The palace trembled beneath suppressed
fury.
"Please calm your anger, Your Majesty,"
the Orca with a bow said, his voice steady,
though sweat traced the curve of his jaw.
"I have already dispatched the Elite Squad to retrieve him."
A heavy silence followed.
"Hmph… whatever."
With a lazy wave of his massive hand,
the Orca King dismissed him.
Invisible pressure rippled outward,
forcing the subordinate to bow deeply,
before turning and exiting the palace hall.
As the doors closed behind him,
the Orca's eyes narrowed.
His teeth clenched so tightly they groaned.
Three months…
Just to retrieve a simple core.
"Useless fool," he thought bitterly,
casting a venomous sideways glance
toward the throne.
"You'd better not ruin my plans…"
Northern Sea:
Four colossal Orcas broke through the dark waters,
their bodies fully bestial no half-human
forms in sight.
Killing intent rolled off them in violent waves.
One among them stood apart.
Larger than Rick.
A living mountain of muscle and bone.
At nearly forty-five feet long and weighing
over nineteen thousand pounds,
his presence crushed the water around him.
"You all saw Commander Dunka's expression,"
the giant Orca rumbled.
"Split up. Search the area."
His cold eyes swept across the sea.
"Find Rick. Or find the core. If you fail…
you know what awaits us."The Orcas stiffened.
"Stay within communication range,"
he added, his voice lowering.
"This place… feels wrong."
"Yes!" the others answered in unison,
fanning out into the depths.
Littoral Cave 500 meters away:
The sound waves reached deep into
the darkness.
Two eyes snapped open.
Reptilian.
Blue.
Shark-like.
"…Orcas?" El-Mond muttered,
his voice echoing softly in the cave.
"Three of them this time?"
His lips curled.
"What business do they have here…?"
A pause.
"…Are they searching for that Orca?"
Interest sparked.
"How fascinating…"
A grin spread across his face,
revealing steel-like razor teeth.
Black water peeled away as he swam
forward, emerging from the shadows.
His body massive, jet-black,
newly forged was smaller than Rick, yet
far more ominous.
Deathly energy seeped from him like ink
bleeding through parchment, warping the surrounding sea.
Twenty-Five Minutes Later
"Report."
The ringleader's voice boomed through
the water.
"Any sign of Rick or the core?"
No response.
"I asked if you found anything!"
Silence.
"…Are you all deaf? What is..."
His sentence died mid-breath.
Something was wrong.
The water felt thin.
"WHO IS THERE?" he roared, spinning around.
From the darkness, a silhouette drifted forward.
"Interesting…" El-Mond said calmly.
"Your senses are sharp.
My concealment level must be too low for you."
The Orca's nostrils flared.
"…That stench of blood."
A heavy sigh followed.
"My subordinates… are dead, aren't they?"
El-Mond circled him slowly,
like a predator measuring prey.
"Don't worry. You'll join them soon
unless you answer my questions."
His voice dropped.
"Why are your kind here…
and where are you from?"
The Orca's eyes burned.
"I will use your blood," he growled,
"to pacify my subordinates."
El-Mond grinned wider.
"You can try."
The Clash:
The Orca vanished.
BOOM.
He reappears beside El-Mond's head
and Slammes into him,
sending his body hurtling through the sea
like a broken spear.
El-Mond steadies himself mid-flight.
"…Fast," he muttered. "Surprisingly
fast."
His eyes sharpened.
"If my body hadn't been strengthened…
that would've shattered my skull."
The Orca appears again
this time to his right.
"Getting distracted, are we?"
Another devastating blow.
The water screamed as El-Mond was
launched backward.
Then
Above him.
The Orca loomed, rage distorting his face.
"RUSHING WAVE FORM ONE!"
The sea twisted.
"EXECUTION!"
A chain-like wave,
wrapped around the Orca's tail,
compressing into violent spirals as it
detonates forward. The strike pierced the water,
forming a brief vacuum wall as the energy
tore straight through El-Mond.
His body was driven downward.
CRASH.
The ocean floor exploded in sand and debris, smoke-like clouds billowing outward from the impact crater.
"Hmph. Pathetic."
The Orca stared down with contempt.
"So he was only brave enough to ambush my subordinates."
He turned away.
"The Commander will be waiting for my report.
I should..."
A voice rose from the depths.
Cold.
Sharp.
Alive.
"MY TURN."
To Be Continued…