Somewhere in the South Sea, one of Blue Star's five major regions.
The light of the same sun that illuminates the worlds known as the Seven Stars s.h.i.+nes over the infinite sea. And a giant magic s.h.i.+p sails at high speed towards the west.
On that s.h.i.+p, five hundred men sing excitedly. The Sea Devil crew is overjoyed by the suspenseful accomplishment of their last mission, something that is about to change the entire power structure of the South Sea.
Inside the captain's cabin, a tall young man can't stop smiling as he drinks the best rum he has. On the floor in front of him is a young girl trapped by a glowing net.
"Mmmm… s.h.i.+t…" The girl who doesn't look more than twenty moans in pain as she feels her body getting weaker and weaker. The net that holds her doesn't seem to weigh more than a few grams, but she doesn't even have the strength to raise her arms.
"Don't try too hard, or you'll just feel worse." The man comments as his lips curve into a wide grin, revealing his silver teeth. "This net is limiting your life energy to the minimum only to keep you alive, but you can't use your strength or any ability now."
The girl has an annoyed expression on her face while her beautiful fiery red hair seems to lose that magical glow that has always enchanted everyone around her.
"You won't get away with this, you disgusting b.a.s.t.a.r.d!!" She tries to spit on the floor in front of the man but doesn't even have the strength to do it.
"Hahaha..." The man starts laughing as he fills his gla.s.s with more rum. "Do you really think someone could stop me now?"
A red and yellow glow runs through the girl's eyes and hair. "My grandma will come after you... she'll rip your skin off and burn your fles.h.!.+"
The man makes a thoughtful expression. "Why does is everyone in the Rising Phoenix Clan so fond of burning everything??"
The girl smiles. "It's tradition... just like the majestic Phoenix, we burn our enemies to ashes!"
"Hahaha..." The man laughs again. "You are really a fool to believe in things like Phoenixes. Those are legends that no one believes anymore, just as your Clan will soon be."
The girl shakes her head. "My grandma would never allow that! Do you feel this heat getting closer to your a.s.s? That's my grandma's foot! She is coming to rescue me."
"A toast to that!" The man smiles and raises his gla.s.s. "I mean, I'm sure she's coming for you as that was always the plan... Boss never make mistakes."
The girl grits her teeth. "First you kidnap my mother and now me… don't you really fear the wrath of my Rising Phoenix Clan? My grandmother is going to burn you all d.a.m.n sea dogs!"
The man shakes his head. "I would fear your grandma, but as you see, Boss gave me the Sea Devil for this mission, so there is no way your people could reach me. Also, this s.h.i.+p will be mine forever after I deliver you to my Boss, hehehe..."
The girl finally understands the man's intent. "So this is a trap? You're attracting my grandma to..."
*Knock* *Knock*
Before the girl finishes speaking, they hear a knock on the door. The man makes an annoyed expression. "What the h.e.l.l is happening that you stop my fun?!?!"
"Captain Carmelo..." Another man speaks in a hesitant tone from behind the door. "We have a problem."
"s.h.i.+t!" Carmelo gets up and looks at the girl on the floor with a wicked smile. "Wait for me here; I'll be right back."
He goes out into the hallway, which is as big as the hallway of a castle. Also, there are several doors along the way, making it clear that there are many large and luxurious rooms like the one he was in.
Carmelo looks at his servant, a tall, strong man. "What is it?!"
"You have to see it." The man quickly speaks and then leads the way to the deck.
As soon as they reach the huge deck, which is hundreds of meters long, Carmelo notices that almost everyone in the s.h.i.+p is looking in the same direction with curious expressions.
"What..." He looks at the horizon but can only notice a small red dot in the sky.
"Captain?" His servant calls him while flying towards the top of the s.h.i.+p's highest mast. His body doesn't float but flies fast, making it clear he's in the Sky Realm or higher realms.
Carmelo also flies to the top of that mast. Once there, he lands on a platform where there are two men. One of them bows to Carmelo while the other is focused on a large gla.s.s screen with a lively image of a handsome red-winged man flying, Lucien, of course.
The Blue Star is a world dozens of times larger than Argerim, so people like Carmelo, even over a thousand years old, don't know all the secrets of the Infinity Sea, as they call it.
The Sea Devil crew wouldn't be surprised even if they saw a dragon flying over those waters. Still, the most shocking thing about Lucien, besides his beauty that even other men can't deny, is the fact that he's approaching one of the s.h.i.+ps considered Blue Star's top three fastest ones.
"Who is he???" Carmelo asks the man that is looking at the gla.s.s screen.
That gla.s.s screen is an artifact to amplify vision abilities, and the man clearly has such abilities as he is using his special mana to activate that.
"I have no idea..." The man answers honestly. "I've never heard of anyone with his characteristics."
"d.a.m.n!!" Carmelo keeps looking at Lucien, who is about twenty miles away from them. "How is he approaching us?!? I thought even Immortal Realm people couldn't be faster than the Sea Devil..."
The man with vision abilities has a thoughtful expression. "I don't think anyone has tested this s.h.i.+p against people from the Immortal Realm late layers..."
"So he…" Carmelo makes a worried expression. Despite having many Sky Realm warriors with him, which could kill someone from the early and mid Immortal Realm stages alone, he doesn't think they're prepared to face someone from the Immortal Realm peak.
The other man shakes his head as he looks confused. "Not really… he looks like he's in the Earth Realm."
"Earth Realm?!" Carmelo asks sarcastically. "I thought you were a good scout, but you must be crazy if you think someone from the Earth Realm could fly that fast."
The scout agrees with Carmelo. "Yeah, that sounds crazy, but I'm not sure... his wings look really strong, and I feel a strange energy coming from him... something I've never felt before."
"What do you mean?" Carmelo asks.
The scout sighs before explaining. "That man is very mysterious. My intuition says he's dangerous... I suggest pus.h.i.+ng the s.h.i.+p to Its maximum and trying to get rid of him; we shouldn't face such a strange guy."
"Bulls.h.i.+t!!" Carmel's first servant exclaims and points at Lucien. "That guy is alone, so it doesn't matter if he's in the Immortal or Earth Realm or if he's fast and has these bada.s.s wings, we can beat him down."
"Hmmm..." Carmelo prefers not to stop due to their mission, but Lucien's appearance catches his attention, leaving him wondering what to do.
The third servant quickly comments. "I think we should capture this guy. Alonzo could extract his secrets and then make a nice trophy with his wings and horns."
"I guess not..." A strange smile appears on Carmelo's face as he looks into Lucien's face. "Even though he's not human, this guy is the most beautiful person I've ever seen. I'm sure he'll be Boss's new favorite toy..."
"Hehehehe..." The other men start laughing in that same perverted and bizarre way.
Then Carmelo flies up to the deck while giving orders to his crew. "Pull down the sails! Drop anchors!! Prepare for battle!!!"
His main servant quickly picks a glowing net like the one that holds the girl in the captain's cabin while standing next to him. "If he's really in the Earth Realm, it will be a piece of cake."
"Hmmm..." Carmelo keeps looking at the red dot that keeps getting closer in the sky. "If he can fly that fast, he must have other abilities... be prepared, but don't damage his face!"
"Yes, Captain!" Carmelo's servants prepare to capture Lucien while imagining the rewards their Boss will give them for the most handsome and charming guy they've ever seen.
-----------------------------------
In the sky, Lucien is flying as fast as he can, using all of his demonic energies. "Hahaha... it feels so good to have a challenge like this!"
He feels excited because Argerim's challenges had already become boring for him, except for the appearance of Alexa, of course. But now, as he struggles to reach that mysterious s.h.i.+p, he feels even more desire to become stronger and faster.
Yet, his current speed is already superior to what most Immortal Realm people can reach. He had to leave the women without his tattoos behind in order to stop the s.h.i.+p.
Surprisingly, the one right behind him is Eve, flying faster than Genevieve, Helena, and Daisy. His big sis keeps getting stronger at an unbelievable level, which makes him desire even more to see what they could do by joining their demonic energies.
However, now is not the time to think about that but the incredibly giant s.h.i.+p in front of him. Lucien notices the s.h.i.+p has stopped and smiles as he talks to l.u.s.t. 'I think they noticed me.'
'I think we should wait for Eve and Pride.' l.u.s.t suggests. 'We don't know what dangers we're going to face in this world, so we'd better be careful.'
He makes a thoughtful expression as he slows his flight five miles from the s.h.i.+p. 'Can you feel someone from the Immortal Realm?'
l.u.s.t's senses are getting better thanks to Lucien's abundant and powerful demonic energy, so she quickly a.n.a.lyzes the entire Sea Devil crew. 'Thirty-seven Sky Realm people; the others are all in the Earth Realm.'
'So they pose no threat to us.' He comments.
'Nine of them are at levels similar to Genevieve, and the battle against her wasn't really easy.' She comments.
'But she's with us now, and I'm stronger than before.' Lucien smiles devilishly. 'So let me be a little arrogant here.'
l.u.s.t feels like smiling inside Lucien's soul. 'I shouldn't encourage you to act like that, but you look so s.e.xy when you're acting arrogant...'
Despite not knowing what awaits him on that mysterious s.h.i.+p, Lucien doesn't think twice about flying towards it. He doesn't think that's acting carelessly, but rather trusting the powerful women within his soul, ready to fight alongside him against any opponent.
As soon as he gets within two hundred meters of the s.h.i.+p, he stops in midair, already aware of the invisible barrier that protects it, thanks to l.u.s.t. The s.h.i.+p's crew is not extraordinary, but normal humans, just a lot stronger than other humans he saw recently. In fact, they have power similar to the humans of his homeworld.
However, everything about the s.h.i.+p is impressively luxurious, which pleases him very much. He tries to read the name written on the hull, but he doesn't recognize that language.
'Ancient oceanic language...' l.u.s.t comments in his mind. 'The name sounds perfect... the Sea Devil.'
"Really?" Lucien can't help asking out loud. That s.h.i.+p looked perfect before, but with that name, it looks like…
'Like your mother also prepared it?' l.u.s.t completes Lucien's thought and quickly continues. 'There's no way she knows what day we're coming here, so I think it's really an incredible coincidence. You are lucky at all.'
'Yes, I feel lucky now...' Lucien smiles as the Sea Devil crew gets confused. 'But these men are incredibly unlucky.'
'Hahaha...' l.u.s.t starts to laugh in Lucien's mind. 'They don't know, but they are about to meet the real Sea Devil...'