"What do you mean?" I asked Aquanora. I was puzzled.
"The thing with Ash."
I was stumped.
"So, you did talk with Zephyrion." I muttered lightly and closed my eyes. Not replying to her.
"Yes, I did. He already warned you, but you summoned Aelios to keep an eye out for him. You don't even know what you are dealing with here. Ash… he might be a human, but he is a whole different creature.
I haven't seen someone like him since the Old Age."
I couldn't help but open my eyes.
"Nora, I will ask you something. If you answer me honestly, then I will quit looking for him."
She didn't say anything. I just took her silence as acceptance and asked.
"Who is this Ash? Why are you telling me to not follow this story? Why are the Dukes in the know about him, but why did no one else in the kingdom know of them. Why his black mana eerily similar to the Demons?
What is Devil's lair. Why did both humans that are living in the Daksh Kingdom for the past few centuries and the demons that were sealed in the demonic realms for the past few centuries know about it?
Please answer me these questions and I will let this go.
I asked the same to Zephyrion, but he didn't answer me."
Aquanora fell silent and I got up from her lap. I sighed and brushed my clothes off.
"It seems like even you don't want to answer me. So, don't blame me for this. I need to follow this story and make sure that all the people of the kingdom know about it.
They are suffering under the hands of one man who could very well be behind this Demonic Invasion. The least they deserve is at least the knowledge on why and how they are suffering.
I cannot let this go. I cannot go against my conscience."
Aquanora just stood up and looked at the flooding water around the barrier without speaking.
However, at this moment.
*RUMBLE*
The earth started vibrating. All of us looked into the distance, expecting to see another wave, but Nora seemed to have sensed something.
"TEJ"
She yelled and directly jumped on to me. She hugged me tightly and the next thing I knew, the ground beneath my feet broke open.
*SWISH*
Highly pressured water came out of the crack and filled up the whole dry land that we kept ourselves. The earth collapsed completely and I fell into water along with the rest of the civilians.
At first,it was very difficult for me to even open my eyes. The water pressure was too high. It was very weird, because I wasn't even that deep from the surface.
Only a few feet below, but the pressure felt like I was swimming under a hundred meters beneath the surface level.
At that moment, I saw something that made me forget to hold my breath. A few meters away from us, a bunch of black spots were moving towards us. Only they were not exactly black spots. Up on closer look, I noticed that they are Sea Demons.
My eyes widened in horror. I looked at Nora while using my mind link with her to communicate.
"Take me up"
That is what I said to her, but before we could do that, I felt an immense force dragging me down. Not just me, Dhana, Dharma and every other civilian experience this force.
'Do it'
I got the message from Nora. I gritted my teeth as I felt my lungs almost explode and chanted a spell in my mind.
'From land and sea, we intertwine,
Human and spirit, in one design.
With magic's bond, our powers combine,
In unity, our strength shall shine.'
Aquatic blue mana surrounded both of us. Nora closed her eyes and hugged me tightly. The glow covered us completely and formed into a cocoon of sorts. The next moment, I felt a huge surge of energy enter my body.
But at the same time, the stabbing pain that I was feeling in my head because of the previous move also intensified. Just imagine someone used a red hot rod to stab you directly in your ear until it comes from the other side?
That was how I felt.
I started bleeding from my ears, eyes and nose. My nerves were under immense pressure.
However, I still continued the fusion form. I could sense the demonic energy that was merged in the water. The force that was pulling us down was also compelled by this demonic energy.
The cocoon slowly started dissolved and I could feel the changes of the fusion. , as if the very essence of the ocean itself was flowing within me. The aura of water intensified, merged seamlessly with my own being, until me and Aquanora are indistinguishable from one another."
Upon completion of the fusion process, me and Aquanora became one, embodying a harmonious blend of human and spirit. My physical form took on a radiant, aquatic glow, with translucent waves of water rippling across my skin. M eyes shimmered with the same deep oceanic hues as Aquanora's, and wisps of mist and foam danced around me in a mesmerizing display of magic.
With a wave of my hand the force pulling me down disappeared. As if the ocean has accepted me as a part of it. And with another wave, I tried to free Dhana and Dharma. Even though I succeeded, my pain intensified once again.
By then, the Sea Demons already reached my spot.
I closed my palm and made a fist and just like that, the three closest Sea Demons were crushed. Their blood leaked all over creating a gruesome stinky green color all around us. By now Dharma and Dhana swam back to the surface and they tried to help the other civillians. To our misfortune, the Sea Demons were fast and they started killing them already.
I went back in and the fight started.
Dhana and Dharma also joined in. At first, it was all fine since the demons are weak. However, as their blood spread around, Dharma and Dhana noticed that situation is turning bad. Moreover, I saw a scene that made me turn into a statue for a few seconds.
Far away, I saw a huge Sea horse. A sea horses that was as big as a Three storey building. It was dark in color and it had spikes all over its spine. Its eyes, they were of glowing neon color matching its tongue.
As it moved closer and closer, I felt a suffocating pressure as if a hundred tons of bricks were stacked on my chest. For a moment Nora took over my body and she controlled the ocean's spirit energy to alleviate some of the pressure.
Dhana barely resisted, while Dharma was on the verge of breakdown. He was bleeding from his ears and nose.
As if that was not enough, in another direction, I spotted something else.
Another creature that looked like a turtle. Its body is full of glowing spots. Even its shell is glowing. It was even bigger than the Sea horse and the pressure from it was also added. It was definitely stronger than Dhana at that time.
I didn't know where they came from. However, I was in no mood to think about it.
'Tej, you need to summon one of them.'
Nora said through our mental link.
I frowned. I was a bit reluctant to call for one of them, because if the price for summoning spirts and spirit kings is mental energy, the price for summoning 'them' is my vitality.
If things go wrong, I could die as well.
However, at this moment, if I didn't summon any of them we could die for sure.
I looked at Dhana and gestured her to swim up.
She came to the surface with great difficulty.
"You might be able to withstand the Sea horse, but the turtle is definitely stronger than you. I can sense it. And you are already spent along with this territory being the Sea. We cannot win this."
I said, while looking around. As far as I could see, there was only water. There was no sign of any tree or land. Everything was destroyed.
"What is your plan?" She asked me knowing that I wouldn't waste time just stating the obvious.
"Buy me some time. Protect Dharma from the pressure. I will draw an escape for us."
Dhana nodded and went back in. I didn't. I gathered mana in my palms, even with the stabbing pain in my head and even with the blood seeping out of my eyes, earns, nose and mouth, I started chanting.
"From celestial realm, I call your name,
Sagittarius, to thee I lay claim.
With bow in hand and stars aligned,
Come forth, O spirit, with powers refined
Summoning, the Zodiac Spirit Sagittarius"
All of a sudden, in my vision the clear blue sky turned into a starry night sky.