Episode 23 A Battle of Epic Proportions!

Out in the quiet sea, Kunai, Ryuu, Arai, Ivy, and Alcaster slowly make their way through the now slowly drifting currents, swimming through hordes of colorful schools of small fishes.

Kunai quickly glances backwards at the dome of Sanctum. His eyes widen suddenly as he notices that Ivy is straying off. He hurriedly signals for Ryuu and Arai to stop. Kunai then swims lower to Ivy, coming to her side.

“Ivy! Where do you think you’re going?” Kunai gasps worriedly, trying to steer her back into position.

Ivy shakes Kunai off, seemingly in a deep trance. She turns to Kunai, gazing expressionlessly past him. Ivy shakes her head sadly, pointing off in the direction of the ruins of Orbis.

Kunai glances in the direction of the ruins as well, turning questioningly back to Ivy. “The ruins? What is it?”

“I feel it…as if it’s calling for me…” Ivy mutters softly. She begins to swim off in the direction of the Orbis ruins once more, allowing the ocean current to push her back down to the seafloor.

Kunai immediately follows, tailing after her worriedly. Arai glances at Ryuu quickly, who is staring at the scene with a stone cold expression on his face. Arai then follows after the two, and so do Ryuu and Alcaster.

“It is a foreboding judgment to remain in the ocean for very long,” Alcaster mutters next to Ryuu. “The ancient leviathan that guards these waters…”

Ryuu nods, biting his lower lip as he stares at the backs of Ivy and Kunai. “Yes, it’s dangerous to remain in the water too long. We don’t know what might happen, not to mention the fact we’re practically in the Myougun’s backyard.”

Ivy quickly lowers onto the ocean floor, walking now on the ground floor of the Orbis ruins, staring about serenely, walking slowly forward still in her trance.

Kunai lands on the floor next to her, scattering the dirt on the floor into the air. He quickly runs to catch up to Ivy as she turns, walking now into the dank, ruined gardens that had once stood outside Orbis.

Arai and Ryuu land not far behind, chasing after them. Alcaster lands and totters behind them as well, clutching and leaning on his staff for support.

Arai and Ryuu run side by side, chasing after the other two. “What do you suppose Ivy is feeling that’s pulling her towards this area?”

“I don’t know…” Ryuu mutters. “What is so special about the Orbis gardens anyway?”

Ivy suddenly stops, gasping as she suddenly jerks awake from her trance, staring about at her gloomy surroundings. In the dark, murky water, she slowly walks up to a fallen wall, where several vines still cling feebly to it.

She turns and stares down at the ground toward the ruined flowerbeds, and the cracked stone floor of the Orbis gardens. “This is…this is…!”

Kunai turns worriedly to her. “Ivy! What’s wrong?”

“This is…” Ivy murmurs, staring around, “this is the place I dreamed about.”

“The place you dreamed about?” Kunai asks perplexedly.

“Yes…” Ivy whispers, bending down and picking up a small remaining clot of dirt in her cupped hands. “This is the place I dreamed about, where I was playing with that girl with the long purple hair.”

Arai glances worryingly at Ryuu, puzzlement on his face. “Ryuu…what does it mean, this dream that she had? It would seem strange that she’d dream about…her…and in this garden…”

Ryuu narrows his eyes, thinking critically to himself for several moments. “It’s possible it might be a recurring memory that her mind just recovered. Remember, when she awoke she had no memory whatsoever of her life before waking up then. This might be…from her past life that she led.”

“But…the girl with the purple hair…it seems awfully—” Arai mutters.

“It doesn’t necessarily have any correlation with, with—” Ryuu growls, before cutting himself short as well. He shakes his head, clenching his fists. “I doubt it. What are the chances…?”

“Ivy…” Kunai mutters, placing a hand on her shoulder. “Let’s go.”

Ivy turns to face him, nodding slightly as tears well in her eyes. She turns away from the garden, letting the dirt captured in her hands fall back onto the ocean floor.

At that moment, there is a loud explosion in the water, as a swift current blows by, raising many bubbles into the air. Arai and Ryuu turn in alarm, raising their weapons as a loud whistle rings throughout the ocean floor.

“What the hell was that?!” Kunai cries out loud, turning round as well.

“Draw your weapons,” Ryuu mutters, “we’ve got a visitor.”

Suddenly there is a loud rumble directly in front of the group, and the huge form of a gigantic sea serpent swims through the ocean current, pushing the tides against the group.

Ryuu holds his hand up, taking a strong stance against the serpent. He stares up at the finned face of the serpent, where a pair of small, yellowish eyes glow brightly in the semi-darkness. A wide, gaping mouth opens up, revealing a foul odor and fangs dripping with saliva.

“Trouble,” Arai murmurs, staring up at the beast.

“So this is the legendary leviathan guarding the deep seas of Ossyria,” Alcaster mutters to himself, shivering in fright at the sea serpent.

Ryuu raises his sword, and it suddenly glows with sparks of electricity. He waves it, sending a shockwave of lightning coursing through the water current, straight at the serpent’s face.

The serpent gives a loud roar, swinging its tail and dispersing the shockwave into different directions. Ryuu steps back, pushing the others away as the serpent swings its tail once again, shattering the waterlogged ruined stone floors of Orbis.

Ryuu leaps into the air, and with a wide berth, swings his charged sword directly into the monster’s face. Below, Kunai, Arai, and Ivy cheer as a loud explosion of water ripples throughout the current.

Ryuu lands to their side, panting heavily. As the waves clear, a large whirlpool surrounds the beast, once again dispersing the blast of lightning. Ryuu’s eyes widen as he stares up at the beast. “It can manipulate the water around it?!”

“Hm…this is going to be more trouble than it’s worth,” Arai mutters to himself. He suddenly creates a shaft of lightning in his hand, and hurls it flying towards the serpent.

It rears up, creating another whirlpool and washing it away. Arai’s eyes widen as he watches the spear of lightning quickly diminish in the water.

“What a powerful defense mechanism…” Kunai mutters to himself. He takes a wide leap backwards, pulling Ivy and Alcaster out of the way as the beast swings its gigantic tail, bringing it crashing dangerously close to them.

Ryuu quickly steps between them and the serpent, barring its way from attacking the others. He raises his sword, and sends another jolting current of lightning coursing through the water.

The serpent breaks the current with its whirlpool and suddenly lunges forward, diving forward and planting its mouth on the broken stone floors of Orbis.

The serpent then propels itself fiercely forward, driving its fangs deeper and deeper through the ground, headed for Kunai, Ivy, and Alcaster.

Arai hastily steps in front of the serpent, drawing his staff and encasing the serpent by turning the water surrounding it into several large blocks of ice.

The serpent quickly summons its whirlpool once again, destroying the blocks of ice with one blast and freeing itself from their grasp.

Ryuu raises his sword, glaring up at the serpent. He growls quietly to himself. ‘Dammit, this thing is tough to beat, with that whirlpool surrounding it…’

He suddenly rises into the air, just as the serpent recreates the whirlpool around it, preparing to deflect Ryuu’s attack.

Ryuu swings his sword round and round violently, as it bursts into a current of fire and lightning, creating his own yellow and red glowing whirlpool. Ryuu gives a loud yell as he forces his whirlpool to crash into the serpent’s.

There is suddenly a loud explosion, as the two whirlpools meet and crash into each other with a loud roar. Finally, as the bubbles caused by the explosion clears, the serpent can be seen still standing, unscathed.

Ryuu bares his teeth, staring up at the beast. “Not even a scratch?!”

“Get out of the way!” Kunai cries suddenly, lunging forward and dragging Arai, Ivy, and Alcaster out of the way as the floor below them suddenly begins shaking violently, and cracks, falling lower into the ocean floor.

As a result, a piece of the collapsed tower suddenly crumbles and falls along with it, creating a huge barrier blocking Ryuu and the serpent from the others.

“Ryuu!” Kunai cries out loud, swimming up to the tower wall and banging his fists against it. “Damn! We gotta get this stupid wall out of the way!”

Arai swims forward as well, holding Kunai back by the shoulder. “Stay back, Kunai. We can’t risk anything collapsing any further. Ryuu should be fine by himself, you’re underestimating him.”

“But—!” Kunai cries out loud desperately.

“I’ll be fine!” Ryuu’s voice suddenly growls, ringing throughout the ocean floor. “Right now, you guys gotta get the hell out of here while you still can! I’ll take care of this guy…”

“But what about you, Ryuu?” Ivy cries.

Ryuu shakes his head on the other side of the collapsed tower, staring up at the sea serpent. “Tch, I’ll be fine. I’ve taken down tougher guys in my day.”

“But…” Kunai mutters, staring through the tower wall. Arai shakes his head, patting Kunai firmly on the shoulder as Ivy and Alcaster begin to swim away.

“Let’s get going, Kunai,” Arai mutters softly. Kunai reluctantly nods, following Arai and swimming back towards the surface of the ocean.

Ryuu pants heavily, continuing to stare up at the unflinching beast. “Ugh…I’m starting to run low on air. And it doesn’t help that I’m gonna need all I can to fight this thing. I’ve gotta finish this battle quick.”

As Ryuu stares up at the beast, his eyes suddenly widen. “I’ve got an idea!” He quickly swims up to eye level with the beast, and suddenly, with one great swing of his sword, strikes the beast, causing it to summon its whirlpool.

Ryuu smirks, staring at the beast concealed behind the whirlpool. “Heh. Perfect, fell right for my trap.” He swings his sword again, this time charging it with electrical energy, and brings it crashing straight onto the surface of the whirlpool, charging it with the lightning.

The beast suddenly gives a loud roar, as the whirlpool is dispersed in all directions, the water floating outwards as the lightning spirals its way straight into the beast, shocking it.

Ryuu reaches into his pocket, withdrawing a small object from it. “All right! Just as I thought, your whirlpool didn’t stand a chance if I were to charge it with electricity. The lightning would inevitably spiral straight into the beast. Heh. Now all that’s left to do, now that you’re exposed, is for my secret weapon…”

As Kunai climbs out of the water and back onto the snowy banks of the ocean right on the outskirts of El Nath, he glances behind him. There is suddenly a loud explosion, followed by violent shaking and a loud rumble.

Kunai follows suit as Arai, Ivy, and Alcaster all take off their oxygen tanks. He stares back into the depths of the water momentarily. “Was that Ryuu just now? I hope he’s okay.”

“He’ll be fine,” Arai replies nonchalantly, “we’ve been through much more dire situations with the Joukai.”

Suddenly the water behind them starts bubbling, as Ryuu hurriedly emerges from it, gasping for breath as he takes off his oxygen tank. He pulls himself onto the bank, dripping wet with water.

“Ryuu! You’re all right! So did you defeat the serpent?” Kunai cries out loud, helping Ryuu back onto the ground.

Ryuu sneers, spitting out a mouthful of salt water. “Yeah, no problem. I took care of it.”

“Okay! Now that everyone’s back out of the water and we’ve got Alcaster, we can finally head back to El Nath and have him look at Kunai’s eye!” Ivy cries joyfully, cheering out loud.

Kunai grins, smiling at Ivy as she dances for joy around on the spot. Alcaster grins as well, and begins tottering back up the snowy path, leading the way back up into El Nath. Kunai and Ivy quickly follow behind.

Arai and Ryuu suddenly turn as well, following the three of them and bringing up the rear. Arai turns to Ryuu as he continues to pant heavily, restoring his dripping sword back in its sheath.

“So, Ryuu, you really took care of the beast, then? That’s impressive, even for you, how little time you took,” Arai mutters to Ryuu as they walk side by side.

Ryuu shakes his head, staring down at the ground. “No kidding. I had to use ‘it.’”

“‘It?’” Arai asks, turning curiously towards Ryuu. “I see. You only had three of them, correct? How many do you have left of the original three?”

“One,” Ryuu mutters in reply.

“Of course,” Arai replies solemnly. “You’d never have used it if you had only one left. You’re still hoping you can use it for that person.”

“Of course,” Ryuu replies, “It’s not like I’ve given up on that person.”