Chapter 67: Corrupting Heart

Ash and Gladiia just stared at each other. Skadi knew that her captain didn't stand a chance. Ash could take earth shattering blows without blinking.

She can already imagine him getting stabbed by Gladiia and it would just barely give him a scratch. He was made different.

"Captain... I won't do anything untoward if I were you." Skadi warned her and Gladiia raised a brow.

"So you think this land dweller is stronger than me Skadi?" Gladiia arrogantly sneered. She didn't really know that he was a Feranmut. Thinking that her speed can overpower him.

"She doesn't think so, she knows. The woman's speaking facts. So answer me, why did you take her away from our home?" Ash looked at Specter and checked if she was harmed in any way.

"That's none of your business land dweller. Aegir does not care if you are an emperor or not." Gladiia replied and he snorted.

Ash raised his arm slowly and Gladiia felt a pull on her. She then went right to his hand and he began squeezing her neck.

"Ash, don't hurt captain Gladiia please. She's just ignorant of how powerful you are. Captain, he's not just strong. His country is too, Aegir would lose against us if they come here on land." Skadi tried to pacify the situation.

"Is that true Skadi?" Gladiia was shocked and the orca nodded. She stopped wiggling around, so Ash loosened his grip.

But she suddenly stabbed him on the eye with a dagger. Making the other abyssal hunters freeze.

"Ow, did this bitch really stab my eye?" Ash got annoyed. Gladiia gasped as she saw that his eye was basically undamaged. It was like trying to stab a stick on some concrete.

"You've gone and done it now." Ash was about to put a hand on her head to pull her memories, but Skadi tackled him.

"No! Please, Ash. Gladiia is just really paranoid... She must think that you're experimenting on us or keeping us as your slaves." Skadi explained and Gladiia now understood that they really were following him.

"Give me one reason why I shouldn't pick your brain for all of Aegir's secrets. You're a captain of the abyssal hunters. I'm pretty sure that you know how to make them. And I would like the information very much." Ash grinned at her and Gladiia winced.

She did know and he's got her pinned down. Specter was looking at her with a shit eating grin and Skadi didn't look like she would do anything more for her.

"I have a lead on the church of the deep... And leaving me braindead would make Skadi hate you." Gladiia relied on their camaraderie.

Skadi reluctantly nodded, even though it was her captain's fault. She did love the woman like a big sister.

"Hah, fine. But reparations are needed. You kidnapped one of my wards. As you already noticed, Specter is doing really good in my care. She's on the way to a full recovery even." Ash pointed at the nun who was more stable.

Though she is still a bloodthirsty lunatic. She doesn't bother people anymore and Specter can stay awake for longer amounts of time than the past.

"What do you want?" Gladiia squinted her eyes. She was in a disadvantage, but Skadi and Specter are the only abyssal hunters left, as far as she knew.

Not only were they assets to Aegir like the Sui siblings. The two are also her valuable comrades that fought tooth and nail alongside her.

"Good... You will be working for me." Ash saw her scowl. "No, no, you had the wrong idea. You won't really be forced to give me information about Aegir. I don't give a rat's ass about it." Ash shrugged.

"Then what do YOU mean?" Gladiia glared at him. She has never felt this powerless before. Even against their battle with thousands of seaborne and Ishar-mla.

"I want information about the seaborne. I'm already sequencing Specter's genes. But I've only done about a third of the work. I'm planning on stabilizing the abyssal hunters so they would have all the advantages without the disadvantage." Ash explained and he gave her a file about his projects.

Gladiia was pleasantly surprised by that. Even Aegir hasn't had that much success with stabilizing the abyssal hunters. It was a matter of fact that they would turn into seaborne eventually.

She read it like a woman possessed and she could see it. Gladiia might be a consul of Aegir that handles the practical side of their tech. But she understoof the theory and how much promise Ash's project has.

"It... It is much better to die than to be a monster. As a consul of Aegir, I dutifully accept this proposition." Gladiia bowed shallowly, surprising Skadi.

"Yeah, yeah, once we take care of this crap, I'll be getting samples from you and Skadi. Your genomes might be different, so I want all the information I can get about the Abyssal hunters' creation." Ash nodded, pleased about having Gladiia in Paradiso.

He also understood that they won't be able to come back to Aegir. The abyssal hunters would be seen as the seaborne. Fearing that they would turn into the monsters of the deep.

Given time, Gladiia would give Aegir's tech to them. He only heard some snippets from Alive until Sunset. But the story of the oceanic Feranmuts piqued his curiosity.

Like how they can fuse metals at the bottom of the ocean. It might not be useful, but science that defies the current understanding of physics interests him to no end.

"We have a deal Gladiia." Ash offered his hand and the swordfish Aegir shook it.

Right after, they talked about her Intel and Ash was surprised about what Gladiia did.

"I have a contact with the church of the deep. He is a bishop there, it was when all of us got separated after our battle with Ishar-mla. I met Quintus and he said that he knew Specter is somewhere at the mainland. The man then offered us protection here in Iberia." Gladiia snorted.

She was too paranoid to believe his bullshit. So Gladiia checked what was happening in Sal Viento before going to find Specter. Lo and behold, the church of the deep were worshipping the seaborne.

They didn't say it outright on their worship sessions. But the sacrifices were actually offerings to the seaborne and blessings from the water are flesh from the monsters.

"That's fucked up." Ash knew he didn't like cults. But this was definitely worse than Scientology.

"I also have a suspicion that they experimented on Specter. But you must have already known that." Gladiia looked at Ash and he nodded.

"Yeah, Abyssal hunters are part seaborne. They must have done it for sure. For the church of the deep, the abyssal hunters are like transcendents." Ash furrowed his brows.

"Wait... No, nevermind." Skadi shook her head. "So, how are you going to meet with this Quintus bastard? I'll rip him apart." Ash narrowed his eyes.

"At the church here, there's a secret passageway. He told me not to enter, so that's already suspicious. But I'll leave a letter there." Gladiia reported and he nodded.

"But we have been spotted here already, have you been spotted by anyone? I know Specter must have been, but are you compromised?" Gladiia shook her head.

"Good, then leave Specter to us. It is natural that she would return to us. Act alone, we've got eyes on us in this town already. Lure them out, if they don't appear. We storm their hideout." Ash informed them of the plan.

Gladiia and Skadi agreed and it was a pretty simple, but effective one.

"Go on then, shoo my new minion." Ash shooed Gladiia away and she glared at him, hard.

Skadi deadpanned at him. "What? She agreed to work for me, that means she's my minion. Though you're the better one of course." Ash smiled at her.

The orca felt stupid because that actually made her kind of happy.

"Please don't antagonize captain Gladiia. She's kind of like an embassador between the mainland and Aegir. She's a consul, that is a high position. Similar to a senator." Skadi rolled her eyes at him.

"Hey, master. Let me at em at that bishop. I'll rip him to shreds with my teeth." Specter gave a toothy grin, her razor sharp pearly whites shining in the moonlight.

"Of course, you're a good girl. And a good girl needs a reward. Unless you're a bad one?" Ash patted her head and Specter quickly shook her head.

"I'm a good girl! I will kill them all, you'll see~" Specter smiled and Skadi snorted. "I'll definitely have a field day with Laurentina once she learns that she became your little puppy." Ash shrugged.

"Just don't overdo it, I think she'll definitely have a mental breakdown." Ash imagined it on himself and he most likely would have a mental breakdown.

Specter then yawned, so Ash made the surroundings colder and humid. Its effects were immediate as the two abyssal hunters felt more pleasant and sleepy.

"G'night." Specter dropped down instantly on him and Skadi stared at them suspiciously.

"What? I haven't done anything to her. She's clinically insane, that would be inappropriate." Ash huffed at her.

"Yeah, as if you haven't been filling her with thoughts of yourself being the messiah." Skadi snorted and she slowly inched towards him on his bed.

"You've been more since Gladiia came. Awww, is the little orca happy?" Ash baby talked at her while poking her nose.

She bit his finger, but she regretted it immediately. Her teeth almost shattered and it hurt like a bitch. Specter can regrow her teeth almost instantly, but she can't.

"Heh, serves you right. Now shut up and sleep." He made her float with Specter and put them on top of him as weighted blankets.

Skadi rubbed her head a bit on his chest and she slept soon after.

"Must be nice, seeing your comrades again. I wonder how they're doing at the front lines against Ursus?" Ash had a melancholic expression on his face.

At the Ursus borders. "Kyahahaha! This will be my best movie yet! Shellshocked soldiers against the artillery shells I made! I'll call this world war 1." Nian nodded sagely while walking around at the battlefields, filming everything.

__Next Morning__

Skadi woke up first before Specter because the shark sleeps like a log. That was the reason how Gladiia even managed to kidnap her in the first place.

And she had a smile on her face. The pleasant heat coming from Ash was simply amazing. He was like a warm water bottle in winter.

But when she looked at his face, she saw that he was just staring at the ceiling. Unmoving, he didn't even react when she moved around.

"Ash..." Skadi muttered silently, she then felt the forlorn feeling coming from him. It made her chest tighten.

So she sat on top of him and stared right at him. After a couple of seconds, he snapped out of it and he reached for her hair, ruffling it a bit. "You're awake? Come, let Specter sleep some more and I'll make something for breakfast."

They ate silently and patiently waited for Gladiia to return. But when the inquisitors returned from their morning rounds and she still didn't come back. Ash felt like something was wrong.

He already recognized the sword fish's scent and tracked it down remotely. The trails ended right at the church and her scent didn't go anywhere else.

"Something's wrong, we need to go to the church and find Gladiia on our own." Ash went back to his room and woke up Specter.

Irene and Dario followed their trail. And they went to the church. "There's nothing here on the church, a priest does sermons regularly. But he's clean, though his teachings are about the blessings from the sea. Which isn't technically wrong." Irene commented.

"The reason why you don't find it suspicious is because it's normal in Iberia for that to be the case. But there's a cult on the rise, this priest guy should have disappeared by now. But he didn't, that means one thing." Ash explained and the inquisitors sighed.

"Yeah, if his actions does affect the church of the deep. He would be taken care of pretty quickly. He's an agent for the cult. Damn, should've seen that." Dario cursed and they entered the gloomy looking building.

Ash concentrated and felt for any drafts or echoes. He quickly craned his neck on a mounted candle holder and he inspected it.

"No dust on this thing, while the others do. A switch, cliche bastards." He twisted it and the wall in front slowly opened up.

Ash, Specter, and Skadi immediately got a whiff of blood. Fishy blood to be exact. Which means it came from a seaborne or an abyssal hunter.

There were no Aegirians to be seen in Sal Viento. Most likely the courtesy of Irene and the inquisition.

"Everybody, on me. It's faint, but there's blood spilled here." Ash put himself on the vanguard as the shield of the group.

It was a pretty long hallway and they ended up seeing a capsule where Gladiia was put inside of it.

"Murphy, fuck you. How the hell did she got there? I thought you said she's the strongest out of all of you?" Ash pointed at Gladiia and Skadi just shook her head.

"I don't know, maybe she got ambushed?" Skadi was in disbelief.

"Hello, visitors. Specter, it is good to see you again." A guy wearing robes for a bishop greeted them.

Irene immediately pointed her guns at him and Dario brandished his swords.

"So, you this Quintus guy?" Ash raised a brow, the little turd was a bit too relaxed.

"That is so, it seems that Gladiia really did try to betray us. Shame, the abyssal hunters should have been with the church of the deep. After all, you and the seabornes are all but the same." Quintus smirked at Skadi and Specter.

The nun furrowed her brows and a core memory of hers returned, making her clutch her head in pain.

Meanwhile, Skadi started to hyperventilate. The memories of the seaborne killing her comrades coming back like a freight train.

"Skadi, don't listen to the prick!" Ash held her cheeks and shaked her. But her eyes were glazed over.

They then heard roars from behind, groups of seaborne suddenly appeared in waves.

Irene and Dario quickly sprung into action. Ash sighed and massaged his temples, it was going to shit. He didn't realize that Skadi would of course have issues. Specter's, he saw it coming.

"So, should I kill you right now? It would be laughably easy." Ash looked at Quintus and he chuckled.

"I believe I cannot let you do that." A humanoid seaborne suddenly appeared. (pic)

Ash blinked, he thought they couldn't talk. That they were just mindless monsters controlled by a hive mind. Guess he was wrong.

"Do your mother kiss you? Because you have looks that even she won't love." Ash commented in disgust at the freaky looking seaborne.

It then started laughing. "My mother? Isn't she beside you right now?" The freak pointed at Skadi and Ash furrowed his brows in confusion.

"Isn't that right, mother? Accept it, you're the first. Give in to it and bring forth eternal silence to the world." It started monologuing and Ash was getting pissed off.

He raised his hand and made a grabbing motion with it. The freaky seaborne got crushed like a crumpled aluminum can. Black and blue blood spilled on the ground and the inquisitors that saw it gagged from the sight.

"No! Who are you? You wretch! That was the first one to talk!" Quintus transformed into a giant blob of flesh and tentacles. (pic)

"Hehehe, try and do anything. I will crush this pitiful hunter." His tentacles wrapped around the capsule where Gladiia has been put inside and crushed the glass.

"Ewww, fuck. I am not interested in tentacle porn, you fucked up bastard." Ash separated the tentacles from Gladiia and he pulled her towards them in a split second.

"Wha, how could this be?" Quintus raged, his voice grotesque and disgusting.

"Like this, you slimy cunt." Ash willed his ethereal hand to appear and smashed him like a bug.

"Woah, is that your power?" Irene was in awe, he took care of the leviathan with ease.

"Shut up forehead, take care of the goddamned mobs like the good minion you are!" Ash shouted and Dario gave her a disapproving look for being distracted again.

She drew her guns and went right into the middle of a group of Seaborne. She then began to speen, firing her guns with reckless abandon.

"Guh, this is impossible. I have been blessed by the deep... How can I die here like this?" Quintus was still barely alive and Ash saw that the fucker is regenerating, albeit slowly.

"Cockroaches should be killed with fire, I guess I'll give you a better alternative." He tapped the floor with his feet and Quintus fell in a hole. Ash then superheated some stone and made some lava, pouring it right in the hole.

"Ahhhh! Curse you! I will kill you! The ceaseless waves will kill you all!" He screamed before going silent. The sound of something sizzling being left behind.

"So much for that freak." Ash rolled his eyes. "Fucking cultists and their shitty ambitions, why would you want to turn into a tentacle monster?" He couldn't understand them.

Ash put Specter besides Gladiia and he turned to Skadi. "Hey, are you alright?" Ash tapped her softly on the face.

"Don't touch me..." Skadi whispered and he furrowed his brows.

"You're not, come on. Let's get out of here, Irene and Dario are almost done with the mobs." Ash tried to pull her, but she took her arm back and gritted her teeth.

"No! I am a monster! Get away from me! Ahhhhhh!" She started screaming and his eyes opened wide.

"She's gonna blow! Run away as far as you can!" Ash immediately clumped the others together and encased them in a barrier, making them fly away from the place.

"Ow! That bastard, I swear he's trying to annoy us to no end!" Irene fumed, but she suddenly saw a blast of bluish white energy explode from the church, decimating everything.

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Thanks for reading everyone, ciao.