Time seemed to freeze at that very moment.
Everyone here—whether Banshees, transcendents, or ordinary mortals—sensed some vast will.
As though their hearts were in perfect accord, they all closed their eyes.
Inside the church, the Faithguard Army soldiers instinctively placed their hands upon the Holy Scripture.
Inside the factories, even the workers arguing with the boilers stopped what they were doing. Both the Machine Souls and the workers fell silent.
Throughout Castel, tens of thousands of people felt that immense will, then joined it.
All people, all Machine Souls, all existing wills became one at this moment.
Like the Banshees' Mind Synchronization, this newborn will was a gathering of everyone's wills, something acknowledged by all.
For that very reason, people felt an innate closeness and familiarity toward it.
Only moments later, people slowly opened their eyes, yet it felt as though many years had passed.
They looked at one another, feeling as though there was now another layer of... familiarity between them.
"What... just happened?"
"I don't know, but... it feels like I suddenly know a lot."
"Did you just feel—"
"Yes."
"I haven't even said what it was."
"But I know."
Conversations like these sprang up across the island. Different people had experienced the same miraculous event. At least in that moment, their wills had been identical.
The Banshees' Mind Link, meanwhile, exploded into commotion.
"Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God!"
"For a moment just now, I felt like there were suddenly thousands more of our kind!"
"That will was so overwhelming I can't even begin to describe it..."
"Come to think of it, human souls... don't seem all that different from ours."
"Can we do it again? I want to try it again!"
"That might be difficult. Mind Synchronization requires us to actively link in,