Pankratios, Xerxus, Imperius, and Kiernan appeared back at the cave, where Antigone and Julian were waiting.

With a side eye, Kiernan saw little Fen hiding behind a table leg while being invisible.

"Is it done?"

Antigone asked.

"Yes."

Xerxus, her master, said.

"What will happen now?"

Julian asked.

"Nothing special. Kiernan will return back to where he is currently staying, and so will Antigone, while you'll stay here."

Pankratios said.

"And Kiernan… There is something coming up. It involves every member of the Martial Order. It might be something you want to decline, but after today…"

Imperius hinted at something.

"I know. I fucked up. I will do whatever is asked of me."

Kiernan said.

"It is still months away, but we will keep you informed, and it will be something that will require you leaving your loved ones for some time.

"I don't know how long, but it will be an extremely important mission."

Pankratios said.

"I understand."

Kiernan said.

He had a hunch what it was about, but he didn't inquire further, as he just wanted to return back to Montrael.

It had been an extremely long day.

…

The sunlight filtered through the window, and landed in the beautiful face of Aoi, who squinted her eyes open.

She was feeling light as a feather and just wanted to stay snuggled under the warm covers, but then remembered that she had to get the dojo ready.

The students would come in a few hours.

In that moment, her arm touched something, and she thought of nothing, but then remembered that there shouldn't be anyone there.

Her eyes opened wide, and she turned her head to the side.

The sleepy face of Kiernan faced her, and he was softly sleeping, letting out a small snore that was barely audible.

Aoi rubbed her eyes, and when she opened them again, he was still there, so it wasn't some sleep-inducing hallucination.

Her face beamed into a happy look, and she thought about hugging him right there but then stopped herself.

It was obvious that he was very tired.

"Sleep well."

She kissed him on the cheek, stood up, and quietly left the room in her morning robe.

When she arrived at the yard, she noticed that Lumian was already there, practicing some of Iron Style's moves.

"Ah, good morning."

Lumian said.

"Shh…"

Aoi put her finger at her lips, let out a soft "shh," and then smiled.

"Kiernan is sleeping."

"He is already back?"

Lumian asked in surprise.

"It looks like he came back early this morning, and he is currently sleeping."

Aoi said.

"Oh… I am glad that he is back. Even though it has barely been a few days, it is strange to not have him around."

Lumian said, then picked up his backpack from the ground and put it on.

"Going to school?"

Aoi asked.

"Yes. It is a short school day, as you already know, so I'll be back in a few hours. By the way, I went to pick up a newspaper, and wow…"

Lumian smiled happily, left through the front gate, and started jogging to the school.

"Newspaper…?"

Aoi looked at the small table in the yard, where there was a newspaper, and picked it up to read.

Immediately, the front page's news took her breath away, and she sat down to calm herself down.

It had a picture of strange ice/black forest-covered land with hundreds of ships surrounding it.

[BREAKING NEWS: Battle of the Downed Prison]

"What had happened…"

Aoi started reading through, and it talked about pretty much everything that transpired over the course of the last night.

When she read through the prison break, she was shocked, but when she read about five of the Pirate Emperors dying, she completely lost her breath.

The details were vague about how that happened, as nobody seemed to know, but it was an enormous victory for the world.

The whole world was celebrating and was calling it the greatest victory for the navy, and Ethan Blackforest was already being called a hero.

Even though it wasn't sure whether the navy played a part in that or if there was a third party responsible.

However, the victory had a cost, and it was many lives of navy soldiers, and there were four individuals who escaped.

"Four who escaped… Killer of the Red Sun, Rochan Rochan, Captain Jack, and Julian Noah…"

When she read the last name, Aoi's eyes shook, and she turned to look inside, where Kiernan was sleeping somewhere.

'…Julian? Did my Kiernan go rescue him? Of course he did… That's what he would do… It means that he was there.'

Aoi felt sick to her stomach when she looked at the pictures, as it really looked like a scene from the apocalypse.

She hated that he was hiding things from her, especially things as dangerous as this, and started to feel extremely protective.

'I should just chain him to me so he can't leave anywhere without me!'

She huffed and puffed.

In that moment, she heard happy laughter coming from the streets, and after putting away the newspaper, she walked out of the front gate.

The pedestrians were reading the newspaper with smiles on their faces.

"…That's what you get, pirates! The forces of good will always triumph!"

"…Haha, every Pirate Emperor is dead. Doesn't that mean pirates will be done for?"

"…That's exactly what it means. I am sure pirates of that filthy Pirate Kingdom are panicking. They have zero protection now!"

…

World Seas, Pirate Kingdom.

"…Nooo!"

Within the dirty streets of the Pirate Kingdom, pirates were reading the news and thought that their world was ending.

The slaves were hiding their smiles, but they were thrilled, as this could mean that their nightmare was going to be finally over.

In that moment, a panicked-looking pirate ran down the street, panting, and almost stumbling over the garbage bags.

"Ships… Ships… Navy ships are coming!"

The pirates looked at him in shock, and they then climbed on the roofs of the tallest buildings and looked over to the sea.

In the distance, close to five hundred navy battleships were heading their way.

"It is the navy!"

"Shit, they came to finish us off!"

Next chapter will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.