Arthur's mouth opened wide as he screamed. His eyes glowed bright blue beams of light as he looked at Elli and struck her in the cheek, but as he tilted his head up in pain, he slashed her face. She was severely burned, and the force launched her many feet away from Vanilla. He continued to tilt his head sporadically, the beams burning anything it touched. He shouted in agony, trying to get up, but he couldn't, instead dropping to his knees with his face pointed at the sky.

The barrier was torn from multiple places, and hundreds of gallons of water leaked from them as they were repaired, but Arthur's beams were faster. Much faster. Water formed into the shape of lightning in many areas and smacked against the city, destroying its infrastructure, but one bolt was bulkier than the rest. It moved towards Arthur.

The water smacked against his body. It calmed him down, and his eyes relaxed. The fluid piled together into a fifty-foot puddle that wasn't too tall, and it took the shape of a rectangle, lifting him to the middle. He looked down at the dead bodies and ruins, but he couldn't help but not feel a single ounce of pity. He wasn't sad. Deep down, he was glad, and this satisfaction increased as his arms and blemishes regenerated, his body anew. A lot of the water was used up, but some left — the rectangular fluid wasn't as tall anymore. He shifted his focus onto Elli, who was on the ground, holding her face in pain.

He laughed.

He didn't do so at the chaos or even at Elli's pain, but rather, he couldn't help but let it out as he glanced around and saw a healthy Vanilla on the floor. She was fine.

Ruhtra was right. Why should one care about others? It would never end in satisfaction. That's why Arthur couldn't stop pondering.

'Everything I see is reality. Everything I see is what I understand… So is what I see based on what I understand or a twisted reality?' Arthur thought. 'I guess I make reality as I see fit and to understand that notion... I have to use my eyes.'

He finally understood what his powers were. They weren't about squirting water. No, his powers stemmed from what he saw, and based on what he witnessed, he'd give judgment. His own judgment.

Elli stood up, shaken from the attack. Aside from her face having a nasty slashed scar, her functionality was normal. She picked up her trident.

Arthur raised his hands in the water, looking down at his opposition. He nodded his head and took a deep breath as he slowly descended to the floor and the water spread out. "Elli!" He pounded his right foot onto the ground, a blast of water pushing out of it. He launched himself towards her.

Elli licked her lips at the thought of kingship, and her eyes grew relentless. She poked her trident at the fish.

Arthur shut his left eye, using his right to shoot a beam at her body. The attack pushed her back. But it wasn't damaging. He stood in front of her, watching her ever so carefully.

She gripped her weapon by the bottom and sent multiple jabs at Arthur, almost resembling the movement of an automatic drill screwing bolts, but they all missed as he blew water through his feet, blasting himself back.

Arthur didn't attack because he wanted to wait. He wanted to torture the pathetic being in front of him — a fake king.

Elli continued her blows, but she deviated and leaned her body forward, launching her trident at Arthur's stomach.

He clenched his teeth, his eyes casting a very light blue beam, and as he did, liquid dripped from his eyes towards his cheek. He focused on the trident, his lasers pounding it to the ground and causing the prongs to penetrate into the stone floor.

Elli reached for her trident as her eyes shifted from her weapon to Arthur. She just wanted to get it over with. She wanted to be king, now. Oh, how she longed for it.

Arthur stopped his beams and took a second to breathe. He dashed to Elli by using his feet to propel water, and while he did, she swooped down to grab her weapon, but he jumped onto her and hugged her, clenching his hands around her back. As he did, he obscured her vision since he was blocking her view.

Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

Elli tried ripping him off. But Arthur head-butted her multiple times. She became off balance, falling backward onto her rear. He was on top of her and punched her face, not doing much damage, but it felt very satisfying for him. It made him happy. He continued trashing her.

Elli was dazed as she tried pushing him off, but without any fortune, she was at the whims of a true fish.

"No," Arthur said. His teeth clenched against one another as he widened his eyes and looked at Elli's face, directly at her eyes. The lasers etched into Elli's eyeballs, boiling them. Like popping corn, two distinct crackles were heard.

She ran out of options, so like a child, she tried smacking Arthur off of herself, but her force was decreased. The pain from the lasers was unbearable. After all, the beams passed through her retina and into part of her brain. Not too far to kill her. Just enough to disable her.

Arthur stopped his rays and blew heavy breaths as he sat on top of her. He drove his hand into her eyes, moving them around as she did to him, and he stirred his fingers around; it sounded like a thick liquid being swished around in a pot. The heated blood felt good to touch, so he didn't stop. Not when she smeared her fingers on his body in an attempt to hit him off. Nor when she screamed for him to kill her. He didn't stop.

'This is how I see it,' Arthur thought, ripping out his hands from her eye-holes. He stared at his hands. "This is my reality. I'm no Hero or Villain. I'm Arthur Penfish. This is how I want to see."

Elli lifted her hand in the air and grabbed onto something, a smile on her face. She barely spoke, her voice raspy. "Father. I am a king. Father..."

Arthur stared at her mouth as it moved, words of sorrow coming out. He couldn't help but wonder why she was allowed such a luxury. He understood that she shouldn't have such an amenity, but she still spoke with grief she didn't deserve.

"I am king," she said, her lips trembling. "I did it, father. Father, please. Please hold on to me-"

Arthur didn't want to hear such nonsense, so he gripped the top set of her teeth while his other hand grabbed the bottom. Spreading her mouth open, he pulled until he heard a crunch. "No, no, no. You don't deserve such words."

Elli was still breathing, somehow. Her chest went up and down, her face looking as if it went through hell and back, and she tried speaking, but none of her words were recognizable. "Huzzzzzz. Euuuuh. Kumalaaaaa. Hhhhhuffff."

"Pathetic," said Arthur, his eyes sinisterly glowed as they looked into Elli's mouth, and instantly, his laser vision roasted her as she sprawled on the floor. Smoke billowed from her face, obscuring her from view, but that didn't stop Arthur. He continued until the ground was so broken that visible cracks were around the bottom of her head. She was impaled through.

The lasers weren't red. Nor were they blue. They were clear. A clear lens for Arthur to view his world. He saw something he liked, and that was control, an assertion where he could do what he wanted. It was all thanks to the fact he could see everything despite using his powers; they never obscured his vision; they simply amplified it; they gave him insight.

Arthur stood up, grabbing Elli's trident, and he plunged it into her face, just as she did to him. He held onto the weapon as support, staring up at the imitation sky made by the barrier, but he suddenly tumbled to the ground. Not out of exhaustion, but because the trident disappeared. Well, it technically did. It turned into a small clear greenish blue ball. The once fierce weapon was in his palm as he sat on the floor, looking at the ball, not sure what it was.

A few feet away, Vanilla clenched her eyes in pain and held her chest as she limped towards Arthur and waved at him. She tilted her head and pointed around the area as she held something in her hand. "You... You have laser vision?" She shook her head. "Uh... That's probably not important. We should get out of here before all the citizens of this city get riled up. We..." She extended her hand, holding Arthur's severed arm that had his glove. "Also… This is yours."

Arthur continued staring at the ball. "Yeah."

"I located Void and Zoork while you were busy fighting. Also..."

Arthur looked up at her and grabbed his severed arm, ripping the glove off and putting it on. His eyes focused on her face.

"... Thank you for saving me. You didn't have to, but you still did. Thank you." She put her hand near him to help him get up.

He shook his hand and stood up by himself. He turned his back on Vanilla as he looked around at the destruction. "Yeah..."

"I know you fought your butt off, but we should move… The others are over here," Vanilla said, pointing to an area and showing Arthur the way.

He followed her but stopped, wanting to look behind as his head twitched back. He craved seeing Elli's state, but he didn't because he feared to see such an image ever again in his life. He never wanted to do such an action again because what he did made him feel pity. Instead of looking, he tightened his grip around the ball he held and walked forward with Vanilla towards the others.

Vanilla sighed as she stared at her slumped teammates. "They're just unconscious and a little bruised here and there." She rubbed her temple, seeming distraught, but she continued speaking with a slight frown. "Honestly, we got lucky…" She shook her head and changed the subject. "I think it will all be fine. We can go back to HQ and rest up. All this will be over, and we can..." She closed her eyes, out of breath.

Arthur grabbed her shoulder and smiled. "We'll wake these two idiots up, then we'll get the fuck out of this dump."

She nodded, her lips extending into a half smile. "Roger, Roger!"