[Vol. 7] Chapter 41: The God’s Garden
“Ugh...”
A sharp pain, as if her soul was being torn apart, jolted Nitila awake.
Her mind was still hazy from the shock, but as the confusion faded, her eyes widened in alarm, memories of what had just happened rushed back to her.
“Stop it, Father! Please, stop!”
She instinctively tried to move, only to realize she was completely restrained. Thick, sinewy tendrils had extended from the ceiling, wrapping tightly around her arms and legs, suspending her in midair like a captive. She struggled, but it was no use. Even the [Book of Truth], which had mysteriously appeared beside her earlier, had already fallen into the hands of the figure standing before her.
“You’re not like this! Please, I beg you! Don’t let yourself be deceived!”
But her pleas fell on deaf ears. The towering figure before her was no longer a normal creature, Willipol Mingjiao, the former chieftain of the Mingjiao Tribe. He had lost most of his original body. What remained was a grotesque fusion of writhing tendrils and an eerie, unnatural power. He slowly turned his head to look at his daughter, his expression calm despite his monstrous transformation.
“Deceived?” he echoed, his voice emotionless. “You think I’ve been deceived? I have seen the truth written in the [Book of Truth]… and yet, you believe this is all just a trick?”
“Father, we don’t have to do this—”
Willipol suddenly raised his “hand,” cutting off Nitila’s desperate words. A flicker of disappointment crossed his still-recognizable face.
“Nitila, you were always my favorite child. Of all my descendants, only you have inherited the purest bloodline. Only you have the strength and the right to accomplish this task. I thought that once you knew the truth, you would stand by my side. But to think this is how you respond…”
“Do you truly believe we should just accept this fate? To live as mere puppets, as livestock kept in a cursed cage by that wretched false god? Is that what you think we were meant to become? Does the noble blood flowing through your veins not cry at such betrayal? At such disgrace?”
“Tell me, Nitila. Why do the Mingjiao cry?”
Willipol’s voice grew louder with each word, carrying the unshaken authority of a king. Even in his grotesque form, his commanding presence remained unyielding.
Nitila froze. Then, after a long silence, she lowered her gaze.
Her father’s words had struck something deep within her. Perhaps it was the weight of his argument, or perhaps it was simply the years of fear and obedience ingrained in her by his rule. But in that moment, she found herself unable to refute him.
But in the end, her sense of duty as a princess and her own independent beliefs urged her to give her own answer.
“Father, I understand your thoughts and your intentions. But… as the rulers of the Mingjiao tribes, we don’t just hold power over life and death. We also bear the responsibility of protecting our people and all those who live in the sea, don’t we?”
“Our people, the millions who inhabit the Emerald Sea, trust us. They follow us because they believe the Mingjiao tribe will lead them to a better future. But what you plan to do now… it will only drag everyone into a watery grave. Is that really the right choice?”
“If we face hardship, we should find a way to overcome it. Not recklessly destroy everything, throwing all hope into the hands of some long-dead, insane, and completely unknown force! A so-called god, something we don’t even truly understand—”
“Silence! That is blasphemy!”
King Willipol’s furious roar cut her off. The countless tendrils writhing across his distorted face pulsed violently, his deep-set eyes swirling with a darkness as unfathomable as the deepest part of the ocean.
“Nitila… I am deeply disappointed in you.”
“Heh… naive and foolish child. Do you really think I and our ancestors before me never tried? That we never fought to change this fate? And what was the result? Even now, we remain trapped in this cage, too afraid to even let it know that you and I have already uncovered the truth!”
“A thousand years, over a thousand long years! This sea has been caught in its shadow, repeating the same pathetic cycle over and over within this cursed prison. The so-called Emerald Sea is nothing more than the sea of ghosts! The bodies of those who perished have piled up so high on the ocean floor that they’ve pushed the drowned islands back above the surface, allowing you and me to witness this nightmare with our own eyes!”
“And yet, the people of the sea, like ignorant fools, continue worshipping a false god that has stolen the place of the rightful one. They offer their faith, praying day and night, not realizing that every ounce of their devotion only feeds the abyss that will one day consume them all!”
“Wake up, Nitila Mingjiao! You, me, every living being in the Emerald Sea, everything within this prison has already lost its future! We have all died, over and over again! The future and duty you cherish so much… are nothing more than offerings to be devoured in its endless hunger!”
"You are already dead!!!"
"!?!"
King Willipol's furious roar was like a thunderclap, piercing deep into the girl's very soul, tearing through her mind with an unbearable force. And then, something impossible happened, memories that were never meant to be hers, memories that should not have existed, came rushing back like a tidal wave. Her face turned deathly pale in an instant.
"I... I'm already dead?"
The former King of the merfolk let out a cold chuckle.
"You remember now? The memories cast away by the sea, the past that was never supposed to belong to us anymore?"
"You are ascending now, and because of that, the locked chains of fate have returned. This... is also Their gift. So, now that you've regained everything. Do you still believe our future holds any hope?"
"I… No, no! Stop! AHHHH!!!"
She couldn't answer. Her once-clear ocean-blue eyes trembled violently. Not from doubt, but from something far worse. She had seen it. She had remembered the countless times she had died. And the sheer horror of it shattered her mind.
The first time she died was when she was seven years old.
She had barely begun to form memories back then. It was the first time she was allowed to swim in the open sea under the watchful eyes of her attendants, practicing the swimming skills that every merfolk had to master.
But before she could even marvel at the vast ocean, before she could feel its beauty and freedom, disaster struck.
A sudden, violent undercurrent surged from the deep, tearing through the waters like an unseen force of destruction. It swept everyone away, scattering them in all directions.
The young princess, relying on the natural aquatic instincts of the Mingjiao bloodline, barely managed to resurface from the raging waves. But her survival only led her to witness something even more terrifying, something so horrifying that mere words could never describe it.
A massive tentacle.
It was so enormous that it dwarfed entire islands, stretching so high it seemed to pierce the sky itself.
From the distant horizon, it swept across the ocean, striking the entire inner island of the royal palace with unimaginable force. The central island, her home, and the two surrounding islands were instantly shattered, split into countless fragments that crumbled and sank into the depths, as effortlessly as if they were nothing more than a fragile pearl crushed under a heavy hand.
And then, from all directions, more of those terrifying tentacles emerged.
One by one, the remaining islands followed suit. Broken, crushed, and dragged into the abyss.
The Eastern Sea Pearl, the proud home of the merfolk race, was completely annihilated in mere minutes.