Conquest Sea, on the route to Ivengard. Out on the vast ocean, the massive cruise ship had come to a complete halt due to the boiler room explosion. Upon spotting the emergency rescue signal flags raised by the Shimmering Pearl, the distant Radiance Church pilgrimage fleet immediately adjusted its course and began approaching the stricken vessel. “Sir, we’re closing in on the Shimmering Pearl. It’s come to a full stop—looks like its propulsion system is badly damaged.” On the flagship of the escort fleet, the adjutant reported to the officer, Lord Jord, after observing the state of the Shimmering Pearl through binoculars. Jord studied the distant cruise ship with a serious expression and then spoke. “Hmm… judging by the signal flags they returned earlier, the situation over there seems severe. There’s already flooding. That means we’ll need to commit fully to the rescue effort.” Jord’s tone was grave. It was standard maritime protocol to assist ships in distress, and even more so for a fleet on pilgrimage to the Sanctuary of the Holy Mother. According to Her doctrine, they were morally obligated to help. “With a cruise ship of that size, there must be at least one or two thousand passengers aboard. Our rescue needs to be quick and efficient—before the vessel sinks completely. Santos, issue the order: the entire fleet is to prepare for rescue operations. All lifeboats are to be deployed. Once we’re close enough, begin transferring passengers in waves, distributing them across our ships.” “Also, raise signal flags to notify their crew. Have them gather passengers in an orderly fashion on the deck, set up boarding ladders, and prepare for transfer.” As Jord gave these orders, another loud explosion echoed from the direction of the cruise ship. His brow furrowed deeper as he followed up in a somber tone. “Another explosion… the situation is clearly worsening. We can’t afford to wait any longer. Move out, now.” “Yes, Lord Jord!” The adjutant responded crisply and was just about to leave to deliver the orders when he paused, as if remembering something, then turned back and said: “By the way, Lord Jord, just to be safe—should we conduct mystical detection on the passengers? If any cult-affiliated Beyonders are mixed in, letting them onto our ships could pose a threat.” Jord thought for a moment, then nodded firmly. “Hmm… you have a point. It’s a reasonable precaution. But we can’t let overly thorough screening delay the rescue. Here’s what we’ll do—have personnel perform basic mystical detection on each passenger that boards our ships. Just a light scan per person. The priority right now is saving lives.” Though the Radiance fleet had enough Lanterns to support this operation, screening over 2,000 passengers would still consume a substantial amount of spirituality. If the scans were too intense, the fleet might end up depleted of spirituality for the foreseeable future—leaving them vulnerable if another crisis arose. At the moment, the Shimmering Pearl appeared to be facing an ordinary maritime disaster, with no sign of mystical interference. So after weighing the options, Jord decided to limit the scans to only a surface-level sweep—essentially just glancing at each person with detection active. “Yes, sir. I’ll see to it right away!” With that, the adjutant withdrew to carry out the command, while Jord remained on deck, eyes fixed on the steadily approaching cruise ship. … Meanwhile, atop the deck structure of the Shimmering Pearl, Costa stood by the rail, eyes wide as he stared at the incoming Radiance fleet. Behind him, in the cabin, the corpses of Bins and the two other sailors still lay sprawled. Since discovering Bins’ body, Costa had been boiling with helpless rage. “Damn thief… was all of this part of your plan? You’re planning to slip into the Radiance fleet disguised as a passenger, aren’t you?” Grinding his teeth, Costa growled through clenched jaws, glaring at the approaching fleet. The railing in his grip had already been bent and twisted by the force of his anger. Inside, he was drowning in despair. He didn’t dare reveal the slightest trace of mystical power in front of the Radiance fleet. If they even sense a hint of irregularity, he is finished. He had no way to stop them from rescuing the passengers. All he could do was watch as that thief—blending in with the others—boarded the Radiance ships and escaped his control completely… taking the Deep Blue Heart with her. The closer the Radiance fleet drew, the more clearly Costa’s rational mind told him: once they made contact, his side would be in a severely passive—and likely fatal—position. The best option now would be to gather all his remaining followers and flee. Before the Radiance fleet got too close, they would quietly jump into the sea and use Tide Path abilities to dive and escape underwater—swimming to the nearest shore once the fleet had moved on. But… that would mean standing by and watching as Thief K escaped with the Deep Blue Heart. If she managed to board one of the Radiance ships and return to land, he would never be able to find her again. The sacrificial ritual would have failed, and the artifact lost—Costa didn’t even want to imagine what fate awaited him if he returned to the Abyssal Church under those conditions. Right now, Costa had three options. First, he could take his men and quietly jump into the sea, swim to the shore, and return to the Abyssal Church to accept punishment—and live a life worse than death. Second, he could also flee into the sea, but upon reaching land, sever ties with the Abyssal Church completely—only to live a miserable life on the run, hunted by both sides of the law. Third, he could throw caution to the wind: deliberately expose mystical traces to the Radiance fleet, forcing them to initiate full-scale detection on everyone aboard. That way, Thief K would be found out and captured by the Church. If he played it right, the third option might even allow him to dive overboard and escape right after releasing the signal. With luck, he could use his Tide Path abilities to evade pursuit underwater. If successful, the Church would definitely scan all passengers thoroughly—and Thief K would almost certainly be caught. Thief K was very likely a member of the Eight-Spired Nest, and to the Radiance Church, she was no less an evil heretic than Costa himself. If the Church captured her, the outcome wouldn’t be any better—she might even be tied to a stake and burned alive. “Huff… huff… What do I do… what should I do now…? The Church will be here any minute. Should I just dive into the sea and flee, go back and face punishment? Or flee and vanish into a place even Lord Swordscale can’t find—live my days dodging divinations in constant flight? Or maybe… maybe I give that damn thief a surprise first—let the Church catch her, let her reap what she sowed. If I’m lucky, I can still make it out afterward…” Costa’s heart seethed with hatred. He desperately wanted Thief K to pay, to suffer—whether that punishment came from him or from the Church. If he had to live a hunted life, why shouldn’t he make sure that damn thief paid first? “Yeah… that thief… right now, she’s probably smirking in some corner, thinking I can’t touch her. She’s probably waiting eagerly to board a Church vessel, certain I wouldn’t dare take a risk like this. Hmph… she’s seriously underestimated me…” “That fleet only has two cruisers—at most a few White Ashes. No Crimsons. If I dive and focus purely on escape, with my stamina and abilities, it’s not impossible to get away even after drawing attention. But that thief… she’s not the same. Out here, in the middle of the sea, with that many Church zealots scanning with everything they’ve got—she’s absolutely not escaping.” “Even if I have to spend the rest of my life on the run, I’m not letting you have the last laugh! Hmph… you think I wouldn’t dare expose mystical traces just to draw the Church’s attention? You couldn’t be more wrong! Even if the Radiance zealots catch me, I’ll make sure you pay for your arrogance! And besides—out here in the open sea, after I blow my cover, I can just run. They might not even be able to catch me!” Grinding his teeth, Costa glared at the approaching fleet, his face twisted in rage. After being toyed with again and again by Thief K, all he wanted now was for that thief to pay. At this point, even the Deep Blue Heart was becoming secondary in his mind. He knew he had no chance of recovering it—not from Thief K, and not from the Radiance Church. So if he couldn’t get the artifact back, at least he could make sure the thief didn’t get away unpunished. With that desperate resolve, Costa slowly raised his hand, ready to activate his abilities in full view of the Radiance fleet’s many watchful eyes—to force their attention. But just as he was about to unleash his power, Massimo’s voice rang out behind him. “Hey, Costa—you might want to take a look at this.” “Tch… what the hell is there to look at now!?” Costa snarled as he turned around—only to see Massimo crouched on the cabin floor beside Bins’ corpse, pointing toward the man’s hand. Resting there was a single black button—torn from a garment. “This… this is—” 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢 Costa’s eyes widened. Massimo, still crouched, spoke with a serious tone. “Earlier I noticed Bins’ hand was clenched unusually tight. So I pried it open… and found this button in his palm. None of the uniforms we wear have buttons like this—not Bins’, not the other two. Costa… whose button do you think this is?” With a sly smile, Massimo looked up at him. Costa’s gaze sharpened, eyes locked on the black button in the dead man’s hand. “This is… that bitch’s. Bins tore it off during his final struggle?” Costa muttered, then crouched beside Bins and took a closer look at the button. “Looks like Bins put up some resistance before dying—and managed to tear this thing off. He did his best… but unfortunately, with just a single button, it’s not enough to pin her down.” Costa sighed quietly, but Massimo wasn’t done. “Not enough to pin her down? Don’t be so sure, Costa. Try smelling the button.” “Smell it?” Costa lifted the button in his hand and gave it a light sniff—then froze. “This… this scent!” “Yes… yes! It has a scent on it—not just Bins’s scent, but hers too. That button carries her scent! We can track her down using it!” With an excited gleam in his eyes, Massimo turned to Costa. Costa, still staring at the button in his hand, frowned deeply before speaking again. “No… wait. Didn’t you say before that she knows how to mask her scent? That’s why you couldn’t smell her when she stole the Deep Blue Heart—and why you couldn’t use a Scent-Tracking Sigil to track her afterward. So she must’ve been very careful during the attack too. Why would she slip up and leave a scent on this? Could it be that she intentionally planted the button in Bins’s hand to throw us off?” “Uh… I wondered the same thing at first,” Massimo admitted, “but I’m certain Bins held this button himself when he died. No one stuffed it into his hand. Look at the blood on his hand—especially the back of it—it’s completely soaked. But there are no pressure marks on the blood. If someone had pried his hand open or forced it closed, there’d be clear signs. That means no one tampered with his grip. That button was clenched in his hand when he died!” Massimo spoke with firm conviction. There were two knife wounds on Bins’s hand, likely sustained while he tried to block the attack. The blood had soaked into his skin and still looked wet. Though there were smears, there were no signs of pressing fingers—meaning the button couldn’t have been planted postmortem. Bins had grabbed it himself. Massimo might be slow to think, but as a seasoned jewel collector, his powers of observation were sharp. “So it wasn’t planted after… that really is hers, then? But why? Why would someone so careful about scent—who’s masked herself so thoroughly before—suddenly forget to do it this time…” Costa muttered, brows furrowed, eyes locked on the button. Beside him, one of the Abyssal Church sailors took a look and murmured. “That button… doesn’t look like it came from outerwear.” “Not outerwear… that’s it!” Massimo’s eyes lit up with realization, and he exclaimed: “Right! Look at the style and size—it’s smaller than what you’d find on a coat. It looks like it came from an inner vest! I get it now! That’s why it has a scent—because it’s from the inner lining!” “Typical scent-masking techniques only affect the surface—outer clothing, exposed skin. They apply a thin layer of Stone-Wisdom Powder to suppress the scent. But this button came from an inner layer—inside the protective barrier! That’s why it picked up her scent!” Massimo spoke with newfound clarity, and Costa’s eyes widened in understanding. He stared down at the button, stunned, then after a moment, a slow smile crept across his face—followed by laughter. “Heh… haha… hahahahaha!! The Divine Serpent really has blessed us! There’s always a way out! You make enough voyages, and eventually you’re bound to get wet! And at this critical moment… you finally slipped up, Thief K!!” “You did good, Bins!” Straightening up, Costa turned to the dead Bins with a grin and spoke as though he were still alive. His earlier despair had vanished, replaced by a surge of satisfaction. Because now, in the face of three hopeless choices, a fourth option had suddenly revealed itself—a path by which he might reclaim the Deep Blue Heart and return to the Abyssal Church with something to show. The reason they couldn’t get the artifact back was because they had no idea who Thief K was hiding as—no idea which of the 2,000-plus passengers she had blended into. But now, thanks to one mistake, and Bins’s dying struggle, they had something vital: her scent. With that, they could use a Scent-Tracking Sigil to pinpoint her location among the passengers. Scent-masking powder couldn’t last forever on a person—it would break down with movement and sweat. Reapplying it required time, privacy, and careful prep. If Thief K made it onto one of the Radiance ships, there’d be no way for her to reapply it under their watch. So—her scent would leak. And now that they had it, Costa could use that scent to track her. Once everyone disembarked from the Radiance fleet, he could follow her trail to a more secluded location—and strike, when she least expected it. In that scenario, the Deep Blue Heart would be within reach again, and he’d have something solid to offer the Church. To pull that off, now was not the time to expose himself to the Radiance fleet. On the contrary—Costa needed to keep pretending. He and Massimo would pose as ordinary passengers and board the Church’s ships alongside Thief K. Once ashore, they would track her by scent—and finish this. Clutching the button, Costa’s grin twisted into something feral. In the face of three despair-filled choices, he had found a fourth—and it was full of promise. Seeing hope, he embraced it without hesitation. He had completely abandoned the idea of exposing his mystical traces or going down with Thief K. Turning to one of the Abyssal cultists beside him, Costa gave new orders. “The Radiance fleet’s almost here. Everyone from the Church except for me and Massimo—prepare to dive. Quietly. Take every Water-Breathing Sigil we have. Plan your swim carefully—make sure you reach land.” “Massimo, pack a few things. We’re boarding that ship—right alongside our little friend.” Even as he spoke, Costa’s grin didn’t fade. … Back aboard the Shimmering Pearl, the string of explosions had sent passengers into panic. Most remained huddled in their cabins, gripped by fear. The entire ship was steeped in chaos. And in the midst of that fear, Dorothy sat calmly by her cabin window, sipping hot coffee while watching the Radiance fleet draw closer. “Those who lose hope are easily driven to desperation. The desperate easily lose control. And the uncontrolled… cause the most damage.” “I don’t like dealing with people who’ve lost control. So sometimes, offering hope is necessary—even if it’s to the enemy.” She took another small sip and murmured to her reflection in the window. “Looks like it’s time to say farewell to the Shimmering Pearl.”