Soone almost choked on the comms.
And if it wasn’t Xavier, it was probably the butler—who, for once in his long and dignified life, was eternally grateful that the Duke was running late.
Because if the Duke had arrived any earlier, there would have been an entirely new problem on their hands.
Then again, it was understandable. Even Duchess Alia’s sword swing faltered for a beat after hearing her precious son call out, loud and clear, "Husband."
The air froze.
Ti stopped.
And every soul privy to that communication channel collectively forgot how to breathe.
Out of all of them, it was Kyle—ever the responsible one—who moved first, imdiately attempting to cover the twitching ears of one unsuspecting little star who was suddenly listening intently.
What if the little mop learned even worse tactics?
Because honestly, people always warned others about partners who spent too much money.
But had anyone ever considered the dangers of a partner who was so obsessed with earning money that he was willing to personally march into the stomach of a monster to secure profits?
No?
Then maybe they needed to et the founding mbers of that terrifying club.
And its president?
Luca Soren Kyros—who had now invoked "Husband" with the confidence of a seasoned negotiator to get what he wanted.
Xavier, being the imperial crown prince, a soldier, and a man with at least half a brain cell’s worth of self-preservation, responded with the utmost caution.
"...Is that so?" he said slowly, his tone asured, diplomatic, yet borderline indulgent.
Unfortunately for him, the little chipmunk was relentless.
The first strike ca fast: "We can’t let the parasitic anemones retreat."
The second hit followed imdiately: "I think we’d find the reason for the giant bloom’s movent underwater."
Luca didn’t even wait for a response before saying, "I think we could only be the ones to go because we could easily leave when needed."
But then ca the knockout punch—swift, deadly, and impossible to refute.
"I think if I go with my husband, it should be fine and likely won’t take too long."
Xavier stared at the screen in silence.
There were many monts in his life when he had felt cornered.
The corruption. The Federation. His mother.
But this?
This was different.
Because the person cornering him had the foresight to sound completely reasonable while proposing sothing entirely insane.
In truth, Luca had originally planned to go alone. But since he had already been told about the importance of sharing plans, he had been very careful to phrase his request as a group effort.
A clever move.
Too clever.
Xavier, ever the strategist, tried to respond with calm logic. He listed the risks. He brought up the unknown threat level. He even subtly hinted at the possibility of exploring other thods of reconnaissance.
But in the end?
Who blinked first?
Who lost to a pair of golden eyes, a hopeful smile, and the words "Please, Husband" delivered with such earnest sincerity that it could lt the entire Empire?
Well.
The next thing anyone knew, they were underwater.
"...Dammit."
__
This ti, only Luca, Xavier, Ollie, Kyle, and Jax went underwater.
Obviously, that had been a controversial choice.
But really, what could they do? There were only nineteen biochas in total, and of those, one wasn’t even present. Eleven more couldn’t simply teleport back to safety like the others could.
And with the soldiers still under the union contract, unable to freely port into the dungeon-linked space, it ant that if anything went wrong, they’d be stuck underwater.
Add to that the fact that the giant bloom—the massive, unholy, still-wriggling thing looming over the sea—was still very much there, and it beca clear why leaving ground combat to only the base and manual chas was far from ideal.
Fortunately, their earlier efforts had drastically reduced the number of parasitic anemones.
That was good.
That was progress.
That was victory—
If only their small wins hadn’t decided to slap them in the face five minutes later.
Because sohow, in the most inconvenient, heart-attack-inducing fashion possible, things started going wrong.
It began with one projectile.
Then another.
And then another.
At first, everyone thought the giant bloom was just... tilting. Maybe even collapsing.
But then the shadows shifted, stretching unnaturally across the water’s surface, and soone on the comms muttered the three words no soldier ever wanted to hear.
"Uh... It’s moving."
Indeed, the entire monstrous structure was leaning. The dark tendrils beneath it rippled and tensed, as though sothing inside was gathering strength.
And then, like the world’s most horrifying cannon, the bloom opened its gaping mouth.
The sound that followed was indescribable—sothing between a groan, a roar, and the sound of a planet sighing in disgust.
Then it hurled sothing.
A massive blob of corruption launched across the water like a teor, splashing down so violently that even the closest chas rocked from the impact.
The tremor could’ve been disastrous if there had been infantry soldiers nearby
Even so, it didn’t stop at one.
The bloom’s body convulsed again, and two more masses of corruption followed, splattering into the shoreline with sickening splashes that could’ve made the water hiss and boil.
And then ca the real nightmare.
Because the blobs didn’t stay as blobs.
They started moving.
"What the hell..." muttered Gisella, who was reminded of the corruption mass that almost took Cece’s life. Her sensors flared red as the sonar registered multiple large forms erging from the corrupted slick.
By the distorted waters, shapes began to twist and rise.
At first, they weren’t too clear on what that was. But when it started moving, shaping into sothing grotesquely structured, it was obvious that there were parts to that.
Arms. Legs. Heads.
Too many of them.
Each "creature" that erged looked like a puzzle assembled by a deranged god—half-beast, half-remains, bodies fused together by a sickly goo of corruption.
It was like a salad of parts—bones sticking out here and there, the flesh of one creature forming the hands, and sothing entirely different making up the head.
As if they, too, were confused about their own anatomy.
They weren’t just mutated. They were lded.
And yet, what made it worse was the rhythmic pulsing beneath their skin—faint, nauseating, and disturbingly familiar.
Because inside those warped, dripping bodies, sothing was moving.
Sothing small.
Sothing alive.
"Don’t tell ..." Sam whispered, watching in horror as one of the larger abominations twitched, its side bulging outward as if sothing inside it was trying to escape.
The bulge split open, and a mass of tentacles unfurled, wriggling out from within like the world’s worst surprise.
"Oh, that’s disgusting!" Nia yelled. "Why does it have another one inside?!"
Duchess Alia didn’t answer—she just decided to get rid of it.
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