A low, oppressive roar like a bellow from the depths of hell sounded. Countless streams of Dark Tide surged out from the Decree-defiling Mirror of Nightmare.
They rolled and twisted like giant pythons awakening one after another. Their bodies carried the force to topple mountains and overturn seas as they smashed fiercely against the cyan spatial barrier.
"Useless struggle!"
Under Leviathan's cold rebuke, the cyan barrier shook violently. Its light gradually dimmed and finally shattered.
After losing the protection of the spatial barrier, countless black giant pythons, like frenzied beasts, madly destroyed the Beacons of Ragunna.
Imperator had no time to speak. It was busy redeploying the spatial barrier while simultaneously dealing with the Dark Tide giant pythons that had charged into Ragunna.
"The way you struggle with all your might is truly amusing, Imperator!"
Leviathan swam through the high-hanging sea of mirrors. Its four icy fish-eyes looked down mercilessly at Imperator on the ground and let out disdainful mockery:
"My vision covers all of Rinascita. Why don't you open your eyes and take a good look? Outside of Ragunna, every Beacon has already been destroyed by me."
"And even if you exhaust all your strength, you can only barely protect the Beacons of Ragunna. What use is that?"
Another enormous roar sounded. At the same time, two places of Dark Tide giant pythons broke through the spatial barrier and wantonly destroyed the Beacons on the ground.
Imperator held on bitterly, its state of mind growing more and more anxious.
These Dark Tide giant pythons were breaking through the spatial barrier at an ever-increasing speed, indirectly indicating that Leviathan was also strengthening at a speed difficult to comprehend.
How much longer could It hold on?
"Still daring to be distracted!"
High in the heavens, Leviathan's four fish-eyes lit up with eerie purple light. Endless mutterings instantly resounded thoroughly through Imperator's mind.
Its body stiffened, and a pitch-black giant python pounced on it fiercely. Its snow-white body slammed hard into the central Beacon on Freedom Plaza and snapped it clean through.
Boom—
Imperator dragged its battered body to its feet. After seeing everything before its eyes clearly, its mind felt as if it had suffered a heavy blow.
In the vast Rinascita, not a single Origin Light remained. Boundless darkness once again descended upon the world.
Above the firmament, the inverted Rinascita within the mirror was falling at high speed, drawing closer and closer.
Six words appeared in Imperator's mind.
Rinascita is finished!
...
In the mirror world, Noah pushed his soaring speed to the extreme.
Whether he looked up or down, the entire world no longer held any light of the Origin Light.
He charged upward toward the sky, and the sky was also falling toward him. For a moment, he could not even distinguish which side was the real Rinascita.
"I'm here."
He switched to Cartethyia and used spatial authority to stabilize his form. He took out his own small Decree-defiling Mirror of Nightmare.
One side was the pitch-black mirror surface covering the entire firmament; the other was the Decree-defiling Mirror of Nightmare that could be held in one hand. One large and one small, the two mirrors reflected each other, with less than a palm's distance between them.
Then Noah took out the lantern. The warm and pure Origin Light illuminated his eyes. That was a resolute determination to stake everything on one throw:
"There is no other way. It must succeed!"
He muttered to himself, gripping the lantern, and extended it into the space between the two Decree-defiling Mirrors of Nightmare.
In that single instant, it was as if a grand carnival of light had been ignited.
The warm, pure Origin Light leaped and shuttled madly between the two mirrors. Every reflection seemed to inject new vitality into this radiance.
The originally gentle light rapidly grew dazzling, as if tens of millions of brilliant starlights had gathered here, releasing a radiance that dazzled the eyes and entranced the mind.
On the lantern, a line of small characters became clearly visible.
Connection, upward—the path of salvation lies within—Fenrico.
"Still not enough! Still need more light!"
Sensing that the Decree-defiling Mirror of Nightmare was rapidly heating up, Noah switched to Encore and urgently urged the Resonance power within his body.
There must be light, there must be more light, there must be light sufficient to drive away all darkness!
"May the light shine down!"
Imagination—manifest!
The power of light contained within the Origin Light instantly multiplied geometrically. Grand like a blazing sun of light, the radiance it released was enough to drive away all darkness and evil, illuminating the entirety of Rinascita.
Even though Noah tightly closed his eyes, he was still stabbed by such radiance until the pain was almost unbearable.
Crack!
Cracks appeared simultaneously on both the large and small Decree-defiling Mirrors of Nightmare under the unbearable burden. Then the entire mirror surface rapidly collapsed.
The Decree-defiling Mirror of Nightmare was like a Rupert's Drop whose tail had been crushed. Cracks like disordered spider webs spread madly at a speed the naked eye could barely catch, and the sounds of shattering and breaking continued without end.
This inverted mirror covering the sky of Rinascita finally could not withstand it. The mirror world disintegrated and fell apart, and the imprisoned souls were released.
The direction of gravity reversed back to normal. Countless golden souls rose from the "Rinascita" beneath Noah's feet and, together with the countless fragments of the mirrors, fell toward the real earth.
The entire world seemed to rain golden and black rain at the same time. The scene was extremely spectacular.
On the ground, Imperator, who had originally fallen into despair, widened its eyes and firmly etched this scene into its mind.
Amid the countless golden and black rain, that figure holding the rising sun was clearly visible.
He held the lantern in his hand, illuminating the dawn of civilization!
"Well done!" Imperator was greatly encouraged.
"Well done!"
Another high-pitched voice, harsh and grating, resounded through heaven and earth.
Without the Decree-defiling Mirror of Nightmare, Leviathan's figure and the large mass of Dark Tide clouds finally revealed themselves. Its four pairs of fish-eyes erupted with ferocious, vicious light.
It laughed in extreme anger. The terrifying power radiating from its body almost solidified into substance:
"Noah, what a fine Noah. You actually shattered my Decree-defiling Mirror of Nightmare."
"But—do you think this is enough to save the people of Rinascita?"
"You are far too naive!"
Terrifying Assimilation authority activated. Tens of thousands of pitch-black chains stretched out from the Dark Tide clouds and mercilessly captured every golden soul back into the Dark Tide cloud layer.
A wild wind rose. The pitch-black clouds surged like ocean waves. Dull thunder rumbled like the sound of the tide. Silver snakes of lightning flashed through Leviathan's roar that was filled with anger:
"Since you refuse to merge into my Heaven, then—"
"All of you, die!"
Noah's expression sank. His gaze locked tightly onto Leviathan.
He had broken the Decree-defiling Mirror of Nightmare, so Leviathan had become the second obstacle that must be faced.
Even across a great distance, he could clearly sense that the current Leviathan was extremely strong!
He put away the lantern, switched to Cartethyia, and gripped the Unyielding Destined Crown in his hand.
"Furious tides, split the heavens!"
A radiant sword light came chopping fiercely, yet Leviathan neither dodged nor avoided. Instead, it opened its enormous fish mouth.
That single sword that could almost split the heavens fell into its mouth and was easily chewed to pieces by countless sharp triangular reverse teeth, seemingly becoming nourishment for the opponent instead.
"In front of me as I am now, you still dare to use power of the same origin as mine!"
The four fish-eyes suddenly turned icy:
"Seeking your own death!"
Assimilation authority erupted once more, its target pointing directly at Noah. The latter suddenly felt a sharp pain in his chest. The frequency and power belonging to Cartethyia gathered from every limb and bone into his chest and burst out of his body, as if detonated from a distance.
He finally understood how Cartethyia had been defeated by It.
Dazzling blood instantly dyed the white outer garment on his chest red.
"Hahahahaha!"
Seeing Noah's figure smash heavily into the ground, Leviathan laughed without restraint:
"Insignificant, truly insignificant!"
"If this is all the level you have, I don't think it will take long before this world is destroyed by the Dark Tide."
"Noah, why don't you stand up again?"
When the smoke and dust cleared, on the ground a figure propped itself up on a long sword and stood with difficulty.
[Cartethyia 5-chain bonus: When receiving fatal damage, this damage will not cause Cartethyia to fall, and she gains a shield equal to 20% of max HP lasting ten seconds. Triggers once every 10 minutes.]
That pale face tilted upward. Bloodshot eyes looked toward the firmament, as if gazing from afar at all the people of the nation of Rinascita.
The brilliant silver light of lightning illuminated the pitch-black cloud layer. Leviathan's enormous figure shuttled through the inverted sea of Dark Tide, like an unscalable high mountain.
Boom!
Thunder rumbled. Lightning illuminated Noah's face, casting a ferocious and fierce shadow, like a trapped beast in a desperate situation.
Under the magnificent might of the heavens, his figure was lonely and furious.