Noöthonic Ward

"Hailun... I've wanted to tell you everything," Liu Zhenhan murmured, his stubble grazing her velvet cheek. The oil lamp's flicker painted shadows across his conflicted face. "But the timing never felt..."

The fox priestess pressed a finger to his chapped lips. "Your soul's song called to me through the mists of worlds. That's all the truth I need." Her amber eyes reflected dancing flames and deeper devotion. "Why didn't you tell them how you saved me with half-rotted melon rinds? Or the night your broken hymns pulled me back from Death's tidepool?"

Aviere's scaled heels scuffed the deck planks. "So what if he's from beyond the veil?" The mermaid's azure glare couldn't mask intrigued fascination. "Star whales cross dimensions too. Doesn't make him special."

Liu squared shoulders that bore invisible battlefields. "When we reach Danube Steppes..." His calloused palm engulfed Hailun's delicate fingers. "...you're free to go. Lands, gold—I'll provide. Stay, and I'll cherish you as Beamon cherish hearthfires. No oaths—just truth."

"You're not even an ordained priest?!" Twin gasps harmonized. Ning Yu's pearl tears crystallized mid-fall.

Hailun's tail lashed possessively. "My Li Cha channels War God's might without stuffy Temple approval!"

"And me?" Aviere's whisper dissolved in salt-crusted air. The question hung like mist between crashing waves.

Liu's throat tightened unexpectedly. "Your brother awaits ashore." Yet his thumb traced phantom scales where her tail once shimmered.

Ning Yu's mother-of-pearl nails dug into his forearm. "This ship, its crew—all yours by blood oath. Did you think its mistress would abandon her post?" Her shells clicked like dueling blades. "From dawn's first light, you'll fast on unleavened bread. No ale, no brothels, no—"

"—no fun whatsoever?" Liu's smirk died under her glacial stare.

Hailun's crimson locks bristled. "Who made you—"

A spectral rat materialized in the fox's arms. Her shriek pierced bulkheads as the illusion dissolved. "That's why," Ning Yu stated coolly, azure mist swirling around fingertips.

"Now show us your sea blessing!" Hailun's challenge dripped honeyed venom.

Aviere recoiled as Liu's结界 flared—a liquid mirror reflecting her tear-streaked face. Then the waters shifted.

Two gasps echoed as the image rippled. There stood Liu in godlike splendor, muscles gleaming like tidal-carved cliffs, crimson dragon tattoos coiling around his torso. The vision pulsed with primal majesty that stole breath from lungs.

Simultaneously, Aviere's own结界 shimmered to life. Her mirrored self emerged—not mermaid, but legs-forged warrior queen trident in hand.

"Neptune's balls..." Liu breathed. Reality itself seemed to warp as their结界 energies intertwined, sea magic weaving destinies in patterns no oracle could unravel.