Stellan pressed his lips together, his gaze falling on Coral Cetus. His expression was gentle, yet complex.

His cyan tail fin sliced through the water in a graceful arc. He glanced at Buck and Arion Cetus, his voice soft. "You should both stay here. This is ultimately a matter for the Mer Clan; you shouldn’t get involved."

Coral Cetus’s long pink hair bloomed in the current, the pearls woven into it rattling softly.

She shoved Stellan away, her voice laced with stubborn anger. "What are you talking about? Aren’t we family? Why are you separating ’us’ from ’them’? I’m absolutely going with you!"

Before she could finish, her voice choked, and her eyes reddened. "I’m going!"

Montague looked at the group, then placed a hand on Stellan’s shoulder. "Stellan," he said softly, "you should stay behind as well."

Stellan was already Contracted, after all. He was Coral Cetus’s partner first, and a warrior of the Mer Clan second.

"All of you, stay here. I’ll go alone." Evangeline stared into the bottomless Demonsea Abyss, ignoring their argument. Before anyone could respond, her scarlet fintail slashed through the pitch-black water. She plunged into the Abyss without a moment’s hesitation and was swallowed by the endless darkness in an instant.

"You—" Montague’s words died in his throat. All he could see was the churning, inky Abyss; Evangeline had vanished without a trace.

"Evangeline!" Coral Cetus cried out, her face paling in shock as her fingers dug into Stellan’s wrist.

The darkness of the Demonsea Abyss churned silently, like a giant maw that had just devoured Evangeline’s slender form.

Stellan’s eyes darkened, and he said after a moment of silence, "Perhaps... we really did misunderstand her."

Montague took a deep breath, cupped his hands around his mouth, and roared into the Abyss, "Be careful! Find Finnian Finch! He’s the clansman who came to the Demonsea Abyss with the Young Clan Leader! He’ll help you!"

His voice echoed, spreading out in layers through the silent Abyss.

A long time passed, but no one responded.

*

Evangeline, of course, was oblivious to their sentimental grief. She’d never planned on bringing them along in the first place.

As she neared the Demonsea Abyss, the Contract Mark on her waist that belonged to Danton began to burn with a searing heat. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

Evangeline’s fingertips gently stroked the Contract Mark. Her scarlet fintail swept aside the viscous current as she dove deeper into the Demonsea Abyss. All sound vanished, leaving only an endless darkness.

She moved quickly, expecting to run into some reckless Sea Beasts in the pitch-dark gloom. But as the water temperature dropped, the Ferocious Beasts she anticipated never appeared. There weren’t even any fish.

In the deathly silent Demonsea Abyss, there was only dark green seaweed, swaying densely like specters. It wove the entire area into an impenetrable web, and as Evangeline swam through, she could feel the slimy touch of its tendrils.

Evangeline frowned in disgust. Her grip tightened, and the Cold Frost Whip in her hand pulsed with a frigid light.

In her wake, the swaying seaweed instantly froze and shattered.

After what felt like an eternity, an eerie, spectral blue light emerged in the distance.

Evangeline pushed aside a clump of rustling seaweed, and the view before her opened up completely.

At the bottom of a barren canyon, the rock walls were covered in vines that emitted a blue glow. They flickered irregularly with the current, illuminating the place like a scene from the underworld.

Within this strange glow, several massive shadows were drifting.

Their translucent bodies shimmered with a phosphorescent light in the blue glow, resembling skinned behemoths or ancient, vengeful spirits, flickering in and out of sight like will-o’-the-wisps.

Sirens.

The enormous Sirens were shaped like octopuses, lurking at the bottom of the Abyss. Their slimy, flexible tentacles drifted in the current, creating powerful vortexes. Faintly, she could see their huge, hollow mouths opening and closing.

Suddenly, Evangeline’s gaze froze.

Amidst the drifting Sirens, a stark white figure stood out, clearly out of place.

It was one of the Mer Clan. The spectral blue light outlined his snow-white fintail.

His hair fanned out, his head lolling gently with the current. He seemed to have lost consciousness. A Siren’s tentacles were coiled around his body, but the occasional convulsive twitch of his fin showed that he was still alive.

What was terrifying was that the Siren’s tentacles pulsed rhythmically. With each contraction, they seemed to rip wisps of silver light from the Merfolk’s body in a grotesque and horrifying display.

Evangeline’s expression turned grim, and the pressure of her fingers caressing the long whip suddenly increased.

’It wasn’t Danton.’

’He must be the clansman Montague mentioned, Finnian Finch, the one who came to the Demonsea Abyss with Danton.’

’Danton lost his Mermaid Tail and his Star Pattern is shattered. There’s no way he could swim in The Deep Sea, let alone make it to the Demonsea Abyss.’

The drifting Sirens reflected in Evangeline’s eyes. She finally understood why the Tideborn Beastmen spoke of the Demonsea Abyss with such terror. The translucent Sirens here actually fed on the souls of Beastmen!

In the process of extracting souls, their bodies would gradually solidify, allowing them to survive longer.

’No wonder. None of the Tideborn Beastmen who entered the Demonsea Abyss ever left a corpse behind. Their souls became sacrificial fuel, damned for all eternity.’

Evangeline’s eyes narrowed, a cold smirk playing on her lips as her scarlet tail fin tensed like a blade.

’The Beastman Continent truly is filled with monsters and demons at every turn.’

The Cold Frost Whip sensed Evangeline’s killing intent and began to glow silver. The surrounding current instantly flash-froze into a cloud of fine ice crystals.

This faint disturbance quickly drew the Sirens’ attention.

Their slimy tentacles quivered in unison and slowly withdrew from Finnian Finch’s body.

Countless pairs of eyes, like black holes, opened in the darkness, fixing on Evangeline in overlapping layers. The water itself seemed to stagnate. Suddenly, a dull, mechanical voice rang out.

"Trespasser... speak your desire..."

The voice carried an eerie hum, like the whispers of the dead.

A cold glint flashed in Evangeline’s eyes. With a powerful flick of her scarlet fintail, she shot forward like an arrow.

She said nothing. The Cold Frost Whip tore through the current, seething with frigid killing intent as it lashed out at the Sirens around Finnian Finch. Wherever the whip passed, the water instantly froze into sharp icicles.

’If Finnian Finch’s soul is drained any further, he’ll be nothing but an empty shell, even if he leaves the Demonsea Abyss alive.’

’He came here with Danton. If he dies, Danton will blame himself for everything. I can’t let that happen.’

At that thought, Evangeline’s wrist snapped down, adding a new level of viciousness to her strike.

A series of sharp cracks echoed as the Sirens’ tentacles snapped. Wounded by the ice, the creatures let out ear-piercing shrieks as countless more tentacles shot out from the darkness to intercept her.

But Evangeline was incredibly fast. In an instant, she tore through the churning undercurrent, grabbed the falling Finnian Finch, and with a quick motion, pinched his jaw open and deftly shoved an Elixir Pill into his mouth.

Soon, some color returned to Finnian Finch’s pale skin.

"COUGH... COUGH COUGH..." Finnian Finch’s eyes fluttered open. He looked weak, and his pupils were still unfocused, a lingering sign of his soul being drained.

He blinked weakly, staring at the unfamiliar female from his clan, unsure if she was real or a hallucination.

Evangeline didn’t spare Finnian Finch a single glance. With a flick of her wrist, the long whip conjured a raging storm of ice, forming a wall around them and blocking the shrieking Sirens.

Bracing herself against the churning current, she demanded in a cold voice, "Where is Danton?"