The Outlander had already prepared himself to face a terrifying aberration, to face that monster disguised as a mermaid, to face the ugliest desires buried deep within his heart.
"This is..."
But all he saw was the mermaid, nearly identical to the one in the painting, her entire body emitting a gentle glow as she sank deeper into the dark lake. She had long black hair and pale, luminous skin. The currents wrapped around her like chains, dragging her deeper beneath the water, yet also making her seem perfectly at home in that strange, dark underwater world.
Her uncovered upper body had only two arms, while her lower half was a fish tail covered in shimmering scales. Beauty and charm were displayed to the fullest in that underwater realm of darkness. Whatever she was, at that moment, that face which gathered the beauty of every girl Shade knew—the most beautiful face—was truly smiling at him.
She was not the monster he had expected. The desire Shade saw at that moment was truly a beautiful mermaid.
Bubbles escaped from the mouth of the increasingly distant "mermaid," who seemed about to be swallowed by the darkness. They floated to Shade's ear, allowing him to hear her voice:
"You have finally looked at me again. This is... nice."
She pressed her right index and middle fingers together against her red lips, then lightly flicked them toward Shade above her. Then Shade truly felt as though something had kissed his cheek. With her final laugh, an immense surge of spirit, enough to make his very soul boil, flooded into his body. Whisper Elements wrapped around him, and the Destiny Ring behind him appeared automatically underwater, spinning at tremendous speed and driving the currents into a whirl.
Black iron-colored spirit light gathered across the surface