Chapter 8: Fight

Four months later.

[Maxim POV]

I yawned, my two growing tusks sliding over my lower lips, my belly against the ice floor of my cave, flippers fully relaxed, after my little yawn I continued to purr which sounded more like a rumble of a jackhammer than a purr.

'How could I have lived without this?' I briskly wondered, being cleaned this way is really the best. 

I can understand why some would find this creepy, dozens of small creatures crawling all over your body, gills, and mouth.

I continued to laze around being pampered by my little cleaning crew for an unknown amount of time until my stomach made itself known by loudly grumbling. 

I lowly growled in annoyance, undecided if I should go hunt or stay here. Then my stomach grumbled again, this time my decision was certain, hunt it is. My hunger won over my laziness.

I shook my body as a dog would resulting in the many critters such as cleaner shrimp and two cleaner fish covering my body to swim away.

Those two little guys apart from their unique anatomy of having two tails can also change their skin color and texture at will.

I don't know how they do it but they do it and it reminds me of cuttlefish. One of my favorite animals.

'Shoo, go away.' I thought in amusement, flicking in rapid succession my cicatrizing right ear until the last shrimp ultimately accepted its loss and swam away to where the rest of its brethren withdrew.

My ear is in this state because I nearly lost it when I was scouting for a potential hunting spot, to avoid overhunting an area. After all, I eat a lot. Like a lot more than what I think should be physically possible.

The culprit behind this was an obsidian swordfish, its size being one and a half times mine. 

It tried to shish-ka-bob my ass, to say I was shocked by this difference in behavior to the Earth ones is an understatement. 

Swordfish on Earth don't normally do this, or do this at all for that matter in normal circumstances that are.

In retrospect, assuming the behavior of a species with only a clue being its look wasn't the cleverest of things I ever did, not that I could have predicted this to happen in the first place.

I knew with my electromagnetic senses, at the time, that there was something nearby but what exactly I didn't know and the surprise factor resulted in me barely having the time to dodge.

It was enough for me to have nothing remotely life-threatening, like being skewered through the head by its harpoon of a nose. But my ear wasn't so lucky and ended up almost torn in half.

It then darted past me to end its course by embedding itself into the rocky seabed, fucking itself over in the process. Its nose was made to work like a hook, so it was stuck.

Me being the ball of irrational anger and rabid aggressiveness that I was, lost my marble, the pain not being that much of a factor here.

I perceive pain differently than when I was human, it is dull in comparison, and my ear being torn in half was like a paper cut to a human. It hurt and sting a bit but that's about it.

The only thing pain can do to me is make me even more aggressive, it also makes me more impulsive and can also piss me off, particularly when the one causing it was aiming for the kill. 

As it should be, it's just that I lose control fairly easily… and I calm down only by eating, destroying things, and driving myself to near exhaustion. No counting backward or meditation work for me.

I don't especially care if I injure myself like when I bite a piece of my tongue, then I proceed to swallow it as if it was a piece of candy… I freaked out a bit when I realized what I just did at the time.

Thanks to this incident I learned that my blood is deep blue, unlike the one found in pigrons which is red.

And that I have a good regenerative capacity as my tongue regrew back and is now as good as new. It's not Deadpool or Wolverine level, far from it.

Anyway, after the swordfish stuck itself I shredded it apart like a chew toy, ripped its stone-hard scale off, and ate its succulent flesh and organ. It was one of the best things I ever ate, the fact that it was spicy made it even tastier.

Back to the present.

I swam out of my cave, feeling my dorsal fin scrape against the exit. I will need to make it bigger or straight-up dug another.

Enjoying the way icy water flowed through my gills slit and open mouth while I looked back at the cave I dug, one of many.

I dug many caves, approximately one hundred and fifty-three if I recall, because I have instincts urging me to do so, and I had problems until recently finding my way back. So I simply say fuck it and made my own.

I don't get lost anymore, not as much. As time went on, I got more and more familiar with my body and new senses. 

I started to be able to discern and read what I believe is this planet's magnetic field and… its bio-energy system, circuit thingy? I don't know, it's pretty confusing.

I can feel where I am compared to the two poles, along with something that reminds me of wells filled to the brim with bio-energy. 

There is one 'close' to where I am, as in, not on the other side of the planet and it's the biggest one too. 

Each seems to be connected to one another by streams… they are ever-present, it's like the planet's vascular system.

Furthermore, there is a deep and supernatural connection with me. It's… overwhelming when I pay close attention to it.

It's partway perturbing and soothing, it's just strange… It is like a cemetery where you go to die when it's finally time and at the same time a wellspring of life. It's the feeling I get from it.

It's neither good nor bad, it just is.

Thanks to all of this I have a mental map of where I am compared to where. It's far from perfect, especially at a smaller scale but it nonetheless greatly helps me navigate myself in this labyrinth of endless seawater called the sea.

I don't move blindly anymore and that makes a huge difference. There is no comparison.

I let the water current carry me, the shadowy reflection of my body on the ice above. It's been quite some time since I reincarnated but each time I see my body… there is still this feeling of surrealness.

I wonder how my family is doing right now… I will never see them again. It's just curiosity. I strangely don't miss them that much… as much as a human would. 

It's a good thing I suppose... you don't live in the past. Even if I don't know how I should feel about this.

My overall emotional makeup has seen great change, for example, there are times when I'm extremely prideful for no apparent reason than me being me.

Nor do I feel particularly lonely, the animals cleaning me doesn't truly count. I tolerate them, it's a mutualistic relationship. I can't say the same for others, however…

I'm territorial and protective of the caves I dug and the area surrounding them. I am essentially a rabid guard dog when something enters my territory and decides to stay in it.

With powerful swishes of my tail I increased my speed, I called to the seawater surrounding me increasing my speed even more. Neat trick I learned.

I enjoyed how the water flowed against my scales until I slowed down, my destination finally in sight.

'Beautifully ominous as always.' I thought, fully taking in the beauty of the inverted kelp forest. It looked like a night sky full of stars.

It is a huge forest of kelp growing downward to get energy from the gigantic lava river and its hundred thinner streams deep below it. If I can say an estimate the average kelp must at least go two kilometers deep.

Thousands upon thousands of seaweed, all pitch black and partially covered with blue bioluminescent grapes that grew from them, acted as burdens to stop the plants from floating.

And this forest is likely a single individual with how the bio-energy was lashed with a distinctively more powerful Ice element in the kelps and also in the roots system.

It seems to be identical from one plant to another like a bio-energy fingerprint. That is why I believe it's one giant organism or something similar.

The total mass and size of the thing must be mind-boggling. I feel incredibly small in comparison.

There is also this feeling of unease like something was always watching, but I instinctively know that it doesn't want me any harm.

I pushed aside the kelp with my muzzle and flippers while I swam deeper in the forest, my sensitive snout immediately at work. There was something close.

It's the nursing area for those big spiky anglerfish, and dozens of other species of fish, and animals of all kinds. Also a hunting ground for pigrons.

My pupils dilated as I sensed something moving with great force toward me. Water element instantly surged behind my flipper as I made a short dash forward. 

*BAM*

'Ah… of course, it sees me as prey, good to see that we are on the same term. And it seems to be a tentacle mimicking the surrounding kelp. Interesting...', I thought, reigning in my urge to violently and immediately jump at it to rip it apart like the piece of meat it is.

In the same manner, I dodged a second tentacle that slammed into the ice above destroying a part of it and making ice spikes sprout out of the area of impact. 

'Ice element…?', I pondered, maneuvering myself to the side, dodging another incoming tentacle in the process. That is the same manner made ice sprout at the impact with the flow above.

I heard a bubbling sound of frustration as the two tentacles that missed me started to change, taking on their original form.

The black kelp they were mimicking to near perfection rapidly shifted to a pale blue with grey and shimmering irregular stripes adorning them.

Those two tentacles each possessed at their tip a short of bludgeon object covered in ice while the tentacles' undersides were covered in hundreds of suckers each one having a crown of small pointy teeth.

The shifting of its skin continued until I could see the entire body of the 'predator' that thought I was easy prey. 

I more or less learned my lesson, but It's so freakin blood pumping to be in a situation like this! My body craves violence and I can't resist it! It feels so good like I was made to be like this, to feel this way.

A cuttlefish, it was cuttlefish, its height arms solidly anchored on the ice, while the two tentacles dangled below its head and its mantle containing all of its vital organs were flat against the ice.

It was huge, I could instinctually tell that it was the average size of a gobul, the giant angler-puffer fish hybrid, so more than four times my size… since I grew quite a bit. Yes, it's a big ass cuttlefish.

Now that it fully revealed itself I could sense its bio-energy more clearly, it's element being as I supposed, Ice.

Its green W-shaped eyes glared right into my own yellow-slitted one, its body pattern rapidly changing, four of its arms detached from the ice while the two tentacles flattened making the 6 appendages together look like an incomplete fan.

Then mesmerizing and iridescent waves of color spiraled inward from all over its body to its now exposed mouthpiece, a very dangerous-looking black beak.

'It's trying to hypnotize me…? Keyword being on trying.', I thought, amused by its little light show. My eyes glowed, my muscles flexed, my flippers oriented on instinct as I recklessly flung myself at it.

Visibly shocked, its light show immediately ceased and it tried to grab me again with its tentacle but it was simply outclassed in the speed department. So it missed me.

This resulted in its entire body turning scarlet red from probably anger contrasting it with the surrounding ice and flora. Oh, boy was it pissed.

Ice shrapnels were shot from its beak in rapid succession, all aimed at me. I blew out bubbles in retaliation from my jaws. Some still passed through and uselessly pelted against my scales. This only served to excite me even more.

In the same way, my bubble exploded against its body, they were homing, following what I decided as the target, they also are explosives and boiling hot.

The cuttlefish recoiled as dozens of them exploded against its head, two in its eyes making the bigger beast flinch and froze for a split second. Split second that I took advantage of.

*Squeak!*

It squeaked in pain and alarm as I chomped right between its eyes, the soft elastic flesh letting my sharp tooth sink in.

'Ah fuck. The brain is way deeper… rig-'*BAM*

My thoughts were interrupted by a tentacle that whipped me off the cephalopod head with a chunk of its flesh still in my jaws, a stinging sensation remained where I was hit.

I was blown so hard that my left side slammed against the ice making my eyes bulge out and spit out the flesh at the impact.

I groggily turned my body, bone popping as I got myself in position, beside the sting and rough back massage I wasn't particularly injured. 

My ears sticking straight up above my head, I loudly growled, making the water vibrate, the surrounding kelps blown away by it, my vision starting to turn red from anger, bloodlust, and excitement. 

I glared at it as it slowly turned around to face me, its body as red as ever. Might have underestimated it a bit but not anymore.

Water shifted behind my flipper as I recklessly launched into the fray again, aiming at the same place. The wound between its eyes was bleeding blue blood. Not mine of course.

I didn't have the time to really comprehend what transpired when I was already brutally biting through the supple flesh of the wound on its forehead. the cephalopod began to violently thrash around in panic.

I bit deeper and deeper while its movement started to get more chaotic, and erratic. One tentacle managed to grab me, then the second but I didn't let go. I became even more ferocious.

The teeth on the suckers made an annoying sound of metal grinding against metal as they scraped on my scale, the sound was irritating me. 

Adrenaline and dopamine coursed through my body like the most potent of drugs.

Its skin continuously changed color, and the water turned pitch black when it expelled its ink in abandon. 

The clouds of ink blocked my vision and most of my other senses, it smelled incredibly sweet, essentially rendering me blind but alas it didn't stop me from tearing the cuttlefish apart, it's a nice seasoning thought.

Its whole body froze when one of my tusks was ultimately stabbed in its brain, easily penetrating through the cartilaginous capsule.

The cloud of ink slowly dispersed I could see its body has become as white as a sheet. Dead.

*ROAR!*, I roared as a surge of pride, satisfaction and, joy vibrate through my entire being at my victory.

It was animalistic, primal, completely inhuman, monstrous even, and sounded like a deep, furious, and long grumble followed by rapid and successive *clack* sounds.

I will also conveniently ignore that my roar is clearly juvenile in nature like a kitty mewling, as I'm still a pup.

'Wow! Right, I can do this... Never happened before this intensely And it feels all so natural and fucking good...', I thought borderline euphoric. It was just a show of superiority to my dead for, now food.

And one of the reasons cuttlefish is one of my favorite animals... is because they are delicious, hope this one is the same.

'Time to stuff myself as much as possible!'