After spending a short time together, Zane suddenly realized that the Fractsidus Overseer in front of him was like a hedgehog, covered in sharp spines from head to toe, protecting herself completely.
Most conversations ended with a "hmph" or a "heh." Only when music was mentioned would she briefly express any actual opinions.
"You really like music that much?"
Maybe it was just his imagination, but Zane always felt this Fractsidus Overseer was hiding some unknown past.
"With the rise and fall of my hands, I control the phrasing, intensity, and balance of a composition."
"I turn notes into the sounds I desire, driving the orchestra through waves of pain and pleasure toward the ultimate emotional climax."
"No one can fall behind. No one can escape it. Until... until I obtain the perfect movement that exists in my heart."
Her voice was light, fleeting like a passing breeze.
Yet hidden within that fleeting breeze was a trace of madness willing to destroy everything.
"So what exactly is this composition you want to complete?"
Zane sharply sensed that this Fractsidus Overseer didn't seem to have much attachment to the Fractsidus itself.
The thing she truly wanted was simply to complete her own composition. Not the Fractsidus' goals, nor changing the world or anything like that.
Faced with Zane's question, Phrolova let out another mocking laugh.
"An unfinished composition isn't worthy of attention. Compared to that, I'm more curious about you right now."
Phrolova lifted her head and looked directly at Zane without the slightest attempt to hide it.
Ever since Jinzhou several years ago, she had already noticed him.
Everything in existence should have its own frequencies. Humans, Tacet Discords, even inanimate objects.
But he was a complete exception.
There wasn't the slightest fluctuation of frequency coming from him at all.
As though... He were dead.
From that moment on, she had felt that perhaps he could become the single most important note in her composition.
"Me?" Zane raised a brow. "If those words came from Rover, maybe I'd get a little excited. But from you..."
Zane looked Phrolova up and down. She resembled a spider lily soaked in blood, beautiful and vivid, yet incomparably dangerous.
Something seemed to flicker within her indifferent eyes, yet they also resembled stagnant water, incapable of being stirred by anything.
"I'm not interested in getting shoved onto an operating table as some lab rat."
"So that's how you see me." Phrolova sighed softly. "Speaking of which, you and Rover seem pretty close?"
The moment Phrolova suddenly brought up Rover, Zane felt a chill run down his back. He immediately looked at her warily.
"What are you trying to do?"
"Nothing at all." Under his suspicious gaze, Phrolova gently shook her head.
To avoid disrupting the composition she had painstakingly woven, she needed to stabilize this unpredictable factor called Zane. If she couldn't make him an ally, then she needed to push him as far from the center as possible.
'Or perhaps...'
Thinking this, Phrolova silently rose to her feet and turned toward the depths of the cave.
Watching her gradually receding figure, Zane thought for a moment before asking, "Where are you going?"
"Curious? Then follow me."
Hearing his question, Phrolova paused briefly and glanced back over her shoulder with a faint smile before continuing forward again.
Zane followed behind her. They passed through waterways and then proceeded down a long corridor deeper ahead.
Just as the two reached the end of the passage and stepped onto an elevator leading upward, Phrolova handed him a pitch-black cloak.
"This is for you. Of course, you don't have to take it."
The next second, Phrolova suddenly felt the weight leave her hand. Zane had already grabbed the cloak and thrown it over himself.
Now it was Phrolova's turn to be surprised.
'Is this guy actually an idiot?'
"You seem pretty shocked?"
As Zane spoke, he tugged the hood lower, perfectly hiding his face beneath it.
"Someone like you accepting an item provided by the Fractsidus without the slightest hesitation seems a little... naive to me."
"If you want to call me stupid, just say it."
Zane curled his lips. Phrolova really did have a twisted personality. She was the one who offered it in the first place, yet she was also the one acting suspicious afterward.
"A fool couldn't have defeated Scar."
While the two exchanged barbs, they arrived at the highest level of the elevator.
As the metal doors opened, Zane's eyes lit up instantly.
Beneath a magnificent radiant dome, silver-white walls reflected golden engravings. At the end of the enormous hall stood a statue of a pegasus swaying its fish-like tail, silently overlooking the empty cathedral.
Its gigantic wings spread wide like open arms, as though embracing everything within them.
A crimson carpet stretched from the entrance all the way to the statue.
On both sides of the carpet-lined path stood dozens of statues raising golden trumpets high. Gentle hymns flowed from the instruments, accompanied by deep ringing bells that echoed softly throughout the cathedral without end.
Zane raised his head toward the dome overhead. A cold ray of sunlight cut across the cathedral like a blade slicing open the sky itself, dividing light from darkness while simultaneously blending the two together.
A man stood before the statue at that moment, his luxurious robes swaying faintly. Behind his head floated what appeared to be a halo.
Whether it was part of his outfit or an effect of his Resonance ability was impossible to tell.
"So, have you made your decision?"
Phrolova spoke first, breaking the silence hanging in the air.
The man turned around at her words. Through the shadow of the hood, Zane clearly saw the man's aged face and the half-mask covering the right side of it, the mask's eye tightly shut.
While Zane observed him, the man also glanced briefly at the hooded figure standing behind Phrolova, but quickly withdrew his gaze.
"The radiance of God shall protect the people. He is the god of peace, justice, humility, and benevolence. All who praise Him shall be saved. Even you are no exception."
The man's voice wasn't loud, yet it seemed capable of piercing directly into one's soul. It instantly drowned out the surrounding hymns and echoed throughout the cathedral.
Hearing this, Phrolova tilted her head slightly and glanced vaguely toward Zane before looking back at the man.
"Then let me wish in advance that we both obtain what we desire, Bishop Fenlake."
After their brief exchange, Phrolova led him away from the cathedral.
Yet from the moment they entered the cathedral until the moment they left, Zane, who normally couldn't sit still for even a second, remained completely silent the entire time. That alone piqued Phrolova's interest.
"As far as I know, you're not the kind of person who'd just sit there and watch the Fractsidus get involved with the Church."
Faced with Phrolova's teasing, Zane pulled off his hood and turned around again, carefully examining the grand structure before him. A strange gleam flickered in his eyes.
"You don't seriously think all I know how to do is fight and kill, right?"
Deliberately luring him here, then bringing him into the cathedral so he would learn about the cooperation between the Order and the Fractsidus...
No matter how he looked at it, it carried the scent of conspiracy.
Seeing Zane remain calm regardless, Phrolova wasn't in a hurry. She merely smiled faintly.
"Seeds that are planted will bloom someday. Even as an enemy, I have to admit, you've made me see you in a new light."
As Phrolova's voice faded, her body instantly dissolved into a cloud of crimson flower petals.
"Don't think you're getting away!"
Seeing this, Zane rushed toward her at once, but he was still a step too late.
By the time he reached out toward the swirling petals, all he managed to catch was a single spider lily petal. Phrolova's figure had already scattered into the wind alongside the flowers.
"I hope that the next time we meet, you'll play even more beautiful notes for me..."
"Tch."
Zane clicked his tongue unwillingly. Since she had appeared in Rinascita, then sooner or later she would cross paths with him again.
And when that time came, he'd make her understand exactly why flowers were so red.
Though compared to all that, there was something else bothering Zane far more.