The guards surged forward together, blades drawn, faces grim. They pushed past the remaining sea creatures, slashing at the pulsing orbs within their bodies. With each clean strike, the creatures burst into water, collapsing on the soaked deck like broken waves.
The commander sprinted ahead. Three guards fell into formation ahead of him, pressing their hands together in a practiced maneuver. As the commander approached, he stepped onto their joined palms. Aura surged through their limbs, transferring into the commander's leg, charging it with violent energy.
With a thunderous blast of green aura, they launched him into the air.
The commander soared like a cannonball through the storm, rain whipping past his armor. His greatsword was raised, glimmering with green fire. His eyes locked onto the glowing blue figure below.
With a furious cry, he pointed the blade downward and dove like a meteor straight for the horse.
The blade struck—
—but there was no impact.
The horse dissolved into a stream of water just before contact. It vanished into rain.
A moment of silence followed, broken only by the endless downpour—until droplets around the ship shimmered, coalescing on the helm where the horse reappeared, reforming from liquid into shape.
Then it howled, angrier. The sound split the air like thunder.
More creatures burst forth from the sea—larger, more grotesque. Sea serpents with faces like masks, eyeless eels with fin-blades for arms, and humanoid abominations fused with coral and bone.
They didn't charge in blindly, they moved in unity with each other and they all tore through the guards like blades through parchment.
The deck became a warzone—screams and steel clashing with howls and monstrous screeches. Blood mixed with seawater, turning the wooden deck crimson as limbs fell and weapons clattered to the floor.
The storm raged harder, and lightning flashed.
And the deck of the Molten Ridge turned into a slaughterhouse beneath the rain.
Zay opened his eyes slowly. The world had become strangely quiet. Not silent, but calm—as if time itself had bent around him. His breaths were steady. Deeper. Controlled. He had never felt more centered in his life.
Then, with a sudden flash of urgency, he bellowed:
"NOW! Break FREE!" His voice cut through the chaos like a blade.
Shackles snapped as the prisoners erupted with aura, their eyes burning with rage and defiance. Their bodies surged with strength as they gritted their teeth, snapping rusted manacles with sheer will and instinct. Together, they turned toward the iron bars and tore them apart—joint effort, bare hands, raw power.
A stampede of liberation echoed through the dark corridor as they charged forward, barefoot and bloodied, laughter escaping their throats—not from madness, but from freedom.
As the prisoners stormed onto the rain-soaked deck, the sea creatures took notice.
Horrors emerged from the mist and ocean spray—sea serpents with mask-like faces, eyeless eels with fin-blade arms, coral-fused abominations with jagged limbs and bone-stitched torsos. Their howls screeched through the storm.
But the prisoners didn't hesitate.
They laughed... they welcomed it with opened arms.
Without instruction, without thought—they knew. Instinctively, they moved with deadly precision, striking at the glowing orbs buried deep within the creatures' torsos. Aura cloaked their bodies as they lunged, dodged, spun, and struck.
Flesh tore. Water exploded from monstrous wounds. The deck shook beneath the weight of chaos.
Prisoners used each other as footholds—launching into the air, catching hands mid-spin, flinging their comrades across the deck with coordinated violence. They worked together—a rhythm formed from suffering and survival.
Four sea beasts fell in a blur of bone-crushing blows and glowing strikes. The deck, though slick with rain and blood, became their battlefield. Their home.
Back in the shadows of the cell, Zay and Renzo remained.
And beside them… the woman that Zay saw earlier. She rose from the dark corner with a single .
Long hair of silver and violet flowed down her back, strands clinging to her skin from the damp air. Her skin-tight black outfit shimmered faintly under the dim lantern light, and her pale hands flexed, cracking the aura-bound shackles with a small, echoing snap.
She glanced toward the two brothers.
Her golden-brown eyes lingered on Zay—piercing, curious. Drawn to him. For just a second, her breath caught, as though something within her resonated with his presence.
But she blinked it away.
"Nova," she said quietly. "Nova Silverheart."
She turned, stepped forward, and as she vanished down the corridor, the faint curl of mist followed in her wake—like a specter returning to the storm.
Renzo exhaled and stepped forward, glancing down at his brother.
"Let's go!"
Zay nodded… but didn't move.
"Go ahead without me," he murmured. "I'll catch up soon."
His voice betrayed a flicker of unease. Something inside him shifted.
He couldn't name it—couldn't understand it. A strange weight in his chest. Not fear. Not pain. Just... something felt wrong.
Renzo studied him for a moment. He didn't argue. He'd known Zay to trust his instincts.
With a deep breath, Renzo turned. On his way out, he spotted a longsword leaning against the wall—forgotten, bloodstained. He snatched it up and sprinted down the corridor, disappearing into the storm.
Zay sat still. The wood beneath him creaked. Rain dripped through cracks above. Thunder rolled once more—deeper now...
His eyes darted around the empty cell, finding no one in sight. He let out a heavy breath he hadn't realized he was holding.
Then came the shaking. His arms trembled. His legs grew unsteady. His chest rose and fell in sharp, uneven breaths—something was wrong with his Aura Core.
His eyes squeezed shut as he remained seated, jaw clenched.
From the porthole behind him, waves crashed against the hull, spraying seawater into the room. The cold sting bit at his skin... but there was something else in it too. Something fresh. Something new.
He opened his eyes again.
A burst of violet aura surged from his body, crackling like lightning as it expanded in every direction. The cell bars screeched as they buckled under the pressure—until they exploded outward in a violent wave of force.
Zay leaned back against the wooden wall, water slapping against his face, soaking him completely—and he smiled.
Strands of soaked black hair clung to his cheeks, to his neck, over his ears. It draped over his eyes like a curtain of shadows. He tilted his head slightly and spat out a mouthful of salt water onto the floor.
His aura began to expand further, flickering wildly. It crackled in the air, growing unstable—destroying the wood and warping the iron around him with violent tremors.
His eyes widened. A low, breathy laugh escaped him. "…An aura outburst… This Sequence is draining us slowly, isn't it?"
Zay muttered to himself, his voice barely audible. Then, his head snapped upright.
"Arbiter: Resonance Lens."
⌈Name: Zay Yuso⌋
Resonance Name: Forsaken by Dawn
⌈Current Location: ???⌋
⌈Age: 20⌋
⌈Time: ???⌋
Condition:
– Unstable Core
– Aura Reserves: 130%
Core:
Aura Core: 30% | Unsealed
Monster Core: 100% | Primordial | Unable to access this Monster Core Rank with your current strength. Lowered to - Ravager
"Looks like… I was right."
His aura surged violently, splintering the wood beneath him. Cracks spread like veins, puncturing holes through the floor as the pressure built.
Gritting his teeth, he slammed his eyes shut and forced every muscle in his body to tighten. With sheer will, he compressed the chaotic surge—until, finally, his aura flickered and faded, suppressed by force and he stayed completely still.
Nova Silverheart's feet slammed against the slick wooden deck as she emerged from the corridor. The rain poured down in torrents, her long hair, silver and violet, now soaked and clinging to her back. The sound of thunder rumbled in the distance, almost drowned out by the chaos around her. As she took her first step forward, a massive sea creature, its sleek, serpentine body glistening with rain, jumped from above her. It roared with a gurgled, inhuman cry, aiming to crush her beneath its bulk.
Without hesitation, Nova lunged forward, twisting her body in mid-air. Her feet landed firmly on the deck, the slick wood offering little resistance to her speed. The creature's maw snapped shut where she had just been, saliva dripping from its jagged teeth. She barely registered the threat before turning her golden-brown eyes back to the beast.
Her rose gold aura pulsed around her, shimmering in the rain-soaked air, as she felt the core of the beast, beating... like a heart. Mist began to form around her, swirling as if reacting to her very thoughts. Within moments, the mist formed into a katana, the hilt resting easily in her hand, the blade extending outward like a shard of moonlight.
Without so much as a word, she closed the distance between herself and the creature. The rain seemed to part in her wake, the mist following her like a silent shadow. She vanished into the mist and appeared directly in front of the beast, her movement so fluid, so swift, the creature had no time to react. Its glowing eyes widened in confusion before Nova thrust her katana deep into its core.
The creature convulsed, its body shuddering as the blade pierced its heart, the very essence of its life force dissipating with a final, agonizing screech. As its form crumbled into water, Nova disappeared into mist once more, leaving nothing but the water and the echo of its death cry.
Renzo burst from the corridor seconds after Nova vanished in the mist, his boots splashing against water that had pooled together unnaturally in one spot. He glanced at it briefly, the shape almost too deliberate to be random. But he shook the thought away with a scoff.
"Not the weirdest thing today," he muttered.
The storm howled overhead as thunder cracked violently above. Rain soaked him to the bone in seconds, his dark red aura flaring to life in response to the chaos. The deck was filled with the sounds of steel, screams and crashing waves. Around him, the freed prisoners were locked in vicious combat with creatures made of water. They moved with unnatural grace, twisting and reforming even when struck.
Renzo didn't hesitate.
He lunged forward, sword in hand, and cleaved straight through one of the liquid beings. His blade hissed as it passed through the beast's chest, striking a glowing core hidden within. The creature burst like a wave crashing against a cliff, its body dissolving into rainwater across the deck.
More of them surged forward, mask-faced sea serpents and twisted eel-like monsters lashing out with fin-shaped blades. Renzo ducked beneath a sweeping strike and rolled across the slick wood, slashing upward in one smooth motion. Another core cracked. Another beast collapsed.
He fell into rhythm, fighting alongside the other prisoners.
One of the prisoners, a massive man with a jagged scar running down his chest, lifted another slimmer prisoner onto his shoulders. The second prisoner kicked off, flipping through the air as blue aura burst from his legs. He twisted midair, planted both feet into the chest of a creature lunging for another prisoner, and detonated the core with a burst of energy, turning the monster into a tidal spray of water.
Below him, the larger man roared and grabbed two eel-like creatures by their fin-blade arms. He slammed them together with a sickening crack and held them in place as a third prisoner with flaming orange aura slid between his legs, stabbing both beasts in the cores with a blade made of molten aura.
One of the mask-faced serpents lunged from the side, but a pair of twins—barefoot and shirtless, with glowing white tattoos running along their spines—appeared out of nowhere. One flipped onto the other's back and launched upward, spinning midair, his fist glowing with crackling blue light. He slammed it into the creature's core mid-flight, cracking it like ice and riding the body down as it melted.
"Core, three paces left!" one of the prisoners yelled, pointing.
Another responded instantly. he vaulted off a crate, ricocheted off a pole, and then used a fallen prisoner's back as a platform to springboard himself through the air. his aura formed into three sharp darts that homed in on the sea creature's chest—piercing the core in perfect sync.
Renzo grinned. "I don't know who trained you bastards—but I owe 'em a drink!"
"Wasn't training," the scarred prisoner growled. "We just wanna live."
That moment, the prisoners stood side-by-side. Aura shimmered like torchlight in the storm. Every movement, every breath—they were synced. They ducked and weaved around one another with military precision, as if they had fought together their entire lives.
Then all at once, they surged forward like a crashing wave, cutting through the sea beasts and exploding their cores in a violent dance of blades, fists, and burning will.