"Just now, you inserted Tyrvine into the stone pedestal in the ruins, causing us to fly into the high skies."
Cantarella took the divine sword Tyrvine, her expression inevitably somewhat conflicted:
"This time, inserting this sword into a new stone pedestal again—I don't know what will happen next."
"Don't worry. For you, it's a good thing."
Noah gave her an encouraging look.
In the original plot, after Fleurdelys eliminated the body fused between the Sentinel and the Threnodian, the bodiless Threnodian Leviathan attempted to possess Fleurdelys's body.
To fight for the body, Leviathan wore down Fleurdelys's will every moment.
To delay the assimilation of her body, Fleurdelys took the opportunity to sequentially separate the power granted by Leviathan, the power she possessed, and the power plundered into three stone pedestals, binding the powerless body with thorns in the central high tower.
The power granted by Leviathan—Fleurdelys's own power—was separated into the stone pedestal of the human rights sword Autel.
The original power possessed by Leviathan was separated into the stone pedestal of the alien rights sword Hegley.
The power plundered by Leviathan—the Sentinel Imperator's power—was separated into the stone pedestal of the divine sword Tyrvine.
Later, Rover arrived at the inverted high tower, inserted the three rights swords into their corresponding stone pedestals, and absorbed all the power separated by Fleurdelys.
But this time, Rover is not here.
Noah planned to let Cantarella absorb the power of Imperator from the first stone pedestal.
As the Sentinel's Resonator, Cantarella has the ability and qualification to bear and absorb this power.
As always: when the character is enhanced, I am enhanced; when the character is weakened, I am not weakened. As long as Cantarella gains the authority of separation and space, it means Noah also gains the authority of separation and space.
Character switch—Jinhsi.
Secretly setting up a layer of stagnant time flow barrier around the perimeter, in case something goes wrong he can also reverse time to save it, Noah began urging:
"Stop dawdling, Cantarella. Insert it quickly."
"Then... then I'm inserting it, okay?"
"Hurry up, hurry up."
Cantarella gritted her teeth and forcefully inserted Tyrvine into the slot in the stone pedestal.
Accompanied by a buzzing sound, invisible frequencies surged madly into Cantarella's body along the sword Tyrvine like a tide.
Her body passively accepted the Sentinel power representing the authority of separation and space.
The sudden change caused her to tightly close her eyes, striving to absorb this infusion of power.
A scene simultaneously unfolded in the minds of Cantarella and Cartethyia.
In a sacred and solemn hall, a crowd dressed in uniform priestly attire bustled. Two young female priests held a long cape, clustering around the golden-haired saintess as she stepped forward on the red carpet.
At the end of the red carpet, a dignified elder held a crown and solemnly chanted to the saintess:
"Fleurdelys, favored by the divine, flawless one, are you willing to uphold the noble precepts of the Order of the Deep?"
The priests in the hall held their breath, their eyes full of anticipation fixed on the saintess in the center. Fleurdelys knelt on one knee and responded solemnly:
"I swear with all my heart."
"Then, on behalf of the divine, I bestow this crown upon you. You have become the bridge between heaven and earth."
The dignified elder nodded in satisfaction and placed the crown on Fleurdelys's head.
Suddenly, a change occurred. The golden crown suddenly turned into prickly deep purple thorns, tightly binding Fleurdelys's head.
Before the crowd could cry out in shock, black tides descended from the sky, surging into this sacred hall.
Wherever the Black Tide passed, life was assimilated by it, becoming the vanguard to sweep away obstacles. Inanimate objects grew tongues, singing hymns of blindness and folly.
Despair and chaos instantly drowned the entire hall.
...
"Unlike Rover, who only fully unlocked the authority of separation and fusion after drawing the third sword, Cantarella directly obtained the Sentinel's power in one step."
Noah switched the character to Cantarella, sensing the gradually increasing authority of separation and space in himself while secretly thinking:
"This is probably the value of being a Sentinel's Resonator."
Time passed leisurely. Cantarella finally fully absorbed the power, and the two women regained consciousness at the same time.
"Awake now?"
Noah leaned against the wall, looking at the two women with very different styles:
"How do you feel?"
"Never felt so refreshed." Cantarella stretched lazily, feeling her body lighter than ever before.
After absorbing that power, the wounds caused by gifting all her power to the Sentinel were immediately fully healed.
Using part of the separation authority, she separated all the toxins accumulated in her body over the years.
She clearly felt that the power she had once lost had returned. She had become the Sentinel's Resonator again.
If there weren't people around, she would almost hum out in comfort.
Logically, at the same time, a Sentinel can only have one Resonator; otherwise, the Sentinel and Their multiple Resonators would all weaken together.
But now the situation is different from before—Sentinel Imperator has already died.
In addition to feeling relaxed, Cantarella recalled the scene she had just seen in her mind and turned her gaze to Cartethyia:
"Cartethyia, I just seemed to see a scene related to you..."
"So you saw it too."
Cartethyia lowered her head, her gaze bitter.
She remembered that she had once been crowned as the saintess, and then the Black Tide descended.
With her recovered memories, plus witnessing Cantarella absorb the Sentinel's power just now, how could she not know that she was not the true saintess.
Cantarella was the true saintess who resonated with the Sentinel. The goodwill of those Order believers, the expectations they carried, and the power—all should have belonged to Cantarella, but were taken by her, Cartethyia.
Cantarella was about the same age as her. If the one crowned back then had been Cantarella instead of Cartethyia, would the outcome have been different?
Thinking of this, Cartethyia felt her heart in turmoil, like a counterfeit feeling ashamed in front of the genuine article, not knowing how to face Cantarella.
"Noah, how did you know that inserting the sword into the stone pedestal would grant the Sentinel's power?"
While Cartethyia was silent, Cantarella couldn't help asking.
For this question, Noah shook his head:
"The answer is long. I'll explain when we have time later. What kind of scenes did you two just see? I didn't see them."
"I saw the scene of Cartethyia's coronation." Cantarella answered as such.
"I saw a bit more than you." Cartethyia spoke:
"After the coronation, the crown turned into the laurel I wear on my head now, then the Black Tide descended... and nothing more."
As she spoke, Cartethyia weakly lowered her head again.
To her, the two people before her—one was the true saintess who absorbed the Sentinel's power, the other was the mysterious laurel bearer—while she was someone who had stolen the saintess's life.
She didn't even know whether her past was good or bad. In such a situation, she only felt lost, anxious, and very depressed.
She was really afraid that if the remaining two swords were inserted into the stone pedestals, the newly emerging memories in her mind would be of her aiding the tyrant—that would be extremely tormenting for her.
"It's okay. Don't think too much. We're getting closer and closer to the truth."
Seeing the plot development similar to the original, Noah secretly breathed a sigh of relief and comforted:
"Although Cartethyia is a dual Resonator of Sentinel and Threnodian, she is definitely not a bad person. On the contrary, she is the one who worked the hardest against the Threnodian."
Hearing this, Cartethyia raised her head, a glimmer of light appearing in her eyes, her mood slightly recovering. Cantarella also glanced sideways slightly, putting away her suspicions.
"Alright, it's getting dark. Don't forget there are still two swords waiting for us."
Seeing no abnormalities in the two women, Noah immediately decided, placing the Tower of Unity that seals the Threnodian's power last, and heading to the location of the human rights sword Autel:
"We're going to the next stop now—the Tower of Ascension."