[Vol. 7] Chapter 52: The Merfolk Pearl
The Queen’s sudden revelations left not only Hongyan and her companion completely bewildered, but even Willipol and Silisa stood frozen in shock for a long moment.
Then, as if trying to reclaim his lost dominance, the former King of the Merfolk burst into loud laughter.
"Anies, even if everything you said is true, the situation is completely in our hands now! Yes, the sacrificial ritual can’t be stopped anymore. But at this point, what can you possibly do to turn the tide?"
"Sure, once my god descends, it will take on a physical form and can technically be attacked, but do you really have the power to fight it? The power to contend with, or even defeat, a power that is enough to overturn even the rule of the Evil God?"
"I admit that Violet is a mystery. Even I feel a deep sense of caution toward her. The [Book of Truth] couldn’t reveal anything about her, which is beyond strange. But no matter how powerful she is, she’s not a god. She’s just an outsider. Do you really believe she’d risk her life to fight a god for you?"
"If you’re pinning all your hopes on something so unreliable, I may need to take back the praise I gave you earlier."
"Oh? Is that so?"
The Queen of the Merfolk maintained her calm smile, but suddenly, she changed the subject.
"Willipol and Silisa, you’ve mocked me for being heartless and ruthless, for being willing to sacrifice even my own daughter to stop the ritual. But think about it carefully, if all I really wanted was to stop this ceremony, why didn’t I just smuggle Nitila out of the Emerald Sea in secret? Or better yet, why didn’t I simply kill her myself?"
"Having poachers capture her was not only risky and time-consuming but also full of unpredictable variables. If my only goal was to disrupt the ritual, why would I deliberately choose such a complicated method?"
For the first time, Willipol’s expression wavered. A flicker of unease crossed his face.
Because the truth was, he hadn't considered that possibility at all.
Or perhaps... he had noticed it.
But he just couldn't figure out why.
This... was a question even the [Book of Truth] could not answer.
"What do you mean?"
Despite their heightened wariness, Anies simply raised her hand, her slender fingers pointing high toward the center of the ritual, toward Nitila, the merfolk princess, who was now almost completely obscured by the dark blue cocoon of light surrounding her.
"You've lost."
"...What?!"
Willipol and Silisa instinctively turned to look, only for their faces to twist in shock!
"Hummmm~~~"
A single point of golden light flickered to life, like the first rays of dawn breaking through the darkness. It radiated from within the girl, the sacrifice and vessel for the ritual.
At first, it merely pushed back the dark blue aura around her, dispersing it in a small area. But in the blink of an eye, the golden light swelled, transforming into a flawless, brilliant golden pearl, rising from Nitila's abdomen like a radiant sun illuminating everything around it!
"HUMMMM!!!"
It was a light so pure and intense that it burned away all evil. The instant it spread, the dark blue cocoon that had wrapped around the girl was completely incinerated. Her long hair, which had been nearly consumed by the sinister darkness, rapidly returned to its original blue-and-white sheen before their very eyes.
Countless shadows, which had already begun fusing with her body, now shrieked and writhed as they were forcefully expelled. Like a swarm of panicked insects, they desperately tried to flee from Nitila. Only to be met with the relentless purifying blaze of the golden light. Hissing and crackling, the darkness burned away, utterly powerless against its radiance!
"AAAAHHH!! This—This is...!!!"
At that moment, Silisa let out a wretched scream and collapsed to her knees, clutching her head in agony. The dark energy surrounding her flickered wildly, violently unstable, on the verge of complete collapse.
As a priestess with a deep connection to the god, one who could even summon it to some extent. Silisa naturally felt the impact of her master's suffering.
"I... I can hear it! It’s wailing in pain! Something terrifying is burning it! It can’t escape! This really is a trap!!! Quick, stop the ritual! AHHHH!!!"
"B-But the ritual... we can’t..."
Faced with such an unexpected turn of events, even Willipol, the former king, found himself at a loss. Just as he had said, because the ritual had been activated ahead of schedule, it had already reached a point where it could no longer be stopped. Not even he, the one who initiated it, had the power to undo it.
"What is happening... What the hell is happening?! Why is Nitila suddenly rejecting my god, so violently, too?! What is this terrifying power that’s repelling it?! She was supposed to be the perfect vessel!"
"This golden sphere... Wait, is that her Merfolk Pearl?! How is that possible...?!"
"Sigh... Perhaps I should be the one to explain that."
With Silisa weakened and unable to act, the pirate king, Rashid, took the opportunity to slip away from danger and return to the queen’s side. After exchanging a silent glance with her, he let out a quiet sigh. While healing the still-living royal guards with holy magic, he spoke with a hint of resignation.
"King Willipol, you should remember the private meeting I had with you and Queen Anies over five years ago, correct?"
"Back then, I told you that the great evil god of the sea, who had slumbered for a thousand years, was about to awaken, and that the entire Emerald Sea was on the brink of an unpredictable disaster. I urged the royal palace to use this time to relocate as many living beings as possible, minimizing the damage..."
"But you scoffed at my warning, calling it a disgraceful act of cowardice. Instead, you became determined to find a way to resist and defeat the great evil god, using the power of its old enemy, another deity, a force recorded in our [Book of Truth]."
"When our debate led nowhere, you eventually expelled me from the royal palace. At the time, I was frustrated and resentful, but I couldn’t deny that if your plan had succeeded, it would have solved the problem at its core. So, I chose to step back and observe. I returned to the mainland, following the guidance of the [Book of Truth], in search of a certain individual who could show me the next step forward."
"After many twists and turns, I finally found that extraordinary being known as the [[Revelator]] in the western part of the world, within the Human United Kingdom. Using her divine power to peer through time, she looked into the future of the Emerald Sea, through me as her medium."
"But the answer she gave me... left me utterly shaken."
"Nothing but darkness… No matter what I did, this divine-created sanctuary would soon be completely destroyed. Because of the interference of divine forces, she couldn't see everything clearly, but the final outcome was certain."
"You should know, the [Book of Truth] never lies and never makes mistakes. There may be truths it cannot reveal, but once it shows something clearly, that means it is an undeniable reality."
"So, I had no choice but to believe that what the [Revelator] said was true."
"I asked her if there was still any chance, no matter how small, to change that fate. And the [Revelator] answered: There was indeed a single path leading to an entirely unknown future. However, that path was more obscure than any possibility she had ever seen. It might save the Emerald Sea, or it might lead to an even worse catastrophe. In other words, it was a complete gamble."
"To be honest, I hesitated for a long time, wondering if I should take such a risk. But in the end, I asked her where this only possible variable lay, and after receiving the answer, I returned to the Emerald Sea."
"The journey between the two lands was long and treacherous. By the time I made it back, nearly a year had passed. And just as I feared, I returned to find that you had already begun using the power of your so-called god, reviving countless [Deep Sea Ghosts] and waging war to amass the vast sacrifices needed for your ritual."
"It was exactly as the [Revelator] had foreseen, so I finally made my decision. I chose to gamble on that one remaining possibility."
"And the key step that led to that future… was ensuring that Princess Nitila would be captured by poachers."