The deep sea trembles.
-
Cold currents twist violently as El-Mond
recoils, his massive shark body gliding
backward in pure instinct.
-
"What… are you!? What do you want!?"
-
His voice echoes through the abyss
but the thing before him offers no reply.
-
Then
-
A surge of blue energy explodes outward.
-
It seeps into his flesh.
Through bone.
Through blood.
Through instinct.
-
His entire body ignites with a glowing
azure pulse.
-
El-Mond's eyes widen.
-
What was that!?
-
His thoughts barely form before
something changes.
-
The ocean speaks to him.
-
Vibrations sharp, distant cut through the silence.
-
Fighting.
Three hundred meters away.
-
El-Mond freezes.
-
I can hear… that far!?
-
A slow, stunned breath escapes him.
-
"Incredible… such keen hearing."
-
His body reacts before his mind does.
-
With a single powerful thrust,
he rockets forward
-
Then halts instantly, water exploding
outward from the sudden stop.
-
His heart pounds.
-
"It's not just my hearing…"
-
He looks down at himself.
-
Muscle tighter.
Movement cleaner.
Power coiled like a loaded spear.
-
He swims again.
-
This time
-
The ocean blurs.
-
Sound itself struggles to keep up.
-
El-Mond's eyes sharpen, vision cutting
through darkness like a blade.
A quarter mile ahead becomes clear.
-
"This is incredible!"
A low laugh escapes him, equal parts awe and hunger.
-
"All this… from killing just one shark?"
-
A dangerous smile curves across his thoughts.
-
"How strong will I become if I kill more?"
-
The sound of battle grows violent.
-
El-Mond slows as he nears, stopping just
outside the chaos.
-
He watches.
-
Two Great White Sharks clash against a
towering shadow
-
An Orca.
-
Blood clouds the water as the Orca roars.
-
"You bastards! You think you can fight me just because there are two of you?"
"Don't make me laugh."
-
With monstrous speed, the Orca vanishes
-
Reappearing beside one shark.
-
A thunderous tail slam sends it spiraling away as the Orca's jaws snap down, biting deep into the other.
-
But
-
The catapulted shark recovers.
-
Too fast.
-
It rams into the Orca, sending the massive predator crashing backward.
-
The shark speaks.
-
"Indeed… we would normally be no match for you, Rick."
"But we are not the same as before."
-
The Orca's confident expression fractures.
-
Worry flickers.
-
The bitten shark's wounds knit together
at an unnatural speed.
-
Both sharks charge.
-
The Orca swings its tail
-
but one shark clamps its jaws down mid-motion, biting deep into the Orca's tail.
-
The second shark darts sideways, spins, and rockets the Orca into a jagged undersea rock.
-
Stone shatters.
-
The shark follows up, jaws wide, aiming to tear
-
but the Orca counters.
-
It lunges forward and bites into the shark's pectoral fin, slamming it brutally into the rock.
-
The second shark rushes.
-
The Orca twists, doves and with its
injured tail, rockets the attacker into its
companion in the rock, which collapses
to the seabed with them.
-
Rubble explodes outward.
-
Both sharks emerge.
-
But
-
One does not heal.
-
The shark with the damaged pectoral fin
bleeds freely.
-
The Orca grins.
-
Slow.
Predatory.
-
"What's this…?"
-
Its voice drops to a whisper.
-
"Not healing?"
-
From the darkness, unseen
-
El-Mond watches.
-
His eyes narrow.
-
"…What?.
Not healing…?"
-
The blue energy within him pulses faintly.
-
The ocean holds its breath.
-
To Be Continued…
[END SCENE]
——————
.
.
Continuing
——————
——
[Apex THE PREDATOR]
———
The ocean trembles.
A massive shadow cuts through the deep like a living missile.
-
"Ooh… it seems you're running low on
energy, huh?"
-
A cruel grin spreads across the Orca's face,
teeth gleaming white against the dark sea.
-
"I'm gonna rip you both to shreds!"
-
With a thunderous burst, the Orca
rockets forward target locked on
the shark with the torn pectoral fin.
-
But at that very instant
-
The two sharks split.
-
One veers left.
The other bolts right.
-
The Orca laughs, exhilarated,
blood roaring in his ears as prey flees
before him.
-
"Pathetic."
-
He turns sharply to the right.
-
BOOM
-
The sea explodes behind him
as he accelerates,
jaws opening wider and wider,
darkness folding inward like death itself
as he descends upon the injured shark.
-
Just as his shadow engulfs it
-
RAM!!!
-
A violent impact slams into the Orca's side.
-
The shark that fled left crashes into him
like a living spear, teeth sinking deep into flesh.
-
Blood blooms in the water.
-
The Orca roars.
-
It was never a retreat.
-
It was bait.
-
"You cowardly bastards!!"
-
His scream twists into a howl of pain
as the injured shark suddenly
surges forward too SLAMMING BITING
DRIVING
-
Together,they ram the Orca
straight into a jagged sea rock.
-
CRASH!!!
Stone fractures. Coral shatters.
-
The Orca bursts free, blood flooding his
vision, rage drowning reason.
He ignores the wounds tearing into his body
and lunges
-
SNAP!!!
-
His jaws clamp down on the injured shark.
-
The shark screams as its side is ripped
open, flesh torn apart, body hurled away
like a broken doll.
-
But before the Orca can breathe
-
A blur.
-
The second shark spins and
smashes him into the rocks again,
jaws snapping viciously into the Orca's head.
-
"LET'S DIE TOGETHER!!"
-
The ragged shark
launches itself with everything it has left
-
CRUNCH!!!
-
Its teeth crash into the Orca's side head.
-
An eye shatters.
-
Blood erupts like a storm.
-
And then
-
A new presence.
-
"This… is a great opportunity to strengthen myself."
-
A cold grin forms.
-
El-Mond.
-
At the speed of sound,
his body becomes a streak of silver-white
light.
-
ROCKET
RAM!!!
-
His jaws refined, evolved
slam into the Orca's opposite side.
-
CRUNCH!!!
-
Bone caves. Flesh collapses.
-
El-Mond doesn't stop.
-
He accelerates again
One strike.
-
He tears into the remaining shark's
already-destroyed side, ending its life
in a single merciless bite.
-
The ocean falls silent.
-
Blood drifts.
-
A mechanical chime echoes through
El-Mond's mind.
-
Ding!
Congratulations to the Host.
Body Evolution Complete.
Rank Achieved: Earl-Class Apex White Shark.
-
El-Mond exhales slowly.
-
"Mmm… I feel even stronger now."
-
His eyes gleam with restrained hunger.
-
"I feel like.
I might be able to kill that Orca… if I fought
it alone."
-
A pause.
-
"No… I shouldn't get conceited.
I'm still very weak."
-
His eyes narrows, steel teeth glitters,
grining.
"Its time to start the hunt."
-
He turns, disappearing into the dark
currents.
-
THREE MONTHS LATER SOUTH SEA
-
The sea floor changes.
-
A colossal littoral cave rises like a
submerged kingdom, carved into stone
and coral. Within it stands a throne silver, ancient, dominant.
-
Upon it sits a king.
-
A towering figure half man, half Orca
muscles coiled like iron cables,
a single massive pectoral fin on his back, a powerful tail resting beneath the throne.
-
Before him kneels another
an Orca warrior, also half-human.
-
"Your Majesty," the subordinate says,
voice low with respect.
-
"It has been reported that the last place Captain Rick was seen heading… was the northern part of the sea."
-
The king's eyes narrow.
-
"The former Great White territory?"
-
His fist tightens.
-
"What is he doing there?"
His voice drops, heavy with fury.
"Did we not slaughter every last Great White in that region?"
-
The throne trembles as he slams his fist down...
-
"Is he trying to find that thing again?!"
The sea outside the cave shudders.
-
TO BE CONTINUED…