Noticing the still-living enemy, the Speedo Shark felt disgusted and kind of surprised. It hoped to shed blood with its Jaw Bite, but it slid off of its target as if the failure was the most disgusting thing it ever tasted.
Then, it began to swim up at high speed upwards, flipping its strong, flexible body in a manner that no duck could ever replicate. However, that was of no concern to Murai, who wasn't an idiot to be angry at every small thing. Only sometimes, that was.
Feeling his changes against this opponent, he figured he should go all out indeed. Conjuring and Shaping 3 Mana Blades around him, he made them hover 1 meter around him like a shield in the direction of the approaching foe. They appeared like a defense, surrounding the Diving Sphere. They should work for their purpose but against this sort of speed?
Murai had some doubts, but no time for regrets.
There was little chance for these rough blades to be of any effect against such a fast gliding force, but Murai wasn't questioning his choices, but his strategy. It was the key to a win, and power was a simple tool to achieve it. He knew he wouldn't hit it with his blades, but this was the least harmful thing he could think of. Another was fleeting down and seeking a better place to get this over with, but it was too late for that.
He had limited oxygen, so the only place to go through would be the stair room where he ate the Horn Snake, or he should reach the surface above. Surface? He hoped the tower wasn't submerged beyond the end. If it was, that would be hilarious.
Such an enclosed place as this tower should be sufficient as a strategy, or a simple place to go back down to. Time was ticking, making his strategy improper as he wasted time. Regrets? Perhaps he had a few, but it wasn't a time to panic. Traveling back down was almost a recipe to make him an easier target, making his descent a perfect chance to be killed by a 3-way combo of Speedo Shark's abilities.
Here in the wide and open tower, Murai was at a clear disadvantage against this sort of foe. He was close to the end, but now, where he was close, the place was more open, and wider. A simple wide open space made him an even easier target, and this Speedo Shark was the exact opposite of the Octopshark. It wasn't stupid either, and it used its speed as a prime predator would.
This time, the foe was free to move as it wished, while Murai wasn't, and won't be able to do so in the Diving Sphere.
“What will you do now?” Lisa asked, without addressing him in her weird manner of his full name.
“I fear it's playing for time, but I don't think this monster has a high intelligence at the level of Blessed, but better be careful than comfortable. I guessed at least this much, but what to do? Such a situation...” Murai muttered, thinking of hundreds of things at the moment.
“If you know if it's coming, why not strike before or during its disappearance? Since our flexibility is so limited, this should be the best solution, wouldn't it? That, or you should address the elephant in the room. Your Soul Read and Mana Detection.” Lisa gave him her piece of advice, which Murai nodded off.
“Let's kill it, somehow.” was his simplest form of decision, which amounted to nothing, really.
Speedo Shark moved up quite a long distance as if the gravity and the pressure of this tower weren't issues to it. Swirling and wringing its tail tightly, it spread its swimming patterns around the perimeters of this part of the tower. It was a wild and chaotic swimming pattern meant to confuse the enemy before reaching the prey and killing it.
Within this wild series of dozen or so seconds, it suddenly disappeared and reappeared right around the corner of the wall, 3 meters away from the Diving Sphere, before it continued.
Murai stared at every little detail of its movement, and the secrets of its Diving Dash, but he still missed it. It was way too close to the teleportation within this place, or his eyes were playing with him. From the previous location where it disappeared, he noticed just a flare of bubbles and the flowing of the water currents and Mana. As for his Soul Read, the situation and speed made things confusing and it wasn't as useful.
Right... Water is a purpose and a source of this fish. Of course, it's like that. This is a Trial put forth by a Gods, but it matters not. Now we are talking, you freaks. Lisa, if you will end up being eaten, or out of the Sphere, I am not sorry. Figure it out by yourself. he told her with brand-new confidence in his eyes.
“You don't say. I don't think you were ever sorry towards me when you shoved me out of the sphere before.” Lisa shrugged it off but paid more attention to this battle than all of the others combined. This was a clear battle where she didn't know if Murai would win, but he always found a way do to so, so the question was, how he would win?
His ploy may be what will decide this in a split second.
However, something strange happened. Speedo Shark didn't attack right from the 3-meter distance. Instead, using Diving Dive after the other, Speedo Shark went left and right, flickering out of Murai's view - or at least tried to do so.
It is showing off, or it is looking for a better angle? No... It can be afraid of my counterattack! Murai deducted since the lack of defense can mean a lot of trouble for any kind of harsh attacker. He was speaking from his own experience and a simple case of weakness can become an issue.
He felt no despair in his mind, so Murai did something stupid, for once, or twice?
He moved his Diving Sphere down toward the bottom of the tower, creating a perfect chance for the Speedo Shark to dive right to his back. And right he was. The bubbles and disappearance of the Speedo Shark were noticeable in his Mana Detection, but the reappearance wasn't.
“Of course, you would come!” Murai sneered, changing his direction to the left, barely dodging the motion of the jaw above his head.
Though, what he didn't expect was the thud that followed after his dodge. Speedo Shark smacked at the wall with quite a velocity, cracking the surface of the wall a little, and struggled for 2 seconds before calming down.
Heh! Good... Such a forward heavy force is clearly a disadvantage. Knowing where it attacks is also possible, but this time, it wasn't a straight line, but curved. Good. I can use this against this fish.
Murai observed but was yet to attack. This caused Lisa to frown, but she was listening and observed his actions without being annoying. She was looking at Murai, who was struggling for the first time, but he didn't show it. Maybe this fight will let her know more about his habits and uncover more information about him and his powerful soul.
Two quick attacks passed, yet any wound or blood was yet to be drawn. Speedo Shark disliked such a failure, so it changed its strategy from a calmer observer to a more straightforward offense. It knew the foe was doing the same, observing its actions to make a quick and decisive counter - which never came, yet.
So, with such a simple reason in its eyes, the Speedo Shark used its advantage of high-speed Dexterity, and gravity, charging so fast at Murai that only a blur and bubbles traveled around the tower.
This was the advantage of the Diving Dash, as it was straight force or a curved power dash if its fin and tail folded well enough.
With many issues in its way - mainly Murai's dodges - it pushed Diving Sphere into the wall, hitting it straight on. To its dismay and surprise, it didn't travel right through it, but it obliterated every Mana Blade in its way, and cracks spread around the Diving Sphere as a change occurred.
Even with the help of the upper ground and gravity going to the bottom of this tower, the Speedo Shark didn't strike or kill its foe.
What stopped its jaw from going further, was a beak, shoved right across its teeth. Murai glared at this monster, shoving his beak upwards, while still being in the Diving Sphere with his lower body, letting his beak be the only thing that could stop this attack. He had a hunch it would since his beak never failed him before.
But the attack was neglectful, with no changes. Neither foe did any damage to the other. Sharp jaw didn't do any damage to the beak, while the beak didn't crack or do anything to the jaw. Each attacking force was the toughest part of their bodies, and it seemed both of them were evenly matched.
Even? Well, so much for the level difference, I guess. Maybe some form of soul attack wouldn't hurt, but that wasn't something I tried before without the pressure on the soul... Strike of the Will? Nah. Let's keep it simple. It's not like I am familiar with the soul power anyway. My Beak's Fury and Mana are much more to my liking, so it's to time solve it within the next few moves. Murai decided to jolt his neck away, shoving Speedo Shark down.
Repairing the cracks of his Diving Sphere was still possible, even though he momentarily left it with quite a huge move. He can maintain it for some moments with intentional straining Shaping while he was away, but it wasn't far from destabilizing. A lot of oxygen was lost in this exchange.
Speedo Shark backed away, readying for its next attack that came in a split second.
Unlike Murai, it held much more pride in its body and its strongest traits were more important than anything else. To lose in a direct confrontation was a humiliation stemming from its lineage and pride of being a ferocious species. It hated the defeat, and this even attack even more. With passion and fury that was visible in its eyes, it ceased the remaining restraints away, using its full power next.
Alas, Murai dodged again, noticing the sudden change of bubbles that indicated the use of the Diving Dash, and even following charges. Without even seeing the change of direction from the Diving Dash, followed by a quick charge, he felt everything with his mind. His Mana Detection was working the best, and for many reasons, Murai viewed the situation from the foe's perspective. He imagined how he would deal with himself, and acted accordingly to the potential attacks.
He dodges to the right, letting the Shark bump into the wall since they haven't left the corner of the tower.
However, this time, Murai didn't hesitate to attack as he noticed persisting anger and fury in its soul. He made another quick Mana Blade, slashing at the Speedo Shark as fast as he could, but it left a negligible small wound at its side.
Still tougher than I would like. What offense? Its defense is still good, or my Blade is too poor? Both make sense, I suppose. Fine. It's a good start to know my limits. Let's try the last idea since the time is getting so damn tight. Murai thought, and let the Mana completely dissipate, leaving only his Shaping of his Diving Sphere around him.
In this way, he was nothing but a target, causing the Speedo Shark to notice the change. Swimming out of the corner of the wall, it left Murai's position against the wall.
Cornered prey was the best prey, and the Speedo Shark thought it so, but that was quite wrong.
Who was exactly cornered?
Time ticked by, and only one of them had any form of a time limit, but the Speedo Shark wanted to end this humiliation as fast as possible.
The upcoming attack was the kind that Murai expected. Throughout the number of the Speedo Shark's attacks, it indeed formed some tangible changes in terms of tactics and learning. It wasn't stupid to make the same mistakes too many times, even though its speed would make such an issue undesirable.
The one attack that it had chosen was one of the 3 choices the Speedo Shark had, making large possibilities that Murai had to worry about, smaller. A counter. Line and bubbles spread above, not far but they could be from the left or right, center or from another upper angle since the power of this gravitational pull was too hard to guess.
A direct attack from above, hand to hand against the wall, happened.
Murai noticed it, looking and feeling his surroundings as best as he could. In a moment of hesitation and decision, he dissipated the Diving Sphere as quickly as he could, making use of the sudden pressure difference to sidestep aside, dodging a line and the swirling body of a Speedo shark.
Water pushed against his motion of wings but his tiny legs worked the hardest. It wasn't fast by any means. It was enough for him to use his legs to jump from the wall as a platform, shoving his Beak's Fury to Speedo Shark's sides in a split second it moved through his previous location.
I will make sushi out of you! Fish! Murai thought and went through the Shark's weak body with the tip of his beak. It passed through easily this time around, barely missing panicking Lisa, who didn't have enough time to scowl, before hovering in the water like a fish out of it.
The quick momentum of the Speedo Shark continued down, forcing Murai to travel a dozen meters down along with it. Lisa panicked once again, cursing Murai to oblivion, but she somewhat expected it this time. She cursed herself too since she could have watched it all the same from the safety of the soul space, but here she was, being stupid and wanting to see the Battleworld and Murai's Will.
A couple of seconds later, Murai was far from her panicking body and finally stopped the momentum. He hit a spine, along with a gushing wound around its head. Speedo Shark died almost immediately, so he achieved the last victory.
With it, at the end of his beak, he felt like a true winner with a trophy. After all, this wasn't an easy victory, even though he suffered no injuries apart from mentally storming for the win.
Easy work. Let's get Lisa and get the fuck out. But for that, you will come with me, little fish. Murai decided as fast as he could, reaching Lisa in 10 seconds before he tried his best to move up without performing the Diving Sphere. It was impossible to create it again since the oxygen on his body and in his feathers was lacking.
It was a decision he forced, so it was no time to waste. Murai watched as Lisa grabbed his neck before he swam up as fast as he could. 16 meters from the end and a few minutes were remaining.
Though, the timer mattered very little since oxygen in his lungs was limited and pressure and this water was making his body ache.
He struggled, but with some force and focus, he managed to reach 5 meters from the glowing surface in a matter of 15 seconds. There were no messages or pranks by Battleworld, yet, so he continued for the sake of fresh breath, and that was it.
By this point, the pressure of gravity was enough for Murai to squeeze his inside, but not to stop his ascend. A goal was close, so he did his beast, and at last, stabbing the surface of the water, he reached the fresh air that was above. Jumping and flying with his flapping wings and tiny legs above the surface, he gasped for breath. While doing so he motioned the Speedo Shark to get off his beak, smacking it to the ground that he noticed was around this water's surface.
Struggling Lisa around his neck clutched his feathers with a deadly expression on her face, but she held no intention of commenting on anything, yet.
With the rush of oxygen into his lungs and the tower being over, Murai collapsed to the water, enjoying the time to be over. “That was... Crazy... Gravity... Is gone. See?” he forced his quacks aloud, resting with his back against the water while Lisa floated above his belly.
“Shut up...” she mumbled.
Murai chuckled, curiously looking above the water and around this new room.
Here, above the tower, was an even larger open space. It was in better condition - probably because of lack of water - than the tower he had seen below. It was a massive room and larger than dozens of meters wide water tower. 3 sharp and triangular corners spread around this wide open space. Magnificent mana was dancing around the air, magnifying everything with illustrious light that anyone could see, or feel.
One corner was much denser in this lighting mysteriousness, which was something Murai noticed right away.
There was something magnificent there. A gushing vortex from his blurry vision, which seeped of incredible Mana, along with many other strong fluctuations that were flooding this room with quantifying feelings.
For once, the first thing he noticed was that, but the second was nothing less. A blurry image of a statue held a clear divine feeling of Divinity.
Some God's statue was in one corner, eyeing this place with loftiness and its faceless head.