Aquata Cove Ch. 85

Merrick whips around, and yells out as he then goes up, launching his harpoon at another monster about to eat Arnaav, before swoop, and tackling it down! Arnaav backflips through the water, stabbing into an eel with one knife, before piercing into its brain with the other blade.

Yunmaj the angelfish merman echoes an invasive sound to drive the eels away from, him, flapping his tail as he looks around in horror. "AAAAHH!" He screams out as an eel bites his arm! "NNNN!" With one chomp, the eel bites his arm right off! "NOOOOO!"

SNNN!

A blink of a dark blur, and the eel is sliced clean through. Yunmaj looks, and sees a large Navyn Tail merman rolling in the water to a slow, before he kicks forward, and cuts deeply through another eel in between throwing his trident at another.

"Do not stop moving!" He yells out, "Or the Nalcious will over take you!" Yunmaj cries in total shock, looking at the red wisps of what used to be his limb.

"My arm! My aarrrmmm!"

"Keep going!" Kaiken commanded before he snaps his body forth in another lightning-fast fell swoop.

Of course, Navyn Tails are known as one the speed-based variety of merfolk, but their asset lays in the sharpness of their arms and tails. With a weapon to attack an enemy, they can race with a burst of speed, and use the fins on their arms and tailfins as a sort of blade to whip and cut into targets. Even in one spot, they can whip and whirl their lean bodies for several swift dices.

Arnaav squeaks and growls with intense panic, partly regretting his decision to back Merrick up. His young mind laments dramatically as his body is getting tired, his adrenaline overtaking him as he tries to focus on the monsters that come at him alone. He whirls around, and jolts with shock as he sees a cocoon of circling eels around a young white mermaid, creating large blocks of ice, but doing very little to make any progress.

"Merrick! Over there!" Arnaav calls out. Merrick turns, and gasps as he sees Savarna, trapped in the endless barrage of eels.

"Sister!"

"You have to help her!" Arnaav yells, whipping back, and retreating a couple of feet. Merrick pants as he looks about, and spots Jegola the octopus mermaid nearby. She releases her ink as she fights back. She spots Arnaav, and propels right over to protect him. "Merrick, GO!" Arnaav squealed, narrowly dodging another eel at his leg.

"No..." Umiato utters as she looks upon her daughter. The eels have isolated her a fair distance from the pod, "She is panicking. She will exhaust herself!" Umiato takes an attempt to go to her, but these demons keep getting in her way. "Out of my SIGHT!" She lashes them with her shattering magic as she swims forward, but is still plagued by the horrific eels. "No, this cannot be! DAUGHTER!" She called out.

"Hhh Hhh Hhh, ULLHH!" Savarna freezes another eel, only to have two take its place! She cries as she grows weak and terrified, overwhelmed completely by the sheer number. "Help me... Mother! Fatherrrr!" She cries, her power sparking feebly around her arms, the eels glaring down at her malevolently as they come closer.

"EEEEEEERRRHHHHHYYYAA!"

A shrill noise divided the cage of eels as a bright blue flash whips in there. Savarna gasps and huffs with hope as 5 eels are slain in one hit! "Broh-Brother!!"

Merrick clenches his teeth as he bares his wrath on the eels, his weapon dancing to his body as he slashes with one of Brishen's dagger, gashes another with his spiked arm, and dispatching another beast with his spear.

"Sister! Stay close!"

'His eyes...' Savarna thought, seeing Merrick's aura flare and blaze with his energy, his eyes glimpsing his soul in full throttle as he battles away at the horde. 'He is not dead...' She weeps, 'He is not dead anymo-'

"AEH!" She screams, before freezing another eel solid.

"Sister, keep your energy small and wondering! Like Mother!"

"Yes!" She said, allowing the ice power to become like a swarm of homing arrows, immobilizing each eel it strikes. She looks to Merrick, struggling with the weapons. She closes her eyes, and channels some of her power to Merrick.

"What?" Merrick looks to his arms, his short fins on his forearms are extending into blades, as well as the edges of his tailfin.

"Ennhh..." Savarna tries to focus both on the eels, and the aid to Merrick's body, as he now becomes even more versatile in his combat. This is proving harder than she thought.

"Ennh! Gulhh!" Samudra grunts deeply as the many eels tackle and push onto his very hard shell, "It is no use... Gnnhhh!" He feels himself pinned to the sand by the multitude of eels trying to dig at his thick body, "I cannot call the Guardian... If Son does not wake up... Where is Merrick?? And the Triton of THIS pod, why has he not called their Guardian??"

Arnaav slashes and spins, turning his head to check Merrick and his sister. It's not looking good - Merrick is thinning out the numbers, while Savarna is freezing the others, but like with everyone else, the monsters just keep coming.

"They are in trouble!" Arnaav pants as he pushes up on the body of an eel, and stabbed into another one, patting his thick tail up.

CULLKK!

"AAAAAEEEHHHHH!" Arnaav screams at the top of his lungs, a huge eel suddenly sinking its fangs right into his stomach!

"HHH?!" Merrick looks with terror, seeing that little otter inside the eel's mouth, shaking him about, "ARNAAAAAAAAV!" Merrick jets forth, but his blocked by the eels. Another row of fangs bite onto his thorned arm, the eel irking and biting down. Merrick's sapphires lock down onto the eel on him. The reflection of those devil eyes flash several faces before his mind. Keith the homophobic guard. Static crashes inside his head as the eel bit harder, before it changed to Kaiser's images. Nigel sneers at him as the eel snarls at him. Then the judge who condemned Adam, and the two men who were pardoned and rewarded for their attempted murder!

"RrrrrrRRRAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!" Suddenly horns of ice shoots through the eel's eyes and gills, before Merrick turns into a blue twister, and turns the eel into ribbons!

'Fuck! Fuck! FUCK!!' Merrick ranted in his head, 'FUCK THIS GODDAMN WORLD!!'

"AAAHHHHH!!" The ice on Merrick's tail and arm fins turn into curved swords as Merrick's rampage turns into a flurry of carnage. Savarna gasps as she sees Merrick's aura burst into white fire, his soul burning with absolute fury! All she can see is sheer destruction inside her brother, holding her staff as she descends slowly down, watching and whipping around as he pierces though their cloud of blood and monsters.

'His anger...' Savarna thought with ear, 'It's distorting my power... It's almost yanking it out of my body.'

"Br... Brother..." Savarna said weakly.

"DO. NOT. STOP!!" Merrick shouted, his horrible rage striking fear into his little sister's heart. He looks so much like a demon...

"AHHHH! HLLGGG!" Arnaav screams as his vision completely blurs in his delirium, shrieking nonstop as the eel opens its mouth, and plunges deeper! "AAAHAAAHHHHHHOOOOO!!"

GLK! CRK!

The eel suddenly stops moving, but instead is quivering.

"Urrrrrggghhhh!!" Sounds a deep voice while Arnaav squirms wildly as he oozes blood everywhere, gagging and crying as a pair of large hands pry the eel's jaws open. The eel wiggles violently as the hands forced its mouth open, a keen cracking sound being heard, "HHHHRRRHHH!" Kaiken forces those jaws to open, and then breaks the eel's jaw entirely in one harsh crackle.

"Oh no! NO!" Brishen sees the floating otter twitching before the Triton, before he jets up, and takes him. "Stay with me! Stay with me, Amnien!" Kaiken looks with shock at the young otter, the poor thing gagging and choking on his own blood, his arm reaching and ragging beside him trying to point to the horde Merrick has.

Kaiken gasped and slain the next few eels to come their way, shielding Brishen and Arnaav from several more, looking back at the suffering otter, and at the symbol on his chest. "That is..." That's the same little otter he bellowed at... All those years ago... A Coshiton so young, and he treated him like an evil deviant. And now here he is... He's still so small...

"No! Stay with me! Hold on, please!" Brishen begged as Arnaav continues to jerk and gurgle. Brishen's eyes immediately spots a lionfish mermaid, and another one with a more bluish color and thick armored arms, both of them letting off light to fend off the eels.

"THERE!" He jets forward to those mermaids, dipping and dodging the eels, Arnaav's blood leaving a trail, but is diluted with all the other blood, causing a few of the eels to start attacking each other.

"HELP! I NEED HELP!" Brishen yells as he goes to the younger mermaid.

Nerissa turns, and gasps in completely shock as she sees Arnaav twitching and writing in the green Navyn's arms, "Arnaav!!"

"Please, save him!" Brishen pleaded, almost falling into tears with each heartbreaking gag the boy makes, "He is too young! Please!"

"I have him!" Nerissa exclaims as both of her arms becomes consumed in light, and she takes Arnaav, and dives down. Arnaav gasps as his adrenaline keeps him awake through this ordeal.

Merrick rips into one eel, then another, and then three more, shouting wildly as he mauls and disembowels the eels after that.

Savarna looks with terror as she sees the ice and blue beast before her. She shakes in fear as Merrick races in circles, giving random strikes in every direction, wasting nothing in his movements, his eyes... The sapphires aren't there. His eyes hold nothing but primal rage. Her hand covers her mouth while her staff shakes in the other, her connection to the ice on his body becoming unstable.

'Brother.' She wept, watching Merrick slaughter creature after creature, 'This is not my Brother.'

"I have had enough of this!" Umiato says as she gives one final whirl of her body, sending another twin waves of glittering diamond dust, freezing and instantly shattering any and all nearby eels. Her thumbs, index and pinky fingers meet while her middle and ring knuckles curl against each other.

"This is MY will now." She said, her veil fins shimmer and glow like an aurora borealis, "I will not fight. No more. My soul will take the weak, and let them hurt no more!" She closes her eyes, and opens them up to show they are bursting with light. Orbs of light shoot and spiral away from her body, leaving trails of beautiful, curling lines that race and dance through the water like elegant surges of white lightning.

Yunmaj pants as he struggles to swim, trying to reach Ebba and the others, terribly unbalanced due to his missing arm, swiping desperately to pull himself away, before an eel comes right beside him! "NAHHH!"

~Snnngghhh~

"AH!" Yunmaj flinches and squirms, suddenly finding himself surrounded in a sphere of graceful curls, solidifying into a thin crystal cage. Several eels attack Yunmaj's sphere, only having bits of their teeth breaking here and there.

A dark blue Navyn Tail pants as she takes another mermaid by the hand, trying to keep their heads low from the bristling horde, a few rabid glares of red eyes, and a rush of orange dots, and they scream, before they are blind-sighted by a rush of cold light. The mermaids gasp as they find themselves encased by a sparkling ice cage.

"Nnnhhh..." Samudra grunts. At least 20 eels are digging into his shell now. He clenches his eyes, feeling his own armored body about to break. "So... This is... Where... Hhh?!" He feels a very keen chill run under his body. The sheer cold slithers and race around his body, before he is blinded by a flash of light, and he suddenly feels so much lighter. He gasps as he looks up, seeing himself in a dome of elegant ice. "This ice... The style..." He says, putting his rock-like fingers to the beautiful spirals of the growing ice, "This is just like when Merrick..." His memories go way back to several years ago, when Merrick and Arnaav were trapped on the Sazae Graveyard, and all they found was a tower of ice sculpted in angelic curves. He turns around, and sees the Arctic Veil mermaid above the horde, lines and bursts of light coming from her body, "Is she his Mother, the Noita??" He asked in amazement.

Umiato's light shines as more bolts of ice shoot from her, locating the most wounded first, encasing her members as well as the Coshitons in a protective sphere of ice. The orbs rush themselves through the fray, instantly tracking down those who have lost blood and energy. An eel flies up behind her, opening its fangs before it dives upon her.

"Worthless..." She hissed. Just when the eel's teeth grazed her delicate, pearly flesh, it was immediately sent asunder by a protective cage of her own!

"If we cannot slay them all... I will protect every single one of us!" Umiato says as another sphere of light flies to the group of non-combatants, and exploded into a magnificently carved dome of ornate crystal, while the Capricorns still circle around them.

"I will hold them all in my light until these wretched monsters devour themselves..." Umiato said angrily as glowing, curving frost started to connect the spheres, like a large, white tree spiraling up to her, "I will protect us for an entire moon if that is what it takes!"

Arnaav breathes and whimpers out loud as his arms secure around Nerissa as she tries to take him to a safe point within this battle, unable to immediately find the protective circle of her allies, all the while panting as her vision blurs.

Finally, the Coshiton Adra finds a rock that is away from the school of ravenous eels, where she places him down, panting loudly, "You... You are safe... Hhh... Hhh..." Having using so much offensive power, AND a huge surge of healing took a major toll on her overall.

"Hhh!! A-Adra Neri-Nerissa!" Arnaav coughs violently, trying to hold his arm out, "Look out!"

"Hhh?!" Nerissa looks, and barely has enough time to hold her plated forearms up with a small shield of yellow and bronze spikes before an eel descended upon her!

"Noooo!" Arnaav squeals as he holds his little arm towards her, before clutching onto the rock, and coughing horribly.

"Ghh! Hhhh... Hhhh..." Kaiken pants, looking at the everrising tide of eels coming from the depths, as if infinity truly is their current number. They just keep coming! They won't stop! And all of them have a ravenous hunger that can never be sated. He looked deep inside himself, his throat growling weakly, before he too chocked a little.

"I... I do not have the strength..." He muttered weakly, 'I have been fighting and signaling for too long... I do not have the strength to call the Guardian...'

He kicks his tail up, and strikes down several eels at once, whipping his tail, and cutting down deep into another one. "Son..." He said under his breath, now choosing evasive tactics to conserve what energy he has left, to last as long as he can, 'It is up to you... Hurry and call the Guardian..."

"RAHHH! HAAHH! GHHH!" Merrick's berserk rage continues to blaze inside him as he tears through one eel after another, not able to stop as much as they seem to dwindle in numbers.

Savarna hyperventilates as channeling her power to Merrick's limbs AND fending off the incoming eels prove to be too much. "HhhHHhHHHHHhhhhHH, g-aahhh!" Suddenly her link to Merrick breaks, and suddenly, the jagged and smoothly pointed ice blades on Merrick's tail and arms shatter into shards.

"What?!" He looks upon himself, before swiping his harpoon to fend off several eels away.

"I am sorry Brother, I am sorry!" Savarna says in complete hysteria, "I cannot go on! I-I-I-I-"

"Sister!" Merrick whips himself over to her, and stabs into an eel before it can touch her. Merrick looks up to the storm of monsters, holding his weapon at the ready, before cycling around her, his mind spinning several miles a minute, and unable to focus on anything else.

"Nhnnn!" Umiato flinches as her brain feels a sudden strain pushed into her brain, and pulls inside of her body, "No... No! I must hold them!" The elegant ice cages waver as the branches of her power weaken as the eels bite and chomp on her solid magic, "It is too much! I cannot..." She closes her eyes as she tries to focus.

"Hhh?!" Noita Vanora sees the blinking ice around her, her eyes following up to their source, and perceives a struggling white mermaid above the entire horde. "She needs help." She said, before whirling around, and dipping down. The lionfish mermaid swims forth, and finds a strong, solid block of frost. With a glowing hand, Vanora slammed down upon it! She grunts and winces and screams for a brief moment, as does Umiato, who feels a very strange shock buzz madly inside her!

In a flash of a moment, glowing yellow and black spikes of light shoot from every bit of the outside ice! The sharp protrusions sting and stun many of the eels, before Vanora's hand is thrown right off of the ice, and the spikes disappear.

"Nnnhhh! Come now..." Umiato winces as the orbs get significantly slower, reaching one member after another, connecting to each other, and holding up against the force of those jaws, "There are too many..." She clutches onto her head as she pushes the very task to the front of her forehead. The gnawing and chomping of the eels is like a separate headache that hits into her mind, hammering, ripping, tackling her psyche as she tries to hold them back.

"Hh?!" Several exhausted hunters look with fear as bits of ice break from their crystalline cage as the eels gnaw and group against them, "No! Noita Umiato, please hold on!"

Vanora pants harshly as her sharp missiles grow fewer and weak, one of them being crunched into dust by an adult Nalcious. She grunts as she channels her energy into her many long spines in a last-resort effort just to keep them off of her back.

Nerissa is backed into a collection of rocks, holding up her own net-like wall of poisonous spines to shield herself from the bashing creatures.

Merrick shouts as he fights back at the eels, the attacks getting less frequent, but the number still climbing and him and his sister. "This... This is not going to end..." He said. For the moment the eels stop attacking them, instead completely blocking his light of sight in another cocoon of cycling eels, all of them leering at him with malicious gluttony, like a flock of carnivorous vultures gloating over the battle's outcome.

'Here I am... Once again...' Merrick thought, time slowing down again, 'I don't know why I cam back to the ocean... As Father said, maybe to run away? I just wanted to forget what happened. I wanted to leave behind those memories... I suppose I did want to die...'

Savarna cries behind Merrick as she buries her face into his back.

'And now, now that I am facing the end of this life, now all I want is to hold out longer, so that I may find some other answer, how or what should I do... Maybe even go back to the land, and see if Adam can remember me if I come see him everyday... Maybe he'll remember me again...?'

Merrick bows his head, his weapon pointing downward.

'But now... I will never have that chance... I failed as a Triton, I abandoned the man I love, and I cannot even make any true difference in protecting the ones I hold dear... I gave into the darkness, and this is my penalty. Even when I allowed my anger to turn me into a monster, I am still no longer able to fight anymore...'

The eels sneer at the two merfolk, the sobbing of the mermaid whetting their appetite, while the silence of the merman satisfies their lure to circle closer.

'Adam...' For a moment, Merrick remembers a few days ago, when he held Adam's hand. That man looked right into Merrick's eyes and... He smiled. He smiled right at him, and held his hand tighter.

Merrick's mouth gave a small smile itself as his eyes gave a slip of glittering mist. "Adam. I love you."