Lawkey watched as the emerald sphere surrounded the now unconscious body of the little girl, like a bubble wrapping around her small figure.

It had completely shattered the floor beneath her, absorbing it and growing in size as it continued to propel higher into the air.

The scene in front of him made his chest tighten, almost as if something had struck his heart directly head on.

He never thought he would come across such a terrifying scene in his life again.

Riana, who had quickly gotten up from over him, felt her own body tremble as her eyes shook in disbelief.

No! She rejected in her own mind before taking a step forward to stop things from getting worse; to save her niece.

“?!” She was quickly stopped by a tug of her arm, and turned her head to face it, “What are you doing?! Let me go! I need to help her!”

“No, you’ll just get yourself killed rushing in like that!” Lawkey tried reasoning.

Riana narrowed her eyes and clenched her teeth as she looked back at the growing and rising bubble of chaos, “What else am I supposed to do?! Just let her die?!”

Seeing her standing in place, Lawkey let go of her arm and made up his mind, “Just let me do it, I’ll get her out of there safely.”

“Huh?! How?! Why would you even do that?!” Riana couldn’t understand his intentions.

For what she knew, he was still the captain of the Galleon Ship Aliarda, and a big shot from the Golden Garden Guild that was the source of all the problems and conflicts within the Undine Clan at the moment. Why would someone like that help them; even risk his life?

Lawkey took a step forward, not wasting another second. There was no time to lose if he wanted to save her before the inevitable happened.

“I told you, didn’t I? I’m not with them.” He took one last glance at Riana behind him, then jumped in the air in pursuit of the rising sphere, “Just leave it to me.”

“Hey! What happened to not rushing in?!” Riana shouted up at him, but her eyes quickly widened at the sight.

“Relax, I got a plan!” Lawkey had continued to jump midair, creating solid tangible shadows beneath his feet to act as a foothold.

Then, he found himself standing in front of the growing bubble, his shadowy foothold still strong. Not wasting any more time, he activated his sign around his arms and formed them into chains.

He quickly grabbed one end and threw it inside the emerald bubble, aiming for Sana’s vegetative body in the middle.

However, he immediately noticed his chains rapidly losing their form as they got continuously absorbed by the bubble around them.

Dammit! The shadows are already disappearing… I’ll have to keep adding them quickly while pulling her out! He figured before activating Pathbreak and increasing the output of his shadows.

A purple emblem with a hue the same color as his eyes began to form and hover in front of his forehead, giving life to his shadows and allowing them to reach Sana. The shadowy chains quickly wrapped around her body, pulling her out.

By now, the bubble had consumed the rain, shadows and wood around it, and grown enough to reach the top of the sail on Aliarda. Its entire radius was spanning the complete 18 meters width of the ship or more.

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And yet, the most ominous thing about it wasn’t the growing size or how far it got into the air, but the constantly increasing bright shine it gave off, quickly reaching the blinding threshold.

“Dammit… It’s going to explode!” Lawkey let out through his clenched teeth as he pulled on the chains with all his might, despite his poor footing, “I have to hurry!”

Seeing how little progress he was making, Lawkey turned his body around, his back to the bubble, and pulled the chains across his shoulder.

He tried to focus, consistently sending new shadows to his feet and to the chains, to support them,all the while putting his full strength towards pulling on the chains and bringing Sana’s body out of the bubble before it exploded.

“Sana…” Riana couldn’t help but watch helplessly as she grasped at her heart.

Her Sign wasn’t suited for anything that could help in this situation. She could neither form something to help pull Sana out, nor was she able to stand in the air to support Lawkey directly.

All she could do was put her hopes in someone she had just met, someone she had suspected to be her niece’s kidnapper and fought him with the intention to kill. And yet, there he was, trying his best to save the child that was entrusted to her instead while she could do nothing but watch.

If… If he can help… save her… Riana grinded her teeth together and swallowed her pride.

“Please, I beg you! Save her! Whatever it takes!” She shouted, her vision quickly turning blurry as droplets fell hidden amongst the rain.

“Ungh!” Lawkey bent his body forward, continuing to pull on the chains.

Although he couldn’t see it with his back to the it, Sana’s body had reached the edge of the emerald bubble. However, even Riana couldn’t see it any longer, for the emitting light was quickly reaching its zenith.

“?!”

Just then, Riana saw Sana’s body make it out of the blinding bubble in time. However, in that same instance, Lawkey’s shadows and strength gave out, and the two began to plummet downwards following the laws of gravity.

To make matters worse, as if not allowing them a moment to rest, the bubble quickly lost all color for a split second, and then swiftly flashed, sending an explosion that rippled the air around it in all directions.

BOOOMMM!!!

The eminent shockwaves sent both Sana and Lawkey’s body flying towards the sea, while Riana fought her way through the pushing force, slowly making her way towards the edge of the ship.

All Lawkey could do is curse his misfortune before wrapping his arms around Sana tightly to shield her from the shockwaves and the inevitable collision.

SPLASH!

Riana wasted no time and jumped into the sea, her bottom half quickly transforming into that of a fish.

**👑**

The rain let up as the Galleon Ship Aliarda continued its sailing to an unknown location.

“Hah… Hah…” Lawkey tried to catch his breath as he found himself on all fours, back on the deck of the galleon ship once more. He reached for his side and made sure his pouch and sword were still with him.

While his consciousness was fading in and out of consciousness, he had glimpsed Riana’s form zapping through the water at a speed he didn’t think possible in the sea.

She could’ve easily left him to die and just rescued Sana, but for some baffling reason, she had struggled to get them both out and back on Aliarda.

“Hah… Thanks…” He muttered while stealing a glance from the corner of his eye.

Riana was sitting on the floor, cradling Sana’s unconscious body in her arms. She was resting her face on the little girl’s stomach, so Lawkey couldn’t figure out what kind of expression she was making.

“Is she breathing…?” He asked with a steadying breath, wanting to make sure, “... I think she swallowed some water.”

Riana slowly raised her head up, her eyes red and narrow, “She’s part merfolk, that’s not a problem.”

“I see… that’s good.” Lawkey sighed in relief before the corners of his lips curled up slightly. He crawled to the side and then rested his back on the now broken sail across from the two girls, “She sure doesn’t look it though. I was worried.”

“That’s because she’s different… special.” The Siren winced slightly as she uttered her words.

“Oh? Isn’t everybody?” The now fully hydrated free swordsman raised his head and looked at the cloudy sky with a somber expression, trying to find the moon through the thick mist, but to no avail.

“Not like her. She’s truly one of a kind.” Riana muttered while stroking Sana’s head. Without her realizing it, a smile had formed on her face.

“!”

Before Lawkey had a chance to say anything to that, an tri-colored obsidian butterfly had appeared in front of his face, vigorously flapping its wings at him.

“...” He couldn’t help but close his eyes in dejection as he felt the unspoken lecture he was getting. He just knew it was somehow reprimanding him for something, but he couldn’t know what that was.

He slowly raised his hand and gently pushed it to the side. It didn’t take long before his little companion fazed out of his existence once more.

Riana hadn’t noticed any of this. She lowered her head again and touched Sana’s forehead.

“I’m… I’m so glad I made it in time before they got farther away…”

After hearing about her niece’s situation, she had let go of everything and jumped into the sea to find and save her. It took her hours and hours of swimming before her eyes landed on Aliarda.

Now that Sana was finally safely back in her arms, Riana couldn’t hold on to her emotions anymore and finally broke into tears.

“...” Lawkey smiled in silence, letting the siren voice her feelings.

He couldn’t help but remember the first time he had undergone the Sword Purifying Ceremony where his mentor had pushed him to release his pent up frustrations.

“I don’t know what I would’ve done, were you not here. I was prepared to jump in with her…” Recovering quickly, Riana indirectly thanks the man in front of her.

“You would’ve died along with her.” Lawkey said confidently, ignoring the fact that Sana wouldn’t have been pushed that far if he wasn’t involved, “I’ve seen what that bubble can do.”

“You have? So, there are others like her…?” The Siren asked with a perked up brow.

“Maybe somewhere out there…” Lawkey trailed off as he looked up again.

“But not the one I knew. He gave his life for me a long time ago…”

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image [https://i.imgur.com/KQmIY8F.png]