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Meanwhile, as Benladra and Kate made new friends, dark plans were brewing near the country's palace. The Guard Commander, a Shark-type merman named Eustace had just recently heard from three guards that they were threatened and mistreated by Drake's party, and decided to not let things slide.
He was a prideful man and one of the strongest Knights of the Queendom. If his men were mistreated like this, he considered it an insult to himself and also the Queen. And for some reason, unlike his lackeys, he didn't seem afraid of Drake's party consisting of Rank 6 individuals.
"You say they chased the kids from the orphanage? Heh, that's a wonderful excuse to go wreck that damn shithole already…" He said with a grin. "If we can get our hands in all those children, our Queen will surely be pleased as well."
A confident grin appeared on his shark-like face, as he held within his hands a sword imbued with a powerful, blue-colored divine essence extracted directly from the Queendom's Greatest Treasure.
"Rank 6 or whatever, with the power of the Ocean God's Weapons, there's nothing that can stop us now…"
…
Meanwhile, within the city of Aquaias, Yuki accompanied Ruby, Ruby's mother, and Rakasha searching for clues as to where could the other Shard of the Blue Orb be located.
"Drake had said something about it being underground? But we've been going around the entire city and we have yet to find anywhere where we can access some sort of underground passage." Ruby sighed, looking around her surroundings, her sharp red eyes and her beautiful and delicate appearance made many young men that glanced at her felt enchanted. "And there's too much people everywhere, ugh, I am not used to crowded places."
"Well, bear with it for a bit more dear." Sighed her mother, utilizing her vampiric senses she was able to also sense the essence of the orb shards. "It is certainly as Lord Drake said, it is underground… But where? Maybe there are sewers? We'll need to get there? Ugh… Getting inside of sewers does not fit a noble family such as ourselves."
Although the two of them were disgusted for different things Yuki and Rakasha quickly realized why they were nobles… Growing spoiled and sheltered from the outside world and all. Well, their gratitude for Drake was so huge they were still willing to do stuff that made them disgusted.
"Hmm, well, we've researched for most of the southwest area and- Huh? Oh, look, maybe we finally found a clue." Rakasha pointed at something in the distance, it was located in between several large buildings in the more richer areas of the city.
"What's that big building over there?" Wondered Yuki.
"The church of the Ocean or Sea God." Said Ruby. "It seems like it goes underground… Although the stairs going down are closed by a magic-imbued gate and heavily guarded."
"Huh, now this is interesting." Ruby's mother said.
Indeed, there was a massive temple with a beautiful assortment of decorations resembling waves, fishes, starfishes, clams, and even a tall mermen figure holding a big trident, this was the statue of the deity that all the Mermen prayed to, the Sea or Ocean God.
The temple seemed open for all people, and they noticed nuns walking in and out all the time, alongside normal folk that went to pray inside, or offer donations to the church… meanwhile, just at the side, slightly hidden with other buildings, there was a stair leading down.
And from within, the group of three Vampires and one Beast girl noticed a thick blue-colored mist coming from within its depths, the very essence of the Blue Orb Shards Drake had showed to them before, it was incredibly strong, and almost intoxicating.
"Is the Blue Shard Orb down those stairs? Its presence is so strong!" Yuki felt surprised.
"No, I can detect it is way, way down, perhaps… several hundreds of meters below." Ruby said, as the only Rank 9 Goddess here, she had the sharpest senses, which were even more amplified through her Vampiric Powers, that grew as she became a goddess.
Her evolution into a Rank 9 Goddess was "accidental" or more like an aftereffect of having her body possessed by the Vampire Venerable, who automatically evolved her Divine Core into Rank 9 once his soul enchanted her body… now that he was gone, this was hadn't gone anywhere, and Ruby was still having a hard time getting completely used to it.
Nonetheless, one of the things she had already been mastering was her ability to expand her Divine Vampiric Senses and be able to detect anything within her range with utmost detail… and as she continued searching more and more for the origin of the Blue Orb Shard's essence, she saw something.
D a r k n e s s.
F L A S H!
"Huh? Ungh…!"
Suddenly, the darkness sensed her, and attacked back to her senses, making Ruby grit her teeth and fall into her knees, it felt as if a sharp jolt of electricity hit her entire soul!
"RUBY!" Her mother and Rakasha quickly came for her help, using their magic to try to calm her mind, but Ruby seemed trapped within this darkness!
Her eyes opened within the deep darkness, so reminiscent of the one her Ancestor had once trapped her within… Reliving this trauma wasn't something she expected doing in this peaceful-looking archipelago.
"T-This is… Who… What are you?!"
Ruby's red eyes opened within the darkness, as she saw something immense glancing down at her. Its frightening presence was making every inch of her soul and body tremble in utter fear! Even when she was a Rank 9 Vampire Goddess.
Within this darkness, she saw an enormous quantity of tentacles emerging from all places, trying to grasp her soul… and from within these tentacles, a monstrous and endless jaw opened…
"Thou may not peer the abyss… Without the abyss glaring back at you."
"Wha…?!"
C R U N C H!
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