NOVPUB
Chapter 369: 369
Under their oppressive gazes, the magic circle shattered like glass, leaving Aska staggering. His courage faltered, and he stumbled back before turning. Letting out a desperate roar, he dove headfirst into the ocean, his serpentine form cutting through the dark waters.
As he fled, his thoughts spiraled into panic. "Leave me alone. Just leave me alone. I just want to sleep... I just want to sleep..."
Aska’s body coiled instinctively as he plunged deeper into the dark waters, the ocean swallowing him whole. The oppressive weight of the sea pressed against him, but it was nothing compared to the gnawing exhaustion in his very core. His mind was a storm, split between his fractured visions and the unrelenting pull of his body’s primal needs.
Sleep. The thought consumed him, louder than the currents roaring past his ears. He could feel the Leviathan’s body faltering, muscles sluggish and unresponsive, its powerful form trembling with every motion. The creature needed rest, and so did he—but the sensation of being hunted clung to him like a second skin.
The void from his corrupted eye throbbed in his skull, the lifeless world it revealed unnerving and relentless. Shapes—impossible, shifting things—seemed to flit through the edges of his vision, but they vanished when he tried to focus. It made him feel exposed, watched, vulnerable.
His other eye, the one rooted in reality, strained to keep track of the faint light filtering down from above. The water there was tinged with the two opposing forces he had fled: the shadow’s oily corruption and Jaus’s heavy, commanding presence. Even at this distance, their power churned the ocean, and he felt it reaching for him like cold, invasive fingers.
Aska’s breaths grew ragged. No escape. No refuge. Just silence... just sleep... The thought was desperate now, clawing at his fraying mind. He sank lower, deeper, where the pressure would drown out the noise of the world. The Leviathan’s instincts guided him, pulling him to a trench where the ocean’s embrace was cold and ancient, where even the light dared not trespass.
His chest ached, his soul burned, but his need was simple: to escape, to find stillness, to hide in the crushing black until the storm within him quieted. Yet even as he slowed, curling into the depths, the corrupted vision remained. The empty, hollow world. The sensation of unseen eyes.
He shuddered. Sleep was a fleeting dream now, slipping further away. But it was all he had left to chase.
The ripples of Aska’s retreat through the dark waters left behind a tense silence, broken only by the churn of waves now consuming the island. Jaus tilted his head, his shark-like maw twisting into a sharp, predatory grin.
"Your influence is waning," he said, mockery dripping from his tone. "Your prey seems more inclined to flee than to fight. How much longer until your grip shatters completely?"
The shadow creature’s form writhed violently, its silhouette shifting with barely contained rage. Behind it, the kneeling humans within the protective dome of dark water remained untouched by the surging sea. Their prayers grew louder, more desperate, as though willing the shadow being to respond.
"I do not require his will," the creature hissed, its voice layered with venomous malice. "Only his essence. That... remains mine to command."
The waters surrounding the shadow god pulsed in response, an oily wave spreading outward to taint the already swelling ocean. The once-pristine sea took on a murky, malevolent hue as the corruption crept closer to Jaus.
He chuckled, raising a clawed hand. At his command, the ocean roared to life. Towering columns of water rose around him, shimmering with energy as arcs of lightning flickered between them. The sea glistened with the raw, untamed fury of storms, bending to its master’s will.
Lightning coalesced in Jaus’s hand, forming a trident of blinding brilliance. Its radiant glow pierced the darkened waters, a beacon of power against the shadow’s creeping taint. With a deafening roar, Jaus hurled the trident forward, unleashing a bolt of lightning that split the ocean surface. Steam and water erupted skyward as the attack carved through the waves.
The shadow god moved unnaturally, sliding out of the trident’s path with an alien fluidity. Jagged tendrils of darkness unfurled from its form, lashing out with predatory precision. Each strike sizzled and hissed against the golden aura shielding Jaus, their corrosive energy clawing at his divine essence.
The storm above answered Jaus’s fury. Thunder cracked across the heavens, and rain fell in torrential sheets as the waves swelled higher, rising like walls of liquid rage. Leaping atop one such wave, Jaus surged forward, his trident carving deadly arcs through the storm. Each strike forced the shadow being to defend with blades of black ichor, their clashes sending shockwaves across the sinking island, now submerged up to its neck.
With a roar that vibrated through the waters, Jaus’s maw crackled with lightning, releasing a feral blast that scattered the shadow’s tendrils. Yet the creature was that bothered. It dissolved into the sea, a swirling pool of darkness that spread like ink, tainting the waters around Jaus. The ocean hissed and boiled under its corruption. From below, a massive claw of shadow surged upward, aiming to drag Jaus into the abyss.
Jaus slammed his trident into the claw, shattering it in an eruption of divine energy, but the shadow god was already reforming. It rose again, its shape shifting into a towering serpent-like figure, jagged rows of ethereal teeth snapping with murderous intent. The creature lunged, its corrosive form seeking to envelop him.
Rather than retreat, Jaus charged. Calling upon the storm, he summoned a massive bolt of lightning that struck his trident, empowering it with pure, destructive energy. With an ear-splitting roar, he drove the weapon deep into the serpent’s gaping maw.
The resulting explosion of light and sound turned the darkening sky into day. The shockwave rippled through the storm and sea, scattering the shadow construct into a thousand writhing fragments. For a fleeting moment, the battlefield fell still, save for the relentless roar of the storm and the heaving of the corrupted sea.
Jaus’ counterpart was relentless. Its shattered fragments reformed into a swarm of smaller, razor-edged constructs, each one a fragment of its malice and power. The swarm converged on Jaus, attacking from every direction with razor-sharp precision. For the first time, the sharkman’s mortal form faltered under the relentless onslaught. Blood stained the darkened sea as shadowed tendrils pierced his defenses, leaving trails of searing agony in their wake.
Yet Jaus remained undeterred. His lips twisted into a grin, "he was enjoying this". Despite the wounds, he felt the artifact still holding strong within him, its resilience fueling his confidence. "Let’s see how much more you can take," he muttered, his voice steady despite the chaos.
With a thunderous roar, Jaus unleashed a surge of divine energy. The sea roared in response, rising in an enormous vortex of water and light that encased his body. The churning spiral shimmered with raw power, pulling the shadow constructs into its depths. Their corrosive energy dimmed against the purifying force of Jaus’s divinity, their screams of rage drowned by the relentless storm.
Jaus condensed the vortex into a single, radiant orb of energy, pulsing with the might of the sea and storm. Gripping his trident, he drove it downward with all his strength, releasing the orb in a catastrophic burst of destruction.
The ocean floor trembled violently as the explosion erupted, a blinding flash of energy ripping through the darkness. The shadow god’s form was obliterated, scattered into nothingness. Even the humans once sheltered by its dark shield were erased, leaving no trace behind. The force of the blast carved an immense crater into the seabed, displacing the water entirely.
As the sea began its slow return, Jaus hovered mid-air, his body silhouetted against the aftermath. Below him yawned a vast, spiraling void—a deep, gaping hole where the explosion had struck. The waters struggled to fill the abyss, swirling downward as if dragged by an unseen force. Occasional flashes of lightning illuminated the depths, revealing the sheer scale of the devastation.
Jaus floated back, moving to a safer distance. His mortal vessel trembled, cracks spidering across its form. With a final, audible snap, the artifact that had fused him to the body disintegrated into dust. Freed from its confines, Jaus’s divine essence lingered briefly in the air, before dissipating into the roaring storm.
The turbulent weather and raging sea began to calm as Jaus’s presence faded. He rejoined his siblings, who were staring down at the void where the island had once been.
Jaus wore a bright smile. "That was fun," he said, clearly unbothered by the destruction.
Mahu shook her head before turning to Crepuscular. "This will remind them that we haven’t let our guard down. But in response, they might become even sneakier."
Crepuscular nodded, his form beginning to dissipate as his consciousness returned to his true body. "We’ll need to watch them more closely. Today’s events prove they’re planning something."
