The blue and yellow sky shone brightly on this early morning - some other stars were even able to be seen even with the two star's interference.
And the ocean was rife with life; it was quite scintillating and was so blue that you couldn't see through it. Well, since you couldn't see anything except for some shadows, then it was only logical to not be so presumptuous about it being "rife with life".
Except, it was perfectly fine to make such an assumption - even if you had no proof whatsoever.
All you had to do to come to this conclusion was to look into it. And as soon as you did, you'd feel something look at you back.
You'd get a chill on your back and the humid air would appear to thicken as you feel water filling your lungs. You'd look away from that which you looked upon, thinking it was only your imagination and that perhaps you were getting only a little seasick.
You'd focus your attention elsewhere, but the ocean was too big and your eyes will… soon enough… land upon those watery depths yet again. This time, you get the same feeling again- something was watching you - only there was more than one.
You'd look away completely, choosing to gaze at the beautiful sky up above, but the feeling doesn't leave. The crippling sensation of several eyes observing you causes your hair to rise, and it only got worse as time passed by. Soon enough, you'd start to hear whispers, their subject would always be about you.
And in time, the whole world will know about you; they'd look at you and talk about you as if they knew you. Do you approve of them? Do you like them looking at you so? Do you like them gossiping about you in such a way?
Either way, they approve of you, whether you want them to or not. And oh do they love to look at you; your succulent features and bubbly personality. And oh do they love to mention you - the mere mention of you and your body excites them; they just had to tell everyone else about you.
And like always, the world will know you… when your dead body appears on the shore of some random place in pieces. Numerous bite marks would be present on your body… to your disappointment.
However, they'll always put on a warm and welcoming smile for any who had the fortune to witness you in your finest hour.
"Was that supposed to scare me?"
Ran looked at the vibrant world around him before turning towards Ann who was behind him. Currently, he was on a wooden board that hung off the side of the ship. Ann said he was "walking the plank", or whatever that meant.
After surprising everyone yesterday by playing with the settings and accidentally leaving half the group behind, they had all collaborated to figure out an appropriate "punishment" for him.
And like the dunce he is, he revealed his feelings about the water - at the first opportunity - to the rest of them during their gathering for dinner. Needless to say, now he was being pushed along this plank and was being tasked with "finding dinner".
"Pfft, as if. I'm just cautioning you to be careful." She was being serious, to which Ran just nodded before looking towards the water. He walked forward until his feet no longer touched the board… he fell.
Splash! His body smashed through the water as it hurried to fill the space that Ran had just pushed out of the way; it ate him up, introducing him to a completely different world.
Surveying his surroundings, he saw close to nothing, water was the majority of what consumed his vision. Turning downwards, he saw various… structures. Well, not so much as structures as they are seabeds.
But seeing them only caused his curiosity to peak. That's because he did, indeed, see various "structures" on them.
And so, true to his character, he swam to them. However, how can I let him go so easily?
He was only half way there when he suddenly stopped. A chill ran across his back as he looked behind him. His hair was like a red, flexible, shell that protected his back as it moved with him, but it didn't provide any comfort at the moment.
He turned backwards, but he didn't find anything. Worse yet, finding nothing only enhanced his sense of danger. Well, it's not like he found absolutely nothing.
He felt the water around him move differently than it did before. In other words, something had just passed by him and was too fast to see! Again, he looked around in search of this mysterious speedster, but he really found nothing this time.
He thought for a second before continuing to inspect the peculiar seabeds. He didn't want to face what Ann had prepared for him if he failed to bring back any food.
He continued swimming towards the closest seabed, and astonishingly, he was able to successfully get within twenty feet of it without some monster trying to feast on him.
However, monsters weren't of his concern right now seeing what he was seeing right now.
As of currently, he was floating at the center of a huge ribcage! That's right, all those structures that riddled the seafloor were, in fact, all dead carcasses left behind by whatever monstrosity had feasted on their once fleshy bodies!
Well, this was to be expected, but the sheer quantity was what made it surprising. It covered the entire land like a massive graveyard; the cracks in between the land were dark and obscure, hiding who knows what.
Ran was consumed by the scene, the sunrays illuminating everything made it seem… somewhat beautiful. He touched a rib bone and it easily snapped and floated off a bit before colliding with another pile of bones.
He was curious about this place, but the rest were "counting" on him to bring back the goods.
And as if right on cue, the moment the rib bone collided with the bone pile, he tensed up.
Why? It's quite simple really; he tensed up because he just saw a f**king big*ss shadow escape from that pile!
The moment it escaped with its floppy body, the light revealed it's true form.
Looking at him dead in the eyes, its blue body stretched for twenty feet; if it opened its mouth, it would be able to gobble him up whole.
But contrary to most fish, its mouth wasn't its greatest weapon, not even its huge fishy body was of concern. Well, it was, but that's not the point!
That's because it was a GODDAMN SWORDFISH!
Everyone knows what a swordfish is, right? You don't? Huh, you're weird but I'll explain it to you nonetheless. Basically, its mouth was a f**king sword! Okay, not really, but it is now!
Its beak elongated for about ten feet, meaning it alone was twice as Ran himself!
But how can I let Ran go so easily? It only got worse than there as a blue aura began covering the swordfish.
It was rank-6! And it was using its juice! However, before Ran could even finish this thought, it turned into a blue blue as it disappeared.
When Ran saw it again, he found it in front of him, its sword-like beak had impaled straight through his left lung. Its soul juice infiltrated his body and ruined his right lung.
Seeing both his lungs collapsing, he smiled and tried to speak a sick comeback like "you should have gone for the head", but nothing came out except for some blood.
He shook his head before summoning his sword. He raised it so he could chop off this pesky beak, but would it let him do that? Of course not!
Its fish eyes seem to glaze over as its aura grew more violent; its powerful body twisted. Next thing he knew, Ran was spinning like a corkscrew. While he was spinning, the swordfish took the opportunity as it removed its beak before flapping it's big tail at him with full force!
Bam!
The left side of his rib cage broke as he was sent spiraling a few feet back.
Once Ran caught himself, he immediately activated his sigil; his injuries were healed and the blood that was diffusing into the water was set aflame before disappearing. However, the fishes soul juice wasn't so easy to get rid of and took a full five seconds to replace.
As he healed himself, he watched the side of the fish spurt some blood… but that was it. Ran was sulking at this sight, the two comparisons were just too different!
He, again, shook his head as he waited for the fishes next move; he was prepared this time. He covered himself in a thin film of the newly acquired juice that he took from the fish. Now, if the fish attacked him again and he failed to defend himself, the damage would automatically be transferred without harming him.
As for the swordfish, it paid no mind to this little hole. Its aura surged yet again as it slowly circled around Ran from a distance of about thirty feet.
It's long beak began glowing a bright blue as the water started swirling around it. Well, considering it was a fish in the ocean, it having an affinity with water was quite common.
The water that was swirling around the beak also turned a bright blue before the swordfish twisted its body. It whipped its beak in Rans direction, the soul-infused water bubbled before shooting towards Ran. It was a water blade!
While it was a common blueprint that many could buy and put to use if they had a sigil that aligned with water, it was dangerous nonetheless! And in this watery environment, it was even more of a threat.
That was… until Ran took it head on with his sword. His sword buzzed as it readily sucked the energy from the blade. While the swordfish was rank-6, Ran had shown the capability to handle the energy of those who were a rank ahead of him. That's not to say it was a perfect transaction however.
It pushed him back a foot and made him slightly unstable which was not an easy feat. After the fusion with his Koi fish bloodline, his connection to water was intimate. In fact, he didn't have to do a thing for him to move throughout the water, it would just carry him to where he needed to go. Using his body only made him go faster, it was merely a bonus. But the fishes attack had disturbed that connection slightly.
And as it attacked him from all sides with its water blades, Ran was being pushed around like a ragdoll. For intents and purposes, Ran was completely under the fishes control, even if he was mostly unharmed.
Sure enough, when the increasing amount of attacks had thoroughly ruined his rhythm, the swordfish suddenly lashed out by launching itself like a torpedo!
However, the next second, it was stupefied. That was because it kept going; there was no collision.
Its fish eyes had a wide view of its surroundings, so it saw Ran hanging off of it with his sword stuck on its beak.
He smiled.
Snap! A loud snap echoed throughout the surroundings as blood spurted everywhere. The swordfish felt a numbing pain coming from its face and it soon found out that it no longer had its majestic beak! He snapped it off!
Pssh, all this talk about throwing him off his rhythm my *ss! Since when did he have a rhythm!?
Flustered, the swordfish suddenly turned and ran in the opposite direction, trying to run away.
After all, Ran had snapped it's only weapon; it had no teeth and its powerful fishy body just wasn't enough.
With the two separated and going in two different directions, the distance between them increased exponentially.
But was Ran going to let his dinner go? Of course not! So, he shot himself like a torpedo as well! With his strong body and the ocean helping out, his speed in water was much faster than on land.
In fact, if he used his juice in the water, it would act as a catalyst, which he just found out. The water, unlike how it acted with swordfish, was much more gentle around him. It didn't swirl or bubble or anything like that, but it did create a sort of weightlessness within Ran. It also felt as if he wasn't moving through the water, but rather, with the water, like it was carrying him.
But that still didn't mean he could catch up.
He was fast, yes, very fast, but the swordfish was even faster! After all, it was a fish! Its body was meant to be perfectly suited for underwater travel, whereas Rans was not. Thus, this just turned into a game of a cat and mouse.
One was running away and the other was pursuing relentlessly. They weaved and ducked around various bone-structures like they were racing; and just like an actual race, it created a whole heck of a lot of commotion.
Red-colored streams started flowing into Rans nose from several locations. Stunned, he finally realized the gravity of his situation. If he didn't finish this thing off within a few seconds and then leave, or leave right then and there, he would be surrounded and eaten.
So, he did the only thing he could do. He started shaking himself!
One shank!
Two shanks!
Ten shanks!
It was almost like a game for him; with his juice covering his body, it felt as if he wasn't even stabbing himself, like the sword had instead teleported and stabbed the swordfish. Now that he could stab himself freely with harming himself, he was quite overjoyed. Perhaps this would be the only actual attack his sigil had when it didn't rely on someone else. Then again, it relied on Ran, but that's besides the point. He just kept on shanking!
Of course, he had to do so while pursuing the swordfish. Besides the fact that he would quickly lose sight of the fish if he stopped for even a moment, his barrier was the biggest factor.
After achieving rank-7 status, his barrier had doubled again and covered over a hundred feet of distance in all directions.
If the swordfish got out of his barrier, then he could no longer shank it.
But there was a problem. The shanking wasn't enough! Yes, it was constantly spurting blood and yes, it was slowing down, but it wasn't anywhere near dying. And the red streams were getting more and more bloodthirsty. He had to take it down and he had to do it now!
With no time to waste he conjured more juice and quickly fed it into his sword. Luckily, the swordfish had generously donated some energy earlier so it wasn't very taxing at all this time.
Once it filled to the brim, the fishtail pommel glowed brightly as he furiously threw it towards the swordfish!
The swordfish felt an immense surge of energy close in on it, but it didn't look back and chose to speed up instead.
But would Rans sword let it go so easily? Come on, you should know the answer to this repetitive question already.
Come on, say it with me; OF COURSE NOT!
The sword radiated even more light as the blade extended out for another twenty feet!
But it didn't end there. It suddenly split itself into many thinner, flexible, blades that grew even more blades from that. It was like it grew roots, but it wasn't a plant; it was instead a common item used by fisherman.
Indeed, it was a net!
And before the fish even knew it, it was suddenly within the clutches of hai sword. It thrashed wildly, but the net was like a live snake; the more the swordfish struggled, the more the net tightened. Within an instant, the fish had completely ensnared the swordfish, the net had stopped all struggle and even continued to suck whatever energy the swordfish tried to resist with.
"Sweet." The effect was much better than he expected. The only thing he told his sword was that he wanted to take it down the fastest and easiest way possible. He didn't if this was indeed the case, but he was satisfied nonetheless.
He grabbed his swords handle before swiftly dragging the swordfish with him to the surface where both ships floated quietly.