Chapter 496: Naive or not?

"Luci..." Naomi speaks in a loving tone as her eyes sparkle with admiration, and her heart aches with concern after she heard, in short, his current situation.

"That"s why we need to help him as soon as possible." Sophia comments.

Naomi nods, but actually, she is still confused about many things. "But why do you think Maya can face such a creature? I know she"s strong, okay, and that"s why Gluttony wants me to be close to her to devour her energy, but from what I understand, the Leviathan is in the Cosmic Realm, right?"

Envy provocatively smiles. "I told you, Gluttony is quite dumb."

"..." Naomi is upset when her partner is insulted that way, but both she and Gluttony get shocked when they hear Pride"s following words.

"She is the last Phoenix."

[What???] Gluttony really wants to materialize her body and talk openly with her sister. But knowing how special is Maya only makes her want to keep close to that incredibly powerful source of energy and use any chance to devour her.

But before she can get lost in thoughts of devouring the last Phoenix, Wrath speaks in an annoyed tone. "You can"t devour her, Gluttony!"

"f.u.c.k!" She exclaims in Naomi"s mind, who is also disappointed by that.

"So all this pretense didn"t earn me a good meal after all…" Naomi sighs.

Envy makes a thoughtful expression. "Actually, that could be quite useful. We have plans for the Phoenix, and we"ll explain that to you as soon as possible, but for now, I think having one of us in their team is a significant advantage."

"Indeed." Sloth agrees. "It"s best to stick with it for now until we know what to do. Anyway, saving Lucien is our priority right now."

Naomi nods. "Yeah, if my brother is in trouble, we need to do everything to help him; that"s why I"m going with you!"

"The Phoenix is coming back." Pride comments and then put down the block sound barrier.

Lucien"s sisters and wives don"t have to change their sad and concerned expressions, but Naomi puts on her fake smile so as not to break her disguise.

"Naomi?" Maya asks in a confused tone as she lands on Sea Devil"s deck. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh..." She makes an honest expression that surprises her sisters. "I had just finished pa.s.sing your orders to the captains of other s.h.i.+ps and wanted to come to meet our new friends; say thanks for saving our beloved Kayla and things like that."

Maya has no reason to doubt Naomi"s words, mainly because she is really a very curious and lively person.

"Now is not a good time to make friends." She speaks in a concerned tone. "I need to go with them, and I want you to take care of the Clan in my absence."

Naomi again impresses the girls, especially Envy, when she does a surprisingly cheerful fake expression. "It can"t be! Are you serious, master?? I mean, our leader after you should be Layla or Kayla."

Maya makes a proud expression and gently touches Naomi"s shoulder. "I know you have your motives and ambitions, child, and as long as you accept that responsibility, I will help you achieve that."

"But-" She tries to argue, but Maya continues.

"We have only known each other for a short time, but I already consider you my daughter as much as Layla." She speaks honestly. "And Kayla is still very immature despite her being tens of years older than you. So you must take care of her and the Clan while I"m out."

Lucien"s sisters, wives, and the Sins can"t tell if Naomi"s performances are too convincing or Maya is too dumb.

And Gluttony can"t help but laugh in her host"s mind. "Now everything makes sense... Maya is not stupid but extremely naive. All of her people were like that; they willingly gave their immortal cores to the G.o.ds."

Naomi wants to feel guilty for deceiving Maya like that, especially now that she understands a little about her people"s tragic story. But she can"t contain the growing hunger inside her, making Maya look more and more like a meal than a friend.

"I understand, Master…" Naomi speaks while making a sad expression. She then turns around and slowly begins to float back to the s.h.i.+p of the Rising Phoenix Clan.

Maya"s eyes sparkle as she looks at Naomi"s back with a loving expression that makes even the Sins wonder if they are missing something.

[How can she be so naive?] They think. [Or is she actually smarter than all of us? Maybe she knows more than we do...]

"So..." Maya starts to turn to talk to Pride about moving on, but she notices Naomi slowly turning around.

"MASTER!!!" Name exclaims as she runs towards her and hugs her tightly. "I won"t be okay knowing you"re out there alone with these strange people."

[You"re the only one strange here!] Amelia thinks as she gets jealous of Naomi"s performance. Then she talks to Envy. "Shouldn"t we be the only manipulators here???"

"Your sister seems to really match Gluttony..." Envy comments. "They will do anything to have more."

"More what?" Amelia asks.

"More of everything." She explains.

Naomi rubs her face over Maya"s perfect b.r.e.a.s.t.s, enjoying the warm fire energy that comes from her and the feel of those soft twin peaks. "Let me go with you, Master..."

Maya sighs. "What a spoiled girl you are, Naomi... Well, so be it. But you must do whatever I say, and if we face any danger, you must use that..."

She quickly nods. "Yes, Master, I will do whatever you say."

"Are you going to make us waste more time?" Donna asks in an impatient tone.

"Ahem..." Eve catches their attention. "She"s right; we have to go."

"Alright, let me just let my granddaughter knew that Naomi is coming with us," Maya asks and flies to her s.h.i.+p again, but she quickly returns after not letting Kayla go with them.

The other people of the Rising Phoenix Clan are confused and concerned, but they trust Maya completely and do as she is commanded, taking Kayla back to their home.

Then Scarlett steers the Sea Devil back in the same direction they came. The flame of hope is reborn in the girls" hearts as they expect Maya to help Lucien.

However, all of them are also sure that if things don"t go as they expect, they couldn"t abandon Lucien again, and even dying fighting the Leviathan beside him seems better than being without him.

Due to so much tension between them, the mood at Sea Devil gets really strange. While the girls only think about Lucien, Maya thinks about the Leviathan, and how to deal with such a creature seems impossible.

But she also begins to notice more and more that there are similarities between Naomi, Eve, Amelia, Sophia, and Donna. Even though they have very different features, like eye and hair color, their faces and expressions look a lot.

So the group heads west, unaware that the Leviathan and Lucien are already thousands of miles to the northwest.

---------------------------------

Meanwhile, in an area in the far northwest, a place known as the Black Sea, dozens of s.h.i.+ps arrive and depart from the port of a large island.

Even though that island is one of the largest of the Blue Star, all Its territory is occupied by hundreds of buildings, which form the biggest human town in that world, Hesey City.

Hesey City is also home to the Black Sea Riders, a group of pirates led by Valencia, who is currently walking through the corridors of her giant castle in the center of that island.

Valencia"s Black Castle guards can"t even look at her incredibly hot body. At 1.7 meters tall, with wonderful curves, long black hair, and a fairy face, she could enchant any man.

However, her orange eyes have a brutal and bloodthirsty glow that makes everyone fear her. Not only that, but the huge amounts of men who freaked out after spending a night with her make it clear that they had nothing but pain and despair while she was having fun.

Astrid has used a false reputation as a "men breaker" to keep other men away, but Valencia doesn"t fake anything; she actually hurts men"s bodies and souls, making them never the same again, in a bad way, of course.

After arriving in front of large ornate iron doors, she takes a deep breath and enters the place that is a huge bathroom, with a large pool that is actually several meters deep.

In that bathroom, there are several women in bathing suits and trays around the pool, servants of the castle. They stop looking at the center of the pool and look at Valencia, waiting for orders.

"Leave us alone." She orders in a neutral tone.

Those women quickly exit the large bathroom, and Valencia takes a gla.s.s of brandy from one of the trays. So she drinks all that magic brandy in one gulp as she approaches the edge of the pool.

She looks at the dark, calm water of the pool with a thoughtful expression and then speaks out loud. "We have to talk."

As soon as those words echo through the bathroom, some movement appears inside that strange water, and next, someone emerges in the center of the pool.

It"s a woman, but definitely non-human. It is not possible to see her height as half of her body is inside the dark water; however, that half is not legs but a long thick snake-type tail that starts on her hips.

Over her upper body, she looks like a beautiful woman with slightly pointed ears, moss-green medium hair, and cyan-green eyes. Most Blue Star people would easily recognize her as a Naga, the most populous race in that world.

Valencia and the mysterious woman gaze at each other for a few seconds in silence, then she swims to the edge of the pool, where there is another tray with gla.s.ses and a bottle of wine.

The Naga"s movements are extremely smooth, and she can swim using only her long snake-tail while her upper body stands erect above the water. She can swim that way at incredibly high speeds, but it"s still far inferior to when she"s completely underwater, using her whole body to swim.

"Your expression is not good..." The mysterious woman reaches the tray and comments as she fills a gla.s.s with wine and starts to drink.

Valencia thinks in her next words twice and then explains. "There was a problem with our plan..."

The mysterious woman has barely finished drinking her wine and throws the gla.s.s against the bathroom wall. "IT WAS YOUR PLAN!!!"

"..." Valencia doesn"t say anything because even she, the leader of the biggest group of humans in the Blue Star, can"t offend that mysterious woman.

"And you failed..." The mysterious woman comments in a disappointed tone as she starts to fill another gla.s.s with more wine.