"There you go." Prince Rodin said, "You're just so stubborn, aren't you? Should've said this earlier, then your people wouldn't die in vain. Alrighty, your majesty, please sign this and you'll officially abdicate the throne."
Rodin asked his servant to hand in an arowana to the queen Katharina and she signed her name on it.
"Good, good, good. From now on, Katharina was no longer the queen and prince Jonathan will take the throne. Very neat. I guess that'll be it. Now, Katharina, please come with me to our kingdom. Prince Jonathan, or forgive me, King Jonathan, and General Fergus, I'm afraid I can't give you a ride, so you might want to go back to your palace on your own."
Jonathan was set free, and he started to unchain Fergus. Katharina was quiet all the way and stepped to the submarine. Rodin followed her and suddenly turned back with smile: "One more thing, kill all their soldiers after I leave. I'm too kind to see such tragedy."
Katharina was shocked, rushing to him but being stopped by his soldiers: "No! You lier! You said you would let my people go!"
Rodin shrugged: "Did I? Oh right, I promised I'll let your brother and sister go, even your general. I didn't and won't bother your people. After all, they are the important labor. But, I don't think I ever said I would let go your soldiers. Right? Hahaha."
"You can't do that! That filthy word game! They are all my people!" Katharina cried, and immediately turned to her brother, "Jonathan! Talk to him! You're the king now. You have the right! Save your soldiers!"
Jonathan didn't say anything.
Suddenly, something came up to Katharina's minds. "Rodin! You fraud! You can break the words now, so how can I believe that you'll let me kill the traitor Ryoichi?! If so, I'd rather bite my tongue to death than going back with you!"
Rodin could just let her die but prisoning her in the kingdom might earn him an extra recognition from his father. "That, you'll have my words. As long as you come back with me to Pulchritudinem, I'll give him to you."
Jonathan also tried to persuade her: "Katharina, don't do silly things! The most important thing is to live!"
"Hahaha," she burst into laughs and stared at Rodin, "that's all lies. I think I got it. Ryoichi is not the traitor." Then she looked at Jonathan in the saddest expression, "it was you, wasn't it? My dear brother."
"What are you talking about? You're insane, sister?! How can I betray…"
"You shut up! If not, then please explain to me. Why on earth that traitor is right in front of the squad and, Rodin, doesn't recognize him at all and tried to kill him?!"
"What?" Jonathan looked at that direction and finally identified that figure from the darkness.
He was wondering why Ryoichi was not dead. He, indeed, was the person who poisoned Ryoi's food and tried to kill him and let him take all the notoriety. Everything went well, but how come did he not die and show up? As he tried to come up with an explanation, Rodin started to talk impatiently.
"Jonathan, Jonathan. I told you, your sister is smart."
Such words just verified the fact that Jonathan collaborated with the enemy and betrayed her.
Anger filled her eyes, no more question was needed, but she still asked: "How… Why!"
In the twinkling of an eye, a knife penetrated Fergus' chest. The general looked back with mixed feelings, astonished, grieved, disappointing, angry, but all resulted in a deep sigh and voice of falling down.
Jonathan killed Fergus, the general who was like a father and raised them up.
Not only did Fergus fall down, but also the whole world of Katharina was collapsing.
With blood around his hands, Jonathan took a deep breath and stood beside Rodin.
"My dearest sister, why you have to know the truth. It would be much easier if you can just take Ryoichi as the traitor, wouldn't it?"
"It was you who did everything, right? Killed the ambassador so the kingdom would have the reason to intrude; poisoned the fish army to weaken our force; and then plant all this on Ryoichi. That's the truth."
"Silly sister, what's a truth? What's a lie? It only depends on what you believe. You should've listened to me, or we won't lose such many people or Fergus."
"Don't you dare say his name! You're a monster! The curse of Aranea would not kill their parents."
Rodin urged Jonathan to action: "Hurry up! When will your family play end?"
Jonathan said: "Alright, I'll just get it short. Since the general is dead, I'll go back to the palace and take the throne. You'd better go with Rodin, and be nice. Don't you ever think of anything dangerous. If you try to rebel or kill yourself, don't forget Fiona. I know where she is hiding, and I'll have her baby."
"You son of bitch, she's your sister!"
"Hush, sister. It's time to go."
Katharina was forced to enter the submarine, and the submarine squad had gone, while some Pulchritudinem soldiers left to clean. Ryoichi was tied up with his mouth shut, so were his fellows, waiting to be slaughtered. In front of them were net red with blood, below which were full of scary spiders, and behind them were soldiers with heavy armors and weapons. What was in the middle was only despair and fear.
The spiders were still whistling. Listen carefully. The whistling seemed to be louder and louder. The Pulchritudinem soldiers were also scared of those spiders. They started to move restlessly.
"What is it? Those spiders won't come out, right?"
"Are you fool? They won't."
"But what's the voice? It seems get closer and louder."
"Shut up! Don't freak out. Don't scare yourself! Just behead them quickly and leave!"
Those soldiers moved themselves to the side of each captive, so that they wouldn't hurt others when they waved the sword.
"Alright. Who'll count down? What about you? The first one. You count down and we'll behead them together."
"Me? Okay. Ready?" They raised the sword, and Ryoichi closed his eyes, guessing maybe that would be it for his second life. "Three, two, … Ah!"
A group of stuff just bumped that guy into the valley! Seeing this, some soldiers were escaping and some wanted to kill the captive as soon as possible. Then, the same group was separated into several smaller groups and rushed to single soldier and disturbed their action. Followed by it, several shadows appeared and fought the kingdom soldiers.
By the dim light, Ryoichi saw it clear. It was a group of small fishes followed by some palace guards including his friend S! A small fish swam to him and bit the rope. People who were set free also joined the battle.
"S!"
"Ryoi! Are you alright? I heard the news and asked for some help. Leader A, guard E, P and Q brothers, and guard Y and Z all come! But we didn't catch up the submarine, couldn't save the queen."
Ryoichi hugged him. "Let's get out of here first!"
It was guards' talent of controlling the group of small fishes. One single fish might be weak, but the community of them could also be powerful. The miserly Pulchritudinem didn't leave those soldiers with canon, so that they fell into a bitter battle. Some fish was small enough to get into the armor and distracted them.
"Don't go on fighting! Retreat quickly!" Leader A commanded.
Some succeeded retreating, but some were trapped besides the cliff, including Ryoichi and S.
"Leave me! Use your fish and go! I can't go back anyway!" Ryoichi yelled to S, "Prince Jonathan is the traitor. He plotted treason and sent the queen to Pulchritudinem. He also set me up. I can't go back. He's the person who poisoned me. He's become the king, and he'll still kill me if I go back!"
S was shocked but so clever was he that an idea came up. "Don't be silly! I can't leave you here! No worry! We can be wanderers after we get out of here and seek for place that wants us!"
"S! You can just tell me where I should go. You don't have to come with me!"
"Everyone knows I'm your friend. I have to go. As for my parents, don't worry. Queendom's tradition won't allow them to be involved."
"You sure? You're not fooling me."
"Sure! You don't know how much I hate that plain life! I want to be out and see the whole world!"
Guard E interrupted, "You guys! Save these emotions for later! S, where can we go now? I don't want to feed myself to the shit spiders!"
"I'll control the fish and build a bridge to the other side, but you guys have to hold on. I'll have to borrow some of the cuties!"
"Cut the shit off and do it!"
As the others were fighting, S started to lead the fish group. They were moving fast on the valley above the net, using the rapid speed to offset the strange attraction from the valley.
"Go now!" S screamed.
One person first stepped on and ran to the opposite side, followed by other fellows. One of them was too scared of the spiders below and fell down by accident. The membrane net immediately swallowed him and the curse of Aranea fell onto him.
"Be careful!"
Finally, only Ryoichi and S were left. Leader A was fighting from the other side, and their enemies were also tired with such heavy armor. They got slowed down.
"Ryoi, listen to me! I'll ask the fish to do the final attack, and then you go. I'll catch up."
"You promise?"
"I promise! You can't control the fish so I have to do the job. Hear my count down. Three, two, one, go!"
Ryoichi turned back and ran over the fish bridge. He forced himself not to look down. He ran, looked back, S was still standing there; he ran, looked back again, S didn't follow either; he ran, looked back, some one followed! But not like S's slim shadow. It was someone with heavy armor.
'You lier.'