The leaders stood frozen, the intermittent screams in the background echoing like distant thunder. The air was thick with tension, a suffocating silence broken only by the occasional cry of terror.
Aelius spoke in a faint voice, barely audible over the chaos:
"Any orders, Lord?"
Valeras didn't respond immediately. He blinked, his mind struggling to process the question. Then, in a hoarse, almost broken voice, he muttered:
"Orders? What order could possibly get us out of this hellish mess?"
"My lord?"
He glanced at the leaders, then turned his gaze forward again, toward the colossal nightmare looming in the distance.
"No... I have no idea what a being like that could do, but from what I've heard... it's the creature known as the Grasp of the Ocean."
"The Grasp of the Ocean...?" Gamora repeated, his voice trembling.
Just two words, but they struck like a hammer to the skull.
"Damn, what does it even eat? A creature like that..." Obala muttered, his voice trailing off.
"It neither hungers nor is satiated," Valeras replied, his tone grim. "It is... the wrath of the ocean itself, and it has come to end us."
The leaders' heartbeats quickened, their chests pounding as if their hearts were trying to escape before their bodies met their doom.
No one dared to speak. The suffocating silence among them wasn't just fear—it was a collective shock, a paralysis that couldn't be shaken off.
But Valeras, despite the terror coiling around his throat like a serpent, despite the aura that made him feel as though he were already dead, began to shout:
"I demand one of you send my message through a soldier to the capital! We need immediate reinforcements!"
"But, lord... I don't think that—" Levar started, his voice shaky.
"Fuck you! Just send it!" Valeras roared, his voice cutting through the doubt but not the fear.
He knew... he knew reinforcements wouldn't arrive in time. But deep inside, he had to do something, to grasp at any thread, to seize any opportunity, even if it was impossible.
He muttered to himself, 'At least, I'll die a satisfied death... having use every chance... fighting until my last breath.'
Then... a roar.
It wasn't just a sound—it was a sonic earthquake that split the air from the far south to the farthest north. The roar reverberated in every particle of existence, as if the entire ocean had taken a deep breath in preparation for an explosion.
Valeras' stomach churned.
'By hell... if all this is happening while its mouth is closed... what will happen when it opens fully?'
Slowly, its lower jaw descended, unhurried, as if the entire universe had to witness this moment.
The air began to rush toward it, powerful currents like an invisible hurricane. The ground beneath them shook, and the soldiers felt their feet being pulled slightly forward...
That terrifying roar? It happened while its mouth was still closed. What if...?
No one dared to imagine the answer.
---
17,000 Feet Away!
Egologia stood motionless, his eyes fixed, bulging, widening with every passing second. He had seen the creature, and he was trying to convince himself that what he saw wasn't a creature... but a moving continent coming toward him.
Then, his mind whispered something he never thought he'd say:
'I'm going to die.'
He stepped back.
One foot after the other, his body moving without his permission, as if his instincts had taken control.
'Damn... I'm going to die... I need to escape... this is impossible... I'm in hell.'
His throat trembled, his mouth completely dry, even his saliva abandoning him.
One step... another... then—
He bumped into something behind him.
He turned sharply, startled, his trembling gaze meeting the face of a royal soldier. But the soldier looked like a man who had lost everything.
His eyes were lifeless, hopeless, filled with chilling shock. As if he were witnessing the end of the world itself.
Then…
The beast breathed.
The ground, the hills, the forests—everything began to be drawn toward that massive open mouth. Terrifying air currents, as if the entire sky was being sucked into it, as if the world had lost its weight, as if they were all nothing but dust in the wind.
The air was being pulled.
Then, suddenly, the roar of the ocean surged.
A roar that wasn't just heard... but felt.
They saw it. They felt it.
It was like a bright glow, embodied winds, a storm of unimaginable speed, crushing everything in its path.
The hills? Gone.
The forests? Vanished.
The ground? Wiped away.
Death itself was advancing, and nothing could stop it.
---
Gamora's Stand!
Gamora alone, among everyone, moved.
His body twisted quickly, and he jumped!
In that moment, he was already in the sky.
The immense pressure approached, but Gamora raised his hands high, as if they were a curtain covering the sky itself.
"[Zone!]"
A patch extended for miles, glowing green...
But he felt it in that moment... he felt that savage pressure entering the Zone, but inside that Zone, it wasn't moving without resistance...
Gamora screamed.
"Come on... Fuck!! Come on, Magins.... I'm dying here!"
They moved immediately.
The elite Magins, the supporters of Zirafin, all of them jumped at the same moment.
Their auras surged, bursting forth like green flames, pure energy surrounding Gamora, increasing his weight, his control, his ability to withstand the attack.
But he...
Was...
Struggling.
Valeras watched, his heart sinking as Gamora, the capable man, began to vomit blood.
His muscles tore.
His skin bled from everywhere, as if he were collapsing from the inside out.
"This... isn't enough," Ash muttered, his voice filled with despair.
Egologia watched too, his face pale with terror.
This was their punishment.
Then…
Gamora screamed.
But this time, it wasn't just pain.
It was rage.
"Damn you all! Zirafin is immortal!"
Gamora was no longer human in that moment—he was a volcano of flesh and bones, trapped in his own hell.
He raised his hands higher, his eyes widening as if split from the pressure, his breaths a deadly rattle. But despite that... he did not fall.
Instead, his Zone glowed brighter... and brighter... and brighter.
He screamed, but his voice wasn't weakness—it was the sound of a man tearing apart the limits of his humanity.
The Zone began to consume the storm, the sharp winds losing their momentum. They were no longer advancing... Gamora had stopped them.
The soldiers watched. Some knelt, others retreated unconsciously, but everyone... everyone was watching.
Then—"You did it, man!" Valeras' shout pierced the field.
His eyes blazed like fire. "Throw it back at them now! Throw it back at their heads, show them the beast of Zirafin!!"
Gamora, despite the blood, despite the pain, despite every part of him collapsing, smiled.
But…
Something else happened.
A rumble.
No... not a rumble.
But... another earthquake in the air itself.
Another strike came!
!