Dark clouds devoured the gray sun, rain lashing down as though the heavens wept for the desperate humans below it. The group sprinted through the storm, lungs burning, legs screaming. Their lives depended on outpacing the rising floodwaters, now sloshing at their ankles. The muddy terrain clung to their boots like shackles, but they pushed onward, driven by the fear of death.
Sunny's shadows darted ahead, scouting paths through the labyrinth of coral pillars. Her mind split between analyzing their reports and keeping pace with the group. When the flood of information overwhelmed her, Ares stepped in, his instincts sharpening where hers frayed. But even their combined efforts weren't enough—the water climbed higher, swallowing the world inch by desperate inch.
Their only hope loomed ahead: a rocky hill rising above the floodplain. After navigating the jagged coral maze, they burst into a clearing, the refuge now visible. But relief died in their throats.
Fifteen hulking carapace scavengers blocked their path, armored shells glistening under the storm. Worse yet, a monstrous Awakened Carapace Centurion towered among them, its crimson armor dripping malice.
Sunny stumbled, her mind racing—'Damnation!'—before cold clarity sharpened her instincts, grounding her to the cruel reality. Nephis tightened her grip on her sword, flames flickering behind her steely gaze. Ares's lazy smirk vanished, replaced by a glacial focus. The sea roared in the far distance, its waves hungry.
'The platform's close. We just need to break through… and that thing has to die first.'
"Nephis!" Ares barked, already moving. "Keep them alive!"
Nephis hesitated for a heartbeat, then gave a grim nod, barking at Sunny to follow. The group split—Ares lunged for the Centurion, Nephis and Sunny facing the scavengers and protecting Cassie.
---
Ares shot forward like an arrow, though the rainwater and sodden mud threatened to drag him down with each stride, rain hitting his crimson armor like bullets.
A dozen scavengers stood between him and the Centurion, their pincers slicing through the air like homing blades. But they weren't enough.
With inhuman agility, Ares slipped through them like water—ducking, weaving, redirecting blows with fluid precision. Each movement built momentum, his body becoming a blur of motion and purpose.
Only two remained in his path.
"Out of the way."
His voice was low and cold, stripped of warmth—alien even to himself.
His right arm snapped out, a backhand that landed with brutal finality, turning the first scavenger's head into a mangled pulp.
The second lashed out, but Ares was already airborne. He planted his foot on its skull and crushed it underfoot, launching himself forward like a missile.
His eyes locked on the Centurion, and the storm answered.
His fists unfurled like twin dragons, hammering its armored flank with a thunderous *CLANG*, denting the area where he'd struck and staggering the massive creature back—a miracle given its size.
The Centurion roared, blood-red eyes locking onto him. Ares sidestepped as a scythe-like limb cleaved the ground where he'd stood, slicing mud like butter. 'A hit will be costly.' He squinted as he darted behind the beast, baiting it away from the others.
The gambit worked. The Centurion pursued, abandoning the group to its underlings.
---
The thirteen scavengers surged toward Nephis, Sunny, and Cassie. Nephis's blade shone, carving through the first attacker with a butcher's accuracy. Sunny's shadow reinforced her, her body dancing a deadly dance, dodging and counter attacking at every chance. Cassie was guarded by the echo, her body motionless and clinging to its back, her blindness sharpening her other senses, murmuring prayers only she could hear.
---
Ares danced around the Centurion's fury, sparks flying as his fists glanced off its armor. Pain shot up his arms with every strike. Ares clicked his tongue from the continuous pain, 'Brute force won't crack this shell.' His armor glinting red as He feinted left, then pivoted, his eyes flashing with an eery light.
The Centurion froze—in its mind, Ares vanished, replaced by a grotesque hound made of sharp bloody teeth and glaring eyes, jaw lunging for its throat. It swung wildly at the illusion, exposing one of its legs. Ares struck, talons shredding the tendons beneath its armor.
The beast suddenly shrieked,angered at the worm and the sudden pain it caused it, the horrendous sound rupturing the air, the rain near it dispersing from the frequency. Ares's ears rang in a bloody tune as it charged, too fast to evade. The collision smashed him into a coral pillar. Blood filled his mouth, his vision blurring.
He rolled aside just as a scythe impaled the ground where he'd fallen. Gritting his teeth, he seized the embedded limb, ignoring the agony in his hands. With a roar, he twisted, leveraging the Centurion's momentum. The beast lurched off-balance—
Ares struck like a viper, fingers spear-tipped, piercing the joint where armor met flesh. A sickening *crack* echoed as the scythe tore free, dangling by sinew.
The Centurion recoiled, howling. Ares staggered back, breath ragged, hands dripping blood.
Lightning struck once more, illuminating their bloodied forms, then they shot off like arrows.
Ares slid down, missing a homing scythe by a hair's breadth, his body twisting, legs tensing as he jumped upward, his leg unleashing like a compressed spring, cutting the air at insane speed.
BANG! The wind screamed as his kick struck true, the monster's head caving in under the sheer force. The Centurion staggered, its consciousness waning—but hatred drove it forward.
It brought its scythe down like a hammer. Ares, still airborne, couldn't dodge. His mind worked in overdrive, teeth clenched bracing for impact.
The scythe overshadowed his body, the sheer size difference staggering.
Then the hit connected. His armored arms protected his core, but the strain made the armor crack, his arms almost shattering. His body twisted midair, following the force of the blow to mitigate damage.
His muscles screamed as he was sent hurtling downward, slamming into the water and smashing against the ground with a deafening thud.
His shoulder was dislocated, his arms burning, barely holding on.
Ares hastily rolled in the shallow water, barely evading a crushing stomp that would've burst his skull like a melon.
He staggered to his feet, gasping for breath, before engaging the monster once again.
A brutal dance of destruction unfolded between monster and man. Bones broke. Armor shattered. Flesh tore. Blood soaked the battlefield.
Yet amidst the carnage, a flicker of something alien sparked in the monster's corrupted heart.
Fear.
Why? Why was this human still standing?
By all logic, Ares should have collapsed long ago, his body torn asunder by the sheer punishment he'd endured. And yet, there he stood, relentless, unyielding.
A fierce punch rattled the monster's brain, snapping it from its confusion.
The man before it bore a cold, merciless expression. Crimson eyes bored into its very soul, piercing through the blood that painted his face and body.
The monster watched, horror blooming in its fractured mind, as Ares's open wounds began to close. Armor pieced itself together, slow but unstoppable.
His eyes gleamed with malice, relishing the monster's growing terror. The darkness around them deepened, an oppressive force that suffocated even the corrupted being.
Every wound, every drop of blood shed from the Centurion—
—became fuel.
The battle resumed with renewed savagery. The Centurion's body was riddled with wounds,one of its eyes was pulled out, mangled flesh jutting out of broken armor, blood pouring out and mixing with the rain. Even if it won, it would die.
Ares was baptized in blood, his own and his enemy's. He had healed from the brink of death countless times—bones broken, limbs twisted, arteries severed. Yet never once did he falter.
A sudden roar sounded. The sea had come to claim them. A wave loomed, a towering force that threatened to consume both combatants.
Yet neither stopped.
The Centurion lost itself to the carnage. If it was to die, then so be it—but it would take Ares with it.
It lunged, forsaking defense, caring nothing for survival. It would drag him to the depths.
Ares was too battered to dodge.
A scythe aimed for his chest, but he intercepted it with his left forearm, the scythe broke into his now brittle armor, cut his flesh, blood flowing as it cut even deeper, it met his bone and cut it too, but Ares grinned anyway.
The scythe lost momentum.
Using his mangled arm, Ares redirected the scythe away from him, severing his arm off.
In the same moment, his right arm shot off with unsatiable hunger, plunging into the Centurion's head.
The wave hit soon after.
Then the world twisted into chaos.
The merciless current carried them with ruthless abandon, Ares used its strength to get the Centurion in front of him as they slammed against a coral pillar, cracking stone like brittle glass.
Ares had used the monster as a shield, using the savage current to smash it head first into the rocks.The Centurion's skull burst against the impact in a loud bang, its body twitching in its final moments.
Yet it wasn't over.
Ares'a remaining hand flashed with a crimson glow as he started devouring it.
Red lightning crackled as the monster was reduced to nothingness, absorbed into his very being. His broken body trembled, warmth spreading through his veins. Strength returned, power surging.
His missing arm—the very flesh he had sacrificed—began to mend.
It all happened in mere seconds. But the battle wasn't over. The sea still raged, threatening to swallow him whole.
Ares clung to the pillar, every fiber of his being screaming. He fought against the crushing current, using his single arm, his legs, even his teeth to climb.
The climb tested his will, his mind, his very soul.
And still, he ascended.
Step by bloody step, he survived the world's hateful will.
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That's it folks! Don't know about you but the chapter came out quite nicely :D
Did ya know we hit top 100 (we 90) in the power leader board? (The 181-365 days section)
Well thats a first, didn't think I'll have any readers to be honest, especially with a hard ahh novel like ss, just wanted to make this for me and see if I could make something who knows.
Anyway, thank u all!!
And boy am I cooking with the 24 chapter ;)