Ragunna.
On the pitch-black sea surface, turbid waves churned and boiled. Billions of water droplets gathered in the wild wind into nine reverse-rolling long dragons. Their scales were flowing Dark Tide, and their whiskers were entangled lightning.
Nine Dark Tide tornadoes were flowing in reverse, sending large amounts of Dark Tide into the high sky.
Inside the cathedral of the Order of the Deep, the clerics prayed piously:
"May the Sentinel protect us."
Near the port, Imperator closed Its eyes and silently prayed:
"May the Arbiter protect us."
Finally, the nine tornadoes above the sea surface dissipated. That huge Dark Tide cloud, so massive that it could even give people megalophobia, suddenly melted like liquid.
The ink-colored cloud layers spread from the port of Ragunna toward the distant sky, like an inverted sea sending out ripples. The sound of the tide was like thunder, unstoppable.
A white light flashed beside Imperator, and Noah's figure appeared.
"Righteous One, you have returned."
"I have settled Cartethyia. What is the current situation—you don't need to say it."
Noah raised his head and saw that the entire sky of Ragunna had already been covered by the black waves.
Looking up, there was an endless sea. The scene of natural disaster made his mind go blank for a moment and left him unable to breathe.
"Leviathan… is it going to smash the Dark Tide down directly…"
If a Dark Tide sea of this size smashed down… how many people in Ragunna—no, in all of Rinascita—would be able to survive?
"From an objective physics analysis." Imperator rationally analyzed: "If this Dark Tide sea falls, under the influence of air resistance and gravity it will turn into rain."
"No. Even if it turns into rain, people still cannot withstand it."
Noah shook his head hard and began arranging actions.
"Old Ma, set up spatial barriers to protect the people of Rinascita from being eroded. I will go deep into the clouds to find the Threnodian and settle this quickly!"
"Understood!"
Imperator leaped up. Its huge pure-white wings beat as It stepped through the air at extreme speed. Cyan spatial barriers spread flat behind It, extending from Ragunna toward even more distant locations.
Time had become extremely precious.
Noah did not dare delay. He switched to Cartethyia's character, spread his wings, and flew toward the high sky while his mind raced.
The current development had completely broken free from the framework of the original plot, just like… just like the first time he arrived in Jinzhou.
He could no longer reference any useful information from the original plot. He could only rely on the limited clues he had to find a way to break the situation.
This main story mission had provided a six-chain Aero Rover as a trial character, but—
Aero Rover was a pure support character, not even a secondary DPS. What use was giving him a support character?
No matter how he thought about it, he could not understand.
"Hahaha—Noah!"
Within the rippling inverted Dark Tide sea, Leviathan's thousand-meter-long fish body was blurry and terrifying. Its four cold fish eyes reflected mocking cold light.
"Too late. You are too late. Now, you can no longer change anything!"
High in the dark sky, the size difference between the person and the fish was extreme. Noah did not answer. He took out the Crown of Destined Unyielding and heavily slashed toward Leviathan.
But when the blade touched that pitch-black cloud sea, it felt as if it had struck something extremely solid and was heavily bounced back, almost stabbing Noah himself.
"It's useless. You can see it, but you cannot touch it or hit it, because this inverted black sea that covers the entire Rinascita—is my Threnodian creation!"
Threnodian creation—the Decree-defiling Mirror of Nightmare?!
Wasn't that destroyed? Did It obtain it again?
Noah's impression of the Decree-defiling Mirror of Nightmare was extremely deep.
Back when Noah obtained the Decree-defiling Mirror of Nightmare from Fenrico, even with six-chain Jinhsi he had been unable to cause even the slightest damage to it.
The moment this thought appeared, he suddenly remembered another property of the Decree-defiling Mirror of Nightmare besides being indestructible—powerful large-scale mental control!
Almost the instant this thought surfaced in his mind, Leviathan moved.
"All who have ears shall listen!"
"All who have mouths shall proclaim!"
It recovered its cold posture. Its massive body swung heavily, and a deafening high-frequency roar shook the air.
"Follow the divine decree and return to the Heavenly Kingdom!"
The entire cloud sea boiled and surged with It as the center. Vibrating ripples spread in all directions.
In just a few short seconds, the ripples had spread across the entire black sea covering the high sky of Rinascita. This inverted black sea became extremely flat and smooth, recovering its true form.
It was a mirror hanging in the sky that reflected the entire Rinascita upside down… the Mirror of the Dark Tide!
The moment the mirror surface formed, an indescribable mental pollution spread across heaven and earth like the most vicious plague in the world, without any room for refusal.
In Ragunna, Whisperwind Haven, Septimont… across the entire land of Rinascita, all the people uncontrollably raised their heads and looked toward the mirror surface high in the sky. Their expressions were obsessed and fanatical.
"Heavenly Kingdom!"
"The happy Heavenly Kingdom!"
"I can feel it—the guidance of God!"
They clasped their ten fingers together, raised their heads, and chanted like converted believers, piously intoning:
"We walk with God!"
As they chanted, a golden glow actually appeared on everyone's body. Their consciousness turned into souls that left their bodies, broke free from the control of gravity, and floated upward toward the sky.
As the souls left, their bodies went limp and collapsed to the ground, their life or death unknown.
"There is no need to resist. There is no need to struggle. Become my devout believers and receive the gospel!"
Leviathan laughed unrestrainedly. Its sharp and piercing voice mixed with evil whispers echoed between heaven and earth.
Tens of thousands of golden souls rose from the land of Rinascita like fallen leaves swept up by a hurricane. They passed through the cyan spatial barriers and scrambled to fall into the pitch-black mirror world.
"Stop! Don't—!"
Words could not describe the shock and terror in Noah's heart at this moment.
He fully activated his Separation Authority, wanting to stop every single soul from merging into the Dark Tide Mirror, but he could only manage to delay them and could not truly block them.
An unprecedented heavy feeling pressed down on his heart like a giant boulder.
So this was the true form of the inverted black sea. The peak form of Leviathan had actually used the Decree-defiling Mirror of Nightmare to harvest the entire Rinascita in an instant.
It was ridiculous that he and Imperator had earlier speculated whether Leviathan would smash the black sea down directly. How foolish and naive that had been.
"Is that… Zani?"
Noah's pupils sharpened. He flashed over and reached out in mid-air, wanting to keep Zani's soul behind. Yet the latter only passed through his arm without the slightest pause.
Next came Phoebe, Ciaccona, Carlotta… one familiar face after another flashed past his eyes and then merged into the pitch-black mirror, never to come out again.
Separation was useless. Space was useless. Fantasy was useless.
The Decree-defiling Mirror of Nightmare accepted all rising souls without refusal. When the final soul sank into the mirror surface, the evil whispers finally stopped.
Noah had never felt Ragunna so quiet before. Even the wind had stopped flowing.
Perhaps it was not only Ragunna. The entire Rinascita had been muted and reduced to a silent nation.
He bit down hard on his teeth. His fingernails dug deeply into his palms. Bloodshot gradually filled his eyes.
Lights lit up in the Ragunna reflected within the mirror, while the real Ragunna outside the mirror lost its luster.
"Listen. The people of the entire Rinascita are crawling at my feet and wailing. All the souls of this nation will become my power. The patrolling Heavenly Kingdom will drift across the entire Solaris."
Victory made Leviathan laugh wildly.
"Civilization will fall. The blood of all living beings must wash away the humiliation of my past!"
"Dream on!"
Noah suddenly raised his head. The sword blade in his hand was lifted high. The resonance power inside his body madly poured into the Crown of Destined Unyielding.
His sword grew longer and longer. The glow became more and more dazzling, bright enough to almost illuminate the Ragunna City beneath his feet.
"Furious tides—split the heavens!"
The giant sword fell, crashing down like a raging wave against the shore onto the Decree-defiling Mirror of Nightmare that reflected the entire Rinascita. The sound shook the heavens.
Ripples madly overflowed from the mirror surface and continuously spread across the plane, but—
That was all.
"The Decree-defiling Mirror of Nightmare carries the fear and sorrow of the entire civilization of Rinascita. Even if you bear any number of Authorities, how can you oppose the will of an entire civilization!"
Above the pitch-black Decree-defiling Mirror of Nightmare, Leviathan sneered continuously.
Beneath the pitch-black Decree-defiling Mirror of Nightmare, the long sword in Noah's hand switched into a scythe.
"Transform into Feathers, Annihilate All Laws!"
A black-purple blade light fell, only to be completely reflected back from the mirror surface, forcing him to slash out another strike to cancel the attack.
"Noah! There is no need to struggle any longer!"
"Previously the Decree-defiling Mirror of Nightmare could be destroyed only because I could no longer tolerate your mockery and dismantled the divine artifact myself."
"With the current you, even if you talk until your tongue breaks, I will never destroy my own creation."
High in the sky, four cold fish eyes projected their gazes and firmly locked onto Noah. Secret Authority carrying large amounts of frenzied and fallen mental pollution invaded the latter's will.
"I can disregard past grievances and grant you a chance at redemption."
"Come. Become my devout believer, listen to the gospel, and merge into the embrace of the Heavenly Kingdom."
"I will bestow upon you the special honor of Executor!"