He voiced that terrifying guess inwardly, but Shade still could not believe it:
"But wasn't that evil thing hiding in the abyss of the deep sea? How could it have come here? I understand now. This is probably really troublesome."
Shade looked again at the raging, lightless sea. The sound of the seawater roaring made every hair on his body stand on end. Ever since hearing of the Seven-Tailed Player, he had been guessing that the Radiance Messenger had sunk because of that evil thing. After obtaining some information related to the evil being in the Sixth Epoch, he had further guessed that the thousands aboard the Radiance Messenger had merely been Flesh and Bone Remains sacrifices for a ritual meant to summon it.
"But I originally thought the summoning ritual had failed. After all, Miss Teresa, Miss Maxim, and Professor Evans never mentioned noticing that mountain-sized monster while fleeing after falling into the sea. Now, it seems..."
He turned and returned to the two Witches, who were still huddled together in fear, and told them his speculation. During his adventures through these past times, he had mostly only witnessed stories and rarely encountered situations where he needed to fight personally. But this time, the Ancient Evil Being was very likely lurking beneath their feet. Shade had to make every preparation:
"The Radiance Messenger's sacrificial ritual may have succeeded. It's just that during the process of your 'deaths,' you subconsciously forgot the indescribable thing you saw in order to protect yourselves."
The Witches stared blankly at him before quietly confirming:
"So that monster came here with us too, and then was suppressed by the power of this Ocean?"
Shade nodded gently:
"From the looks of it, what truly happened to you was this: you escaped the ship that was being