"The price..."
"That's right. Authority... also means responsibility. Taking half of Dreamless's authority also means shouldering half of its responsibility."
Ling An froze. "What's Dreamless's responsibility?"
"Perhaps you should consider what a Threnodian's responsibility-or rather, purpose-is," Changli suddenly said gravely from beside him.
"To destroy civilization!"
In that instant, realization dawned on Ling An.
He looked down at himself in disbelief.
Yes, all power came at a price. How could he have taken the crown from Dreamless so easily without losing anything at all?
A Threnodian's power was hardly so convenient.
"Could this have been part of its scheme, too?" Ling An murmured in disbelief.
Examining himself, he realized he had nothing but the strength he took such pride in.
Unless a Tiger Talisman fell from the sky right now to balance his power, if things continued like this...
He would only become another Threnodian!
For the first time.
He felt the sheer magnitude and inevitability of Solaris's ultimate catastrophe-the Lament.
"Maybe... there's another way?" Ling An looked at Tide Sis.
Become a Threnodian? No, please.
Heaven knew all he had wanted at first was to use Crownless's perfect appearance to find himself a beautiful wife on Solaris.
He had finally gotten to know so many people. He didn't want to destroy all of this with his own hands.
Of course, the more likely outcome was that Tide Sis would destroy him before he could destroy everything.
Provided she could bring herself to do it.
The changes in him were currently so subtle that they were barely noticeable.
That was probably because his body, reconstructed in his consciousness from the frequencies of countless dead people, was resisting the encroachment.
But clearly, that was still far from enough.
A Tacet Discord's lifespan was difficult to measure, and the encroachment continued day