"What a useful ability that great artist has."
In the center of the battlefield, Noah — having disengaged from combat — switched the sub-DPS Sanhua in his team composition to Zhezhi.
Zhezhi's Resonance ability was comparable to that of the divine brush of Ma Liang: everything she painted could be brought to life, manifesting as illusions that became reality.
Qiongzhi Ice Silk transformed into a brush which Noah gripped in his hand. One scroll after another was effortlessly painted by him.
To call them scrolls was perhaps an overstatement — he really only needed to draw a circle, since all he required was a container to hold the black tide.
Without Imperator's separation authority, Noah could only resort to this primitive method to separate the black tide.
While Leviathan had not yet reformed its body, his hands moved so fast they left afterimages.
Scroll after scroll was produced at wholesale speed.
The black tide was vanishing at a terrifying rate. More and more buildings finally emerged from the water.
Leviathan panicked. Its body rapidly reformed — but before it could finish, countless vines surged forward desperately, wrapping around it and binding it tightly.
Noah kicked off the ground. Using the vines, he rose higher and higher into the air — ascending, ascending again — straight into the clouds.
He plummeted downward like a meteor falling from the heavens, carrying an aura that seemed capable of destroying the world.
His feet, wrapped in vast Havoc energy, rubbed violently against the air during the high-speed descent, producing dazzling rings of light.
Finally, both feet slammed heavily onto Leviathan's body. The enormous impact force was like a tsunami, instantly driving the massive fish body deep into the surface of Ragunna.
From beneath the colossal fish body, cracks spread rapidly in all directions across the ground.
The already incomplete giant fish body was once again shattered by this strike, opening countless hideous wounds. Endless black tide poured out from them — only to be caught by one scroll after another.
Leviathan let out roar after roar of unwillingness. It struggled desperately to control its body and break free of the vines — but more and more vines kept rising, continuously restraining it.
It could not understand how an unknown nobody it had never seen before could be so overwhelmingly powerful — even smashing its body to pieces.
Even that ancient archenemy had never beaten it back without going through countless grueling battles.
Yet now, in barely half an hour, it had already been shattered twice — each time more thoroughly than the last.
Leviathan roared in fury, its voice filled with pain:
"Damn insect! Give me just a little more time, and I will surely erode your will! When that time comes, I will tear you to pieces!"
"Have you had enough?!"
Noah swung Red Spring, carving a massive gash across Leviathan's body. He leaped inside —
"Crimson blossom! In full bloom!"
In the distance, two figures withdrew their gazes.
"It seems your script has failed this time."
"No matter."
Cristoforo gritted his teeth:
"He has already fallen into my script. I still have many chances to rerun it. Sooner or later, I'll find his weakness!"
Beneath the shadow of his wide hat, that once-handsome face had become twisted with rage:
"I will make him experience the despair of Ragunna over and over again. No matter how powerful he is, he will only suffer more and more in this endless loop!"
Time passed minute by minute.
Finally, the last sound of black waves subsided. The thick dark clouds were torn apart by the breaking dawn of the rising sun.
Exhausted, Noah sat on the only intact piece of ruin left in Ragunna. Traces of the black tide clung to his body like stubborn parasites — frozen in place by time-stop.
Ragunna — this prosperous island that had been thriving just twelve hours earlier — had now almost completely sunk beneath the sea. Leviathan's body finally ceased to reappear.
The battle was over, but there were no victors.
The thought that he had arrived too late and failed to save Ragunna made Noah feel so miserable he couldn't even speak.
[Main Quest: The Sacred Breeze So Often Breathes has been completed.]
[Current rewards: Radiant Tide ×40, Lustrous Tide ×20, Astrite ×5640, Shell Credits ×6.59 million.]
As these few small lines appeared at the bottom of Noah's vision, he suddenly felt the world before him flip like the turning of a book page.
As though an invisible hand had turned the script, everything began replaying from the very beginning.
When Noah opened his eyes again, the sound of bustling crowds reached his ears.
Before him was still that city full of Western European charm. Countless tourists disembarked from gondolas at the harbor and walked toward Ragunna's city gate.
Everything had returned to the moment he first stepped ashore.
"Hm?"
The exhaustion that had filled Noah's body vanished. He was once again brimming with energy. His eyes widened instantly.
He pinched his own cheek, feeling the clear sting of pain.
Not a dream.
"I crossed over again?!"
"No — I've been reborn?"
I've been reborn — reborn two hours before Ragunna was swallowed by the black tide, before hundreds of thousands of people fused to become the body of Threnodian Leviathan. This time, with a second chance, I will definitely…
His gaze slowly swept around and finally locked onto a red figure fleeing in panic.
In that moment, Noah suddenly understood everything!
Fractsidus Overseer, Cristoforo — possessing the ability to drag an entire area into a script.
In repeated performances of the script, when the actors within the script completely replaced the protagonist and achieved the exact ending Cristoforo desired —
That script would then become reality in full!
Everything he had just experienced was the content of a script personally orchestrated by Cristoforo.
Then… everything that was supposed to happen to Ragunna still had a chance to be saved!
With this second chance, he would rewrite the script Cristoforo had written and give it a perfect ending!
"Cristoforo, you've really done me a huge favor!"
Noah's face darkened. He spoke softly, switching his active character to Jinhsi.
Sure enough, the intense backlash from time-sequence power was gone.
Truly worthy of being the most beastly Overseer in all of Fractsidus — to have silently toyed with him for so long, making him fight so desperately against Leviathan, and feel such heartache for the fallen Ragunna.
Noah suddenly burst into laughter. The sound carried fury, each word bitten out with force:
"I will definitely… thank… you… properly!"
Bzzz—
Time-sequence power once again froze the flow of time across all of Ragunna.
Cristoforo — who had been fleeing frantically — no longer cared about maintaining his aristocratic dignity. Regret filled his heart.
Why… why had he set the very first page of the script to the moment he first saw Noah?
This setting meant that every time the script restarted, he would inevitably run into this demon.
Cristoforo let out a cry of despair:
"Phrolova, save me!"
"Calling for your mommy?!"
A vine shot out without mercy, binding Cristoforo's legs and yanking him violently toward Noah.
Noah stepped down hard on Cristoforo's head, forcibly halting the momentum from the vine's pull.
"No! Noah, this is my script! You can't kill me!"
Cristoforo forced himself to stay calm, though inside he was already cursing furiously.
Wasn't it supposed to be that as long as he called for help, Phrolova would teleport him away? Where the hell was Phrolova?
Now he could only stall — stall until Phrolova came to save him.
"Your script? I can't kill you? You think I can't kill you?"
Noah was so furious he could barely speak coherently. He clenched his fist tightly, his expression darkening:
"If I can't kill you, then I'll just — keep beating you!"
"Let's see how many hits you can take!"