The singing continued, ringing in his ears. Covering them with his hands did nothing. The bizarre changes in his body kept progressing; his hands were now as deformed and swollen as those of a gout patient.
Charles struggled to his feet and looked around. He dashed to a cupboard in the hallway, grabbed two pieces of silverware, and with a few quick slashes of the Black Blade, sharpened them into silver spikes.
After taking a deep breath, Charles gripped the spikes and fiercely stabbed them into his own ears. The unbearable pain of his pierced eardrums brought him to one knee. Despite the agony, a hint of relief appeared on his face behind the mask. The singing was gone, and the bizarre transformations of his body had stopped.
Peeling off the moss that had grown out of his skin, Charles continued moving forward.
The crisis was temporarily averted. However, while this giant ship was easy to enter, it was proving difficult to leave. With its endless hallways and rooms, Charles was completely lost. Should I just blow up the wall? But would the explosion attract those two?
As he hesitated, he suddenly froze. His gaze was glued to a door plate he couldn't look away from: Captain's Room.
Without a second thought, Charles pushed the door open. If a sea chart is anywhere on this ship, it has to be here!
The door opened to reveal the little girl from before. She sat atop a huge wooden desk, swinging her legs, her grotesque mouth open as she sang a song.
The extreme danger couldn't stop Charles from looking at the wall. It was a sea chart, one that showed a vast new area not found on any ordinary chart!
Charles flicked his wrist, sending the Black Blade hurtling toward the little girl as he dashed for the sea chart.
As he got closer, Charles could see more details on the sea chart. Just as he was rapidly committing it to memory, the Black Blade flew back and struck him squarely in the face.
Blood flooded Charles's eyes, forcing him to stop his observation.
By the time he pulled the blade from his face and wiped away the blood, the little girl was standing before him with a smile. Her mouth was moving, but Charles was completely deaf now and couldn't hear a thing.
Behind his mask, Charles's lips curled into a smile. "So the fat man isn't the King. You're the real controller of Sodoma, aren't you?"
An Ability similar to Telekinesis, coupled with that song that brought everything to life... Charles was convinced she was no ordinary six or seven-year-old girl.
The girl raised her hands, and Charles's body floated in mid-air.
CRACK! Charles's left forearm was twisted into a corkscrew.
The excruciating pain didn't make Charles look away from the sea chart. He kept memorizing everything he could.
Annoyance flashed across the girl's face. With a clench of her fists, Charles's body twisted into an extremely exaggerated shape, as if all his bones had snapped at once. He crashed to the ground like a lump of mud.
At that moment, the blood-soaked 'King' barged in, panting heavily. Looking at Charles on the ground, a cruel expression filled the 'King's' face. THUMP, THUMP, THUMP. He approached with heavy steps.
But just as he bent down to grab him, Charles suddenly shot up from the ground, his body launching out of the room like a cheetah.
"ROAR, ROAR, ROAR! Bet you didn't see that coming! I've got a mask and know Jujutsu! Catch me if you can, you moron!"
As soon as he burst out of the room, Charles pulled out a stick of dynamite, lit it, and tossed it behind him without a second thought. The ensuing blast wave sent him flying.
Ignoring the results of the explosion, Charles quickly pulled the rest of the explosives from his bag and placed them in a nearby corner.
I've already memorized the sea chart! All I have to do now is escape, and the mission is complete!
BOOM! The world spun for an instant. A huge hole was blasted in the 'King's' residence, revealing the slum-like tin buildings of Sodoma before Charles.
He ignored the drop of several dozen meters and leaped without hesitation.
In mid-air, Charles's body rapidly expanded and grew, transforming into a nearly five-meter-tall giant bat. It flapped its wings, flying quickly toward the harbor.
At the gaping hole created by the bomb, the little girl's face was ashen. "Give the order!" she commanded. "Notify all the pirates! Whoever kills him gets 10,000,000 Echoes!"
The disheveled 'King' nodded quickly and leaped down from the hole.
Charles soon realized the air was not safe. By the time he was halfway to his destination, every cannon port in Sodoma had turned to aim at him.
BOOM! A cannonball shrieked toward him. Charles swerved, narrowly avoiding a direct hit. The shell exploded nearby, and the concussive force blew him three meters off course.
Charles tucked his wings and dropped low, skimming over rooftops and the tops of ships in an attempt to evade the cannon fire.
Although the cannon attacks had ceased, other dangers followed one after another.
RAT-A-TAT-TAT! A line of bullets swept past, punching several holes in Charles's left wing membrane.
He looked down and saw all the pirates. As if driven mad, they wielded various weapons and launched a frenzied assault on him.
Seeing their faces flushed red with excitement, Charles immediately guessed the 'King' must have placed an enormous bounty on his head.
Besides the conventional gunfire, all sorts of unimaginable attacks flew toward Charles.
There were fireballs, lightning, and even some pirates who had somehow taken to the skies.
Despite his agility, Charles sustained more and more injuries under the onslaught.
A Dam Bullet exploded in his lower leg, blowing out a cavity of flesh. An unprecedented wave of fatigue washed over him; he was on the verge of collapse.
A few seconds later, the swarm of pirates before him suddenly vanished. The dock, filled with ships, appeared in his sights.
But before Charles could feel any relief, a yellow blur shot up from the ground, leaving an afterimage as it slammed violently into him.
Under the immense impact, his scar-riddled body finally gave out, and he plummeted straight toward the sea.
In mid-air, Charles struggled to turn his head. He saw the 'King's' crazed face right next to his; the creature was already on top of him, frantically gnawing at his body.
SPLASH! The two of them plunged into the icy seawater.
In the pitch-black water, Charles struggled intensely to escape the 'King's' grip.
Just as he started to break free, dozens of centipede-like creatures burst from the 'King's' body. Their hooked legs dug firmly into Charles, locking them together. Their combined blood began to dye the surrounding water red.
As the 'King' gnawed frenziedly, his rotten teeth shattered and fell out, replaced by rows of ink-black fangs. Now resembling a Taotie, he began to tear off large chunks of flesh, as if intent on swallowing Charles whole.