Ambush

Despite being warned about the danger of Dark Sirens, Clara insisted on helping Rika and the other humans because she herself had once been born as a human.

Unfortunately, Nereids did not allow Clara and promised to watch over Rika for her. With a heavy heart, she accepted what Nereids had said. She returned to Atlantis feeling anxious.

On the other hand, Ryan was shooting at some sirens that were trying to attack humans using a shotgun.

"What are these creatures, actually?!" Ryan asked Ronald, who was beside him while helping others. They both didn't stand still; instead, they went side by side to assist unarmed people.

After a while, Ryan ran out of bullets. However, the Dark Sirens seemed to increase, as if they wanted to take control of the coastal area. He was forced to retreat by Ronald, who had also run out of bullets.

At such an inopportune moment, Ryan saw his grandmother approaching the shore from a distance. He decided not to seek shelter and instead returned to the shore, asking people fleeing to help secure the area for his grandmother. However, the result was futile as nobody dared to help, as they were all terrified.

Ronald couldn't persuade him. Ryan grabbed a warning sign and faced the sea monsters directly. Ronald, seeing more Dark Sirens approaching, wasn't unwilling to help, but he was overwhelmed by fear and ran away. However, unlike Ryan, he fought his fear to save his grandmother.

At some point, Ryan stumbled and was about to be bitten by a Dark Siren, but suddenly someone shot an arrow into the monster's head, killing it.

"What are you doing here? Go away, or you will die!" a girl ordered while continuously shooting swiftly.

"No, I won't leave without my grandmother," Ryan said while fending off the sea monsters approaching him.

"Too dangerous for you to be here. Go to Canon Bay; I will take your grandmother there," the girl said.

At first, Ryan wanted to decline the girl's offer, but she firmly reiterated her statement. Ryan quickly went to Canon Bay, a seafood restaurant not far from there.

The girl, whose name was still unknown, was not alone; she was with her four friends, continuously shooting at the sea monsters.

"Sena! This is too much!" Dom said, Sena's friend.

"Yes, we should go back!" Valentine added.

Sena, who had promised Ryan that she would save his grandmother, couldn't comply with what her friends were saying.

Sena even told her friends to leave immediately, but, of course, they didn't want to leave Sena in such a situation.

"What are you doing, Sena?!" Eli asked firmly because Sena refused to go back.

"Go away! I will save that grandmother!" Sena insisted and walked towards the boat to protect Rika.

From a distance, Ryan saw some sirens leaping to attack his grandmother, but for some reason, the sirens were repelled and screamed.

Ryan, realizing that his grandmother would soon reach the shore, reaffirmed his determination to help Sena with a kitchen knife borrowed from the restaurant.

"Hey! Don't go there; my friends can handle them," Valentine said.

"No, she can't do it alone. They're increasing, what kind of friends are you, leaving her there alone?!" Ryan argued.

Rika finally reached the shore, protected by Sena and her grandson, Ryan. However, Sena had run out of arrows as she had been fighting alone all this time.

"Save her," Sena said. Then she stopped in her tracks.

"What do you mean?" Ryan asked when he saw Sena in a resigned state.

"Go quickly! I will hold them off!"

Ryan hurriedly took Rika away. Meanwhile, Sena moved towards the crowd of monsters to slow them down.

Several monsters leaped at Sena. However, suddenly, a water ball hit those monsters. All the monsters about to attack humans instantly died when the water ball struck them at high speed.

Ryan and Rika stopped and watched what the water ball did. The water ball attacked all the sea monsters and managed to make them retreat.

Ryan was amazed when he saw the water ball right in front of him, and there was a female siren there. It was none other than Clara.

"Are you hurt?" Clara asked.

"I'm fine, thank you."

Rika replied with a smile. Shortly after that, someone shot an arrow directly into Clara's right chest. Then, the water ball burst, and Clara fell. Sena and Ryan's friends surrounded Clara with their weapons. Seeing this, Rika immediately rushed in and stood right in front of Clara.

"She's not like those sirens! She helped humans!" Rika insisted.

"All sirens are the same! None of them are good to humans; they're creatures thirsty for human blood!" Leon, one of Ryan's friends in the Siren Hunter community, argued.

"Unfortunately, you're wrong, old woman. My son, Mike, is dying because of those sirens," John, Mike's father, suddenly appeared.

A lengthy debate ensued. Clara was having trouble breathing as she couldn't get any water.

"Rika, other sirens will come looking for me if I'm missing for too long," Clara whispered.

"Don't worry, Clara. Your life won't end like this," Rika said.

Ryan was confused about whom to defend. On one hand, Rika was his grandmother, and he didn't want to kill Clara. On the other hand, Leon was his companion in the Siren Hunter group.

"It's okay. Let them take this siren; they won't kill her, I promise you," Ryan said calmly.

"No, Ryan. I wo—"

"I promise you, you know I've never broken my promise, right?" Ryan interrupted.

Unable to say anything more, Rika left the scene, looking at Clara in her current state with great sadness. Then, John instructed the others to carry Clara away because she had passed out.

"Fool," Nereids muttered as she watched from a distance.

...

"Where am I?" Clara asked when she woke up.

Clara woke up in a small aquarium that could only accommodate one siren, and she couldn't move much inside the cramped space.

"Don't worry, I won't kill you now," John said, sitting comfortably in his chair in front of the aquarium, smoking.

"Who are you? Why are you holding me?" Clara asked firmly.

"You don't need to know who I am, but what's clear is that your kind has harmed my only son to the point of near death."

"They are not my kind; they are different sirens. They are my enemies."

"I don't care whether they are your enemies or not, but in my opinion, all sirens are equally evil."

Hearing John's words, Clara grew angrier. "Listen to me! I am the leader of the sirens, but I am not like them. If you continue to hold me like this, other sirens will come looking for me, and I don't want there to be a war between humans and sirens," Clara explained.