The boat that Ch'en's group had taken control of was darting across the water as fast as it possibly could. Andreana was the one who was steering the vessel towards the islands that Ulpianus had said that the entrance to the ancient temple was located. Ulpianus was standing next to his comrade and was directing her on the best path to take to the islands.
At the rear of the boat, Yua was still being examined by Ch'en to see if she had any serious injuries. The blue-haired lung still wasn't satisfied that her future daughter was completely okay. Ch'en was using the time that they currently had to thoroughly check over the white-haired lung. "Are you sure you are fine, Yua? Nothing hurts, right? If anything is wrong, no matter how small, tell me what it is."
"Mother, I promise you I'm fine. Nothing is wrong, you don't have to fuss over me like this." Yua responded to her mother's worrying. The white-haired lung was beginning to sound annoyed with Ch'en constantly checking over her. The blue-haired lung could sense her future daughter's frustration by the tone in her voice and eventually, decided to back off, "Okay, Yua. I won't bother you anymore. I'm just worried about you, that's all. Just let me know if you feel any pain, okay? The last thing I want is you hiding any injuries from me and you end up getting hurt even more." The blue-haired lung said this to her daughter before heading on over to a different part of the boat to join Hoshiguma and Swire.
When Ch'en left her alone, the white-haired lung let out a sigh. While Yua did appreciate her mother's concern, she didn't like the fact that her mother was practically smothering her. Yua was beginning to feel like Ch'en was trying to take control of every aspect of her life again, just as the blue-haired lung had done in the future. Once the blue-haired lung left her future daughter, someone else had joined the white-haired lung. Yua looked towards her new company, and could see that it was Mostima standing right next to her.
"Yua, there's no need to be so hard on Ch'en. She's worried about you, you know? Just let her have this." The blue-haired sankta was not happy with how the white-haired lung had acted towards Ch'en's concern for her. "I know mother cares, Mostima. I just wish that she would give me some space. Even though she isn't the mother who gave birth to me, it feels like she is trying to take control of my life again." Yua replied with how she was feeling to the blue-haired sankta.
"Yua, you have no idea how much Ch'en was worried about you in the future. Do you know how many times she came to me nearly crying after you got hurt during an operation? Too many. More than once she had thought she had lost you. You were the most precious thing she had in the future. You were her flesh and blood, her daughter. You were the only family she had left. When I proposed the idea of sending you back to the past, while she was happy you would be safe, it also broke her heart that she would never see you again. You know now why she was so controlling, she wanted to protect you. I have no doubt that the Ch'en here feels the same way, even if she isn't your birth mother. Ch'en is only protecting you the way she knows best. So please Yua, just go easy on her." Mostima wanted Yua to understand why Ch'en was so controlling with her. The sankta wanted Yua to see and understand things from Ch'en's perspective.
The white-haired lung took a moment to take in Mostima's words. Yua then looked towards Ch'en in the distance who was talking to Hoshiguma and Swire. The white-haired lung looked at her mother's face and could see that she did look somewhat upset. For a moment, Yua could swear she could see a flash of her mother's face from in the future. It carried the same sadness, the same worry, the same fear of loss...
Yua did now know why Ch'en was so controlling of her life, it was the only way she knew how to protect her. Not just from the seaborn that were ravaging her world, but also from herself. The white-haired lung began to feel guilty the more she looked at her mother, "I've been a horrible daughter. And I'm being one again. I promised that I would do whatever it took to make things right with mother from this timeline. But I'm throwing everything back in her face. Mostima is right, I shouldn't be so hard on her. I owe mother everything." The white-haired lung was regretting the way she had acted with Ch'en.
Yua then turned back to look at Mostima. The blue-haired sankta could see the look of remorse and regret that Yua had on her face. Mostima smiled at this, not because she took pleasure in Yua's feelings of guilt. But because the sankta could see that the lung could understand that she was being too harsh on Ch'en. The blue-haired lung was doing what was right for Yua in her mind. "I'm glad you understand, Yua. You should apologise to Ch'en, you owe her that much." Mostima said to the lung very gently while putting a comforting hand on the white-haired lung's shoulder.
Yua nodded and began to turn to walk towards the blue-haired lung. Someone however, blocked the white-haired lung's path. Looking at who stopped her, Yua could see it was Gladiia. "We are getting closer to the islands that Ulpianus mentioned. I have no doubt that the church of the deep will be waiting for us. You should get ready to fight, these cultists will stop at nothing in their service to Ishar-Mla. It will be a case of kill...or be killed, Yua." The aegir gave her warning to the white-haired lung that she should be ready for a bloody and vicious battle against the church of the deep.
Yua's face hardened as she knew that a battle was imminent. The white-haired lung knew how vicious the church of the deep was and remembered what they were capable of. The cult was also in the way of Yua from reaching the future Skadi, the members of the cult were more than willing to die if it meant pleasing the god that they worshipped. Yua turned towards Mostima and could see the same look that she herself had on her face as well. The apology to her mother would have to wait for now, everyone on the ship needed to be prepared for battle...
Unknown to the group on the ship, a drone had been following them across the sea. This drone was sending a live feed back to the command centre of Rhodes Island. Watching this feed was Kal'tsit. The ancient feline had witnessed everything that had happened at the shipyard involving Ch'en's group. That meant that Kal'tsit had also seen the results of Yua using her originium arts. When the seaborn had all piled on the white-haired lung, Kal'tsit feared the worst. The ancient feline believed that Yua had been killed right there and then.
But, to her surprise, it was the seaborn on top of her who were killed. Kal'tsit then saw the blood red glow that surrounded the white-haired lung. The ancient feline also saw what looked like a shockwave that Yua released from her body. Kal'tsit expected the entire area to be destroyed in the attack. But to her surprise once again, the area was completely undamaged.
Only the seaborn hit by the shockwave were destroyed...
"Yua's power...I've never seen anything like it before. Why were only the seaborn killed? An attack like that should have annihilated everything in sight. Why are Yua's originium arts so unique? Is it because of her father, the doctor? Or is it because she is a hybrid of a lung and an alien? But why a shockwave of all things? Yua's lung heritage should mean she is connected to fire, just like the draco's. Just like her aunt, Talulah. But, then again, Talulah is also a lung hybrid herself. A lung and draco hybrid. Her command of fire is far beyond what I've seen before. Lung hybrids seem to be more powerful than their pure-blooded counterparts. Is Yua's shockwave connected to fire in some way? I need to study both Yua and Talulah if we survive this. But first, I need to know what Ch'en and her group are up to, why are they heading across the sea?"
Kal'tsit had many questions regarding Yua's strange originium arts. They were definitely different from any she had seen before. The ancient feline wanted to study both Talulah and Yua if everyone survived this battle. Kal'tsit wanted to see if there was a connection between the two and their respective originium arts. Both Yua and Talulah were lung hybrids, the ancient feline wanted to know if why their originium arts were different from most lungs is because they were exactly that...hybrids. It would certainly be a good study. Kal'tsit however, knew that it wasn't the biggest concern at the moment.
The seaborn horde and the various factions fighting them were still at a stalemate for the moment. But, Rhodes Island, the army of Laterano, and the remaining Iberians were beginning to take casualties from the fighting. The three groups had only so many personnel, the seaborn seemed to be endless. It was only a matter of time before the battle began to shift in the seaborns favour. The officers in the command centre were getting more and more panicked by the sounds of the orders they were giving to their subordinates involved in the fighting.
Kal'tsit wanted to know what was so important that Ch'en and her group were going across the water, so the ancient feline was observing them from the drone. Kal'tsit hoped that it wasn't a wild liberi chase that the blue-haired lung and her group were going on. If this turned out to be fruitless, then several of Rhodes Islands best operators had been dragged away from the battle, "Please Ch'en, whatever plan you have...I hope this is worth it..." Kal'tsit grimly thought as she carried on observing the boat.
The group of islands soon came into the distance. Ulpianus directed Andreana to head to the largest island, that is where they would begin their search for any traces of the entrance of the ancient temple. Andreana nodded to her comrade and began to steer the ship towards the largest island. When they arrived, the aegir sniper brought the ship to the most appropriate place that she could dock it. Once the ship was docked, everyone on board got off.
However, as soon as the last person got off, Ch'en's group immediately came under attack. "Get them!!" A voice in the distance shouted. Everyone turned to the direction of the voice and could see a large group of people charging towards them. "Everyone!! To arms!!" Gladiia was the one who shouted to everyone. Everyone in the group immediately drew their weapons and began to fight the incoming attackers. Hoshiguma, was the first one into battle. The green-haired oni used her shield as a battering ram, and charged through the group, splitting it in two.
Ulpianus, Gladiia, and all the other close-range fighters then charged into the two smaller groups, cutting down any enemies they encountered. The long-range fighters used their weapons and magic to thin the groups down further, being careful not to hit their teammates. Even W of all people was being cautious as to not hit any comrades in the vicinity. Manly because she didn't want Talulah to be hit by a stray explosive or any shrapnel.
Once Ch'en's group dealt with their first group of attackers, everyone pushed further into the island. When they pushed further into the island, everyone began to notice that buildings had been built here. People lived on this island. But that didn't matter to anyone. Everyone who lived on this island were hostile to the group. People of many different races began to storm out of every building, weapons were drawn. Everyone on the island intended to kill Ch'en and her group.
The blue-haired lungs group split up into several smaller groups. More and more fighting broke out in the narrow streets of the island. All of the ranged fighters took whatever high ground they could and provided their assistance to their colleagues on the ground.
It was pandemonium. All of their enemies on the island were followers of the church of the deep...
Kal'tsit could see the carnage being broadcast to her. It was a bloodbath. The followers of the church of the deep were no match for Ch'en and her group. Between the LGD trio, the abyssal hunters, Mostima, Fiammetta, W, Shirayuki, Irene, Amiya, Talulah, and Yua, the cultists were simply outclassed by their opponents. But that didn't matter to the cultists. As long as they died in service to Ishar-Mla, then that was enough for them. They were more than happy to throw their lives away for their God.
After what seemed like hours, the final church of the deep cultist fell. Bodies of them littered the streets. It looked like a war zone. Several members of the group, namely the LGD trio and Amiya , felt like they were back in the midst of the Reunion crisis. Yua also felt like she was back in the future. The white-haired lung had seen sights like this many times like this in the future. Nobody was happy with what they just had to do.
Ch'en had ordered everyone to gather around and check each other for any injuries. The blue-haired lung wanted to check on Yua to see if her future daughter had been injured in the fighting but decided against it when she could see Yua was being looked over by Amiya. Ch'en then noticed that Irene was slightly off in the distance looking down at a corpse. The blue-haired lung decided she had best check on the liberi to see what was wrong with her.
Ch'en walked over to Irene, "Are you okay, Irene? I know that the fighting was vicious. Are you okay? You aren't hurt anywhere, are you?" The blue-haired lung asked with concern. The liberi didn't respond straight away. She didn't respond for a few seconds until she said, "This man...I know him. He is from the Inquisition. He is one of us. I can't believe that the church of the deep has infiltrated our ranks...damn them! Damn them all!!" The liberi was saddened and angered. Saddened that she knew the man on the ground was dead, but also angered that he was a spy for the cult.
Ch'en looked down at the corpse and could see the uniform he was wearing. The blue-haired lung knew what it was like to have traitors in her ranks. More than once, Ch'en had uncovered a police officer in the LGD ranks that was working for the very criminals that she and many others were fighting against. Criminals that had harmed and even killed innocent people. The fact that police officers could turn their back on the oath that they swore to protect the innocent boiled her blood. Such people didn't deserve leniency or pity when they were found out that they had betrayed their oath for their own selfish gain.
Ch'en put a hand on the shoulder of Irene, "Listen Irene, you did what you had to do. This man made his choice. He made his choice to turn his back on the Inquisition. He chose to serve this cult. I know this may sound harsh, but he doesn't deserve any sympathy. The cult he chose to serve has the blood of innocent people on its hands. That means he does too. Don't forget that." The blue-haired lung said to the liberi.
"I know, Madam Ch'en. But that's not only what upsets me. How many more spy's do we have in the Inquisition. How many more people who I even consider friends are working for these madmen? How far have the church of the deep reached within us? I don't want to have to fight anyone else who has the face of a friend." The liberi was torn with potentially having to fight other people that she knew, it was a harrowing prospect for Irene to have to face.
Ch'en could understand the sentiment all too well. The blue-haired lung hated the idea if she had to fight either Swire or Hoshiguma if it ever came to it. Ch'en wasn't sure she could raise her weapon against her friends...
The blue-haired lung was about to speak again, but Ulpianus had arrived next to them and stopped the conversation from continuing. "Madam Ch'en, Inquisitor Irene, we need to start searching the area for any signs of the entrance to the temple. More cultists, and possibly the seaborn will be heading for us soon. We can't delay the search, we need to move as soon as possible."
Both the liberi and blue-haired lung nodded back at the aegir man. They knew they didn't have the time to stand around and talk. More enemies would be on their way to try to stop the group from getting closer to Skadi as soon as possible. Ch'en then walked back towards the group, "Everybody! We need to split up and look for an entrance! We don't have long until more enemies arrive! If you find anything suspicious, inform everyone else over the radio! Get to it people, time is against us!" Ch'en barked out her orders and everyone did as the blue-haired lung ordered them to.
Yua and Amiya decided to go as a duo and began to look around a street for any sign of what looked like an entrance. The two were meticulous as they searched from building to building. The white-haired lung and the cautus left no stone unturned as they searched each building. Eventually, the two came across what looked and smelt like a bakery. The smell of bread that was relatively fresh draw the two towards it. Both sisters entered the bakery and were immediately hit by the enticing smell of warm bread.
The lung and cautus could feel their mouths water with the smell. The fight against the cult had worked up an appetite in the both of them. Amiya and Yua decided that a quick snack wouldn't hurt, they could still search for any clues while they were eating. Both sisters did just that, they grabbed whatever pastries that they could and began to eat while searching for clues. Eventually, Amiya found a bookshelf, "That's odd. Why would a bookshelf be in a bakery? For recipes, maybe? But why does it feel out of place here?" Something about the bookshelf didn't feel right with the cautus.
Amiya decided to get closer to the bookshelf and could hear what sounded like a gust of wind behind it. "Yua, come here! I think I've found something!" Amiya called out to her sister. A few seconds later, Yua arrived. "What is it, Amiya? What have you found?" The white-haired lung asked with anticipation. The cautus asked Yua and come closer and listen. It didn't take long for the lung to come to the same conclusion as Amiya.
Something was behind this bookshelf...
Both sisters, using all their strength managed to move the bookshelf. When they moved it, both Amiya and Yua could see what had been behind it, "A tunnel! I bet this leads to the entrance!" Both sisters thought simultaneously. Yua decided that her mother needed to know this straight away and contacted her on the radio, "Mother! Me and Amiya have found something! It's a tunnel! We think it leads to the entrance! We are at a bakery! Come quickly!" The white-haired lung shouted down the radio.
Ch'en and everyone else heard the message and began searching for the bakery. It took several minutes for everyone to arrive. When they all did, they could see the tunnel that Amiya and Yua had found. "How did we miss this? Then again, it shouldn't surprise me with everything else that has happened today." Irene spoke out loud. The liberi was disappointed that her organisation hadn't found this sooner. But she also imagined that the spy's in the Inquisition had concealed this entrance the last time the Inquisition had come to the islands.
"It doesn't matter now, Inquisitor. We have found it. We should be prepared for anything. I'm sure Skadi knows we are getting closer to her now. We should expect she will throw whatever she has at us. If everyone is ready, I will head in first. You all follow me in afterwards." Ulpianus said to the rest of the group. Nobody objected the aegir man going in first. Ulpianus then went into the tunnel and the rest of the group followed him into the abyss, ready to fight whatever horrors the future Skadi had waiting for them...
Unknown to the group, many seaborn were heading towards the islands. These seaborn had broken off from the main horde invading Iberia and were tasked with hunting them down. The future Skadi had seen what had happened to the cultists on the island and had telepathically ordered a large group of seaborn to stop Ch'en and her team from getting to her.
Through the feed from the drone, Kal'tsit could see the large group approaching the islands, "By the gods! Ch'en and the others won't be able to stop that many seaborn! There's too many of them!" The ancient feline was beginning to fear the worst for the blue-haired lung and her group. Kal'tsit wished she could contact them and inform them of the incoming danger, but she hadn't been involved in the groups own preparation.
Ch'en had left her out of whatever plan she had...
"Dammit, Ch'en!! You fool!! Why have you done this?! Do you not trust me that much?! Is that why?! I can't do anything to help!! Nobody can get there in time!! And I can't pull anyone else away from the battle!! Damn you, Ch'en!! Damn you!!" Kal'tsit was cursing the blue-haired lung from keeping her out of the plan. The ancient feline could do nothing to help her now.
Even if Kal'tsit ordered more operators to head to the islands, they wouldn't get there in time. It was also too risky to take anyone else away from fighting the main horde, especially with the casualties that were being taken now. Ch'en had doomed everyone in her group in Kal'tsit's mind.
They were on their own, no help was coming...
They were the only ones who could stop the future Skadi...