Bexia crawled back through the vent, but something felt off.

The way back seemed much longer than before, far beyond the distance between the fourth and third decks he’d had in mind.

And that was exactly what happened.

When he slipped out of the vent, he realized he’d come straight out onto the deck. Five or six meters away stood Ruge. Before Bexia could even react, a pitch‑black arm shot up from beneath the deck, grabbed him hard, and clamped him in its grip.

“What’s going on?!”

The sudden ambush gave Bexia no time to respond. As he felt the force on his fingers, he realized the spatial ring on his hand was already in Ruge’s palm. He could also clearly feel his control over the ring vanish. At the same time, a faintly pleased smile curled at Ruge’s lips.

“Didn’t think you’d really steal the Elixir of Immortality for me,” Ruge said, laughing loudly as he poured out everything from Bexia’s ring. He stared at the secret potions Bexia had first stored inside and burst out in wild laughter.

“Boom—!”

A massive magic explosion erupted from beneath the deck. A huge blast wave slammed into Bexia, stinging his face. A black figure smashed up through the thick deck, sent flying back. When he focused his eyes, it was Black Blade.

Right after him came the overwhelming presence of the siren Molde. The instant he appeared, his gaze locked onto Ruge—especially those potions, which made his fury ignite. Without a word, he charged straight at Ruge to kill him.

“You think I’ve been doing nothing all these years?!”

Cruelty flashed across Ruge’s face. His mana swept over the potions on the floor. Terrifying magic surged out of them, thickening into a dense mist of mana.

“I don’t even know how long I’ve been preparing for this day. You really think I’d fail?”

All the potions were dragged up by the magic circle he unleashed, forming a massive array with a diameter of over twenty meters. The moment it solidified, the force of the mana shock actually knocked Molde—the siren in his prime—back.

“Even if you become a champion, it still won’t change your fate today!” Molde roared, seething with rage. He’d already made up his mind to kill. Even if it cost him his life, he was going to slaughter every last one of them.

“Master, run, now!”

Blasted away from the circle, Bexia suddenly heard Christine’s voice. He snapped back to his senses—then instantly froze. They were out at sea. Run? To where?

“Right—the Eight Cloud Umbrella!”

Without hesitation, Bexia pulled out the folding umbrella he treated like a priceless treasure. Even Christine was seeing its true power for the first time.

He snapped the Eight Cloud Umbrella open. The world immediately seemed to twist around him. He’d felt this before, the last time he tested it: after the umbrella folded space, it hid him within that folded pocket.

Right now he could still see and hear everything around him, but he couldn’t touch anything. And no one could notice him. Even if someone walked right past, the shifted space would make them phase through his body instead of bumping into him.

You could say Bexia now existed in another layer of space. No matter what happened around him, it couldn’t affect him. Unless someone had the power to shatter the shackles of space itself, there was no way they could attack him.

Bexia vanished without leaving any trace—not even a ripple of mana.

But that didn’t mean there was no trail at all. It was just that distortions in space weren’t something a mere champion could perceive.

“You really think my goal is to become a champion?”

Ruge laughed wildly from within the magic circle, and his words instantly drew everyone’s attention.

So his goal wasn’t the champion realm?!

Then what was he aiming for? Was he actually trying to touch that monarch realm once exclusive to ancient special races?

Molde couldn’t believe it, but his eyes still widened in shock.

With each layer of the magic circle being absorbed into Ruge’s body, his power kept soaring. A pressure surpassing even Molde’s rolled out from Ruge.

“You know why I could become a Controller? It’s because my talent accidentally tamed and fused with a ‘devouring wraith.’ I gained its abilities. As long as I have enough power to devour, I can break past the limits of a champion and reach that supreme realm.”

“But your mana’s not enough, is it?”

Molde sensed Ruge’s growth slowing down. The magic circle was almost gone. Right now, Ruge was only a little stronger than him. How far was that from the monarch realm?

“Is that so?”

Ruge’s words had barely fallen when an extremely complex magic circle appeared above his head again. A pitch‑black coffin slowly emerged, thick with the stench of blood.

“You really think I didn’t prepare for this?” Ruge said.

The coffin above him creaked open. Viscous, blood‑like liquid began to drip down. The dense magic within it radiated a deeply evil feeling.

“If it weren’t for needing your Elixir of Immortality to rebuild my body, I would’ve tried to break into monarch long ago!”

Ruge floated in midair. As the bloody liquid fell, his aura surged again. Behind him, a pitch‑black phantom slowly emerged—a wraith with only a head. It was the “devouring wraith” Ruge had spoken of.

“Back then, why do you think I became a pirate? It was to seize resources. With my strength, I could’ve gotten special treatment anywhere.”

“I just didn’t expect you to ruin my plan… But it worked out. I broke free of your soul control, and I learned about the Elixir of Immortality. My strength still wasn’t enough to match yours, though, so I didn’t act rashly. I kept waiting for my chance.”

“Every time the ghost ship appeared, I’d deliberately lure people aboard, keep their treasures, then extract every drop of essence from their bodies and pour it into this blood coffin—all for this very moment!”

“Hahahaha!”

Ruge laughed without restraint. Listening to his scheme made people’s hearts go cold. Looking at the bloody liquid in the coffin, a scalp‑numbing chill crept up. All of it was condensed from human blood and flesh essence. Just how twisted was Ruge to do something like this?

“Damn you!”

The siren realized he’d been played by someone he’d always seen as an ant. Rage surged up in his chest. But feeling Ruge’s aura rising at a terrifying pace, he also understood his own state. Right now, he wasn’t Ruge’s match at all. Especially after losing all of his Elixir of Immortality, it meant his life could no longer be prolonged—not even a little.

He might have already drunk the Elixir of Immortality, but he still had other ways to use it to boost himself. Otherwise, he would’ve died decades ago and never lived to see today. He was already more than twelve hundred years old—over twice the normal lifespan of a siren at his level.