The power of time-sequence was brutally shattered. The intense backlash struck Noah like a thunderbolt. He sprayed out a mouthful of blood and his face turned deathly pale.
Pain!
It was as if molten lava at scorching temperature was poured directly onto his nerves — a pain that nearly melted the soul itself.
Noah's face was ashen. He hurriedly switched his active character from Jinhsi back to Verina, finally relieving the stabbing agony of the subsequent backlash.
No wonder time-stop was so useful, yet the Rover almost never used it against Threnodians — at most using it to block unavoidable attacks, and never daring to hold it for long.
So this was what happened when time-sequence ability was forcibly shattered: such tremendous backlash.
No wonder even someone as powerful as the Sentinel — Jué — had fallen into a near-fatal wound that lasted ten thousand years, left with no choice but to wait for death inside the Mianloong Chamber.
If he hadn't switched characters so quickly just now, Noah had no doubt he would have simply passed out from the pain.
At this moment, Noah unconsciously clenched his teeth tightly, his heart trembling slightly.
So this was the state the Sentinel — Jué — had been in when its time-sequence power was destroyed. And yet it had still fought him while enduring such a wretched condition.
So the ace up his sleeve that he had always been most proud of… turned out to become a fatal weakness in front of a Threnodian?
If back on Mt. Firmament, Jué had been in its full prime, could he really have won so easily? Or rather —
Could he really — defeat a Threnodian?
If he had gone smoothly from the Fisalia family, drawn Tyrvine, climbed the Inverted Sky Tower, and then faced a Threnodian… wouldn't he instead be helping the Threnodian break free of its shackles!
Leviathan: This strike — stay humble and cautious!
Looking back toward Liberty Plaza, after the time-sequence power was shattered, the black tide surged even more violently as it converged. That colossal fish-like figure grew increasingly oppressive.
"Cristoforo, on behalf of Fractsidus, I offer my congratulations on your awakening, Lord of Tides and Riddles — Threnodian · Leviathan!"
Atop the tall bell tower spire of Ragunna, the masked man in red robes and golden hair elegantly removed his hat toward the center of the black tide vortex in a courteous bow:
"I wonder if you are satisfied with this body forged from the fusion of every single resident of Ragunna?"
As his words fell, the enormous body of Leviathan — constructed from endless black tide and the flesh of Ragunna's citizens — began to tremble.
It was as though a rigid, lifeless statue was gradually coming to life.
It let out a piercing, maniacal laugh. The sound was like countless waves crashing against the shore, yet also like the collective wail of hundreds of thousands of people.
"Satisfied — extremely satisfied!"
"A body I have missed for so long, power I have missed for so long — I—"
"Now lack nothing at all!"
The abyss-like maw opened wide. Leviathan unleashed a delighted roar, and the unstoppable black waves surged forth, toppling every building in their path.
Countless Tacet Discords across Ragunna now knelt and bowed devoutly toward it upon the water's surface, as though welcoming the return of their god.
Cristoforo smiled and applauded lightly, his eyes filled with admiration and delight:
"Then, should you not fulfill the promise you made to Fractsidus earlier?"
"Heh, promise?"
Leviathan slowly turned in midair. Its four icy fish eyes locked onto Cristoforo, filled with mockery:
"As a noble Threnodian, the god worshipped by the faith of Rinascita — as everyone knows, I do not keep promises!"
"No matter. Right now you are merely an empty shell anyway — just as I am only a clone meeting with you."
Cristoforo's calm, unruffled smile never faltered. The script in his hand snapped shut. His figure transformed into scattering petals of Red Spider Lily and slowly vanished:
"We will have many more opportunities to refine this process step by step until we reach the perfect ending."
Watching Cristoforo disappear, Leviathan let out a cold sneer.
It was true that it currently possessed only a shell. But as a Threnodian with the authority of fusion, it had countless methods to draw its true consciousness down from the heavens.
Once the consciousness fused, it would become complete — and no one would ever be able to take advantage of it again.
When that time came, blood would repay this blasphemy!
Leviathan raised its head. Its gaze seemed to pierce through the thick dark clouds, locking onto the tower hanging inverted in the sky.
"Control! Integrate! Evolve! All as one!"
"Come!"
At the center of the black tide, Leviathan called out excitedly. A bizarre energy resonated with the existence atop the tower, clashing against the spatial authority once left behind by Imperator.
The heavy clouds parted, revealing a hole. Behind it was the suspended Rinascita Theological Academy.
This building, inverted in the sky due to reversed gravity, was slowly descending toward the ground, inch by inch.
"Stop!"
A blue-rarity swift blade wreathed in golden energy was hurled forth, embedding itself precisely into Leviathan's dorsal fin.
The familiar power fluctuation shocked Leviathan. Dust-covered memories buried deep in its mind were suddenly wiped clean, and it instantly recalled its mortal enemy from countless years ago.
"It's you! Weren't you…?"
It abruptly ceased resonating with the tower and turned in horror — only to see a figure completely different from the one in its memory.
This person was not him!
The heart that had leaped into Leviathan's throat finally settled. It let out a vicious, sneering laugh:
"So it's just a Fake."
The black tide flooded across the surface of Ragunna. Leviathan casually destroyed the buildings on the surface as well.
Now Noah stood atop a ruin higher than the black tide. There were hardly any other places to stand nearby.
He swore — this was absolutely the most troublesome opponent he had faced since crossing over.
But Noah had to step forward.
He admitted that after his time-sequence power was shattered, he had wavered. He didn't know whether he could defeat a Threnodian.
But the sky had already collapsed here — and he was the tallest one standing.
Imperator was already dead. If Leviathan were allowed to fully awaken without another Sentinel to suppress it, it would inevitably deal devastating, destructive blows to the entire planet of Solaris.
Fortunately, from what Cristoforo had just said, this seemingly terrifying Threnodian was currently nothing more than an empty shell.
Therefore — no matter what — he could not allow Leviathan's shell to fuse with the sealed consciousness high in the sky.
Even now, Noah still hadn't figured out why the residents of Ragunna had suddenly fused together to become the body of Threnodian Leviathan.
Far away, atop the Cathedral of Mercury.
Cristoforo no longer wore his previous calm demeanor. Instead, his expression was one of having seen a ghost:
"How is this possible? Noah didn't fuse together with the other residents of Ragunna to become part of Leviathan's body?"
"It seems your script has encountered a tiny little deviation."
Phrolova cast him a glance, then withdrew her gaze, looking toward the distant confrontation between one man and one fish. Her tone carried a trace of displeasure:
"Not only did you fail to make Leviathan keep its promise, you didn't kill Noah, and you still haven't found the Threnodian Resonator. Playwright, your script is truly a failure."
"Excellent works always require patient appreciation. Phrolova, there's no need to become so impatient just because you're eager to resurrect those half-dead, half-ghost existences inside the Red Spider Lilies."
A new script condensed in Cristoforo's hand. He regained his composure:
"Through repeated iterations of the script, Leviathan will inevitably agree to fulfill the promise and resurrect your not-quite-human, not-quite-ghost relatives and friends."
"And although Noah didn't become part of Leviathan, that actually suits me even better — it means the Threnodian can torment him over and over again inside the script."
"As for that Threnodian Resonator…"
Cristoforo slowly raised his gaze, looking toward the inverted tower that was slowly rising behind the hole in the clouds. A faint smile curved his lips, as though hinting at something:
"Haven't we already discovered her location?"