Shrouded Seascape

"I know that you're hiding from us, and I'm really afraid that I'll never see you again once we leave this place," Lily said, looking aggrieved.

Charles was silent for a long time. Then, he revealed a look of helplessness as he replied, "Lily, you shouldn't stay by my side. Back then, you could stay for as long as you wanted, but not anymore. Some things have changed."

"Why can't I stay by your side? Is it because I'm human now? If so, then I can become a mouse again!" Lily exclaimed, sounding agitated.

Just as Lily's words fell, a figure flew swiftly behind Charles. There was a flash of cold light, and a cut appeared on Charles' face. Dark red blood seeped out of the wound, but Charles didn't make any moves in response.

However, his brows were furrowed, and he began emanating the same domineering and sharp air of which the crew members thought had disappeared.

"Are you done making a scene?" Charles asked in a low voice.

The shadowy figure condensed on the right side of the sofa, and it was none other than Dipp. When he saw the wound on Charles' face, he exclaimed in delight, "I knew it! He's the real captain! You said he was fake, Second Mate!"

Upon seeing Charles' cold face, Dipp suddenly felt nervous. "Captain, this was all the Second Mate's idea. I was just executing it."

"You lot are grown-ups, so why are you guys acting like children? Hurry up and go back to sleep! If you don't want to sleep, then get lost!" Charles scolded.

Instead of getting scared and worried, Dipp revealed a gleeful face. This was the captain he was familiar with.

Just as Dipp was happily walking upstairs, Nico came down from the second floor.

He greeted Charles with a smile and told Charles that it was Dipp's idea.

However, it seemed that Charles couldn't care less about what the two were trying to do. He stood up and pulled Lily to a quiet place.

As soon as Charles turned his back toward Nico, the latter's face turned cold. He swiped at his holster on his waist, and a silver handgun inscribed with strange patterns appeared in his hand.

He aimed the gun and immediately fired a shot at Charles' nape. A deafening gunshot reverberated, and a bullet inscribed with bizarre patterns and drenched in a pitch-black liquid flew quickly toward Charles.

Just as the bullet was about to pierce Charles' head, he turned around and raised his hand, blocking the bullet with his steel prosthetic arm.

When Charles put his hand down, the people before him were stunned. The noise that had echoed upon impact with the steel arm wasn't the sound of metal clashing against metal.

Lily's pupils quivered as she stared at Charles standing next to her. Charles' prosthetic was made out of steel, but the bullet had gouged a hole dripping with blood.

The sight did not make any sense at all. How could a steel arm bleed?

"W-w-what's going on?" Dipp had rushed downstairs and was stunned by the scene. The scene was so surreal that he felt like he was dreaming.

"What else do you think is going on? The captain before us is fake!" Nico yelled. He raised his gun with both hands and aimed at Charles' vital points.

Lily retreated three steps in shock, and she suddenly felt a bit nauseous at the fact that she had been in the arms of a monster.

"Lily, let me explain," Charles said, walking toward her.

Before he could take a step, a wave of radiant sunlight erupted from the young woman. It transformed into a spear and pierced him, pinning him to the wall.

Gunshots erupted one after another as Nico fired his gun. His bullets instantly gouged holes in Charles' figure, making it appear as though red flowers had blossomed all over his temple, chest, and the joints of his limbs.

"I'll call down the others!" Dipp's figure transformed into a blue mist that floated toward the second floor.

Charles' wounds were supposed to be fatal, but for some reason, he still managed to look up. His hair, which was made out of writhing tentacles, had been torn apart by the bullets, revealing an empty skull underneath.

"He's still alive!" Nico exclaimed. His expression went solemn as he loaded special bullets into his gun. Then, he fired rapidly at Charles. Charles' figure looked like a bloody mess, but miraculously, he could still move.

A commotion erupted at the staircase. The sleeping crew members upstairs went down and were stupefied to witness the unfolding scene.

Upon seeing the fear in Lily's eyes, Charles' lips, which were barely hanging on to his face, parted into a calm smile. "Maybe this is for the better."

As soon as his words fell, the surroundings started changing. The chandelier, the dining table, the carpet, and the walls. Everything began to squirm as they took on the appearance of flesh.

The entire house had transformed to resemble the stomach of a monster.

"Get out! We have to leave! NOW!" Dipp roared, issuing the best possible command.

Linda spat hard, instantly corroding the wooden door and the flesh walls.

However, they fell into despair as soon as they stepped outside. The two street lamps at the door had transformed into two eyeballs; the ground and the forest outside were squirming.

The signature darkness of the Subterranean Sea was changing as well, transforming into walls of flesh.

To make matters worse, incomprehensible whispers were ringing in their ears, and the whispers resembled the cursed whisperings at sea.

"Remember my wish back then? I didn't wish to go back; I wished to obtain the power of a Divinity, as I became privy to the fact that some things must be done by someone."

The house made out of flesh took to the sky. When the roof and the walls of the flesh house collapsed, everyone finally saw the entire island.

The island was alive.

The vegetation, the trees, and even the ground had transformed into amorphous organs covered with eyes of a variety of sizes, and they all moved at the same time, staring at the crew suspended in the air.

Among the sea of flesh and amorphous organs, Charles' children screamed in horror. Then, the organs and appendages sticking out of them began mutating once again.

"I've become a Divinity of the Subterranean Sea. I've become immensely powerful, but I also ended up losing quite a few important things."

Everyone present grabbed their heads and revealed agonized looks as they fell to the ground in despair. The influence of a god was too much for them to bear, even though Charles bore no malice toward them.

However, there was one exception—Lily. The gentle sunlight around her seemed to have rendered her impervious to a god's influence.

Lily backed away in disbelief, looking at everything around her in horror. It turned out that the Charles earlier was just His mouth; His entire body was this island, which was larger than Hope Island!

"Lily, do you finally understand why I can't let you stay here? Some things have changed, irreversibly at that."

"Why? Why did things become like this?!" Lily shouted in pain, looking at the unrecognizable Charles.

"It's because I want to give it a try. This power comes at a great price, but this allows me to protect the things I can protect, including you."

Just then, the faces of the crew members started bleeding.

They couldn't withstand being in such close proximity to a god.

"Tell them not to come looking for me anymore. What's about to happen next has nothing to do with them. As the Captain of the Narwhale, this is my final order—live well every day."

Swoosh!

There was a flash of white light, and the Narwhale's crew vanished on the spot.

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