They were finally able to relax on the ship after their task was completed. Akira, on the other hand, was dizzy from motion sickness. It did help him feel better and prevented him from puking excessively, but his face remained green.
Their last task was to take the ring, and it was a success; many warriors who died were not in vain; yet, they still needed to arrange for a funeral for those unfortunate souls who did not make it till the end. Akira sat there, looking up into the sky, feeling guilty for not being able to save those warriors. This was when Akira knew he needed to put in the most effort possible in his training.
"Forget the system, I want to become even more stronger!" Akira came to terms with the truth that he wasn't ready. He realized that being stronger than a general, even for a king, wasn't simple after witnessing Kamui's fight. Being stronger could not help without changing how he fight, but changing his personality that was lacking care for his surroundings would help. He too noticed and often slacked by when he knew the enemy was unconscious.
"You're still sick?"
"Yeah, not quite better than what I was expecting."
"Try this!" Shura gave Akira some kind of medicine in a small bottle.
Akira began to ask about the severity of the side effects, as he had become wary about having diarrhea.
"It's not poison, and don't be alarmed; there are no tricks or pain."
Finally, Akira put his faith in Shura and opened the bottle. He drank till the bottle was emptied, and the dizziness went away. Akira could finally stand up straighter and felt better than he had in a long time.
As he began to see the ocean more clearly, Akira couldn't help but smile. The ocean, on the other hand, seemed strange...
The water became tumultuous, and Akira was not feeling good about it. He began to hear a screech from the depths of the ocean. The noise's echoes were drowned out by the sea, Shura heard the weird sounds and informed Akira, but he couldn't see what was going on. A giant tentacle appeared shortly after the noise was silenced, strangling the ship. Akira ran over to the tentacle and severed it, freeing the ship.
The entire ship was alerted, as did the other ships carrying soldiers. Akira slashed the tentacles away from the ship with a blood slash. The tentacles were big and strong, which made Shura think it was a Kraken.
Kraken was a sea monster who lived millennia ago. Though it was still a rumor and story, monsters did exist in this world, which meant Kraken would as well. The appearance of the beast terrified the warriors. They had no idea what had enraged the creature. The warriors were astonished when the ship quickly came to a halt for an unknown reason. They soon found out that the ship was stopped because a giant whirlpool was in front of them. It ain't bad luck for sure, more likely they were somewhat cursed.
Akira quickly ran toward the front of the ship, trying to get a better view. There were giant monsters everywhere, circling the ship. The ship began to shake as the monster tried to attack the ship. Once the warriors went on top of the ship to fight, they were surprised by the monster's attack. They came to aid Akira and Shura, by slaughtering the monster.
The monster sank the soldier's ship, drowning the soldiers and the warrior's corpses. By using his blood slash, Akira jumped from the ship and attacked the Kraken. He used a giganta blood blade to grow his blade and flung the blood slash at incredible speed. The Kraken was struck and suffered damage as a result of the slash, wailing in agony. As it was harmed by the slash, the loud noise sounded like a hissing cat.
"Akira! Look out!"
When Akira was high in the air, Shura alerted him with a shout. Shura wanted to help but was busy because the tentacles blocked his path as well as the warriors. The Kraken struck Akira with its tentacles in retaliation. Akira plunged right into the whirlpool after being struck by the Kraken's strike. He tried to swim up, but the water dragged him hard against him, immobilizing him. After he was blown away into the vortex, his scythe was detached from him. The whirlpool drew him deep into the ocean not long after. The water pressure became unbearable, crushing his lungs like a can. Even with his high durability, the water pressure got to him. Either it was because of the whirlpool or some kind of magic.
Akira was unable to break free, and the water caused him to drown deep till he died. He was on the verge of passing out as the oxygen in his body was drained from him, and he was dying from a lack of oxygen.
His visions were hazy, and when he closed his eyes, all he saw was a void of darkness within his head.
"Awake" The voice inside of his head began to speak.
"Who's there?" Akira responded to the call and asked who it was. It, on the other hand, did not answer.
He awoke on the beach about an hour or two later. He finally saw sand on the ground when he opened his eyes. He began coughing and vomiting the swollen water from his stomach. His body was in excruciating pain, and he was exhausted from fighting back. He rose up shortly after, his hand on his chest, as his chest hurt. He soon came to realize that he was pulled out from the water after he drowned and got dropped to an island.
He looked over and gazed upon the ocean to try and see the ships, but there were none. Akira believed he went too far from the ship or maybe the ship was sunk by the monsters, he didn't know. Again, Akira wouldn't dare to swim far ahead, he did not even know where he was at. He was stranded on an unknown island and heard numerous animals nearby.
Without further ado, he went deep into the woods of the island. He wished he could fly across or have an enormous power jump rather than jump higher than 34 meters, because only then would he face death when he began swimming. He was only immortal, not having unlimited stamina and any strength surpassing many either. And also, he wasn't proficient in swimming.
He walked to the woods in search of food, and also to cut some logs in building a fire to broadcast an SOS. After Akira had traveled far, he discovered an unknown underground temple. He went right in with curious intent. Soon after, he only discovered ancient writings and carved walls, which were familiar to him.
"Again with this? What am I, an archeologist?" Akira felt tired of seeing ancient images and texts with no clue what they were up to. Either they were telling predictions or the history of their past. But this time, the shape of the carved wall was seemingly similar to the shape of the ring he had held once.
The ring's width was dependent on the user, and the ring had a gem on it also. However, the carved wall seemed to have been made by someone who wasn't great with art. The circle shape was misshaped and the writing looked like someone had just used a stick to write them.
"Who are you, young lad?" A man's voice echoed through the temple as Akira soon looked at where the voice was coming from. Akira took noticed his appearance.
He had red hair, his clothes were all torn off and he was kind of old. He looked 52 to be specific his age. Akira soon asked the old man how did he get here, he didn't even feel his presence at all. He knew how a human smell because of how their sweats trigger a funky smell.
As he went down the stairs, he was holding some kind of flute behind him. He started asking Akira how did he get here. Akira was just about to say the same thing, but the man responded he knew how he was here on the island, not in the temple.
The temple had hidden its presence for nearly a hundred years, only to soon be open and let a stranger come near the temple.
Akira asked who he was and how did he know.
He replied, "I'm just the same as you."