Tim and his buddies landed on the Castlemania island to find a large population and a well-known mythology about Harventona Park, the island's most modern and iconic place. They were separated on the first day of their arrival, and Tim met a "Sea Noble" and an Empress known as Oriyana, who, after breaking the rules, changed Tim into a female and was saved by Yumiko, the youngest member of the "Sun Soldiers."
Yumiko, aware of Tim's immense popularity after entering the Vast Expanse's realm, resolved to conceal Tim's identity from the 'Sun Soldiers' troops. Tem, now a female, requested Yumiko's assistance in bringing food and clothing onto their ship. Yumiko agreed to Tem's request on the condition that she stays at the cave, and set out to find Tem's ship and perhaps run into her comrades. However, Tem was interrupted by a strange lady who looked exactly like Yumiko, and Tem retreated into the forest, far away from the cave.
Tem in the belief that the individual is the known Yumiko trailed her, while the rest of her team devised a strategy for finding the relic that Tomomi's soul could connect to. They were taken aback when they arrived at Ralphie's friend's craftsman's home and resolved to look for him when the moment was right.
Ayuka is currently returning to the ship, while Kou continues to keep watch, and her path may intersect someone who is not welcome.
The rain continued to fall wildly over the Sanguine Rose's deck. Kou remained silent inside the cabin of the ship and dozed off in silence. His arms were crossed behind his neck with a bunch of muttering flying out of his mouth.
"For today, I should be alright. In this storm, I'm certain no one will return to the ship. They've most likely found some form of refuge, so I'll have some downtime. I'll go look for Tim tomorrow to make it appear as though nothing occurred and that I never lost track of him."
Someone crouched in the middle of the forest away from the Sanguine Rose, their head shielded from the rain by the hood. Their vision became contrasted to its original colors as they placed their palm against the mud and emitted a soft pulse throughout the ground. Their vision followed a straight line along the forest trail and began to close in on Sanguine Rose's location, which appeared in the vista in minutes.
"I located the ship. It starts right where we are now. Based on the design and the black and white flag, it appears to be some sort of pirate ship. That must be the ship of that woman; it's the only one out of bounds."
"Is the ship in the range of your Bow Warth? We may fire the ship down from afar and persuade everyone on board to evacuate. We'll be able to confirm the identity and determine whether it's a woman we're looking for after a comprehensive search."
"C'mon, Trap! Why don't we just destroy the ship and everyone on board? We don't need to look for that woman in particular! I'm all set to cut and dice them! I was made for this nonsense!"
"We were just told to look for a white-haired woman wearing red clothing. Kizu, she's the only one we've been given as a target. Disobeying Garuda's directives is not suggested unless you want to be bothered."
"Who cares, right? Nothing will happen if we keep silent about killing them! Besides, I can suck Garuda's organs out in a matter of seconds with just two decent slashes."
"I said no! Be silent and concentrate on the instructions we were given. Bow, is the ship inside your range?"
Bow shifted sideways from a crouched stance, pointed his arm forward, and grasped a yellow and black bow. He summoned a golden arrow that flashed gold colors in rapid succession. He connected the arrow to the bow, which continued to gain energy until it sparked electricity. He yanked the string back as far as he could before aiming the bow in a certain direction.
"Sol Arrow..." He fired the arrow at a high rate, which spun in the air and increased the pace of its flight. It darted through the forest, weaving between the trees, branches, and bushes, and accelerated to the point that it was almost imperceptible to the naked sight. It tore through a tree plank, destroying a row of them, then began to zigzag and then spin amongst the tree's leaves, fast approaching the Sanguine Rose in the blink of an eye.
It slammed into the ship's wood and exploded as it made contact. It wreaked havoc on the environment, lifting water into the air and vaporizing it through numerous leaves, and even forcing the ship to bounce up on the waves of water. The wooden pieces were thrown into the air and ripped apart by the force, and the calamity could be seen from afar.
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After witnessing the calamity at the front, Ayuka observed the big explosion somewhere in the center of the forest and sweated in astonishment as she ran through it. She became more cautious and concentrated on the topic, seeing the potential for danger.
"That explosion came from the Sanguine Rose! What the hell's happening over there?!"
She hopped over the larger puddles of rain and proceeded on her way through the woodland, almost slipping on the slick mud.
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Kou became aware of the ship's swaying in an instant. He upped his guard and dashed outdoors, horrified and stunned by the situation. "What happened?! What's going on with the ship?!" He raced through the ship's deck and gazed out the window. He noticed the ship moving away from the shore and bouncing up and down on the huge waves.
The force was strong enough to knock him off his feet and send him stumbling all over the ship until he made contact with the ship's fence. He looked into the distance, but no one appeared to be within his field of vision.
"There isn't anyone here! Gah, wait! The ship is getting further and further away from the coast! What am I expected to do by myself now?! I have no idea how to control a ship properly! I'm the only one here, and my strength to stop this by myself is not enough! Maybe it was the storm? But it shouldn't be possible! I understand that the storm is horrible, but the ocean was calm; it shouldn't have happened so quickly, and there's a dislocated section on the side! This had to be done by someone! Who caused this, you scumbags?! Where are you?!
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The 'Sun Soldiers' continued to watch from afar, waiting for Bow to reveal his intelligence, which he did by placing the bow on his back and dangling his arms next to his hips.
"Did you manage to locate the woman?"
Bow was about to leave the location and break terrible news to his companions when he sensed someone's presence and saw a contrasting silhouette of a woman sprinting close by, so he proceeded on his way to the ship.
"A woman is sprinting from the direction of Harventona's Park. She seems to cover everything there is to know about the girl who ran away from the castle. She's on her way to the ship, possibly with another and a smaller girl on her back. That might be our target."
"What exactly do you mean when you say "may be"? There's little doubt if she has the same appearance as the woman we were warned about. Bow, that has to be the woman we're looking for."
"She has a strange air about her. She does resemble the woman who escaped, but we were told she was stabbed with a 'Hormone Injection,' which should have knocked her unconscious for a long, but it hadn't even been seven hours. She appears to be in fine working order with no issues. It is information that does fill in the gaps in the information we were provided, but it is incomprehensible."
"I suppose I'll have it in mind. Hurry up and chase her down, Kizu!"
"I thought you'd never let me hunt for some prey! I'll catch her in no time!"
Kizu leaned forward with his knees bent. He snatched the mud between his palms and began to transform energy into the tip of his palm, which then spread throughout his entire body. He tightened his limb muscles and braced himself for takeoff.
"Golden Flash!"
He sprinted across the forest's path in an instant, ripping the leaves from the branches with his speed, which snapped and fell to the ground. He began to move at an inconceivable speed toward the shore, where their target would most likely appear. He plowed past various obstacles, including fallen branches, boulders, and puddles of water, leaving a golden path behind him and closing up on his target in seconds.
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Ayuka made her final step out of the forest, with Tomomi on her back and suddenly came in the view of Sanguine Rose quickly drifting away. Her first reaction upon spotting the problematic results was a severe shake within her eyes. She noticed Kou trying to keep his balance on the ship, while holding the edge of the torn fence, and called out to him.
"Sanguine Rose's drifting away! What's going on?! Hey, Kou, can you hear me?! What happened?!"
Kou raised his head and looked Ayuka in the eyes, where he was startled. "Oh, no, it's Ayuka! I'm doomed if she learns out where Tim went."
"Uh! I'm not sure! Something struck the ship, causing the waves to roar even more regularly! I was inside the cabin when it began, so I didn't see who started it or where the attack originated, but why are you here?! I thought you were with Ralphie and the others!"
"We're trying to keep our arrival quiet, so we've decided to seek a shelter at Ralphie's friend's house, who appears to be AWOL! But that's beside the point! First and foremost, we have to stop the ship! We can't let it drift away from the coast or we'll be stranded here for the rest of our lives, or at the very least until we can find a new ship, not to mention the fact that you'll be stuck on it!"
"Yes, some assistance would be really appreciated! Can't you just freeze the water like you did at the Primal Restaurant? You should be able to stop the ship and the ocean from spinning out of control!"
"Yeah, right away, but make sure to grab onto the ship tightly!"
"You got it!"
Ayuka dashed up to the edge of the cliff and dipped her left hand into the water. She began freezing the water, which slowly began to extend toward the ship, which remained out of control, but she suddenly detected a fast presence moving in her direction and hurled her view behind her back to the forest, through which Kizu came speeding through with a sword in his hands and it swiped to the side across his shoulder.
"Golden Flash & Slash!"
To be continued...