Mystical Journey

Garen sighed and silently walked to the side of the ship.

He knew that Andrela was gentle on the outside but crazy on the inside from the first time he interacted with him

"It all depends on you since you have already made the decision." The King of Nightmares shrugged. She was currently in a young and cute teenage girl form, which looked exactly like Andrela’s younger sister Aisis. "Alright let’s not talk about these. Drela, do you like my current form? Do you want to do something exciting tonight?" she held her purple skirt as she turned around in a circle. "It’s your biological sister~~"

Andrela didn’t react at all and said. "Regrettably I do not have such a fetish."

"Don’t you feel that it’s very exciting?"

"Not in the least."

"Do you want me to transform into…"

"You do not need to transform into my mother…"

Both of them were flirting with each other as if no one was watching them.

Palosa went to his room to rest, leaving Garen alone on the deck as he looked far to the distance.

As the body of the boat rocked with the motion of the waves, it gave off a sense of insecurity.

Far away at the horizon of the blue sea, there were a group of grey shiny dolphins occasionally jumping out of the ocean as they cut open the sea at high speed, leaving a trail wake behind.

He placed his hands onto the cold black handrail as he gently touched the surface of the rough paint which was somewhat worn and torn.

The cool and salty sea breeze blew on his face and entered his neck.

"Sylphalan…" He murmured. Ever since he met the real Sylphalan which was during the Argent Mirror incident, he no longer had the desire to know the truth about the old man.

"What happened? What are you thinking about?" An unfamiliar voice came from behind.

"Nothing, just feeling a little bit emotional," Garen replied calmly.

The person who stood on his left was a middle aged man with a curly moustache and a cigarette in his mouth. His overall image looked like an old aristocrat in Europe on Earth.

His hair was combed to the point where it was shining. In a black tuxedo, he was fiddling a small and unique silver pistol in his hand as it kept producing a clicking sound.

"Major General Nikon. We all have our reasons. What’s yours? Why did you participate in this operation?" Garen looked at the famed master who was known as the King of the Gun.

"About that… It’s just a small matter. I’ve been wanting to visit the Smoke Island because I heard that it has a very good scenery."

Garen laughed as he knew he had wanted to avoid the topic.

"Let’s change the question then. How do you view this operation? What are the odds of us winning?"

"The odds? That depends on the objective." Nikon had his mouth shut tight. "Each objective has their own chance of success."

Garen shrugged and stopped asking questions as it was a waste of time.

The fleet was slowly and firmly heading towards the Smoke Island. As the sky turned black, the surface of the ocean started to turn into dark blue and the sparkling reflections of the moon could be seen on the ocean’s surface.

After gathering on the deck, the five of them went back to their respective rooms and did not see each other again as they were preparing their minds for what was to come. The big battle was the next day and it could be a life or death situation if there was any slight negative impact on their state of mind.

The fleet took the opportunity to speed up during the night and soon, the highly dense white smoke of the Smoke Island could be seen with the naked eye.

Poof!!

The gas kept discharging from the Chimney.

Garen stood still in his room and could faintly see the highly dense white smoke of the Smoke Island through the ship’s window.

He could not see more than two meters ahead of the ocean’s surface with his naked eye.

Woo!!~~~

An ear piercing alarm suddenly rang.

"What’s going on?!" A man asked loudly as rushing footsteps could be constantly heard from the corridor.

"The ship had collided with something!"

Boom!!

An explosion was heard as the body of the ship started to vibrate.

Garen knew the situation was dire and quickly pack the necessities such as food and water and opened the door.

Boom Boom!!

Another two explosions and vibrations occurred as a strong burning smell filled the air.

Sailor after sailor zoomed past him towards the deck as he opened the door.

"What’s going on?!" Garen simply grabbed one and questioned him.

"Captain! The ship has collided with a mine! We are currently fixing it!" The sailor’s face was filled with black mechanical oil as he sweated profusely.

Garen let go of the sailor and shoved everyone out of his way as he made way to the deck.

As there were already fire on some part of the deck, the sailors were already trying to put it off with a fire hose.

Palosa was already on the deck whereas Andrela and the King of Nightmares just came out from behind him.

The four of them grouped together and as Garen was about to open his mouth, he saw a red flare flying to his direction.

His face changed and without thinking any further, he jumped out of the boat and into the water.

Boom!!!

The ship that ah spanned at least a hundred meters across exploded. The ship’s body broke into half from the middle like a paper boat torn into half and sank into the sea in a matter of seconds.

Boom boom boom boom!!!

The constant bombardment incessantly created fountains of displaced water from the sea. The white water spurted up high above and poured down drizzling noisily.

Garen was floating in the cold sea. As he swam for a few meters, he felt a numbing sensation at the top of his head, as if something had pierced onto his skin.

"Not good!" He kicked the water with all his might and jumped up to at least ten meters above the sea.

Kaboom!!

A huge amount of water spurted upwards from where he originally was in the water.

Bright red lights strobed from the black ships on the pitch black sea. They were either flashes of returning fire with their canons, or otherwise light from fires still burning on the deck.

The Federation’s fleet was ambushed by an unknown fleet.

At the other side of the sea in the distance, another fleet lit up a countless amount of red strobes; they had opened fire.

Garen swam quickly in the ocean as his shirt had been torn to pieces due to the shock. The suitcase in his hand was mushed as it had been hit by the shells.

He quickly swam towards a life buoy that had been thrown into the sea and hung himself by the life buoy with his shoulders.

The water splashed as he jumped out of the water from the life buoy and gently landed onto an undamaged ship.

"Return Fire!!" Nikon was roaring nearby. "Fucking return fire!! Kill all of them!! These fucking Weisman Bastards! Sooner or later I will cut you all up and feed you to the dogs!!"

Boom!!

Before he finished his sentence, this ship had taken damage.

A bright light flashed in front of Garen’s eyes and both his ears starting ringing loudly. It was as if there was an alarm clock ringing continuously beside his ears. In a blink of an eye, the fire in front of him had covered his whole vision.

A fire broke from the deck nearby him and exploded, releasing a torrent of flame similar to a red lotus.

The deck’s explosion ruthlessly tossed into the ocean again.

"F*ck!!" Garen quickly pointed his toes and ran on the surface of the ocean for at least ten meters before landing on debris left behind by a sunken ship.

He couldn’t hear anything and he could see a piece of bright red afterimage in his vision and he couldn’t see anything clearly at all. Garen knew that he was powerless as this was a battle between two fleets. He had no choice but to sit and wait for it to play out.

After some time, His eyes and ears started to recover. Garen rubbed his temples as he scanned his surrounding.

The whole ocean was disastrous as the Federation’s large fleet had completely disappeared as it had turned into millions of pieces of debris floating on the surface of the ocean.

A few lucky surviving sailors were holding onto the life buoys as they gathered at larger pieces of debris. However, only a few people could find their sense of direction due to the pitch black conditions during night time. To make things worse, there were waves that would topple over the debris and some would occasionally drown into the cold sea.

"Augustus!! I will kill you no matter what!!" The King of the Gun, Nikon’s roar could be heard from a distance.

Chirp!!!

Suddenly, a sharp chirp that sounded like a bird could be heard from the Smoke Island which was far away. It was as if it was a response towards Nikon’s anger. The chirp obviously sounded provocative and contemptuous.

"Everyone get to the island!!" Palosa’s voice suddenly popped out from the middle of the sea and everyone could hear it clearly.

Swoosh!!

Four streams of water rose together at the same time as four human figures jumped up and sprinted on the water and headed towards the Smoke Island.

As Garen was about to head out, he realized that his hand was rather light. The suitcase was no longer there. His shirt was ragged and the left side of his shirt was completely torn apart.

He quickly reached in his hand and fumbled.

"My Golden Sword Throne!!" His facial expression changed slightly. The Antique of Tragedy, which were Golden Sword Throne and the Golden Seal, were placed in this very pocket. He brought them anywhere so that he could absorb the potential at all times. He didn’t expect to lose them from the series of explosions.

"Garen!" Palosa’s voice came from the distance.

Although Garen was slightly unhappy about it, he still got up and stepped onto the surface of the sea and sprinted towards the Smoke Island.

The Smoke Island’s Southern Coast.

There were three figures in white fur overcoats looking at the five people that were sprinting towards the Smoke Island.

"It’s Flamingo. That damn clown. How dare he push the blame onto us when he’s the one who had sunk our ship!" The tall man with pointy hair said angrily.

"Let’s leave here immediately. Flamingo’s underling had assumed that we were the ones who did this. The Clown Queen had perfectly copied my Bombardment Technique." Another black figure said calmly.

"Isn’t that good? They can have a good match with Flamingo’s underling! They had just formed a team and now they wanted to be the very best? We definitely need to make them suffer more." The last man laughed.

"It’s time to leave." The man in charge turned around and walked into the island. The other man followed suit, leaving behind the last man who was yelling here and there and being ignored.

************

On the other side of the hidden rocky spot.

A team of clowns that were dressed up strangely were looking at the five figures sprinting towards the island.

These clowns were all wearing thick attire and hats and all of them looked the same on the outside. No one could differentiate who’s who as their body figures were hidden within the thick dress up as well.

"Hehe… Let’s move out." The clown who stood at the front said in such a way that it was impossible to differentiate whether they were a male or a female.

"Hehe…!" The remaining clowns started laughing strangely as well. Their voices were so similar to the first one it was impossible to make out the differences.

All of them brought out a long black rocket launcher from behind and set them up skillfully as they aimed at the five figures who were sprinting towards their directions.

Pew pew pew!!!

The rockets flew towards the five figures and left a trail of white smoke behind.