Ten years ago.
The nearly eleven-year-old Lucien was the middle between the happiest version of him and the depressed, vengeful teenager that followed.
As he watches Eve train alone, he can't help but admire her powerful will and hard work; She always helps all her siblings to train, and when they go to rest, she focuses on her own training.
"HA! HAH!! HAAA!!" With no wooden weapons or anything like that, Eve swings a claymore nearly Lucien's size against ghost images generated by an enchantment on the floor.
Like Donna, Eve has a special taste for big weapons, but unlike maces and axes, she likes the sharpest big weapons possible.
[An assassin...] Lucien can't help but think that about Eve as he watches her slice through the agile training ghosts with supernatural speed.
But even thinking like that about his 'big sis,' he isn't afraid of her and loves her any less. He has already understood that they are living weapons for Michael, and to protect each other, including from him, they must truly become as sharp as blades and regard that Eve is way ahead of them all; she's perfect.
*Whoosh* *Whoosh* *Whoosh*
Lucien's eyes sparkle as he watches Eve's graceful movements; he certainly admires her a lot, but there's someone else watching her who thinks the challenge is too easy against the harmless training ghosts.
"Go." On his great throne, Michael gives the order, and five mysterious figures disappear into the shadows. The 'Evil King' continues to watch Eve's workout through a magical device, and his cruel eyes turn to Lucien for a second.
Amidst her movements, Eve has no idea what is about to happen, but Lucien has a bad feeling and calls out to her. "Big sis!"
"Luci???" Eve gets worried and stumbles as she tries to kick a ghost; she rolls on the floor to avoid getting hurt while falling.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64ce79d606107d003c23ea27", id: "pf-5140-1"})But at that moment, the camouflaged figures emerge from the shadows and split into two groups to attack the siblings. Three of them jump on Eve, drawing their weapons, while the other two surround Lucien with sharp weapons ready as well.
Just based on the speed of those mysterious figures, Eve can tell they are in the early Earth Realm while she is in the Middle Mortal Realm. And if facing someone a few layers above her is already an extreme challenge, let alone facing three people almost a whole realm above. [This is impossible!!!]
[Does he want me to use that?!?!] Eve wonders as the mysterious figures prepare to make their moves. She knows they were sent by Michael and will have no mercy on her, but she would rather be beaten by them for an entire hour than have to use her peculiar ability for even a second.
But a thudding sound makes her whole being tremble.
*BAM*
One of the two other hooded figures lands a brutal punch in Lucien's face, knocking him to the floor. He tries to defend himself and fails but doesn't emit any groans of pain even after those guys start kicking him.
"NOOOOOO!!!" Eve screams as Lucien's pain echoes in her heart; in fact, seeing him suffer is worse for her than having to suffer ten times that pain herself.
Knowing that she can't beat those five guys alone, Eve can only rely on her strange ability to save her beloved little brother, so she ignores her own security and unleashes the full power of that ability.
The air seems to get heavier, and the five figures fall to their knees; they feel as if their bodies have become hundreds of times heavier, and not even their Earth Realm strength can help them now.
"Whoah!!" In the throne room, Michal stands and claps his hands as he watches Eve defeat five Earth Realm guys in one move.
That ability seems too good to be true, but everything comes at a price, and from the moment Eve activated it, her body had an awful reaction.
The veins of her body became visible through her skin, getting swollen as all her blood began to boil and ooze out of all her holes; her body seems to be literally being torn from the inside out due to not being able to hold so much power.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64cc9e79c7059f003e4ad4b0", id: "pf-5109-1"})"AAAHHHHHHH!!!!" Eve is even more resistant to pain than Lucien, but even she can't help but cry from such torture.
"Big sis!!!" Lucien quickly gets up and jumps on Eve to stop her from using that ability.
They roll on the ground, and she stops using that ability as she feels his warm embrace. The five hooded figures quickly disappear into the shadows again, allowing the siblings to breathe a sigh of relief.
"Sister? Sister!?? Sister???" Lucien exclaims as he wipes the blood off Eve's face.
"Luci..." She smiles as she wipes the tears from his face. "I'm fine... alright... easy, boy..."
Still on the floor and on top of Eve, Lucien sighs. "What the hell is wrong with this ability of yours???"
"Michael… that bag of shit…" Eve speaks in a furious tone. "He said that this ability should only wake up when I'm much more powerful and old than he is, but thanks to his treasures, I can already use it; however, my body doesn't support that much power yet."
"So why does he force you to use it now??" Lucien asks. "Does he want you to die?"
"Not before I'm useful to him..." She blurts out. "Actually he said if I don't use it often, I won't get used to it any sooner."
"Bastard!!!" Lucien exclaims in a fury. But then his gaze turns gentle and concerned as he looks at Eve. "Please don't use this ability anymore... please, sister, I don't want you to die."
Despite that situation is really bad, Eve doesn't want to make Lucien even more concerned, so she smiles and tries to tease him. "You don't want me to die because you're afraid of ending up alone with Michael?"
He quickly shakes his head. "I know Donna, Naomi, and our other sisters would take care of me, but I couldn't bear your loss because… because I love you so much!"
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "663633fa8ebf7442f0652b33", id: "pf-8817-1"})Eve just wanted to tease Lucien, but his honest answer makes her emotional, and she ends up crying. "I love you too, Luci… so trust me, I will never leave you… never!"
—------------------------------------------
Now.
While thousands of Mermaids have their lives on the line, Eve uses her mysterious gravity ability like never before, pushing her body to the very limit.
When the Kraken appeared in the sky and fell on the Mermaids, breaking their magic barrier, she acted on impulse, not for them but for Lucien and what they represent to him.
But holding that gigantic creature had done severe damage to her body all at once, and in that second, which feels like hours, she wonders if she could actually do that, or she'll end up dying and breaking the promise she'd made to Lucien.
[No... I'm not going to die like this...] She seeks within herself all the power she has. [And I won't let his Mermaids die either... not on my watch!!!]
"AAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!" Eve's cry echoes for miles, but it's not a scream of pain but of strength.
She knows she's not alone, as does Pride, who launches an attack against such a powerful creature without a second thought. That Kraken is on the Immortal Realm's seventh layer, and Pride knows she can't beat it alone, but with Gluttony and Greed by her side, it won't be that hard.
Not only the siblings and their Sins, but also other people around act quickly, especially Maya, who unleashes her true form and attacks the Kraken with all her power.
"*SCHEEEEEE!!!*" Few people in Blue Star's history have seen the real power of the Rising Phoenix Clan's Matriarch, but they quickly recognize the beautiful, gigantic firebird in the sky as Maya.
The light of her flames is not dimmed even by the light of Pride's white scythe as they both attack the Kraken.
The creature first notices Pride above it and raises its tentacles to block her attack, but the heat of Maya's flames confuses it.
And at that moment, they attack.
"DIE!!!" Pride descends her white scythe with all her might and the light around her brings fear to the Kraken's heart as well as inspiration for the Mermaids below.
Although her power is based on Eve's power level, which is the third layer of the Sky Realm, their real power is mostly related to their demonic energy, and it has never been this strong before.
All those Mermaids, even the ones not under the Kraken, trust Pride and Eve. They already respect them a lot just for trying to protect them, so the power that so many strong and loyal Mermaids can generate is fantastic.
It's that power that allows Eve to hold for more than a second and the same power that allows Pride's scythe to slice through the powerful Kraken's tentacles like a hot knife through butter.
*ROOOAAARRRRR*
The creature screams in pain, but Its suffering is near the end as Maya's flames cover Its body quickly.
The Kraken knows it is about to die when Pride penetrates Its skull with her white scythe, and Its tentacles are destroyed by Maya's flames, but before it dies, the creature understands where the mysterious force holding it comes from.
And in a final act of revenge, the creature throws a toxic jet toward the Sea Devil. That poison ignites in the air due to Maya's flames, but it's too fast for her to stop.
But before it hits the girls on the ship, Gluttony throws Naomi into the air, heading for the Kraken's attack. That looks crazy at first, but Naomi summons a huge pink shield, which even rivals Jeanne's shield, and blocks all the poison.
*BAMMMMM*
It's evident that Naomi couldn't just block an attack from a Kraken with her current power level, even though her soul weapon is such an amazing shield.
But she surprises everyone when she keeps her shield up even after the impact against the toxic jet, and the most fantastic thing is that all that poison starts to disappear while the little Gluttony keeps her hands on the back of the shield, using her special ability to literally make it absorb the mana of that attack.
"My time to shine!" Greed thinks aloud as she flies towards the Kraken with a golden spear in hand; she passes through Maya's flames and then through the Kraken's body.
*WHOOOOSH*
Two bright figures come out on the other side of the flames; one is the purest white and the other the brightest golden; then the Kraken's body explodes.
*BOOOOOOOOOOM*
Bowels, blood, and bones fly everywhere. And despite that being a bloody scene, the Mermaids below, even covered in blood, can't help but smile as they survived an extreme situation.
"Sister!!!" Claire holds Eve before she falls to the floor due to the injuries in her body.
But when she feels so bad, a strangely familiar and so good energy within her body quickly begins to heal all her wounds.
Pride quickly goes back to Eve and notices that energy is Lucien's life mana. "How is this possible???"
The Sins don't understand how Eve can have Lucien's life mana without them having done something similar to what they do with their wives.
But it's not really the complex because just by being close to Eve and also because of his willingness to protect her, a part of Lucien's energies entered her body and waited until it was needed.
And now, even though they're apart, Lucien and Eve are still taking care of each other.
