1298  An Entrapped Pirate

In normal times, the Palace of Sourna was hard to infiltrate. That was because of the force field surrounding the palace and the armies that could be summoned at a moment"s notice. However, the armies were sent to Levan Island—a plan foiled by Arthur Netherborne—and had yet to return. At the same time, the sand thieves attacked, disabling the force field and throwing the palace into disarray. These ideal circ.u.mstances allowed another figure to infiltrate the palace.

A figure walked through the shadows of the palace, unseen by the guards and pa.s.sing through the battles taking place. This figure also noticed Diana rushing through the palace to save the sand thieves, providing even more distraction. Their presence inside the palace went unnoticed until the battle between Rolan and Diana blocked their path forward.

In the end, the figure had to improvise. Their hands created clouds so thick that they could carry them to a higher window. The clouds then struck the iron bars with lightning and melted them, allowing the figure to be carried inside the second floor of the palace.

As they landed inside, the rest of their journey was easy. Their destination was a hall filled with wanted posters, with their essence extracted. The figure stopped in front of a particular poster and pulled their hood down to stare at the poster and the woman depicted on it.

"They haven"t caught you yet, Rain," muttered the woman beneath the hood. Her eyes reminisced memories long gone as she stared at the poster. "You have grown so much since I last remember, I bet. I wonder where you are now?"

This woman, with curly hair as black as the night and features hardened by a lifetime of sailing, was none other than Valeria Storm. The world believed her to be dead or missing after Deluge sank her ships and imprisoned her comrades, but she was alive and kicking, fighting in the shadows of the world.

Just a few steps away was another poster of a criminal yet to be caught—hers. Valeria walked past the poster as she traveled down the "Hall of Triumph." Her crew had disbanded after their ships sank, and most of them were either dead or imprisoned. However, she had a mission to stop Deluge from obtaining the Amplifier.

Valeria had witnessed his powers firsthand, starting as a seed in one of her crewmates. Then, the seed grew into a crazed frenzy, ending with countless swords pointed toward their captain, Valeria herself. In the end, she was defeated not through power or strategy but the weak minds inside her own crew.

The reason she wanted to infiltrate the palace was to obtain the essence of her first mate. Although Valeria could control the weather and create natural disasters, she was not a tracker like Gordon had been. However, he was the first to be captured by the Wis.e.m.e.n.

Her trip down the hall ended in front of the poster of her lifelong friend, which pained Valeria more than she would have liked. Beneath the poster was an essence harvested from the man himself, through means that she did not understand and never wished to know.

"We have one more voyage, dear friend," Valeria said as she stared at the glowing essence. "I need your ability one more time to stop the madness from engulfing the world. If the Sin of l.u.s.t obtains the Amplifier, the entire world will have to obey him."

Valeria then crouched down to grab the essence, and it came off the pedestal easily. However, her danger senses flared, and she threw the essence in the next instant. Before she could even fathom what was happening, her body reacted by creating a hurricane around her.

The essence that was in her hand a moment ago exploded, creating a prison around itself. If not for her acute senses toward disaster, Valeria would have been imprisoned inside the essence. At the same time, a force field activated inside the hall as light burst from the ceiling, blinding her momentarily.

Although she was safe inside the small hurricane, Valeria did not like what was happening. The Wis.e.m.e.n must have placed traps on the essence because they knew she would seek them, or it could be a coincidence. But either way, they knew she was here.

"I thought that no one would be dumb enough to steal from under our nose," said a voice from outside the room as a figure stepped through the door. It was the Central Wiseman, old and senile, hunching over his cane as he made his way toward Valeria. "But here is the smartest pirate to live being just that dumb."

The hurricane began dissipating to reveal Valeria Storm within. The harsh lights shone bright on her dark skin, revealing her aging features. Unlike the poster where she was young, the pirate herself was growing old. "I would do anything to stop the madness."

"Oh, I bet you would," said the Central Wiseman with a smile as he opened his eyes. Instead of looking like a human, they were filled with darkness. "That"s why I waited here, posing as a Wiseman myself, and waited for your appearance. Instead, all I had was some thieves with pink dreams of freedom."

Valeria frowned as she saw his appearance, and his words made her deduce that this was not a Wiseman, but someone else. In front of her eyes, the man"s face began to expand, his gait straightening, and silver hair growing from his bald head. Moments later, Deluge replaced the old man, with his arrogant smile and impressive physique.

"Deluge," muttered Valeria with shaking rage, which she had tried to bottle down for countless months since he attacked her. She wanted to focus on the bigger picture, but just seeing his face and smile brought her back to the day she lost everything.

"A pleasure to meet you again, Valeria," said the Sin of l.u.s.t with a grin as he stretched his body. "It was a pain in the a.s.s to even locate you. But it will be worth it once I obtain the artifact that you have."

"I would never hand it to you," said Valeria as lightning crackled around her from dark clouds leaking from her body. "Just like how I escaped before, I will do it again."