“This is foolishness.” Ors said. “Whether we stop him or not, we’ll never be able to escape him anyway.”
“Says who?” Ambrose looked at the rough-looking man. “How come all of you are void of any hope? There is always a way; you guys just haven’t found the way yet.”
“I hate to say it, but Ors is right.” Damian said with a sigh. “How come you still think there is a way even when you saw his power?”
“Because Mars used his power to show that he is dangerous, so I wouldn’t think of rebelling.” Ambrose said and narrowed his eyes. “He did that to keep us in line, so we wouldn’t think about betraying him.
“If he was truly invincible, he wouldn’t care.” Ambrose remembered the sight of Reinhardt. He was the kind of person who didn’t care what others did; he had absolute confidence in himself.
“I am being honest; there is a small chance of victory.” Ambrose said, and he saw the change in most of their expressions, but then he continued. “However, if he becomes even stronger, then there is no chance of victory.”
“Ambrose.” Loki looked at him and said, “The heart of the Nymn Tree is not something that can be destroyed easily. It has regenerative powers. Also, there is a chance that wherever the heart is, Mars won’t take us with him.”
“If it can’t be destroyed, I have a way to hide the heart from Mars.” Ambrose opened his inventory and pulled out a Red Sword.
“I have inventory where I can store things. 𝚘𝒱𝐞xt.𝑐𝑶𝚖
“I can place the heart in the inventory, ensuring that Mars won’t be able to find it.”
Few showed a surprised looks, but they have also seen many unusual things during their time in Dark Waters, so it didn’t surprise them too much.
“That causes another problem.” Apollo said. “Can your inventory trick Mars’ Eye of Shimon? That eye will guide him to the heart. Also, there are other Nymn Trees out there, and what if he goes to find another one?”
“Even if my inventory can’t fool his Eye of Shimon, he will be unable to find the heart. No matter what he does to me, I’ll never give it to him.”
“You say that, but what happens if you get tortured?” Leon asked with a cold tone. “You’ll break and give it to him eventually.”
“I won’t.” Ambrose said firmly. “Unfortunately, you guys would have to trust my word.”
Leon scoffed and shook his head.
“If that’s so, you are never allowed to use your inventory in the presence of Mars.” Apollo said. “If you do, he’ll realize that you indeed have the heart, and it’s within your inventory.”
“If Mars doesn’t take us with him to find the heart, then what?” Zero finally spoke up; it was the first time Ambrose had heard him speak.
“Well, when he is gone, I’ll search his quarters for the blood of Sea Serpent and the lock of the unicorn’s mane.” Ambrose glanced towards the second-floor door.
“He’ll definitely suspect one of us stole it, then.” Apollo said with a pained expression. “That is too high of a risk.”
“We cannot do it!” Ors screeched. “He’ll kill one of us!”
“Well, do you guys have a better idea?” Ambrose asked.
Plan B was not something he wanted to do either, but it seemed like the only option left.
“I… do.”
Each head turned to the shy-voiced Jake, who had his arm raised.
“What is it?” Ambrose asked curiously.
“I can ask the stars to guide us to the Nymn Tree.” Jake looked toward the sky with an emotional gaze. “As long as its night, we can use the stars as our compass and find the Nymn Tree before Mars does.”
“Then, we’ll have to specially arrive at the place with Nymn Tree at the time of the night. That is too hard since we don’t even know where we are going.” Damian said.
Apollo turned to Leon. “Leon, you are the helmsman. You can delay the journey enough for us to arrive at the place by nightfall.”
“Yes, but we’ll need Mars to tell us where to go.” Leon said with a frown.
“Once we arrive at the Pirate Battleground, Mars will tell you.” Apollo nodded and turned to Jake. “Then we’ll trust in you.”
Jake shyly nodded and glanced at the sky, almost like he could see the stars beyond the bright sky.
“We are really doing this?” Ors gritted his teeth. “This is madness; I won’t participate in this madness!”
“Then don’t.” Damian scoffed. “When did we say we needed you? We’ll be just fine without you.”
“It’s your funeral!” Ors put his arms up in the air and stormed back to his cabin while muttering. “Suicidal fools…”
“If this goes south, Ambrose, I need you to take the full responsibility.” Apollo said with a heavy look. “This is your mission, and if Mars finds out, it could have dire consequences.”
“I know,” Ambrose replied heavily. “If Mars finds Nymn Tree before us, all of you can return to Black Heart. I’ll do it myself and somehow try to steal the heart from him.”
“That would only delay the inevitable.” Leon said. “There are more Nymn Trees in the world. He would just find another one.”
“Maybe we should just burn the book.” Damian said with a sigh.
“He has most likely memorized every spell in the book.” Loki said with a heavy heart. “He is not a fool, and the book is almost impossible to destroy because of ancient magic protecting it.”
“Go rest everyone; it’ll take a day for us to reach Pirate Battleground. We’ll need our strength if this thing goes south.” Apollo said with a heavy heart and retreated back to his cabin.
After everyone except Leon left the deck and returned to their rooms, Leon went to the helm and steered the ship across the foggy sea.
‘He has only been with us for a few hours and is already commanding us.’ Leon scoffed. ‘Why does Apollo listen to him? He’s just a newcomer with suicidal tendencies. This could kill all of us.
‘I cannot die here, not after everything I’ve been through.’
…
At the Black Heart’s captain’s quarters.
Mars sat on a high-back chair with the magic book opened in front of him.
Next to an ancient gas lamp, there was a jar filled with the blood of Sea Serpent and a box beside it had a small hair of a unicorn’s mane.
Mars then took out the faded photograph and looked at his deceased brother with a cold look.
‘Fool, why did you carry this with you?’ Mars scratched the corner of his eye because of the sudden itchiness.
It was the Eye of Shimon that led him to the photograph. He didn’t expect his brother to carry the photograph during their last meeting.
‘He tried to take away the Eye of Shimon from me. This is mine, and yet he carried this photograph like he cared about me? I do not believe that!’
He wished to rip the photograph apart, but he controlled his emotions as he still needed it for the ritual.
‘Heart of the Nymn Tree. Where is it? Eye of Shimon, tell me.’
As he closed his eyes, a flash of a certain memory flashed through his mind.
It wasn’t his memory, but a memory of someone’s fate he had stolen.
It seemed like one of the people he stole fate from had visited that island at some point in their lives.
After opening his eyes, Mars’ lips curled into a smile.
“Necro Island…”