Shrouded Seascape

"So you got this from a creature in the Sea of Mist?" Anna asked as she fiddled with the palm-sized piece of paper with her delicate fingers.

Lying on the white couch in her office, she twirled the damp paper, and it became drier and drier with each spin until the blurry texts were revealed.

"Yes," Sparkle answered affirmatively. "One side of it is a portrait of me, and the other side is a message from Daddy. He secretly stuffed this note into a fish's body and scared it out of the Foundation's territory.

"The Foundation's territory is really strange; it seems capable of blocking my awareness. Otherwise, I would have felt it immediately when Daddy was drawing this portrait."

Anna's eyes narrowed into slits as she scrutinized the text written on the paper. The font size was excruciatingly small since Charles had cramped everything he had been through into this tiny sheet of paper.

The Foundation's relationship with the Haikors, the Foundation's Plan Three to annihilate the world, and his current predicament—all of them were detailed in the tiny piece of paper.

"Previously, it was merely my own guess that the Foundation is located somewhere in the Southern Seas, but it would have never crossed my mind that they were those gods of the Haikor Tribe. Truly hiding in plain sight, huh?" Anna muttered to herself.

"Mommy, how's Daddy doing?" Sparkle asked as she ran to her mother's side and tried to peer over at the paper and its contents. When Sparkle found the note, she had immediately brought it back to her mother and didn't even get to read it herself.

"Not good, in fact, rather bad. Now that his escape attempt has failed, they definitely won't recruit him into the Foundation anymore. They'll likely use him as an experimental subject," Anna replied.

"Don't worry. They won't kill Charles off that easily. As a Chosen One, he's an invaluable experimental subject. Moreover, he is the Chosen One of Edikth, and Edikth is a Divinity shrouded in mystery. There's little information about Him, not just in the records of the humans but also among other creatures in the Subterranean Sea," Anna reassured her daughter.

"The Foundation didn't realize Charles' diversionary tactic, and this might be an opportunity for us. We need to think carefully about how we can exploit this," Anna added, her pupils dilating as she seemed to have recalled something from the past.

Sparkle's brows slightly furrowed. Her expression was clearly one of dilemma as she commented, "But Daddy is suffering… We can't just do nothing, can we?"

Anna let out a soft sigh and turned her gaze onto Sparkle. She reached out a hand and gently stroked her daughter's hair.

Although her daughter's strength was growing by the day, her mind was still that of a young girl—impulsive, reckless, and without consideration of the consequences.

"We need to think long-term, my dear daughter," Anna began. "What happens after we rescue Charles? What's the next step? Your father mentioned in his note that the Foundation's power is far beyond what we imagined it to be.

"Maybe the few of us are enough to stealthily break your father out of jail. But don't forget, the Foundation's ultimate plan is to wipe out the entire human population in the Subterranean Sea and restart it.

"We would be exposing ourselves the moment we break Charles out of his cell. We shouldn't do that unless we can completely annihilate the Foundation, as they will surely retaliate and initiate their offensive."

Sparkle's brows were knitted together as she looked at her mother. She hesitated for a brief moment before saying, "Mommy, you can't really be thinking of—"

A hint of annoyance crossed Anna's face as she rose to her feet. "We have no other choice now. Their power far surpasses ours. To win, we have to sacrifice the humans in exchange for power. That's the only card we have on our hands now.

"Besides, we don't have complete intelligence over the enemy's strength. It remains unknown if we can actually defeat the Foundation after sacrificing all the islands."

Despite her self-depreciation, Anna's mind was already running to come up with a plan.

With a mere thought from her end, the door to the room swung open, and Leonardo, Hope Island's Minister of Administration, entered with a respectful bow.

"Mistress, you summoned me?"

"Put up an announcement that the Governor's Mansion is planning to construct a city rail system. Wait for a few days before using the construction as a cover to start drawing the sacrificial array over the entire Hope Island."

"As you wish, my mistress," Leonardo bowed and retreated slowly outside.

Just as Leonardo stood upright and turned to leave, a revolver barrel appeared from outside the doorway, pressing against his forehead and forcing him back into the room.

The hand holding the revolver was wrapped in bandages—it belonged to the first mate of the Narwhale, and standing behind him were the other crew members of the ship.

"Who allowed you in here? Don't you know this is the Governor's Mansion?" Anna rebuked in an icy manner, her expression turning cold.

Bandages casually tossed the weapon aside and turned to face Anna.

"We… heard… everything… you said…"

The moment those words fell, a heavy atmosphere of tension weighed down on the room. The relationship between both sides had never been particularly good. They had only maintained superficial peace with each other due to Charles' presence maintaining the equilibrium.

But now that Charles was no longer around and Anna's latest plan had been exposed, the fragile truce between Anna and Charles' old comrades was completely shattered.

"You have been spying on me? You think you are capable?" Anna's slender, alluring form began to crumble, and black tentacles emerged from its cracks and danced wildly in the air.

The yellow, cross-shaped pupil on her suddenly opened wide and stared at them. Instantly, the bands on the right wrists of Bandages and the others were triggered and emitted a bright glow.

The bracelets had repelled Anna's mind control. Evidently, the Narwhale's crew members had come well prepared.

"We didn't want to," Dipp said, toying with the black spike in his hand. "But we have no choice when you are keeping everything a secret. Don't forget, we have a share of this island as well. We will not let anyone offer our home as a sacrificial tribute!"

Seeing his former comrades standing firm in their stance against Anna, A look of relief crossed James' face as he stood among the crew. It was better for the threat to be exposed directly than to keep it hidden.

Ever since Anna had arrived on the island, he had been waiting in silence for this day. Now, the day had finally arrived where the ticking time bomb on Hope Island could be deactivated.

"And you think you guys are capable of stopping me? If I want to, I can take your lives anytime, anywhere," Anna threatened, her voice laced with menace.

Anna's form suddenly swelled, her bloated and writhing form expanded to instantly fill up the spacious hall.

When the giant eye grafted onto her was revealed just a sliver, a look of agony surfaced on everyone's faces. At the same time, Anna unleashed her auditory hallucinations, forcing everyone present to partake in her torment.

"If they can't stop you, then what about me?" A deep voice echoed from behind the crowd. It was Julio as he emerged from behind the towering figure of James.

Following behind him was a blond boy. It was the Pope, and he was cradling a sullen-looking Lily in his hands.

"I shouldn't involve myself in your previous affairs, but I've been asked to intervene, so count me in on this," Julio declared.