A Contingency

Loen, offshore area outside Pritz Harbor.

In the dead of night, a giant sailing warship lay silently on the sea. The sea breeze blew, stirring up waves, yet it miraculously maintained its balance amidst the waves, without any turbulence.

The giant ship was empty except for one person and one cat on the deck, celebrating the New Year under the moonlight.

"Is this your first time seeing the sea? What do you think? Do you like it?"

"Queen Mystic" Bernadette Gustav rested her chin on her hand and asked the black cat opposite her.

"."

Luna remained silent, offering no response, but instead met her gaze with her deep blue eyes.

"Alright, don't worry so much, your master will definitely survive." Bernadette smiled silently, picking up a piece of bright red fish from the plate on the table beside her. "Come on, would you like to try a specialty of the Sonia Sea, freshly sliced flying fish?"

"Hah!"

Luna suddenly widened her eyes and opened her mouth wide, making a strange sound.

"Oh? Sorry, you don't like it?"

Bernadette was startled and quickly put the fish down, but the black cat's vomiting didn't stop. Its back arched high, its abdomen twitched, and it made strange "hiccup" sounds from time to time.

The Queen calmed down a bit and noticed Luna's appearance; it looked like she was... spitting out a hairball?

"Clatter."

Just then, the black cat finally spat something out of its mouth—a piece of bright Flesh.

"Sizzle."

The piece of meat, blown by the sea breeze, suddenly began to swell and stretch!

"Um?"

Bernadette's bright eyes flashed with surprise as she watched the flesh wriggle and grow rapidly. In the blink of an eye, it had grown from a small lump of flesh into the size of a normal human, and this human body was radiating a powerful Spirituality!

However, the Flesh body struggled violently, rolling around on the ground as if suffering excruciating pain.

Thump!

A piece of pale white rib was forcibly squeezed out of his body and landed on the deck.

Clang!

A strange Picture Frame also fell from his back, facing up.

"Pat-pat, pat."

Two tarot cards, one depicting the Devil, the other the Chariot!

"Ahh."

However, after expelling several strange objects imbued with Spirituality, the humanoid figure, as if its skin had been peeled off, continued to howl in agony, filled with madness. Suddenly, a deep, rust-like red color appeared on its blood-soaked body!

The deep red color instantly covered his entire body, giving him an aura of iron and blood!

"Stop!"

The Queen's expression was stern. She waved the black cat aside and summoned invisible Servants to open the doors to the Treasury.

She didn't know what Luther had gotten himself into this time, but judging from the intensity and level of its Corrosion power, it was definitely no ordinary thing!

"Creak--"

The Treasury Gate suddenly opened, and she took out a pale mask with a metallic sheen and put it on. The mask only had holes for the eyes, making Beldina's figure appear noble and cold, yet lifeless.

The masked Queen coldly gazed at the Flesh body on the ground.

"Heh, little girl, are you planning to kill him too?"

A bloody mouth cracked open on the surface of the body, chuckling softly, "He just survived a life-or-death crisis; he can't withstand this."

Before he could finish speaking, the bloodied human body covered his mouth with its hand.

"Do it!"

He forced out a word through gritted teeth, enduring the pain.

Without hesitation, the Queen's gaze was utterly cold and pale, instantly suppressing the rusty color on the other's body. But just as quickly, a terrible death descended, large patches of his Flesh losing their vitality and peeling away.

"Whoosh--"

The Phantom Tide echoed within him, banishing Medici's soul, which reluctantly retreated, shrinking back into the Lamb Slots within his body.

"Huff, huff"

The Flesh body gasped for breath, slowly recovering. Skin and hair grew back; it turned out he wasn't Monster, but a handsome young man with black hair.

--Lu Luther transformed his flesh and Flesh into a red robe, covering his body, and then slowly stood up.

He looked around and saw a vast Astral World, Crimson Moon hanging high, and a deep, tranquil Sea that reflected the Astral World like Mirror. Huge sailing warships floated on the sea, yet they were as small as specks of dust.

One moment he was struggling amidst the ruins of the Imperial Palace and Blood Sea, the next he was on a magnificent sea.

It felt like a lifetime had passed in an instant.

"No wonder you asked me to keep your cat safe; so this was your backup plan."

The Queen had removed her mask and looked him up and down, saying, "So, have you avenged those people?"

"It wasn't really revenge. I fought with all my might, but all I managed was to bombard the Imperial Palace and barely reach that damned king, splashing my blood on him."

Luther paused for a moment before speaking.

"Bombard the Imperial Palace, attack the king?"

A strange light flashed in the Queen's eyes. "You've gone this far?"

Luther simply shook his head.

This time, he clearly felt his own weakness.

We still need to keep getting stronger.

Meow~

Just then, Luna ran over, nuzzled his leg, and meowed incessantly at him. Luther bent down and scooped her up, and she obediently stayed in his arms, just staring at him intently, as if afraid he would disappear again.

"What is that thing?"

"My cat, Luna."

"No, I mean that thing inside you."

"Oh, that one."

Luther stroked the black cat's smooth head and casually replied, "They are the evil Angel that turned into after the deaths of the three Hunter Pathway: Medici, Sauron, and Einhorn."

"??"

The Queen spent some time figuring out what was going on with the evil spirits.

"According to some of the Concealment history I know, the Medici Family was a great noble family in the Solomon Empire during the Fourth Epoch Age. Their ancestor was an Angel, and their origins may be traced back to even earlier times."

She said cautiously, "One day, this ancestor of the Medici family disappeared. And after that, the Blood Emperor Tudor, at the cost of half-madness, became True God."

The Queen's eyes shone with a light, as if she were looking across time at a distant era.

Becoming a god?

Luther's memory flashed back to the Illusion he had witnessed—the simultaneous death of three Hunter Angel. It seemed they had indeed become sacrifices for his ascension to True God.

As for the Blood Emperor and the War of the Four Emperors, he didn't study them much.

"So, are you now in complete control of this evil spirit?"

"The Queen asked."

Unfortunately, there are some difficulties at the moment.

Luther replied, "As you just saw, He is not yet my Lamb."