Leo forced himself to move through the chaotic water, diving into the dark ocean and letting the veil of darkness envelop him again. He immediately swam forward as the monster crashed into the water where he had been a millisecond before.
The pressure slammed into Leo's back, nearly shattering his spine, but he used that violent momentum to propel himself further into the gloom.
He was a shadow within a shadow.
He didn't see the shark, of course, but he felt the pressure radiate across the veil. Seconds later, he saw a tiny red dot, insignificant in the darkness, rushing toward him.
'Curses.'
Leo pushed his whole body back to the surface and was immediately carried away by a wave before the shark could pounce on him underwater.
His back burned and ached from the invisible pressure that had slammed him down mid-air. That pain, combined with the agony in his soul, his mind, and his amputated arm, made Leo's life hell.
He had never been through this kind of horror in his life. Was this what Aura Farmers faced every day?
No, it couldn't be. Leo could just feel it. This was the path for him to become the greatest Aura Farmer who ever lived, since he was most likely the only one who had gone through this kind of horror.
'She only saw a snake. I am in the middle of a storm with a shark trying to eat me, for crying out loud.'
The shark was already at the surface again. This time, it sped forward, ready to tear Leo's body into pieces, but Leo wasn't going to wait for the waves to save him this time.
He dived back into the ocean, but he didn't go deep. He stayed just under the churning surface, where the white foam met the black brine. The Sagittarius tore through the water above him, its massive tail-fin creating a vacuum that nearly sucked Leo back up into its path.
Leo watched the shadow pass. The shark was faster, stronger, and had more teeth, but it was too big to handle the sudden shifts of the Tide.
Leo kicked his legs, driving himself toward the surface again. He breached the water, gasping, and found himself at the base of a rising wall of water. The wave was lifting him up, higher and higher toward that cracked, empty sky.
The shark followed. It burst from the water like a missile, its body arcing through the air.
Leo felt the heat on his back start to burn again. The closer he got to the firmament, the more the air felt like a furnace. He looked up and saw it clearly this time—it was a thin golden line that separated the cracked firmament from the water, radiating an insurmountable amount of heat.
A huge glob of black goo fell from above. It hit the field right above Leo's head. The goo vanished into steam the moment it touched the line, and the heat from the impact hit Leo like a physical blow. It was the same force that had slammed him down before.
…And it did it again.
Fortunately, he missed the shark by a cat's whisker and slammed back into the ocean. Inside the veil of darkness, an idea surged into Leo's mind; all he had to do was recreate this exact same scene, or one very similar to it.
With renewed hope, he swam back to the surface and drew the attention of the shark, which had already fallen back into the ocean. The shark roared and surged forward. At that moment, Leo also noticed a wave coming directly at him from the right. He trusted his calculations and, alas, the wave reached him before the shark could sink its maw into his head.
The wave carried Leo up for a moment and thrashed him back into the ocean. The shark followed. Leo immediately swam back up to meet the momentum of a wave rising from another direction. This wave was much larger, carrying Leo and throwing him toward the force field at amazing speed. The shark flew out of the ocean again, recreating the previous scene.
Leo saw the thin line, but this time, he was ready. Instead of fighting the pressure, he tucked his body into a ball and let the downward force of the steam blast him toward the shark.
The Sagittarius was mid-jump, its mouth open wide. It expected Leo to be crushed by the gravity or the heat. It didn't expect him to come flying at it like a stone.
Leo slammed into the shark's snout.
The heat still clinging to Leo's burnt back acted like a brand. When he touched the monster's skin, the smell of burnt meat filled the air. The shark let out a muffled roar and thrashed, its momentum carrying it sideways.
Both of them crashed back into the water.
Leo was dazed. His ribs felt like they were made of glass. He was being tossed left to right, right to left. The dark emotions—the dread and the despair—were screaming in his ears, telling him to just let go, to let the water take him.
'Shut up,' Leo growled, swallowing a mouthful of salt.
He looked at his stump of an arm. It was white and numb from the cold water. He looked at the shark, which was struggling to right itself a few meters away. Its snout was black and smoking from the heat Leo had transferred to it.
"Is that all?" Leo choked out, a bloody smile on his face. "You're a legend, right? Then act like one and die properly!"
The Sagittarius sensed the change in him. Instead of lunging, it circled the frail human. It watched the one-armed man who refused to sink.
Around them, the Tide of Seas grew even more violent. The North and South currents collided, forming a massive whirlpool that began to suck everything toward the center. Debris, black water, and the black goo that managed to vaporize near the field—all of it was being pulled into a spinning abyss.
Leo and the shark were trapped in the same circle.
One of them was going to die today.
Leo spat. 'Like hell it will be me.'