CHAPTER 480: 480. THE WARNING FROM AZURE

Inside Azure’s office, the atmosphere was calm yet oppressive. The walls were lined with maps of sea routes, constellations, and shifting ocean currents, glowing faintly as if alive. Shelves stacked with jade slips, crystal spheres, and thick tomes gave the place the air of both a library and a war room. At the center, Azure lounged on an intricately carved chair made of dark blue coral, his eyes narrowing as he studied the young princess before him.

Only then Tyler noticed that Azure’s office turns into a different types of rooms, according to his will. This type of arrays piqued his interest.

"You can get that type of Arrays on the lower floors. But pretty expensive and it’s not easy to install too..." Azure explained to Tyler.

Tyler – Now Phantom Blackwood – just nodded. He is confident on Installing this Array. And he never cared about wasting the resources until he gets the work done.

"Don’t worry about your islands, Princess," Azure then said to Zuzia, with a voice both gentle and commanding, the kind that could soothe while crushing at the same time. "Nobody will dare to touch them until you return. I’ll just send out a warning that those lands are under my protection. The word of Azure is law in these waters."

For the first time in days, Zuzia’s expression softened. She lowered her head slightly, almost shy. "Thank you," she said, her voice quiet yet genuine.

Tyler, standing to the side, almost choked. His lips twitched under his Phantom Mask as his thoughts rolled like thunder. Since when did she learn how to say thank you? Is the world ending? Or did Azure slip something into her tea?

He barely managed to restrain a laugh and forced himself to look serious.

Azure’s expression didn’t change, but he was satisfied by her respectful gestures "Good. But if you are really going to go against the Red Dragon," he continued, his tone hardening, "then you must be careful of three things. The first is him himself. He is a Seer."

The word dropped like a stone into the room. Even Tyler, who wasn’t easily rattled, stiffened slightly. Seers are very dangerous. Even Elowen from the south is also a seer. He recalled how she already knows how to please him in the bed, even though it was their first time they did together. He asked about it and she simply replied that she divined it.

"A Seer?" Myrtle echoed.

"Yes," Azure said. "He has a talent for divination. It seems he can calculate outcomes, pathways, and probabilities. Some say he sees threads of fate itself. Whether it’s true or not, he has avoided countless traps and emerged victorious from situations that should have been his end. Even if you are prepared, be cautious."

Myrtle crossed her arms. "Hmph. Calculating the future doesn’t mean he is invincible. There are always Variables."

Azure gave her a knowing look. "Overconfidence is also a thread of fate, young girl."

"What young? I am atleast 400 years old." She lampooned.

Myrtle was about to retort, but Azure raised his hand, silencing her. "The second danger is his right hand. Zin."

"Zin?" Tyler frowned, tilting his head.

Azure’s gaze darkened. "Zin is... not human. Some suspect he is an evil spirit that has taken form. Every single person who has faced him has died in the most bizarre of ways. My reports describe deaths so strange even battlefields would envy the creativity—men strangling themselves, comrades turning on each other, bodies exploding from within as if compelled by unseen hands. One of my subordinates claimed Zin’s power comes from possession. Whether true or not, it fits with what little we know."

The room grew cold as Azure continued. "He can emit a terrible shriek. A sound so sharp it claws into the soul. My subordinate who is a 5 star Divine Seeker Mage encountered him nearly fell unconscious in seconds and was swept into the sea. Zin’s specialty is undead magic —cruel, bloodthirsty, and fueled by endless desire. He will break both body and spirit without hesitation."

Zuzia’s knuckles whitened around her sleeve, though her face remained calm. Tyler, however, only leaned forward with narrowed eyes. Evil spirit, can Mana eat him?

Azure let the silence settle before finishing. "And the last warning: make sure you bring the fight outside the Dragon Boat. If you damage it, you will be questioning the authority of the Dragon King himself. That is something neither of you can afford."

Azure the continued, "Understand this clearly. No Master of a Dragon Boat is permitted to unleash disaster upon their own vessel. The ship is sacred, bound by contract to the Sea Dragon Palace itself. If Red Dragon wishes to act, he must step outside his floating fortress."

Tyler leaned back, thinking deeply. "Fair enough. But tell me— do you have any picture of him?."

Azure raised an eyebrow, then chuckled. "are you gonna assassinate him?." With a wave of his hand, light flickered into existence, forming a floating image in midair.

The Red Dragon’s features became clear—sharp eyes like burning coals, a cruel smile playing on his lips, crimson scales faintly etched across his temples. He looked both regal and monstrous, a man who had remade himself into something that wasn’t meant to exist.

Behind his mask, Tyler’s expression hardened. He recognized that face. Even though they had never met in person, the image was carved into Tyler’s memory. One of the men he must kill. They were destined to become enemies after all.

---

Far from Azure’s office, across vast stretches of sky and sea, the Red Dragon Boat drifted like a crimson omen.

It was nothing like Azure’s stately vessel. This one pulsed with a sinful glow. Scarlet lanterns floated all around it, flickering with ghostly fire. The very wood of the hull was dyed blood-red, as if soaked in centuries of slaughter. The ship loomed like a palace of vice, daring the heavens to strike it down.

The first floor was a carnival of corruption. Gambling dens roared with cheers and curses. Bars spilled with liquor and drugged brews that shimmered in unnatural colors. Men and women of every race sold their bodies in pleasure houses that promised fantasies like Orgies, outdoor plays and many more. Coins exchanged hands like rivers of gold, feeding the furnace of debauchery.

The second floor was no better. A chaotic mix of trade stalls, auction houses, and black-market pavilions fought for space. Weapons still dripping with blood were displayed beside priceless jewels and cursed artifacts. Buyers and sellers bargained in whispers and shouts, some leaving with treasures, others with invisible curses clinging to their souls.

But the third floor... the third was sacred to one man alone. Half of it was reserved for the officials who served the Red Dragon. The other half was forbidden to all but him.

Before the massive red doors that marked the boundary stood Zin. His tall frame was dressed entirely in white—white shirt, white coat, white pants, immaculate and almost surgical. His sideburns framed a face too sharp, too pale, and too empty of warmth.

"I brought them," Zin said flatly, his voice like a blade scraping over stone.

A deep voice resonated from beyond the door. "Put them in."

The doors creaked open with a low groan. A foul wind drifted out, carrying the stench of blood and rot. A small stream of crimson liquid trickled along the threshold, snaking across the floorboards like it was alive. Zin instinctively stepped back, careful not to stain his pristine clothes.

Inside, a thick red fog curled and twisted, concealing more than it revealed. Shapes moved within— shadows of limbs, perhaps, or illusions of tortured souls.

At the center, a faint silhouette of a statue loomed: a woman with her face blurred beyond recognition, half-seen, half-imagined. Zin’s gaze lingered only for a second before he forced himself to look away. To pry further was to invite madness. As his right hand man, he knows that she is the long dead wife of Red Dragon.

With a wave of his hand, a dozen unconscious girls of various races tumbled from his storage treasure onto the floor. Their chests rose and fell slowly, drugged into helpless slumber. Everyone is naked and if one looked closely they will find out that everyone are Virgins.

Another wave of his hand sent them drifting into the mist, vanishing into the crimson fog. The doors sealed shut with a resounding thud.

Zin turned to leave, his footsteps silent. But the voice of Red Dragon rumbled once more, low and commanding:

"I have calculated. Someone approaches with ill intent. Who is closest to Azure’s Dragon Boat?"

Zin paused, then replied without hesitation. "The Red Skull Pirates."

A cruel chuckle echoed from within the fog. "Good. Send them a message. Tell them to attack the Phantom Pirates."

Zin’s eyes flickered faintly as he repeated the words under his breath. "Phantom Pirates..."

Then, without another sound, he vanished into the corridors of the crimson vessel, leaving behind only silence and the lingering stench of blood.