Shrouded Seascape

Sparkle reached out with her fair hands and grabbed the wrists of her mother and Margaret.

The next moment, Margaret was left reeling in shock as the scenery before her eyes peeled away. When she came to her senses, she found herself in a brightly lit room underground.

"Mommy, I'm going back now. Just call me when you're ready," Sparkle said. She tiptoed and kissed Anna's cheek before vanishing into thin air.

"Where are we?" Margaret asked, looking around. The room seemed to be at least a hundred square meters, but it was devoid of anything; there wasn't even any furniture.

"We're on Hope Island. More specifically, we're at the lowest level of Hope Island's Relic Research Institute."

Anna walked toward the wall on the right and waved her hand. The white wall rolled up like a scroll, revealing a transparent glass wall.

A vast hall was beyond the glass wall. One of the walls of the hall was covered with intricate gears and pipes while being surrounded by machinery and equipment that Margaret had never seen before.

Amidst the sophisticated-looking machinery and equipment were either bizarre-looking relics or what looked like humans. They were surrounded by figures clad in white robes, and those white-robed figures were in the middle of using the machinery and equipment to carry out tests and trials on the relics and humans.

Margaret had been to the Albion Isles, and she thought that the Albion Isles had the highest level of technology throughout the Subterranean Sea. However, Margaret's intuition was telling her that the Albion Isles' technology was far inferior to Hope Island's current technology.

"Look over there. Do you see that baby that looks like it's half flesh and half machinery? That baby is the Chosen One of the Feaster, but here… it's just an experimental subject."

Margaret followed Anna's finger and saw a bizarre-looking baby immersed in machine oil. For some reason, the baby's deformed face looked a bit familiar to Margaret. Pipes were sticking out of the baby, and the pipes seemed to be injecting some kind of liquid into the baby.

"It's a work of art, isn't it? We're researching it—we're researching the powerful energy within that baby's body," Anna explained.

Margaret looked around in awe. She was silent for quite a while before she finally said, "So... why did you bring me here?"

"It's simple. I want you—the Governor of Whereto—to join us. We want you to send your people to come here and help us expand this place. In exchange, I will ensure your survival one way or another, even if we don't manage to find the darkness and the islands end up submerged."

"Is that Charles' will?"

"The Relic Research Institute was his idea, but the institute is now under my control because he has no time to manage it," Anna replied and added, "You value honor, so I want to rope you in. I want our relationship to become more than just allies."

"So you want me to pledge allegiance to you?" Margaret asked blandly.

"Don't say it like that; you're saying that as if we're strangers. Aren't we good friends?" Anna asked with a smile while stroking Margaret's arm.

Margaret knew the ramifications of joining Anna. If she agreed to Anna's proposal, Whereto would become a vassal island of Hope Island.

"Regardless of whether you want to revitalize the Cavendish family or simply ensure your survival, joining me is the best choice," Anna said.

In the end, Margaret dared not answer immediately. With a solemn expression, she nodded and told Anna that she'd think about it, but Anna already knew Margaret's answer. It was a deduction that she had made after seeing Margaret's hesitation.

After Margaret's departure, Anna walked down the rows of machinery until she reached a large door. The door opened with a chime; it turned out to be an elevator door.

Anna entered the elevator and pressed the "-7" button. After a few seconds, the elevator descended, and it descended for quite a while. When the elevator door opened once more, a brass mechanical beast towering several stories high appeared before Anna.

The brass mechanical beast was riddled with special inscriptions, and interweaving conveyor belts, steam pipes, and gears of a variety of sizes were spliced in the brass mechanical beast.

However, the most eye-catching feature of the brass mechanical beast was the massive blood-red embedded at the very top of the machine. If Charles were here, he'd recognize the colossal blood-red eye as the same eye that fought Hypnos at the time!

The brass mechanical beast was a steam analytical machine enhanced with relics.

Anna had been using the analytical engine to transform the flesh of Divinities into substances that she could absorb. Everyone working here was Anna's confidant—confidant as in their consciousness and memories had been deeply altered by her.

"Let's begin."

At Anna's words, Gordon standing nearby nodded slightly and took out a brass key. He proceeded to insert it into the keyhole and turned it to the right to start the brass mechanical beast.

Swoosh!

Steam billowed out of the pipes, and the densely packed gears turned, interacting with each other, making the entire machine vibrate so powerfully that it seemed like it could fall apart at any moment.

A burst of steam erupted, and chunks of tied up and writhing dark-red flesh were delivered to Anna through a conveyor belt.

Anna picked them up swiftly and stuffed them into her mouth nonstop. Her gorgeous appearance distorted and melted away as she ate until she eventually transformed into her true, monstrous form.

However, Anna didn't stop despite her transformation. Her tentacles curled around the chunks of flesh, delivering them into her mouth.

Things were going swimmingly at first, but as she devoured more and more chunks of flesh, Anna's figure began to deform until she transformed into what looked like a pile of viscous black liquid.

Bizarre anomalies were happening around Anna as well.

Gordon felt like the gold teeth in his mouth were stuck together, but his mouth was completely empty when he opened his mouth. However, his teeth returned after just a few seconds. Gordon also discovered that his eyes could see through clothes and skin—he could also see his own flesh churning inside of him.

Fortunately, the anomalies disappeared as suddenly as they disappeared. The bizarre anomalies vanished when Anna finally stopped her feast.

"I ate a bit too much this time. I need some time to absorb it. However, I have no idea just how strong I've become, and it's all because I have nothing to compare it to…" Anna muttered to herself. She could barely maintain her human form.

"I've fulfilled your request." A child's voice suddenly echoed behind Anna. "Now it's your turn to fulfill your promise to me. Where exactly is He?"

"Be patient," Anna said. She turned and looked down at the handsome blond boy in front of her before continuing," I'm not even as strong as you yet, so we're not done here."

The blond boy was none other than the Pope. The Pope was last seen on the surface world, but it turned out that he was still alive and had been in the lowest level of Hope Island's Relic Research Institute all this while.

"I am a hundred thirty years old. I'm not a child that you can fool. Where exactly is the Light God? I don't want to do anything unnecessary against you," the Pope said with a gloomy expression and his hands behind his back.

Anna's lips curved into a slight smile as she said, "Do you really think that you can force me to speak? The ball is in my hands. The Light God is gone, and the Divine Light Order is gone. You have nothing."

"The Light God is still alive!!" Pope Lylejay roared, and a dazzling golden light erupted from him. The burst of golden light was so powerful that it made Anna take half a step back.

"I'm only going to tell you the Light God's location once you've spelled out everything you know. Don't worry; I keep my word."

The golden light vanished slowly, and the Pope stared deeply at Anna for a few seconds before putting his hands behind his back.

"You can't use the Light God to keep me here forever," Lylejay said before turning around to leave.

The smile tugging at Anna's lips disappeared. Lylejay was extremely cunning and hard to manipulate. Anna had to remain vigilant of Lylejay while extracting every piece of information that Lylejay knew about how one could go about using a Divinity's power.