Just like before, Dick's peace did not last long. He awoke inside a strange place. The space around him contracted like a living room made of muscle. Every breath came with a hiss of acid eating through his cloak. The floor wasn't solid; it shifted beneath him, wet and unstable. Steam rose off the surface, carrying the scent of rot and iron.
Each contraction of the walls pushed him lower, pressing him against the viscous pool. He couldn't tell where the monster ended and the liquid began.
"So this is hell's waiting room," he muttered, eyes narrowing.
There was no light in the stomach, nor was there enough space to stand upright. So unable to die, and unwilling to stay in a disgusting place, Dick sat in the strange acid, cross-legged.
His thoughts churned, scrambling for any flicker of inspiration.
I don't see how this improved body, or its instincts, can get me out of here. That leaves only one option.
The tranquil stillness of deep water, the rage of a river, the quiet patience of a lake. It wasn't just around him anymore. It was in him. The Particles that now composed his body… were water.
His eyes snapped open, and he thrust out his hand.
"I'll blow a hole right through you!"
A roaring stream exploded from his palm, spiraling tightly like a living drill. It slammed into the fleshy wall with tremendous force, but the stomach contracted, muscles tightening, and the pressurized jet buckled.
The water reversed violently, smashing into his chest and driving the air from his lungs. He hit the slick wall hard, pain blooming across his ribs as the water crashed around him.
He wheezed, sliding down the shifting surface, soaked and gasping for breath.
"Okay…" he muttered, coughing up a mix of acid and water. "Maybe… not like that."
Clutching his pounding head, Dick tried to think. Evalyn's voice echoed in his memory.
"You will start as a D-rank Deviant…"
He let out a weak laugh that dissolved into a cough, spitting out bitter water.
"If I'm D-rank," he rasped, "then this thing's gotta be a lot higher."
He sighed.
"Maybe this is it… my punishment. To wander the sea forever, trapped in a monster's gut."
The thought barely had time to settle before the fleshy walls around him shifted. A deep, guttural groan rumbled through the chamber as the stomach contracted, squeezing the air from his lungs. Then came a rush of motion. The creature had swallowed again.
Through the darkness, fresh seawater poured in, mixing with the acidic bile until it sloshed up to his knees. The temperature dropped, and he felt the surge of energy in the liquid, vibrating with the identical Particles that hummed within him.
His eyes widened.
The ocean itself was entering the creature… and so was his chance.
No. His jaw tightened. I must get out of here. I must find a way to die, it's what I deserve.
In that moment, Dick understood everything was made of Particles. The ocean, the air, even the Islands themselves. It's all connected. That was how he could sense the sea's depths so clearly—his water affinity linked him to it.
He pressed his palm against the slick inner wall of the creature's stomach, eyes closing as he focused. If everything's made of Particles… then I can move it.
He sensed the massive beast's mouth, the jagged maw that had swallowed him whole. Slowly, he reached out with his will. He tugged at the ocean beyond the creature, commanding the surrounding water to surge toward that mouth.
At first, nothing happened. Then he felt a trickle of water slipping through the monster's clenched jaws, dripping into the stomach around him. The level began to rise as cool seawater mixed with the burning acid.
His eyes shot open. It's working!
He tried to stand, excitement flaring in his chest, but his body wavered. A wave of dizziness hit him hard. The pressure behind his eyes throbbed painfully, and his knees gave out. The flow stopped instantly.
Clutching his head, he grimaced. He could feel the drain on his strength.
So that's it… I only have so many Particles. Use too much, and I burn out.
He slumped back against the wall, breath shallow, the acidic water lapping at his sides.
"Figures," he muttered bitterly.
Hours passed. One, maybe two. Time blurred in the suffocating dark, but eventually, the ache in Dick's body faded. He closed his eyes and reached inward, feeling for the energy that had returned.
The Particles weren't visible, but he could sense the tiny sparks of awareness beneath his skin, like stars scattered through his veins. He focused, counting each one as it flickered into his consciousness.
One thousand and thirteen.
That must be my baseline as a D-rank Deviant.
He still didn't fully understand what Particles were, or how to climb to a higher rank, but in this stinking pit of stomach acid and seawater, he'd had plenty of time to think. And now, as the creature's body shifted, he felt the massive jaws opening above to swallow something new.
A grim smile crept across his face.
"Finally…"
This time, he didn't hold back. He reached out, pouring every ounce of energy, every Particle, into the ocean beyond. He called to it, not gently, but like a storm demanding to be born.
The response was instant. A crushing wave of seawater roared through the beast's open maw, flooding into its gut with terrifying force. The stomach swelled, the walls stretching and shuddering under the pressure.
Dick was thrown under, tumbling in the violent current. His body screamed in protest as the weight of his own power crushed him from every side. His ribs cracked. His vision blurred white.
And then—
Bang.
The pressure peaked, and the stomach ruptured. Water, bone, and blood exploded outward in a single devastating burst.
Dick felt the tearing, the scattering, the moment his body came apart. Pain beyond comprehension, then silence. Then nothing.
For a long time, there was only darkness..
Slowly, awareness returned, not all at once, but in fragments. His heartbeat was first, his breath next, then the cold kiss of seawater against skin.
His eyes opened.
He was whole again.
Dick floated on the surface, gasping, his chest heaving as if he'd been drowning. His hands—intact, unmarked—trembled as he raised them before his face. It was as if nothing had happened.
But he remembered every second of being torn apart, and its agony.
He laughed a hollow, broken sound that dissolved into the wind.
"Of course," he whispered hoarsely. "Of course you'd bring me back."
The sea around him was painted red, littered with chunks of flesh and shattered bone. The air stank of salt and blood.
He turned his head and saw what remained of the creature. A massive, shark-like corpse torn apart from the inside out. His trembling hand went instinctively to his cloak pocket. The white orb still glowed there, warm against his palm as he pulled it free.
He stared at it for a long moment.
Then shoved it back where it came from.
"Well," he muttered aloud, voice hoarse, "might as well get out of here. Maybe the monsters'll prefer all this meat over me."
He scanned the horizon and froze.
Far to the north, breaking through the mist, was a vast island rising from the ocean like a promise. His shoulders sagged. His breath caught.
Relief.
At the island's heart stood a towering statue of Evalyn, her arms outstretched in welcome.
It wasn't one of the raiding islands. It was Elpis.
His new home.