A massive, dark creature burst from the lake, its enormous body blotting out the sun for a heartbeat as if some fragment of night itself had torn free from the depths, and when it rose fully into the air the sheer volume of displaced water cascaded down in violent sheets, drenching the wetlands and hammering against the tall grasses until the entire marsh bent low beneath the weight of it.
Its body was serpentine yet armored, plated with overlapping scales the color of drowned iron, each one slick with algae and ancient scars, and along its spine jagged fins flared outward like broken blades, channeling streams of water that spiraled around it in obedient currents.
Its head was long and narrow, crowned with horn-like protrusions that curved backward, and when it opened its mouth the interior glowed with a faint blue radiance—the unmistakable shimmer of condensed mana pooling between rows of needle-like teeth.
The impact of its return to the surface sent a shockwave across the lake, a rolling wall that tore through reeds and flattened grass in widening circles, and the air grew heavy with the scent of deep water and mud.
Samuel did not move.
Water and shadow rained over him, the water pealed against his mana infused skin and his eyes remained steady, fixed on the creature as if measuring it not by its size but by its breathing rhythm, by the tension in its muscles, by the subtle coiling that hinted at explosive speed rather than brute force.
Beside him, Raymond was already whispering.
"Can I try fighting it?" he asked, though his hands were moving, tracing circles in the air as threads of water gathered around his fingers and wrapped along his arms like living bracelets.
Samuel's gaze shifted slightly toward him.
"If you die," he said evenly, "I won't carry you."
Raymond grinned, despite the tremor in his chest.
"I won't die."
The creature's eyes—pale, lidless, and disturbingly intelligent—locked onto them.
The surface of the lake behind it began to churn.
Without another word, Raymond stepped forward.
The marsh responded.
Water surged upward from every direction, drawn by his will, rising in spiraling pillars that twisted around him before shooting forward like spears.
They struck the monster's flank with thunderous force, shattering against its armored scales and exploding into mist, yet the beast barely recoiled, only turning its massive head with a slow, deliberate motion that suggested insult rather than pain.
Raymond clicked his tongue and shifted his stance.
The ground beneath his feet liquefied at his command, forming a shallow platform that allowed him to glide across the marsh as if skating on glass, while he condensed the surrounding moisture into dense, rotating spheres that pulsed with compressed pressure.
"Let's see how you like this!" he shouted, thrusting both palms forward.
The spheres launched.
They struck with concussive bursts, detonating into torrents that carved trenches through the wetland and forced the monster sideways.
Finally drawing a guttural roar from its throat—a deep, vibrating sound that seemed to resonate through the water rather than the air.
Then it moved.
It vanished beneath the surface in an instant.
Raymond's eyes widened, and his earlier bravado flickered.
The water around him shifted—not violently, but subtly—currents bending in unnatural patterns.
"Behind you," Samuel said.
The lake erupted again.
The monster burst upward directly beneath Raymond's platform, jaws snapping shut around the space where he had stood a fraction of a second before.
Raymond barely twisted aside, propelled by a desperate surge of water that flung him across the marsh, yet even midair he regained composure, gathering the scattered moisture back to him with fierce concentration.
The battle stretched on.
Water crashed against scale.
Claws tore through summoned currents.
Raymond adapted, weaving liquid shields, redirecting impact, turning the monster's own momentum against it whenever possible, while the beast countered with devastating lunges and crushing tail sweeps that shattered entire sections of marshland into chaotic waves.
Minutes blurred.
Breathing grew heavier.
Mana thinned.
Yet neither fell.
Samuel remained at the edge of the battlefield, arms crossed, watching—not indifferent, but evaluating—because what he observed was proof of Raymond's fusion choice: perception guiding power, sensing pressure shifts before attacks, feeling disturbances before they manifested.
And still— he saw how Raymond's mana dimmed. His attacks got weaker.
Sam shook his head, "that's why you need to only depend on your body in this land…" thinking back how the brake of his self made weapon nearly killed him several times.
He bursted forward, infused his fist with a little mana and punished in the air. Sending a shockwave towards the serpent, who just wanted to eat the poor Ray, blasting of its head.
Samuel landed beside the exhausted man and flooded him with some healing water, "you are to flashy, use to much mana, and depends to much in it."
"Haha! Thank you, you muscle man!" He heaved, taking Sam's hand and pulled himself up, "but I felt it too…"
The big boy smiled and clapped him in the back, "don't worry! I let you try it for two years more!"
With a crude smile, did Ray thank him and both of them continued on this journey.