The bottom of the open ocean was a lonesome place. Hundreds of miles one could cross and not meet a single other being. At the same time, if you looked like prey, passing even a hundred feet was a life-threatening endeavor.

The giant snail, Babel, was never an easy target, although countless mutants craved its fortress-like shell. In the beginning, Finn had to fend off attackers daily, but this was no longer the case. After countless days, weeks, and months of fighting, it looked like the boy had wiped the ocean clean.

Now, the giant snail could slime away in peace, disturbed only by the occasional fish. To Babel’s delight, their numbers kept increasing during the past few years.

‘Die in the process… A worthy sacrifice… I still wonder, why did everyone want me dead?’

These thoughts haunted Finn throughout his training. He knew returning home would be difficult. He knew what awaited him was war.

‘Master is powerful,’ Babel answered. ‘Powerful beings have powerful enemies; I would know.’

Finn clicked his tongue but did not refute.

‘It’s been five years and Loki still hasn’t told me anything. The stronger beings of this world are plotting something, and it’s not just war.’

Finn knew what awaited him in the empire was a hot mess, perhaps even his own death. As such, he spent the past five years doing the only thing he knew would make a difference: train and fight and train some more.

For five years straight, he kept increasing his skills. Even when he was teaching the others, he was studying their bodies and learning their techniques. Even after they left to pursue their own paths to power, Finn continued training. His path was his own, and after five, long years it bore fruit.

The 20 year old man, riding his snail along the ocean floor, was no longer the Finn of the past.

He was taller by almost two feet. His muscles were perfectly sculpted. His green hair now barely reached his shoulders and his eyes were a deep purple.

Perhaps most striking of all, there were two long, sharp horns attached to his forehead. They were as long as his palms and as thick as his thumbs; these goat-like protrusions sent chills into any creature that crossed the man’s path.

When they first started growing, even Babel was nervous. However, Finn soon put his worries to rest.

There was a use to these horns, he had cultivated them with purpose, and that purpose he had finally achieved.

As the duo crossed the barren ocean floor, they were mostly quiet and for the most part sad. They knew this day would come, and in some ways, they looked forward to it, but still…

'I will miss you, Master Finn. The ocean will be emptier without you.'

The young man stayed quiet for a while, playing with a strand of pearls on his wrist.

'Call me Finn,' he said eventually.

The more they trugged away from Babel's territory, the more contaminated the ocean seemed to be. Instead of encountering schools of fish, they met groups of giant snakes with multiple heads.

Instead of the occasional tiny reef full of life, there were barren rocks full of stingrays emitting constant electricity to the point where anything within 100 feet radius immediately dropped dead.

Finn and Babel traversed their territory, but it was the stingrays which died, cut to shreds before they could even see their attacker.

Eventually, larger, stronger mutants tried to challenge the two, and they too dropped dead.

'You're too strong.' Babel laughed heartily, sending tremors through the ocean floor.

'Here yes, but what about in that kingdom?'

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

Babel did not answer immediately and the two trugged on. He did not know much about the mutants' kingdom. Ages ago he tried to conquer it and almost got killed.

'Where I have failed, Finn, you will definitely succeed. And when you do, you should make them pay tribute to the mighty Baal Berith Lex!'

The snail laughed heartily, and Finn jumped off his shell. There was a foreign energy signature coming towards him, and judging from the density and complexity of the being's mana channels, he couldn't help but smile and think 'Strong…'

'Yes I am.' Babel smiled with his giant eyes.

'The welcoming committee is here. And she brought an entire army.'

'What!? But we're not even at the border.'

The snail's good mood was instantly ruined and he started trailing backwards.

'Master, we were supposed to part ways before any fighting.'

'Of course, you tell them and I'm sure they’ll understand.'

Even by Finn's new standards, the incoming armada was rather impressive. There were almost 600 mutants of all shapes and sizes. There were sea snakes and sharks, huge sea urchins and even bigger sea horses with beaks for mouths filled with razor-sharp teeth. Finn even spotted about 40 goblins chasing after what looked to be the army's leaders.

'There are three echidnas and an octopus-like creature leading them from the front.'

'How unusual, the echidnas don't let anyone stand above them.'

'In terms of mana alone, the one at the front is almost as strong as I am.'

'What!? That's absurd, surely…'

'Quiet. I need to focus. It's been far too long since I've had a worthy opponent.'

Adrenaline started pouring through Finn's veins, waking up his senses from the year-long slumber. The boy activated the warrior's breath, grinning from ear to ear as his muscles bulged and his skin turned red. His veins popped up like tiny rivers and the nearby water started to boil.

'That form is unsettling, Master. Should I laser them?'

'No, leave it to me.'

Finn pointed his palm at the incoming army, causing countless ice shards to form all around him. When a wall of almost 1000 projectiles appeared in front of the snail, the hero let them loose on the mutant.

In an instant, almost half of them were skewered to death, and deep wounds were carved into the goblins. The four mutants in front either blocked or dodged, until one of the echidnas raised an arm and the entire army stopped.

'Phew,' Finn breathed heavily, frowning slightly while straightening his back.

'Master, your talent for magic is… pathetic.'

'Shut up.'

'I don't know why you insist on using it. You're so much better with…'

'I said shut up! Magic's freaking cool, that's why.'

After putting the snail in his place, Finn swam towards the incoming army. He had expended almost half his energy on the previous attack, a horrible waste of mana, but he did not mind it.

The echidnas were frowning deeply, clenching their tridents as if their lives depended on it. Even the army's leader in the front was summoning a black ball of magic between her stump-like arms.

However, as soon as they saw Finn clearly, with his bulging red skin and goat horns rising from his forehead, all three echidnas dropped to the ocean floor and smushed their heads into the sand.

'Oh mighty demon, please spare our lives.'

They were trembling, their tails coiled into a deflated spring. On the other hand, their leader had yet to move or unsummon her ball.

'I'm guessing you don't buy the look,' said Finn.

'No, but thank you. I’m tired of running.'

Suddenly, the octopus-like army leader threw the black ball she had summoned at the three echidnas below, blowing them up and killing two of them. The remaining general roared like a madman, then bolted towards her along with the entire army.

300 mutants with an echidna at the helm tried to kill a single octopus girl. They tried to surround her, but every time they did, she simply blew them all up.

It took her 30 seconds to summon a new energy ball, and the very first one she launched killed the final echidna. The second ball obliterated almost all of the goblins, and by the time she summoned a third, the remaining monsters had all but scattered.

'Master,' Babel was finally catching up. 'Can you now control minds?'

Finn ignored the snail and waited for the girl’s next move. Surprisingly, she did not run, or maybe she couldn't. Tired, injured and missing several appendices, she maintained her position, around 100 feet above Finn’s head.

She was blue in color, with numerous tentacles forming a skirt around her waist. Three stumps dropped down from her torso, forming makeshift legs. Two additional stumps extended from her shoulders, but only one of them had fingers.

The girl looked no older than 10. She was covered in puffy, swollen skin, and creepy looking eyes opened up across her body.

‘Hello,' Finn smiled awkwardly. 'Did you just have a personality crisis? Miss…'

‘My name is Caroline. What are you, stranger?’