"The sky is about to collapse!"
"Someone save us!"
"Haha, the world has gone mad, let's all die together!"
"Sentinel above, please save Your devout people."
The sky drew closer and closer. Unprecedented fear spread like a plague, driving everyone gathered at the Order of the Deep into despair and madness.
Clamor, noise, hysteria—complete disorder.
Some lost control of their emotions and started fighting with those around them; some waved Shell Credits around demanding paper and pen so they could leave last words; most simply cried and screamed helplessly.
Noah saw it all, yet could do nothing.
He lowered his head, fists clenched tight, and walked through the chaotic crowd toward the pure-white pillar of light behind the Order.
Would there be a way to solve the crisis there? He did not know.
He only wanted to seize any possible clue, even if that clue might not help much.
Even making a mistake was better than doing nothing.
"Laureate!"
A shout rang out from somewhere, and the noise inside the Order suddenly fell silent.
Pair after pair of eyes turned toward the source of the voice. Faces that had been clutching at the last straw in the depths of despair all turned toward that figure. Mouths opened and closed in unison:
"Laureate!"
"It's the Laureate!"
"I've seen him split the heavens with a single sword, and kill countless Dark Tide Tacet Discords in Septimont!"
"Save us, Laureate!"
"..."
Even though the interior of the Order was already packed into a solid mass, people still spontaneously cleared a space beside Noah.
Countless voices pressed down on him from every direction.
The weight of that burden made Noah stop in his tracks. He looked around at the faces—some young and tender, some mature, some aged.
They might have been pure, ignorant children who should still be in school, street vendors rushing about for a living, or medical workers who saved lives.
At this moment, every one of them recognized him, and every one of them looked only at him.
In their eyes was only a fragile hope that could shatter at a single touch.
Noah's throat felt as if something were stuck in it. He could not speak, yet an inexplicable impulse rose in his heart, urging him to say something.
He raised his hand.
All the noise around them seemed to obey a command and fell quiet. Even breathing became extremely light.
"I know… all of you are very afraid."
Noah finally spoke. His voice was not loud, yet in that silence where a falling pin could be heard, it carried clearly so that everyone could hear it.
"But the difficulties we face will not show us mercy because we are afraid, nor will they go easy on us because we are in despair."
"Every cry, every wail will only fan the enemy's arrogant flames and make them plunder everything we have with even greater force."
"In the face of a cruel fate, the only thing we can do is unite. No matter what desperate situation we encounter, we must fight to the end."
"I am not a god. I cannot guarantee that I will eliminate this disaster, but—"
Noah heavily slapped his chest, raised his hand, and pointed at the continuously falling sky. His gaze was resolute, and his voice suddenly grew louder:
"When disaster falls from the heavens, I will stand in front of you!"
Hum—
The moment the words left his mouth, a massive pure-white pillar of light rose slowly from Ragunna's central Beacon, like the first light of dawn, illuminating the dark world completely.
Then, countless pure-white pillars of light shot upward like sharp swords from Beacons all across Rinascita.
Countless sky-piercing pillars connected the two Rinascitas inside and outside the mirror, like pillars propping up the sky, causing the speed of the sky's descent to drop sharply.
The appearance of the pure-white pillars was like lighting a bright lamp in the darkness, bringing a thread of hope for survival to the people under this apocalypse.
People looked up at the sacred white light. The expressions of despair and fear that had covered their faces gradually gave way to hope and joy.
"Look quickly, the sky has stopped falling!"
"The light… our hope has come."
"The Laureate is right. In the face of disaster, we must not be weak."
"Show our courage and unite!"
The people gathered at the Order of the Deep felt as if they had been injected with one dose of strong stimulant after another. Supporting one another, they regained the courage and fighting spirit to face the difficulties.
But suddenly, another cry of alarm rang out from beside Noah:
"Someone has fainted!"
Fainted?
Noah turned his head in shock and indeed saw an elderly person collapse unconscious to the ground. No matter how the people around shook them, there was no sign of awakening.
His heart went cold.
How could a consciousness body faint?
The only explanation was that even without Tacet Discords causing harm, Leviathan was still subtly absorbing everyone's will.
The longer they stayed in the mirror world, the more dangerous everyone's situation would become.
Time… was growing more and more urgent!
Noah clenched his teeth tightly, turned around, and crossed the crowd. Wherever he passed, people spontaneously opened a path for him.
Large numbers of clergy from the Tide Church knelt on the ground, devoutly praying toward the statue of the Sentinel. In the open space directly opposite the Cathedral of Mercury, a pure-white pillar of light stood straight and tall.
This was perhaps the only empty place left in the entire Order of the Deep. Around the pure-white pillar stood only the five Primus candidates.
"Mr. Noah."
Phoebe turned her head and saw Noah. Joy immediately appeared on her face as she hurried forward to stand before him. The other four also cast looks of admiration toward him.
"I heard everything you just said. It was very powerful and encouraged everyone."
"Thank you…"
But what use was mere encouragement? If they could not break the Decree-defiling Mirror of Nightmare, everyone would still die.
A trace of bitterness showed in Noah's eyes. He shook his head, not lingering on the topic, and instead pointed at the straight pillar of light, asking Phoebe:
"Phoebe, can you tell me what this pure-white pillar of light is about?"
"That is the Origin Light. It is emitted by the lantern that the Order's first Primus, Napoli II, received from the Sentinel's hand. It is also the last thing Primus Fenrico left behind before boarding the pilgrimage ship."
Phoebe answered without thinking:
"After countless Tacet Discords invaded Ragunna, this lantern suddenly emitted the Origin Light. It can drive away approaching Tacet Discords. We took out the lantern and guided the people here to the Order for refuge."
Origin Light, is it.
Noah gazed at the pure-white pillar of light, thoughts rising in his mind.
In Rinascita's background story, several hundred years ago, people who had fled from the Lament drifted across the vast ocean, lost their way, and lived in constant fear.
Until Imperator lowered the Origin Light. The instinct to chase the light brought the people here, and they established the nation of Rinascita.
This upward beam of light was the earliest connection and self-salvation of Rinascita's civilization.
Could it be used to break the Decree-defiling Mirror of Nightmare?
Thinking of this, Noah raised his head and followed the white light all the way upward until he saw the Decree-defiling Mirror of Nightmare that it was piercing into the firmament.
There, no white light from outside the Decree-defiling Mirror of Nightmare was connected to it. Compared with the other pillars of light, this white light was half a length shorter for no reason.
Yet the Decree-defiling Mirror of Nightmare did not appear to have been affected in any way.
Not possible?
Noah bit his lip tightly, his mind racing.
Earlier, when the "sky" was falling, it should have been Imperator outside the mirror controlling the Beacons to emit the Origin Light.
After large amounts of Origin Light appeared, the speed of the "sky's" fall suddenly dropped sharply. This proved that the Origin Light did have an effect on the Decree-defiling Mirror of Nightmare.
The reason it could not destroy the Decree-defiling Mirror of Nightmare—could it be because… the distance was too far?
If they could be brought a little closer...
The moment this thought occurred to him, Noah opened his backpack and quickly searched through it, taking out a scroll painting.
Once upon a time, after he had first destroyed this Threnodian creation—the Decree-defiling Mirror of Nightmare—he had sealed it away in his backpack.
He unrolled the painting. Only a small mass of Dark Tide remained inside. Noah activated his Time authority and frantically rewound that mass of Dark Tide.
Under his tense and expectant gaze, the mass of Dark Tide twisted and struggled continuously within the rewinding flow of time, until it finally recovered into a mirror edged with gold.
Threnodian creation—Decree-defiling Mirror of Nightmare!
Without waiting for the others to react, Noah inverted the Decree-defiling Mirror of Nightmare in his hand and pressed it down onto the lantern.
The pure-white pillar of light was blocked by the mirror, yet it showed no problems whatsoever from approaching the light source at close range.
Not working!
Why still not working!
The last hope shattered. Noah gripped the Decree-defiling Mirror of Nightmare tightly, the force so great that his finger joints turned white.
He clearly felt that the Origin Light did have destructive power against the Decree-defiling Mirror of Nightmare, but—it was far too limited.
Unless the power of the Origin Light was multiplied several times over, it would be completely impossible to thoroughly destroy the Decree-defiling Mirror of Nightmare.
But how could that be possible? Wait… it was not necessarily impossible to try.
"Mr. Noah, have you discovered something?"
Beside him, Phoebe asked carefully.
"I have…" Noah nodded. "I need to borrow this lantern for a while."
"Ah, this…" The other Primus candidates' expressions all changed at once. Then a harsh shattering sound suddenly rang out.
Everyone turned their heads in unison.
Several Beacons were destroyed out of thin air, and with them several pure-white pillars of light instantly vanished, causing the light across all of Ragunna to dim by half in an instant.
Countless Tacet Discords occupied large swaths of the corresponding areas.
Witnessing this, the four Primus candidates' expressions changed drastically once more.
"The Beacons… how is this possible, the Beacons have been destroyed?!" The only middle-aged woman among the five Primus candidates cried out in alarm.
"No, Lord Laureate, you cannot take the lantern away." Another Primus candidate spoke up to stop him.
"Lord Noah, you have seen it as well—the Origin Light emitted by the Beacons can be destroyed."
Lude stepped forward, tightly pressing down on the lantern, and pleaded with Noah:
"Please, stay behind and protect the lantern together with us. The final light cannot disappear."
"Give him the lantern!"
Phoebe stood one step to Noah's side and argued hard:
"Lord Lude, and all the Primus candidates, I believe the Laureate must have his reasons for doing this. What's more… the light inside the lantern is already not much."
"This…"
Several more Beacons shattered. One pure-white pillar of light after another vanished. The roaring of Tacet Discords came from the darkness.
Looking up, the sky began to accelerate its descent once more. Fine cold sweat appeared on Lude's forehead.
"Fine."
He finally released his hand. The gaze he directed at Noah carried a plea:
"You are our final hope. No matter what you intend to do, please… you must win!"
"Mr. Noah." Phoebe delivered the lantern with both hands. On her pure little round face, which was usually so clean, there was now an unprecedented solemnity:
"Raise your spirits and rush to the battlefield that belongs to you. May the Sentinel protect you."
...