"Look at how wretched you are now, weak existence. Even your anger is so ridiculous!"
Gloomy, oppressive layers of Dark Tide clouds stacked upon one another. Leviathan's enormous figure towered above Rinascita. Every time it swung its fins, it stirred up surging waves, and pitch-black rain poured down in torrents.
"It is time to end this!"
It cast its gaze down from high above. Secret Authority firmly locked onto Noah on the ground.
The evil mutterings were about to erupt when Noah used a teleport to instantly leave Freedom Plaza and rapidly switched teams.
[Team: Carlotta, Zhezhi, Shorekeeper.]
White light flashed again. His figure appeared like a phantom behind Leviathan. The muzzle of a long spear forged from exquisite opal instantly fired a bullet.
"Immobilize!"
"Found you!" Leviathan turned around flexibly, its movements far too swift for its body size.
The bullet fired from the long spear was blocked midway by a pitch-black wave. It opened its mouth, and the vibrating frequency rapidly propagated through the Dark Tide clouds, leaving Noah with nowhere to dodge.
Its four fish-eyes locked onto him. The evil mutterings began chanting repeatedly inside his mind, attempting to destroy his mental defenses.
Noah's heart tightened. He once again returned to the ground via teleport and looked up at the dark clouds in the firmament, his thoughts racing.
"No good. Even if Carlotta's attacks hit, they still cannot eliminate Leviathan in a short time."
But the will of the people of Rinascita could not wait that long.
Faster. He had to be even faster!
He opened the team again. His mind lingered on Camellya's character for half a second, then he moved it away without hesitation.
[Team: Augusta, Iuno, Shorekeeper.]
Boom! The interlocking thunder seemed like the world roaring in anger. The Dark Tide raindrops finally fell from the firmament onto the ground. This time, he had nowhere to dodge.
Secret Authority continuously polluted his spirit. He did not hear the evil mutterings. Instead, he heard countless painful wails echoing uncontrollably inside his mind, sharp as knives.
"What… is this?"
Noah looked up in disbelief. High in the firmament, Leviathan appreciated Noah's stunned expression and could not help laughing excitedly, its voice filled with evil delight:
"Did you hear it? The wails of every person of Rinascita whose consciousness was forcibly harvested. Isn't it extremely pleasant to listen to?!"
"Despicable Threnodian—"
The Authority of the Crown-Forged Thunder rose high. The blade pointed straight at the enormous existence above the firmament. Silver-white lightning in the storm froze this scene of sharp killing intent:
"I will definitely slaughter you!"
"If you can do it, then come and try!"
He switched to Shorekeeper. Noah instantly appeared behind Leviathan.
The Final Ring unfolded. A blue moon and a crimson blazing sun rose together.
The Authority of the Crown-Forged Thunder instantly disassembled into the form of a long blade shining with crimson lightning. Noah knew time was urgent and struck with his strongest attack right from the start.
Augusta Resonance Liberation—Hera's Authority Descends!
A single slash flashing with brilliant crimson thunderous storms came crashing down heavily, yet Leviathan seemed to have already predicted this strike. Its mountain-like enormous body suddenly twisted and narrowly avoided it.
Then its enormous fish tail swept over as swiftly as a hundred-meter wave. Merely the residual force shattered the Final Ring.
Noah was high in the air with no point of leverage. He could only teleport once more to the other side of Leviathan to dodge.
In the next instant, that fish tail unexpectedly reverse-swept back without warning.
"What!"
Noah's pupils contracted sharply. Faced with this sudden strike, he could not dodge in time. He blocked with the long blade and was heavily sent flying backward, crashing into the Dark Tide rain curtain like a cannonball. White light flashed, and he returned to the ground, his eyes flickering unsteadily.
"Hehehe, isn't it strange why I suddenly changed the direction of my attack?"
High in the firmament, Leviathan looked down with contemptuous eyes:
"Noah, you have already been eroded by the Dark Tide! All your attack intentions will be stolen by Secret Authority, and any Resonance power you unleash can be completely absorbed and fused by me."
"Even if you had landed that move just now, so what? Inflicting a slight wound—what difference would it make?"
"In this heaven and earth, there is nowhere that is not my Dark Tide. Within such Dark Tide, I am immortal!"
Lightning flashed and thunder roared. Black rain poured down like a flood.
Noah took a deep breath and forced down his anxiety. The wails in his mind grew louder and louder. Every wail was like a urging voice reminding him that there was no time left.
Leviathan was growing stronger every minute and every second by harvesting the spiritual consciousness of civilization. If he could not resolve it even faster, the entirety of Rinascita would truly be beyond saving.
"A spent arrow at the end of its flight, yet you still dare to be distracted!"
Leviathan's four fish-eyes lit up with eerie purple light. Intense mental pollution instantly resounded thoroughly through Noah's mind.
He had only been thinking about how urgent time was for the people of Rinascita and had completely failed to notice that his own condition was far from optimistic either.
A mouthful of blood was suddenly spat out. His heart pounded like a drum. He felt the world spinning. The world before his eyes grew increasingly pitch-black. The Dark Tide rain curtain grew larger and larger, and the wails echoing in his mind grew louder and louder.
His spirit, together with the people of Rinascita, was enduring the pollution of the plague Threnodian. In a daze of thought, he seemed to hear once more the expectations the crowd had placed on him.
Ten thousand hopeful gazes were cast toward him. Ten thousand voices of prayer rang out in unison as if grasping the final straw of life.
'Save us, Laureate!'
'You are our final hope. No matter what you intend to do, please… you must win!'
'Raise your spirits and rush to the battlefield that belongs to you. May the Sentinel protect you.'
He dazedly stretched out both hands. No matter how hard he tried, he could not reach those countless hands seeking help.
"Righteous One… Righteous One…"
Voice after voice of calling pulled his will back to clarity.
In his hazy, blurred vision, Imperator propped up a cyan barrier. While bitterly resisting the assaults of several Dark Tide giant pythons, it was also fully separating the Dark Tide from his body.
"Righteous One… do not force yourself any further."
The enormous, scar-covered flying horse turned its head. Its eyes were full of bitterness and sorrow:
"You have already done more than enough. Please… leave… do not force yourself any longer. Under these circumstances, even if the Rider personally arrived, it would still be completely impossible to save Rinascita."
"Do not say it is impossible!"
The three words "impossible" stabbed into Noah's nerves like a thorn. He fiercely bit the tip of his tongue and restored clear will.
Leave?
Absolutely not!
Outside the cyan barrier, the Dark Tide giant pythons madly crashed into it. Crack after crack appeared. This barrier was on the verge of collapse.
"I will save Rinascita. I will kill Leviathan. I will not let anyone leave. Whatever I have promised, I will definitely achieve!"
Within a radius of a hundred meters, whether it was the steel bars of houses, or the iron tools buried underground, or even the hands of clocks, all were affected by the powerful electromagnetic force. They broke free of their restraints and gathered over.
He raised his right hand holding the Authority of the Crown-Forged Thunder and fully urged the Resonance power within his body. A persistent fire burned in his eyes. The Tacet Mark on his left hand lit up with piercing light.
"This is… Overclocking!" Imperator cast a shocked gaze.
The intense pain of Overclocking swept through his entire body like surging tidal waters, as if countless steel needles were piercing into his bone marrow at the same time.
Noah only felt every inch of his skin trembling. Every nerve was screaming. His body felt as if it was about to be torn into fragments by this violent power.
He gritted his teeth tightly and desperately deepened the Overclocking degree of Augusta's character once more. Countless glowing cracks spread madly from the Tacet Mark on his left hand toward his entire body.
"I am not that useless blond next door who cannot do anything. I—can do everything!"
No matter what price had to be paid.
All the metal of the entire Ragunna received the command. High buildings collapsed. The city cracked apart. Imperator's eyelids jumped wildly as it hurriedly used spatial authority to freeze the collapsing city.
Countless steel flew and collided together, simultaneously shattering the Dark Tide giant pythons along with the spatial barrier, fusing into an ever-taller steel giant sword.
A bowl of Senqi Pot appeared out of thin air. Noah disregarded the scalding heat and drained it in one gulp.
[Senqi Pot (Golden Ingredient): Increases the ATK of all Resonators in the team by 40% for 30 minutes.]
"Mad, truly mad. Overclocking to this degree—are you trying to perish together with me?!"
Looking at the steel giant sword that was a full hundred meters tall, Leviathan's eyes widened in shock.
What a terrifying giant sword. Merely standing there, it was like a high building. There should not exist any being in this world that could lift it as a weapon, much less any being that could withstand a single strike from it.
"Even if you shatter my body with all your strength, so what? Within the Dark Tide, I am immortal!"
"Then what about adding this as well!"
Switch—Iuno, likewise extreme Overclocking!
Accompanied by countless cracks spreading from the Tacet Mark toward the entire body, extreme Anchoring power brutally poured into the steel giant sword, blooming with grand moonlight.
"What!"
Leviathan's four fish-eyes widened to the extreme in an instant. Its original smile vanished without a trace.
Without another word, it turned its head and fled.
In the end, its current body also belonged to a Dark Tide creation and could also be Anchored.
A massive white light suddenly flashed before Leviathan's eyes. It was Noah, sword and all.
Merely being illuminated by the Anchoring light of that hundred-meter giant sword, Leviathan felt as if sitting on pins and needles.
"Didn't you say you could peer into my actions?"
The Overclocking cracks had spread across Noah's entire body. The pain twisted his features into a ferocious expression, revealing a mouthful of cold white teeth. Both eyes locked onto the enormous figure before him:
"Do everything you can—dodge this sword of mine!"
Both hands with veins bulging high held the hundred-meter giant sword. Crimson lightning leaped and coiled around the sword body, emitting crackling sounds.
Augusta Resonance Liberation—Hera's Authority Descends!
"In the endless dark night, take me as the torch!"
The hundred-meter giant sword, wrapped in radiant crimson thunderous storms, was like a great sun suspended in mid-air illuminating the dark world. When it smashed down, it was like a burning meteor.
Advancing forward without hesitation, unstoppable.
"How is this possible!" Leviathan was greatly alarmed.
Its first thought was to dodge. Its second thought was: how was it supposed to dodge a sword this large?
Leviathan dared not take it head-on. Its body twisted, yet before it could run out, another white light shone into its eyes. The steel giant sword, carrying terrifying force, came crashing down.
Boom!
That mountain-like enormous body was solidly struck by the hundred-meter steel giant sword. The enormous sound produced was like ten thousand thunders exploding, deafening to the ears.
"Ah—"
Leviathan's entire fish head was forcibly smashed into its fish belly. Large patches of wounds exploded across its body. Endless Dark Tide madly sprayed out from the cracked openings.
"How is this possible!" Intense pain made it open its mouth in disbelief. Its voice suddenly changed from shock to terror, only because Secret Authority had smoothly captured Noah's fighting method for it.
This move called Resonance Liberation—there were nine swords in total!
Impossible! How could he possibly swing nine swords? How could It possibly withstand nine swords?
After the nine swords, there was actually still a finishing attack with an even higher damage multiplier?!
Was this really a human?!
Broken cracks crawled all over Noah's body. He paid them no heed. Both hands tightly gripped the giant sword. White light flashed under his feet as he instantly teleported behind the Leviathan that had been blasted away by one sword, and chopped out another heavy, powerful sword.
"Give Cartethyia back!"
Leviathan's tail was heavily smashed into its abdomen. Unprecedented pain made it about to roar in agony. Before it could even wail with its open mouth, another sword swallowed all sound into its belly.
"Give Rinascita back!"
Blood continuously flowed from the cracks of the Tacet Mark and was then burned into piercing white mist by the high temperature brought by Overclocking. The intense pain made Noah roar violently:
"Give everyone back!"
A downward slash from high above heavily smashed the Leviathan that had turned into a round ball out of the range of the Dark Tide clouds, sending it falling toward the vast ocean.
Noah's figure appeared like a phantom beneath Leviathan. Only wild will remained as it squeezed the final strength from his body. The steel giant sword, wrapped in radiant crimson thunderous storms, chopped out heavily, accompanied by a high-pitched roar of fury:
"I order you to give them back!!!"
Boom—Leviathan's body was crushed and exploded by this sword with overwhelming force.
The residual glow of the sword light reverse-chopped upward all the way. It grew larger against the wind and roughly chopped the Dark Tide clouds covering Rinascita into pieces.
Even if the Dark Tide swallowed the heavens, it would still be cleaved by a single sword!
Leviathan's body was forcibly blasted apart. Completely exhausted, Noah finally could no longer hold on. His consciousness scattered as he freely fell from the firmament.
In the gradually darkening field of vision, countless golden souls that had broken free of their restraints lightly floated down from above the cloud layer. He weakly muttered to himself:
"Burned out… this time, there shouldn't be any more accidents…"
Several lines of small text floated up from the bottom of his eyes.
[Main Quest: "The Bygone Shall Always Return" has been completed.]
[Currently Owned: Radiant Tide ×40, Lustrous Tide ×40, Astrite ×9680, Shell Credit ×9.53 million]
[Main Quest: "A Stranger in a Strange Land" has been opened.]
"..."
His scattered consciousness reconverged. A thousand words condensed into two:
"Fuck."
The reward pool was still stacking.
...