4 4. Kahuna- The Land of Waves
“Should have said it first!” Vinasaka jumped into the sea just after hearing those words. The way he said the words before he jumped, left the ocean angel almost petrified and she internally panicked about what was going to happen to her later.
Mohi also thought of following Vinasaka but it was no use since he couldn’t go close enough.
The moment Vinasaka went inside the water, he felt like his vitality was draining ten times faster than it was on the ship. He fought his way to the depth, occasionally stopping and yelping in pain but he continued nonetheless. As he reached closer, he felt the heat which made him more uncomfortable each second. A slash of a sword, and a brightening white light almost blinded him but he continued to go on when he suddenly noticed someone being thrown at him full speed. Recognising the figure at once, his eyes grew larger with rage and he caught Sansara from the back taking the force of the speed entirely at his body.
Sansara looked back to see that it was a very familiar face indeed but it didn’t look very good. But neither could speak so he just turned around to face him. The rage in Vinasaka’s eyes could no longer be suppressed and he gently pushed Sansara to the side, before he charged ahead with all his might. Sansara wanted to stop him but he himself had some injuries. Therefore, even if he followed him close behind, he could not really keep up with Vinasaka. When he finally caught up, what he saw was a horrific sight. A blade was pierced right through the head of the water demon Suiyo who lay at the ground sight mumbling words of apology and Vinasaka fuming with anger was already focusing all his energy into assembling his force to create a ball of blue flames.
“Overlord, please have mercy. I didn’t you it was you. I didn’t...I didn’t know it was your acquaintance. Please overlord. Save me. Please.... plea-...”
“VINASAKA!!”
At that point he didn’t seem to be able to listen or process anything; the ball of flame began to grow bigger and darker.
“VINASAKA!!!!”
Sansara noticed that this immense accumulation of magical strength is affecting the area in some way and the entire ground seemed to be shaking.
Soon Vinasaka's eyes widened and he gestured to Sansara to leave immediately.
Sansara realised that there was something happening and the eyes were no longer bloodshot. In fact he looked like he knew what he was doing. Therefore, he decided to trust him and did as he was told.
The moment he went out and landed on the ship, a huge explosion followed and the ship was almost overturned once again and all the baskets and rags were thrown everywhere around the deck. The ocean angel however, made sure that ship is safe.
“Vinasaka!!!...Vinasakaa where are you?” Sansara cried from the deck but there was no answer. He bent down from the deck hoping to hear his voice once or at least having the first glimpse of him but nothing happened for a while.
Unable to take it anymore, he was almost about to jump, when Mohi held him back, “My lord, you have injuries. You best stay put.”
“But Vinasaka? He-...”
“He will be fine my lord!” the ocean angel also tried to calm him down. “Now that the underwater volcano of Suiyo had already erupted, his vitality must have begun replenishing already. I have a feeling that he might have gone there in haste but he already had his plans.”
“Ehhh? His plan?” Sansara blinked heavily.
“He is the demon overlord after all,”she assured with a faint smile.
Sansara relieved internally but soon he heard a fourth voice, “But the coral? How will we get the coral now?”
The three of them turned to look at the back. Amidst all the scattered rags and vessels, two figures appeared one in a dark green tunic and the other in a blue robe brushing the dirt off them.
“Roy? Sila? You two?” Mohi exclaimed.
“Ahahhhhaaa.....umm... I know it was rude of us but we couldn’t help ourselves. We want to be part of this investigation too,” Sila bowed in request.
“Yes my lords! We hope you can forgive us and let us travel with you.” Roy bowed as well.
Sansara smiled at the mischievous two boys and said, “The coral, it wasn’t there. There was no trace of it.”
“But how...,” Mohi couldn’t finish when another voice interrupted, “Because they were destroyed by the previous volcano.” The voice sounded strained and when they looked it was none other than Vinasaka.
“Vinasaka, you are back!” Sansara ran towards him but stopped abruptly when he found that Suiyo was there kneeling beside Vinasaka. Suiyo might have been a terrifying looking man at first but now he only looked pathetic with a major hole in his head and a face full of guilt and self accusation.
“Why... did you bring him along?”
“Because he said Kahuna might be able to help us.”
“Kahuna? You mean the land of the waves?” Mohi asked, confused.
They reached the island soon after that since they were close by anyway. Adria bid them farewell at the shore. While they all followed Suiyo, Roy asked from a distance, “Ocean demon Suiyo? Do you know who instigated the last volcano?”
The ocean demon was already terrified by the presence of the being beside him, so all of his words came out staggering and half eaten, “ Suiyo...doe..nt..know...”
“Who else? The previous demon king!” Vinasaka replied sternly after that.
“Yo-ur...father, overlord?” Sila asked back but was soon warned by Mohi with his glaring eyes and after a pause Vinasaka snickered, “Father? He just created me...to fulfil his own evil desires.”
Even if he was laughing, Sansara could feel something in his voice, the resentment, the rage, the regret and may be somewhere guilty as well. Hearing those words, Sansara was reminded of what Lord Almighty had said a day before. He instantly erased those thoughts from his head and asked, “Is there anybody who can help us here?”
“Speak!” Vinasaka commanded and the ocean demon stammered again, “Y-yes overlord. The forest of Kahuna has an opening which connects it to the Diamond kingdom. However it is extremely well protected with natural barriers. Near the opening, there exists a shrine where you can find a red diamond. The diamond can curb the powers of the red coral.”
“As expected of the diamond kingdom, they have the most exceptional spiritual jewels,” Sila said as if he was impressive.
“But if it is the protection barrier of the diamond kingdom, then it won’t be easy to obtain, notwithstanding the fact that the ruler of the diamond kingdom will also be hard to deal with,” Mohi looked rather serious as if the diamond kingdom has already acquainted itself with him in the past.
“Mohi? Do you know the ruler?” Sansara asked
“Hmm, it’s already got dark today. I think we better take rest here and carry on tomorrow,” he changed the subject really fast which gained him some attention from the demon overlord but he didn’t say anything.
They all sat by the fire together and Sansara couldn’t suppress himself anymore, “Vinasaka?”
“Yes my lord?” he came really close as if he was waiting for him to call.
“I told you to call me Sansara!” Vinasaka chuckled playfully and then said, “What is it?”
“I have been meaning to ask you...”
“Yes?”
“I thought you used only a whip. But the blade today...”
As soon as he mentioned the blade, Lyca climbed on his lap and found itself a comfortable spot to sit.
“There,” Vinasaka pointed with his eyes to Lyca and with a smile he continued, “Must have been tired.”
“You mean he...” Sansara was utterly dumbfounded.
“My lord you didn’t know about the demon overlord and his white wolf? There are uncountable folk tales about them,” Roy was surprised.
“Conversion magic?” Sansara beamed.
“Yes! You are right,” Vinasaka said.
Soon there was a strange noise coming from the forest. It stopped after a while but then started again and Mohi couldn’t just sit back and watch so he got up to leave but Vinasaka was already up on his two feet, “Do me a favour, don’t let Suiyo escape. I’ll go check.” Sansara also got up, “Let me come with you.”
“But my lord...,”Mohi objected again but later thought that he might be safer with Vinasaka anyway so he stopped himself, “I get it, but please take care of yourself.”
They walked towards the strange sound which became louder with every step they took. They kept following the sound when they saw a flash of light in the darkness of the woods and started to chase it.
Surprisingly it led to them a waterfall and what they saw after that was even more surprising. The waterfall split into two to reveal a cave. Sansara was hurrying inside when Vinasaka pulled him back, “Wait! What if it’s purposely leading us there?”
“Then we should go check that for ourselves,” Sansara said as he pulled Vinasaka along and poor demon lord sighed(would have probably facepalmed if he could) and whispered, “He didn’t change a bit.”
“Did you say something?”
“Nothing, let’s go,” and they both entered the cave with the waterfall closing behind them.
