Lil tightened her grip on the edge of the tank. As she completely missed the occurrence, her heart froze over. 

‘No, seeing that light is receding, It’s clear that he jumped in himself instead of falling in by accident… And he was right, the darker it gets, the brighter the balsam becomes. The brightness is still clearly visible even though it keeps descending. It’s so intense when viewed from above, that there’s no way the mermaid’s eyes couldn’t have seen the light…’ 

Lil’s heart pounded as soon as that thought crossed her head. Sure enough, the motionless blue light wiggled noticeably. A chill ran down her spine when she noticed movement from the creature they thought was asleep. Nevertheless, the white brilliance went towards the mermaid.

“Did you get caught? …Well, you jumped in so loudly… Damn it!”

All the blood from her fingertips seemed to drain away. In a instant, the pale hand chucked away the triangular hat she was wearing. When she looked around in desperation, she noticed a pulley hanging from the ceiling. 

‘Judging from the fact that it’s installed above the tank, the object they intended to move with it is probably the mermaid.’

Lil reached for the bundle of ropes that was connected to it. Despite the intricate structure, consisting of various pulleys linked to one another, she knew that pulling the longest rope would elevate the iron-clad pulley and letting it loose would lower it. It was a tool that was widely used to move nets or boxes. When she studied the mechanism she noticed that the rope she had to pull was attached to a bobbin on the floor.

Lil measured Ed’s weight. There was only Cesar to compare, so Cesar naturally came to mind. 

‘Ed is taller than Cesar, but his body is similar or somewhat slimmer. Obviously, his weight will be comparable to Cesar’s. I’m not sure how many times I have to pull the rope to get him out of the water. Regardless, it’s rather fortunate I can use less strength because the water resistant will make him lighter.’

As a test, Lil yanked the rope one time.

“Damn it.”

‘At this rate, only the ting I will recover are the remains of a ravaged body. Wait, does a mermaid even eat people? I don’t really know, but I wouldn’t insist on it being a herbivore seeing the way it attack me earlier.’ 

Lil pulled a handle to secure the rope for a moment. She then took off her vest and wrapped her hands around it. 

‘It would be much faster to pull directly with my hands… But I have no idea what was going on inside the tank. Don’t tell me it’s a friendly atmosphere?’

Lil held on to the rope, but when the silence prolonged, she hesitantly stepped toward the tank. With both her hand occupied, there was no possibility to hold a gun, making approaching the tank empty handed a bit unsettling. The fish tank’s opening appeared ominous like it could spit out a monster any time now. Neither Ed’s nor the mermaid’s light was visible, so Lil clenched her teeth and moved in closer. At first glance, it seemed like a small ray of light ascended through the tank.

“…Huh?”

Lil strode forward. Out of nowhere, the pulley rope became as taut as if it could break at any moment and the rope that was suddenly supporting weight vibrated like it was ready to snap. Lil looked up, before quickly casting her eyes down. However, Ed was still nowhere to be found. Only a cluster of froth rushing towards her. Beneath that, a blue ray of light was swimming up at an alarming rate. It shouted; its chin wide open as if it were about to swallow the white light. Lil sprang up, seized the rope from the air, and dashed to the opposite wall. Lil yanked it with all her power till there was no more room to run. Even though it was light, there was a big distance to cover. Lil had long since lost her vest, so she had to deal with the chafing of the rope on her forearm. Still, she threw all her effort into it, knowing that if she stopped even for a second, she’d lose all her chances of winning. Lil could only hope she wasn’t late.

The tank’s centre eventually swelled, and a massive volume surged all at once, much like the power that was compacted immediately before it erupted. A white light radiated from within the pure white foam, which slipped around the mass of water like a loose net. It’s Ed. As the wiggling surface became transparent like a thin film and slid down in the shape of a human, Lil pulled the rope with all her might.

-Schwaaaak!- 

Ed emerged like a cub, tearing away the amnion. He inhaled the air while clinging to the iron ring, possibly out of breath. Then he coughed with enough force to vomit all the water he had inhaled. The liquid that exploded from his mouth rained down like firecrackers. In an instant, the entire warehouse was flooded as if it had rained violently. Meanwhile, a tank that was not even filled with water made a violent wave sound.

As the face of the predator rose through the wreckage, Lil’s vision instantly turned blue. It was only then that Lil realized how bright the mermaid’s light was. It’s like the rising sun’s intensity, with its rays of light spreading all over the world. Lil squeezed her eyes shut at the brilliance that remained like a dizzying afterimage in front of her. Dense teeth, full of fangs, bounced up to Ed’s knee, causing Lil to scream loudly.

“Ed!”

Its large chin extended up to his cheeks, while its blue tongue pierced through them and flew straight like that of a snake.

“Keeeeek!”

However, Ed reached out to the rising spray and shouted something urgently. To Lil, it was a foreign language that was completely incomprehensible.

Then the monstrous cry ceased. Its hair, which had swelled from the instinct of a beast in front of its enemy, came to a standstill. Even its tongue, which was wriggling like an independent creature, became still. Unbelievably, the mermaid stopped all its fluctuations as if Ed’s shout contained any magical power. The scene was so unrealistic that Lil opened her mouth, dumbfounded. As little drops of water crossed her line of sight, Lil thought time had stopped. But,

-Splash!-

The bluish light disappeared in an instant. Lil clearly saw a change in the mermaid’s expression just before being devoured back to the water. The mermaid, if the expression of embarrassment is correct, disappeared in a panic. Lil groaned as she sat in confusion. 

‘Is it fantasy? Was it a fantasy?’

Ed, hanging from the pulley, looked down at the tank and smiled while Lil didn’t even think about moving her widely opened eyes. He jumped to her side and brushed his wet hair. 

A drop of water dripped from a single strand that had not yet fallen over. 

-Tuk, tuk, tuk– 

The scene only seemed slow. Lil stiffened as Ed wound up the rope and before turning to her completely.

Lil muttered with the most dumbfounded face ever.

“Ma… magic?”

Ed looked at Lil and started laughing.

“Hahahaha! Captain! Your expression… hahahaha!”

“Hey, did you use ma… ma… magic? It was just…”

The corner of Ed’s left lip twitched up. Ed said, licking his tongue out of his wet lips.

“Yes. That was magic.”

After then, Ed extended his hand in front of Lil, but she couldn’t move due to the shock of her reality being shaken. Her head felt dizzy, and her vision began to blur. She couldn’t determine where the floor ended and the ceiling began. She had never experienced an earthquake, but it appeared to her to be a much larger disaster than an earthquake. Underfoot and above, everything was falling apart. In the meantime, Ed, who turned his palm upside down, tightened his hand joints.

“See?”

But there was nothing in Lil’s line of sight. Lil dropped the rope because she had no strength in her limbs, and her hand which had no place to rely on touched the area around her necklace for nothing. In this absurd situation, she can only believe in her small necklace. Lil held it as if it were a lifeline. However, Ed’s face was getting more and more distorted.

“Pffft…”

Ed suddenly sat down and began to laugh, sounding like he was about to die of laughter.

“Hahaha! Hahahaha!”

He wrapped his stomach while his body shook, but Lil couldn’t understand what the hell was going on.

“You’re so naive!”

Finally, a slow realization came to Lil, who was holding the necklace. She slowly understood the reality before her. 

‘Did this crazy guy perform such a scam just for a joke? Magic? Magic…’

Lil stammered with a sullen face.

“You… you!”

There were tears in Ed’s eyes upon laughing so much. Ed wiped away the rest of his chuckle, wiping his eyes with his fingers. Lil, who stomped away, pounced on his squatting body, but Ed simply dodged her by twisting his body with a rabbit jump. Lil couldn’t stand it, so she tried stomping on Ed’s foot that’s turned…

“Ahhh!”