Underwater Battle: Reika vs. Naraku no Oni — Demon of the Abyss
The abyss was pressure—weight, darkness, silence. Reika floated in it like a ghost, her body coiled and sharp, her blade a whisper of silver in a world drowned in black.
Then it screamed.
A blood-curdling shriek tore through the deep, echoing through her bones. From the shadows, they came—twisted, eel-like things with pale skin stretched tight over sinewy limbs. Glowing eyes. Jagged, human-like teeth. Their movements were fast—too fast for the pressure they swam in.
Reika didn't flinch.
The first one lunged. She twisted sideways, dodging the whip-like tail that shredded the current behind her. The pressure should have slowed her, but her body was too disciplined, too used to fighting where others choked.
Her katana flashed—a clean horizontal slice.
The creature's head separated from its body. Blood clouded the water.
No time to think.
Two more came from below—coordinated, flanking her with brutal precision. One reached for her leg, the other for her throat. Reika kicked upward, spun her body mid-roll, and used the momentum to slice the leg-grabber clean in half.
The second creature snapped at her throat—its teeth grazed her collarbone.
Too close.
She slammed the katana's hilt into its temple. It recoiled. Reika didn't let up—she gripped the blade in reverse and drove it through its skull. Blood hissed in the water like ink in fire.
They're learning, she realized. The attacks were no longer chaotic. They were strategic.
Another beast. Then another. Then five more.
She parried. Spun. Slashed in a tight spiral. Her blade danced, but the pressure was mounting. Her body began to burn. Limbs slowed. Vision tunneled.
One creature tail-whipped her side. She spiraled backward. Katana slipped from her grip—gone into the dark.
Another came for her throat. Her hands moved on instinct—she grabbed its jaw, shoved it away, then reached for her second blade—the thin, backup tanto at her waist.
Too slow.
Then—flash.
Her katana, spinning in the dark like a shuriken, sliced the creature in two as it returned to her hand.
Reika breathed heavy. Faint blood streamed from a cut near her temple. The creatures paused.
She glared at them. "You want to swarm me?"
The katana hummed as she re-gripped the hilt, eyes locked forward.
"Then drown."
She charged.
Each movement precise. Each kill surgical. Heads rolled. Bodies spun and sank like broken dolls. The water around her turned into a graveyard. But even as she fought, she could feel it—something bigger was watching.
Then everything stopped.
A deep vibration pulsed from below. Something ancient stirred. The water trembled.
From the abyss—it rose.
Naraku no Kyoshin – The Abyssal TitanDaigo & Ishigo's Last Stand
Above, the lake's surface exploded.
Ice fractured like glass. A roar erupted—low, guttural, like an earthquake given voice.
The monster rose from the trench—massive, grotesque, and impossibly fast for its size. Black, armored hide cracked with abyssal glyphs. Eyes like molten lava. A maw that could swallow entire buildings.
Ishigo stood, soaked, battered, staring up at it.
Daigo beside him, still smirking. "Now that… that's a boss fight."
The titan's tail shot out—BOOM. Ishigo barely dodged. Another trainee wasn't so lucky—he was gone, reduced to shreds.
Ishigo slammed into ice, coughing blood. "We can't take this thing—!"
Daigo didn't answer. He was already running. Toward the titan.
"You MAD?!" Ishigo shouted.
Daigo leapt, katana raised, eyes wild with excitement. "DAMN RIGHT!"
He slammed into the titan's side, katana dragging across its armored ribcage. Sparks. Flesh. Ichor.
The beast roared. Its claws came down.
Ishigo launched forward, intercepting mid-air. Their blades crossed in a moment of synchronization—Daigo's mad chaos, Ishigo's precise control.
The titan roared again, tail sweeping wide. Ishigo blocked, katana nearly breaking from the force. Daigo ducked under it, his eyes burning.
Then—the unthinkable. The titan swallowed Daigo whole.
Ishigo screamed. "DAIGO!"
Silence.
A pause.
Then—BOOM.
The titan's chest exploded.
Blood. Bone. Guts.
Daigo erupted from inside, katana still in hand, body drenched in gore, eyes blazing like hellfire.
"HAH! You think that was enough?! YOU THINK THAT WAS ENOUGH TO KILL ME?!"
Ishigo couldn't believe it. He'd never seen anything like it.
"Let's finish this!" Daigo roared.
Ishigo nodded. No more hesitation. He kicked off the ice, racing through the water like a missile.
Daigo struck from the right, Ishigo from the left. They moved as one—like brothers.
Daigo plunged his blade into the titan's eye.
Ishigo slashed clean through its throat.
The titan screamed—one final, guttural roar—and collapsed, its massive form sinking into the lake like a dead god.
The water calmed.
Silence returned.
They floated there, bloodied, barely conscious.
"We did it…" Ishigo gasped, staring at the ruined surface of the lake.
Daigo cackled. "Hell yeah we did. That was a good one."
Reika's Return – Aftermath
The water parted near the edge. Reika stepped onto the broken battlefield, eyes scanning the carnage.
She said nothing at first.
Ishigo, still standing somehow, grinned through the pain. "Reika. You came to check on us?"
She didn't answer immediately.
Her eyes studied Daigo—laughing, broken, bleeding—but alive. Then Ishigo—barely standing, knuckles white on his blade.
Finally, her eyes met Ishigo's.
"I'm fine," she said coldly.
But Ishigo saw the flicker.
The slight twitch in her fingers.
The hesitation.
Then, her voice—low, nearly drowned by the wind.
"How many more times will we have to do this?"
Ishigo didn't answer.
None of them did.