Then what is the right choice?
"Dad, I want to see the flying fish!"
Emily looked up and tugged at Hert’s sleeve. Hert never refused Emily’s requests, he nodded, agreed to her, and then spoke to Nolen.
"I can do it, it’s alright."
Hert replied as such.
...
Nolen grabbed the edge of the pit, escaping from the raging torrents, climbed to the upper level that had yet to be engulfed by seawater, finally gaining a respite.
"You shouldn’t have co."
Nolen took a deep breath; the icy seawater almost instantly drained his body heat, and his arm holding the blade trembled uncontrollably, his entire body soaked, looking like a dog drenched by heavy rain.
"If we hadn’t co, you would have been killed by your little brother just now."
Lula worked hard to pull Nolen up, "All these years you have truly devoted yourself to your duties as a navigator, even forgetting how to use Ether, right?"
Nolen let out a few bitter laughs; Lula wasn’t wrong there. With many years wasted, he, though a Negative Power User, was akin to a retired one, utterly incomparable to Hert.
One holds a high position, his daily work involves scheming with various factions for more benefits, while the other hides in the shadows, practicing slaughter amid frantic hallucinations.
Billowing white mist erged from a breach behind, the fog concealing a thin figure who wavered as if about to fall the next second, brandishing a blade snatched from so corpse, muttering under his breath.
"I can do it, it’s alright."
Hert’s gaze was empty; the Injury of Bliss stirred his darkest, most unspeakable mories ant to be forever buried, now cruelly unearthed.
Intense emotions surged through Hert’s soul, his face streaming with tears, contorted in extre grief, his frenzied mind overlapped with hallucinatory visions, wildly brandishing the blade.
Nolen watched solemnly at this, not anticipating such a swift reunion with Hert, who suddenly erged from the water’s surface, indiscriminately attacking everyone.
Nolen mused that Hert’s condition had reached the final step, like their father back then, unable to distinguish reality from hallucination, choosing to destroy everything.
His peripheral vision fell upon Lula and the defenders behind her, ant to take Gold away, but these folks carrying this expensive bargaining chip ended up seeking him instead.
Until the end, they did not abandon their navigator.
Nolen sighed, glancing at the still-sleeping Gold; as a Defender, once he awakens, he can end all disputes, yet now Gold seed drained of his soul, unresponsive to any external stimuli.
Raising the blade in his hand, Nolen disliked the drama of brotherly conflict, yet he had no ans to reject all this; he needed to correct his mistakes and redeem Hert’s sins.
"You all stay back, I’ll handle this."
Hert spoke to the woman and the girl. The woman hugged the girl’s head tightly; the girl was frightened but still struggled to smile at Hert.
Hert returned the smile, then closed the watertight seal, turning to face the roaring sea where nurous ships, like sharks scenting blood, surrounded his large vessel.
This sea battle was far from smooth sailing; the rchant ship’s plea for help was a trap, pirates long ambushing around, awaiting the bait’s arrival.
With the Tidal People’s control over the sea growing yearly, other pirates gradually lost their survival space, now rallying strength for a desperate fight.
To bite a chunk off the Tidal People, these pirates even lavishly hired Condensers, with Ether reactions rising from the storm, enemy Condensers stepped onto the deck, confronting them in the pouring rain like a knight duel of the old era.
The corridor filled with cracks and scars now resembled a monster’s esophagus, overly compressed, allowing only one person to pass through.
Nolen looked woefully at Hert veiled in thick fog, Hert launched an attack first, charging at Nolen like a beast out of control, while Nolen cast aside all personal feelings, ready to et the one he had tried to protect.
To this day, Nolen regretted that if he had gone to rescue the rchant ship, if his vessel didn’t need resupply, if he could have gone with Hert...
Amid the storm, blades flickering with bright light clashed together, raising fleeting sparks that vanished amid countless raindrops.
Hert felt his body growing hotter; it had been long since he encountered an evenly matched opponent, deadly power combined with exquisite skill rendering the sword fight extrely perilous.
"Haha!"
Hert laughed out loud; he was always a high-spirited fellow, viewed as a candidate for navigator at a young age, even among the Angry Tide squad, few could defeat him.
Now Hert had reached the pinnacle of his life, everything he wanted within reach; he didn’t think these pirates could defeat him, even if they hired Condensers.
Fatal sword strikes repeatedly descended, each collision shaking countless raindrops, altering their course in the air.
Nolen panted heavily, his hand holding the sword trembling incessantly, the blade full of notches and cracks; Hert was far stronger than Nolen anticipated, fighting purely on instinct like a beast with lost reason.
Behind were Lula and the defenders retreating, carrying the unconscious Gold; Nolen stood like an iron wall, separating them from death, yet now, this iron wall separating death was teetering.
"Hert... Hert seems off."
Lula turned her head, her eyes sparkling, she sensed a strange Ether surrounding Hert, indicating Hert was under another force’s influence.
Nolen didn’t understand, "What?"
Before Lula could explain, an eerie lody arose from layers of iron walls and deep sea, as if an ancient Evil God was reviving, chanting a sinister spell, devouring everyone’s souls.
On the ruinous battlefield’s other end, Bai Ou’s body remained alive but couldn’t reassemble without sutures.
Bai Ou lost.
Bai Ou refused to concede, scorching Ether erupted, the Injury of Bliss indiscriminately spread over the surrounding areas, determined to drag everyone into the sa Hell as Bai Ou.
Now the Injury of Bliss’s influence had expanded here, the pain from Secret Energy triggered Nolen’s condition, mixing hallucination with suffering, leaving him unable to grip the sword montarily, then Hert carved a crimson wound on his chest.
"Nolen!"
Lula scread, not yet mourning Nolen, as the Injury of Bliss also affected her, Hell descended.
Under large-scale ntal tornt, only a few with steadfast wills could maintain their ability to act, several defenders lost ability instantly upon the ntal impact, collapsing and convulsing uncontrollably on the ground.
Cold sweat covered Nolen’s forehead; he didn’t understand what happened but felt unbearable pain consuming his entire body, and he could see Hert swinging the sword at him.
Nolen froze.
Hert seed trapped in an irresolvable nightmare, his expression furious, ready to kill him, yet his eyes brimd with tears.
On the raging sea amidst the storm, pirate ships ramd the large vessel’s hull, seawater flooded into the chamber, nurous grappling hooks thrown from the small boats, pirates swarming up and down like ants.
Hert swung with all his might, but he couldn’t kill all these pirates, nor stop the seawater from flooding in.
Thunder roared in the sky, amidst it echoed a naless lant.
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