It took quite a while for Noah and Cantarella to barely comfort Cartethyia.
"By the way, since Fleurdelys's body is placed in the central high tower..."
Cantarella changed the topic and suggested:
"Can we take advantage of Their power being sealed in the alien rights sword's stone pedestal and achieve the effect of completely killing the Threnodian by destroying Fleurdelys's body?"
"No, that won't work. I don't oppose destroying Fleurdelys's body, because Fleurdelys's consciousness itself also desires release and self-destruction."
Cartethyia shook her head and explained:
"But the Threnodian is immortal and indestructible. If we directly destroy Fleurdelys's body, it will only allow the Threnodian's consciousness to escape, reclaim Their power, and then make a comeback in some unknown corner."
"Ah, this..."
Cantarella's voice faltered:
"Then what should we do? Are we only able to use your body to trap the Threnodian? Your body may not be able to trap Them for too long. Is there really no other way?"
"There is, sister, there is!"
The original game plot had already given the answer long ago; he just needed to copy it.
Noah immediately interjected:
"Since directly killing Fleurdelys would allow the Threnodian to escape and retrieve power to find a new host, then we'll let Them regain Their power first, and then kill Them."
The simple and crude plan caused the two women's brains to collectively freeze.
"It's a good idea. Although it can't completely eliminate Leviathan, it can wipe out the power They possess. It's just... laurel bearer, you..."
Cartethyia started to speak but stopped, then started again:
"Are you sure we can defeat the Threnodian?"
Noah didn't say much more. Instead, he took out a stack of Jinzhou Daily newspapers and handed them to the two women.
"Whisperin Fractsidus Locks Down the Entire City, Jinzhou Hero Saves Jinzhou"
"War Threnodian Starts Chaos, Midnight Rangers Behead the Enemy"
"Time Stagnation Freezes Mt. Firmament, Dawnlight Melts Snow and Opens the Skies"
...
One dazzling headline after another, like shining battle records, stimulated the two women's nerves. Noah shrugged:
"These experiences should be enough to prove my combat strength, right? Any more questions?"
"Laurel bearer, you are very strong."
Cartethyia gripped the newspapers tightly, praising sincerely, but the worry between her brows did not diminish in the slightest:
"But... if the Threnodian Leviathan fused with the Resonator's body regains power, They will immediately return to peak state. If it's not absolutely necessary, it's best not to confront Them head-on..."
Seeing that the expression on Noah's face showed no fluctuation because of her words, Cartethyia paused, turned to glance at the sky outside, and suddenly changed the topic:
"It's so late. How about we rest for the night first and each think if there's a better way."
"That suits me perfectly."
Noah nodded, opened the panel, and glanced at the only dim character in the [Resonator] list.
[Character Encore remaining ban time: 13 hours.]
For him, killing Leviathan was not the biggest problem; saving Imperator was.
One chain of Encore's fantasy manifestation... could it help the old horse win a revival match?
He had a bold plan with no scientific basis whatsoever, with a very low probability of success.
Throwing some miscellaneous thoughts aside, Noah opened his backpack and, under the surprised gazes of the two women, took out three large beds.
In the original plot, Rover spent three days and two nights on this main quest segment, sleeping on the ground both nights.
Learning from the original plot, Noah had long prepared the corresponding supplies in advance.
"Once we reach this inverted high tower, the terminal has no signal. Let's go to bed early and rest well."
With a flip of his palm, he conjured a secret-recipe panini and handed it to Cantarella:
"This is your dinner."
Cantarella accepted it, flattered:
"You're really thoughtful, even preparing food."
"It's nothing."
Noah flipped his hand again, conjuring a bowl of green branch laurel salad and handing it to Cartethyia:
"This is your dinner."
Cartethyia shook her head and politely declined:
"Thank you, laurel bearer. I am actually a separated frequency segment; I don't need to eat."
"I know. Let you smell it first. In the future, I'll treat you to Pizza Tropicale."
"This... alright, then I'll accept it for now..." Cartethyia took the green branch laurel salad. As if realizing something, her eyes suddenly widened:
"Wait? What pizza?!"
A instinctive rejection as an orthodox Ragunna person made her unable to help wanting to argue:
"How can fruit be put on pizza?"
Putting fruit on pizza was simply akin to mixing salt into white sugar.
Heresy!
Perhaps due to Noah's deliberate guidance, or perhaps because the three had different thoughts, starting with Pizza Tropicale, they ate while chatting, tacitly avoiding mentioning Leviathan anymore and instead discussing various topics.
Noah: "Arguing whether fruit can be put on pizza is just like arguing whether sweet zongzi or savory zongzi is better."
Cantarella: "Speaking of zongzi, the Fisalia Family once released a perfume featuring the fragrance of zongzi, but unfortunately it wasn't popular."
Cartethyia: "They should release a perfume with the scent of green branch wine; it would definitely sell well."
...
The night was like ink, quietly dyeing the sky. Dreamlike lights automatically lit up throughout the inverted high tower.
The three soft large beds were each positioned at one end of the Tower of Ascension, not interfering with each other, each emitting steady breathing sounds.
Pale white moonlight shone through the window onto Cartethyia's exquisitely beautiful face. Her elf-like ears twitched.
After confirming the other two were deeply asleep, Cartethyia carefully turned over the blanket and tiptoed away from the Tower of Ascension.
Riding the gondola, the girl traveled silently, her gaze quiet and resolute.
Soon, she finally arrived at Zargon Garden.
"Eh?"
Stepping off the gondola and seeing the complete appearance here, Cartethyia couldn't help feeling somewhat surprised.
Logically, many puzzles needed to be solved here to restore Zargon Garden to its complete form, thereby unlocking the mechanism to draw the alien rights sword.
But when she arrived, it was already in its complete form.
Strange? Could it be that Noah did it casually when he left in the afternoon?
Thinking of a certain possibility, Cartethyia's expression changed slightly as she hurriedly searched for the location of the alien rights sword.
"Looking for this?"
Under the moonlight, the alien rights sword Hegley flashed with cold light as it flew over, deeply stabbing into the ground near Cartethyia.
Following the direction of the voice, Cartethyia saw Noah stepping out from the shadows one step at a time, pale white moonlight gradually illuminating his face.
"Laurel bearer..."
Cartethyia lowered her head like a little girl caught doing something bad, looking at the alien rights sword not far from her feet, her voice low and subdued:
"It's so late. Shouldn't you be sleeping?"
"Although I was lying motionless with my eyes closed, I was actually always fully alert."
Noah shook his head helplessly.
Having learned profound lessons from the previous main quests, he dared not relax in the slightest during main quests now.
To prevent accidents, he would use perception to rummage through trash cans in Black Shores, act domineering to drive away sword-drawers in Porto-Veno Castle, and in this inverted high tower so close to the Threnodian, he didn't even dare to sleep.
Sure enough, he caught a sneaking Cartethyia.
He walked straight to Cartethyia, picked up the alien rights sword, and handed it to her:
"There are no outsiders here, and I'm not your enemy, Cartethyia. If you have any thoughts, feel free to open your heart to me."
Cartethyia bit her lip and remained silent.
"If you don't speak, then I'll guess myself. If I guess correctly, don't move. If I'm wrong, shake your head."
Noah took a deep breath, turned his head, and looked toward the Tower of Unity:
"The alien rights sword Hegley corresponds to the stone pedestal sealing the Threnodian Leviathan's power."
"You actually don't agree with my plan to return Leviathan's power and kill Fleurdelys. Because you have a method that avoids all risks."
"You secretly plan to absorb the Threnodian Leviathan's power yourself, then return to the Tower of Unity and gift this power to Cantarella."
As the words fell, the girl's body stiffened, the alien rights sword in her hand trembling slightly, as if declaring the extreme unrest in her heart.
Noah's words did not stop there.
"Cantarella may not be able to absorb the Threnodian's power and might even conflict with it."
"But as a dual Resonator of Sentinel and Threnodian, your power can balance the Sentinel's and Threnodian's powers. So, you plan to gift yourself to Cantarella as well."
"In this way, with the power of fusion authority, all powers will thoroughly integrate into Cantarella's body. The Threnodian, completely deprived of power, can only be trapped in that powerless shell in the high tower."
"You were afraid we would reject your idea, so you sneaked out in the middle of the night."
Presented in the name of reasoning, he actually exposed Cartethyia's inner thoughts one by one, each sentence piercing the heart.
Cartethyia gripped the alien rights sword tightly, her head lowering more and more, her voice weak, as if asking, yet also confessing:
"If... if this method really works... laurel bearer, would you agree with this method?"
"Cartethyia, this is not the ending we want to see. I don't want you to do this."
Noah's voice softened:
"I want you to live."
"...There... there is no better way anymore."
The choked words were finally spoken. Cartethyia finally raised her head. Noah saw that her eyes were already filled with tears.
The alien rights sword fell to the ground. Cartethyia turned her back to Noah, reached out to rub her eyes, then turned around, stubbornly pretending nothing had happened:
"Laurel bearer... would you be willing to listen to me tell a story?"
"If you need to pour out your heart, I will be a qualified listener."
Cartethyia smiled lowly, her eyes still red-rimmed, as she took out two puppets from her hand:
"You are my first audience, and also my last."
"The story I want to tell is—"
"The 'righteous' knight... battles the 'evil' Threnodian."