After making the arrangements, the three set off immediately.
The two women sat back on the boat, watching Noah fly farther and farther away. Cartethyia was the first to open the topic:
"I always feel... the laurel bearer... he seems to know a lot of things and is particularly familiar with this place. Coming here feels like coming home."
"Yes, although it sounds strange, I think so too. Clearly, he and I should both be coming here for the first time."
Cantarella nodded slightly, her gaze looking toward the direction where Noah disappeared, only feeling that the other was even more mysterious than before.
She took the initiative to share information with Cartethyia:
"Before coming, he said to leave everything here to him and for me to just treat this as a vacation... Don't worry, an old friend once told me—he's not a bad person and is worth trusting."
"Mm..."
Cartethyia nodded. After a moment of silence, she ultimately couldn't get past the barrier in her heart and sincerely apologized to Cantarella:
"Um... I'm very sorry. I, this false saintess, stole the life that should have belonged to you..."
"No need to apologize. Perhaps you had your own hardships. Just as he said, you are not a bad person."
Cantarella let out a long breath.
Words of praise can be said casually, but words of slander must be carefully considered.
Looking at the girl before her with heavy worries, Cantarella smiled slightly:
"We can discuss it in detail after we fully understand the truth hidden here."
It has to be said that after obtaining the Sentinel's power, her worries about the unknowns ahead had decreased by more than half. Moreover... that Hero was still leading the way in front.
Soon, as the gondola traveled, the two women arrived at the Tower of Ascension.
It was already dusk. The setting sun cast golden afterglow, dyeing the inverted buildings of Avinoleum in dim yellow, making it appear incredibly nostalgic.
"I've been waiting for you for a long time."
Noah flipped his hand and handed over the human rights sword Autel, his gaze turning to Cartethyia as he pointed to the stone pedestal not far away:
"Come on, Cartethyia. Insert the human rights sword."
Cartethyia took the sword, somewhat hesitant.
"Last time we inserted the sword, Cantarella obtained the Sentinel's power. This time... will it be the Threnodian's power?"
"No, this time it's your own power." Noah directly spoiled it.
Hearing Noah's utterly certain words, Cartethyia finally gained a bit more confidence.
Her own power... She had been weak for ten years and could no longer remember what it was like to have power.
"Okay, I'm inserting it."
The human rights sword Autel was inserted into the stone pedestal. The familiar infusion of power began again. Cartethyia and Cantarella closed their eyes as identical scenes emerged in their minds.
The originally sacred and solemn hall was drowned in crimson blood and black tides.
The ceremonial Echoes representing the Order's glory turned into Tacet Discords with claws and fangs. The devout pilgrim priests became puppets of the evil false god.
Those who refused to submit to the Black Tide's erosion turned from vibrant lives into inanimate objects falling into the Black Tide, rising and falling with it, chanting endless hymns of blindness and folly.
A massive monster with a horse's head and fish's body floated in this hall stained with filth, tempting the only remaining standing golden-haired saintess:
"Fleurdelys, my Resonator, what are you still holding on to? Why abandon your own oath? Why hinder the spread of the gospel?"
"Look behind you—no one is resisting anymore."
"Oh Resonator who has received my greatest favor, why do you remain so obstinate?"
The tempting words were rudely interrupted.
"I have never forgotten my oath."
Fleurdelys gripped the sword in her hand tightly, staring fixedly at the horse-headed fish-bodied monster before her:
"If the divine raises a slaughtering blade toward the innocent, then I will swing my sword at the divine!"
"Having received countless help and bearing countless expectations... that is why I stand before you."
"Those who have already fallen are precisely the reason I cannot fall!"
The powerful and resonant words instead provoked a strange low laugh from the horse-headed fish-bodied monster. They tempted persuasively:
"Fleurdelys..."
"Why can you so easily resonate with me?"
"Why can you hear the voices of the believers?"
"Why can you convey oracles in my place?"
"Have you never felt doubt about this?"
The questions piercing straight into her heart caused Fleurdelys's expression to involuntarily become flustered. She furrowed her brows tightly:
"Shut up!"
"There is only one answer." The horse-headed fish-bodied monster murmured: "Fleurdelys, you are a life I created!"
"Your life, your ideals, your persistence, your experiences—all are contents I designed."
"This is the 'perfection' I gave you. The admiration, following, and trust of the masses toward you... all are my food."
"The second Black Tide came precisely because of your resonance!"
...
"I remember it all now! I remember everything!"
Having recovered all her memories, Cartethyia understood her past completely.
"During the coronation, the crown turned into the shackles the Threnodian used to control me. At the same time, the second Black Tide erupted."
"To escape the control of the shackles, I separated 'Cartethyia,' leaving Fleurdelys with most of the power to fight the Threnodian."
"Using the Sentinel's ability, the source of the Black Tide—the theological seminary—ascended into the sky. The originally filthy Black Tide turned into clear water flows due to the change in gravity..."
Later, Cantarella fed back the power of secondary resonance to Imperator, causing Imperator to help Fleurdelys eliminate the fused body of the Threnodian Sentinel, as well as Fleurdelys sealing the powers into the three stone pedestals.
Outside, the sun had completely set. Night gradually enveloped these inverted high tower buildings.
Telling all the truth in detail, Cartethyia gazed into the distance, looking toward the central high tower of Avinoleum.
"There is Fleurdelys's body—or rather, now the body of the Threnodian Leviathan."
The three-layer seal outside the high tower had now, with the divine sword and human rights sword inserted into the stone pedestals, only the last layer representing the alien rights sword remaining.
She could feel that within the high tower, the sealed body's consciousness belonging to Fleurdelys was already as weak as a candle in the wind, at risk of being completely assimilated by the Threnodian at any moment.
"So that's how it was."
As Cartethyia recounted, Cantarella fully understood the cause and effect of that Black Tide years ago:
"It turns out that because of your desperate efforts, the second Black Tide did not completely destroy Rinascita."
Saying this, Cantarella solemnly bowed to Cartethyia in thanks:
"Thank you, Cartethyia. It was you who saved Ragunna and the Fisalia Family. I owe you a life-saving debt."
"What life-saving debt..."
Cartethyia lowered her head. After fully knowing the truth, endless guilt and regret fermented in her heart:
"That Black Tide was caused by me in the first place. I also stole the saintess's life that should have belonged to you."
Saying this, Cartethyia's eyes couldn't help turning red. Misty tears welled up, and her voice gradually choked:
"It's all... because of me that many innocent people who once helped me died in that Black Tide. It's my fault... I'm sorry... very sorry."
"Don't say such things."
Noah stepped forward and spoke to console her:
"Your first half of life was always manipulated and designed by the Threnodian. This is not your fault."
"As Their creation, you were able to stand on the side of humanity and do your utmost to stop Them from destroying Rinascita—you are already very great."
"Cartethyia, you are worthy of the name saintess."