Roseus welcomed death as he swung down his weapon.

Nammon welcomed death too. After all, he had no thoughts of danger at that moment. All he wished to do was devour.

He opened his mouth wide, prepared to devour the small ship before him, as well as the blasphemer who had broken their pact.

Then, a great force crashed into the top half of his mouth, right above his lip.

For a moment, he thought he had been hit by lightning from Sea God Susanoo. Great pain surged through his entire body, along with an impact that forced him to recoil backwards.

His trajectory had been thrown off, and he was no longer in position to devour the ship.

...

Roseus splashed into the water after striking Nammon. His entire arms hurt from delivering the thundering strike.

Despite the Greycloud Longsword weighing a lot, due to Goldrush, he was able to swim fast.

He tried to hurry to the surface, as the sudden exposure to water had made him forget to hold his breath.

Then, he felt something approaching from his right.

He turned, and was face-to-face with a dark cave outlined in gold travelling towards him at alarming speed.

Nammon has recovered fast.

Roseus cursed, certain that this time he would be swallowed whole. Then, another force crashed into the side of this cave mouth, sending it staggering off to the side.

Golden blood spilled into the inky ocean. It glowed slightly, giving Roseus the ability to see.

When he could, he saw Blodwen’s giant green shark form staring right at him. It looked vicious and desperate.

"Run!" the shark’s voice mumbled through the water.

So Roseus did.

...

His ship had already begun sailing away from him, as it was nearly impossible to remain still in such troubled waters.

However, aided by his agility skills, he was able to soon break through the surface, seek it out, and follow after it.

As he arrived and climbed onto the deck, he could hear the ocean rumbling from Blodwen and Nammon’s battle. In the distance, the navy ships continued to loose fire at the floating woman, despite the fact that her mission was already completed.

As for the navy ship which was previously pursuing the Redflower ship, it was closer than ever.

Roseus, now soaked, wasted no time banging on the door below deck, calling for his crewmates to help him sail. They only had one mission at that moment, and that was to escape.

As each of them emerged onto the deck, they stared out into the black sea that had been thrown into such severe chaos that they had never seen anything like it before.

Hurriedly, they got to work trying to put as much distance between themselves and the chaos as possible.

Roseus stood by the railings, trying to compose himself despite all that had happened.

Then, he heard a voice call out to him. Its voice was so powerful that it hurt his head.

[Why am I so weak, when I have controlled the storms the longest?]

Roseus fell to his knees and clutched at his head. The pain grew to unbearable heights.

Why... Why now?

Seeing this, Dawn hurried over and kneeled beside her captain.

"Rose. Rose! What’s happening?"

Roseus just barely managed to look up and croak:

"Rai’zac..."

Through using the sword, he was now forced to hear Rai’zac’s inner conflicts. The jealous thunder Sea God was expressing his anger directly to Roseus.

[And that Susanoo... Blocking me from entering the Third Sea. Wielder, do you know what it feels like to be overshadowed?]

The pain came again, but this time it was more bearable. Roseus focused himself and managed to give orders to his crew.

"Dawn, whilst I’m dealing with this, you need to make sure that we get away."

Just as he said that, Dawn rose to her feet and looked over the railing. She seemed to have noticed something.

A trail of waves was following behind their ship. At first, she thought it was the sea god coming to devour them. Then, she noticed that the giant golden figure was heading elsewhere, towards the navy ships that were attacking its mother.

That meant that the figure chasing after them was none other than Blodwen. He had managed to disengage. Perhaps Nammon had realised the importance of protecting it’s mother.

The green shark was using its body to push against the back of the Redflower ship, aiding it in sailing. Such a feat would have required immense strength and energy, but the shark was determined.

Dawn looked out ahead at the seas in front of them. After seeing the speed at which they were travelling, she dared to feel hopeful.

At this rate, we might outrun them... At this rate...

"AGHHH!"

Roseus’s scream tore her from her hopeful thoughts. The captain had his hands clawing at his long red hair, and his forehead pressed against the deck of the ship.

Whatever the god was saying to him, it was becoming unbearable to the point where Dawn feared he might try to kill himself.

"Someone needs to do something!" she cried. "Anything!"

Silius, who steered the ship, shouted, "There’s nothing we can do. Captain is fighting his battle, and we need to fight ours!"

As much as the words hurt her, she knew he was right. Roseus had accepted this risk when using the weapon, and now he was facing the consequences.

Just as she was about to give up hope, she heard footsteps heading towards Roseus.

There, she saw Lavender with her purple hair floating behind her as the winds blew against her. The short, delicate-looking woman with violet eyes suddenly placed a hand on Roseus’s forehead.

"W-what are you..." Dawn’s voice trailed off.

Lavender remained calm. She didn’t respond to the First Mate.

Instead, she spoke with her eyes closed.

"Oh Father of Civilisation, please, give my captain strength."

A silver ring appeared beneath Roseus’s body, as though he were standing atop some sort of portal. The silver light grew strong, enshrouding Roseus in its brilliance.

Dawn wanted to draw her weapon. Lavender was supposed to have long since abandoned the Orthodox Gods!

But then, when she noticed Roseus’s mind calming whilst his body kept its silver glow, she stopped herself.

The captain rose to his feet, confusion evident on his face.

He looked down at his hands, and then at the rest of his body.

He bent down and lifted the Greycloud Longsword which he had dropped. This time, he heard Rai’zac’s inner conflicts, but they didn’t bring him any pain. It was as though he was being protected by a greater being...

[It angers me that they are not afraid of this blade. Curse that Nammon. If I were stronger, I would smite him down! Fine. Shall we attack the vessels instead? My rage must be directed somewhere! Anywhere... As long as it doesn’t lead to my death.]