Mysterious golden light waves covered Ragunna. That hundred-meter steel giant sword continuously disassembled.
Under Time Authority, the metals of various forms returned along their original paths, either becoming the steel bars of buildings, or the planks of sailing ships, or the hands of clocks.
Taken from the people, returned to the people.
Everything seemed to have returned to calm—provided one ignored the dense Dark Tide clouds that had once again covered everything.
"Good news. Everyone's consciousness has returned. People have already begun to awaken."
On Freedom Plaza, Imperator looked at Noah with deep concern, wanting to speak yet stopping.
"Speak, Old Horse. What's the bad news?"
With a sigh, Imperator continued:
"Although the Righteous One has eliminated Leviathan's body, It absolutely has not perished because of this."
"Previously It harvested a large amount of human consciousness. The current It absolutely still has sufficiently abundant power. Right now it should be hiding in some corner to re-incubate a body."
"We do not know where It will hide, nor do we know how long It will lie dormant. This complete-form posture of mine… can only be maintained for another three hours."
Truly a troublesome situation.
Noah lowered his gaze and thought briefly.
If one referenced the development of the original plot, Leviathan at this moment was probably hiding inside another Heaven within the Dark Tide.
But he was not certain whether the settings of the original plot could still be used under the current circumstances.
If he now took the risk of entering the Dark Tide to search for Leviathan, would Leviathan take the opportunity to invade Rinascita once more?
"Righteous One, your previous Overclocking…"
"No need to worry. Only those two abilities are temporarily unusable. I myself will not be affected by this. I still have other abilities."
Hearing this, Imperator let out a breath of relief. A trace of guilt still remained in its eyes:
"I am truly sorry for dragging you into a matter like this."
"It's fine. Even if I had not come to Rinascita, Leviathan would have eventually brought disaster to the entirety of Solaris sooner or later."
"On behalf of Rinascita, I thank you… Righteous One, please rest for a while. Leviathan could make a comeback at any time. The disaster has not yet ended. We still need to face the darkness."
"...Mm."
One person and one horse fell silent at the same time. Noah opened his own panel and tried to sort through his thoughts.
Augusta, Iuno, and Cartethyia—three characters unusable all at once.
In the end, the time since he had crossed over was still too short, and the number of characters he had drawn was too few, making things feel stretched thin.
Right now the only ones he could put on the table were six-chain Jinhsi, six-chain Carlotta, and six-chain Spectro and Havoc Rover.
As for six-chain Aero Rover… an auxiliary that did not even deal as much damage as two-chain Camellya. Why would the quest module provide him with such a trial character?
Noah could not figure it out. He opened the quest module, hoping to find a few clues.
[Daily Quest: "If I Never See You Again Tomorrow" has been opened.]
[Main Quest: "Dawn Breaks on Dark Tides" has been opened.]
[Quest Description: The danger of the Dark Tide erupting in Ragunna has been contained. You are about to rush to the distant city of Septimont.]
[Trial Character Provided: Rover (Six-chain Aero).]
[Main Quest: "A Stranger in a Strange Land" has been opened.]
"Oh."
It was fine not to look. The moment he saw the newly appeared Qiuyuan main quest, Noah only felt himself uncontrollably starting to overheat:
"How can a game add a character's Companion Story into the main quest?!"
Companion Stories and Main Quests—could those be the same difficulty?
This time in Rinascita there was also no Scar. What was Qiuyuan doing coming to Rinascita?
"Someone is coming. It seems they are looking for you. I will avoid them for a moment."
Leaving these words, Imperator was about to drill into the portal it had created at its side to leave when it was stopped by Noah.
"Old Horse." He handed over a lantern whose light was already weak:
"Can you separate a bit of your Origin and charge some Origin Light into this lantern? We still need it to drive away the Dark Tide."
Accepting the lantern, Imperator did not say much more. It only nodded and then turned to leave.
Not far away, a petite figure hurried over at a quick pace.
"Tall Chestnut!"
Carlotta crashed headfirst into his embrace. Both hands tightly hugged him:
"Thank goodness you're okay… wait, is that the smell of blood?"
Her delicate nose forcefully inhaled at Noah's chest. Carlotta's exquisite face tilted upward. Those brilliant eyes became flustered, and her eye sockets turned red:
"You… you're injured?"
"No such thing."
Noah flatly denied it and took half a step back:
"Little Potato, how is your condition right now? Do you still remember the matters of the Mirror Heaven? Is there anywhere that feels uncomfortable?"
"I'm fine." Carlotta likewise flatly denied it.
"Brother Noah, Miss Carlotta!"
A greeting sounded. The two of them turned their heads in unison and saw Brant and Roccia waving as they hurried over at a quick pace.
"Seeing that you two are okay is truly wonderful."
Finally arriving in front of them, Brant forcefully gave Noah a bear hug:
"Look, I can touch you now. This means we have finally come out of that Mirror Heaven."
"Captain, mind your image."
Roccia shook her head helplessly. Her gold-and-purple heterochromatic eyes cast a gaze toward Noah:
"Although I don't know what happened, it must have been you, Laureate, who saved us. Thank you."
"I only did a little of what I could. I haven't truly solved the problem."
Noah shook his head slightly and instead asked:
"How do you two feel right now? Is there anywhere that feels uncomfortable?"
At the mention of this, both of their expressions changed slightly. The relaxed look on Brant's face faded:
"To be honest, the feeling right now is like having had a very terrifying nightmare. After waking up, the entire person feels as if all strength has been drained, becoming very tired."
"Yes." Roccia nodded. A few more traces of worry appeared on her little face:
"At the port, among everyone in the troupe's flower ship, there are still some people who have not been able to wake up. It seems they are still trapped in that nightmare. No matter how we call them, they won't wake."
"There are people who can't wake up?"
How could this be?
Noah turned his gaze sideways:
"Little Potato, does the Montelli have this kind of situation?"
"This… on the way here, I did indeed see a small number of Montelli people who had not woken…"
The moment the words left her mouth, Carlotta hurriedly changed the topic:
"It might be some special illness. I can look for a doctor later to help resolve it. Don't worry too much."
I'm afraid that no matter how brilliant a doctor's medical skills are, they would be helpless against this kind of situation.
Noah took a deep breath and formed a guess.
He had saved everyone of Rinascita, yet the matter had not been resolved in such an idealized way. Just as Imperator had said, Leviathan had harvested a large amount of consciousness.
Although everyone had survived, they might suffer the effects of this missing consciousness for the rest of their lives, or even fall into a long sleep from which they would never awaken.
He was not satisfied with such an ending.
If he could not achieve a perfect ending, how was that any different from failure?
"The Fisalia Family has done relatively more research on the Dark Tide and Threnodians."
Noah spoke thus:
"Like this—I'll make a trip to the Fisalia Family and see if they have any medicine or method over there that can make people regain clarity."
"Wait…"
Carlotta grabbed the corner of his clothes:
"I'll go with you."
"I'm free anyway." Brant immediately raised Roccia's hand:
"We're going too."
"Alright." Noah did not refuse. He switched to Shorekeeper. Four beams of white light unfolded beneath their feet:
"One, two, three—go!"
...
Thessaleo Fells, Porto-Veno Castle.
In the open front courtyard, a group of Fisalia Family members were gathered together. At the head, Cantarella's brows were tightly furrowed. In her hand she held a bottle of secret medicine.
"It's no use, Family Head… my spirit can no longer be recovered."
In front of everyone, a man whose entire body was covered in Dark Tide traces collapsed on the ground. Gilberto's mind grew increasingly blurred. Tormenting whispers resounded through his mind.
He forced words out of his throat with difficulty:
"I don't want… to die in the form of a monster. Family Head, please… kill me!"
Cantarella did not speak. Her cherry lips were tightly bitten as she looked at the terminal in her hand.
The Beacons on the Fisalia side had already been destroyed. The distress message she had sent to Noah could not be received by the other party at all.
The Fisalia Family had originally been the ones most deeply affected by the Threnodian. After returning from the Mirror Heaven, Gilberto was far from the only one whose spirit had suffered severe erosion.
Could it be… that they could only give them a final release?
A trace of reluctance flashed through Cantarella's eyes. Several dreamlike jellyfish appeared in her hand:
"Gilberto… perish within the final beautiful dream…"
"They're here, Family Head. Honored Guest You has arrived."
Butler Sebastian called out from afar. Behind him followed four figures—none other than Noah's group.
"Wonderful!"
Cantarella immediately dispersed the jellyfish in her hand. A trace of joyful smile appeared on her face:
"Gilberto, you are saved."
"Thank you…"
Gilberto spoke in a daze:
"May glory… return to… the Montelli…"