148 Hero VS Monster (2)

Every Servant was ready to clash against the horde of monsters. The said monsters were lying in wait for their King's instructions. However, the Heroic Spirits aboard the ship didn't have to do so. In fact, they were in a hurry to begin and show the pride they had as the last bastion of humanity. It was borderline pathetic to have a God show them how to do it. Naturally, those of Divine nature or those considered Anti-Heroes had a different reason to fight, but they all could agree on something: They did not wish to let Seth do all the work. They might have not the same motives for that, yet it was true that was what occupied their minds.

Medea was the first to move. She had been secretly setting up a Bounded Field around the ship since the fight between Seth and the Leviathan began. It was only thanks to the beast's temporary retreat that she had been able to complete it. With all the monsters around them, there's no telling what might happen to the only platform they could stand on. Against creatures who lived in the sea, if that happened, then they would be screwed.

Artemis could use Orion's powers to walk on water, and she could use her cape to fly, but the others... they were not that lucky. It went without saying that she could use a spell to create invisible platforms under them, but that was a terrible strain on her mind. If you counted every Servant and pirate, then you ended up with a lot of people. It was a number she did not want to deal with at all.

For now, what she had to do was help those that couldn't get close without risking falling on the water. Those included every melee fighter—still not a good number, but an acceptable one nonetheless.

As Medea was preparing to help her fellow Servants, Seth was ready to fight with the Leviathan again. For now, he would trust they could keep themselves safe. However, if he saw that they were in trouble, he would intervene.

Dematerializing his spear, the red-haired man jumped off the ship toward the marine beast in front of him. The said monster roared and charged to meet the incoming challenge.

Seth immediately infused both his hands with fire and punched the beast on its snout, creating a resounding boom and forcing his adversary to recoil back. After some thinking, the Egyptian God decided the best way to bring the Leviathan back to normal was to subdue it. Safe to say, it would not be him just punching it, and that was it. With every hit, he would use his Trickery Authority to overwrite the mind-control done to it.

Still, there was no way a beast who only relied on instinct and was getting threatened would stand by doing nothing and let itself be used as a punching bag.

With another mighty roar, the Leviathan stopped his body from keep moving backward, and in an impressive display of speed unbecoming of its size, it swam toward Seth with clear ill intent.

The Egyptian God put his arms in a cross shape in hopes of defending, but it did little to help him. As if all his resistance was meaningless, a 'simple' headbutt was all it took for him to be sent flying back. It was only by some miracle that he didn't damage the masts of the ship.

To others, it looked as if a shooting star had passed only a few meters above their heads. It was all surreal. Fujimaru, who was the only one who could allow himself to be distracted in battle, watched worriedly, wondering what his fate might have been. Yes, their conversation got a little... heated, but nothing has changed between them, in his opinion. The Japanese youth still saw Seth as an older figure that he could rely on, kind of like a brother. Although knowing what he did to his blood one, it was best not to mention it. At least to him, it was still a hard fact to get over.

"Don't worry. He will be fine. You just need to focus on analyzing the battle as any good commander would do, Master." EMIYA, who was next to him, said. He was firing arrow after arrow while Asterios on his side of the ship kept the monsters at bay.

Fujimaru nodded at his Servant, though not without giving one last look to Seth's direction.

'Urgh... He sure hits hard. But at least I got out of my trance thanks to it. Honestly, why everything I get has to be so defective?' Seth couldn't help but lament inside his mind as he kept bouncing on the water like a stone thrown in a pond.

'You make the best use of what you get. I told you to kill it instead of going through all this trouble, but you insisted on this charade. Now fucking deal with it.'

'Not helping, 'Almighty'.'

'Not trying to. Just leave the body in usable conditions, or I will be looking as pathetic as you.'

Dick.

Why did he bother to speak if everything he was going to say was meaningless? Talk about appearing only to annoy others.

A sigh escaped his lips as he backflipped to stabilize himself, though he still traveled some distance more due to the kinetic force. As he was sliding on the water, the red-haired man took a moment to look at his arms. They were in pretty bad shape, that was for sure. Half of his forearms were dangling like pendulums, only being kept in place thanks to some muscle tissue. He could also feel some liquid dripping down his face, so his head was most likely bleeding as well.

'And the glasses are fine by some miraculous event. This is making less sense each passing day.' If there was something to be thankful for, it was that his regeneration was starting to kick in. The bad thing was that it was being slow, and going by the large shadow below that kept following him, he wouldn't even have the time to do much.

First, though, he needed to come to a stop. Materializing his wings, Seth extended them to resist the wind and finally pause his sliding, just in time for the Leviathan to jump out of the water just some meters in front of him with its mouth open. Water was converging in it, seemingly ready to shoot Seth to the stars.

The Egyptian God came to a decision at that moment. If he couldn't use his fists, then he would use his legs.

Taking advantage of the storm clouds he had left up in the sky before, he raised his leg and immediately made a thunderbolt strike it, momentarily coating it in lightning. At the same time, fire started surrounding it as well in a spiral.

Without delay, Seth brought his leg down into an ax kick at the same time the Leviathan released its attack.

Instead of creating an explosion like their previous clash, the marine beast's water simply evaporated, allowing the red-haired man's kick to connect with its lower jaw. The hit was so strong that its head dived face down to the ocean floor at an incredible speed, leaving an awkward Seth behind. 'It has been some time since I fused two Authorities together. Guess I went overboard.'

He knew it would not be near enough to kill it, but it must have damaged it pretty badly. The drawback in his actions was his rigid leg. Nothing big, though.

Seth just wished the giant beast would stay a little knocked out for some seconds. Maybe that way he would reset or something. Who knows, maybe that hit was enough to snap the monster out of it. Kind of like its headbutt did with him.

Clearing those thoughts out of his mind, Seth flapped his wings and took flight. Being in the air would prevent him from receiving a surprise attack, not to mention that it would give him the room to heal his arms without worrying.

The Egyptian God then turned his head in the direction of the Golden's Hind. They were just barely on his detection range, which meant that the Leviathan's little stunt separated him a great deal from the others. 'That old, nagging feeling seems to be tingling. Sigh... Being a Hero sucks big time.'

If all his complaints in the last minutes were anything to go by, then using his Noble Phantasm also put him in a bad mood. Probably a result of the bad memories that were appearing inside his mind without his intention.

In the middle of his thoughts, an abrupt quake in the ocean shifts his attention to the waters below. The ocean seemed to be immensely angry. Waves went up and down, higher and more chaotic with each time.

Seth could practically feel the rage the Leviathan was feeling at the moment from up above. "I pissed him off, didn't I?"

His answer was a water cannon so fast it shot him down without him being able to respond. It didn't end there, though. As he was falling, multiple versions of the previous attack rained upon his form without mercy.

The assault continued until Seth finally touched the water. However, that didn't mean the Leviathan was over. Rapidly closing on his sinking figure, the apocalypse beast opened its mouth and swallowed him whole.

"You... are free now, aren't you?" Seth asked from inside its mouth. He was digging his nails into the tongue of the monsters to prevent the unpleasant experience of ending in its stomach. Overall, he looked like shit. Just when he regenerated both his arms, the Leviathan made one go instantly limp. Not to mention all the cutting wounds on his body from the pressurized water, shredding his clothes in various parts as well.

He had noticed it just now. Before, he could only hear jumbled cries of rage and pain. It wasn't like that had changed, but now those cries looked more "sane," so to say.

If before he was angry and suffering at the mind-control done to him, now he was pissed at him for damaging it to the extent where the scales on the lower side of his mouth were all torn up, with some of them incrusted under his skin like knives.

Seth got no answer, or rather, he only got a roar in response that nearly burst his eardrums thanks to the close proximity, not to mention the water that entered its mouth when it did so. If he didn't do something, he would end up drowning or simply being snake's food.

As he was holding his breath, the red-haired man noticed through the Leviathan's tongue, the contraction of the muscle of his mouth. Now that could mean two things: or he was ready to swallow, or they were going deeper into the ocean. Either of those were bad for him, so he had to act fast.

'My regeneration won't be up in time. Poseidon is still exerting his influence over this Singularity even if he is dead. In that case...' If he could sigh, he would do it an innumerable number of times right now. He said he was going to stop holding back with his abilities, but he was still apprehensive about 'his' ones.

It was an important doubt that he would think hard about if it was really worth it in normal circumstances. Many questions would pop up inside his head to make him formulate a clear answer to his doubts. Now, however, only one came up. 'What does it matter if they are his or Chaos' if, in the end, a case like Altera's happen just because he was too injured to help again?'

'Took you long enough. You and I are the same. No matter if our names differ, we were originally the same being. As such, there is no need to hold back in using my powers. If you are worried about their nature, then don't be and have trust in yourself. Same as I trust that you are going to keep myself from being buried under your goodness, you should trust that I am going to the same with my evilness. Don't forget what we represent. We cannot exist without the other.' Chaos' voice transmitted utter seriousness, unlike his annoyed tone from before. It was a tone of certainty, of stating a fact more than sugarcoated words.

I know it. There is no need to say it.

'I, no, we subdued the seas. We are the Sea God's Demise. We are the Leviathan's demise. As such, these waters should not hold us back.'

On the cliff of a desolated mountain in some unknown place, a slightly more feral version of Seth faintly smiled. It was about damn time.

Inside the Leviathan's mouth, the red-haired man suddenly combusted into flames. Every wound on his body started regenerating at speeds that weren't capable in this Singularity before. At the same time, the fire surrounding him began to burn the tongue of the marine beast, making it release a cry of pain. The Egyptian God took advantage of this to escape the interior of the blue-scaled monster.

Now that he was outside, he confirmed one of his first suspicions; the Leviathan had brought him to the ocean depths. Even with his poor eyesight, the only thing he could see was darkness.

Taking advantage of the momentary feeling of pain and confusion his enemy was having, Seth shapeshifted into a massive creature and started to ascend to the surface. Due to no light reaching that far, the said creature's form could not be distinguished, though.

It took him some minutes to reach the surface, but he was already in human form when he did. Seth could tell the Leviathan was hot on his trail right now, ready to "make him pay" or something like that.

Lo and behold, not long after Seth emerged, a clearly angered Leviathan did so as well. The red-haired man closed his eyes while taking a deep breath. "It seems this game is taking too long. I was planning to save you by force, but it seems I must subdue you first until you recover your reason."

Additional black tattoos to his own started appearing around the right side of his body, although some were hidden by some pieces of his clothing still remaining. When he opened his eyes, the right one had its sclera changed to black, and, different from its red counterpart; the pupils had become golden.

"Even a Hero needs to get his hands dirty sometimes. And that includes using powers not belonging to them." Seth said in an almost emotionless voice.

"The others are far enough away to not feel anything even with Romani's help. So then..."

One by one, multiple portals appeared around him, floating in the water or just plainly in the air.

"The Time of Awakening Hath Come."