While things are pretty hectic in the Central Region, the situation isn't any better on the surface either. After Lucien and his group went down to the magic shell, the big magic storm kept growing, and in the last two days, it reached the Mermaid camp and the Sea Devil.
As the Mermaids are such gentle and sensitive creatures, the dark aura of that storm makes them very apprehensive, and without their Queen and Princess, fear grows in their hearts.
They try their best to hold on until Nea and Saria return, but in addition to that sinister storm, they have to deal with another problem, the sinful desires also growing in their hearts and taking over their bodies.
It's no secret that the Sea Devil houses three Sins, and that's not a metaphor but the personifications of three of the darkest and most dangerous desires in the universe, the very elite of the Demon race.
And when the problems seem to reach a problematic level among the Mermaids, their representative, Ramla, known as the Queen's right arm, gathers all the courage she has and goes toward the Sea Devil.
[At least he's not here...] She tries to think positive while asking permission to climb aboard the ship; after all, among all the Sins, the one she fears the most is Lucien and the sinful desires he awakens in her.
Rupa, the first Mermaid Lucien met, quickly gives Ramla permission to reach the group as Lucien has already made it clear that his intention is to help all Mermaids, which makes her not regret accepting him as her Master.
"Welcome aboard, General Ramla," Rupa speaks in a respectful tone.
Ramla is happy to see that Rupa hasn't changed after joining Lucien's group; in fact, now there seems to be a special sparkle in her eyes. "Hi, kid, I came here to..."
She looks around and notices several girls on the deck; they all look bored and waiting for something, more precisely, someone. Even Maya is there, watching Naomi devour Valencia's secret food while Claire gazes at the western horizon with a lonely expression.
"I need to talk to..." Ramla looks confused.
Rupa quickly understands her intention and points to the captain's cabin. "Eve is in charge while Master is out."
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64ce79d606107d003c23ea27", id: "pf-5140-1"})Ramla nods. "Please take me to her then."
"This way." Rupa leads the way down the hall, catching the attention of the other girls.
Valencia and the other new girls in the group just watch, but Claire, Naomi, and Maya approach Ramla to find out what's going on.
"General Ramla," Claire speaks in a respectful tone as Ramla has always been good to her. "Did something happen?"
"Claire..." Ramla hasn't stopped liking Claire even after finding out she's a Sin's host. But she hesitates to say anything when she notices Naomi beside them, eating a piece of roast ham.
"Let's join your big sis first, please." She asks in a respectful tone.
"Mm." Claire understands that it is about something important, and the group enters the hallway, followed by Naomi. Maya also goes with them because she is very curious about that peculiar family, and no one will stop the magnificent last Phoenix, naturally.
They quickly arrive in front of the captain's cabin, and Claire knocks on the door, but no one answers even after more knocks. The sisters know that Eve is inside that room because the Sins confirmed it to them, but neither she nor Pride responds.
Ramla and Maya look at Claire with curious expressions, and she smiles at them. "Eve must be meditating..."
"Big sis sometimes takes her conscience away from everything and everyone to meditate..." She comments as Greed materializes her body on the other side of the door and unlocks it, so Claire slowly opens the door.
Before realizing what is happening inside the room, Claire already feels instinctive jealousy and even a little anger growing in her heart, and she knows that it is due to her shared feelings with Greed. [What could make Greed so upset?]
And the answer to that question quickly comes when Claire sees Eve sitting in the lotus position on top of Lucien's bed, surrounded by pieces of his clothes. [What the hell?!?!]
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64cc9e79c7059f003e4ad4b0", id: "pf-5109-1"})Even Naomi is shocked when she sees Eve like that, and she doesn't seem to notice them yet; in fact, her conscience seems to be really far away and thinking something naughty because her face is pretty flushed.
"Big sis???" Claire quickly exclaims.
"Pride!?!" Greed also demonstrates her displeasure.
There's no way Eve won't wake up due to that noise, and she quickly opens her eyes, which glow pure white as an overwhelming aura spreads through the room, making the other girls feel pressured to a point where it's hard to even breathe.
"W-w-what..." Maya, who is the strongest among them, can barely get a word out of her mouth as she is shocked by Eve's surreal power.
Before the girls fall to their knees, they feel an incredible sucking force pull them out of the room; that force doesn't feel like strong winds but rather the distortion of gravity itself, which throws them down the hallway.
*BAM*
The door slams shut, making a loud sound echo down the hall as the girls stand in shock.
"What just happened???" Ramla is the first to ask.
"Nothing!" Claire quickly responds. "Nothing happened... we didn't see anything inside... we better think like that, or the fury of big sis will fall over us."
"Do what Claire says, or you'll regret it." Naomi reinforces her sister's words.
The sisters quickly return to the deck, and even Maya doesn't dare to face Eve now. Ramla still tries to stand in front of that door, but the aura that comes from the other side of it makes her feel an instinctive urge to run away, so she goes back to the deck with the other girls.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "663633fa8ebf7442f0652b33", id: "pf-8817-1"})Ramla sees Naomi drinking wine from the bottleneck while Claire shares another bottle with Maya and Rupa; they all look scared as hell and need some alcohol to calm down.
She would also like to drink alcohol until that fear comes out of her, but when in charge of the troops, she has a strong devotion to her responsibilities. "I really need to talk to Eve... or..."
"You'll have to settle it with us," Claire comments as she drinks another glass of wine. She knows Eve since she remembers anything, but she's never seen her big sister so angry before.
Naomi mods while drying a wine bottle by herself. Gluttony had never been this quiet inside her before. "Yeah, you only have us while big sis is... busy."
Ramla understands that Naomi and Claire are her best options right now, and she especially looks at Naomi. But then that so overwhelming aura she'd felt in the captain's cabin approaches her from behind, making a terrible chill run down her spine.
She feels something like the respect she has for Nea, but now, it's like the queen of the whole universe is behind her, and it makes her feel both fear, respect, and a powerful urge to kneel.
Ramla doesn't have the courage to look back and starts praying to all the deities she knows, especially the Water Spirit, begging that Eve isn't really behind her.
But her requests seem in vain, and her tail goes limp as jelly as Eve's voice sounds from behind her in the more authoritative tone she ever heard. "I'm not busy."
"Big sis?!?!" Naomi and Claire exclaim together; it's evident they're all shaking like a leaf, and even the other girls on deck get apprehensive.
[What the hell is wrong with these girls???] Maya can't help but wonder. But even she can't help feeling like everyone else in front of Eve; her aura blends in perfectly with Pride's, and it's almost as impressive as Lucien's aura.
While Ramla is unable to speak due to shock and fear, Claire and Naomi quickly try to escape Eve's wrath. "We didn't see anything in there!! Yeah, you were just resting, and we came back so as not to disturb you!"
Eve's eyes are no longer glowing pure white, and she is calming down; yet, her cheeks are flushed as she has never felt so embarrassed before.
"What did you see there..." She tries to explain, but even she can't understand how she ended up in such a situation. "I was just meditating... Luci wouldn't mind me using his bed, you know..."
"Yeah, brother wouldn't mind!" Naomi quickly comments.
Claire nods. "That's the captain's cabin, after all..."
"What about his clothes?" Someone asks, making Naomi and Claire panic.
Everyone stares at Maya, and she immediately regrets that question, despite being very curious.
"What clothes?!?" Claire quickly asks in a disapproving tone.
"There weren't any clothes." Naomi completes.
"Ehh..." Maya feels like a little girl who saw her big sister doing something wrong; it doesn't matter if that's true, it's better for everyone to forget that. "Ya, I think it was the bedsheets after all..."
Seeing girls acting like that makes Eve even more embarrassed. She knows they'll never forget that, and Lucien is likely to end up learning about it.
'Why didn't you watch the damn door?!?!' Eve mentally complains to Pride.
'I'm not your damn servant!!!' Pride responds. But actually, she was busy with a specific piece of Lucien's clothing.
Since there's nothing to be done about that now, Eve tries to change the subject; so, she looks at Ramla sternly. "What are you doing here?"
"M-my my my... Queen?" Ramla turns to Eve as she stutters; she has never been so confused in her life.
"Just say it." Eve doesn't want to be arrogant on purpose, but she doesn't want to waste time either.
"It's just... it's... well..." Ramla has a hard time getting straight to the point for fear of Eve's reaction, so she tries to explain that as friendly as possible.
She glances at Claire with an imploring expression. "When Claire came to us, our people welcomed her with open arms as we knew her intentions were good... but after a week, it was evident that she was influencing the people around her..."
Before anyone can comment on anything, Ramla quickly continues. "Although that seemed very strange and even dangerous, the Queen saw how it could be beneficial for the Mermaids, especially the Princess..."
"In the end, we found out that it was Greedy's influence and still no Mermaid was upset with Claire," Ramla explains. "After all, our people needed to be more ambitious and defend our interests..."
"Can you be shorter?" Eve asks.
"Ya, ya!" Ramla quickly nods and gets right to the point. "I'm not blaming Lord Lucien, you know, but... he left a... strong impression on the troops, and... he left, leaving a devastating void in their hearts."
"And?!?" Eve understands missing Lucien more than Ramla could ever imagine, but she doesn't understand what brought that Mermaid to her.
Ramla is concerned that Eve has gotten her wrong, so she quickly continues. "It's not really about Lord Lucien, but rather the void in my Mermaids... it was filled with... well..."
She can't help but look at Naomi with a sorry expression. "To make up for that missing feeling, they're devouring our provisions five times faster than usual!"
"..." The girls don't know what to say, making the atmosphere really awkward. Should they blame Gluttony or Lucien for leaving the Mermaids in such a poor state?
Gluttony quickly materializes her body and tries to rid herself of that responsibility. "It's Lucien's fault!!"
Eve thinks about agreeing with Gluttony as she too has such accusations against him, but she can't help but wonder if he's the only one to blame for the feelings they share.
"In the end, it's everything about him..." Maya thinks out loud, making all the girls around blush.
