Skirk fixed her gaze on Bai Xiuxiu's eyes—deep as the sapphire sea and brimming with pleading—and couldn't help a soft sigh in her heart.
She had no wish to involve herself too much in the strife of this unfamiliar world, yet at this moment, Bai Xiuxiu's grief-stricken entreaty struck the strings of her heart.
The last sliver of balance within Skirk finally tilted.
She drew a deep breath, attempting to suppress the dull ache of her lingering injuries. A sharp light flashed through her eyes.
"Stay close to me."
No sooner had the words fallen than Skirk blurred like a drifting afterimage, whisking Bai Xiuxiu with her. In a blink, they vaulted across the boundless sea and appeared at the fringes of the melee where the Demon-Soul Great White Sharks battled Osial's summoned creatures.
Skirk brought two fingers together like a sword and traced a light cut through the void.
The motion looked casual and caused no earth-shaking spectacle.
Yet the massive vortex brewing furiously before Osial was sliced by a strand of sword-qi. Its rotation halted in an instant, then fell into disarray, finally collapsing like a crumbling mountain. The powerful water-element monstrosities forming within were annihilated along with it—reduced to dust.
That precise, efficient strike was like timely rain, instantly relieving tremendous pressure on the sharks' front line.
The Great White Shark King, Xiao Bai, had just torn apart a water elemental creature when the abnormal, mighty fluctuation made her whip her head around. Her wary eyes instantly locked onto the suddenly appearing Skirk and Bai Xiuxiu.
Especially Skirk—her aura was deep and mysterious, even a shade stronger than the High Priestess of Seagod Island, Bo Saixi. Shock surged within Xiao Bai.
"Who are you?"
The giant shark's maw parted slightly, human speech flowing out, tinged with a fatigue barely noticeable to others.
"Those who won't ignore injustice."
Skirk was sparing with words, her gaze never leaving the roaring Osial in the distance.
She offered no further explanation and struck again.
Her sword-light slipped like a nimble fish swimming through the seam between reality and illusion. With each flicker, it precisely severed another monster, easing the strain on the Great White Sharks.
Xiao Bai took a long look at Skirk, then glanced at the blue-haired girl behind her—whose eyes, complex beyond words, were fixed on Xiao Bai. Excitement, sorrow, and filial yearning mingled there, making Xiao Bai's heart give a strange tremor.
But the battle left no room for reflection.
"Many thanks for your aid. Demon-Soul Great White Sharks, follow me—pin down the demon god's tentacles!"
Forcing down the odd feeling, Xiao Bai loosed a rousing howl and led her kin like a flurry of arrows, slamming into Osial's massive flanks.
Just then, at the center of Seagod Island—toward the Seagod Temple—a pillar of golden light erupted skyward like a column propping up the heavens, bathing sky and sea in gold.
Seagod Douluo Bo Saixi, graceful and poised, hovered within the light, a great golden scepter in hand. The Seagod's sacred, majestic phantom flickered behind her, as if an ancient deity had come to walk the earth.
At the same time, the seven sacred pillars roared like thunder. Seven slightly slimmer but equally vast golden pillars shot to the sky, linking with Bo Saixi's power into a tremendous, intricate array, encasing all of Seagod Island like a solid shield.
"Light of the Seagod, protect my people!"
Solemn-faced, Bo Saixi leveled her scepter at Osial. Boundless divine power turned into golden arrows, pouring down on the demon god like a torrential downpour. Where they struck, a sizzling sound of purification rose, as if scouring evil from the world.
Sensing the threat, Osial roared in pain and fury. Its many heads thrashed wildly, gathering even more terrifying, baleful energy that finally became a colossal dark-blue pillar of light. With world-shattering force, it slammed into the island's golden barrier.
Boom!
The blast was like heaven and earth collapsing. The golden shield shuddered violently, its glow flickering, as if on the verge of shattering.
The seven pillar guardians convulsed with the impact, faces turning ashen.
After all, it was a strike fueled by a level-100 true god's wrath. Even under the Seagod's protection, it was far from easy to withstand.
Skirk's eyes tightened.
She knew she could no longer allow Osial to batter the shield unchecked. Otherwise, Seagod Island would be doomed.
Forcing herself on despite her injuries, she flashed—and appeared above one of Osial's heads.
Her hands closed on emptiness; an ice-formed longsword condensed within her grip, exuding a chilling aura as if it could freeze all creation.
She slashed down at the vast demonic head. A thread-fine sword-qi carved through space, devouring and severing even light and energy in its path.
"Roar!"
Osial sensed true mortal danger. This seemingly small being's strike could wound its very essence.
It immediately abandoned its assault on the barrier. Several heads swung toward Skirk, dark-blue radiance surging in their maws—the breath of destruction itself.
Skirk struck and withdrew, her movement nimble. But facing simultaneous blasts equal to a lineup of Limit Douluo unleashing their full might, the halo around her flickered violently. A line of blood traced her lip.
Her injuries were hampering her; she could no longer sustain peak output for long.
The battle entered a stalemate—yet the advantage remained with Osial.
Bo Saixi and the seven pillars had to devote themselves to maintaining the shield; they could not take the offensive.
Skirk fought alone and wounded; each attack grew harder.
Xiao Bai and the Great White Sharks could only harass, unable to inflict decisive damage.
Osial's energy seemed inexhaustible. If this dragged on, the island's barrier would eventually fall.
At that desperate, eggshell-thin brink—
A long, ancient whale-song rose from beyond the distant horizon.
It was not shrill, but soothing in its deep cadence. Yet the ineffable pressure and power within it rippled outward like invisible waves, flooding the battlefield in an instant.
The shouts and screams, the demon god's roar, the sea's fury—everything was cowed by that power. For a moment, heaven and earth held only the whale-song that spanned time.
Then, on Osial's flank where the sea had been roiled and chaotic, a sudden transformation.
A titanic phantom broke the deep waters and emerged—the form of a whale made of ultra-compressed, utterly pure seawater. Every fiber glowed azure, its scales and markings vivid, like a primordial ocean sovereign striding the river of time to descend upon the world.
It came with force to crush mountains and calm tempests, slamming into the twisted immensity of the Vortex Demon God Osial with an unstoppable charge.
Boom!
The deafening impact seemed to shake the sky.
This blow eclipsed all previous strikes. Osial's mountainous body reeled, staggering despite itself. Several heads that had been about to spew devastating energy were disrupted—backlash sowed disorder, and the ominous dark radiance about it flickered and dimmed.
"Who is it?"
A flicker of incredulous surprise crossed Bo Saixi's flawless features.
As the island's high priestess, her sense for oceanic power was keenest.
This sudden aid was of the highest order—and within it was an oceanic authority like the Seagod's, yet not the same: older, purer, raw and mighty. As relief rose, so too did curiosity.
Skirk's ice-blue eyes also narrowed briefly. She steadied herself and looked toward the source of the attack.
On the sea's surface in the distance, two figures strode upon the waves, riding the wind at great speed. One moment at the horizon, the next close enough to make out.
On the left was a lithe woman with cascading black hair flying in the sea breeze, the tips fading into a dreamy violet—as if night sky and nebulae had wound themselves into her locks.
She held a strangely shaped zither-sword—instrument and blade perfectly fused. Harmonious, potent waves of energy rippled around her. Clearly, that earth-shaking whale strike was hers.
The other woman's bearing was entirely different.
She was not tall—almost petite—but carried an innate, undeniable authority.
She wore a crown of exquisite make, a blue flame burning serenely at its center—condensed immortality and noble divinity within it. It exuded warmth and majesty that commanded reverence at a glance.
They were Hysilens and Cerydra.
Swept into this strange world along with Shrek Academy, they had chosen not to travel together.
Hysilens had been drawn by the vast and mysterious ocean of this new world, while Cerydra nursed curiosity for foreign lands and customs.
As carefree travelers, they wandered aimlessly—until the Seagod's aura called to Hysilens, bringing them here, now, to Seagod Island's battlefield.
Their arrival broke the stalemate and brought a chance to turn the tide.
Hysilens's jade fingers brushed her strings, her blade tracing profound arcs. Clear zither tones fused with razor sword-qi, becoming visible, azure sound-blades imbued with pure oceanic power.
They tore the air with a terrifying keen, lashing Osial in a storm.
Each impact burst great fans of dark-blue spray from that body of sea and demonic power, carving deep marks—not fatal, but disruptive and weakening.
Cerydra merely flicked her hand. Phantasmal chess pieces, soft-glowing and varied in shape, appeared out of thin air and—like living things—sank with precision into each fighter present.
In an instant, Bo Saixi, Skirk, Xiao Bai and her kin—all felt a warm, powerful force surge within. Spent strength returned; fatigued minds were refreshed; their presence swelled.
Even Skirk's wounds were suppressed for the moment by the chess pieces' strange power, no longer hampering her movements.
Feeling the suppression of her injuries and the rare return of ease, the chill in Skirk's eyes sharpened again.
She hesitated no longer. With a graceful grip, she condensed ultimate frost into a translucent ice sword once more.
Her form flickered as she closed with Osial. Her sword shadows bloomed like icy lotus—each strike loaded with absolute chill and piercing force—finding nodes of energy flow and relative weakness with uncanny precision.
Bo Saixi's spirit lifted.
She raised her golden scepter high and unleashed the Seagod's remaining power without reserve.
Resplendent Seagod light surged skyward, becoming a massive golden tornado that bridged heaven and earth. Its sacred, majestic, purifying breath spread far.
The tornado intertwined with Hysilens's rolling tide of sound-blades, Cerydra's empowerment, and Skirk's ghostly icy swordwork. Four mighty forces converged from every side on Osial for the final, fiercest combined assault.
Under Xiao Bai's lead, the Great White Sharks roared, gathering their last reserves. Like a volley of white arrows, they launched a death-defying charge, slamming into Osial's writhing mass.
Besieged by annihilation from all directions, Osial howled in fury and defiance.
Its many heads whipped and spat dense beams of dark-blue energy, seeking to build a bulwark against the killing ring.
But under the four champions united, and the full might of Seagod Island, its defenses were torn and unraveled, inch by inch—
At last, amid the sea's raging protest and the demon god's waning lament, Osial's vast, terror-bearing body lost all strength to struggle. It collapsed with a thunderous crash, sinking into the deep sea it had shattered.
On the surface, only countless broken vortices spun in vain, and the waves—spent at last—slowly calmed.