Chapter Twenty One: Foes

It's as if everything went slow motion when the lightning was about to strike Poseidon but in an instant he was able to shield himself and Meria.

He knew that the power left in him cannot fight Lemery any longer. He winced in pain and saw his arm bleeding.

Meria's eyes widen in shock. "Father, your arm."

Poseidon said nothing and look back to the woman before them.

"Where did your strength go, brother?" Lemery mocked him

Poseidon remained silent. Meria, on the other hand; knows that her father can no longer win the fight against Lemery alone. She needs to do something. She needs to fight. She has to.

"Any last words, brother?" Lemery said smirking

Meria's body has been feeling the power that her father passed to her. She can feel it in her veins.

"Try to forgive our father." Poseidon said that angered Lemery more.

"Easy for you to say because you didn't suffer what I've been through." She said with grit "Time to say goodbye for good and meet our father in hell. How does that idea appeal to you?"

Lemery was about to strike again when an arrow was shot straight to her head. Blood started dripping down her forehead and her mouth before she sank into the water.

Eyes widen in shock, Meria couldn't utter a word. Their heads turn towards the direction that the arrow came from.

From the rocks stood a woman holding a bow. Her hair is blown by the wind but they can't see her face. She pulled another arrow and pointed it on Poseidon's direction.

Before the arrow could hit him, Meria was able to throw it with the waves. She look back to the lady.

"Who are you?" Meria asked

She doesn't know if she's a friend of a foe. She killed Lemery but she's also trying to kill Poseidon.

"Step into the light and show yourself." Poseidon commanded

A low chuckle was the only thing they heard from her, then she started climbing down the rocks with ease.

"What was that ugly mermaid thinking?" She said as if she was about to laugh at the idea "No one can kill you but me..."

The moment she step into the light, shock covered Meria.

There stood an innocent looking teenage girl, wearing an armour and smirking down at her.

Meria was frozen on the spot.

"Susan" Meria muttered looking straight at the girl she once empathised with.

***

Yula ran after Joseph and caught up with him.

"No." Yula stopped Joseph. "Please stay here."

Joseph rip her hand from his arm. "I will not stay here and watch her fight alone."

"Joseph, you don't know who she is facing. Those are monsters. Humans cannot stand a chance."

"I don't care!"

"Don't be stupid!" Yula shouted in frustration "You will just set yourself up for death out there."

Joseph looked at her.

"Listen to me. Meria doesn't need a liability right now. She's the queen of Oceana now and I know she can defeat her." Yula said, "You have to live if you want to see her alive. You cannot protect her if you're dead."

"But I don't want to stay here and do nothing to help her."

"You're helping her by staying alive..."

***

Susan smiled wickedly at Meria, "You're difficult to kill, you know that?"

"I thought...."

"You thought what? That I'm a friend? Am I that great of an actress?" Susan chuckled while advancing towards them. When she stopped at the edge of the water, she pulled another arrow and point it at Poseidon. Without second thoughts, she shot him that he nudged.

Meria turned to her father, "You need to get away from here."

Poseidon don't have the energy he had before and he gets weaker every single minute. Anger started to rise from Meria in seeing her father's state. With the waves she built a bubble around her father to carry him back to Oceana.

"I don't want to hurt you, Susan." Meria said turning to Susan "Do not take another step..."

"or what princess?" Susan asked with a raised eyebrow

Meria didn't answered. She remembered that Susan is immortal. She had lived a thousand years and fought hundreds of people.

But that wouldn't stop Meria from fighting her.

Meria is in her mermaid form while Susan is in human form. Even if she kills Susan, she will be alive again.

"Remember the face of the girl who poisoned you inside the airplane?" Susan asked then her faced turned to someone else's

"It's you..." Meria recognised the face of the woman who gave her the food. Anger that has builded up inside her started heating.

"Yes." she answered before her face changed back to the 14 year old looking girl.

"Why are you doing this?" Meria asked on gritted teeth

"You see, my father is a fisherman. And if not because of all those fucking mermaids singing bloody songs and luring him, he should have been with me. He's the only person I had and you took him from me."

Meria couldn't understand what Susan is saying.

"He was took by mermaids and turn him into one of you." Susan said with hatred

"We don't take human and turn them into one of us unless they wanted to." Meria defended her people

Susan let out another bitter laugh, "I don't care what you do anymore. There's nothing else you can do to save your ocean anyway. You're going to die with it."

"You..." Meria couldn't hold her anger anymore. "You are the one who poisoned the ocean!"

"So what if I did?" Susan mocked her

Meria can feel her whole body shake with anger. Her breathing started being heavy. Her teeth gritted in rage.

She closed her eyes and felt the energy radiating from her inside. Palms closed, the force she's feeling is starting to give her power.

Waves started crashing the coastal rocks, whirlwind forming above the waters, lightning started striking, and rolls thunders followed. The world is darker that ever and the only light that they have is the flash of lightning and the moon.

Meria was lifted in the air and was covered by light and fog that made Susan squint for a second. When she opened her eyes, Meria is already walking on water with bare feet, a trident in her hand and a crown on her head.

She opened her eyes and stared directly to Susan who released an arrow to her direction. A flash of lightning break the arrow in pieces.

"You poisoned the Oceana for something you're not even sure of..." she said taking steps towards Susan who continued shooting arrows while lightning continued crashing it to pieces.

"I won't let my people suffer for something they didn't do..."

When Susan ran out of arrows, Meria stopped infront of her.

Eyes met. Brown to blue.

"Kill me now but you can never save Oceana..." Susan said confidently

"That's where you're wrong because I can..." she said "and I will... with or without your help."

Meria raised her trident and was about to strike Susan when Yula gets in her way.

"No!" Yula cried, "Please, my queen..." she pleaded on her knees.

"Yula..."

"It was me." Yula said "I was the one who lured her father to the depths. I was the reason he didn't came back to land." she explained in tears

They know that what she did was forbidden but before Yula can continue, blood dripped from her mouth. She fell to the water and behind her stood Susan while holding a dagger covered with blood.

"Yula..." Meria whispered her name before turning to Susan and shouting in anger. The sea rose, lightning flashed, and thunders rolled the heavens.

She lifted up her trident as it catches the lightning, but her hand held it firmly.

"By the power of the sea and the gods given to me, I am Meria, the Queen of Oceana and protector of the sea, sentence you to live your immortality as the lowest of the low and whoever kills you will carry the sentence on his shoulders."

Susan smirked and pulled another arrow and before the lightning strike her, she was able to release it towards Meria.

"Nooooo..." a voice shouted nearby