Just Mimicking, Just Masquerading.

Vincent opened his eyes, he found himself hovering back above the crimson sea. A hexagonal blue object was revolving in front of him. A flash of blinding light shimmered down from it as it ascended the heavens.

The sky shattered and cracked open. A pillar of light cascaded down through the fissure, forming a bridge connecting to the vault of the heavens. Clouds fell in through the scar stretched across the skies, leaving behind only the lonely stars lamenting among the canvas of the firmament.

Below, the seawater boiled and formed whirlpools that rose into tiny droplets and convened towards the hexagonal object.

The water moulded and took the shape of limbs.

Took the shape of fingers.

And finally took the shape of a head.

And thus it appeared.

A humanoid entity encased with water, with a hexagonal object embedded in its chest. Two large holes in the place of eyes resembling smouldering blue moons. Its visage was devoid of emotions, passions, sentiments or sensations as it had neither mouth, ears or nose.

Just a blank cold facade of a feeling.

Just mimicking.

Just masquerading.

The entity of water floated down and stood still among the roaring waves that haunted the dark night. It clasped its head and looked to its right; whirlpools formed underneath on its line of sight. It then looked down; the water that sculpted its body evaporated and turned into mist before being reformed again.

Then it turned its head to its left; its eyes flared up in blue flames as it saw Selena.

"What is happeni--" she blurted out; her body convulsed as golden lightning leaked out of her body.

The entity roared in a thundering voice; the sea below split into two as it rose back up into the air and rushed at Selena.

Bam! Something rammed into it and flung it out of the way. It was Vincent. He pierced an arm inside its chest and clasped the hexagonal object floating within. The entity turned its faceless head towards him but did nothing to stop his motion.

Rip! The figure of water crumbled as he uprooted the object from inside its chest.

Boom! Black markings pierced out from its surface and shredded all the muscles around his left arm.

Vincent tossed the object away and raised what remained of his left arm.

Black markings squirmed around, which encompassed the entirety of his now crystalline skeletal arm. Violet tendrils stretched out from the rest of his body, but they soon vapourised as they touched upon the black markings. His eyes flashed again with symbols; a nexus projected out and barraged into his left arm.

Creak! Creak! Creak! Faint illusory chains coiled around his left arm, sealing off the black markings from invading into the rest of his body. More violet tendrils burrowed out of his body and slithered across his skeletal left arm, but they still melted away along with the newly formed flesh.

"Vincent!" the familiar voice of Selena chimed in his ears.

Something flashed at the corner of his eyes and shot towards him; he moved his right arm.

Swoosh! Clink! His right hand now held a blade, the blade name 'The Rusted Ice'.

Aether rippled out of his arm and crawled along the surface of the blade. The runes etched upon its surface were enkindled until the entire sword was encased in flames forged from ice.

Vincent felt a gaze land upon him; he looked up and saw the hexagonal object hovering above. Water swirled around it like whirlpools, forming a torso, forming legs, forming arms and finally forming a head. It looked down at him with its cold and smouldering eyes; a sneer could be felt on it even though it was absent from any facial features.

Vincent narrowed his eyes, unfurled his skeletal wings and shot up into the air.

Swoosh! Its entire left arm was turned to ice as he pieced his blade inside with a twist. Pulling out his sword, he flipped it over and bashed the frozen arm with the pommel.

Crack! Its shoulder was dislodged and shattered into shards of ice.

"Now we are even," Vincent said with a faint smile.

The entity tilted its head; water floated up from the sea and attached into the stump on its shoulder, growing an entirely new arm.

"Let's find your limits then," Vincent said with raised brows.

Crack! He pierced the blade into its torso, shattering it in half.

Crack! He pierced into its legs.

Crack! Crack! He pierced through its forehead.

Crack! Crack! Crack! He circled its figure, stabbed and shattered new arms and legs that manifested themselves one after another without end.

Until the entity latched into his body.

And, it exploded.

BOOM! Vincent's figure was torn to shreds.

His skin was flayed.

His flesh vapourised.

His arms were obliterated.

Everything below his waist was blasted into oblivion, leaving behind only a crystalline skull still attached to a spinal cord.

"Vincent!!!!!!!!"

"Noooooooooooo!!!"

"PAPA!!!!!!"

Cries of distress could be heard, grieving in the moonless night.

The entity grabbed what remained of Vincent by the neck and lifted him up; black markings flooded out from the hexagonal object and enwrapped his entire figure. They crawled around his eye sockets, crawled around his spine and finally crept towards the black pulsating sphere suspended inside his chest cavity.

Thudder! Thudder! Thudder!

An eerie voice crackled out of the crystalline skull, "I summon thee blood tide!"

Crack! The heavens drilled open; an immense tunnel connecting to the void formed over their heads. Blood streamed out from the inside, drowning them in crimson while illusory chains bound the two of them.

A head that stretched the cosmos peeked out of the void in the sky. Planets and stars floated within its four starry eyes; its four horns held the very fabric of the universe itself. It split open its mouth and swallowed them whole.

Boom! Then the colossal head exploded. The sea and the skies switched places as the world was torn asunder.

The skeletal figure of Vincent plummeted down from the skies; tentacles sprouted from the black pulsating sphere as he slithered across the water. Ramming into the head of the Merfolk king, he gazed at Selena with his hollowed eyes and growled, "Ge...t ...insi...de."

He wrapped his tentacles around all of them and shoved them inside the opening made on the forehead of the Merfolk king.

The entity of water finally collapsed; the blue hexagonal object inside its chest cracked open.

Boom! The world shook again; Vincent was flung back into the air as a tempest of pure aether formed above the seas. Dead bodies, the carcass of the Merfolk King, along with the wreckage of the ship, floated up and revolved inside the tempest.

"Please…. help!" a feeble voice crept into Vincent's ears while he was tumbling about in the air.

He turned around and saw Faviana inches away from being engulfed inside the eye of the storm. A swarm of tentacles grabbed her by the waist and pulled her out.

The hexagonal object turned into a bright flash of light and shot past the skyline, carrying the seething tempest along with its trail of destruction.