’What in the world is going on?’ It had been nearly half an hour since the tridents had hauled off the unconscious citizens of Alliance, and not a single ship had come back to pick up the soldiers from the docks. Staring into the distance through a spyglass, Linkle was anxiously waiting for one of the ships to come into view from over the horizon. Having disappeared a while back, not a single one of them had shown themselves again. Stranding the soldiers and the elite soldiers, half of whom were now forced to form a barricade in the middle of the lower city to prevent the onslaught of angels still raining from above.

"Mercedes? Why aren’t you here yet?!" Regalia screamed into her teleportation ring; however, her voice only carried around her, for Kleismeth’s presence was still cutting off all communication and off the island. "Damn it! Why are these things so useless in emergencies!"

Every scream that left Regalia’s mouth had her wobbling at the feet. Burning her own blood to channel an eldritch lord’s powers has had quite the effect on her body.

"You can complain when you’ve come up with a better solution to communicate," Linkle hissed right back at the second general, her eyes still set on the horizon.

Anxiety was welling up all around them, and with each passing moment, the soldiers were losing their will to fight on. With the sight of the fight against the goddess on one side and hell’s ocean on the other side, it was only a matter of time before they had to make their choice. Stay stranded and continue fighting while risking their lives, or try to swim away, which, if some monster from the depths decided that it wanted to toy with them, then they would have no choice but to fight without proper footing, like on the ground.

Unaware of the situation at the mansion or the ships, their patience was running thin and was bound to tip over. However, the soldiers weren’t the only ones troubled by an unexpected situation. After all, on board the prison ship–Mercedes was walking the mind-controlled commoners to their cells, accompanied by the Twin and a handful of reserve soldiers, but something about their gazes felt off to her. They kept glancing at each other and stared at her, and those around her quite often.

Chalking it up to some side effect of the mind control, she tried not to get paranoid while leading them further down a corridor. Passing by Aelin and Darius’s room, she took her eyes off the prisoners for a second and peered in through the crack in their door. The inside was full of scattered items meant for scroll and potion making–alas, no signs of either of the two residents.

Being the primary prison ship, the compartments were emptied, and most of the civilians were transported to another vessel. All reserve ships had, however, received varying numbers of prisoners regardless. After all, housing the population of an entire city couldn’t happen in a single Trident. Turning rooms into a makeshift prison with doors locked from the outside, everyone was informed to stay away from the prisoners and not to even think of opening a door before the general arrived.

Guards were stationed outside those rooms, armed with simple weapons in case the commoners tried to escape. Some elites were also taken back to the ships, and their blindfolds were removed to dampen the extent of their true sight ability. Even so, the crazed lunatics kept laughing and cackling like hyenas while mumbling about a curse. Their words made little sense; however, not wanting to look entirely past it–Darius had gone to make an account of their words and try to make some sense out of it.

Even Tia, who was capable of handing out curses, was hard at work. Taking everything into account, although the decryption of their mumbling was making things quite difficult. That is, until one of them looked her in the eye through the room’s window and whispered.

"The god comes..."

Raising an eyebrow, Tia glanced over at Darius, who seemed just as confused as her.

Their confusion, however, didn’t last long as the door to the room tore off its hinges and was flung to the walls. Startled by the sudden development, the two stood frozen on the spot while Aelin–being a devil, was far less susceptible to fear and decided to warn the others.

"WATCH THE PRISONERS! SOMETHING IS HAPPENING WITH THEM!" Screaming into a nearby voice shaft, she quickly warned everyone. However, despite her quick response, the soldiers didn’t have enough time before the doors were flung against their bodies. Some crashed against the walls with the door smacking them in the back, and others were knocked out at once by the strike.

"Get away from the door!" Gathering his senses, Darius stretched a hand in Tia’s direction and pushed her away using a light wind spell. As she stumbled a few feet away, he quickly reached into his bag and took out a scroll of mass binding. "Aelin! We need to–" 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

Glancing back, he was surprised to find Aelin already standing beside him. Giving her husband a nod, she grabbed his hand and turned both of them invisible using her devilish magic. Wasting no time while the prisoners were escaping through the rows of rooms, the two began circling the entire section of the ship to mark it with the necessary runes for the scroll to work.

Tia managed to escape just in time as well, rushing off to warn the rest, including the rest of Raven’s women and his companions who had stayed behind. In the meantime, with the consciousness of a god instilled within them, the commoners and the elites simply walked out of their cells. Looking around, they silently communicated through their shared senses. Their target? Anyone and everyone the hero and his company loved.

The god of creation wasn’t looking for glory or a victory, but to damn the hero forever with a dark mark on his conscience. He knew that without Kleismeth’s support or support from the council, he could not win against Athenia, and thus began his suicidal plan to kill everyone and everything present on the ships. Starting from the soldiers guarding or escorting them, and then once they’re dealt with, the truth hunt will begin.

"I won’t go down without a fight, you filthy mortals!" Screamed all mounts under the spell of the god. A crooked smile resting on his many faces.

With Raven forced to consider Kleismeth’s deal and the elite soldiers being stranded on Alliance’s docks, it was only a matter of time before tragedy occurred. But what truly ends up happening would depend on the hero and the result of his choice. Time was ticking, and he had to make a choice, now or it would already be too late...