The Tide of Seas raged back and forth. Waves collided like monsters at war. Currents were distorted. The black water was in a frenzy—a mad frenzy. Insidious whispers of contempt, anger, sadness, and every known dark emotion echoed across the endless sea.
The firmament was as if it were gazing down on the madness through its cracks, its goo dropping and disappearing out of sight. A thin, invisible line separated the firmament from the raging sea. Lightning shook the world, coming from nowhere and entering somewhere, creating thunderclaps that seemed to tear reality down.
It was all madness.
And in this madness, two mad beings fought.
One was a shark-like creature the size of a carriage. Its body was made of white metal, leaving its underside as black flesh. Its mouth, which rested under its snout, was filled with countless rows of metallic teeth. Its fins were large, resembling aerial wings. Its tail was made of countless needles glued together. What was much more dreadful was its eye, made of weaves that were currently unweaving, revealing a crimson depth that seemed to suppress and take everything for itself.
The other being was a frail-looking, handsome, godlike young man. He was missing a left arm, and his back was burning and mutilated. He had long black hair and deep crimson eyes. He wore a white, armless, skirt-like tunic which was stained with blood and torn. The back of the cloth was already gone, revealing a very grotesque injury.
He may have looked godlike, but currently, his crimson eyes were filled with rage and determination. He had small and big scars all over his body; his hair was wet and matted.
The whirlpool groaned like a dying beast. The center of the sea had collapsed into a spinning hole of black foam.
Leo felt the pull first. The water grabbed his legs and dragged him toward the center. He didn't fight the spin. He let it take him, using the rotation to gain speed.
The Sagittarius was right behind him. It used its wing-fins to slice through the waves. It didn't look like a fish anymore to Leo; it looked like a white metal tank. Its crimson eye was fixed on Leo. It was waiting for the whirlpool to crush the boy's ribs so it could pick up the pieces.
'So you're smart?'
The shark lunged. It whipped its needle-tail, sending a spray of water that cut Leo's face like a knife.
Leo ducked. He watched the white-metal snout get closer and closer. He only had one arm. He had no sword or any weapon except for the burning sensation from his back. The skin on his back was still bubbling from the golden line, holding a charge of energy that wouldn't go out.
'Come on,' Leo hissed.
The shark opened its mouth. Leo could see the red throat and the rows of teeth that looked like silver saws.
Just as the jaws were about to snap, a wave from the North hit the side of the whirlpool. The water exploded. The shockwave threw both of them off balance.
Leo swam straight at the monster.
He threw his body forward and grabbed the shark's side fin with his good hand. The metal was cold and slick. The shark thrashed, trying to shake him off, but Leo held on.
"Argh!"
The needle-tail lashed out and poked a hole through Leo's thigh. Blood sprayed into the black water. Leo didn't let go. He pulled himself up until he was lying flat on the shark's back. He pressed his raw, burnt spine directly against the white metal.
The smell of burnt meat and hot metal filled the air. The energy from the force field—the same heat that turned the black goo into steam—melted into the shark's armor.
The Sagittarius let out a scream that shook Leo's bones. It dove. It went deep into the dark water, trying to drown him or crush him with pressure. The dark emotions hit Leo's mind—dread, sadness, and the urge to just give up and die.
'Not yet!' Leo's mind yelled.
He dug his fingers into the gaps of the armor. He pressed his back harder against the beast. The water around them started to boil. Tiny bubbles of steam rose as the white metal on the shark's back began to glow red.
The shark was dying. It knew it. In a final, mad move, it used all its strength to swim upward. It burst out of the center of the whirlpool like a rocket.
They were in the air. For a moment, everything almost looked beautiful to Leo, but he shook himself out of it.
Leo looked up. The golden line was right there. It was so close he could feel his hair catching fire. The heat was like standing inside a sun.
He let go of the fin.
Leo kicked off the shark's back with his legs. The kick pushed Leo down toward the water, but it sent the shark flying up.
The Sagittarius hit the golden line.
There was no explosion—just a blinding flash of gold and purple that waved across the endless firmament, casting an eerie glow upon it. The shark didn't even have time to roar. Its metal body turned into grotesque flesh, then into a thousand pieces of it, then liquid, and then into nothing. It disappeared in a cloud of white sparks.
All of it happened in a mere second.
[You've slain a Condemned Sagittarius, Eye Of Dread]
[You've earned a Vestige: Shell Of Dread]
Leo hit the water like a stone.
He sank. His body was limp. His one good arm trailed behind him in the black deep. He was too tired to kick. He was too tired to breathe.
Yet still, a pale, prideful smile appeared on his lips.
'Good riddance.'
The last thing he saw was the crimson eye of the shark, broken into a million pieces, sinking with him.
He had won. But as the black water filled his mouth, Leo realized he was too broken to care.
The waves were indifferent to the battle. They raged on, swallowing the remains of the mad battle between the boy and the shark.
The Tide of Seas took him, and the boy with the godlike face finally closed his eyes.