Saeyo, whose eyes had not once strayed from the whole spectacle, was still fixed on the scene, but he himself realised just how horrific and treacherous they all could be.
The boy who had bombarded Aquaixos with blows, and was thus the first to come to his senses, was, at that very moment, the first to whose existence in this world came to an abrupt end.
The sickening smell of the blood beside them found its way into the air.
The Aziyakia swung the crowbar through the air a few times before holding its tip just in front of Aquaixos's nose, laughing like a lunatic:
"And yes, brother. I do think I'm better than him when it comes to deciding the fate of a living creature. And no, brother… I don't regard him as a living being.
With that, he took the crowbar and hurled it with all his might, as far as he could, into the sea. At first, his brothers were horrified by his murder of their brother, but they immediately understood his reason for the act, and their fear vanished instantly, even though deep down within them, confusion continued to dwell.
The tempestuous clouds gathered once more above them, and the rain grew increasingly heavier. It battered down upon the world and dripped onto the patch where the Aziyakia's blood had ceased to flow out of his head, and the blood of Aquaixos on his face was almost completely washed away. His already soaked clothes absorbed the water yet again.
The three remaining Aziyakia all spoke at the same moment:
"It's you! Am I not right?"
"You monster! We will take our revenge!"
"The sea monsters will swallow you whole!"
As soon as they had spoken, two of them surrounded Aquaixos on either side and lifted him up together. It was not difficult for them, as he had long accepted his fate anyway.
But in the end, he decided to shake off their hands, as he was truly disgusted by them. After he kicked out at the man who was holding his legs, the other Aziyakia found it difficult to support his entire weight on his own, and the floor struck painfully against his arms, which were still bound, after he had been thrown down by him.
To avoid experiencing the horror of being touched by these Aziyakia creatures once again, he said without a moment's hesitation:
"Wait! Please! You don't need to carry me. I'll walk myself."
The three of them outnumbered him. Therefore, any attempt to make a run for it would fail either way, even if his hands hadn't been bound with wire rope. But Aquaixos was well aware of this, even though, despite his determination to die, he still felt a twinge of despair.
They were well aware of this, and so they granted his request to stand up. Nevertheless, Aquaixos allowed himself as much time as he needed. This prompted one of them to shout at him:
"We're running out of time. Hurry up!"
Aquaixos paid no attention to his words and did not quicken his pace. If he was to die, then he would do so in peace.
The Aziykia, who was the only one not to have lifted him up earlier and had merely watched as his friends dealt with him, pointed ahead with his hand, and that gesture alone made it clear that he meant Aquaixos should go ahead.
He slowed down just before reaching the cliff's edge. The mere thought of standing there sent a shiver running down his spine, and Saeyo and Bob, who would normally have looked away, couldn't prevent themselves continuing with their unbroken gaze.
The depths called him down, yet he did not immediately try to fulfill this invitation. The remaining moments of his life were drawing to a conclusion. In the past, he would have destroyed everything before he even found himself in this situation, but he was no longer the Aqauixos of days gone by. The span of his life had been long enough. He accepted the end as appropriate, and saw no reason to reject it.
An Aziyakia halted beside him, but far enough away not to be thrown down by Aqauixos, whilst the other two remained positioned behind him to keep the situation under their control. The boy reached into his kimono and retrieved a glowing medallion.
He raised it with his right arm, and mysterious waves radiated out from its surface and spread in all directions.
And the moment those waves ceased to move...
The waters swelled even higher than before, and out of the depths of the sea a gigantic figure rose. At first, only part of its body emerged, but with every passing breath, its immense size became clearer, and almost immediately afterwards, smaller creatures joined it on the surface.
The most enormous of these creatures was a serpent-like beast. It had a dark body covered in glittering scales that seemed completely impenetrable. Even the largest warships would look like tiny fishes swimming around a megalodon, merely waiting for the beast to finally devour them.
The uppermost part of the creature, where its head was supposed to be, was, however, merely the Leviathan's maw, and there was no head to speak of.
As its enormous maw opened to let out a roar, which could bring destruction to entire parts of the world, one could see other sea creatures impaled on the monster's teeth, and all those dead beings were more terrifying than anything Saeyo had ever dared to imagine.
Beside them swam gigantic pufferfish, changing size with every breath they took. Their leathery skin, covered in spines, reflected the Red Sea. Yet where their eyes ought to have been, there were none to be found. Instead, there were rows of teeth, sticking out in numerous directions.
As the Leviathan approached the cliff, the hundreds of pufferfish followed it right away. When Saeyo saw this, a smile suddenly appeared on his face. He wasn't happy about the gruesome scene unfolding before him, though. Instead he was simply smiling at a thought that had crossed his mind. A quote spoken by the protagonist of one of Saeyo's favourite series. This thought took him completely by surprise.
'If the king does not move, his subjects will not follow.'
The Leviathan was the king on the chessboard and the pawns were the pufferfish. That nostalgic thought alone had the power to make him feel sentimental. He had completely forgotten that these masterpieces, written by human hands, still existed.
How quickly time had passed. One day he was sitting on his couch, looking at his smartphone, enjoying his time without a care in the world about the future, and by the very next day the world had descended into utter chaos.
Saeyo, who found himself beneath the clouds despite being able to observe their movements from above, noticed how they grew darker and darker as time went on, and how the intensity of the stormy downpour increased markedly.
The lightning bolts, whose sole purpose was to crash down upon the world, struck all over the sea. The Leviathan opened its jaws wide, and as it tilted its open mouth upwards, water ran down its neck like blood. The lightning bolts, whose strikes had previously been scattered across the entire sea, all changed their course, so that one after another they were now aimed at the sharp teeth of the mighty creature.
As the moment began when the last tooth turned blue, the colour broke away from the teeth and gathered in the air. Very quickly, the colour formed an almost breathing round sphere, inside of it all the lightning bolts were flying around wildly.
The Aziyakias all exchanged bewildered glances, and the most senior among them was the first to break the silence:
"Was that supposed to happen? I thought we'd only planned that…"
The other Aziykias listened carefully until he had finished speaking and turned their attention to the vibrating sphere.
Everything seemed to be going well for them. But then...
In the blink of an eye, an enormous beam shot out of the sphere, striking the cliff face.
Cracks spread out in every direction. And before they even had a chance to turn round and make a run for it, the cliff collapsed. Parts of the cliff face fell into the waves, and in the next instant, Aquaixos and the remaining Aziyakias were caught up in a deep fall.
Saeyo and Bob's thoughts were interrupted immediately afterwards:
"I alone am to blame for being trapped here and now... In this... In this wretched crystal! It's all caused by this damned curse!"
The falling Aziyakias roared like wild animals as they plummeted down, consumed by sheer terror. But Aquaixos… He remained completely calm. His instincts took over and, despite the barrier imposed upon him, he somehow managed to do the impossible. Beneath his feet, white smoke produced, which formed a small cloud upon which he could stand and move freely through the air.
The cloud gave him the ability to glide through the air without even thinking about plummeting into the abyss. It was the perfect opportunity to make a retreat and save himself. Nevertheless, he flew at tremendous speed to each and everyone of his classmates and picked them up.
Those who, mere seconds earlier, had been ready to sacrifice him to the sea monsters were saved by him, the very one they hated so much, from suffering the fate that had been bestowed upon them.
The Leviathan was not at all pleased with this turn of events, and its body shot up from the depths into the air, hoping to prevent its prey from escaping.
And as if that weren't bad enough...
Everyone around him had no choice but to endure his awful breath.
From the spot where the Leviathan leapt into the air, huge waves crashed down upon the pufferfish as it burst through the surface of the water, and all its servants sank back into the blood-stained depths.
If one could even speak of subordinates. After all, they only follow him because they know he is the most powerful among them. In this world… No. In every world, the law of the strongest prevails; and the fact that some follow him does not mean that no one has ever turned against him. All the deep scars on his body and the entangled behemoths within his jaw were proof enough of that.
Now that they were so close, Aqauixos realised what kind of beast they were up against. The crooked teeth, on which the devoured sea monsters had been impaled, were all so large that they far exceeded even his greatest expectations.
For a brief moment, he hung in the air. His soulless face gazed at its prey, which had escaped, before gravity pulled him back to where he had originally come from.
Saeyo did not understand his decision:
"Why…? Why did you save them?"
Aquaixos paused for barely a moment before clarifying:
"Because my father would have done the same."
He was silent for a moment, but then added:
"Now that I think about it, it would probably have been better to let them die."
He had saved her life even though they had been on the verge of killing him. But there was no going back on that decision anymore.
The saviour of the Aziyakias carried them to a safe spot on the cliff and set them down. They rolled a few metres before coming to a halt. Immediately, they all got to their feet and looked up at their saviour.
Aquaixos stood on the cloud and heard one of them whisper:
"Let's get away from this thing fast."
It didn't even cross their minds to say thank you. They ran away from him straight away. Even though he'd saved them, their opinion of him had only got worse. Now they even thought of him as an even worse nightmare.
The last thing Aquaixos had seen of them were their trembling bodies and faces filled with fear.
The surroundings were crumbling once again.
Saeyo noticed the puzzled expression on Aquaixos's face. Even someone like him, who was said to have lived for so long, could not comprehend the thoughts of others.
Just as Saeyo had expected, the silence was broken by the glowing crystal.
"As I was on the verge of death, the last spark of my shattered soul was restored, triggering a resolve within me. I must survive at all costs… That is the very least I must do to redeem myself from this fate."
But in the very next moment, Saeyo realised that something was very wrong; and the darkness in which they had previously been shrouded following had now vanished.
'Not good…'