Drip.

Drip.

The sound of blood dripping into the salty water of the ocean could be heard with how quiet it was around Skadi.

Then she raised her foot and crushed something under her heel.

With a loud crunch. The thing's skull cracked open, making the water around her even darker.

After flicking her sword to the side to get rid of the rest of the blood, Skadi stared at her now-dead prey for today.

Although it was quite hard to distinguish what it was, from the few pieces still intact on its main body, people might think it was an octopus of some sort albeit larger than any normal-sized one.

To paint a better picture, one of its tentacles was longer than the height of a normal house.

Its skin was also strange, so black that there was a light blue glow emitting off of them.

However, Skadi knew what this thing was.

It was her kin's mortal enemies.

Seaborn.

Just thinking of it made her blood boil.

Its dark, almost black blood, bled into the ocean making the once beautiful blue water look like it was tar.

Even in death, they find a way to make the world just a bit worse.

Skadi did a quick check on her body to make sure she was fine. Some of those things are able to trick their opponent into not feeling pain, leading them to die unknowingly from injuries that they did not know existed.

Luckily she did not sustain any major injuries. There were some wounds here and there on her skin but it was nothing to worry about.

Nodding at this, Skadi placed her sword on her back and was about to leave the water. The faster she got away from the water, the better. However, she stopped when she noticed some of its blood was on her hair.

Her eyes narrowed at this.

This was one of many things that she hated about them, their blood. It was sticky and it was very uncomfortable on her hair.

Then her eyes widened, remembering something important.

The bounty hunter immediately ran her hand through the hair that was under her hat. she sighed in relief when she felt her finger bumping into something.

It was still there.

The hair clip was still there.

The pink orca hair clip was still on her.

Skadi's whole body relaxed when she started to fiddle it under her hat.

It was a habit that she picked. Every time she felt troubled or when her emotions were all over the place, she would do this. Just with this simple act, Skadi could feel her emotions all calm down.

However, the hurricane of emotion changed and was replaced with something else.

Longing.

To see the one that gave her this simple nicknack that could easily show her emotion just by its sight.

But as she finally stepped out from the water, something changed.

Pain.

That was what she was feeling. It was like a javelin struck straight into her heart.

It was so strong, Skadi almost fell to her knees at how suddenly it came.

Her breathing started to grow heavy with each air she took.

Skadi gasped at her chest and looked down at it.

There was nothing.

No hole.

No javelin.

She was fine.

The pain still lingered in her heart.

Her heart was still beating like it was fighting for its life. The lungs in herself felt they were on fire.

What was wrong with her?

She made sure no harm was made to herself after the fight.

This was something Skadi never experienced before.

It was like a snake was tightening its body around her heart, suffocating her with each movement.

What was wrong with her?

What was this feeling?

It might be just her body telling her to get some rest. Skadi forced herself to finish a job that normally needed her three months to do in one month.

It might just be her imagination.

That was the most reasonable thing to think of in this whole situation.

However…

Skadi knew better than to think lightly of what she was feeling now.

Her body wouldn't react like this just out of whim.

Although the feeling disappeared as fast as it came, Skaid's mind still lingered on what just happened.

"As expected of the Sword of the Tides."

Her thoughts were cut short when a man let himself be known to her with his voice.

"You dealt with our problem with such ease. No wonder you're considered as the—!"

What the man was about to say died in his mouth. And if his eyes were not fooling him, it won't be long before he would share the same fate as them as well.

Who wouldn't think like that with what he was facing now?

In front of him were two blood-red orbs staring at him. It felt like if he did a single wrong move, he would become a past tense.

He finally knew why so many fear her now.

In front of him was a person that could easily slice a mountain in two with just a simple swing of her sword.

He did not need to be a genius to know what would happen if she attacked him instead.

"What?"

He would not lie, the man almost pissed himself after hearing that.

How could a word sound so terrifying?

Skadi regained her control and she fiddled with the hair clip again. Retracting her eyes from the man, she looked in another direction.

It was where Rhodes Island was.

Not being stared down by her again, the man finally regained some semblance of courage and continued where he left off.

"H-here's your payment."

Albeit, his voice did tremble a lot.

With hands that were shakier than a leaf in a storm, the man held a pouch of money toward her.

Skadi stared back at the man with glowing red eyes.

This was the final nail in the coffin for the man as he dropped the pouch on the sand and left.

He ran so fast, dust was flying behind him.

Skadi did not bother to check the bag, knowing full well that this man did not dare to scam her.

She did not even look at it.

Her eyes just went back to the direction where the Landship was.

Then another distraction came her way.

Something's vibrating inside her pocket.

She pulled out her phone and saw she just got a new mission. This was a normal thing to happen. The moment she finished one mission, another would come to replace it.

All of her missions had one common thing in them.

Her targets were them.

Seaborn.

The very being that she was made to kill.

This one was not an ant different as well.

As she opened the message, Skadi glazed through what she was dealing with. Everything about the mission was what she wanted.

At the end of the message, there was a simple button.

[Accept]

If she pressed, Skadi needed to go.

She should have pressed it immediately. It was like any mission she had taken.

But she did not know, her finger was just hovering above the button.

She was hesitating.

"Skadi."

When Skadi heard a familiar voice ringing inside her head, she acted immediately.

Skadi exited the text message interface and entered the Contacts. She dialled the only number that she saved in it. She put it on speaker.

As soon as the call rang, the throbbing that Skadi felt just now made its appearance again. She needed to subconsciously remind herself to not crush the phone in her hand.

Only a few seconds passed when her call connected but Skadi felt like a lifetime past. She was about to relax when she heard the voice that answered her.

It was not his.

"Miss Skadi? I'm Stewart, you should-."

"Where is he?" Skadi interrupted Stewart, not wanting to waste any more time, "Where's Ye?"

"A-Ah, you're looking for the Doctor?" Steward's voice stuttered, "He's busy with work."

"Get him," Skadi basically ordered him.

"That… He's probably not very free now. Maybe late-."

"Get. Him."

Skadi's voice was much colder now.

The more this person was delaying, the pit of pain she felt became worse.

She had a guess about what was going on there.

She did not want it to be true though.

Anything but that.

The other end suddenly became extremely quiet.

As time passed, Skadi seemed to understand something, and the knuckle on her side became paler.

"He's dead?" Skadi asked in a low voice.

"... He shouldn't be." The person admitted, "This whole situation is far beyond me. I don't know how to tell you, Miss Skadi."

She did not care about the situation.

One thing did.

One person did.

"Is he dead?" She repeated her question.

After a while, Skadi could hear a sigh from the other side.

"Doctor's situation is very strange now. No one can tell what happened to him… The Doctor stopped breathing an hour ago, and Miss Nian already told us that-"

Skadi couldn't hear what he said after that.

The only thing that she could hear was buzzing noises. It was like she was in a hive.

Then an image appeared in her mind.

A man smiling her way.

Like how he would greet her. No matter what happened, a smile was always on his face when Skadi saw him.

Before she could do anything, something changed.

He was fading.

But before he was completely gone, Skadi heard him mutter something.

"Bye Skadi."

But that image was instantly replaced by a skeleton.

Her phone has been hung up.

Skadi turned and ran towards where the Landship was.

She didn't even pick up the pouch left by the client.

It did not matter.

Her body was still drenched with dark blood as she forced her legs to run as fast as she could.

It did not matter.

What mattered was to find him.


{Rhodes Island's Psychologist}


A crack echoed under his foot.

Ye raised a brow and lifted up his foot to see what it was, making sure he held onto his umbrella tightly. He did not want to get wet in the rain, he was about to tell his parents that he got into a university that he always wanted, getting sick was the last thing he wanted.

When he moved his foot away he saw something he was not expected to find on the road.

He bent down to get a better look at it.

Sure enough, he was not seeing things.

It was a hair clip.

It was an orca but based on his memories, orcas should be black. Why was this one pink out of all things?

Ye stood back up and stared at the little thing. It had scratches on it, Ye must be responsible for some of them.

After inspecting it for a while more, he hummed to himself.

Maybe he shouldn't take the alley as a shortcut after all.

Ye was about to go back to the main road but was stopped when he saw something.

"How convenient." Smiling at what he was seeing, Ye walked to it.

When he was near it, Ye used it.

He tossed the scratch-up hair clip into the rubbish bin.

Nodding to himself, he continued with his journey. He needed to hurry though. With how heavy it was raining, Mom would get worried.

As Ye ran in the rain, he did not notice a man standing in the curtain of the rain behind him.

He looked into the alleyways where Ye previously wanted to use.

After a while, he heard a cat meowing in it

Then he saw a black and white cat drenched in the rain.

The man chuckled.

"He abandoned an Angel? Pity."


{Rhodes Island's Psychologist}


Draft: Jaq

Proofread: Discord

Edit: Jaq