The air was cool and being near the fire radiated Isaac with warmth. Being filled with the fish and apples he couldn’t help but feel a bit sleepy. He knew that Claire told him to wake her up if he was getting tired, but he didn’t want to worry her.

I promise I’ll wake you, Claire, if I really start to doze off.

Releasing a tired sigh he stood up and decided to go head towards the river to splash some water on his face that’d definitely wake him up. His hands cupped around the cool water, rubbing it into his face before blinking a few times.

Suddenly he heard something ruffling the bushes nearby. At this hour he couldn’t tell what it was and he was positive it wasn’t Claire this time, although he hoped it was. His attention turned towards the location of the noise, his eyes scanning the area. When he didn’t see anything he turned his focus back towards the river.

That’s when he heard something move in the water. This got his heart pumping as he looked around the area, but with how dark it was he couldn’t possibly see anything. Perhaps it was just a frog or something playing in the water. Whatever it was he didn’t want to find out.

He took a stand and was prepared to head back until… the water started to move, reaching out to the boy as if it was alive. He couldn’t hear anything but there was this strange ominous feeling that alerted him, his body turning around but it was too late.

The water had encased him inside of a sphere of liquid a prison made entirely from water. This was magic, someone was manipulating the water to keep him trapped like this, but what exactly?

This isn’t good at all! I can’t breathe… or move!

This water was weighing him down… whoever cast this spell was a strong water user. His body was stuck floating in limbo and he was pretty much screwed. It’d only take a minute or so until he needed to gasp for air by that time the water would fill his lungs and he’d start to shut down. He’d die at this rate.

If I don’t do anything soon… I’m a goner!

Moving through the darkness… was a strange creature from the looks of it. Each step it took sounded like someone stepping in damp mud. Its breathing was also heavy as if it was struggling for air.

I think somethings… coming…

The creature opened its mouth and released a wheeze… showing dried up blood along its chin and lips. Its teeth were like daggers and its skin appeared to be a pale tint. Just what the hell was this thing?

It saw Isaac trapped within the water sphere and smirked before turning its attention towards the other whom it saw as nothing but prey. They were defenseless and so it could easily take them all out if it wanted to. Nothing could stop it.

The monster released another wheeze before slowly walking towards Claire… every step it took caused Isaac’s heart to beat rapidly along his chest. His eyes were looking out through the corners of his lids. If he was going to do anything it would have to be now.

His eyes closed… as started to concentrate. Oddly enough floating inside of this prison was peaceful. The sounds of the outside were muffled to him and he was alone with his thoughts. His body was heavy, yet he was able to freely float in the center.

Still, he had to keep a promise he made to himself. His promise to save everyone. A small object appeared above his head inside of the prison glowing with a bright sheen of yellow. It was rectangular in shape and it soon revealed itself as a playing card the same one he used to play with the kids.

The card which appeared above his head was an ace. Funny enough this would be his ace in the hole. In an instant he was able to manipulate the card, sending it propelling forward to cut an opening through the water sphere. However, he knew that it’d take more than this, so he kept on manipulating the card.

It moved very quickly, appearing as nothing but a white line as it cut all around the sphere of water until finally, it gushed out, the water leaking through the many holes until Isaac was dropped down onto the center. Once freed he was left gasping for air, but couldn’t relax just yet.

“Claire, wake up!” He shouted as loud as he could before holding a hand out in her direction.

Hearing her name being called, Claire's eyes opened up quite slowly, as she raised herself up from her sleeping position, her eyes still adjusting to the dark. “Huh..? I'm up…”

The moment she opened her eyes up… she could see the tall image of the thing that was hovering over her, attempting to pounce on her from how it positioned its legs.

The girl hollered out loud as she seen herself being targeted by whatever the thing was, quickly picking herself up just a bit to dive forward and out of its path. “What is that?!”

The creature missed thankfully but was this close to biting off her flesh with those daggers it called teeth. Her scream was like that of a banshee, the sound slowly waking up the others of the camp.

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“H...hu….humans…!” The monster said in a raspy voice… wait it could talk the language of humans?

Isaac was startled by the sound it made, but he wasn’t going to let that stop him from attacking. He quickly picked himself off the ground, breathing heavily as four cards appeared above him. When they were fully materialized he pointed towards the monster, making them shoot out towards it.

“Gaah!” The creature yelled in pain like a human. The cards shooting out like bullets and lunging into his back, striking his shoulder blade, the back of his neck, near his kidneys and the center of his spine. They didn’t sink all the way into his body because Isaac was still merciful, but the wounds trickled with its crimson blood.

Hearing the sounds of battle and screams, Keianna’s eyes slowly started to open, her vision a bit blurry before she rubbed her eyes. “Huh? What’s with all the noise? I’m trying to sleep!” She sat up, looking around until she spotted the strange creature within their base. “What the hell!?”

Junji was awoken as well from all of the action, sitting himself up as he saw the monster that lurked around which caused him to hop up to his feet. “Whoa, what the hell is going on!?”

Waking up along with the others, the quiet girl began to lift herself from the Riverside ground, turning her head to see what all the commotion was about. Seeing the creature alarmed her, as she reached for the branch she had with her the whole time, standing up with it.

The monster fell to its knee from the pain… its webbed hand landing on the ground for support. Its feet also appeared webbed and it had gills located on its cheek. The creature looked as if it struggled to breathe with how heavy it was heaving. “Dis...gust...ing… Hu...mans…!”

What the hell is this thing…?

Upon closer inspect, Isaac could see that it had dark blue hair like a human… but it couldn’t be. This thing was not human. “Why did you attack us?” Even if it was a monster he was going to reason with it.

However, not everything goes as planned, as the stick-wielding girl went right in for an attack, swinging the stick towards the back of the monster’s head, which would break the piece of wood in turn.

The monster seemed sluggish even though it could hear the girl approaching it from behind it didn’t move and instead was struck along the back of the head. The impact rattling it and causing its heart to accelerate. After the strike, it fell forward onto the ground its hand scraping at the dirt as it groaned in pain.

“What is this thing..?” She'd ask, tossing the broken branch onto the dirt. It served her well.

“Who cares? Let’s kill it.” Keianna added.

“Wait Claire do you know what it is?” Isaac asked.

“It looks kind of like… a Leviathan, from Gaifall!” Claire would answer, as she walked over to it, trying to get a closer look.

“Can’t be… his skin is too pale.” Junji pondered.

“But, he trapped me in a water prison. There’s no doubt that it’s a Leviathan!” Isaac seemed sure of himself.

The group now surrounded the strange create; the Leviathan. Cornering it like a wounded dog. This caused fear to build up into the creature as he could only imagine that these kids would be enough to do him in, but it didn't matter to him. Life didn’t matter.

It yelled at the top of its lungs, releasing all of its hate and discontent to fill the area in its rage. From the way, the water by the riverside moved it was clear to say that this wasn’t just for show or any symbolic meaning.

The water became alive when this monster was around, forming arms to reach out to try and latch onto each and every one of them that stood before the Leviathan.

Claire gasped as the arms came closer, but isn't quick enough to avoid the arm that came for her.

She was grabbed ahold of by the aquatic hand… for liquid one would think that it wouldn’t hold onto her so tightly, but with the mixture of magic nearly anything was possible. Its grip on her was like an octopus tangling its prey.

However, she wasn’t the only one experiencing this. Junji knew he was too slow to dodge it and tried to summon his helper, but he wasn’t able to concentrate in this intense moment and the hand grabbed him as well.

The same could be said for Isaac who conjured a card within his hand to try and defend against it, the card even started to show flames erupting from it, but it quickly snuffed it out as it latched on him.

Keianna was lucky that she could enhance her speed as she zipped out of harm's way, staining the ground with her yellow electricity as she dodged the oncoming attack. “Too close…!” The speed she was moving at caused her violet hair to flow about now that it wasn’t held back by the rubber band.

Meanwhile, the unnamed girl did her best to remained uncaptured, as she held forth her hand to utilize her mana and summoned… a metal ball? For anyone else, it would be an odd and poor weapon choice, but for her, it was perfect. The metallic sphere floated directly above her hand, quickly forming spikes reminiscent of a morning star, before shooting towards the hand that reached for her.

Water could be seen splashing about… falling to the ground and wetting the dirt. The hand chasing after Keianna was soon taken care of as she held out her hands to generate a constant stream of electricity to break apart the other hand.

“Hey girl, I’m going to kill that thing before it does something else crazy.” Keianna was wide awake now after everything that was going on.

“Just… call me Grey.” She'd reply, showing dislike for just being referred to as 'girl.’ She attracts her ball back to her, watching as it shaped into a sharp spear-like object.

The hands made from water all hovered its foes above the riverside as it needed to stay by water so it wouldn’t weaken and fall apart especially with the Leviathan’s mana being so low.

“Agggh! This is unbelievably painful!” Junji complained as the hand continued to force pressure on his body. It felt as if he was stuck in a compactor and was being forced into a square shape. “If it isn’t asking for much… help!”

With Junji's plea for help, Grey grabs ahold of the metal rod, allowing the metal to shift into the shape of a tomahawk, before she tossed it through the air, for the arm that held the boy.

Thankfully the metal tomahawk was more than enough to cut through the arm, causing it to collapse while ensuring that Junji had a painful drop. “Whaaaaa!”

“Get up.” She'd call out to Junji, while in the midst of guiding the tomahawk through the air to try and cut the others free from the water.

“Oww… I thought you were going to catch me…” He was now all wet from the river water… no, he was already wet from the hand that grabbed him earlier.

“You'll be fine,” she mentioned, as Isaac and Claire, were both eventually freed, allowing her metal tomahawk to return back to her, slowly morphing into the shape of a ball again.

Isaac fell down into the river as well with a splash, it hurt badly, but he couldn’t show that just now. Especially with what was going on. “Nggh!”

Claire followed, plopping into the river with a splash. She coughs to relieve herself of water that entered her mouth, before whining. “That did not feel good…”

The Leviathan was seen wobbling around, not being able to stand right. The recent blow to the head must have done more damage than expected. Its eyes widened as it noticed the stream of lightning that was heading for it. It covered its body, but that was just a fake out, Keianna appeared behind him, placing a hand on the top of his head while her claw was already formed.

In one smooth motion, she tore apart the monster’s throat, carving its skin like butter and allow its warm liquid to leak out like an overflowing dam. The monster was heard gargling over its own blood as it wobbled around, swinging its hands around aimlessly.

Grey looked on at the now mortally injured creature, deciding to do it the favor of freeing it from suffering. She waved her hand, sending the metal ball towards the Monster, the object shifting into a drill like shape, spinning and aimed for a head penetration.

“WAIT! Don’t kill it!” Isaac warned.

But it was too late, the metal drill was on its course and eventually reached its destination, spiraling into the creature’s head. “It was too late for it, anyway…”

Isaac frowned as he saw this the creature’s gore being hidden by the drill still being forced into its head. The life from its eyes left in a hurry as its body lost the will to stand. It collapsed in a hurry with blood slipping through the hole in its head.