The Kraken

Val and the others stopped upon reaching the stone wall that surrounded the Shi Mountains.

The others stood back as Val began to inspect the wall. She gingerly ran her fingers on the rugged surface, examining each segment of the wall.

"What's she looking for?" Raijah whispered to Nezumi, who stood beside him.

Before Nezumi could respond, Val exclaimed, "found it!"

"Found what?" Raijah and Cora asked in sync.

Val placed her hand on a section of the wall. Tiny cracks and gaps separated the segment from the rest of the wall.

"Due to the historical events that took place here," Val said, "the Shi Mountains are considered sacred land. As such, unless authorized by Gado, the gatekeeper, no one is allowed in or out. These rules have existed since the massacre of dragons. So naturally, as kids, Nezumi and I were curious about the outside world."

"Before the attack that killed my mother, the mountain was significantly less secure than it is now. Since the walls were quite old, Nezumi and I were able to find this small weak point. We'd always put the piece back in its place before we left."

Val applied some pressure to the wall, and the segment collapsed, leaving a small hole that they all crawled through.

They emerged at the beautiful coast of the Shi Mountains. Although the wall encompassed most of the Shi Mountains, it left a thin strip of grassy land on the outskirts. This strip of land was a cliffed coast, elevated several feet above the adjacent ocean.

To Raijah, the combined view of the seemingly endless ocean and the timeless sunset was surreal. He felt calm as he watched the waves crawling gently to the shore.

Val smiled briefly, feeling nostalgic for her childhood, "This is where Nezumi and I would spar and hang out before I left to train with Aziel."

Val placed her sheathed sword on a rock beside the cliff edge. She then took a fighting stance and said, "Now that I'm back, Nezumi, how about we spar in memory of the old days."

Raijah and Cora stepped back to give them room. Raijah leaned against the Shi Wall while Cora took a seat on a large rock beside him.

Nezumi assumed a fighting stance as Val said, "I'll be using strictly doragonken being as I have yet to master it."

"So Hashira finally got around to teaching you," Nezumi replied, "you Shi Family members sure are lucky."

"It's unfortunate that you can't learn doragonken due to your lineage. But, learning doragonken isn't the only way you can get stronger. Besides, strength isn't the only thing influencing my decision. There's a whole world out there. It'd be idiotic to assume that the person the prophet foretold is someone in the Shi Mountains."

"You've said this a million times," Nezumi said. He looked toward Raijah and said, "start the spar."

Before Raijah could traditionally signal the start of the spar, Val prepared a roundhouse kick.

She quickly lifted her leg and attempted to slam the front of her foot into Nezumi's face. Nezumi quickly reacted by blocking her strike with his arm.

"That was a dirty move," he said.

"It's subtle, but there's some tension between those two," Cora said to Raijah, "I wonder what that's about."

"Yeah," Raijah responded, "Nezumi seems to be holding a grudge."

Val retracted her foot and unleashed a quick yet precise bombardment of attacks. She began with an array of punches to keep Nezumi on the defensive.

As Val continued to barrage Nezumi with punches, she examined his movements, waiting for an opening to strike in the periphery of his vision.

Once she saw that opening, she began to lift her foot.

Nezumi quickly reacted by stepping on her foot and hindering her movements. Using his free leg, he slammed his knee into her chest, sending her tumbling backward.

"Seriously," Nezumi muttered, "I put way more force into that attack, but her bust cushioned the impact."

Now a distance away from Nezumi, Val brushed the dirt off her body. "That was dirty," Val said.

"You're one to talk," Nezumi replied, "you attacked before the fight began!"

Val ignored Nezumi and began to plan her next move. "My technique is there, but I'm not putting enough strength and speed into my attacks. I'll have to push myself further."

Val dashed toward Nezumi, sprung into the air, and delivered a devastating kick to his head.

Like the previous attack did to Val, this one sent Nezumi tumbling backward.

With that, the spar became an all out slugfest. Val and Nezumi repeatedly traded blows that knocked the wind out of the other. Their fight had now reached the cliff ledge, and both fighters were feeling drained.

Unable to sustain their weight, the ground crumbled as chunks fell into the ocean. Due to this, Val lost her footing and began to fall.

Thinking the fight was over, Nezumi let his guard down. "You lose Valerie," he said proudly.

However, before descending to the ground, Val attempted a bicycle kick.

While airborne, she performed a backflip. She used her non-kicking leg to propel her body up. Once her back was parallel to the ocean below her, she raised her kicking leg and slammed her foot into Nezumi's crotch.

Raijah and Cora grimaced as they watched Val use her kicking foot to spin Nezumi circularly and chuck him into the ocean.

Nezumi yelped in pain as he fell toward the ocean, "That was dirty," he said through gritted teeth.

Val grabbed the remaining portion of the ledge and watched Nezumi splash into the ocean. "You lose, Nezumi!" she exclaimed.

A few seconds passed, and Val and the others wondered why Nezumi hadn't come up.

Val released the ledge and used her ririsu to fly.

Raijah and Cora joined her at the ledge, peering down at the ocean.

"Wait," Raijah said, "I sense something down there. Something big."

"Come to think of it," Val said, "I do too."

"Same here," Cora added.

Before they could see for themselves, a sudden lightning bolt illuminated the sky, and a clap of thunder followed. It had now begun to rain, which obscured their view of the ocean.

An enormous brown tentacle holding Nezumi emerged from the ocean, and countless lightning strikes followed. Nezumi released his green aura, which sliced the tentacle. Then, using his ririsu, he flew up and joined the others on the cliff.

The tentacle Nezumi had sliced regenerated almost instantly, and seven more tentacles emerged. Each tentacle had suction cups that had spikes protruding them.

The head of the creature emerged. It was almost identical to a squid or octopus but several magnitudes larger.

"What the hell is that?" Raijah asked.

"It's a Kraken," Val replied, "they're huge monsters, two tons on average, that once roamed the ocean. Particularly this one, which borders the Shi Mountains. However, they supposedly went extinct eons ago. So, this is probably the first sighting in billions of years."

Countless lightning strokes rained down on the ocean, and the Kraken lifted its tentacle, preparing to attack.

Raijah lifted his hand to the sky and whispered, "cease."

The thunder and lightning immediately stopped, and Raijah swung his arm down. A thin bolt of red lightning struck the Kraken's head, frying and killing it instantly.

"Is it that it?" Raijah asked.

An eagle soared through the sky, watching Raijah and the others. Back underground, Tensai smiled as he said, "It immediately morphed into a Kraken. I'd have liked to see the other genotypes in action, but the Kraken's the strongest, so I suppose this'll still be an efficient test."

"However," he continued, "I hope they didn't think that was it. The original Kraken that once roamed the oceans was capable of regenerating severed limbs. However, my creation took that ability to the next level."

"With the addition of several samples of elite cells and a DNA sample of a creature with the ability to clone itself several times over before its demise. I created a specimen capable of instantly regenerating every cell and creating several clones just before its death."

"It's basically the perfect training dummy as it's practically immortal. I wonder how they'll go about defeating it."

Back on the shore, hundreds of Krakens, identical to the one Raijah killed, emerged out of the ocean.

"Nevermind," Raijah muttered.

"I know the Kraken was capable of regenerating," Val said, "but I never knew it could duplicate like this."

"These are different from ones we know about," Nezumi remarked.

"Let's just get rid of them," Cora declared.

Val, Cora, and Nezumi were just about to begin when Raijah said, "Wait!"

His sudden outburst caused them to look at him expectantly.

"I'd like to test my theory," Raijah said as he once again swung his arm down.

"Divine Lightning: Crimson Rain!"

Hundreds of red lightning bolts, equal to the amount of Krakens, emerged in the sky. They struck down simultaneously, each frying and killing their respective Kraken.

As Raijah predicted, each Kraken created several clones of itself, causing hundreds to become thousands.

"As I thought," Raijah said, "when killed, they replicate rapidly. We'll need to completely eradicate all of them, leaving nothing for them to replicate."

"This is perfect for your ririsu ability," Raijah said, "use Shōkyo on them."

"Right," Val said as she scanned the area for Ame-no-Ohabari.

"Where is it?" she said, "I placed it on a nearby rock."

She looked around once more to no avail, "It must've fallen into the water when I sparred Nezumi."

"I'll go get it," Val said as she dove down into the ocean, "keep the ones up here at bay."

"What about that new technique you've been working on, Raijah?" Cora asked, "that would eliminate the Krakens before they can replicate."

"It would," Raijah agreed, "but the problem with that technique is that it's solely destructive. If I were to unleash it here, It'd take out more than just these Krakens. We'll have to depend on Val."

Raijah, Cora, and Nezumi jumped into action. Nezumi and Raijah flew while Cora channeled natural prana out of her feet to act as a platform and allow her to walk on water.

"Try not to kill them," Raijah said, "that would increase the amount we'd have to deal with!"

Underwater, Val scanned for her ririsu blade. She finally located it at the seabed, but she saw something swimming toward it.

It was a creature in the humanoid form that Tensai had sent.

Viewing the events through a nearby fish, Tensai commented, "one of the Krakens seems to have morphed back into its previous state."

Val began to swim downward, but she sensed something approaching above her. She flipped over and spotted a tentacle with unusually large spikes.

"Its spikes grew," Val whispered to herself.

Val's knuckles went pale as she gripped one of the spikes tightly. Mustering part of her strength, she swung the Kraken through the ocean water and slammed it into the side of the cliff.

The creature let out a groan and began to swing its tentacles wildly. Before the Kraken could act, Val placed her palm on its head.

"Sealing Prana: Binding Chains!"

A purple marking appeared where Val touched the Kraken. A dozen identical chains emerged from the marking and constricted the Kraken's body, pinning it to the side of the cliff.

With the chains now hindering its movements, the Kraken stopped trying to break free.

Val returned her attention to the humanoid creature below her. Due to the time she wasted with the Kraken, it had now grabbed her ririsu blade and was swimming away at tremendous speeds.

Val increased her speed and immediately caught up with the creature. She cocked her arm back and slammed her fist into the beast's back.

Still holding onto Val's blade, the beast slammed into the seabed, dead.

However, before Val descended to her blade, she saw hundreds of specimens resembling the one she had just killed.

"This replication ability is a nuisance," Val muttered as she began to channel large amounts of prana through her body.

"I'll seal them away with one big attack."

Before she could attack, she saw a black blade zoom through the water. In an instant, the blade sliced through all the creatures, giving Val an opening to grab her ririsu blade before they replicated.

"Teo?" Val whispered as she swam up. Once she reached the surface with her blade, she joined Raijah and Nezumi in the air.

Back underwater, the creatures had begun to replicate. They formed a straight line on the seabed floor, each preparing to chase after Val.

The black blade resurfaced after Val. It soared up and into the hands of its owner, flying in the air.

Teo had now fashioned his long hair. He had two-strand twists styled neatly in a ponytail, with two twists pulled out of the ponytail and at the front of his face.

Teo wiped the water off his blade with his sleeve.

"You all might want to move," Teo advised.

Raijah soared down and grabbed Cora before, like Val and Nezumi did, flying away from Teo.

Teo held his blade vertically in front of his face.

"Dark Prana: Zero Slash!"

He channeled darkness into his sword and swung down. The blade released Teo's dark prana with a vertical slash that flew toward the ocean, retaining the same sharpness as an edged weapon.

As the darkness came in contact with the water, it sliced straight through, splitting the waves, exposing the seabed, and eliminating all of the humanoid creatures and more than half of the Krakens.

Even Tensai, deep in the planet's mantle, could feel the impact.

Raijah, Nezumi, Cora, and Val landed back on the cliff ledge. They all shared the same shocked expression.

Teo grinned down at the destruction, then glimpsed at Raijah mockingly.

"This is exactly what I wanted to avoid," Raijah muttered, "showoff."