Chapter 205: Island collapses.

Nero turned back to glance at Malia, who was still slumped on the ground in Zyra’s arms. He shook his head, a dark, heavy shadow passing over his eyes.

"To be honest," Nero whispered, his voice dropping an octave, "I left out half of it. I didn’t have the heart to tell her the rest."

Hunter frowned. "The rest?"

"They didn’t just cut their heads off," Nero said softly, looking away. "Trinity’s guards stripped them naked first. Paraded them through the main streets so everyone could mock them_ and then they burned their lower bodies while they were still alive before finally finishing them off. It was horrible.

They filmed it all. I guess the plan was to circulate it after the flood to spread the fear. Protests have been seeping into other cities slowly. I had Rocket intercept and steal the case with the cameras. But some people recorded private footage--"

Hunter’s face went pale. He immediately held up a hand.

"Stop," He gritted out, looking sick to his stomach. "Spare her the details. Don’t tell her this and don’t show her footage. I will ask Zyra to find a way to have all the link bands block such videos if they are sent to Malia’s link band."

Nero sighed and nodded once. "Yeah. Some truths_ people just aren’t built to survive. I will try to find the small children after the flood and bring them here."

Hunter exhaled slowly. "Do your best. If it doesn’t work out, don’t feel guilty."

Nero leaned forward with a frown. "Will she be okay?"

Hunter shrugged. "I don’t know. But when she talked about her family, she said they supported her. They knew Trinity could target them but they knew staying silent out of fear was not the answer. Nobody expected Trinity to be a complete monster like this. If things continue this way, we won’t have to wait for the Somnivores to return and tear the new world apart because the Divine maiden will do it for us."

Nero sighed. "I need a beer, now."

"Make it two." Hunter muttered.

They all needed to drink and forget, just for a moment.

*****

Panic covered the main Seven Islands the next morning.

The earth didn’t just shake_ it split open, spitting out wide rifts that roared as sea water began to seep through the cracks. The wardens, who usually strutted around like invincible gods, were wide-eyed and terrified. But they weren’t half as terrified as the Soul maidens.

"Move it! Move your legs, you useless girls!" Warden Samantha’s shrieked.

The earthquakes had started earlier than expected. Luckily, arrangements had already been made to evacuate the maidens. The custom-built Sanctum planes descended from the dark clouds, their glowing red landing lights cutting through the heavy rain.

Julia stood at the open hatch of the lead plane, holding a loud silver megaphone to her lips. Her voice boomed over the sound of roaring wind and screaming maidens.

"You have ten minutes!" Julia announced coldly. "In ten minutes, these doors close! Anyone still on the ground will be left behind to die. I am not repeating myself!"

A monstrous earthquake hit the seabed. The entire island lurked violently to the side like a drunken boat. Girls shrieked as they were knocked off their feet, tumbling down the mud paths.

Seraphine, standing near the boarding ramp with her eyes wide, pointed a trembling finger toward the center of the island. "Look! Look at the mountain!"

The giant, dormant volcanic peak was melting. The ancient rock liquefied into a red-hot magma sludge that slid straight into the boiling ocean. The moment the hot red liquid hit the sea, a towering tsunami hundreds of feet high_ rose up into the sky and began swallowing neighboring islands whole.

"Forget ten minutes! Start the engines! Now!" Julia yelled to the pilots, not waiting another second, even though less than half the maidens had boarded.

The heavy metal doors began to slide shut with a loud hydraulic hiss.

"Wait! My sister is still down there!" one Soul maiden screamed, throwing her body forward to catch the heavy door with both hands. "We can’t leave them! Please!"

Seraphine didn’t hesitate. She stepped up and kicked the girl square in the chest, sending her flying backward off the ramp onto the wet ground below. "Then you can stay with them!" she barked, pressing the lock button.

Inside the cabin, the girls who had made it pressed their faces against the glass windows, screaming and sobbing as they watched their friends on the ground get swallowed by the rising dark waters. But there was no saving them. The sea was hungry.

To make matters worse, the moment the sea water flooded the land, aquatic sea beast with sharp fins, and rows of razor teeth swarmed out of the deep trenches. The trapped maidens tried to fight back, shooting sparks of internal energy, even without weapons they fought but there were just too many beasts.

Up in the air, things were no better. The winds were vicious, and the rifts tore open the clouds, propelling the giant waves toward the dry lands at terrifying speeds.

In the third plane, the chaos inside reached a boiling point.

"We’re not going back to Trinity! She’s just going to sacrifice us!" a strong Soul maiden, Etania Delwood, yelled, drawing a gun she had hidden.

Before the wardens could even draw their whips, five maidens tackled them to the floor, knocked them cold and burst straight into the cockpit. Etania pressed a gun to the pilot’s head.

"Change the course," she growled, wiping blood off her cheek. "Fly us straight into the Wildlands. Now. Or you drop out of this sky without a parachute."

The pilot swallowed hard, looking at the gun with wide eyes. "Wildlands!"

"Now!" Etania shouted. She knew where to go, Tessi had sent directions through a soul connection. Etania, Claude, Little Mai and sixty four others had deliberately got on the same plane. By the time the remaining planes finally touched down at the Mystic Sanctum, the damage was done. Over one hundred thirty Soul maidens were missing.

Because of the strong winds and violent air currents Julia had ordered for the quick landing. The rest could not make it to their destination: the Aurora Dominion.

Julia stood at the bottom of the landing strip as the girls shuffled out. Trinity was already waiting, her face darker than the storm clouds above.

When Trinity looked at the trembling girls, her lip curled in disgust. They didn’t look like powerful Soul maidens, they looked like shell-shocked survivors who had just stumbled out of a cheap horror movie. Hair was matted with mud, jumpsuits were torn, and half of them were weeping uncontrollably.

"Useless," Trinity spat, her voice dripping with poison. "Look at you. Where are the rest?"

Adelphina, one of the high-ranking Soul maidens, stepped forward, her body trembling with pure rage. She pointed an accusing finger straight at Seraphine.

"It’s her fault!" Claudia shouted, her voice echoing across the landing pad. "Seraphine closed the doors early! She kicked one of our sisters off the ramp and left dozens down there to get eaten alive by sea beasts!"

Noticeably, no one dared point a finger at Julia who ordered lift off. You could accuse a fellow maiden, but accusing Julia was a fast track to a shallow grave.