Conqueror Sea, White Pearl.
Under the dark sky, on the vast ocean, a massive cruise ship was cutting through the waves. Countless passengers gathered on the ship's spacious foredeck, jostling to witness the most crucial moment of this voyage: the exhibition of the Heart of the Deep Blue.
Just as all the passengers focused their gaze on the angel statue at the bow, which was covered with white cloth, eagerly anticipating the Heart of the Deep Blue's first public appearance, the jewelry collector Massimo finally pulled off the covering white cloth.
When all the passengers witnessed the sight in the angel statue's hand, the exclamations of wonder and admiration they had expected did not materialize. In the eyes of most of the audience in the back rows, although the sapphire in the angel statue's hand was large, it wasn't particularly dazzling and seemed rather ordinary, not even as beautiful as some of the gems exhibited during the day. Therefore, a hint of disappointment appeared in their eyes after seeing the gem, and some people even began to quietly gossip.
Unlike the audience in the back, a few front-row spectators showed obvious astonishment in their eyes after seeing the gem. The reason was that they saw the note attached to the gem, a message left by Thief K. According to this message, the gem currently in the angel statue's hand was fake! The real gem had already been swapped and taken by Thief K!
Thief K is not a clown! Those advance notices were not pranks! This was the thought in the minds of everyone who saw the note.
"What's going on?! Where's the gem?!"
On the superstructure far from the deck, Costa, using his extraordinary vision, couldn't help but exclaim in frustration after seeing the note on the gem at the bow. At the same time, the iron railing in front of him was directly crushed. He could clearly perceive that the spiritual trace, which had been perfectly fine at the bow just moments ago, had suddenly vanished! The Heart of the Deep Blue had been stolen right under everyone's noses!
How did that Thief K do it?! From the moment the Heart of the Deep Blue was placed on the angel statue until now, the entire bow had been tightly guarded; no one had approached it! The angel statue covered by the white cloth was constantly being watched, and no suspicious figures had ever come close! Nor were there any unusual sounds! How could the Heart of the Deep Blue inside have been inexplicably swapped?! Is this some unknown extraordinary ability?!
Costa thought in astonishment, and equally shocked was Massimo, who stood directly in front of the angel statue. He had just been standing there, mocking Thief K to everyone, and now the gem was suddenly swapped?! The spiritual trace he had just been able to sense suddenly vanished, and the spiritual radiance that should have emanated from it was also gone.
Looking at the dull, note-adorned gem before him, Massimo's shock was even greater than Costa's. After all, he was responsible for the Heart of the Deep Blue's security measures, and the current situation was far beyond his expectations.
'Damn it… what exactly happened?! What did that guy do?! How did that guy approach the statue and open my mechanism?!'
Gritting his teeth, the anxious Massimo spoke, then immediately pulled a key from his pocket, grabbed the angel statue, and climbed up without any protective measures. He needed to personally inspect what exactly was going on.
With an urgent heart, Massimo climbed onto the angel statue in full view of everyone, then reached out and inserted the key into the mechanism opening in the statue's hand. After turning it according to the pattern, he released the mechanism that restrained the Heart of the Deep Blue, and then reached out to pick up the lusterless gem.
At this very moment, Massimo's hand was about to touch the spider corpse puppet hidden beneath the gem. Dorothy, seizing the opportunity from within the crowd, expended her spirituality to transmit a Galvanic Form to the spider corpse puppet, and the current's intensity was much stronger than before!
"Bang!!"
Accompanied by a flash of white light from the statue's hand, a loud sound exploded out of nowhere. Massimo, who had just touched the Heart of the Deep Blue, suddenly felt an unprecedented jolt in his hand—numbness, sharp pain, and involuntary muscle contractions. Unprepared, Massimo was shocked, his hand trembled uncontrollably, and he failed to pick up the Heart of the Deep Blue, instead knocking it from the angel statue's hand, sending it plummeting towards the ocean below.
"What…"
Witnessing this scene, Massimo and a crowd of onlookers widened their eyes. Everyone's gaze was fixed on the fake gem that was about to fall, and just a moment before, a swift shadow leaped from the audience.
The black shadow leaped from the crowd onto the ship's railing, then, with incredible stability and speed, ran along the narrow railing to the side of the angel statue at the bow, firmly catching the falling gem. At this moment, Massimo, unbalanced by the sudden electric shock, fell onto the bow deck.
Under the myriad gazes of the scene, the dark shadow finally stopped, and what people saw was a female figure standing on the railing with unparalleled balance.
The woman was dressed in an elaborate black gown with a fitted bodice and a wide skirt, wearing a broad hat adorned with flowers. Her attire was not much different from that worn by many upper-class women present, making it hard to imagine how she could perform such swift and stable movements in such cumbersome clothing.
Beneath the woman's wide-brimmed hat was a butterfly-shaped half-mask covering the upper part of her face, while the exposed lower half revealed fair skin and vibrant red lips. Her graceful figure was perfectly outlined by the fitted gown, and black silk gloves held the blue gem.
Facing the astonished gazes before her, the woman's red lips curved into a smile. She then tore off the note on the blue gem in her hand and raised it to the sky. At the same time, the previously dull and ordinary gem emitted a profound, deep blue light, illuminating the sea and sky. The radiance of the Heart of the Deep Blue was displayed to everyone for the first time in the woman's hand.
"As agreed, I have taken the Heart of the Deep Blue."
The woman declared in elegant Ivigan to the entire audience. The passengers who witnessed the woman's appearance and the radiance of the Heart of the Deep Blue were collectively dumbfounded at this moment, their eyes wide as they stared at the bow, experiencing a double shock.
First, they were astonished by the Heart of the Deep Blue's truly magnificent brilliance. Second, they were shocked that the contents of the advance notice were actually true! Thief K truly existed! And apparently, she was a beautiful and enchanting woman!
"Thief K… seize her immediately!"
Massimo, whose right hand was numb from the electric shock and who had fallen to the ground, immediately realized he had been tricked after seeing the Heart of the Deep Blue, now seized by Thief K, radiating light again. He immediately ordered his subordinates around him, and the guarding sailors promptly reached out, attempting to grab the woman who was the focus of so many eyes.
Although standing on the narrow railing, this did not restrict the thief from displaying her astonishing agility. She danced gracefully on a few slender footholds with her toes, evading the sailors one by one with cat-like, nimble movements. The sailors' attempts missed, and some overshot, almost falling into the sea.
The thief's movements were so light and elegant, more perfect than any tightrope walker the audience had ever seen, especially considering she was performing them in such an elaborate gown. This series of actions by the thief elicited gasps of admiration from the audience, while Massimo, seeing his subordinates unable to catch the thief, grew anxious.
The anxious Massimo raised his hand, aiming at the thief who had just evaded a round of capture and hadn't yet stabilized. A volley of tiny, water-constructed arrows shot from his sleeve. These small arrows were not only numerous but also very transparent due to being made of water, making them extremely difficult to detect; even the close-by front-row spectators couldn't see them.
However, even with such arrows, the thief reacted and noticed them at the last moment, performing a wide sidestep that dodged most of the incoming water arrows. Still, two water arrows struck the thief's forearm, piercing two small holes.
The struck thief trembled slightly, then spun around to desperately maintain her balance. Just as Massimo was about to shoot more water arrows at the thief, she pulled a test tube containing a dark red liquid from her body and violently smashed it onto the deck. The moment the test tube shattered, a dark red smoke instantly erupted, almost engulfing the entire bow of the ship.
As the dark red mist diffused, the light of the Heart of the Deep Blue vanished once more, and those on the bow could no longer see their surroundings; all they could perceive was a dark red expanse.
"Cough, cough… this smoke is…"
Coughing, Massimo tried to wave away the smoke with his hand, but it was completely impossible for the moment. Then, he sensed that the dark red smoke was very humid, its main component seemingly water vapor. He then tried to manipulate the water vapor within the smoke to disperse its other components, but his attempt proved entirely futile.
Massimo discovered that although the main component of the smoke was water vapor, it wasn't ordinary water. Besides the obvious "Cup," there was also some other kind of spirituality. This dark spirituality, mixed with the "Cup" in the water vapor, not only hindered his manipulation but also gave the entire dark red mist a certain adaptive characteristic to the wind, causing it to gather and not disperse under the sea breeze.
As Massimo, who possessed the auxiliary "Lamp" spirituality, he immediately recognized what this spirituality was: it was "Shadow." This dark red mist was a product of mixed "Cup" and "Shadow" spiritualities! He couldn't dispel the mist because he couldn't control the "Shadow" within it!
Unable to disperse the dark red mist, he couldn't locate the thief. In this situation, Massimo's anxiety intensified. He immediately pulled a Breath-Seeking Rune from his pouch and affixed it to himself, greatly enhancing his sense of smell to pinpoint the thief's location. However, even after applying the rune, he couldn't smell anyone else around him besides his subordinates. The thief had undergone scent-removal treatment!
Knowing how to remove scent, capable of creating mist with both "Cup" and "Shadow" spiritualities, able to mask the spiritual traces of the Heart of the Deep Blue, and possessing extraordinary agility far beyond ordinary people—this Thief K was clearly a seasoned Beyonder!
Upon realizing this, Massimo now felt deep regret for his earlier disregard of the advance notice.
The persistent dark red mist enveloped the entire bow, not only preventing people at the bow from seeing their surroundings but also completely obscuring what was happening inside from those outside. Seizing this opportunity, the thief, standing on the railing, leaped into the sea unseen.
The thief's figure plunged out of the diffusing smoke at the bow, falling along the towering, massive steel hull towards the sea. Just as she was halfway down, a mysterious force was transmitted to her body. Instantly, invisible special currents began to course through the thief's body, imbuing her with a unique property: magnetism.
Under the magnetism brought by the Galvanic Form, a strong attraction was generated between the thief's descending body and the steel hull. With this attraction, the thief's body was rapidly drawn directly to the hull, and then she lay horizontally against it. Due to the potential energy from her descent, the thief slid down the hull for a while, dissipating her momentum before finally coming to a stop. After she stopped, her entire body was only seven or eight meters from the turbulent sea surface.
Because the thief was adsorbed to the lower part of the hull, not only was it twenty meters from the deck, but it was also very close to the sea. At this position, the loud sound of the huge waves created by the cruise ship's movement completely covered the sound of the thief hitting and rubbing against the hull. People on the deck could not hear any unusual noises from here.
Not only that, due to the ship's shape, which was wider at the top and narrower at the bottom, even if people on the foredeck leaned over the railing to look, they couldn't see the thief clinging to the hull because of the viewing angle. All they could see was the vast ocean.
Using the magnetic adhesion, the thief finally stabilized herself on the lower part of the hull. Then, she pushed herself up and began to sprint on all fours along the steel hull, which was at an angle greater than ninety degrees, like a cat, moving towards the stern. She rapidly ran towards the nearest porthole, and just as the thief approached the porthole, the cabin door automatically opened, providing a path for the thief to enter the cabin.
Without hesitation, the thief, rapidly climbing on the ship's wall, directly entered the porthole that had opened for her. After she entered the cabin through the porthole, a man waiting in the cabin immediately closed the porthole. The thief, now in the cabin, struggled to her feet and then let out a long sigh of relief.
"Phew… I, I did pretty well, Miss Dorothy."
"Yes, you did very well, but we are short on time now; you need to get upstairs quickly."
After closing the porthole, the man turned to the thief and spoke, then pointed to a corner nearby, where a pile of things was stacked.
The most conspicuous items were a hung, light-gold, portable evening dress and high heels, followed by a washbasin filled with hot water and cosmetics placed nearby. Upon seeing these, the thief immediately handed the Heart of the Deep Blue to the man beside her, then removed her butterfly half-mask. Picking up a bottle of makeup remover by the washbasin, she applied it to her face, then wiped it with a cloth. Instantly, the thief's fair complexion was wiped away, revealing skin slightly darker than average.
After wiping away the thick makeup on her face, the thief took off her hat and untied her hair, allowing her brownish-black, slightly curly long hair to cascade down like a waterfall. Thief K began to revert to her identity as a university student.
Nephthys swiftly removed her disguise with practiced movements, while the man, Dorothy's corpse puppet, silently gazed at the large sapphire in his hand.
On the chaotic foredeck, Dorothy, through the perspective of the corpse puppet, admired the sapphire whose light had dimmed again, then murmured to herself.
'The treasure of the Abyssal Church, the gem that can summon the Descendants of the Abyssal Serpent, the Heart of the Deep Blue, is finally in my hands.'