Date: Unspecified

Time: Unspecified

Location: Myriad Realms, Card World, Southern Region, Blossom District, Sky Blossom City

Petra’s plan had almost worked. The moment Aqualas reacted, she had been ready to attack. Unfortunately, Seraphina was faster. She grabbed Aqualas by the wrist and shot her a sharp look, giving her cut throat message, don’t.

Do not fall for the provocation. Because if either of them attacked first, Southern Hope would have a legitimate reason to claim they had broken the spirit of the agreement. And once that happened... Seraphina had little doubt what would follow. Her friend’s petrified body tossed into the Void and herself killed in the most gruesome way he could think of.

Perhaps even worse fate. That was the true reason they were still talking instead of fighting and not because they lacked anger or courage. But because, for the first time in a long while, violence wasn’t the solution for her as the opponent had a bigger fist then hers. No matter how deeply frustration and irritation burned within their hearts, they had to endure.

Meanwhile, seeing her plan fail, Petra wasn’t disappointed. Quite the opposite. She looked strangely pleased. After all, opportunities to see the mighty Ocean God cornered and helpless didn’t come often. Since she couldn’t kill Aqualas, taking pleasure in her misery was the next best thing.

"That is enough!" Veerott suddenly roared. The sheer force of his voice shook the surrounding air. Both women stared at him in surprise. They had rarely seen him this angry. "You know how important this is to me! And yet you continue being unreasonably stubborn!"

The frustration he had been suppressing finally spilled out. He didn’t want to fight his friends. He didn’t want to choose between them and his newfound kin.

Most of all, he didn’t want to watch the two sides keep provoking one another until blood was spilled again.

In his eyes, Aqualas and Seraphina had become shameless squatters. Uninvited guests stubbornly refusing to leave while continuously testing the limits of Southern Hope’s patience. Worse, they were abusing the generosity that had been extended because of him. And that was something Veerott found difficult to tolerate.

His gaze hardened. Then he spoke words he never wanted to say. Especially not to his closest friend whom he believed to be his family, "If you don’t leave right now... I will kill myself."

Soon silence followed. There was no countdown, theatrics, or conditions. Veerott wasn’t bargaining. He was informing them.

His eyes trembled and with a terrifyingly steady voice, declared, "Leave. Or stay and watch me die. I won’t let you undermine my master’s authority any further."

Aqualas’ face instantly turned pale while Seraphina’s pupils contracted. Both of them knew him too well. This wasn’t a threat made out of manipulation or an attempt to win an argument. Veerott had simply reached the end of his patience.

He looked at them with pained eyes. The eyes of a man being forced to choose between the people he loved.

The shameless duo were utterly shocked. They had expected many things from Veerott, anger, pleading, even tears. But they had never expected him to use that threat against them of his own accord. That too without any instruction or coercion.

Without Southern Hope saying a single word. That realization stunned them more than anything else. So much so that neither noticed the truth staring them in the face. Their stubbornness wasn’t bringing Veerott back to them. It was driving him further away. The wedge they feared Southern Hope was creating... They were carving it themselves with their stubbornness.

"If you die," Seraphina suddenly said, snapping out of her shock, "Aqualas will kill herself and trigger the restart of the Card World."

The declaration stunned everyone present, even I couldn’t help but blink. Veerott stared at Seraphina in disbelief. She had responded to his threat of self-destruction with an even larger threat of self-destruction.

For a moment, he genuinely didn’t know what to say. The absurdity of the situation struck him all at once. This wasn’t a battlefield anymore. It was beginning to resemble a family argument.

A deeply dysfunctional one. A son threatening to throw his life away if he didn’t get his way and two overprotective mothers threatening to do the same. Expect if they die, the entire life on Card World dies with him.

The image that flashed through Veerott’s mind was so bizarre that even in the middle of the tension, a part of him nearly lost composure.

"Wait, I will?" Aqualas grabbed Seraphina’s sleeve and looked at her in confusion. Her expression was one of genuine bewilderment. "Shouldn’t we be avenging him at risk of our lives instead of committing suicide with him? Isn’t that a bit cowardly."

Seraphina shot her a look, a long hard look. The kind of look that carried an entire conversation without words.

Aqualas blinked. She still didn’t fully understand. But after years of friendship, she had developed an instinct for moments like these.

"Oh." A beat later, she nodded seriously. "Yes. I will kill myself if you die."

Then, after a moment’s thought, she tilted her head at Seraphina and asked, "What about you?"

Seraphina’s eye twitched. Out of everything happening right now, Aqualas was worried about that?

"If you die," Seraphina said through gritted teeth, "the life we know will end and begin anew with your birth. That includes me."

The statement carried layers of meaning. On the surface, she was referring to the restart of the Card World. But beneath that was another message. One directed solely at Aqualas: If you don’t die because you don’t want to lose another friend, I will kill myself.

"Have you two gone completely insane—"

"No, we haven’t, but you have," Seraphina snapped, her voice cutting over Veerott’s outburst. "So stop using your life to threaten us. We are prepared to die, and we’ll drag everyone else down with us." 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

She shut him down completely, determined to ensure he wouldn’t use his own well-being as a weapon to get his way. While at it, She made it clear to Southern Hope that if they don’t get their way, the entire world planned to conquer will die with them.