The sky seemed to suddenly turn gloomy and oppressive. The surrounding voices grew more distant, and all the buildings in the entire Septimont seemed to return to twenty years ago in an instant.
"The smell of the sea?"
Cartethyia looked around. Everything in sight had turned into ruins, with traces of Dark Tide erosion visible everywhere. The city was empty and devoid of any people.
"Welcome to my world, Your Holiness the Saintess. As you can see, this is Septimont submerged by Dark Tide."
The elegant-looking Cristoforo's figure materialized from illusion to reality in front of Cartethyia. He gracefully removed his hat in a salute to her:
"There's no need to struggle. In my script world, you cannot contact the Sentinel Imperator—"
After finishing his salute, Cristoforo raised his head. His words suddenly caught in his throat, and for a moment it felt as if he had forgotten how to breathe.
Opposite him, Cartethyia had used the brief moment of his salute to switch into her Fleurdelys form. She raised the massive sword high in her hands, the brilliant light on the blade nearly slicing the sky in two.
This terrifying power fluctuation, this powerful frequency reaction, this intangible oppressive locking of aura—Cristoforo instantly broke out in cold sweat, cursing wildly in his heart:
Fucking Threnodian, you call this Overlord class?!
Come out and translate this for me! Translate! What the hell is Overlord class!
"Furious tides—split the heavens!"
The radiant giant sword slashed down with blinding light. Cristoforo frantically activated the script and barely managed to turn his body intangible at the last moment.
Boom!
The massive sound was like a hundreds-of-meters-tall tsunami crashing to the ground. Behind where Cristoforo had been standing, the tall buildings of the Capitoline Hill arena were split perfectly in half from the center.
"Hiss~"
Cristoforo gritted his teeth tightly, suddenly feeling the urge to shout "Phrolova save me." But Phrolova had already run off to Ragunna long ago.
"High skies descend! Tides show no mercy!"
The shining sword formation erupted with Resonance power and surrounded Cristoforo. Countless energy-formed long swords stabbed toward his body, but they passed through like air, causing no damage.
Cristoforo wiped away his cold sweat and relaxed.
Having learned from the last time he was repeatedly beaten by Noah, he had prepared the ability to turn his body intangible inside the script in advance this time.
But this ability—had a cooldown!
"Your Holiness the Saintess, you cannot harm me. Why not have another chat with me..."
"Hahaha! Playwright, I knew you would bring my Resonator to me."
Leviathan flew over laughing loudly, but as it got closer, the smile on its face gradually disappeared.
"Not..."
It looked at Cartethyia holding the giant sword in one hand and felt the complete energy fluctuations on her body. Its expression grew ugly as it roared in disbelief:
"How is this possible?! How can the power inside your body be so complete and balanced!"
"Because I am your most perfect creation."
Sensing the Threnodian power fluctuations on Avidius, Cartethyia narrowed her eyes:
"So you two really are working together."
No wonder the Laureate instructed her to go all out and take Cristoforo's life the moment she saw him.
Unfortunately, she was still one step too slow. But it was fine—there was still room to salvage the situation. Cartethyia raised her sword again:
"Furious tides—split the heavens!"
...
"Where's my little Cartethyia!"
As night fell, Noah, who had just finished slaughtering Kerasaur, returned to Septimont and immediately couldn't hold it together.
He had only gone out to get to know the main quest character Lupa, and upon returning he found that Cartethyia was gone.
Her calls wouldn't connect, and her messages weren't replied to.
Making another call, Noah directly contacted Ciaccona.
"Part-time poet, have you seen little Cartethyia? The one who teamed up with you for the match this afternoon."
"I don't know~ She said she was going to find you. By the way, Laureate, are you free? I'll treat you to a meal!"
"Next time for sure."
Hanging up the call, Noah contacted Carlotta again:
"Little Potato, has little Cartethyia come to find you?"
"Little Cartethyia didn't come find me, but Tall Chestnut came looking for me. Did something happen?"
"Um... it's nothing. I'll handle it."
Telling Carlotta would only make one more person worry, so Noah chose not to say anything to save time.
He flipped through the quest list. Besides a few newly unlocked Chronicle quests he hadn't had time to do yet, there was only one main quest.
[Main Quest: "Shadow of Glory" has been activated.]
[Quest Description: The Saintess in the high tower left without saying goodbye. Chase the traces she left behind and head to the land illuminated by glory.]
"Cartethyia couldn't have been pulled into Cristoforo's script again, right?"
"No, I need to confirm with Imperator."
Using a teleport, he returned to Ragunna and activated flight, rushing frantically toward the inverted high tower Avinoleum.
"Old Horse, Old Horse!"
Finally arriving at Avinoleum, Noah shouted several times until a palm-sized small horse appeared before him:
"Righteous One, what do you summon me for?"
"I lost your Resonator. Quickly use the resonance link to help me find her."
Imperator obediently used the resonance link.
Imperator panicked.
"Where is my Resonator!"
"My huge Resonator is gone!"
"No way!"
The man and horse were thrown into chaos.
Suddenly, Noah slapped his forehead:
"I remember now—I have Cristoforo's script!"
Leaving an anchor point, Noah pulled out the script with a backhand. It was still empty, with nothing inside.
"Fucking Cristoforo dog! I give up!"
"Fucking Threnodian! I give up!"
Inside the script world, Cristoforo and Leviathan were both fleeing, pushing blame onto each other.
"Playwright, are you brainless? You couldn't tell she was Calamity class before dragging her into the script!"
"Wasn't this what you asked me to do? Now that I actually brought her, you're unhappy again. Translate for me—what the hell is Overlord class!"
Leviathan's Threnodian body was slashed in half by a sword light. Large amounts of Dark Tide flowed from the wound, acting as adhesive to stitch the body back together, while Cartethyia chased relentlessly behind.
Leviathan didn't dare stop for a moment and could only curse in pain:
"You brought her in, so you get her out!"
"She used your authority to fuse her own frequency into the script. She's become a protagonist like you, like a virus! Unless the script is destroyed, I can't drive her out!"
"Then with Cartethyia here now, how am I supposed to reenact the script, harvest the collective consciousness of Septimont, and grow stronger? Tell me!"
"What am I supposed to say? You can't even control the Resonator you created yourself, Leviathan, you useless piece of trash!"
Stung right in the heart by those words, Leviathan flew into a rage but couldn't find any words to retort.
Behind them, Cartethyia gathered her power and delivered another heaven-splitting strike.
"I have a way!"
Leviathan, who had narrowly dodged the attack, shouted:
"Playwright, listen to me!"
"Righteous One, listen to me."
On the other side, Imperator comforted Noah:
"Although an invisible barrier prevents me from sensing Cartethyia through resonance, I can sense that she is still alive and well. She should be fine."
"Just because she's fine now doesn't mean she'll be fine the whole time."
Noah stamped his foot, his brain racing.
In the original plot, Cartethyia had left without saying goodbye and gone alone to Septimont, where she was trapped in Cristoforo's script. But she had only been trapped for three days.
Now, there were still a full ten days until the gladiatorial tournament finals.
Facing the prepared joint attack of Fractsidus leader Cristoforo and the Threnodian Leviathan, could Cartethyia really hold on for ten days?
What if Cristoforo and Leviathan teamed up to see through Cartethyia the same way they saw through Rover in the 2.7 plot? Could Cartethyia be their match?
He had almost forgotten—there was also Phrolova here in Septimont. That meant Cartethyia would be fighting three enemies at once!
"Ah— I almost forgot."
Switch character—Encore!
The severe overclocking caused by previously reviving Old Horse had now mostly healed itself.
"There is a door in front of me. Once I walk through it, I can directly enter Cristoforo's script!"
As Noah activated his Resonance ability and imagined it with his mind, an ordinary-looking door appeared out of thin air. Without hesitation, Noah stepped through it.
The scenery around him changed completely. After taking a quick look, he saw the tall stone walls in the distance and the people casually strolling around at night. He couldn't help but freeze.
He had directly returned to Septimont. Everything around him looked exactly the same as normal Septimont, with no traces of erosion at all.
This is bad!
Now he really couldn't distinguish between reality and the script.
...