Undying Will

He looked appreciatively at his opponent, a level of respect for another person that he had only felt for a few others.

"I must ask out of blatant curiosity, why am I still standing now? I know you held back with that last attack, but even then, I"m sure that what you displayed isn"t your true strength." He said as his eyes gleamed.

Lorean opened his mouth to answer before quickly clamping it down. These people had a leverage on him that he did not feel like admitting to a stranger.

"No reason old timer." Lorean quipped before looking at him sharply. "Unless you want me to actually attack you? I don"t mind doing that, but I don"t want to waste too much time so I"ll go all out if I have to." He warned as he looked at the cowering men with a guarded expression.

He was mostly just acting strange on purpose so the opposition did not make out any of his goals through some form of super deduction. He did not know if that was a thing and wasn"t too keen on finding out.

"Wing leader what are you doing?! Attack him!" The cowardly pile of refuse that was Rapunga called out, hurriedly clutching the pole of his tent, visibly quailing at the tempestuous glance that a few of the men who had retreated from the front line shot at him.

Lorean raised his brow at his annoyed opponent, uncaring of the remarks that some other outsiders decided to throw out.

With a defeated sigh Bruma looked over at him. "Well, you heard the man, and though we"re pretty much equally qualified, he still makes a whit of sense. If I don"t stop you now you"ll go on to terrorize the inner circle.

I can"t allow that. So please" And with a motion of his hands he brought his sword back up. "You first."

Lorean nodded mostly mute and indifferent to the entire situation. "Well you asked for it, so let me kindly oblige!"

With a sudden shift in expression his back seemed to straighten up, an invisible aura seeming to begin its emission from his person. The men around him recalled as an irrational surge of fear shot through their bent bodies.

With a feral roar of stirred up wind he released his conqueror"s Haki. A wave of aura blasting out. Everyone that the aura touched crumpled down, a few unwilling the rest unaware. The only one that still stood was the man that he had been facing.

And even he was wound up in a level of antic.i.p.ation at the eventuality of the battle.

"Hoh? You did not fall? I was quite sure of my Haki. Well all that means is that I need to train it harder, and it"s been quite a while since I let it free so why not?" Lorean said, the later parts of his sentence more to himself than his enemy.

Bruma licked his lips in antic.i.p.ation as he shot forward aiming to strike at his open opponent. He knew in his gut that the move wouldn"t work, but still he had to try.

As he came into range of his younger foe, he suddenly felt a weight that he imagined could only be felt if one were to hold up the sky press onto his back. With a groan he fell to his knees, the momentum of his charge sc.r.a.ping his kneecaps on the floor.

The pressure around him was suffocating. As he looked up, he could see a faint silhouette of a faceless figure that glowered down at him. With a surge of Haki the figure seemed to rise, and as Bruma lost consciousness, the last thing he saw was the gleam of a single eye judging his very existence...

***********

The eye in the room had turned inward, closed, patiently waiting for the smell of blood to become appealing enough to make a move. Its thrall had begin to move, cutting through the chaff with ease, but it wasn"t enough.

The eye was hungry, so hungry..

The most it could do was savor its fantasies of sweat and soft flesh that would melt between its teeth. Usually it would not bother to move, simply opening its huge gullet to swallow all that was sacrificed to it.

But it had been awoken, yet no one fed it! These insects simply waved blood and gore over its closed nostrils before taking it away! IT was Infuriated!

The eye shot open, gleaming with a madness that a man would only ever see in the eyes of another who had been forced to cannibalism to survive.

FOOD!

As the water level surged the eye seemed to pierce through the wall. Through a fog of memories it remembered. The face of its thrall, the smell of the thralls flesh, the smell of addled breath over its open maw.

If possible it grew crazier, but a hint of sanity had returned to the solitary eye. With a lazy swirl of its lens it closed shut, calming its hunger pangs.

Moving would be too much of a ha.s.sle. It would wait for its thrall to appear before having a feast!

The solitary eye in the room slowly opened up, a mottled green hew that bellied an intelligence that was frightening. But as it did, it felt a swirl in the air, a new scent!

A tastier scent!

With intrigue it shot open fully, the pond no longer being water, instead fully comprised of a single solitary eye.

As it did an invisible aura sought to free itself from its long seized body. It remembered this aura, it could not possibly not respond! All thoughts of food had left its mind, as from the deepest recesses of its mind a command to move appeared.

The old fossil began to churn outward, its limbs that had remained stationary for centuries finally twitched. As it twitched the nest that it housed felt turbulence in the water behind it.

The patrons of the nest moved in unison like they had all been given a command. The nest father could not be moved!

*****

Tiamat felt a turbulence in the water as his gills flattened at the side of his head. His instincts screamed at him, and just as quickly as it began it quieted. the illusory waves that it had felt in the water began to become corporal as t.i.tanic figure appeared from the bottom of the island.

The patrons had arrived!

With a screech Tiamat warned his fellow kin, stretched his neck and glared menacingly at the approaching force.

As the first patrons face breached the front of the water the sea kings charged, a duo squaring off against a single serpent. Tiamat himself leading the charge and getting a first hit on the hard scaled snake.

His pointed face sharply pierced through the grayish brown scales on the creature"s head as hateful red eyes glared back at him. With a sharp snap of his teeth he circled around the form of the snake tearing at its skin.

Around him all the other sea kings too attacked. Not letting the gargantuan snakes even fully recover from being bashed onto, they fought them with a fervor and vigor that curbed the snakes" momentum.

The one that Tiamat attacked with another eel-like sea king with pink scales finally roared, its voice tearing through the air and seemingly signaling to the other Yuda. As a collection the others too roared, invigorating the savage sea kings , for they took it as a display of pain.

But that was not to be. The attack might have been able to threaten the younger Yuda, but it was only scratches to the older ones. The onslaught had at this point served only as a point of annoyance.

Had it not been for the target of the sea serpents being on the island , they would have charged right back at the sea king horde. Their fangs sinking into their soft juvenile scales and their venom melting through their innards.

The patrons were not called the fiercest of the nest for no reason. As the leader finally brought itself to its full height, it had the satisfaction of seeing its attackers cower, well most of them, the smallest still seemed keen on antagonizing it.

With unreal speeds the patron Yuda shot forward, its jaws salivating as it spread wide enough to swallow a sea king whole!

Luckily however, Tiamat seemed to have expected that. With a mighty twist he swam out of the way, quickly jumping over the serpentine arc to savagely bite onto the s.h.a.ggy head of the serpent.

Now the snake screamed, not out of anger or annoyance but out of pain. As Tiamat had bitten onto the snake"s crown, a younger and bluer sea king had snapped harshly onto its neck.

With a twist of its head the blue sea king brought the older Yuda twirling around, foam and sea spray bursting through the air as a whip lash noise echoed out of the place where the serpent made contact with the water.

Tiamat held on for dear life, his death grasp not letting up. The huge tumult that had overturned the Yuda had also brought him closer to the snake"s brain, and Tiamat was desperate to partake!

With a final bellow of aggression the blue sea king curled itself around the Yuda"s neck, clenching its only limb hard around the weakest portion of the scaly monstrosity.

The Yuda balked as its jaws were forced open by the sudden force, long enough for the pink eel like sea king to surge forward and bite into its soft and weak tongue.

Then with a mighty heave it pulled outward, dragging the pink thin piece of meat through its twin gate like teeth and below its mean jaw.

As the Yuda began to rise, the blue sea king quickly uncurled itself, biting hard into the weak scales and into the more tender muscle beneath. As it fell the outer scales were peeled back and the Yuda screeched.

With a final bellow of rage, Tiamat who had been nibbling at the snake"s head finally reached past the skull. The eel like Yuda screeched outward as sparks began to fly off its tail.

With a quick motion Tiamat jumped off the monstrosity and flopped into the foaming water next to the panting blue sea king.

With a crackle of electricity through the eel"s body the serpent arced backward, a strong smell of burnt flesh and alcohol began to spread through the air. With a final week bellow the Yuda fell, its eyes closing in pain as it roasted.

Tiamat glanced around him, his eyes staring at all the other Yuda patrons that still swam in the open waters.

"Don"t bite off more than you can chew they said….How smart…"