Lust Knight

*CRAAAAACK-BOOOM*

Lightning and thunder echo across the sky among the black clouds that already cover an area of a thousand miles. Tens-meters waves shake the ocean around the Sea Devil.

Regardless of that frightening storm approaching, Lucien's group feels an instinctive fear growing inside their heart. The girls continue to do their best to make the ship go faster, but the storm and mysterious creature that comes along with it seem to be getting closer.

"How strong is this creature?" Lucien asks the Sins.

Sloth and Lust make thoughtful expressions while Pride responds. "It's certainly above the Immortal Realm... We can't face it now."

"Do you mean..." Amelia looks confused.

"Cosmic Realm." Sloth comments. "And by the size, its strength and speed are several times increased. We don't have any chances right now."

While Lucien and the girls get really worried, Kayla is terrified. "No, no, no... something like that shouldn't exist in the Blue Star! My grandmother told stories about it, but that's all, just legends..."

"She said it needed armies of Immortal Realm warriors to beat such a beast." She explains. "But I have no idea how big those armies were, but more than half didn't come back alive from such a confrontation; when they won, of course."

"But Aylin defeated the last of them alone." Pride comments while her eyes sparkle. "Many were witnesses when she knocked the beast's lifeless body into an infinite abyss."

Sloth shakes her head. "Looks like that wasn't the last of them..."

"But that doesn't make sense!" Kayla exclaims. "I mean, how did this creature stay hidden for so long? And this is one of the most peaceful areas in the Blue Star."

"It was sleeping very deep inside the ocean..." Wrath comments.

"And it probably woke up when it felt a familiar energy..." Lust completes.

"Our energy?" Amelia asks.

"Not our." Envy responds as she looks at Lucien with a worried expression.

Donna quickly shakes her head. "But he didn't use the naginata!"

Sophia nods. "Exactly. That's just a guess."

Lucien understands how his sisters and wives feel, but he can't deny that he has a strange feeling that someone or something is staring at him. "Yet, that's the best guess we have right now..."

"Anyway, whatever is coming, let's face it together!" Donna quickly moves to his side.

"Don't you get it?!" Pride asks in an upset tone. "If we try to face it now, it will be our end! We don't have any chance of surviving it."

"What about the Purple World???" Amelia quickly suggests. "We could stay hidden there until the beast leaves."

"What if the beast doesn't leave?" Sloth asks. "I mean, it's an ancient creature with unbelievable power. It must be highly intelligent too, so it could know about the Soul Realm and wait for thousands of years here."

Lucien makes a thoughtful expression. "We don't have time for this. If the creature is coming for me, so..."

"No!" All of Lucien's sisters speak at the same time.

So Eve continues. "I won't leave you behind!"

"Alone, I have more chances to act as bait and escape!" He suggests. "And I could enter the Purple World to confuse the beast."

"Luci..." Eve has an apprehensive expression. "I can't let you take this risk alone. We only got here because we kept together!"

Sophia also stands next to Lucien. "I told you I wouldn't leave your side again."

Donna and Amelia don't say anything but also stays by his side, making their intention clear. Lucien's wives, despite being on deck, below them, also hear that conversation and send him mental messages, asking to stay with him.

While Lucien doesn't know what to do, Pride continues to stare at the southern horizon. She can see something cutting through the water over the sea about ten miles away, and though it's not clear, she's pretty sure it's the Leviathan, Its top scales, actually.

"It's close..." She comments while also not sure what to do. She knows Eve couldn't escape that creature right now, and probably neither can Lucien. Sacrificing him should be the best plan, but her personality doesn't allow her to accept that, nor does she want that.

But lose everything does not sound good either. So Pride looks at Lucien and forces her personal desires to the bottom of her being. "You have to decide now! We'll do it as you like."

Lucien finds himself in one of the most difficult moments of his journey so far. He has to quickly decide whether to face an extremely powerful enemy alongside his wives as he has done so far or separate from them to protect them.

He can't help but think about taking the girls to the purple world, but some of them don't have his tattoo, and making such a connection in that situation could be problematic. Also, if they get stuck in the purple world, no one could keep looking for Naomi, Claire, and the Phoenix indefinitely.

Part of him doesn't think dying fighting alongside his wives would be a bad ending to his life. And he knows that his wives think that way too.

But the bigger part of him can't accept them dying. He wants to protect them, heal his sisters and find his mother again. So, dying is not in his plans, not now.

So the plan of being bait so that the girls can get away seems like the best idea. No one dies, and even if he gets trapped in the purple world, they can continue the journey and come back to rescue him when they have enough power.

Lucien makes his decision and looks to Pride; he can only trust her leadership now as Eve clearly will not accept that.

"Keep the plan, find my sisters and what we need..." He asks as the other girls quickly demonstrate their dissatisfaction.

"Luci!" Eve tries to hold his arm, but Pride holds hers first. Tears start to run down her face while the other girls also get sad, including Kayla, who doesn't understand what's going on.

He smiles at his sisters and the Sins. "Pride... take care of those I love. Don't let anything happen to them until I can protect them again."

At that moment, Pride feels more respect for Lucien than ever. She understands that he's not giving up but trying to fight as bravely and smartly as possible. Then she realizes that she already admires him.

"Mm." She nods as she promises to herself that she won't let anything bad happen to either of Lucien's wives until they're back together.

"NO!!" Eve exclaims as Sophia and Donna tries to hold Lucien, but the Sins hold them back while also saddened by that end. Amelia also doesn't want to part with him either, but she believes his plan is for the best.

Lucien's wives also feel an instinctive desire to stay with him. But they share his feelings and ideas, so they choose to believe him that it's the best plan; they choose to believe that they will be together again.

So, keeping that teasing and confident smile as always, but with his heart tight and afraid, he flaps his wings as he looks at Eve. "Keep our family together!"

As she tries to break free of Pride's grip and fly towards Lucien, he quickly speaks to Olivia, who is already standing next to the mechanism that controls the barrier. "Open."

Even not liking that, Olivia obeys and deactivates the portal. Due to the speed that the ship is moving, strong winds impact everyone, and since Lucien is in the air, he quickly falls behind.

At that moment, Lucien can see all sisters and wives with the same sad expression; even Genevieve, Helena, and Daisy have tears in their eyes; they are heartbroken.

'I love you...' He speaks to all his wives mentally.

Sophia, Eve, and Donna still can't accept that, but the other girls trust Lucien's plan and obey him. Yet, two of them also have other thoughts.

Helena flaps her wings a second after Lucien, also falling behind.

Oya understands what Lucien is doing. She agrees that an alpha's duty is to protect the group above all else, even if that costs his life. And she feels that her duty is to stand by their children. She has to protect Ko and the babies that are yet to be born.

However, seeing Lucien getting left behind to face an enemy that her instincts say will kill him, Oya is really confused. Her feelings for Lucien end up overcoming her instincts. Then she looks at Ko with a sorry expression before jumping into the sea.

Tears run down her face, not because of the situation she and Lucien are in, but because her selfishness is probably depriving their babies of being born. She feels like a terrible mother, but she can't abandon her lover.

Olivia quickly reactivates the barrier, preventing other girls from falling behind. She understands well the desire to stay with Lucien, but at such a dangerous moment, she can't let selfishness and other feelings get in the way of his plan, mostly because he's trying to make them all survive even if that means they have to stay apart for a while.

"Lucien!!!" The echo of Eve, Sophia, and Donna's voices is quickly suppressed by the thunder as the Sea Devil quickly distances itself from the storm, which seems to slow down.

He notices the rebellious girls who haven't obeyed him and flies towards them, mainly Oya, who is having a hard time trying to swim in that furious sea.

He takes her out of the water and hugs her while she's in demi-human form. "Silly tigress!! What do you think you're doing?!"

She hugs him tightly. "Oya fights alongside Lucien! Always and forever!!"

"Hahaha..." Lucien can't help but laugh at Oya's cuteness and thrill at her absolute loyalty, even though she didn't follow his plan.

"But now is not the time to fight..." He comments as he kissed her forehead and starts opening the purple world portal.

She makes a confused expression. "Silly Oya?"

He again laughs at her cuteness as he watches the fallen angel approach. "Yes, silly Oya and silly Helena..."

"I can use my ability to hide our presence." Helena quickly explains. "Even the Sins couldn't detect me, so maybe it works on this creature."

Lust materializes her body next to Lucien. "You know that's not the plan, so why did you really stay?"

"Now is not the time for that! The creature is standing a mile from here, analyzing us. We have to make the soul contract now." Before Helena responds, Lucien speaks.

"That..." Helena doesn't really understand why she stayed and isn't sure about anything either.

But Lucien doesn't give her time to think. He puts Oya on the purple world portal and hugs Helena. Then he kisses her on the lips as he starts to give his demonic energy to her.

The moment Oya enters the purple world, the sea churns around Lucien. The Leviathan moves around him, creating a circle with Its body.

*SPLASH*

Then the creature's head pops out of the water, and like a giant snake, it stands still in a spiral formation around him and Helena.

Lucien ignores the monstrous beast thousands of times bigger and stronger than he while focusing entirely on creating the soul contract with Helena.

A strange glow runs over the Leviathan's green eyes as it watches Lucien. Then with a strange voice, which sounds more feminine than masculine, it speaks.

"Arrogant little dragon! You stink and act like that hateful woman who killed my mother!" The creature sounds both furious and curious.

'She can only be talking about Aylin!' Lust exclaims in Lucien's mind.

'She?' Lucien asks Lust. 'And why does she say I stink like Aylin???'