Irene paused for a moment upon hearing Jeanne's question, her mind racing as she tried to recall any record of "We-Many." Despite searching through every piece of training she had undergone, she came up empty.
"We-Many? What is that?" Irene shook her head, looking up at Jeanne. "I feel as though I've heard the phrase somewhere before, but no matter how hard I try, I can't quite remember where."
Seeing that even a judge had no immediate answer, Jeanne made a mental note of the term, deciding to look deeper into it once they returned to a safer place.
Boom—Boom!
Before they could take another step into the depths, a series of heavy, violent crashes echoed from behind, as if thick masonry were being smashed to pieces. Both Jeanne and Irene tensed—had enemies already broken in behind them?
Jeanne turned, intending to head back and investigate the source of the commotion. But before she could move far, a tall figure carrying a colossal greatsword emerged from the settling dust, walking composedly toward them.
Jeanne let out a quiet, helpless sigh as she recognized the intruder.
"Didn't I tell you not to follow me here?" Jeanne looked at Skadi, rubbing her temples. Why on earth was this woman here? Shouldn't she still be aboard the main landship of Rhodes Island?
"My blood line felt a powerful calling," Skadi replied earnestly, her crimson eyes fixed on Jeanne. "I had to trace the source of that pulse. But I will keep my promise to you; I won't return to the ocean. We are still a fair distance from the coast, so my presence here shouldn't cause trouble."
Skadi's arrival had actually been approved by Kal'tsit. Lately, Skadi's mental state had deteriorated sharply; she had been drifting off so frequently that she had already accidentally broken eight automated motorized doors back on the landship. With her mental stability threatening to drop even lower than Specter's, Kal'tsit made a few calls and finally permitted her to travel to Iberia.
"Kal'tsit actually let you come out here?" Jeanne was baffled. Had Kal'tsit lost her mind, or had the Doctor somehow managed to sign off on the travel request instead? It certainly didn't sound like Kal'tsit's usual overprotective protocol.
"Kal'tsit told me to keep an eye on you," Skadi explained with quiet obedience. "She has contacts in Iberia, so she knew your whereabouts."
Beside them, Irene kept her guard up, her hand hovering near her weapons. The sheer, unnatural physical force required to break through stone walls—combined with those striking features—made it obvious that this newcomer was a very particular kind of Aegir.
"Fine," Jeanne sighed, accepting her explanation. But another question quickly crossed her mind: how long had this woman been shadowing them? Jeanne hadn't picked up on any signs of a tail during her time in Iberia.
"I waited outside the city for you before you left," Skadi added, glancing briefly at Irene. "I didn't come out into the open because you were traveling with a judge, and... my kind doesn't mix well with them."
Calling the relationship between Aegir and the Inquisition "not mixing well" was a massive understatement, but Irene simply glared at the newcomer in silent vigilance, holding her tongue since the woman was clearly Jeanne's acquaintance.
"We can discuss this later," Skadi said, her tone growing solemn as she surveyed the dim corridor. "There is a severe problem with this location. Many of the people here have already begun undergoing Seaborn transformation. We need to leave."
Jeanne didn't doubt her for a second. Fafnir had already been reacting to a foul, suffocating odor ever since they arrived—a stench so thick the child had stopped breathing through her nose entirely.
"Seaborn transformation?!" Irene's eyes widened in shock. She understood full well what that implied, feeling a surge of guilt that she hadn't caught the signs earlier.
"Yes. They hid it well, so anyone without enough experience would struggle to notice," Skadi answered plainly. "However, I can distinguish that level of concealment easily."
Irene lowered her head in silence, her pride taking a quiet blow. Though she was only a novice judge, hearing that her observation skills had fallen short hit a tender nerve.
Still, she didn't question Skadi's assessment. Looking back at the servant's strange behavior, she realized there had been clear warning signs she had overlooked in the moment.
"I was careless," Irene said sincerely, turning to Jeanne with an apologetic look. "That was dangerous, and I failed to catch it."
"Since you're so familiar with the Seaborn," Jeanne turned back to Skadi, using the opportunity to ask, "do you know what 'We-Many' means?"
The moment the words left Jeanne's mouth, Skadi's crimson eyes widened. Her entire posture shifted into full combat stance, her hands instantly gripping the handle of her colossal greatsword as her gaze sharply scanned the dark corridor.
Jeanne almost felt as though dramatic battle music were about to kick in right behind her.
"We-Many... Where did you hear that word?" Skadi asked, her voice dropping into a low, deadly register.
"I heard it just a moment ago. From that direction," Jeanne pointed down the pitch-black passage ahead, which swallowed the light like the open maw of a giant beast.
"Down there..." Skadi muttered. "Wait here. I'll go take care of it."
She made to charge directly down the tunnel, her strategy consisting entirely of brute force.
"Hold on, stop right there!" Jeanne grabbed Skadi's shoulder, thoroughly exasperated by the woman's impulsive nature. Charging blindly into an unknown dark tunnel without a plan was asking for an ambush.
"We go together so we can cover each other," Jeanne said with a weary sigh. "Now tell me: what does 'We-Many' actually mean?"
Even Irene leaned in slightly, waiting for the answer.
After a brief pause, Skadi answered slowly: "My captain once told me that 'We-Many' is the collective term the Seaborn use to refer to their own hive intelligence. But that was only a theory from the research institutes, because every Seaborn we had ever encountered prior to that was completely incapable of speech."
In other words, the entity Jeanne had overheard was a Seaborn capable of speaking the languages of Terra—a terrifying evolutionary shift, signaling that the ocean's horrors were adapting to the land.
Irene's breath hitched as the realization struck her. Suddenly, a buried memory clicked into place. She remembered where she had heard the phrase before—on the very day she became an Iberian judge!
On that day, her mentor had brought her into a heavily guarded, secret chamber. The entity contained within had dealt her such a terrifying mental shock just by being in its presence that she had suppressed the memory of its chaotic, incomprehensible whispers. But now she remembered: amidst those fragmented, madness-inducing sounds, it had indeed spoken of "We-Many."
Unsheathing her blade and raising her banner, Jeanne stepped forward into the gloom. Irene lifted her lantern, illuminating the path ahead, while Skadi maintained a calm, steady grip on her greatsword, staying alert for sudden attacks.
The three of them advanced quietly down the dark corridor. As they walked, a troubling thought crossed Irene's mind: with all the noise Skadi had made breaking through the outer walls, it should have alerted the entire fortress.
So why was the tunnel ahead so deathly quiet?