Conquest Sea, aboard the Shimmering Pearl. Over the pitch-black ocean at night, the Shimmering Pearl, aglow with lights, cruised across the dark sea, heading toward a horizon that could not be seen. Tonight marked the fourth night since the Shimmering Pearl had departed port and sailed the open sea. According to the original itinerary, the ship should soon arrive at its destination, Ivengard. Most of the passengers aboard were eagerly anticipating that moment, unaware that the cruise ship was still a very long way from its intended destination. Up above, thick clouds blanketed both the moon and the stars. In this sunless, starless darkness, the ship sailed on, guided only by its compass, toward the predetermined target designated by its captain—a high-ranking member of the Abyssal Church. On this ship, from the captain down, at least one-third of the crew were cultists of the Abyssal Church. Their original goal had been to offer the over 2,000 passengers aboard as sacrifices to the sea monster, Haimohois. However, due to the interference of Thief K, they had no choice but to redirect toward the Abyssal Church’s nearby stronghold—White Tear Island. According to the adjusted route, the Shimmering Pearl would reach White Tear Island by tomorrow afternoon. To prevent Thief K—still hidden somewhere onboard—from causing further disruptions, Captain Costa had ordered his cultist followers to maintain strict patrol and vigilance across the entire vessel throughout the voyage. Late at night, within the lower decks of the ship—far from the passenger areas—First Mate Bins was patrolling an empty corridor alongside one of his subordinates. He had just returned from inspecting the boiler room. After shaking the coal dust off his shoes, he was now heading to his next inspection point. Compared to the rest of the ship, this lower corridor near the boiler room was particularly filthy and cluttered. The junk was piled randomly along both sides of the walkway, and the floor was grimy. With a stern expression, Bins—himself a water arts user—walked steadily down the hallway, carefully inspecting his surroundings. His eyes scanned every shadowy nook where someone might be hiding, clearly on guard for the possibility of encountering the thief. After a while, two uniformed sailors suddenly turned the corner up ahead and walked toward him. Bins recognized them—they weren’t regular crew but cultists disguised as sailors. The two looked briefly surprised to see Bins, but then respectfully greeted him in unison. “Mr. Bins…” “Jade… Hama… what are you two doing here? Didn’t I assign you to patrol Storage Hold No. 3?” Bins asked, frowning in confusion. “Ah, about that, Mr. Bins,” one of them responded as they approached. “We found something suspicious in Hold No. 3, so we came to report it to you directly. We thought you might want to see it for yourself before informing Mr. Costa.” The two cultist sailors continued walking toward Bins as they spoke. Hearing this, Bins questioned further. “Something suspicious? Be more specific—what exactly did you find?” “Well… to be honest, Mr. Bins, it’s kind of hard to explain in words. It’d be better if you came to take a look yourself.” As they spoke, the two drew closer—and their pace quickened slightly. Noticing this, Bins was taken aback and immediately warned them in a sharp tone. “You two—stop right there! If you have something to say, say it from—” Before he could finish, the two men suddenly charged at him with fierce intent. Their eyes sharpened, and they burst into a sprint straight toward Bins. The moment he saw this, Bins knew something was wrong. He swiftly raised his hand, aiming at them, preparing to unleash his abilities. But at that very moment, from behind—out of a small storage cabinet that he had just passed—two massive men burst forth, far too large for the cramped cabinet they’d been hiding in. The moment they sprang out, they launched a surprise attack from behind, locking Bins and his subordinate in a vice grip. Their mouths were immediately covered to prevent them from shouting. “What…? How could anyone be behind me?! I checked everything thoroughly on my way here!” Bins was shocked. He had carefully inspected all possible hiding spots just moments ago and found nothing. He had no idea how these two had appeared out of nowhere. “I’ve been grabbed… but… if they think this level of strength is enough to hold me down, they’re dead wrong!” Despite being restrained, Bins remained calm. He was a Black Earth-rank Chalice Beyonder, possessing immense power. Restraints of this level were nothing to him—he could easily break free with a bit of force. But just as Bins was about to exert his strength to shake them off, a wave of searing, overwhelming pain—something unlike anything he had ever experienced—suddenly coursed through his entire body. “Mmmgh… UGGHHHHHH!!!” Under the agonizing, full-body pain, Bins’s limbs and muscles began trembling uncontrollably. His eyes bulged wide, fading toward white. He tried to cry out, but with his mouth sealed tight, his screams were muffled into inarticulate howls. Under the piercing surge of pain that ran through him, Bins’ body seized up completely, unable to resist for the briefest moment. Seizing this opportunity, the two sailors from earlier had already charged right up to him. Each pulled a small knife from their pockets, and the moment they reached Bins, they drove the blades forward—piercing straight into the hearts of both Bins and the subordinate beside him. Bins trembled for a moment, eyes wide, before all signs of life faded from his body. Once they confirmed that Bins and his subordinate were indeed dead, the two burly men released them. Instead of collapsing like corpses should, the two staggered a few steps… and then stood up straight once more. Now standing upright again, Bins rolled his whites back into proper eyes, then reached to his chest and pulled out the small knife, handing it back to the sailor who had killed him. Afterward, he took off his hat, brushed back his slightly tousled hair, then put it back on. Calmly, he looked down at the bloodstain on his chest, and said to the surrounding sailors. “I got something dirty on my clothes. I need to go change. You all continue your patrol.” “Yes, Mr. Bins…” With that, the group gathered in the corridor dispersed. The two burly men who had sprung from the storage cabinet climbed back inside. Once both had disappeared, one of the sailors who had stabbed Bins retrieved a small stone box from the cabinet, slipped it into his pocket, and left swiftly. The small traces of blood on the corridor floor were sprinkled with a bit of white powder by another sailor, then quickly mopped clean. In no time, the area returned to complete silence. Everyone had vanished—as if nothing had happened. … “The Black Earth-rank first mate is dealt with. Whew… with this, the number of Abyssal Church corpse marionettes under my control has grown quite nicely…” Sitting in her cabin, Dorothy let out a quiet breath after confirming the situation from afar. She was currently using her powers to conduct operations across the entire ship. As part of those operations, Dorothy had assassinated several Abyssal Church cultists disguised as sailors and turned them into her own corpse marionettes. These marionettes were then sent to assassinate their fellow cultists. In a short span of time, Dorothy had already gained control over seven Abyssal Church corpse marionettes—including one who had originally been a Black Earth-rank Hydromancer first mate. Dorothy had been monitoring these people for nearly two days and could now clearly distinguish between the cultists and the ordinary crew. As a result, her actions were swift and clean—one after another, she converted several cultists into corpse marionettes without mistakenly harming any innocent sailors. While she couldn’t take down two White Ashes in one go, eliminating this rank of small fry was fairly effortless. During this operation, Dorothy had expended 2 Chalice and 2 Stone units of spirituality to utilize Devouring and Flowing Current Form, but she had also gained several sigils and spiritual storage items in return. Besides the standard Devouring Sigils commonly used by Chalice-aligned cultists, there were also a few sigils she didn’t recognize. Dorothy planned to examine them thoroughly once she reached shore. “Seven Abyssal Church corpse marionettes… and one of them even held a fairly important position… It should be enough for tomorrow’s plan.” Dorothy thought to herself as she gazed out at the pitch-black sea through her window, continuing to contemplate. 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮 “It’s close… closer and closer. If my calculations are right, we should see it breaking the horizon around 10:30 tomorrow morning…” “The time is near. Looks like I should step things up and prepare. If everything goes smoothly, tomorrow will be the day I completely escape this ship and the control of those people.” That was what Dorothy thought to herself. Earlier in the day, she had used an insect corpse marionette in combination with the fine control of Flowing Current Form to discreetly interfere with the Shimmering Pearl’s compass, causing the ship to veer off course and head in a different direction. In this era without satellite navigation, seafaring relied primarily on nautical charts, compasses, and celestial observation. For navigators, observing the sun, moon, and stars allowed them not only to determine direction but also to calculate their position using instruments. However, under cloudy weather, celestial navigation became nearly impossible, leaving ships to rely solely on charts and the compass—and the compass could be manipulated by Dorothy’s abilities. By tampering with the compass, Dorothy covertly redirected the Shimmering Pearl’s course. While effective, this method required favorable weather conditions, which was why she hadn’t used it from the beginning. It was only once today’s weather had become suitable that she started deploying it. Under Dorothy’s influence, the Shimmering Pearl was no longer heading toward White Tear Island—but rather toward the Radiance Church’s pilgrim fleet. They were expected to encounter one another tomorrow morning. With the church’s fleet, Dorothy could easily escape from the cultists aboard the Shimmering Pearl. And yet, her expression remained unusually tense. “Using the Radiance Church’s pilgrim fleet to shake off these people… It’s a good plan, but it comes with enormous risk. And that risk doesn’t come from the Abyssal Church—it comes from the Church itself…” “In a sense, to the Church, I’m no different from the Abyssal Church—I’m still an unofficial, suspicious Beyonder. If the Church discovers that this ship is crawling with Abyssal cultists and involved in a serious mystical incident, then given their nature and capabilities, they’ll absolutely conduct high-intensity mystical detection on everyone aboard to ensure full safety.” “Comprehensive, high-intensity mystical detection across 2,700 people to identify every Beyonder and mystical trace—that kind of Lantern spiritual expenditure is massive. The Abyssal Church couldn’t afford it… but the Church absolutely can.” “According to Vania, the escort assigned to them was the Sacrament Knights’ Third Pilgrimage Fleet—six warships in total. Add the three passenger vessels carrying the pilgrims, and that makes nine ships, all crewed entirely by Church personnel. And among them, there’s a sizable number of Sacrament Knights, full-on military personnel—who knows how many Lantern path Beyonders are in that group?” “If the Church determines that there’s a serious cult activity happening aboard the Shimmering Pearl, they’ll conduct full-scale high-intensity mystical detection across the entire ship. Even with 2,700 people, not a single one would slip through under that scale of scrutiny. When that happens, it won’t just be Costa and the others who get exposed—Neph and I will likely get caught too. If the Church is truly determined to investigate, the Shadows I have won’t be nearly enough.” “Which means, tomorrow, I’ll be facing not just Costa and his people—but the Church as well… What I need is to leverage the Church’s power without arousing their suspicion… And that’s going to require extremely delicate maneuvering. If I slip up, both I and Costa’s lot will be exposed…” That was the train of thought running through Dorothy’s mind. As the Church fleet drew nearer, she felt a blend of anticipation and unease. She needed to make use of the Church’s might, but she also understood that compared to the Serenity Bureau, the Church was far more dangerous to deal with. She would have to tread carefully. … Time passed quickly, and soon, night gave way to morning. As daylight arrived, the Shimmering Pearl was still sailing across the vast sea. Under the ever-present overcast sky, wind swept across the foredeck. Captain Costa, dressed in full uniform, stood amidst the sea breeze, gazing out at the horizon. Beside him stood Massimo in a suit, also watching the distant sea. As auxiliary Lantern path Beyonders, neither of them needed a telescope to see far. “According to our schedule, we should reach White Tear Island by this evening… I’ve already relayed the situation to them through the Sensory Flesh Altar. They told us to start thinking about how we’ll answer to Lord Swordscale’s wrath…” Massimo spoke with unease, eyes fixed on the sea, while Costa answered quietly. “We should indeed think about it… Things ended up like this, and we brought it on ourselves. Hmph. But let’s stay optimistic. At least once we reach White Tear Island, we’ll finally be able to root out that thief. Once Lord Swordscale is done punishing us, we can take it all out tenfold on her.” That was how Costa replied. Massimo gave a faint smile in response and was just about to say something more when his eyes suddenly widened, staring off into the distance. “Wait… look over there! Is that a fleet? A pretty large one too?” “A fleet? You’re seeing things. We’re way off the normal route—no way there’s a fleet out here,” Costa replied casually, turning to follow Massimo’s gaze—only to freeze on the spot. In Costa’s vision, he could clearly see wisps of black smoke rising over the horizon. Beneath the smoke—there was indeed a fleet of ships in motion. Staring at the fleet, Costa’s brow furrowed. This section of the sea shouldn’t have any fleets of that size. For a moment, he thought it might be a mirage, so he narrowed his eyes and focused his ability to get a clearer view. But when he saw the deep cannon muzzles and the Radiant Sun flags flying high over the ships, his heart jumped. “That’s… that’s the Radiance zealots’ fleet! What the hell are they doing out here?!” He took two steps back, his face going pale with shock. Massimo, upon hearing that, focused his ability toward the distant target—and when he saw clearly, he nearly collapsed where he stood. “Ah—ahhh! That’s… those are Sacrament Knight cruisers! How is this possible?! Why would the Knight fleet be here?!” Massimo’s face turned ashen as he panicked, momentarily unsure of what to do. Meanwhile, Costa quickly regained his composure, turned around, and barked an order to the crew behind him. “Alert the bridge! Hard to port! Get us away from that fleet—now!” BOOM!! Just as Costa gave the command, a loud explosion rang out from the lower decks of the Shimmering Pearl. Instantly, the entire ship shuddered from the blast.