It was like an explosion had gone off in this relatively shallow section of the ocean. Flares of telekinetic purple mixed with the white of churned water while Henry and his manifested Octominds poured all of their focus into locking down the wiry, pale-yellow Stinglance. Henry and Maurice were ready to attack, having channeled a decent chunk of their own mana into a desperate, reckless attempt at bringing the creature down, and for all of their effort, Henry could almost taste the sneer the seahorse was feeling at their attempt.

  It was a powerful specimen. It was fast. Powerful. And it stood in its own domain. Why would it need to fear these two upstarts that were about to become its lunch?

  The seahorse’s arrogance only made what followed more enjoyable. Henry had the pleasure of sensing its smugness dissolve away when it found itself unable to break free from his grasp, just as one of Henry’s arms crept towards it while Maurice’s Domain activated right atop its head.

  The Skills activated all at once, and everything around shuddered. Lightning Discharge burned through Henry’s arm and flew out of his limb, illuminating the sea for a fraction of a second with white flare as it sought out the closest target on which it could unleash all that pent-up energy. Water sizzled and boiled, and what remained of Henry’s arm was then shredded and torn as Maurice’s own Imploding Bubble detonated, sucking in the blood, algae, water, and even the light of day into its inky blackness.

  Henry’s Telekinesis was, of course, torn asunder and his Octominds reeled from the backlash. But he had sensed it. It wasn’t just his and Maurice’s attacks that had broken his Skill, and as the blood and disturbed water cleared, he saw it, wafting off the form of the Stinglance like a corona of purple, ominous flames that were growing brighter by the second.

  The Stinglance had more in its back pocket for them to deal with.

  “[Shit. Second form. Plan failed. We run,]” Henry tersely sent.

  “[Second what?]”

  Rarely did his senses scream at him like they were doing now, and he knew this wasn’t aura or a fear effect. That purple magic was bad news, and through his mana sight, he could see it literally eat at the surrounding mana.

  Then a little bit of greed slipped through the weariness. Was that a venom?

  Henry cursed, shoving aside the distracting thought and began hopping away in short teleports through his Shadows. He still had upwards of 80 of them assigned to this fight, so it wasn’t hard to keep an eye on the monster and see it tear through the water after them.

  It didn’t want the fight to end and frankly, neither did Henry.

  “[It’s pursuing,]” he sent to Maurice. “[Buy us some time, I’m gonna try something else.]”

  “[Okay!]”

  Immediately detonations began ringing in the path of the Stinglance, forcing it to weave and dodge, and when Maurice sent the faster but smaller varieties of the bubbles, the seahorse just ignored them and Henry watched with a wince as the bubble just… fizzled out and dissolved, the magic itself corroding under the liquid burning out of the seahorse. Because now that it was moving, it was clear that it wasn’t fire but a substance, and it was leaving a trail of the stuff in its wake, coloring the water and wiping away the mana in its vicinity.

  Henry really wanted to get his arms around such an ability. As his Octominds supported his effort to work on two simultaneous Skills—three if you count the Leviathan fang being set at the tip of his arm—he wished he could chuck the monster in his storage but he didn’t know what a hostile, powerful enemy could do in his Maw, and he didn’t want to try with this guy.

  “[It’s almost here!]” Maurice shouted, but Henry was very much aware the implosions weren’t slowing the monster down whatsoever, no matter how much they turned and twisted around the rocky reefs to lose it. And while his stabby-arm was ready, the two Skills weren’t.

  He needed time to compress them a little more. Only a few more seconds. But he didn’t know if he had those seconds with how fast the creepy little bastard was coming at them.

  They really had pissed it off. Though that might work in their favor.

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  “[I’m about to do something risky. You want to come with or do you want me to send you up top?]”

  “[No I wanna see!]”

  Henry said nothing. Instead, he focused, wary of causing the damage Velistraine had warned him about as the instances of Dispelling Pulse and Lightning Discharge grew uncomfortable within his soul, like two pressurized, burning coals that ached and threatened to tear him from the inside out.

  That’s the limit, I think. And I might still do some damage, Henry realized. His little soul resistance training was most likely not enough to see any progress. And knowing the danger of what he was doing, he pulled on the essence of Renewal, surrounding the area in his soul where both Skills had collected as he turned his gaze outward toward the unrelenting, algae-shaped demon that was bearing down on them.

  Henry suddenly twisted around and facing the monster, he blurred toward it, meeting the creature right above a particularly high reef and surprising it with his sudden change of heart. But the surprise barely lasted, and the corona of mana-dissolving toxins spread wider as Henry cut through the water separating them.

  He would have accelerated himself with a Lightning Dash or a quick teleport, but he really believed any other Skill risked tearing his spirit wide open. He was already under such strain that he was barely holding everything together, even with the help of the Octominds. But that was fine. The Stinglance wasn’t dodging, and Henry just needed to get close enough.

  Moment of truth, he thought as he came with arm’s reach of the Stinglance. Accepting the dart that flew at his eye, Henry braced and ignoring the pain of his eye melting away while a Dispelling Pulse exploding out of him, engulfing himself and the seahorse. The A-rank’s movement stuttered and the purple corona lost most of its color, but Henry didn’t doubt that it’d be back within moments. And that’ll be too late for the Stinglance and because he couldn’t afford to lose, Henry pushed his second Skill a little more, adding some Predation to the Lightning Discharge before he dumped it on the seahorse, and as the Leviathan fang blurred through the water, aiming to punch a thigh-wide hole into the A-rank’s chest, a searing, agonizing pain tore deep inside of him, much worse than the venom eating at his eyes and its surrounding tissues.

  Thankfully, the seahorse wasn’t having much of a good time, either.

  Pressurizing a Skill made it punch nearly as hard as if it were being empowered by a decent amount of essence. So his Dispelling Pulse managed to already match the Stinglance’s ability, considering it had been too confident to use essence itself—unless it was out, of course. But when Henry both pressurized and channeled Predation into Lightning Discharge?

  The result would have had him completely awestruck if he hadn’t been in so much damn pain.

  When the bolt left Henry’s arm, it lit up the world with a blinding shade of red as water turned to plasma, right before a sharp, whining clap rang out. Scalding, superheated and pressured water deep-cooked his extended limb and thanks to the improved cognition afforded to him by his Octominds, he could feel every fraction of it. And that was nothing compared to the twisting ache in his soul.

  Still, Henry was about to step into A-rank himself, and while being near an attack of this intensity would have vaporized him before, it was nothing he couldn’t heal in a few minutes. So ignoring the pain, he pushed mana into the Leviathan’s tooth and nearly passed out from the effort of moving his mana, but he had no time to waste.

  The Stinglance was floating limply in front of him, fins twitching. Its dark brown eyes were barely visible under the swollen and crisped ridges, and its veil of caustic toxins was stuttering, as if it was trying to get back to work but its whole body was unresponsive, and while he saw its gaze flick to the oncoming stab, the only reaction it could manage was a half-hearted shot of another envenomed dart that didn’t even get close to hitting Henry.

  The fang tore through its chest, and Henry’s vision blurred further. One of his eyes was still burning from the earlier envenomed shot he’d taken, and even more toxins were burning through his veins. He almost didn’t notice the notification come through, as he was focusing all of his being on not passing out from the pain that pulsed through his whole body and soul. His Octominds were all working on healing, even the one keeping an eye on their surrounding, but every pulse of mana or Skill usage was excruciating.

  “[Henry! Henry, can you hear me? I put its corpse in my storage, I’ll take us up, okay? Don’t sleep!]”

  Henry hazily felt a pull on his arm as he pushed through the pain and took stock of the state of his soul. It wasn’t hard to visualize or sense, but it was as if all of it had become… cracked. As if it was the once smooth surface was all full of hairline cracks that pulsed with pain whenever any mana moved around them. He could channel his mana and everything, but it was exceedingly painful.

  Sparing his attention for a second to tap Maurice on the claw—so he didn’t need to activate Telepathy—Henry gently channeled the essence of Renewal through his body and by extension, through his spirit. It was like poured cold water over a fresh burn. It was painful, but after a few seconds, he could feel the healing energies take the edge off the pain, and he was slowly becoming more aware of his surroundings. As he looked through his clones, and as he began swimming by himself, surprising Maurice who chattered in relief, Henry couldn’t help but re-think of that bolt of lightning he’d unleashed.

  He had to make this new technique his own. He had to master it.

  One might never know when he’d need it.

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