Socrates sat on the stream with his eyes glued on the surface of the water, his ocean-blue gaze unmoving as faint ripples reflected dim light across his face.
The energy barrier glowed faintly as it protected him from sinking, its golden hue casting a thin shimmer across the rushing current beneath him. He had been this way for the past two days, just watching the stream without moving or thinking of exiting the stream, his body motionless like a statue planted above the flowing water.
Suddenly, he got plunged deep into the stream as the barrier vanished instantly, the golden light flickering out without warning.
He couldn't even think as water enveloped him from different directions and sources, the sudden loss of protection leaving his body exposed to the crushing force of the current.
The water rushed into his nostrils, mouth, eyes, and ears as he raised his hands in defense, his limbs moving instinctively against the overwhelming surge.
'Senior...' He cried in his mind as he called for help, desperation clawing at his fading composure.
But there was no response from the Gladiator King, the silence inside his mind colder than the water surrounding him.
Socrates tried to fight but to no avail, surges of water rushed in and kept rushing in, crashing against his body with relentless force.
Every time he tried to push away, he just couldn't as the stream forced the flow of his body into a particular direction, dragging him along like debris caught in a violent current.
The water enveloped his body as it penetrated into his inner system, causing him to gag weakly as his senses dulled, his chest tightening painfully with every forced intake.
His body dropped resistance as he found himself sinking deep into the stream, the weight of the rushing water pressing against his limbs.
He's trying hard to fight against it, pushing against the flow but it was to no avail... He couldn't help it... The tide of the water took him as it carried him towards the direction the stream was flowing to, his body spinning helplessly beneath the surface.
'You fool... You don't have any energy and you're trying to sense the flow of the stream... How is that possible? You're cultivating in the wrong way.. Without energy, you can't sense anything... You can only feel it. And that's why I removed the barrier. So that you can feel it yourself... The flow of the stream then try to link it with the flow of the water in the Sky Earth Drum... Let your brain work in 360... Try to connect the two and it will be a checkmate.. '
Socrates heard the voice in his head but he couldn't even understand what the voice was saying, the roaring water drowning his clarity as his thoughts blurred together.
All his senses had dulled and it seemed as if he could pass out at any moment, darkness creeping slowly into the edges of his vision.
'Fool... I won't save you... You are going to die if you don't defeat the flow of the stream..' The voice of Achillia screamed into his head, sharp and commanding, waking up his sixth senses like a sudden strike of thunder inside his mind.
'Defeat the flow of the stream? How can I defeat?'
'By fighting... What am I fighting against?'
'The flow of the stream. What is this flow? And how does the stream flow?'
'It's about the wind current... The direction the wind forces the stream to move... All water bodies are bound by this direction..'
'Not just water bodies but anything in the stream is bound to follow this flow..'
'To defeat this flow... I've to go against it..'
'And to go against it... I've to fight...'
'Not with arms and legs but with a strong will...'
At that moment, Socrates' eyes opened wide inside the stream as he sucked in water with all his might, his lungs burning violently as the cold liquid forced its way inward.
He didn't let it settle... He didn't let it sink into his stomach as he shot the water out with extreme force and speed, forcing his throat to contract violently as he expelled the liquid.
This force slightly disrupted the flow of the stream, although faintly, but it didn't go beyond Socrates' notice who raised his hand forward and pulled on the water, his fingers spreading wide as if gripping something invisible.
That faint disruption was dragged by Socrates, causing it to expand while he used that force to turn around, twisting his torso against the direction of the current.
Socrates' sixth senses were on hyper drive as he turned around and resumed kicking and punching immediately, his limbs moving with frantic determination beneath the rushing water.
Kicking around as he disrupted the movement of the water, then he found a pattern, a subtle shift in how the current bent around his body.
The current bending ever so slightly as he made his move without hesitation, opening his mouth wide while sucking the water around him, giving him space to lie on his back while still in the water.
He strained every part of his body as with great force kicked his legs against each other as the motion caused him to spin violently in the water, bubbles forming rapidly around his rotating form.
The water he drank shot uncontrollably out of his mouth as it formed another flow that was going against the current, thin streams of expelled water pushing outward like narrow jets.
'That's it... The water from my mouth.... That's another water different from the stream... the flow of that is different.. It's in a different pattern from the stream...'
'But the flow of the stream is enveloping it... I can't let that happen...'
With great intensity, Socrates pushed hard with every force he could muster but then it was still to no avail, the natural current swallowing his resistance again and again.
'Senior.. Please activate the barrier...' Socrates begged as another thought drove into his mind, desperation tightening around his fading strength.
'Hmmph..' He heard a snort before a green barrier enveloped him in the midst of the water, the sudden appearance of the barrier forming a firm boundary around his body.
But that barrier didn't disperse the water.... It only allowed the surrounding water not to come in, forming a hollow pocket around Socrates where the rushing current pressed violently against the outer surface.
'Just like I guessed, the barrier is preventing the flow of the stream...'
Socrates raised his body as he watched the water in the barrier which contained parts of the water he had vomited, the trapped liquid swirling in erratic patterns against the transparent inner wall.
The flow fighting against the natural flow when he intertwined his hands and started running.... Kicking and kicking as if his life depended on it.... His limbs moved rapidly within the confined space, disturbing the smaller pool of water trapped beside him.
'This is the stream... A water....'
'A water is different from land..'
'But in history book, it was said a man once walked on the sea..'
'The large sea... This small stream....'
'It can be a body of water to everyone but to me it's nothing more than a land...'
'A land where I can walk on... Trample on..'.
'A land... The bottom of the stream...'
It suddenly struck him as he rushed towards the stream bottom, diving deep without resistance as the barrier protected him, the pressure of the current sliding across the outer layer of the shield.
When he landed with both feet on the bottom of the river, small clouds of sand and loose stones lifted around his boots, disturbed by the sudden contact.
"This is it..." He convinced himself as he moved at once, his posture lowering slightly as he prepared to force his way forward.
The water dragged his legs behind but he didn't budge.. He was supposed to go left but he went right... Where he was supposed to go up, he went down... deliberately resisting the expected path of the current.
As he spun in the stream with intense velocity, his movements becoming more coordinated with each attempt.
From slow movement to running and from running to a speed that went beyond the limit of an average human..... His legs struck repeatedly against the riverbed, pushing against the dense pressure of the water.
And that was it... The tide changing as the spin also moved the barrier which started spinning hard as the water was separated due to the strong force used.... The swirling motion began carving a temporary hollow space in the surrounding flow.
At once the barrier shot up with him in it as it flung him across the body of water which had already separated, the spinning force launching him like a projectile through the air, and his body was flung to the dry land near the bank of the stream.. He landed with his chest as he fell unconscious immediately, dust and loose pebbles scattering beneath the weight of his impact.
While the stream which had parted rejoined instantly, the rushing water slamming back together with a loud surge, but then separated again...
They were now two flows in the body of the water as the current seemed to fight against each other, waves colliding violently where the opposing streams met, sending sprays of water upward.
But the current flow which was created by Socrates overpowered the natural flow as then it mixed up and the flow of the stream changed into another wind direction, the entire body of water slowly bending into a new path as if guided by an unseen force.
The flow Socrates had created was not just random but from months of observing the Sky Earth Drum... So the flow he created perfectly matched that of the Sky Earth Drum and this caused the stream to flow into the Sky Earth Drum, filling the Drum with abundant clean water that surged through the connected channel.
The drum was filled to the brim that water shot out of it, spilling across the environment, cascading over the stone rim and splashing down the surrounding pathways in heavy waves.
Water spread across the surrounding grounds, flooding nearby steps and running along carved stone grooves that had never seen such overflow before.
Socrates had completed his punishment... He had filled the Sky Earth Drum with water from the stream in the most unknown way ever, his unconscious body lying still at the bank while the result of his effort reshaped the flow of the entire system.