"Become the Executor of the god!"
The frenzied whispers fell and echoed again and again inside Noah's mind. Even the Separation Authority could only barely resist the pollution of the whispers.
The fallen mental pollution strongly invaded Noah's will, making his brain ache as if it were about to split open. The world before his eyes grew darker and darker, as if stained with blood.
"Do not resist. As long as you do not resist, it will not hurt—"
The bewitching low voice carried a tempting sweetness. With a single thought from Leviathan, the Decree-defiling Mirror of Nightmare separated a mass of pitch-black Dark Tide and shot it out like an arrow leaving the string.
Slap!
The black tide accurately struck Noah. The process went so smoothly that even Leviathan found it hard to believe.
Leviathan once again laughed wildly in ecstasy, even more excited than when the Decree-defiling Mirror of Nightmare had swallowed the souls of the entire Rinascita.
Only those stained by the Dark Tide could become Its Executor. And now, the heavily polluted Noah no longer had the strength to separate the Dark Tide It had attached to him.
"Fragile! Completely fragile!"
"You can no longer break free from the blessing of the gospel."
"Come, my Executor, merge into the embrace of the Heavenly Kingdom!"
That mass of pitch-black Dark Tide rose under Its guidance. Leviathan did not hesitate to grant the only Executor qualification to Noah.
Finally, the Executor It had personally chosen merged into the mirror world of the Decree-defiling Mirror of Nightmare like a drop of water.
The next second, the wild laughing voice suddenly paused.
"No… something's wrong? Why has my Executor qualification returned?"
Leviathan acted as if it had lost an important treasure. Its will frantically searched the place where Noah had merged into the mirror surface.
But no matter how it searched, it could not find any trace of Noah.
"Dead… dead?" It could only think of this one reason to explain why the Executor qualification had returned.
"No, how is that possible!"
A figure wrapped in a black robe stepped through the air from the ground.
"Respected Lord of Tides and Riddles, the great god of Rinascita."
The black robe was lifted, revealing a skull-like terrifying face. A hoarse voice squeezed out from the throat:
"I, Grand Architect of the Fractsidus, Schwarzloch, am willing to become your Executor and remain loyal to you."
...
Character switch: Jinhsi.
The mental pollution was gone. Time reversed.
The Dark Tide on his body slowly faded, and the identity of Threnodian Executor also disappeared along with the fading of the Dark Tide.
Noah's heart was beating extremely fast. He kept recalling the experience just now in his mind.
According to what Leviathan had said, the Decree-defiling Mirror of Nightmare carried the fear and sorrow of the entire civilization. Therefore, he could not break the power that came from an entire civilization.
But fear and sorrow both originated from human will.
Since there was still fear and sorrow, could he understand it as the people of Rinascita still having will and still being alive?
If he could enter the world inside the mirror and snatch everyone's will back from Leviathan's fish belly, would everyone still be savable?
But what he had to face was far more than just this problem.
How should he defeat Leviathan? How should he stop the patrolling Heavenly Kingdom from drifting toward other nations? After defeating Leviathan, would the other side make a comeback again?
All kinds of questions pressed down on Noah like mountains. He had no time to think carefully. He could only walk forward step by step, forcing himself to be faster, even faster.
As long as he was a little faster, even if he tried every wrong path, he would definitely find the correct direction.
Noah had no other choice. He could only make a hard gamble. That was why he had not dodged the Dark Tide that he could have dodged.
Fortunately, he had gambled correctly.
The direction of gravity reversed. Before his eyes was the Rinascita reflected inside the mirror. He was falling into the Ragunna inside the mirror in the direction opposite to normal gravity.
...
"Make the flames even grander!"
Pulling on the straps and flying down from high above, Brant heavily kicked away a Judgment Warrior Tacet Discord and opened fire, killing all the Tacet Discords near Freedom Square.
"Pero!"
Roccia stepped on her suitcase and landed. The black-purple sponge Pero struck out and killed the Tacet Discord behind Brant.
"Well done, First Mate." Brant gave a thumbs-up.
"Captain, do not let your guard down." Roccia slightly shook her head and looked toward the coast not far away.
In a pair of gold-and-purple heterochromatic eyes was reflected an endless stream of Tacet Discords climbing onto the land and charging toward Freedom Square.
She could not help but murmur to herself:
"What on earth has happened to our world..."
The Troupe of Fools had originally been performing near Freedom Square. But suddenly the sky darkened and the wind rose. Thinking that a heavy rain was about to fall, they had no choice but to interrupt the performance and return to the Hundred-Ton King Flower Ship.
They had personally witnessed Cartethyia and Imperator falling into a desperate situation, and witnessed the nine Dark Tide tornadoes weaving the Dark Tide cloud.
After that, intense pain had invaded their consciousness. When they woke up, they saw endless Tacet Discords appearing.
"Roccia, Brant!"
A cry of surprise came from high above. The two people on Freedom Square raised their heads and saw Noah's figure falling rapidly.
"Great! You're still alive!"
Noah did not care about the giant pit he had smashed out. He excitedly rushed over, wanting to tightly hug Brant, but both hands passed through the latter's body and touched nothing.
"This is… what's going on…"
He blankly took half a step back and looked at Brant. Disbelief that hope had shattered appeared in his eyes:
"Are you an illusion?"
"Not an illusion."
Brant was equally surprised by the scene just now. He reached out toward Noah's shoulder, but also passed through the other party's shoulder as if touching air.
"Brother Noah, why can't I touch you."
He shook his head hard, looked at the Tacet Discords that were getting closer and closer not far away, and hurriedly shouted:
"Forget it, these things aren't important right now. Most of the Troupe of Fools has already left under cover. We should leave this place quickly and go to the Order of the Deep!"
"The Order of the Deep?"
Noah turned his head and cast his gaze toward the rear of Ragunna.
There, a warm and soft pure-white pillar of light stood straight above, providing illumination for the entire Ragunna.
"The Tacet Discords are getting closer, Brother Noah. Don't space out."
"Don't be afraid. I'll deal with these Tacet Discords."
Judgment Warriors, Vitreum Dancers, Poison Crown Nobles… one Tacet Discord after another strode forward at high speed.
Noah formed a seal with his hand. The figure of Sentinel Jué circled around him, and a beam of white light sprayed out from its mouth.
Celestial Court Radiance.
Noah had thought this strike would be enough to turn most of the Tacet Discords into ash, but that was not the case.
Apart from large patches of black marks left on Freedom Square, the Tacet Discords within sight were completely unharmed. His Celestial Court Radiance had passed through these Tacet Discords as if penetrating air.
"How is this possible?"
"Forget about it for now. Follow us first. We can talk while moving."
"Alright!"
The three of them sprinted toward the Order of the Deep. All over Ragunna, various kinds of rampaging Tacet Discords could be seen everywhere.
While running, they communicated each other's situations and quickly understood one another.
"So that's how it is. Our souls were all taken into the world inside the mirror by the Threnodian's creation. No wonder…"
Receiving the true information from Noah's mouth, Brant was deeply shocked.
"No wonder what?"
Noah asked urgently. Suddenly he saw a Tacet Discord fiercely swinging a blade toward the throat of an old man leaning on a cane in front.
In the critical moment, Noah activated Time Authority. Everything around them fell into stillness.
When time flowed again, a pit appeared under the feet of the blade-swinging Tacet Discord, and it fell into it.
"Good thing I can still affect the ground and buildings inside this broken mirror." He let out a breath of relief.
Brant caught up, shot and killed the Tacet Discord in the pit, carried the old man on his back, and spoke quickly to Noah:
"Well done, Brother Noah. But actually you didn't need to be in such a hurry."
"Why?"
"Because in this world created by the Threnodian, we will not truly die."
Brant explained slowly:
"Right now, no matter what kind of injuries we suffer, we will not die. I think this is because we are consciousness bodies."
"As long as our will does not scatter, we will not truly die. But you are a living body, so you cannot touch us or those Tacet Discords."
"However, although we do not die, the pain when we are injured is real."
Hearing this, Noah could not help but freeze.
Why would everyone inside the mirror world encounter this kind of situation?
If he were Leviathan, he would first pollute everyone into his own believers rather than create these extra complications.
Looking around at the completely ruined Ragunna, Noah suddenly understood something in his heart.
Even someone as powerful as him found it difficult to destroy the Decree-defiling Mirror of Nightmare made from the fear and sorrow of a civilization.
By the same logic, Leviathan also could not digest the entire civilization of Rinascita in one go, and therefore had no choice but to resort to this inferior method.
It was the Threnodian of Rinascita's civilization. It could use its creation to forcibly control the bodies of the people of Rinascita, and then forcibly swallow people's consciousness into the mirror.
After that, it turned people's fear and sorrow into an endless stream of Tacet Discords, using this to harvest even more end-of-days emotions until it completely assimilated or digested everyone.
Once it finished thoroughly harvesting the collective consciousness of the entire Rinascita, Leviathan would become unprecedentedly powerful!
"Damn it…"
Having figured out this link, Noah tightly clenched his fist and only felt completely powerless.
Even if he knew this, so what? It was only a matter of time before Leviathan finished harvesting the civilization. There was simply no way to stop it.
"What exactly do I have to do to send everyone's consciousness back?"
"Laureate, don't put too much pressure on yourself."
Riding on Pero, Roccia saw Noah's tense expression and spoke to comfort him:
"Let's go to the Order first. Maybe if we put our heads together, we can think of a good method."
"…Thank you."
Running on the road toward the Order of the Deep, the two of them killed various Tacet Discords along the way and gradually caught up with the Troupe of Fools' group.
Brant improvised and began chanting the lyrics of a play:
"Set sail! Mankind! The highest peaks and the deepest chasms are now mixed together. You must walk a brand-new great route!"
"Now you stand at the absolute edge—the time has come for mankind to decide its own fate. The time has come for mankind to plant the sprouts of its highest hopes."
Roccia took over the following lines and recited them with full emotion:
"Going to the other side is dangerous. Stopping halfway is dangerous. Looking backward is also dangerous. Trembling or not advancing—all are dangerous."
"I gradually understand what creates the greatness of a hero—to face at the same time mankind's deepest suffering and highest hope."
...