Nea is more excited than ever as she is about to meet the Water Spirit again. All Mermaids see that mysterious and graceful person as a gentle deity, a protector who keeps their world stable.
The war that took place a thousand years ago in the Blue Star left Nea with a bitter taste in her mouth and a broken heart as she couldn't stop wondering if there was another way Kaisa wouldn't have to sacrifice her soul.
She had always thought that she should be the one to sacrifice herself for her people or even considered that the Water Spirit could have appeared earlier, stopping the Water Goddess before Kaisa and the Second Fox Princess needed to act so drastically.
Such thoughts left Nea confused, but she always tried to keep her faith in the Water Spirit and be grateful for all she did for the Mermaids and the Blue Star.
And now, Nea understands that even the Water Spirit has limits and is paying dearly for having helped her people, which makes Nea eager to help her protector, repaying part of the good done to her.
"There?" Nea asks Lucien as she quickly swims towards the Water Spirit's shell.
"She's pretty excited, isn't she?" Lucien can't help but comment and laugh.
Then he feels Saria unconsciously squeeze his hand; he looks at her and notices a concerned expression on her lovely face. "What's the problem?"
She seems to hesitate a little but quickly let it out. "I can't help but find this all very strange… I mean, why did the Water Spirit call you instead of any other Blue Star creature??"
"Maybe it was because I was using that vision ability and could find her more easily?" He answers in a questioning tone, making it clear that he isn't sure of anything either.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64ce79d606107d003c23ea27", id: "pf-5140-1"})"Hmmm..." Saria keeps her expression concerned and thoughtful. "What about you feeling something familiar coming from the Water Spirit? Shouldn't that sound bizarre??"
Before Lucien can respond, Lust materializes her body and speaks for him. "Perhaps he feels that way because we found the Nature Spirit in Argerim; since they must have a similar power, it could generate such a familiar feeling."
Saria can't easily believe that because everything that involves Lucien is very mysterious, and now even the Water Spirit seems to be a part of that. Then she looks at him. "Do you think that?"
Lucien doesn't want to lie to Saria, but he doesn't understand what's going on either, so he doesn't answer that question. "We shouldn't think about the answers we don't have but work with what we know."
"You're right." She smiles at him because regardless of the mysteries surrounding his life, she knows he's good, or at least the feelings he has for her are good, and that's all that matters to her.
He smiles back at her before swimming after Nea with her. As strangely there are no creatures in that area, the group arrives in front of the giant magic shell without any problems.
Saria and Lucien can't help but make sorry expressions as they see the beautiful surface of the magic shell covered in unnatural moss and black roots as the dark mana viciously penetrates Its outside.
However, Nea is enraged as she clenches her hands into fists. "Those bastards!! What are they doing?!?! They dare to violate our lady in such a disgusting way..."
"Mom..." Saria tries to hug Nea to keep her from getting even angrier, but Lucien holds her arm gently and whispers in her ear so that she lets her mother vent some of her feelings, or that can become poison in her veins.
After cursing Tyrion a few more times, Nea begins to speak in a sad tone. "This is my fault... I closed my eyes for a long time; I thought a war between our peoples would only cause more pain, but it... this is insanity!"
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64cc9e79c7059f003e4ad4b0", id: "pf-5109-1"})"But it's not your fault." Lucien comments as he opens the purple world portal and calls Mira there because he thinks this is something that involves her in the same way as Nea.
"Lucien is right." Mira talks to Nea as she exits the portal. "He also explained to me what is happening and as we already know what problems afflict our world and our people, we just need to eliminate those threats."
The idea of ripping off Tyrion and Tanu's heads makes Nea calmer, so she nods to Mira. "Yeah… let's get all this shit out of here and help our lady."
Mira wants to help, but her current power is way below Nea's, and she's just not swept away by the strong currents of the central region because Lucien is holding her hand.
Nea notices that it quickly channels her power, creating a limited domain around the large magic shell to calm the sea currents. She is almost out of mana from two full days of fighting powerful creatures but uses her remaining energies to make the environment accessible to Mira, which makes both the Naga Queen and Lucien more fond of her.
"That's all I can do now, so please..." She asks Lucien as she looks at the black roots on the magic shell's surface. "Your golden energy is purer than mine, so help her, please."
"Of course." Lucien doesn't need Nea to ask him to help the woman in the glass coffin as he feels a powerful instinctive urge to do that.
He summons his golden naginata and approaches the large shell, but Lust thinks of something and quickly talks to him. "Wait!"
Lucien stops before doing anything, and Lust quickly explains. "There's so much dark mana concentrated here... it would be a shame to waste it."
"Such a vile energy..." Nea can't help but comment and look at Lust with an inquisitive expression. "Why do you want this poison? I don't see how it could be useful to you or Lucien, even though he has some dark affinity."
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "663633fa8ebf7442f0652b33", id: "pf-8817-1"})"That would really be more poisonous than good for him..." Lust starts to speak and looks at Lucien. "But for..."
Lucien quickly understands what she means due to how connected their minds are. "Olivia! She... would it be good for her?"
After having been in quick contact with that dark mana, Lucien felt very nauseous due to the nature of such energy; that made him feel sorry for Olivia, and now he can't help but doubt if it would be good for her to absorb such mana.
Lust understands that, and so she explains more about it. "Olivia is already used to dealing with dark mana since she has awakened such an affinity, so it wouldn't be too bad for her, and your help would make it much smoother, of course."
Before Lucien can call Olivia, Nea speaks. "I don't know this Olivia's abilities, but even if it is good for her, it will take weeks and even months for her to absorb so much dark mana, you know, and the Blue Star doesn't have that time."
"With Lucien's help, she can do it in a few hours." Lust answers.
"Really???" Nea can't believe that easily, as absorbing so much raw energy could make even her sick, though Olivia has the same affinity for that mana.
"If Lust says it's possible, so I say it's possible," Lucien comments and then looks at Nea with a friendly expression. "But we'll only do it if you agree."
"I..." Nea gets confused. She is happy that Lucien considers her opinion, but she can only think of helping the Water Spirit as quickly as possible.
He realizes that she is having a hard time dealing with so many conflicting feelings, especially after the death of so many Mermaids due to that dark mana.
So he tries to persuade her calmly. "We're going to war next, so increasing our forces would be nice; also, we're going to clear all this dark mana out of here anyway."
Nea is grateful for all of Lucien's help and support, so she doesn't want to deny him that opportunity. "Alright, just make sure you don't leave any dark mana fragments behind, please."
Lucien smiles at her. "Stop asking me things so politely... I thought we were getting closer, you know."
She rolls her eyes but can't stop her lips from curving slightly, making it apparent that his words have raised her mood, even if just a little bit. "You keep flirting at the wrong times..."
His smile gets even more teasing as he acts like that to calm his emotions as well. "Will you let me know when the right time to flirt comes?"
"Oh, come on!!" Nea tries to get upset with Lucien, but she can't do that anymore. "Just start cleaning the dark mana already, and I'll consider your request later."
Lust and even Saria can't help but laugh at the strange interaction between Lucien and Nea. Lust is used to seeing Lucien act that way, but the Mermaid Princess has never seen her mother in such a light.
Wasting no more time, Lucien calls Olivia to his side. He has kept all of his wives aware of everything going on outside of the purple world, and they just prefer to stay at home so as not to disturb him due to how difficult it is to stay in the central region.
But thanks to Nea's water domain, Olivia has no trouble swimming alongside Lucien. He doesn't even need to give her a fish herb as she prefers him to give her oxygen through kisses.
"So much dark mana..." Olivia is impressed when she feels the power of that energy, and of course, she is very tempted to absorb that all.
"Take it easy and let Lucien's demonic energy help you absorb the dark mana." Lust advises them.
"Mm." Olivia nods and smiles at Lucien as she holds his hand; then, they swim over to the gigantic magic shell, and she slowly starts touching the black roots.
That raw dark mana is very intense, but Lucien's energies, especially his original demonic energy life mana, help her to quickly transform the dark mana into her own power.
That process ends up being more efficient than when they have sex because they don't need to generate any energy; the dark mana is already concentrated there, and Olivia can still absorb it next to Lucien, receiving his caresses and kisses, which makes everything better.
Nea and Saria are shocked as they watch the dark mana being removed from the magic shell at the same rate as Olivia gets stronger. She literally crosses Earth Realm layers in minutes, arriving at the Sky Realm and crossing Its layers still so easily.
"His power is so incredible..." The Mermaid Queen can't help but comment. But then she thinks aloud. "How are we going to get in the shell, by the way??"
"I have no idea..." Lucien comments as he continues to help Olivia absorb the dark mana. "I went through the surface because I didn't use a physical body at that time, you know."
Saria also makes a thoughtful expression. "Maybe the shell will open as soon as there's no more dark mana around?"
"We can't do anything for the dark mana that's inside..." Lucien comments in a not positive tone.
Nea approaches the shell and touches its surface on an area that Lucien and Olivia have already purified. "Give us a path, my lady... let us help you."
Those words fade into the void of the ocean as the mysterious shell remains motionless.
Meanwhile, Sloth is focused on Lucien and the strange glow that follows him across the shell's surface.
