Chapter 1427: Chapter 1427

Jenkins had indeed hesitated before, weighing the choice to absorb the Heart of the Ocean. To take a half-corrupted Bestowal into his own body seemed like a reckless decision by any measure. He had only made the choice for lack of a better candidate in the heat of the moment. A sliver of regret had followed, but now, with things as they were, he couldn't afford to second-guess himself.

Just as with absorbing any new Bestowal, the Heart of the Ocean integrated smoothly into Jenkins's spirit, despite being temporarily in Femishue's possession.

The sensation was profoundly strange. If mastering a new Bestowal was normally like stepping into a warm bath in the dead of winter, this felt more like being shoved into an icy spring on a sweltering summer day.

He shuddered violently as the hallucination of a colossal sea beast flashed before his eyes again. But the vision was fleeting this time. When his senses cleared, he found that Femishue wasn't dead at all—in fact, he was lunging forward, his horribly mutated hands reaching for Jenkins's throat.

"Give it back!" Fresh chapters posted on novel[f]ire.net

The momentary distraction from the vision had cost him. Before Jenkins could retreat, he found himself completely surrounded by Femishue and his writhing tentacles.

He threw up a hand to block Femishue's grasp, but a tentacle had already coiled around his waist. Even as he summoned the flames of his Bestowal, searing the appendage until it sizzled and popped, more tentacles slithered forward to take its place.

His skin recoiled from the slimy, unnatural touch of the appendages. After absorbing the Heart of the Ocean, the rhythm of his own heart had become erratic and strange. It had been a long time since Jenkins had felt this wretched.

Femishue lunged for Jenkins again, relentlessly. He opened his mouth wide, revealing sharp fangs, as if he intended to swallow him whole. After losing the Heart of the Ocean, the tentacles had begun to spontaneously fill the gaping cavity in his chest, making the man before him look even less human. His organs were mutating at an accelerated rate—or rather, being assimilated by the tentacles. His skin was already erupting in the same black, raised nodules that covered their surface.

Jenkins lashed out with a kick, hoping the reactive force would push him away. But to his surprise, Femishue caught his foot and used the momentum to try and pull him close again.

"Fuse with me! Fuse with me!"

It was impossible to tell if he was speaking to the Heart of the Ocean or to Jenkins himself.

"Femishue, do you still remember the great stone at the foot of Niraror Volcano?"

Jenkins asked suddenly, repeating a phrase he had heard from Alexia while they were stargazing.

"What? It's you! You damned woman!"

The words had a far greater effect than he had imagined. Femishue immediately released his leg and threw his arms wide in a gesture of embracing the sky.

He fell backward onto his throne of tentacles, sinking deeper and deeper into the mass of appendages. The consequence was immediate: more tentacles surged from the seabed, and the howling rainstorm intensified.

In the distance, he could faintly make out towering waves, one after another, crashing toward the shore. The wave Magic Miss had spoken of—the one large enough to submerge half the city—was likely moments away.

Femishue vanished completely into the throng of tentacles as some bizarre transformation began. Unable to influence the process for now, Jenkins turned to initiate his own plan, only to find more than a dozen demigods from the Church staring right at him. He offered an awkward smile, his body fading into nothingness before disappearing in an instant.

Tumbling out of his own closet, Jenkins braced himself against the floor, retching uncontrollably. He held out a trembling hand, and as streams of blue and black light converged, the corrupted Heart of the Ocean materialized in his palm.

Even as a corrupted Bestowal, it was still the most beautiful gemstone he had ever seen. But Jenkins had underestimated the influence of its cursed nature; even for him, controlling it was a struggle.

Still, in that short time, he had already sensed the gem's immense power. It would be crucial for the next phase of his plan, so no matter how ill it made him, he couldn't relinquish his claim to it just yet.

A soft meow sounded in his ear. He turned his head to see Chocolate padding out of the closet. The cat came to his side and began rubbing its furry cheek against his, a simple gesture of comfort.

"How did you get to Nolan? I thought I left you with Julia."

He managed to reach out and stroke Chocolate's head. The cat responded with another of its incredibly soft meows.

"Alright, alright. You can stay with me for now. I'm fine, don't worry."

"Nolan City has endured far too many incidents this past year, but this... this is too much."

Papa Oliver was still in his antique shop. Because of the downpour, Fifth Queen's Avenue, being so close to the Dock Area, was flooding badly. The street's drainage system had failed half an hour ago, and waves of rainwater were now invading the shop. The storefront was holding up, but the warehouse in the courtyard was already a disaster.

At first, Papa Oliver had tried to save his merchandise, but he eventually gave up. He knew he couldn't fight a "flood" on his own.

At that moment, he missed Jenkins, so far away in Ruen, more than ever.

"I should get him back here as soon as possible," he muttered. "Nolan needs Jenkins. The shop needs him."

Decisively abandoning any further attempts to deal with the water pouring into his shop, Papa Oliver did a quick tidy-up, reinforced the threshold with a few wooden planks, and then stepped out under his umbrella, heading for the church downtown.

He was not alone on the road. With the coastal streets on the verge of being completely submerged, people were already preparing to evacuate.

The church was in a state of disarray. Refugees were pouring in, and the clergy, caught unprepared, were scrambling to manage the chaos. The elderly Bishop Parrold had come out personally to oversee the proceedings. Seeing the white-haired bishop still working tirelessly for them, the people consciously began to form orderly lines, and the situation started to stabilize, if only barely.

These scenes were but a small snapshot of that stormy Wednesday. All across the city, people's lives were being disrupted by the downpour for one reason or another. But for now, none of them had yet imagined that Nolan could actually be swallowed by the sea. That was the sort of thing you only heard in frightening stories meant to scare children.