"Well, it's obvious that the monster's defense is abnormal. This is going to be tough to pierce," Aurianna declared with creased brows.

"I highly agree; it managed to repel my broadsword," Leila concurred, eyeing her blood-golden blade.

"Whoever manages to kill it first gets to eat its heart," Leila suggested with a smirk.

"Deal," Aurianna agreed with a grin before she and Leila dashed towards the Urchin, but it suddenly screeched loudly, and all the creatures spectating immediately dashed towards them, aiming to kill.

They opened their mouths wide to try to devour Aurianna and Leila. Aurianna summoned twenty cubes of light around her, blasting at the incoming sea monsters. Some managed to survive that attack and reached closer to her, prompting her to use her blades to block their attacks and slash them to pieces.

Seeing the thousands of incoming monsters, Leila pinched her fingers together, creating a small white hole in her hand.

"White hole," she muttered as the white space flew towards the monsters and soon exploded, creating a massive bright starry explosion in the ocean, killing all of the monsters as well as blinding and confusing the Urchin, covering Leila as though it were a shield.

( I'm still studying about white holes. They are more complex than I expected. From what I have read, white holes, in a superpower sense, can be used as some sort of explosive defense shield, since nothing can enter a White hole but it can spew things out.🤷🏽‍♀️ )

Seeing this as an opportunity, Aurianna quickly swam into the open mouth of the sea Urchin before it closed.

Once inside the monster, it wasn't so hard for Aurianna to spot its vital parts, noticing the soft tissues and flesh inside as she touched it.

"Does this thing even have a heart? It's so large on the inside, making it tough to find where its heart is. But this is good; monsters with high defense outside always have weaker defense inside," Aurianna said as she swam through the monster's esophagus. Inside the monster was extremely dark, but with Aurianna's enhanced vision, she could see as clear as day.

"A blue light," Aurianna noticed as she felt the area around her suddenly get extremely cold. "Is it trying to use that blast attack again to push me out? How did it know I was here?" Aurianna wondered as she felt a sudden tremor inside the sea Urchin. The flesh walls and the Urchin screeched loudly in pain, the sound deafening her ears.

"Well, I have to find its weakness, so I will go through it. I'll just revive again if I die!" Aurianna told herself with a nervous smile as she plunged herself deep into the icy blast. Her body quickly became covered by ice as she sunk deeper into the monster until she was eventually fully encased by the poisonous ice and her body shattered.

Reviving once more, Aurianna woke up in what seemed like the intestines of the monster. Bubbling digestive juices surrounded her, with bones floating in the mix.

Immediately, Aurianna tore off one of her arms and held it in her hand. "Queen!" she called out, tossing her hand up. A large mouth devoured the hand, and a human-sized portal appeared beside Aurianna, from which Queen emerged.

"What would you like me to do, master?" Queen asked with a polite bow, observing Aurianna, who was much shorter in comparison.

"Help me destroy this monster," Aurianna requested, pointing to the flesh walls.

"As you wish, master," Queen said with a smile, summoning a sword into her hand. With a large amount of condensed white light covering her sword, she slashed it from the inside and another attack from the outside, causing the Sea Urchin to split into and die. Aurianna swam out to see an 8-foot version of Ipha next to Leila.

"My Queen," Ipha bowed.

"Be at ease," Queen gestured with her hand.

"It seems we both killed it at the same time," Leila chuckled, and Aurianna huffed.

"And it didn't have a heart, so it wasn't worth it," Aurianna said with crossed arms.

"Are you sure?" Leila asked, staring at the sinking sea Urchin.

"Well, this monster has a strange internal system."

"What an utter waste of time," Leila sighed heavily.

"So, Queen, how much time do you have left?" Aurianna asked, turning to her.

"I can stay with you for three whole days, master. I'm honestly impressed by both of you for your growth," Queen said with a satisfied smile.

"Chi, chi, chi, of course, I would grow a lot. I have been working hard!" Aurianna declared proudly, rubbing her nose.

‘Ah, my little sister is so cute,’ Leila thought as she stared at Aurianna, who made a quirky face. Leila couldn't help but hug Aurianna from behind and pull her soft cheeks.

"Leila, stop that, you're embarrassing me!" Aurianna yelled, smacking Leila's hand away.

"Ahh, my little sister is now rejecting my touch. I feel so hurt," Leila cried dramatically, separating herself from Aurianna and adopting a teary face.

Stolen story; please report.

“Bleh!” Aurianna stuck her tongue out. “You were touching my chest. I don't like that,” she said, eyeing Leila.

"No need to feel insecure, Aurianna. You're 25 years old. You'll soon outgrow those breast pads!" Leila said with a thumbs up, causing Aurianna's face to become extremely red, realizing that Leila knew her secret.

‘Tomato Cat, it's fun to mess with her,’ Leila thought with a light giggle.

“I heard that!” Aurianna yelled.

“Pfft,” Leila giggled for a while before regaining her composure. “Let's find Aquarius before we get lost, okay?” she suggested.

“Fine!” Aurianna agreed.

“Queen, which way is west?” Aurianna asked, realizing she didn't know.

"It's this way, master. You can get on my back since I can swim faster. And Leila can get on Ipha’s," Queen suggested, pointing at Ipha, who nodded in agreement.

“I wouldn't… mind carrying …master Leila on my… back,” Ipha stuttered, her face flustered.

“That's not a bad idea; it would probably save us more time,” Leila nodded.

“Then let's go!” Aurianna declared.

____

After a whole day of riding on Queen and Ipha's backs as they swam, Aurianna and Leila finally arrived at a hill. Beyond the hill lay an underwater Kingdom, its glowing lights shimmering in the depths. A journey that was supposed to take four days had taken only one.

All sorts of fish people could be seen swimming through the waters, some riding upon water beasts.

“Now then, time for explosions!” Aurianna declared, summoning a bazooka beside her as she grinned.

“You aren't going to attack them like that?” Leila asked, surprised.

“Why not? We came here to kill some sirens, didn't we?” Aurianna raised an eyebrow.

“Let's first find Aquarius,” Leila suggested, “I have a bad feeling that if we act brashly, we won't be able to train well with him,” she explained, trying to persuade Aurianna.

“We wouldn't want to anger him, remember he's as strong as Carol,” Leila added.

“I guess you are right. What do we do, walk right in there?” Aurianna sarcastically asked, pointing to the kingdom gates being guarded by over a hundred mermen who were over 10 feet tall.

“Well, let's try and see,” Leila said with a smile.

“For precaution, let's make ourselves invisible,” Leila suggested, activating her invisibility magic, and so did Aurianna, covering both themselves and their knights.

After hiding themselves, Aurianna and Leila swam through the open gates of the sea kingdom with their knights, easily bypassing the front security.

“Wow, they have so much light for underwater creatures!” Aurianna gasped, overwhelmed by how different the kingdom looked compared to her expectations.

“I mean, they live at the bottom of the sea, a very dark place, so they need light,” Leila said. “I'm more surprised by the fact that they wear clothing.”

“Same. I thought they were barbarians,” Aurianna nodded, crossing her arms as Queen and Ipha moved forward.

“Well, it clearly seems that they are a more civilized race. Interesting,” Leila praised as she examined the whole place. Beautiful buildings could be seen around them, illuminated by luminous objects. Fish people swam happily through the streets and above them. Small aquatic animals could be seen walking on the ground, carrying small objects as they followed a fish person with the tail of a shark, acting like mini little helpers.

The buildings were mostly made of a strange type of stone, unfamiliar to Aurianna and Leila, but they all looked beautiful. Fishmen, mermen, and sirens of all shapes and colors could be seen, wearing normal clothes for their upper and lower bodies that stayed on despite the water.

“Seems that not all races are barbaric monsters like those dumb teachers taught me,” Aurianna remarked with a half-hearted smile. “But it means they are an intelligent life form, so their souls. I haven't had a decent soul for the whole year,” Aurianna added as she began to drool.

“We can't act brashly, remember!” Leila warned.

“Fine, but question, how the hell are they able to cook underwater?? Or are my eyes deceiving me?” Aurianna asked, pointing to a nearby food vendor she had been eyeing for a while, as he served customers wet-cooked meat in a water bag.

“Well, if you observe very well, you'll notice that when he begins to cook, he heats up the food with fire magic in an air bubble, allowing the fire to burn freely. Once the food is done, the air bubble is popped, and the food is then served to the customer in soggy wet form, yet somehow it doesn't separate,” Leila explained, equally intrigued by the ways of these people.

“A pity they wouldn't be able to taste it in its dry form when it's at its best,” Aurianna shook her head in disappointment.

“Sadly yes, but it seems the people here are happier than I thought. I assumed the area to be as gloomy looking as Carol and Gumura's territories,” Leila said, her hand resting on her chin.

“Let's explore more! I've never gotten to visit and experience the culture of a kingdom filled with different races before,” Aurianna said, clearly excited but trying to compose herself as remembering something from the past made her face a bit gloomy. ‘I only went to those kingdoms before to slaughter, so I never really got to enjoy the beauty before the destruction.’

“Sure!” Leila agreed as they moved forward, and Aurianna gasped, clearly impressed.

The kingdom became even more beautiful the deeper they went in. Jellyfish as well as other sea creatures could be seen swimming around. Small currents could be seen in the air, serving as some sort of quick transportation for anyone using it.

“Wow, all kinds of sea people, some look like octopuses, others like sharks, fishes, so many!” Aurianna blurted out.

“Ahem, it's not that I'm excited or anything. I just used to read a lot about mermaids and Sirens in my childhood, how they were the deceivers of the sea. And it's honestly not hard to tell which one is a mermaid and siren,” Aurianna said, and Leila rolled her eyes at her.

“The sirens are relatively less pretty compared to mermaids. Seeing that siren woman sing in what is supposed to be a restaurant made it easier for me to identify them,” Leila said, and Aurianna agreed since she too noticed.

“Everyone here looks so different!” Aurianna blurted out, feeling extremely weird by such a diverse range of looks from ugly to pretty, but no ugly being was treated with hostility nor prejudice.

“How? Isn't this supposed to be normal?” Leila asked, a bit confused by what Aurianna meant.

“Normal, huh? In my world, or my country to be exact, one would be considered cursed if they looked like that blob-headed fish man,” Aurianna said, pointing to a nearby fish man with a face resembling a puffy fish as he chatted with a beautiful octopus lady.

“Then they'll have to pray and offer sacrifices, which is money, to the goddess of Beauty to change their looks. Beauty is the standard for the rich, and the poor have relatively normal looks, so this doesn't feel normal to me,” Aurianna admitted, feeling conflicting emotions within her.

“For a goddess of beauty, she seems like a woman who is very judgmental, insecure, and petty.”

“She is, and I have a score to settle with her. Not only am I going against the country Sandeph, but I'm also going against Paige as well. A very influential goddess. And I'm going to destroy Paige's church as well as her religion. I want her to be forgotten so she disappears. I want all that she has built for more than a hundred thousand years to crumble, so all those gods would know that I, Aurianna, am not someone to play in their foolish games,” Aurianna said with a calm grin.

“Then you have a long way to go, my dearest sister, especially if you want to kill a goddess,” Leila said with a smile as she stared at Aurianna.