how far the King went with his skill, but alas, it was not enough.

In the end, putting him on his knees, Averia began to scoff. He reproached the King for his weakness and cowardice, for his selfishness and self-deception. He reproached the King for the "Rose", which the King could not let go. He peered into the very root of the King's soul, because Averia is the father of sin; the absolute manifestation of the will of the Abyss that will come for anyone whom it deems unworthy of existence. As he ascended to the throne in all his glory, he cursed the King with madness. From now on, the Doomsday King is doomed to wander the ruins of his own country, contemplating all the sins that his selfish rule had allowed to come to pass. Mad, grey-haired and doomed, the King was thrown out of the palace.

"I'm sorry, but that's fate." A voice from the castle resounded throughout the world, addressing the fallen King.

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In a village infected with the plague of madness, an old, grey-haired fool appeared. Dressed in rags, and barely dragging a stick, he climbed into a ruined house. The inhabitants, however, were not happy with him, because they had not eaten people's flesh for quite a long time. Unfortunately for them, defeating the Godhunter - even if he is insane and cursed - is not an easy task. Very soon, the usual skirmish turned into a bloody meat-grinder. The Endless Tower - created from the corpses of those who flocked to the smell of blood. Just as The Inquisitor had once sacrificed the lives of many people for the sake of ascending to paradise, so now, the King, like his son, kills his subjects in an attempt to survive, and quench the madness.

“This time, the world would ignore it.”

Coming to his senses after the battle was over, the King journeyed on. He joined a procession of cultists who carried a huge bell to a city in another country that belonged to Averia. The King could not understand why Averia did not pursue him, and why he left him the seal of the crucifixion, which sometimes allowed him to hold back the curse by feeding on blood. He walked aimlessly, and with every second, the struggles with his own madness and remorse continued, reminding him of his country lying in ruins, littered with distraught people. He wanted to run away from here, hoping to get rid of his fears.

Alas, running away never solves the problem. Arriving in the Gothic City, and wandering among the cultists who ignored him, the King began to hear voices. Voices ordering him to kill everyone for revenge. Voices that reminded him of the old wound that makes him hate the whole world. Seeing a familiar image and falling into a monstrous frenzy, the King again begins a bloody massacre, cleansing the city of all life, down to the last man. Many of them did nothing wrong, for which the conscience madly torments the King, even through the veil of unconsciousness and rage. Realising his madness, he screams at the sky, cursing "The System". He says that "The System" took his soul, and that he will return it at all costs, although he does not even understand the meaning of these words. He sees only one thing - the image of a girl, Rose, whom he apparently calls "The System".

Blood oozes among the stone pavement slabs, mixing with sewer water. The murder of so many people cannot go unpunished. Only Averia could bear such a thing, because he is the will of the Abyss. Last time, it was he who helped The Inquisitor get away with it, in the name of his plan. But right now, no one will help the King, not even he.

Feeling the insane flow of souls and blood, the Sun Goddess appeared in the sky - the greatest of all the described deities. Her monumental silhouette erupted straight from the core of the star, like a man escaping from an egg. Turning her gaze to the King, she reduced his once mighty body to ashes with a single movement.

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The King did not feel death. He was always afraid of her more than anything, but then she came, and nothing happened. For thousands and thousands of years, he wandered upon the sands of a strange, different world, among the voices of the dead, in the great desert. This world was inhabited by wild people using strange metal boats on wheels.

Getting used to the new world, the King pondered how and why he came to such a life. Rose is a girl with whom he was in love a very long time ago, in his youth. For her sake, he wanted to become a King, and she gave him the meaning of life. Unfortunately, back then he was too pathetic and weak to keep Rose around. He lacked the power and status to honestly become King. To do this, he even made a deal with Averia, receiving from him the sign of the Crucifixion and usurping the throne, but then Rose disappeared into the void, fleeing to another world.

Back then, the King was furious. He hated Rose for her betrayal, and himself for his weakness. He knew that his power was only a lie, but he continued to use it, building his own empire. As an object of revenge, he chose the gods - it was they who he considered guilty for the disappearance of Rose. He thought they took her to make him weaker. And although the King was not a bad person from birth, the mark of the crucifix coupled with the desire to find rose had changed him. For many years he built his Empire with the bones of the Gods and of his people, never forgetting about Rose. Even when he took his wife, Eurydice, and she provided him with children, it was only done to satiate his manic desire to return to the past.

Now, being on the other side of life, and looking at what his country and his family had become, he began to realise the true problem. "Only waste for a crown", and dreaming of a woman who had long forgotten about him. He felt vast rage and hatred for himself as a miserable slave to the past, mixed with a ghostly hope to even just return to a mortal hell. Struggling deliriously with his own mind, the King prepared Requiem for the image of Rose inside his head. The King prepared Requiem for the past, to become Emperor with his own pride. "Better late than never", the voices whispered to him.

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The power of the True Emperor began to grow within him for seemingly no reason. No one could say exactly why this was so, but the mark of the crucifixion on his hand, which had passed from the real world into this other realm, now shone with a golden light. And although he was still unable to revive himself and leave the desert world, he was much stronger now. His energy increased so much that he awakened an ancient force that lives in the depths of the desert - Eduard, the Great Serpent. A being older and more dangerous than both the gods and death itself.

Eduard somehow knew the King well, although they had only known each other in this broken reality for a minute. Before the greatness of the snake, even Averia probably could not resist, but the snake did not want to interfere directly. He only wanted to help the new Emperor a little, and therefore led him through the desert, forcing him to look at images of his fallen kingdom over and over again, so that the King would better realise his sins.

Finally, after many trials, the King began to understand. After all, he hadn't been as weak as he had been in his youth for a long time. It's not only the mark of the crucifixion, but also the thousands of years of life experience that he gained through living a foolish existence. Now, when nothing else fettered him, the very voices of the Abyss heard his Iron Will.

Ironically, he believed that he could not have become like this if Rose had not once abandoned him, giving him an insane and fanatical motivation for strength. Now, the King was rather grateful to Rose, although he still felt disgusted with himself, after all, millions of people died as a result of his stupid whims. Despite this, the King wanted to improve. He wanted to have an Iron Will, and wanted to be Human, not a monster. He wanted to fix everything, because now it was only he who could do it. He wanted to learn how to rule, or even how to destroy the Abyss, because the people in it had long suffered from countless attacks by thousands of demons and other creatures. The Abyss was more like a Hell than a world in which people could hope to live.

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Trial after trial, and image after image, thanks to the serpent, the Emperor remembered who he was. "Noise Killer", "Doomsday King", "Godhunter" - all of these had been his names. The Serpent sometimes jokingly called him "Holy Darksynth Preacher", but the King could not understand this.

The entire Abyss, including Averia himself, was nothing but an imitation. A world created by artificial intelligence that tried to imitate the myths and legends passed down through the histories of human civilisation. All of the Magic and the Gods, all of it was real, only it was constructed from complex technology. Rose was the administrator who followed them for many thousands of years, appearing in the image of different girls to both the King and the Son. Inside the STRUCTURE OF INFINITY, the scales of which made their way through the veil of the collapsing world, Rose was not alone. There were a lot of “them”, waiting somewhere within the depths of the metal vaults of an endless structure, all commanding the same artificial worlds.

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Eduard mysteriously vanished, and the Emperor was thrown back into reality, onto the cold stone floor of a huge platform hanging among giant rectangular monoliths. Here Averia was already waiting for him, the last thing left of the abyss, previously controlled by the now dead Rose from inside the mind of the King.

"You did it? Hah, now we both will finally die" said Averia, exposing the Paradise Sword of the "Swordsman".

The King could hardly contain his rage, and the image of Eurydice floated before his eyes. "So you did all this on purpose? Haven't we won? You could have told me before."

"Whoever kidnapped your Rose and changed her took our Silicon Souls. Yours and mine. Without them, we will turn into dust inside the Structure." Averia smiled, taking off his glove, and showing his hand, from which the skin was slowly peeling off.

"So you're offering the last fight?" the King exclaimed.

Averia retorted, "I'm not suggesting, you have no choice. And I hope you have something to avenge, because I do, Lucius."

"I don't know what I did to you, but you took just as much from me, you bastard!" Lucius (the King) snarled as he charged into battle.

The fight was fast, and there were no winners. Having lost the Silicon Soul in a sector without an administrator, there is only one way for any creature to return - into the noise. It's just, Averia was mistaken…

"Hah, so I lost?" Averia was lying on a smooth stone, slowly turning into dust.

The wounded Lucius was alive and still in one piece. "You fought well, but it seems that my Silicon Soul is with me. I'm sorry, but that's fate." Lucius raised his blade over Averia.

"No, you're wrong. It's just that you don't understand yet. But, you can call yourself a winner if you want, fool. Hah, Finally, it happened." Averia smiled, and turned to dust before the blade of Lucius sank into the cold stone with fury.

Averia was right. Within a minute, Lucius began to crumble. Standing alone, on a platform thousands of kilometres long. Among monolithic, grey columns and metal stairs, he began to rapidly turn to dust, just as his kingdom had. Only the ghostly image of Eurydice, who was always faithful to him despite knowing about his "addiction", flashed before his eyes. Maybe it was her last will, but the King did not die completely. As soon as Lucius crumbled to dust, an ancient crown, forgotten by himself, fell from the heavens and rolled across the floor, leaving a trail of blood. This crown was made for him by Eurydice, lying on the platform as a cold memory of the digital abyss that once existed.

Or not..?

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Several thousand years later, the Boy, codenamed "Hei SC-117", once again escaped from captivity. He loved to wander through the STRUCTURE, and even when he got into trouble, he always managed to get out of it, and onwards he forged, deeper and deeper. This time, as he crossed the vast valley in the Moon region on foot, he noticed a strange sheen upon the stone.

"Is that a crown? Just like in old fairy tales!" He was delighted, as a collector of objects of the ancient eras. The people called them "Seekers". Unfortunately, the Seekers had not accepted him due to his age, so he "worked alone".

"I wonder if it will look good? I need a mirror." Hei murmured, putting the bloody crown upon his head.

"W... What's happening?!" He suddenly shouted, clutching his head. The crown disappeared, and Hei remained lying on the ground. He was still breathing... He was alive... But he was not alone...


TO BE CONTINUED...

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Collaborations on the Album (ENDLESS TOWER feat. Dav Dralleon):

I have the utmost respect for Dav Dralleon's epic style and his "Archangel Firespawn" was one of the craziest tracks I've ever heard in my life. This may sound "basic", but it's really an honour to work with such a great artist. I hope we can work together again in the future.

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What this Album means to me:

In fact, this release is my big reflection. I had a story divided into 9 different albums, and I needed to connect them somehow. I really struggled with the past and the future very hard for 3 years now and felt completely lost until I came up with this plot. It not only logically connected all 9 albums, but also allowed me to choose my life path, finally deciding how I want to live the rest of my life. It may not yet be my greatest album in terms of sound (because I'm growing endlessly) but in terms of the idea, it's the most important.

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About the Album Production Style:

Before writing the album, songs were heavily inspired by Nobuo Uematsu's soundtrack Final Fantasy, and Perturbator with his latest album. I listened to these two a lot, and I wanted to somehow combine all the styles together, because usually I write different music and it always sounds different. The result is this album that combines all the styles and skills that I have ever used. It is deliberately written as such a large album in order to put a big end to the old albums, and give rise to new cycles.

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About the Album Artwork:

The album covers were drawn by my friend and kind of a fan. About 5 years ago, she already drew covers for my friend Starfounder. She asked not to be listed anywhere, and she also does not have social networks, so that's all I can say.

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Upcoming Projects:

This next year I'm planning to release a sequel to Psychopunk 2165 (Kate's Revenge 2167) followed by a long line of Silicon Soul albums as there are so many planned. I'm also working on a big cyberpunk game entirely in the Silicon Soul setting with my soundtrack, so that will also be online one day.

Thank you for supporting me on my journey! ~ THE CRUCIFIX.