Specter's Plan to Throw Her Captain Under the Bus / The Deep Sea Church's Final Days

"No, not at all." Sea Siren quickly shook her head. "We're planning to rob Aegir."

For a fleeting moment, Mizuki began to doubt her ears. Were these Sea Siren going to abduct Aegir? Or were they going to wipe Aegir out?

"There are too many places in the relics you and your second aunt left us that need to be repaired, but it's too difficult to expand industry on the seabed. We can only find some existing ones. At the very least, we need to dismantle a roof from Aegir to create an isolated area."

"But if you do this, I won't be able to explain it to Skadi and Specter."

Mizuki raised an eyebrow. Skadi and Specter had asked him more than once if he could find out about Aegir's current situation. Even though they knew the Abyssal Hunters were victims of a conspiracy, their longing for their homeland remained. Aegir was the path they had come from.

"Don't worry! We investigated and found out the truth a while ago."

Sea Siren 11111 appears to be the main leader of these Sea Siren in front of them.

"Not too far from here in the sea, there's a newly built city by the Aegir. It was originally intended as bait to lure... Aunt Skadi and the others in. There's hardly anyone inside; we can demolish it as we please!"

"I see... wait, you mean bait?"

Mizuki immediately became alert. Skadi and Specter were involved, so he couldn't ignore it.

Chapter 179 Specter's Pit Captain's Grand Plan

If there's one thing that the members of the Church of the Deep all have in common, it's that they're all unwilling to give up easily on anything. This is Mizuki sensed from Cicero, and Hai Mo also met many members of the Church of the Deep with him.

Perhaps out of a desire to protect her, Cicero never treated Hai Mo as his student or successor, nor did he allow her to join the Church of the Deep, probably hoping that one day she would not be implicated too much.

The plan targeting the Abyssal Hunters, or more accurately, Skadi, was devised long ago, long before Skadi and Mizuki knew each other, long before the existence of the Abyssal Hunters was written into the plan.

The Abyssal Hunters are indeed a sharp weapon in Aegir's hands. With Aegir's level of science and technology, there are certainly better ways to annihilate the Seaborn. However, Aegir is wary of the Seaborn's powerful vitality and adaptability. In order to prevent the Seaborn from adapting to Aegir's firearms and evolving similar aspects, the Abyssal Hunters use cold weapons. After all, no flesh can withstand a sharp spear or sword blade, and any shell will be shattered by heavy blows.

The Aegir firmly believed this, and many voluntarily chose to become Abyssal Hunters. Gladiia was the first to take the lead; she was Aegir's war governor and also a technician.

However, Skadi was chosen as the host of Ishar-mla, the Seaborn God, a girl whose file contained nothing noteworthy. Her greatest wish was to be a seabed maintainer, receiving decent pay and not having to do too much mentally taxing work.

No one knew why it was her, not even the bishops of the Church of the Deep could understand it, because Gladiia was clearly the stronger individual among the Abyssal Hunters, but it was Ishar-mla's choice, and also the choice of the Brood Seaborn.

"But in reality, Ishar-mla at that time used those stone tablets and the cloud computing power of the Brood Seaborn to deduce the future most favorable to the Seaborn, which may also be an observation of parallel worlds. You must know this. The Sea of Izumik has the same function."

As the Sea Siren spoke, Mizuki nodded in agreement. His understanding of the Sea of Life had now reached a new level.

This Sea of Life, which does not exist in the real dimension and exists independently of time and space, can not only observe parallel worlds, but also actively interfere with them. Glimpsing the future is one of its capabilities, and even... Mizuki feels that she might be able to change the past now.

"The deep-sea bishops don't know the reasons behind Ishar-mla's arrangements, but as you know, these despised sea traitors will spare no effort when it comes to betraying their own people."

The bishops of the Church of the Deep within Aegir orchestrated a scheme, claiming to have discovered the leader of the Seaborn and that killing him would end Aegir's long-standing predicament.

Four teams of Abyssal Hunters set off, singing moving songs and carrying their own weapons: long spears, circular saws, greatswords, giant anchors, or long-handled scythes. They neither expected to live nor accepted death; this was simply a hunt.

However, the hunters were merely victims. If it weren't for Seaborn's intention, they wouldn't even have been able to swim to Ishar-mla's side, and Skadi wouldn't have been able to kill Ishar-mla's body and become its new host.

According to the original plan, the Church of the Deep intended to use the flagship of the Iberia Golden Fleet as bait to lure the Abyssal Hunters. They built a city near the sea as a trap to capture the hunters, guessing that no hunter could resist the temptation to go home.

However, Mizuki shattered all their plans. This being who suddenly appeared and ascended to become Seaborn had a higher appeal and priority Ishar-mla among the Seaborn the Brood. He was the Evolutionary Singularity, representing infinite possibilities.

Compared to the future deduced from those stone tablets, Mizuki is a more reliable and efficient path for the Brood Seaborn. The appearance of the Sea Siren has also convinced the Brood Seaborn, from the lowest-level Terrorfish to the highest-level intelligent Seaborn, that this choice is correct.

"In short, that's pretty much it. You became the variable that the Church of the Deep never anticipated."

The Evolutionary Singularity, freed from the constraints of the physical body yet still able to interfere with the Material Realm, possessing emotions yet maintaining a highly concentrated hive pattern, is precisely the optimal branch of evolution for the Seaborn.

This is strange, yet it seems quite normal. No matter how much the Sea Siren cause trouble, they are still descendants of Seaborn, and some things are etched into their spirits.

"Now that Seaborn's help is gone, the communication between the Church of the Deep believers in Iberia and Aegir is much slower. They don't even know you exist in Aegir. They've worked hard to build a city, and we just want to pick up the scraps, since nobody else wants it anyway."

The Sea Siren rubbed their hands together; it wasn't that they wanted to steal anything or become pirates, but rather that they were helping Mizuki eliminate a major threat in advance.

"So that means the Church of the Deep hasn't given up on awakening Skadi into Ishar-mla?"

"Yes, the Church of the Deep of Iberia is particularly confident that as long as Ishar-mla is revived, she will definitely be able to replace you as the guide of the Seaborn. At that time, these traitors will be able to regain their positions and realize their ambitions."

It has to be said that this is a ridiculous and laughable idea. It would probably keep the Sea Siren entertained for several days during their lunch breaks, and they would inevitably laugh at the Church of the Deep's delusional fantasies.

Indeed, Ishar-mla, as one of the earliest "Firstborn" of the Seaborn, has a very high priority among them, but what does that have to do with the Sea Siren? They are raised by the Mizuki, and they basically don't listen to Ishar-mla's orders.

Moreover, now that the Sea Siren possess human emotions, they speculate that Ishar-mla's choice of Skadi as her host wasn't solely due to Skadi's successful conquest of the entire land with the Seaborn in the parallel world. It might also be because Skadi, like Isamara, was the type to simply drift through life. If it weren't for the fact that the most reliable of the Brood four "Firstborn," the "Spreading Branches," chose to die to nourish the Brood, and that the "Origin of Life" and the "Unmelting Iceberg" were constantly acting erratically, Ishar-mla wouldn't have needed to shoulder the responsibility.

Now that there's a capable leader like Mizuki who can withstand pressure and manage the household, Ishar-mla is more than happy to stay inside Skadi's body. She's the type who does whatever Mizuki says.

Hoping Ishar-mla would overthrow Izumik? Let alone whether Seaborn would agree, she herself wouldn't agree. She finally has a chance to slack off. Although she has to share a body with Skadi, the two of them don't fight for control anymore, because Skadi's ideas are often the same as Ishar-mla's ideas, and their thinking is gradually converging.

Hai Mo's expression turned strange after hearing this, while Irene frowned. She hadn't expected the Church of the Deep to have been planning this for so long. And if they really did implement this plan, not to mention what would happen to Mizuki, Iberia would definitely not be able to withstand the next Great Silence.

"The Church of the Deep... it's best not to keep them around."

Originally, Mizuki didn't intend to get involved with the Church of the Deep, not only because Cicero was a member of the Church of the Deep, but also because the matter would be somewhat troublesome.

The members of the Church of the Deep are a mixed bunch, and not all of them are unforgivable. In fact, some of them are involved with high-ranking officials in Iberia. It's better to leave these matters to others.

However, it seems that this idea is not very feasible. Mizuki is not in a hurry to cause trouble for the Church of the Deep. Instead, they have started to make their own plans. He admits that it is difficult to eliminate the Church of the Deep, but if the Church of the Deep wants to harm the people he cherishes, he will not hold back at all.

The sky began to darken, the air became damp and oppressive. Irene subconsciously looked at Mizuki. She remembered the ability Shuiyue had previously demonstrated to manipulate the weather. Moreover, this was the sea, and for a Seaborn deity, the sea was like home, where she could unleash her full power.

"Irene, if the Church of the Deep has members of your Inquisition, can I take action against them without authorization?"

"Of course, the Inquisition will not tolerate traitors, but... how do you plan to capture those Deep Sea Believers?"

"That's easy." Mizuki smiled and tilted her head slightly, her cuteness making Irene's heart race a little. "Iberia is by the sea, so it's normal for there to be one or two heavy rains now and then, it's just that this time the area affected is a bit larger."

As if to confirm Mizuki's words, large raindrops began to fall from the sky. Irene and Hai Mo subconsciously moved closer to Mizuki, since he was the only one holding an umbrella. However, it was still a bit crowded for the three of them to huddle together. Mizuki could even feel Hai Mo deliberately squeezing him with her front armor. After all, it was one thing for Irene, but the Liberi didn't like having their ear feathers wet. Ho'olheyak had previously complained that Mizuki shouldn't have gotten Jellyfish-chan on her feathers.

But Hai Mo is now a semi- Seaborn; she can survive even in the sea, so what's there to fear about getting rained on?

However... it seems the previous help did have some effect, as Irene's model appears to have increased somewhat.

(Wait, what am I thinking? This is not the time to daydream.)

Mizuki shook her head slightly, then watched as the rain grew heavier and heavier. The Sea Siren were as happy as if they were back home, jumping and climbing here and there in the rain, until they saw countless tentacles growing on the rain and the sand beneath their feet, denser than the grass on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.

The tentacles first approached Mizuki and swayed in greeting. To be honest, this chaotic and disorderly display made the Sea Siren begin to suspect that their leader was some kind of villain. Who would believe that this was a good guy?

However, Hai Mo and Irene couldn't see the tentacles. The Little Bird slightly protected its head with its hands, its gaze fixed on Mizuki.

"Go, find all those with the aura of Seaborn, but remember to observe them first, and don't harm any of them."

The tentacles nodded in agreement, indicating that Mizuki could confidently entrust the matter to them, and then disappeared from his sight. The Church of the Deep was in for a treat now... Hmm?

"Look what you've done! My hair is all wet."

Irene puffed out her cheeks slightly, not so much angry as to show some resentment, like a girl whose boyfriend had smeared cream on her face on her birthday.

Hai Mo felt that something was off, but she couldn't quite put her finger on what was wrong. She just felt that Mizuki and Irene's relationship seemed to have become much closer than before.

At least a few days ago, Irene deliberately kept her distance from Mizuki, while maintaining those ideas that Hai Mo considered tedious and useless. Now, this Little Bird has revealed her true self, no, she's even a bit too proactive.

"Just get a little closer. This rain won't last long."

Mizuki stepped back a little to give Irene and Hai Mo more space, but Irene glanced down at Hai Mo, who was clinging to Mizuki's arm and pressed against him, and after thinking for a moment, she chose to hug Mizuki's waist tighter.

The umbrella, which was barely big enough for two people to shelter from the rain, was finally able to cover three people. They hugged each other like this, and Irene noticed that Mizuki's waist was really thin, and it felt too good to touch.

As the heavy rain fell, the girls at the Rhodes Island office instinctively felt that it was the work of Mizuki rather than natural rain.

"With such heavy rain, it seems Mizuki is quite angry."

The Doctor took a sip of her hot coffee. Unlike Exusiai and the others, she could directly see the tentacles emerging from the rain, and some of them even came over to greet her.

Using the Doctor's left and right perspectives as a dividing line, she saw two different worlds.

On the left was simply a heavy rain, with occasional gusts of wind howling by, while on the right was a scene she couldn't quite describe.

Countless enormous tentacles stretched out from the clouds and into the deep sea, and the raindrops, like seeds, sprouted into writhing tentacles wherever they fell.

Pedestrians strolled along the street in twos and threes, rushing home, passing by the tentacles without noticing. The tentacles, however, scrutinized the passersby, seemingly selecting targets.

This scene was truly mind-numbing; even the Doctor couldn't help but close her eyes. If it were just the tentacles, it wouldn't be so bad, but the different perspectives on either side made it somewhat frightening for the Doctor.

"Captain, I think I should have Mizuki take a look at your condition later. He should be able to cure you."

Specter gently parted Gladiia's hair, looking at the scales on the back of her neck, knowing that Gladiia's condition was gradually becoming dangerous.

As one of the earliest Abyssal Hunters to undergo modification, Gladiia's assimilation was even more profound. Apart from Mizuki, Specter couldn't think of anyone else who could solve this problem.

She didn't want her beloved captain to become a member of Seaborn, but... she didn't say what Mizuki's treatment method was.

Chapter 180 The End of the Church of the Deep

"What heavy rain! This awful weather!"

"Stop complaining. This heavy rain will at least give us some shelter. Come on in."

In the basement of a temporarily closed tavern in Bulofer, the Deep Sea Cultists gathered. After losing the voice from the sea and no longer being able to meet with the messengers, it was unlikely that the Church of the Deep wouldn't be worried.

Those believers at the lower levels are alright; they only know that the Church of the Deep can provide them with food to survive, but they don't know the true nature of this food.

However, the higher-ups of the Church of the Deep were truly panicked, and even now they couldn't understand why Izumik, who was also a deity of the Deep Seaborn, would choose to reject and abandon the Church of the Deep, even though they had made many contributions to the Seaborn!

Without Seaborn's support, the situation of the Church of the Deep deteriorated rapidly. The Deep Sea bishops held an emergency meeting overnight to send Cicero to negotiate with Mizuki, at least to find out why Seaborn had stopped associating with the Church of the Deep.

But Cicero was a man who didn't care about the feelings of the Church of the Deep; he only wanted to get the answer to his original question from Mizuki.

The identity of the Deep Sea Bishop was merely a means to better conduct research. Cicero himself was an excellent biologist and a loner within the Church of the Deep. After obtaining the answers he sought, he chose to leave, completely disregarding the thoughts of the remaining Deep Sea Bishops.

However, he only sought out Amaia once before leaving.

"Without support from the deep sea, we need to be even more cautious in our operations. We've been warned not to casually merge with the Deep Sea's Gift."

The Deep Sea's Gift is actually the life cells of the Seaborn that Hai Mo previously consumed. It will cause the recipient to be quickly assimilated into Seaborn. Some time ago, several deep-sea bishops transformed into the bodies of Seaborn and went to the deep sea, trying to get answers from higher-level Seaborn and regain the support of the deep sea.

But the idea was wonderful. Less than a minute after transforming into Seaborn, the thoughts from the Seaborn the Brood and the Sea Siren merged, turning the Deep Sea Bishops, who could only maintain their self-awareness in front of them, into true Seaborn. They even lasted less than the Hai Mo.

"In any case, the bishops are planning a meeting with a new deity. There must be some mistake. This new deity probably doesn't trust humans, so he's wary of us too."

The news of the new god had already spread Seaborn Church of the Deep. In order to stabilize the faith of its followers, they deliberately spread the word that Izumik did not believe in humans and that it was just a simple misunderstanding.

Since Seaborn did indeed provide considerable assistance to the Church of the Deep in the past, this claim is not without basis.

"I believe everything will be alright once Bishop Amaia meets Izumik."

"For the sake of the deep sea... Eek, why didn't you retract your tentacles?"

"What do you mean, 'my tentacles'? I haven't even received the Deep Sea's Gift yet."

"Then what is this...?"

Paralyzed and unable to move, that was the tavern owner's first reaction. He immediately realized something was wrong, but he couldn't speak because his brain had lost control of his body.

His body was like a stiff puppet, unable even to control his gaze. He wanted to remind his companions, by any means necessary, but he quickly realized it was pointless, because his companions were also frozen in the same state.

The Deep Blue tentacles, even tinged with a hint of purple, gently brushed over their bodies, the neurotoxins granting them control over these bodies.

For some reason, the tentacles hesitated for a moment before eating. Mizuki's humanity also restrained them. As more and more people deepened their connection with Mizuki, his human anchor was also stabilized. Although the tentacles did not mind replenishing their nutrients, they still did not like this kind of eating.

Finally, they chose to report them. Several members of the Church of the Deep watched as the tentacles surged out from all directions. One group tied them together while the other picked up a pen and paper from the table and wrote a letter of complaint, not forgetting to add at the end, "Hoping that the prize money can be exchanged for food of equal value." After all, Mizuki was not short of money, while the tentacles did not.

"It's that same group of people again, who lose faith in the entire species because of their own environment, yet never think of changing their own environment."

The rain fell heavily. Mizuki sat on the rocks by the shore. Hai Mo and Irene had already gone back, while he had to wait here.

The Sea of Life's reconnaissance capabilities are terrifying. When the rain falls, the Mizuki's vision extends to almost everywhere, from the land to the sewers or even a household's sink.

Although the tentacles all originated from the Mizuki, they exhibited different personalities.

The mischievous and playful part will occasionally emerge, first scaring the believers of the Church of the Deep before numbing their nervous system.

Those serious and earnest tentacles will control the movements of the deep-sea believers with the fastest speed and highest efficiency, making them come to the door of the Inquisition and surrender themselves.

"I've seen people complain about not having enough food, but I've never seen them sow a single seed in the spring. To complain without making any changes is itself a form of self-degradation."

"So in your eyes, are we the fallen?"

Someone walked out from the rain, holding a black umbrella, and met Mizuki's gaze.

This was the first time Amaia had looked directly into the eyes of this newly Seaborn God. Previously, back in Lungmen, she had only caught a glimpse of him from afar and had given the Specter to Mizuki as a protector.

She knew Laurentina would protect Mizuki, but the problem was that she hadn't expected this Seaborn to have such a human side, which made Mizuki seem more like a human.

"Degenerate? No, I only feel sorry for you. Perhaps some people might even find you laughable."

Mizuki pulled his feet back slightly. He didn't mind getting wet, but he knew he'd get a lecture from the girls when he got back.

"For so many years, you have known nothing about the origin of the Seaborn or their purpose. Grandpa Cicero probably told you about it, right?"

"... Seaborn is man-made."

Amaia recalled her expression when Cicero proposed this hypothesis a few days ago, and it was definitely not pleasant. Cicero's hypothesis could shake the faith of the entire Church of the Deep.

"This conjecture is not wrong. The Seaborn is a creation of an ancient civilization, as is the civilization of Terra."

Everything needs to come to a conclusion. This is the reason why Mizuki is waiting for Amaia here. Some time ago, he guided the Seaborn within Amaia's body, gradually bringing her closer to this place.