Chapter 482: Ancient Enemy

After plotting a route using the magic map, Lucien finally set his new s.h.i.+p, the Sea Devil, to sail. Going in the opposite direction that Carmelo was taking Kayla, the group now heads east, precisely towards the main island of the Rising Phoenix Clan.

With Daisy and the Sins, knowledge is not lacking, and the girls have no difficulty excellently operating the s.h.i.+p. Of course, Kayla"s experience is still crucial, so they don"t waste time trying to understand the s.h.i.+p"s magical mechanisms alone.

Also, Kayla uses an artifact to get the direction of her grandmother, something similar to the magic stones Olivia used to know the direction of her fellow guild members.

And meanwhile, the girls also explore the s.h.i.+p. Everyone wants to choose single bedrooms, which actually have to be done in pairs and trios due to the number of them, but Lucien"s wives also don"t give up sleeping with him in the main bedroom.

After exiting the captain"s cabin, Lucien sees Scarlett steering the s.h.i.+p while smiling. Madelyn is atop the tallest mast, creating waves of wind along with the magical mechanism of the sails, making the s.h.i.+p literally fly over the sea at speed so high that only Lucien could keep.

The s.h.i.+p"s powerful barrier prevents strong winds from damaging its structure or causing any discomfort to the crew. In fact, no matter how fast the s.h.i.+p is moving, everyone aboard is always very comfortable.

Lucien notices Eve at the front of the s.h.i.+p, looking out at the horizon with a thoughtful expression. Somehow, he knows she"s thinking both about the Phoenix but also about their sisters, Naomi and Claire.

He thinks about going to talk to her, but then he notices Helena on the other side of the s.h.i.+p, also looking at the horizon with a thoughtful expression.

Genevieve is no longer by her side as she is checking the s.h.i.+p"s operation as a Quartermaster should do while Daisy is a.s.sisting the girls with the use of magic crystals to boost the s.h.i.+p.

Lucien is unsure which way to go but ends up heading towards the sad Fallen Angel. He can"t really help Eve with her concerns as he feels the same ones, but he can solve Helena"s problem, well, at least one of them.

As soon as she hears his footsteps behind her, Helena turns and sees Lucien, with that teasing smile she"s gotten used to. She doesn"t say anything and goes back to looking out to sea as she crosses her arms on the s.h.i.+p"s parapet.

He turns and rests his back on the parapet, then looks at her. "We didn"t have time to talk after Alexa returned to her homeworld..."

"You have a lot of problems to care about..." She commented. "And I"m not one of your priorities."

"You are wrong about that." Lucien quickly comments as his expression becomes totally gentle and affectionate.

She sighs. "I"m not complaining. I understand you have a lot on your mind, and my problem doesn"t require immediate attention like yours."

He slowly runs the back of his fingers over her s.h.i.+rt. "You are one of my priorities. I don"t like to make comparisons, but this situation is similar to when I found out Daisy"s condition was serious, and I couldn"t rest until we healed her."

Helena pretends not to notice Lucien"s slight caresses, but her body has many positive reactions to that. "But Sophia was the one who did Daisy"s healing process, and even so... it"s clear she"s falling in love with you."

"Is that what you fear? Does falling in love with me looks so bad?" he asks as he continues using his fingers to caress her shoulder.

"It"s not that..." She feels bad for making Lucien look bad. "I"ve already explained to you that I don"t want to emotionally bond with someone else and risk suffering."

Lucien understands Helena"s concerns, but her hesitation seems silly compared to the risk her life is at. He can"t allow her to die because of her stubbornness.

Then he grips her arm and presses his body against hers. "Then don"t bond with me. I can try my best not to be nice, we do it quickly, and then you can hate me later, but you"ll stay alive."

She looks into his eyes while making a strange expression. But she can"t maintain that posture long and starts to laugh. "Hahaha... is this you trying not to look nice? I"m sorry, but you can"t do that even if you try too hard!"

"..." Lucien doesn"t know what to say. Nor does he believe he could have s.e.x with a woman and not wish to have her after that. Raquel is a good example of how he tried a one-night stand, and his possessive desires didn"t allow him to leave her behind. She and her daughter stayed with his troops in Argerin, as did Elsie"s mother, by the way.

"So..." He doesn"t back down but changes his strategy, moving his body even closer to Helena"s while smiling teasingly. "I"ll still heal you, and that can"t be stopped, so you better stop resisting the inevitable."

She doesn"t try to run away even though her heart is beating so fast, in fear and excitement. "Maybe you"re right... if we both can"t avoid it..."

Lucien brings his face closer to Helena"s, approaching their lips. She"s still scared of falling in love with him, but that seems really unavoidable, so she stops trying to block those feelings.

As usual, he starts touching her nose with his so they both smell each other more intensely. She delights in his addictive natural perfume, and although she doesn"t smell as good as when she was totally healthy, he doesn"t find her scent disgusting or repulsive; she just looks sick.

While their noses kiss, their lips lightly rub. Lucien fully controls his desires, but Helena is increasingly tempted by those feelings so d.a.m.n pleasurable.

Her hands instinctively move to his body as she wants to move her head forward, but at the same time, she doesn"t want to be the one to initiate their first kiss.

Lucien notices that and just teases her for a few more seconds before finally connecting their lips in a tender, gentle kiss. With just light caresses on her shoulders, he moves his lips onto hers.

Time seems to stop as she gets lost in that feeling so good. Helena wonders if she ever felt that way with her ex-husband, but in her heart, she knows she didn"t.

[f.u.c.k! This is as good as it looked...] Helena remembers all the times she watched Lucien kiss his wives from afar and wondered how that feel.

Having seen that so many times, she already knows what to expect from his next steps, and she really wants to experience that.

But then Lucien stops kissing and looks back with a concerned expression, leaving Helena very confused.

*ROAR!!!*

Oya, who was lying in the center of the deck in her tiger form sunbathing with Ko, gets up and roars towards the south. That"s not a normal roar but a loud and frightening one like she"s never done before.

Her roar catches the attention of all the girls, and Lucien quickly flaps his wings, flying to Oya"s side as he talks to her. "What is wrong?"

Little Ko makes an expression of fear as she hides between Lucien and Oya. Mama tiger keeps looking south and then speaks mentally to him. "Danger... there... much dangerous!"

Lucien pets Oya and Ko"s ears, trying to calm them down as he looks south and quickly talks to l.u.s.t. "Can you feel something?"

l.u.s.t forces her senses to the fullest, just like Lucien, but they can"t see or feel anything but water in that direction.

His sisters and the other Sins quickly arrive at his side as he sends a mental message to Maggie to activate her vision ability in that direction.

Wrath looks at the horizon with a dubious expression. "I don"t see a f.u.c.king thing besides water and more water there."

Envy looks at Oya with a thoughtful expression. "We mustn"t doubt Oya"s instincts; she felt Pride"s aura dozens of miles away when l.u.s.t and I couldn"t."

"I see nothing!" Maggie exclaims from the top of the tallest mast while using her vision ability.

Lucien, his sisters, and Kayla fly to Maggie"s side and also see nothing over the sea on her magic arc. But then they notice dark clouds forming in the sky more than five hundred miles away from their s.h.i.+p.

"A storm?" Amelia thinks aloud.

Maggie keeps moving her magic arc, trying to find something over the water, but seeing nothing other than water and sea waves, she starts focusing it into the sky.

Everyone keeps looking at Maggie"s magic arc, but Pride looks straight at the horizon as the dark clouds begin to become visible in the sky.

Eve feels that something is wrong with Pride and looks in the same direction she does. Their connection tells her that something is bad, very bad is about to happen.

Lucien notices Eve and Pride"s concerned expressions and then grows even more worried. "What are you feeling, Pride?"

"Something"s coming..." Shocking everyone, even Pride"s tone turn concerned, which definitely shouldn"t happen. "Something ancient and... very powerful."

"There is nothing in the sky," Maggie reports as she continues looking and doesn"t see anything unusual.

Pride continues to stare in that direction. "It"s underwater... moving too fast..."

Maggie quickly points her magic arc down, and everyone can see more waves forming in the sea. Those waves are formed from a central region to both sides as if something really huge were moving quickly below that area, as Pride said.

She moves her magic arc further down, and due to the angle, it starts to lose range but allows them to see hundreds of meters below the sea.

Five hundred meters, a thousand meters, a mile... nothing but water appears in Maggie"s magic arc, not even fishes or other sea creatures are seen so far.

She keeps moving the magic arc downwards, and as soon as their vision reaches a depth of five miles, where there is no longer any sunlight, though they can see clearly due to Maggie"s abilities, something covers the entire s.p.a.ce of the arc.

"What the h.e.l.l?!" Donna thinks aloud while everyone has the same question.

Whatever covers the group"s vision, it has a scaly dark blue texture. Maggie tries to pull back her vision, zooming out the magic arc, but the same creature continues to cover their vision.

"How big is it?!" Amelia asks.

"Hundreds of meters..." Maggie comments as she continues to zoom out on the magic arc. Then the group recognizes something that looks like a fish fin, a giant fish, of course.

And then, after zooming out for half a mile, the group notices that the creature has a cylindrical body like a giant snake. But they still can"t see Its head or tail.

And only after zooming out for nearly two miles, the group gets to see the entire creature. It is certainly over a mile long, and Its body is thinner near the tail and thicker near the head, which looks like a hybrid between fish, snake, and bird, really scary.

"What the h.e.l.l is this creature?!?" Lucien thinks aloud.

Pride still has that strange concerned expression, while the other Sins look thoughtful and confused. But Kayla has wide eyes and her mouth half-open.

"s.h.i.+T! s.h.i.+T!! s.h.i.+T!!!" Her body starts to shake as she curses.

"Do you know what it is?" Sloth asks her.

Kayla looks really terrified. "It shouldn"t exist... I thought it could be a Kraken, but it"s much bigger... I"ve seen something like that in an old book my grandmother has... she told me old stories about such a creature, but that should just be ancient legends..."

"Just say what it is!" Donna exclaims.

"The Leviathan!" She responds while even she doesn"t believe that.

"It should be impossible!" Sloth comments.

"Why?" Lucien asks.

Pride"s eyes glow pure white. "Because Aylin killed the last one of their race."