Aquatic Betrayal

We arrive at the beach where Slinger said the sea creature would be. Miguel puts on his new armor.

Miguel: "Guys, look what I found out."

Sand comes out of his armor and becomes the warrior and the sand woman.

Miguel: "This armor is perfect for a summoner!"

Sun: "I'm glad for you. I would suggested we trained a little first, but we can fight the ocean creatures."

D: "What do you suggest? The bottom of the ocean seems dangerous."

Slinger: "We don't need to swim. Miguel, can you call some sharks over here?"

Miguel: "Sure thing. As long as it's not a rare creature, I can call it just fine."

He closes his eyes. Two sharks emerge from the water, flying toward him. The sand warrior cuts one in half. The woman retaliates the other with a sand tornado and pierces it with several stakes.

Slinger: "We can take their fins. They might be useful later."

Miguel goes to loot them.

Sun: "So, what's your plan? Do you have a special bait?"

Slinger: "Miguel can provoke the creature if he concentrates hard enough. To lure it closer to the surface, we just need to kill some sharks and jellyfish."

Sun: "Alright, got it."

I jump into the water and swim a bit until I spot marine life. Then I release a powerful blast that evaporates the water and causes a small tsunami. I return to shore. A tremor begins.

Sun: "Oh! Faster than I imagined."

Slinger: "At least you're useful for drawing attention. Miguel, can you call the creature, just to be sure?"

Miguel: "Alright, back off a little. It seems pretty big."

The tremor intensifies, until something immense emerges in the distance. It's a giant turquoise worm. It reaches the sky in seconds. It shoots spikes from its body in all directions, missing us due to the distance. However, they hit the water and the beach, causing mass destruction, as some of them are bigger than us.

Slinger: "I'll stay here. Since you three can fly, you should go ahead."

Sun: "Miguel, can you defend her? She's not the best in hand-to-hand combat."

Slinger: "I can hear you!"

Sun: "It's not an insult. We all have different specialties."

Slinger: "Wait, really? I'm sorry, I thought you were mocking me."

Sun: "D, Nebula, let's go!"

We jump and begin flying toward the creature. We look at each other, smiling at our little competition. We manage to keep the same pace.

D: "Sun, here's a little ice rink for you!"

He spits blue fire into the water, freezing it in a huge radius.

Sun: "Thank you, pal!"

I land on the ice and skate across it until I hit the creature with my hot metal glove. The blast melts the ice. I leap, spin in the air, and pierce its body with my ice sword, freezing part of it.

Bony spines protrude from its tough skin and spread everywhere, some smaller ones hitting my shoulder and causing minor damage. The worm screams loudly, deafening us for a second. Then, it slams its head into me. D catches me in time. The creature causes a massive tsunami and disappears into the ocean for a while.

It emerges again, this time faster and more enraged. Nebula summons a massive magic circle and unleashes an incredibly powerful wind, striking the worm's head and teeth like a punch, redirecting it away from us. 

D releases me and flies away, gaining speed and distance. He curves his flight and breathes fire into the creature's mouth. Then he slams his head against its body, pushing it away. It aims its head at me, firing a volley of spikes. I fly around to dodge.

Nebula summons her shadow book and releases several tentacles to hold the worm in place. Then she grabs her ice staff and pierces the creature with true real ice spikes.

Suddenly, we're blinded by a massive sword of light from the sky that strikes the creature, burning it instantly. Before I can regain my vision, something hits me from behind, throwing me toward the beach. My back breaks with such force.

I land on the beach and try to get up, but the pain and damage I suffered was so severe that I could only lie on the sand. Nebula lands next to me. I can only focus on one thing. One of us is not on our side.

Slinger holds Miguel from behind, pointing her gun at his head. He raises his arms in defeat. D falls on the other side. Someone lands on the sand, leaving a trail of light and fire. He slowly gets up, making sure his hair is neat.

He looks like an adventurer. His hair is blond, his eyes are blue, and his brown coat is expensive and rare. He holds an elegant silver and golden sword. Light shines through it.

— Can't say I'm not impressed, kiddo. The ninja died with a single bullet, yet you survived a direct hit from me. Congratulations.

Sun: "The ninja...?"

— Hey, you're not going to say you don't know me, are you? Glasses girl, you look smart. Enlighten him with your wisdom.

Nebula: "Sol Dat... one of the legendary adventurers."

Sol Dat...? Wait a minute, he's one of my creations!

Sol Dat: "Can you tell me why I targeted the ninja first?"

Sun: "You... you're the one behind her death...?"

Sol Dat: "That's right. I don't like ninjas. They're stealthy, unpredictable, and annoying. Her family would be a problem for me. I'm glad you got their daughter out of her fortress."

Sun: "You... I am going to kill you...!"

Now I understand why I couldn't recognize him at first...

Sol Dat: "I heard you received a blessing, so I had to test it. How did you manage to complete a C-rank mission as your first one?"

He was only a concept of mine... I never got to decide his design...

Sol Dat: "Blessings like yours are rare, you know that? The goddess herself told me everything. That you made me half-assed. I was quite shocked. How could my creator be so cruel to me?"

Sun: "How..."

Sol Dat: "But then I thought to myself: I want my revenge, but I also want your power. I can't risk killing you. What if your blessing goes to waste?"

Sun: "Slinger, I swear..."

Slinger: "Nothing personal, kid. I needed the money."

Sun: "Go to hell! I trusted you!"

Seeing Slinger distracted, Miguel elbows her and steals her gun. He aims it at Sol Dat, but it doesn't fire. He runs toward him and tries to punch him. He simply kicks Miguel, destroying part of his armor and knocking him unconscious.

Sol Dat: "Give me a break, I don't like holding back. But how can I use your friends if they're dead?"

Sun: "I swear... you will regret this..."

Sol Dat: "Me? It's all your fault. If you gave me a better life, maybe I would forgive you."

Sun, fill the barrel of the ice gun with your power to the brim and give it to me.

Nebula? What ice gun?

The one from the ice castle.

Why? Give me a second.

D grabs Sol from behind and tries to wrestle the sword from his hand. He punches the dragon with ease. I grab the ice gun and begin filling the barrel with explosive potential.

Sol Dat: "So stubborn. I'll start with the dragon, since he seems so eager to die."

I hand the ice gun to Nebula, who stands up and approaches Sol. She fires, instantly destroying the gun and her hand. A magic bullet shoots from the barrel, aiming for Sol's sword. As soon as it hits, the swords fly away.

Then, Nebula casts a purple magic barrier around her, Sol, and D. D bites his head with maximum force and begins sucking the air from his lungs.

Nebula, what are you doing?!

She looks back at me with a faint smile.

This barrier is indestructible from the inside. If you try to save me and D, Sol will survive and kill you. I'm sorry, but there's no other way.

What?! Don't even think about sacrificing yourself! Do you hear me?! Just kill me! I can go back in time!

He will still come after you. You must understand why Slinger betrayed us.

There's no way I'm going to accept this!

Thank you, Tokita. For creating me, Burier, D, Mom and Dad...

Sol punches D hard enough to kill him. Nebula raises her arms, setting the dome on fire to extinguish the oxygen as quickly as possible. I try to get up, but I've used all my remaining energy on the ice gun. Then, an explosion destroys everything inside, covering it in smoke.