“Dang dang dang dang…..”
“Dang dang dang dang…..”
The wind over the sea could carry sounds from far away, drifting over from the mist in the distance.
It was the sound of hammering iron, a deliberate attempt by those monsters to dampen their morale.
Blaineau was well aware of all their information, of every move the monsters made; they had already started forging iron chains, intending to use the very iron chain formation that Lin Nuo had come up with, linking thousands of warships together so they could withstand the churning of the sea…
All their advantages were being proudly displayed to every person in Shilang Bay.
To some, it might have sounded as if those dreadful monsters could charge over at any moment.
So that every minute and every second spent here felt like torture.
Under the orders of the Paper Angel, all the fishermen of Shilang Bay, every last one of them, had come to the back of that White Magic Whale.
Each Ling Yao was watched by Yosena as they leapt into the sea with a splash.
Under the deep night, they watched as their homeland, Shilang Bay, gradually receded into the distance…
And they had already been swimming and migrating toward the outside world for a long time.
“Splash”
Out in the sea, several kilometers away from Shilang Bay, Yosena, tasked with making sure that not a single native of Shilang Bay could return, used her tail to leap up onto a reef.
She gazed worriedly toward the border of Shilang Bay.
And then, to her surprise, she saw Lin Nuo—the very person who had sworn to them before leaving that nothing would happen to Shilang Bay—now seemed to be…
Surrendering?
Yosena had no idea what that man was thinking.
But she did, in fact, see a lonely patrol boat, lowering the flag of the Migludia Family, and raising a white flag.
It slowly advanced in the direction from which the hammering sounded.
“Splash splash—”
The patrol boat, able to carry more than twenty people, moved along the waves.
The fog that clung to their bodies added a chill.
“Dang dang dang dang”
Passing through layer upon layer of mist, the sound of hammering grew louder, until the snapping of banners in the fierce sea wind could be faintly heard.
Looking over, several warships emerged in the mist, their prows flying a strange blood-red skull flag.
Spread before Lin Nuo was a fleet of ships stretching beyond sight, iron chains linking them one after another.
Monsters could move freely between adjacent warships, their momentum far more imposing than before.
At the front, only a handful of scattered warships acted as a gate.
As he approached, sure enough, those warships made way for him.
“Splash splash”
The boat was halfway through when Lin Nuo stopped his vessel.
Before the towering warships, his patrol boat looked as frail and feeble as a child’s toy.
On their decks, watched over by the Cultist High Priest, ballistae and catapults stood ready; at any moment, they could hurl boulders, and Lin Nuo would have no grave left for his bones.
“Why did you stop? Are you so scared by our display that you lost your nerve?”
At the sound, Lin Nuo looked up to see Blaineau, who looked exactly like himself, standing with his leather boots on the ship’s rail, looking down at him with mocking amusement.
Just as Angellei had said, what Blaineau wanted most was not his life, but to see Lin Nuo surrender, to watch him display weakness before him.
From Blaineau’s tone, he was certain Lin Nuo would soon reveal his cowardice.
So even though Lin Nuo had come alone, he wasn’t flustered at all.
He didn’t say anything, but shifted his position to reveal the white flag planted behind him.
“Boom!”
The next moment.
Blaineau leapt down over the rail onto Lin Nuo’s boat, the impact making the whole deck sway with the force of his landing.
Lin Nuo had barely steadied himself when a hand grabbed him by the collar.
“Waving the white flag for us—what are you trying to pull… In the endings I imagine, Count Dakesi might surrender, but you, Lin Nuo, would never surrender!”
“…..”
Silence.
In that silence, Blaineau’s eyes, full of bloodlust, fixed upon him.
As if he wanted to see through the cunning man before him.
“Surrendering serves no purpose. Monsters have no need for prisoners; even if I surrender, there’s still a good chance you’ll kill me.”
Lin Nuo said, “If I said I came here to negotiate peace, would you believe me.”
‘…Yes, that was more like him!’
That sounded like the truth!
But Blaineau’s face grew even more sour, “You want to beg for her life? You think you’re qualified to beg me? Save your ignorance, Young Master Lin Nuo.”
On the warship, the monsters looked down, raising their long knives and harpoons, laughing at Lin Nuo’s overconfidence.
Their cawing laughter was like winter’s end crows, harsh to the ears.
“Why go this far for her, Lin Nuo Clemence? Why don’t you think it through—a rich, pampered aristocrat like you, why risk your life to come here?”
Blaineau’s voice seemed to carry a bewitching power: “Don’t you think there’s something wrong with your thinking?”
“She hypnotized you—I warned you!”
“Mm, so?”
Lin Nuo said, “Why don’t you think that I came here because I wanted to?”
“You would want to come here?” Blaineau sneered, tightening his grip, “Does that make any sense to you?”
“For a nun you spent so many years on guard against, you’d risk your life here?”
“You flatter yourself far too much! Why not recall that in my illusion, both of you wanted to kill each other… Oh, speaking of that.”
Blaineau’s tone suddenly turned cold, his gaze venomous: “The fluttering paper scraps in the illusion kept me from seeing what you did. Now I really want to hear you explain it yourself.”
“You’re such trash, you couldn’t even hit her with that sorry excuse for a water tornado. How did you break out of my illusion, and even hurt me?”
“You don’t need to know.”
Sensing Blaineau’s mounting hostility, not quite as expected, Lin Nuo quickly adapted, shaking off the hand gripping his collar and putting some distance between them.
“She must have hypnotized you!”
Blaineau cursed, “Damn it! Why doesn’t that kind of mind control fail, even here!”
“You should see your own weakness. You should hate her. You should kneel here and beg me… so she can see it!”
With no warning at all, Blaineau drew his sword and slashed down at him.
“Clang!”
Lin Nuo reacted swiftly, using his demon-breaking bracer to block.
It was armor against steel blade, and even without magic, the force behind that blow made Lin Nuo’s wrist ache.
“I’ll give you one chance to live: join me, and I’ll let you kill her with your own hands!”
There was nothing left to discuss.
Lin Nuo had never come to negotiate peace in the first place; retreating, he reached the stern of the boat, and drew the rapier XÄ« had helped him hide in a bundle of straw, holding it in front of him.
“I think I’ve figured out what you want.”
Lin Nuo looked just as mockingly at the man before him, who looked exactly the same as he did.
“You want her to be disappointed in me, so you can take my place?”
“Fight me!”
Blaineau was clearly enraged, his voice rising a pitch: “Show her your cowardice!”
He slashed again!
“Sss sss –”
Blaineau’s swordplay was sharp and merciless.
It was obvious he’d practiced for a long time; every slash of that narrow, slender blade cut through the air with a fierce hiss.
Each stroke followed the next in dizzying succession, and each time a flash of steel fell, it left a line of blood.
The ship rocked with the struggle; Lin Nuo could feel the pain from his wounds, and as his blood drained away, the chill around him deepened.
The man before him pressed the attack, deliberately avoiding vital points, as if toying with a powerless foe.
At the same time, he seemed to hope someone was watching, yearning to prove himself before her.
This twisted obsession prompted Lin Nuo to ask, “Who are you really?”
“Would I tell you?”
Blaineau grinned, licking the blade with a face identical to his own: “Lin Nuo Clemence, you have no idea how much I hate you!”
His voice was urgent: “Every time I see you, I see my father—the one who lost his memories, whose personality changed, who beat me with fists and feet…”
Blaineau’s mouth curled in a cruel arc, “So before I came here, I killed my father.”
“He’s not him anymore and as far as I’m concerned, you’re not you anymore either.”
“After you lost your memories, you became weak. The Princess of Shilang Bay needs protection, and weak as you are, you’re not qualified to protect her, nor could you ever protect her!”
“Weak, useless, turned into a failure after your memories were altered and raised into a good-for-nothing—you’re not worthy of her in any way, and she doesn’t see that!”
“I’ll show her, I’m the one who truly belongs by her side!”
“Sss sss!”
Blaineau attacked again, even more frenzied and cold-blooded, blow after blow.
“I’m not your duplicate, I don’t want to replace you!”
“I have every good quality she likes in you, but I’m a better version of you!”
“Look at yourself, Lin Nuo…” Blaineau pressed his rapier to his throat, “When she’s in danger, a swordsman as worthless as you—what can you do for her? Pathetically surrender and beg me to spare her?”
“I! I’m only missing a single opportunity compared to you!”
“If, eight years ago, the one who spoke of burning your boats and standing on the deck of nine hundred battered survivors, who threw a paper crane to her—if that person wasn’t you…”
His voice was equal parts envy and hatred, even turning sharp as a woman’s: “Then the one engraved in her heart… might have been me!”