Roselle nodded, staring at Bernadette with a fatherly gaze for a long while until Bernadette averted her head.
Only then did he clear his throat, shift his gaze, and say nonchalantly, "The Church of the Earth Mother is quite reputable in this regard, but I always feel that the Earth Mother acts very contradictorily at times.
This shouldn't just be due to the influence of the Primordial Moon."
"You'll know the answer soon enough, an answer that will surprise everyone."
Leyton casually interjected, and without waiting for Roselle to inquire further, his body instantly blurred, disintegrating into streams of information that surged towards the island ahead.
A serene, dim starlight flickered faintly within the thin mist, and gradually, the surrounding sea breeze quieted.
The constantly rolling waves also diminished significantly, and the originally thin mist thickened, spreading outwards to cover a large area of the surrounding sea.
Inside the captain's cabin, Roselle looked at Bernadette and smiled, nodding, "I need to shut down for a bit.
When I wake up again, we'll truly meet."
"Mhm, it will succeed." Bernadette nodded deeply in response.
A smile appeared on Roselle's face, and he nodded with a firm expression, as dark red and silver-white specks of light continuously separated from his body.
On the island covered by dense mist, eyes emerged from the mist, shimmering with pure light, observing every wisp of wind, every drop of water, and every piece of soil around them.
Leyton stood in the center of the island, holding the wish charm he had obtained from Zaratul.
While infusing it with spirituality, he softly chanted in Ancient Hermes, "I wish…"
The surroundings suddenly became dim and eerie, and countless gray-white specks of light appeared before Leyton's eyes.
He instinctively reached out and grabbed one of them.
An invisible torrent surged from the depths of the collective subconscious sea, carrying a strange power that swiftly swept through the surroundings.
The barren islet, piled high with many reefs and shells, rapidly expanded outwards.
Soil appeared on the ground, lush trees grew, and a massive mausoleum, constructed from neatly cut gigantic stones, also emerged.
Leyton's figure was perfectly enveloped by the mausoleum; he appeared directly inside it, in a hall with a pitch-black throne.
A humanoid figure composed of pure shadow instantly appeared before Leyton.
Numerous cracks of varying sizes had appeared on its body, from which faint blue starlight or deep red moonlight continuously surged, filled with a sense of chaos and distortion.
"As a Black Emperor, you should be very capable of maintaining balance."
Leyton sighed, addressing the black humanoid figure that seemed utterly devoid of reason, then raised his hand and placed it on its shoulder.
Within his eyes, a deep blue, almost violet glow flowed, forming complex and ethereal symbols.
At the same time, he stepped back, pulling a deep red figure from its body.
Without any hesitation, Leyton's other hand drew an extremely complex and mysterious three-dimensional symbol in mid-air—a symbol from the pale death!
Under the erosion of death, the color of the deep red figure, which had no power to support it, continuously faded.
Its movements became sluggish, as if it were sprinting towards the end of death.
In less than two seconds, its aura decayed to its extreme, and it uncontrollably disintegrated into a pile of debris and dust, scattering across the ground.
As the corruption originating from the Primordial Moon was cleared by Leyton, the cracks on the pitch-black humanoid figure rapidly faded and disappeared.
His sanity gradually returned, and two small cracks appeared on his head, revealing a pair of azure eyes.
After a brief silence, Roselle spoke with a voice filled with deep weariness, "The corruption that has troubled me for so long was solved so easily by you.
This makes me seem quite useless, you know?"
"Should I say: have you finally gained a correct understanding of yourself?" Leyton casually replied.
As he spoke, eyes grew out of thin air around him.
They stared at the shadow of Roselle's materialized will from different directions, extracting streams of information from his body.
This was the corruption belonging to the Knowledge Moor.
Roselle, now only a shadow, stiffened for a moment and said slowly, "It's better if you don't speak."
He paused, then continued, "I need to adjust my state.
It won't take long."
"Within fifteen minutes, the Primordial Moon won't discover you, nor will she be able to erode you."
Leyton nodded in response, his body instantly dematerializing, breaking down into complex knowledge.
In the form of an information torrent, it enveloped the entire island, constantly surging and creating an exaggerated information storm.
Silently, the surroundings grew dim, and the dense mist turned dark and heavy, faintly revealing an illusory and hazy Cosmos, a Cosmos projected from the Astral World!
Inside the mausoleum, Roselle, composed of pure shadow, seemed to grow flesh and blood within, his chest rising and falling rhythmically.
After a moment of silence, two more cracks appeared on his head, revealing a pair of azure eyes.
His gaze penetrated the mausoleum made of stacked megaliths and the dense mist, looking towards the Dawn anchored dozens of miles away.
Inside the captain's cabin, the gray-white slate, inscribed with numerous strange symbols and markings, held in Bernadette's hand, seemed to be drawn by something.
It instantly turned dark, exuding substantial shadows, and gradually dissipated in her hand.
The next second, this peculiar slate appeared directly in Roselle's hand, transforming into substantial shadows that flowed into his body.
The pitch-black humanoid figure Creep uncontrollably, growing long, slightly curly hair.
The outlines of a nose, lips, ears, and beard appeared on its face, and it donned a heavy coat.
Although still completely black, one could feel its nobility and splendor.
His body was quite ethereal, seemingly becoming a kind of illusion, looking as if he was isolated in another world, constantly being lifted higher, becoming grand and towering, ascending into the Astral World.
During this process, he saw the deep red surging from beneath the mausoleum, like a Crimson Moon about to rise.
Above the Crimson Moon, faint black mist continuously surged out, creating strange colors, overlapping layers, riddles, and illusions, seemingly impenetrable like an indescribable truth, firmly restricting that rising Crimson Moon underground.
"The authority of 'Mystery' already has a hint of the Hidden Sage's flavor.
No, in some sense, it even surpasses the Hidden Sage."
"After all this going around, I still ended up intertwined with these two Pathways."
"Is this fate?
From the moment I chose to become a Savant, I was already being watched, placed on the chessboard, written into the script… Heh, I must have had too much contact with Spectators to keep thinking about scripts."
While muttering to himself, Roselle had already ascended into the Astral World.
He felt gazes cast upon him, from the ground, from the Astral World, from the Cosmos.
They were either filled with malice, indifferent, or joyful and excited.
Roselle did not pay attention to the gazes of these angels, true gods, and evil gods.
His resurrection had begun, irreversible and unstoppable.
As he re-established contact with the real world, he felt his own anchors, and the spirit and will within them—that which originated from his daughter, from his believers, and from his subjects.
His figure gradually became clearer, gained color, but still ethereal, Roselle curled the corners of his lips, allowing his voice to reach the ears of everyone connected to him in a real or mystical sense:
"Intis, your Emperor has returned!"