Dark clouds hung low and the sky was dim. The wind was quieter than usual, only occasionally stirring small waves on the sea.
"I'm leaving, Plague."
A black-purple eye the size of a millstone spoke from the surface of the water.
"Don't go, War." Leviathan's phantom urgently tried to stop him, reluctance clear in its voice. "Stay and help me."
"Stay? Hehe. Do you want me to remain here and suffer with you, Leviathan? You should wake up."
Ovathrax glanced at Leviathan with pure disdain.
"In the last Hunt Plains battle, I already used up most of the frequency I absorbed there. I have already done more than enough for you. You no longer have any way to turn this around."
"This…"
Leviathan felt its face burn with shame and could not speak for a long time.
Just as Ovathrax said, It truly had no more cards left to play. All it could do was wait patiently.
It would take at least several decades, maybe even over a hundred years, before It could fully recover and return to Rinascita.
A hundred years? A hundred years!
It did not want to wait even a single second longer!
Sensing Leviathan's struggle, Ovathrax gave a cruel smile.
"You still have one last trump card, Plague."
"What?"
"You already tried calling that existence once, didn't you?"
Ovathrax's voice turned soft and tempting.
"You have already fallen this far. You have nothing left to lose, right?"
"Think about Noah. Think about everyone who betrayed you."
"They are all forcing you. These defiers should all pay the price!"
The words made Leviathan's phantom waver.
"I already failed once. If I fail again…"
"Fail?"
Ovathrax let out a cold laugh.
"Look at yourself now. You look like a stray dog! What are you still hesitating for?"
"Shut up! Why don't you try it yourself?"
The words "stray dog" hit a sore spot. Leviathan snapped back in anger.
"I see what you're doing. You don't want to take the risk of being refused, but you still want to know what happens if the call succeeds. So you're trying to trick me into testing it for you!"
"Hmph. Think whatever you want. If you want to recover quickly, you have no other choice."
With those final words, Ovathrax left.
...
"Attention is something that fades very easily."
In the Montelli District, Carlotta used her terminal to project an image.
"According to the analysis from Montelli's specialists, the best way to lower the attention on one matter is simply to create another matter that draws people's focus."
"If a piece of gossip doesn't get any new attention for three to five days, most people will already start to forget it. The longer time passes, the more they forget."
"For example, two years ago a family dumped toxins into the sea. It caused a huge uproar at the time. Now almost no one remembers it."
Noah nodded as he listened to her simple explanation.
"So as long as we create some other topic and make sure nothing about me appears on Quick Tone for three to five days in a row, I won't run into today's problem again?"
"Exactly. Leave that to me."
Carlotta smiled and pointed toward a nearby house.
"Since I know you don't want to become too famous, I'll be more careful from now on. You haven't eaten lunch yet, right? It's rare to see you. Want to try some Montelli cooking?"
"Sure."
Noah nodded. Then a small line of text suddenly appeared at the bottom of his vision.
[Character "Encore" has been unbanned and can be used normally.]
"Nice. Encore is unbanned." He felt a wave of joy.
Ever since he used Encore to revive Imperator, he had never tried any risky ban actions with her again.
The last ban had purely been an accident.
While walking, Noah casually opened the Resonator panel to check how many characters he owned.
Five-star characters: six-chain Jinhsi, six-chain Carlotta, six-chain Cartethyia, six-chain Augusta, six-chain Iuno, Rover (six-chain Spectro, six-chain Havoc, one-chain Aero).
Three-chain Encore, two-chain Camellya, two-chain Shorekeeper, two-chain Verina, one-chain Jianxin.
Zero-chain Cantarella, Zhezhi, Ciaccona, Snow Leopard, Xiangli Yao, Phrolova.
Five-star weapons: Ages of Harvest, Emerald of Genesis, Static Mist, Jade Branch Frost Silk, Red Spring, The Last Dance, Crown of Destined Unyielding, Bloodpact's Pledge (Rank 5), Authority of Riding Crown Casting Thunder, Annotation of All Things' Persistence.
Four-star characters: all six-chain.
Four-star weapons: too many to count.
Backpack: Radiant Tide ×20, Lustrous Tide ×30, Astrite ×3280, Shell Credit ×9.36 million.
He checked the fully built panels of each character one by one. A proud smile appeared on his face.
"All of this came from my own hard work!"
A short while later.
The two of them sat across from each other. Carlotta elegantly cut a small piece of steak with her knife and fork and slowly placed it in her mouth. Her eyes stayed on Noah, who was eating large bites of meat.
If it had been anyone else eating so roughly, she would have quietly frowned. But because it was Noah, she found that her own appetite improved just by watching him.
"What are your plans for the next few days, Tall Chestnut?"
"I'll stay in Rinascita for a while."
According to the original story of Wuthering Waves, because the Rover never obtained the Threnodian gem during Phrolova's events, Cristoforo had secretly been raising the Threnodian Leviathan while the Rover was dealing with the Hunt Plains in Septimont.
By the time Rover rescued Iuno, Leviathan had already grown extremely powerful, but it stayed hidden and continued to harvest the spirits of people in Rinascita.
Because of that, Cartethyia and Galbrena planned for Cartethyia to fake her death in order to draw the Threnodian out.
That was how the final battle of the Rinascita chapter was supposed to begin.
But reality had already drifted far from the original story.
Cristoforo and Scar were dead. Phrolova was still taking care of her people. Although Leviathan's will had escaped the Threnodian gem, it was now extremely weak.
In this situation, even Noah felt deep down that—
The big final battle of version 2.7 would probably end up being delayed, just like Courtyard Blade Echo and Rust, Sword and the Sun.
The only unknown factor was that the two major Threnodians were still missing. He did not know if Old Ma had found any clues yet.
To be safe, Noah decided to stay in Rinascita a little longer. As for Chisa in version 2.8…
He still did not have the key item needed to unlock that story, and the Black Shores had already moved their base. For now, there was no way to enter Chisa's Sonoro Sphere.
"My hotel in Septimont has probably already been found by people who want to create content. Staying somewhere else also seems risky. So from now on, can I stay here with you?"
"Of course!"
Carlotta's eyes lit up the moment she heard those words.
Tall Chestnut was going to stay in the Montelli District?!
Did that count as a special kind of living together?
Either way, for the time being, Tall Chestnut would belong only to her.
She clapped her hands.
"During this time, I'll take good care of you! This afternoon I'll bring you some nice clothes. By the way, why do you always wear white? Does it mean something special?"
"It does, brother. It does."
Finally someone had asked the question. Noah immediately explained with enthusiasm.
"You know how I always fight all kinds of Tacet Discords. They use every kind of attack, and I've gotten used to dodging everything."
"When the fight is over and they're completely dead, I'm still perfectly clean."
"At that moment I feel like my technique is just too good. It gives me a huge sense of achievement."
Carlotta's eye twitched slightly after hearing that.
So… that was the real reason?
This Tall Chestnut who saved the world looked mature and powerful on the outside, but deep down he still had this kind of childish thought. It really made one think that men stay boys until the day they die.
She quietly wrote a note on her terminal:
Tall Chestnut likes white.
Then she suddenly remembered—her own hair was also white.
Didn't that mean Tall Chestnut liked her?
Win!