The Peak of Pure Percpetion

*cough* *cough*…

Ayame coughed underwater without noticing the treasure that was protecting her had long since been broken.

Her void-black hair has long since turned back to pure-white since she released the technique unknown to even her.

Her body hurt all over perhaps due to the water pressure or because of the stress in her body. She couldn't breathe but she couldn't even notice because of the pain.

She felt like screaming but what entered her mouth was but water.

A single move from her before has erased the mana environment in her surroundings creating the first man-made manaless region, making it even harder for herself to supply her body with mana.

Ayame kicked the water in the struggle to go higher but every inch of movement made her flesh scream in pain and made her feel the pain of chipping her flesh and forcefully mixing it to stick it only to sever it again.

She struggled to live, her heart desired life, and her mind longed for more memory with Kuro but her body refused to move...

The process of drowning was a harsh one, as time passes the harsher one would feel, and with enough time, one would lose self's consciousness along with the desire to fight against death.

The further the waters enter Ayame's body, the less she would feel her body and feel her mind ascending.

With the will to control loss against fatigue, complete darkness swallowed Ayame as she lost her sense of sight, taste, touch, and smell.

'K...ur... el....p m...' Ayame thought inwardly but she has long since lost herself to the boundless ocean.

Just as Ayame thought this was really bad and she could see her death, 'Ayame' ascended.

*thung...* *thung...* a strange sound of a drum ringed as Ayame's soul was trying to exit her body.

*thuNG* *thUNG* *THUNG* the sound of a drum became stronger and stronger, Ayame felt she was listening to someone striking the giant drum in front of her.

Ayame discovered that this was the 'sound' of her heartbeat. Upon this discovery, Ayame realizes the variety of sounds increased.

*Pachak*

The sounds of waters.

*Wooosh*

The sounds of wind.

"kuro~... who's that girl beside you *shaaa*"

The familiar voice.

"Please don't take Aqua-chan!"

Unfamiliar voice of a child.

"What's wrong with this result... You are really a fucking useless child. How much do you want to embarrass me? Why's the talent inspection all zero? If it isn't the machine broken, is it you broken, huh? TELL ME *@#%¥&,!"

Another unfamiliar voice again...

*KYAAAAA*

Voice entereed.

*Ahhnn*

Voice entered.

"Please stop already. I've told all I know..."

Voice entered.

'What am I hearing? Whom I am hearing? Where am I hearing? Where is this voice coming from!?" Ayame's soul was bewildered by the sounds that were coming from all around the world.

Thus, the future has arrived.

'Thud* *thud* *thud*

It was the sound of something kicking something. The sound was too soft for it to be heard as something kicked the surface ground.

*blwom blwom blom*

It was the sound of a body resisting something. For it to be gas, the sound was too heavy. For it to be solid, the sound was too light...

It was the familiar sound that she love and wish to hear, listen to every day, every second...

Kuro...

After the sounds arrived at the bottom floor of the ocean, it launched up at the air at great speed like climbing thunder.

*chu*

a soft noise sounded out and from there on was the everlasting silence...

***

"She's late... Fina, talk out with Zuma and the others about how you want to cooperate without me. Even if it's Ayame, I'm too worried now that she been down there for too long." Kuro said worriedly at the lack of presence.

"Ahh, I don't want! I want to stay with you-" Fina threw a tantrum like a child but unusually, Kuro ignored her and went straight down the ocean.

Kuro noticed that his Ocean Submerging Device was broken so he threw it aside and jumped down the ocean without sparing a time.

Upon moving, Kuro tried to open up the portal but he noticed that he couldn't summon his portal for some reason. 'Is it because it's been cut off before or the destination's environment is just too bad?'

Kuro swam and tried holding his breath but he finds out that his action was futile. Confirming that he could breathe underwater, he kicked the wall to launch downward like a falling thunderbolt.

Kuro strangely felt no resistance from the water around his water... Heck, he even felt that the water was supporting him to move according to his will.

Once again, Kuro kicked the water behind him as he fell to the deep sea faster than humans' terminal velocity.

Kuro panicked in a while after seeing the sleeping princess under the sea.

Somersaulting while falling underwater, Kuro princess-hold Ayame's cold body as he kicked the ground as strongly as he can.

As Kuro jumps underwater, he felt his whole body become hot as he breathed hard. His blood vessel was popping out as the vine appeared above Kuro's body.

His blood felt boiling as it violently moved inside. However, Kuro felt that he was close to breaking his limit...

2.2...

2.5...

3.0...

Underwater, Kuro has finally broken the boundary between humans and moved at the speed at which only superhumans can move in.

Kuro has broken the sound barrier and escaped from the grasp of the ocean.

After a gentle fall, Kuro bent down hs face and...

"""!?!?!?!?"""

Shion dropped the ice cream god knows where she found it during this chaos.

Okayu raised her eyebrows in disbelief.

Fina felt she was being cheated.

'Phew, glad thing 21 taught me how to deal with someone drowning.' Kuro thought inwardly.