Having recovered some of his spirit, Blaidd prepared to set off in search of Ranni.
"Wait." It was at this moment that the Tarnished called out to Blaidd, intending to ask how to use the Inverted Statue Ranni had given him.
"Ranni gave even this to you... Hahaha, it seems you've truly left a deep impression on her." This object was quite important to Ranni; after all, it was the key to her past physical body. Even if it was a discarded shell, it wasn't a place just anyone could approach.
Blaidd gave a simple explanation of how to use the Inverted Statue. After that, the two groups parted ways once again—Blaidd to find Ranni, while the Tarnished, having completed the alliance quest, returned to a period of relative freedom... though his next stop was already decided: Ranni's Divine Tower at the end of the Carian Study Hall.
"Oh, it has been a long time, Excellency." The Tarnished and Millicent first arrived at the Church of Vows. The giant turtle, Miriel, stepped forward to greet them.
"What a massive turtle..." Millicent looked at this eloquent, giant tortoise with great curiosity. Although she had long heard that turtles represented wisdom, she hadn't expected one to grow to such a degree.
"Malenia...? No, no... may I ask who you are, Excellency?" Anyone would mistake Millicent for Malenia at first glance, and even the exceptionally wise Miriel was no exception. After Millicent introduced herself, Miriel wore an expression of sudden realization.
"A mission, is it... To live in this world, one needs a hope to look forward to, to live without shame in one's heart... Please, do not let the mission cause you to lose sight of what truly matters..." Miriel's eyes flickered with the light of wisdom; he seemed to understand everything.
Millicent wanted to ask more, but Miriel brushed her off, saying that one's mission must be sought by oneself.
After a bit of conversation, Miriel also learned of the Tarnished's recent grand feats.
"Ah... so Radahn fell by your hand." He looked up at the star-studded sky, his eyes filled with complex emotions. Though the Carian Royal Family had little direct connection to him, they were members of the world's living beings, and Radahn was a character worthy of epic praise. His passing was inevitably heart-wrenching.
Furthermore, Miriel sensed the raging fire burning within the Tarnished. It seemed he had already solved the problem of a catalyst. This man was truly extraordinary.
After the pleasantries, the Tarnished left the Church of Vows and walked toward the Study Hall below.
The Study Hall was built against a cliff, connected to Ranni's Divine Tower by a massive bridge. One had to admit, these Divine Towers seemed to love being built in strange places; they truly enjoyed being unique.
Pushing open the grand doors, they entered a dimly lit interior. Though there were candle flames, they weren't enough to illuminate the entire massive hall. In the center of the dim room was a sphere resembling a planet.
According to what Blaidd had said, the Study Hall had two states: upright and inverted. To reach Ranni's Divine Tower, one had to use the Inverted Statue to flip the entire hall, otherwise, the bridge to the Divine Tower would be inaccessible.
The Tarnished summoned the Starlight he had learned from Thops. The soft glow dispelled some of the darkness. Approaching the sphere, the Tarnished placed the Inverted Statue upon the pedestal. In an instant, the entire Study Hall suffered a massive tremor. The central sphere spun continuously before stopping in a state exactly opposite to before.
The trembling of the Study Hall ceased at that moment.
"How magical... to have such a mechanism." Millicent went to the balcony on the left and looked down. Where there had once been a lift, there was now a bottomless abyss. Indeed, the entire structure had undergone an inverted change.
Millicent stayed close to the Tarnished's side. The soft starlight illuminated a viable path. Due to the inverted structure, steps that were once horizontal had become tricky, narrow platforms.
Furthermore, there were Fingercreepers lying in ambush, ready to sneak attack the two. Although the path was dangerous, it wasn't enough to force back the Tarnished and Millicent. They fought their way into the building. The scene inside once again made Millicent feel the malice of the designer, though she could understand—after all, this was the path to Ranni's Divine Tower. It was only right for it to be difficult.
But just as Millicent was about to move, a massive magical arrow shot toward them. It was incredibly fast and fired from a great distance.
"An ambush?" Millicent reacted quickly, slicing the incoming arrow in two. Her gaze immediately caught the person who launched the attack in the distance. It was someone dressed exactly like Seluvis, with the inner side of the wide hat depicting the stars.
That person was wielding a magical greatbow, launching attacks toward them.
"Why do you possess the Inverted Statue... this is not a place you may tread. Leave at once!" The voice was gender-neutral, but the words were full of rejection. It seemed this was a guardian of the place.
"Please wait, we are not enemies... the item was given to us by Lady Ranni." Millicent tried to negotiate, but the Preceptor clearly didn't believe her. In his understanding, Ranni had long since disappeared; how could she give such a precious item to a Tarnished and a one-armed girl?
"You don't believe us... if you don't believe us, I'll come over and make you believe." Seeing that Millicent's persuasion was failing, the Tarnished extended his tail, infused it with the power of flame, and hurled fireballs at the Preceptor. "Do you believe it now?" He spoke even as he attacked.
"Tch... how troublesome..." He thought his long-range techniques were peerless, but he hadn't expected to meet a master. "And wearing the armor of the Carian Knights—what have you done to them!"
"I picked it up, would you believe that?"
"Do you take me for a fool?" Dodging an attack, the Preceptor continued to draw his greatbow to counter, but the Tarnished was not alone. Millicent's reactions were swift; the arrows could not get anywhere near the two.
"Since you don't believe it, we'll just beat you to death." With that, the Tarnished increased the frequency of his attacks.
"Dammit... do you have no limit to your stamina?" The Preceptor was panting heavily from dodging, while the Tarnished still acted as if nothing were wrong. Was he truly going to fall at their hands?
"Wait! Hold on!" Thinking of this, the Preceptor discarded his pride and called for a stop. He wasn't afraid to die, but he was afraid of dying for no reason... and the fact that the Tarnished hadn't delivered a killing blow might really mean he was connected to Ranni.
"Can you listen to us now?" The Tarnished ceased his attack and looked at the distant Preceptor with a smile.
"I can, I can... speak your piece... if you cannot convince me, I will drive you out even if it costs me this life."
"You Carian people are quite loyal... Seluvis really is an exception." After that, the Tarnished conversed with the Preceptor from across the distance. During the conversation, he learned this person was named Miriam, a Preceptor serving the Carian Royal Family.
When Miriam learned that Ranni still existed in the world, his emotions became incredibly excited. Ranni was of extraordinary significance to the Royal Family... as long as she existed, the Royal Family could endure; Caria would not truly fall.
He also came to understand the cause and effect behind Ranni's disappearance. He couldn't help but marvel that Ranni was truly Queen Rennala's daughter—she was indeed extraordinary!
"So it seems you truly have Lady Ranni's permission to come here..." Miriam felt a bit embarrassed. Look at the mess he had made... letting subjective prejudice defeat his reason. It was truly inelegant, a loss of face.
To express his apology, Miriam threw a sorcery book to the Tarnished. It was one of the Carian Royal Family's sorceries called Lucidity, which had the effect of calming agitated emotions. It seemed like a good item.
Having cleared up the misunderstanding, the Tarnished bid a simple farewell to Miriam, then picked up Millicent and jumped straight down. Below was the path Miriam had pointed out—a lift leading to the Divine Tower gates. Through this lift, they could reach the door connecting to the Divine Tower bridge.
"Phew... no matter how many times it happens... it's still very thrilling." Millicent left the Tarnished's embrace. She still couldn't adapt to the sensation of falling from high altitudes in such a short time.
"You'll get used to it." The Tarnished smiled at Millicent and stepped on the mechanism. The massive lift carried them upward. As they looked up, a giant door gradually appeared in their sight.
Pushing open the heavy doors, they saw a towering tower outside, shrouded in a mysterious veil of mist.
"This is the second Divine Tower I've visited with you, isn't it?" Millicent looked at the Tarnished with a smile. Although their time traveling together wasn't that long, it was brilliant. With the Tarnished's help, she had witnessed many strange and wonderful things.
She wondered what the Divine Tower belonging to Malenia, also a demigod, would be like.
"I have been expecting you, Lord Consort." Just then, an obese but elegant Godskin figure walked toward the two. This one looked significantly more powerful than the Apostles; this was likely the legendary Godskin Noble.
"Why are you here?" The Tarnished was initially confused as to why the Godskin was here, but he soon understood. He had likely arrived here before the Tarnished had received the Gloam-Eyed Queen's recognition. After receiving the news, he hadn't had time to leave, so he simply stayed to guard the place.
"The envoy informed me. Therefore, I intended to wait here for your arrival, Lord Consort. Since you have appeared, the friction between us and the Empyrean Ranni is settled... Above should be Ranni's past body. I haven't gone up yet, but now that I have seen you, I shall take my leave." The Noble bowed slightly and then vanished into a burst of black flame.
"Mmm... it seems identity is quite important in the Lands Between, isn't it?" Millicent teased the Tarnished with a smile.
"Sigh..." It was quite a surprise to inexplicably become a "Lord Consort." But there was no use overthinking it; he had to keep moving...
Ranni's Divine Tower was not as complex as Radahn's, and her tower doors were wide open—evidently opened by the Noble earlier. He had probably received the envoy's message just as he was about to enter.
Ascending to the top floor, they found a charred remains. Even as a dried-up corpse, one could see Ranni's feminine features and the half-circle wound carved deeply into her back.
"Sister's body seems to be holding something in its hand..." Millicent knelt down to look closely. It was a square object carved with something. It was a woman... but it didn't seem to be Ranni herself.
"This is Rennala, isn't it?" Turning it over, the back was carved with a full moon. The maiden carved on the front was likely Ranni's mother, Queen Rennala.
"I see... so this is the mark of a demigod's death?" It was a grey, colorless, centipede-like half-ring. It represented the death of Ranni's flesh, while the other half would be upon another deceased—Godwyn, whose soul had died.
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