Damian pushed against the watery coils wrapped around him. They moved but did not give.

'Absurdly powerful skill. Especially the mana and focus independent function.'

"Even without your trinkets, you are a good warm-up. For that, you have my recognition." Thaddeus Seablaze said.

Damian ignored him and recalled the moments in his head when someone had described a similar thing. Alex had unleashed a watery snake back in the pigmen world once. An emperor-ranked creature had managed to defeat it. The snakes may have the strength of a semi-legendary creature, but not its defenses.

More like a spirit infused with water than a proper summon.

One big enough spell and he could destroy dozens of these snakes. A lifetime of Sea Snake's collection could be reduced to nothing. But bound by them, even a fourth-ranker would find it hard to move.

"Amused as I am seeing your unusual darkness, stop the childishness and show me your spells!" Thaddeus growled.

The coils of snakes let his mouth go free.

Damian continued to struggle. In his vision, there were no glowing runic circles of any color.

"Fine, then." The Sea Snake continued, "You shall die today either way."

Thaddeus moved back a little. The hundreds of blue snakes kept Damian still in the air. A perfect target.

The azure trident in Thaddeus's hand started channeling an immense amount of energy from within his body. Rushing furiously from his flesh to the trident through the arm.

The trident was not a soulbound weapon, but a part of Sea Snake's transformation from a beast to human form. Part of his real flesh.

The aura surrounding Sea Snake burned brighter and brighter, changing from dark blue to intense cyan, almost reaching pure white. A man's aura, unlike mana, had only one color all his life.

'What fucked-up ability lets a man change that then?'

A deciding attack, Damian realized. The king of Faerunia has grown tired of playing it seems. This attack would either end him or force him to launch his spells.

The aura and mana surrounding the trident grew to the same width as the real form of Sea Snake himself. Even the hand of Thaddeus holding it was shaking slightly at times. Heavily charged blue and white bolts of lightning danced around the white radiance.

Charged to the fullest.

"Die now, you demon bastard!"

Shouted Thaddeus as he arced backwards and threw the trident with the peak strength of a Legendary beast.

In the very last second, the blue snakes wrapped around Damian gave way; only a couple still held onto his limbs. A couple of legendary spirits could be sacrificed for one abomination of nature.

Damian channeled as much mana as he could in the runic circle etched on his back and shaped his aura solid around his body as best as he could. That alone would not work, though.

Damian wrapped himself in seven-element mana in the last seconds. His half mana fell to 30% in a single second. The blinding white snake, spinning around the trident, slammed savagely onto the thin mana barrier.

Powerful ripples spread in the air, followed by the ear-splitting sound of two energies colliding. Damian felt his organs shake violently in his body, then his vision blurred, as the ferocious force pushed him down uncontrollably. Layers of mana were shattering in slow motion before his eyes as the white dragon pushed a large row of teeth deeper inside the cracking transparent barrier.

The water snakes holding him had been obliterated on contact. Going against all his screaming instincts, Damian ignored the trident and released the concentrated beam of hellfire enveloping most of the blue snakes that had just released him.

In the last moments of his freedom, Damian quickly summoned his spear and channeled as much aura as he could inside the dark weapon. He placed it from the long side, in the hope that it could lessen at least some damage from the attack before it reached him.

The trident wrapped in a dragon was too close and fast for wormholes to save him. And frankly, he had no control over his own momentum. Even the smallest wastage of mana was a certain defeat.

'That is if I survive this monstrosity.'

Fire ignited all around him, the speed of fall transcended what even his eyes could perceive. Everything other than the white monster of death before him and the blue trident within was a blur.

Damian's back slammed onto the ocean surface, and the fall continued in the ocean, a great filter of noise for his ears.

Somewhere in the middle, the barrier of mana shattered along with several of his bones and much more, and the darkness of the ocean depths covered any light coming through the surface. At last, he was slammed onto the ocean floor, which knocked out any breath that was still inside him.

And suddenly everything quieted down. He was in the embrace of the sea.

It was a comforting feeling. If it wasn't for..

Pain.

Unbearable, piercing, and blinding pain that had remained.

Before his consciousness could accept the warm embrace of the sea, Damian grunted and pushed with great effort for his mana to reach near his chest. The only healing runic spell on his body.

He was already down to 24% mana. It took another 7% for him to regain control of his body and reject the comfort of darkness for his conscience.

Damian opened his eyes. Even though he was at the very depth of the ocean with nothing but darkness around him, his eyes could still see good enough.

The great white dragon was gone. He half expected Sea Snake to follow behind, but the guy had too much belief in his attack. Rightfully so. But the trident was there. Only it was buried deep in his chest. With a strong effort, Damian forced himself up from the ocean bed using whatever came to hand. The jolts of pain that followed were mind-numbing.

The water was a great help.

Damian looked up. The ocean's darkness peeled and revealed them—two vast golden snake-eyes, each the size of a mountain, staring from the far distance of the abyssal deep. Their glow rippled through the water like sunlight trapped in molten metal, too ancient and too aware.

For a heartbeat, the sea felt small, and the world above it even smaller, as if those colossal eyes had been waiting for someone foolish enough to look back.

Nope. The water was not a great help.

Damian blinked, then shifted his focus to the trident, and with gritted teeth, pulled it out of his bleeding chest. He used another 3% of his mana to seal the wounds.

'Your turn will come as well—fat, ugly worm.'

Damian held the trident and pushed against the gravity from his core. Ascending with as much force as he could summon. The healing was not perfect. Just enough to keep him moving and avoid death. Mana was precious.

'This is so stupid! One spell and I can triple my mana recovering.'

But he will not do that. He can not.

Pain will have to become friends with him for a while longer. The Lord Keeper of Sanctuary had a point to prove today.

The calling surface of the ocean was split apart as Damian pulled himself out of the water. Sea Snake was awaiting him with not so pleasant a look on his face. They were once again surrounded by the strongest of sea creatures. He could hear the relief in the exhale of breath in his friends.

Damian looked straight at the king of Faerunia. His breath was ragged.

"Was that your best, wriggling vermin?" He shouted.

There were slight movements in the group of Sea Snake's siblings, but none dared to utter a word or do anything suspicious.

"A coat of seven? How possibly could a whelp of yesterday master it?" Thaddeus murmured.

Damian faced Sea Snake, but his focus was all around him.

Two dozen. The slightly blurred transparency of shapes revealed two dozen of those damned snakes creeping near him. Damian let them gather.

"You are barely breathing, brat! Admit defeat, and there might be a chance we will let you live." Sea Snake said.

"I pity your son and daughter. Your wife of yesterday has much more wisdom than an ancient geezer like you." Damian shot back.

Sea Snake's face darkened. The trident in Damian's hand suddenly shot towards its owner, settling back in the white bearded legendary beast's hand.

"Those shall be your last words." The beast growled.

In the next second, the dozen water snakes leapt towards Damian. He spared not a moment in activating Hellfire and shooting down every single one of them. Even the ones that had yet to reveal themselves.

But the momentary distraction had served its purpose. Sea Snake, along with his blue aura flaring trident, was inches from him. Damian quickly summoned his spear, but instead of one, he received two items. Ignoring the confusion, Damian charged them with aura and defended himself from the trident.

But both shattered into further pieces seconds into contact with the trident. They did manage to shift the direction of the trident a little though. But still, Damian felt three burning points piercing his collarbone.

He pulled himself back, doing his best to ignore the pain, and used a quick chain of wormholes in hopes of gaining some distance. Burning his last 14% mana all the way back to 7%. But Thaddeus was not having it. He charged towards every opening of the wormhole, staying too fucking close.

For the last one, Damian opened the wormhole but did not enter, tricking Thaddeau for a moment. Still, the bastard quickly turned his head and unleashed his damned azure flames.

Damian was too close. The radius of divine flames was too big, the use of mana for wormholes was a waste. Any lower and he would be unconscious. Already, it was a battle against his mind to stay awake and functional.

Damian reached deep within and pulled out as much aura as his focus would allow, and covered his body in a layer of solid aura structure.

The furious tide of blue flames arrived like an avalanche, crashing into him with vengeance.

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