Sirin, who always had to have things her way, naturally wasn't going to let i have the last word.
She plopped herself down right beside Kiana, pressing close, then cupped Kiana's face in her hands. "You're such a wimp. It was just a car crash—how could sothing like that keep you up at night?"
She treated Raiden i's warning as nothing more than background noise.
No—she flat-out ignored her.
She was annoyed. So what if Raiden i had known Kiana a little longer? Did that make Kiana hers or sothing?
If she wasn't allowed to touch her, she'd touch her just to prove a point.
And not just touch—she'd squeeze.
"What are you doing?!"
Kiana tried to pry her hands away, but Sirin was faster—and much bolder. Kiana herself had never dared treat anyone that familiarly.
Now Sirin had beaten her to it.
"Stop it, Sirin."
Seeing i's expression completely devoid of its earlier smile—her lips pressed into a thin line of displeasure—Yae Sakura stepped in, pulling Sirin back to her seat.
With the battle against the Whale of Transfiguration approaching, now was hardly the ti for petty argunts.
Dragged back, Sirin glared at Yae Sakura in irritation but didn't say more. She knew this wasn't the right mont to keep stirring things up.
The Whale was what mattered now.
Still, she couldn't help but fu inside.
i, anwhile, cald herself and reached out, gently touching Kiana's cheek. "Does it hurt?"
"…i, I'm not a child."
Kiana awkwardly rubbed her face where Sirin had pinched it. She felt like i worried about her a little too much.
Regret flickered briefly in i's eyes as she withdrew her hand. Kiana's skin was so soft—the thought passed unbidden through her mind.
"You ntioned a car accident just now?"
"It wasn't us. We just saw it happen on the road last night. One of the cars suddenly burst into flas."
"Caught fire on its own?"
That alone shouldn't have been enough to shake Kiana's nerves—after all, she'd seen far bloodier things.
When the Almighty Thunder struck, people were slaughtered by Kami. If Kiana truly lacked ntal strength, she would've broken down that day.
But she hadn't.
She'd been sad, yes—but her composure never faltered.
"It wasn't an accident. I saw sothing run off, but I couldn't tell what it was."
Kiana hesitated before admitting softly, "I can't stop thinking about whatever that was."
And then there was what Sirin told her about the dead man's identity—and the sins hidden beneath the flas.
That was what truly left a bitter taste.
"All that over a mystery? If you're that curious, I'll ask around. We'll find the truth easily enough."
"…No, it's fine. That guy got what he deserved."
While they talked, the ship neared the designated area—not far from Sapphire City.
Looking back, they could still see the city's skyline on the horizon. A single mistake in battle here could easily spread destruction toward land.
Out at sea, a massive vessel floated ahead—clearly their staging point.
They transferred over.
Standing on the deck, Kiana looked down at the calm water below—but saw nothing.
Not a trace of Kami. Not even a fish.
"As we agreed before, let go first," Kiana said, wary that i might change her mind. They were at sea, after all—one wrong step could send her overboard.
And she didn't exactly have the power to fly.
"Don't rush in."
"Relax, I'll be careful!"
"You want to fight too?"
Sirin had just finished talking with the ship's crew when she approached.
"Yes."
Sirin gave her a long look before breaking into a grin. "Shouldn't you be asking about this first? Raiden i can't even fight properly at sea."
"…You can?"
"I can!" Sirin said proudly, setting the Edict Edge in front of Kiana. "Use this."
"I don't use blades."
Kiana thought she ant to lend her the Edict Edge and quickly shook her head. She was testing her own strength—her fists versus weapons.
Borrowing Sirin's Edict Edge would defeat the point.
Sirin withdrew the blade with a pout. "You idiot, I ant I can use the Edict Edge to create footholds so you won't fall into the water."
"Walking on air?"
"You could say that."
"With solid footing, I won't have to worry about slipping. That's actually pretty useful."
"So go on—beg ."
Sirin looked at Kiana expectantly.
Kiana froze, eyeing her up and down, but before she could respond, i cut in. "Ignore her. It's part of her job."
The Whale of Transfiguration had plenty of followers surrounding it. This wouldn't be a battle solved with a single strike.
"Huh?"
"So you figured that out, huh? Not bad for one night's research," Sirin teased.
"The chatting ends here."
Yae Sakura erged from within the ship. "Get ready—they're about to launch the torpedoes."
All to avoid dragging this out any longer.
They had gathered all the data they needed. Now it was ti to wipe out this nest of corruption.
Monts later, the calm sea erupted into violent waves. Even their ship began to sway under the sudden turbulence.
Until Sirin tapped the deck with her blade.
Golden ripples spread outward, and the ship stilled completely—as though existing in a space separate from the storming sea.
No matter how violently the ocean raged below, their vessel remained untouched.
"Amazing, Sirin!"
"There's more to co."
The sea darkened into pitch black, as though so colossal creature stirred beneath. The sky itself dimd as heavy clouds gathered overhead.
Then ca a sound—a mournful, haunting cry, like a whale's lant echoing from the depths.
A massive skeletal fish, as large as a ship, broke through the surface.
Its body was entirely made of bone. In its hollow eye sockets burned twin green flas. Its ivory fra was entwined with shadowy black mist that reeked of resentnt.
It looked like a spirit dragged up from the depths of hell.
Around it, the sea boiled—and then sothing even more horrifying appeared.
One by one, ancient ships surfaced, rotted and half-sunken, as if they'd been buried beneath the waves for centuries.
From the shrouding black mist on their decks, countless green eyes stared out—disembodied, formless.
Things that did not belong to the living world.
Dozens of ghostly Kami and phantom ships erged in the blink of an eye, forming a nightmarish fleet across the sea.
"So many?"
Sirin frowned, but quickly relaxed when she rembered she was only acting as support this ti—Raiden i was the main force.
Drawing the Edict Edge, she traced lines of golden light that spread across the sea, forming sturdy pathways above the waves.
"These are all yours. Think you can handle it?"
"I think so."
The numbers were large, but Kiana calculated quickly—it wasn't impossible.
They could handle this.
i nodded. "We can."
Alone, she would have been enough. Quantity ant nothing before her blade.
"Then I'll leave it to you."
Sirin turned toward Yae Sakura. "Record the combat data. This is the first ti we've encountered Kami that bring ghost ships with them."
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