Tides Of Protomis XCVII

The Beast of the Depths.

While the other battles continued across the nation, Miyamoto found herself away from any urban area. Rather, she was walking within a forest with titanic trees that mostly blocked out any sunlight, no doubt the work of the deceased lifeweaver. After all, trees like this did not naturally occur, in Yamato at least. The girl’s eyes darted around the forest canopy, as well as on the ground around her. Thankfully, due to her heightened vision, she was able to keep watch for any opponents.

“Alright, they should be around here… I can definitely sense a demon nearby.”

Her intent was to get the first attack in and take control of the battle from the start. That much would help her win this battle, and considering she didn’t know anything about this opponent, she would need everything she could get. The girl began moving through the forest as quickly as possible but kept a low profile. No time spent standing in one place, no wasted movements. She was well aware that her opponent was likely trying to do the same thing. Made evident by a jet of pressurized liquid flying toward her. The woman sensed this almost immediately and sidestepped it. But the attack did not stop there, four more came, and she was quick to weave around them. Eventually, another came from behind her. As soon as she noted it, Miyamoto flipped over the beam, continuing on her course until she faced the direction it came from.

It was only then that she sent a palm forward, launching a burst of demonic energy toward the attacker’s current spot. The damage to the area was about what one would expect of a proto-human, but it didn’t hit her mark. But it gave her some success, as the attacking demon had finally revealed themselves. Standing on one above the surviving trees, just beyond the range of the attack. A humanoid being covered with scales. Gray on his back and head but white over the torso. It had rows of dagger-like teeth, as well as a Dorsal fin on its back. Finally, it spoke, a deepened voice reverberating from its throat.

“There you are, Junko Miyamoto. First, I must thank you for letting us enter this realm… I’ve tasted many demons before, and I must admit, I was looking for something new… We never got much information about the human realm, but how its inhabitants tasted was always interesting, considering how much some of us sang praise. You will be a good sample for the great Charchadon..”

In the midst of this, Miyamoto found herself increasingly uninterested, especially as he went on to speak about eating humans. Before he could begin speaking once more, she let out words of her own, cutting him off.

“Why are you telling me this? I don’t care why you’re here. I just know that you have to leave! And for the record, I’m not going to be a sample!”

Miyamoto shot forward, demonic energy whirling around her hand. Something which was met by the demon preparing himself for the oncoming attack, ducking under a left hook, and evading a punch from her right. He stood upright once more, opening his maw, and preparing to strike once more, but Miyamoto was quicker, and the demon found himself swept off his feet and falling. A fist jabbed into his torso as he fell. But, he was not content to keep taking these hits and returned with a strike to her stomach. The two fighters promptly found themselves being pushed back by their opponent’s attacks. But they were not done with their melee just yet. They rebounded and entered melee range once more, and it was here that they found themselves locked in battle once more. Charchadon swiped his muscular tail at Miyamoto, hitting her with no small amount of force. In the same way, did a return strike from the woman shake his frame.

A stream of high-speed attacks came from both as they tried to whittle down their opponent’s defenses and gain any advantage they could without revealing what they were capable of, not yet, at least.

“Impressive…” Charchadon mumbled. The demon opened his maw wide as demonic energy built within him. Something which did not go unnoticed by Miyamoto, who watched intently. She bent her knees, prepared to leap out of the way at any moment.

“Typhoon Cannon!!!”

A jet of water, significantly larger than those before, spiraled out of the Shark Demon’s jaw. The sudden change brought some surprise to Miyamoto. She attempted to leap out of the way but found her leg caught in the range of the jet. Which led to a wound being left as the high-pressure water tore through her skin. The woman flew through the air, landing about 50 feet from her previous spot.

“Perhaps, you will be a better morsel than I predicted…” Miyamoto almost felt like restating the fact that she wasn’t food once more, but there was little time for that. Charchadon had already turned his head and fired off another Typhoon cannon. Only to be met with the woman hopping away once more. Now, she began moving from tree to tree, as more streams of water barreled toward her as she moved. During all this, however, she began acting upon a different plan. Starting a slow but steady approach toward the shark demon. The creature continued firing, seemingly, none the wiser until she was right above him… At that moment, she put both palms forward.

“Akuma Ray!!!”

A flash of demon energy flew from her palms and descended upon Charchadon. He was forced to stop firing his beams and jump back, moving out of the way. The ray obliterated the earth under him. The demon maneuvered through the air, his feet landing upon the tree trunk behind him, promptly destroyed as he rebounded, prepared to strike at the opponent once more. Miyamoto did the same, charging toward him as well. The two launched their strikes at the very exact moment.

Which promptly resulted in both hitting their targets. The two recoiled for a moment, returning to a melee shortly after. The shark demon swiped at her with his tail once more. She sidestepped before trying to drive her elbow into his back. The attack failed, however, as he turned and struck her with a left hook, sending her reeling…

It was only then that the two finally broke up their melee, deciding to reassess their strategies. Miyamoto wiped the blood off her lips, considering what she’d learned throughout the battle.

“If I keep fighting like this, this battle goes nowhere. He can handle himself physically… And that attack he used earlier will be a problem if I stay at range… I need a way to end this quickly. A construct may be the way.”

With all this considered, Miyamoto’s hand began to glow as she prepared to form one of her weapons. But, it seemed that her opponent had other plans… Charchadon’s eyes glowed a bright yellow, and the space around them began to warp, something that the woman hadn’t noticed until the aftereffects of this technique became clear. Soon, both fighters found that they were enveloped in a murky, dark liquid. Miyamoto’s eyes widened in surprise as her mouth snapped shut to keep any of said liquid from entering her.

“What is this?! It’s definitely not water. If it had been, I could've easily gotten out of this… I can barely even move!”

Being completely immobile and now having lost sight of her opponent, this didn’t bode well for her. She had a sinking feeling that the battle was going to get a lot worse from here, something that wasn’t entirely incorrect, given how the shark demon moved through the space with ease, his tail helping in this regard.

“It doesn’t matter how strong you are. You won’t be attacking with this technique…You shall know the power of the depths.”

He swam directly toward Miyamoto, landing a strike on her face as he swam past. Before she had time to fully register it, he returned again, striking her stomach with his head, making the woman double over. The onslaught only continued from there, a cycle of charging and receding. The damage continued to build each time, as well as her opponent’s speed. The woman was between a rock and a hard place, something she acknowledged.

"I need to get out of this, and fast...If not, it really will be a problem…"

Eyecatch

Part B

“There has to be something… I don’t know how this liquid will affect it, and I’d rather not waste energy. But I don’t have much of a choice.”

Now, Miyamoto Let demon energy build in her palm, leading to some amount of light making it toward her, somewhat better than the near pitch black she was in before… She could move just enough to bring one of her arms up, though it was not without effort. It was then that she attempted to fire another ray. While it managed to go forward a little distance and make ripples in the water, as it did so, it ultimately began to dissipate. As she noted this, she cursed in her mind, doing so again as she found herself stuck multiple times by the very opponent who trapped her here, who soon swam away once more.

“I’ll need to do something else. To me, it seems as if he’s trying to prolong the battle on purpose, trying to get enjoyment more than he’s trying to win… In this situation, I’d need something that doesn’t need a constant stream of energy from me to remain active and can move fast enough to possibly catch him.”

Then, it came to her… A harpoon, she’d made spear constructs beforehand, sure, the shape was a bit different, but it was ultimately a similar concept. That was it, but she’d need to end this quickly, one shot, one kill. She would need to throw him off, however. It wasn’t as if he knew of her knack for strategy. A large attack could quickly be passed off as a desperate final stand… To that end, a red luminance built around her once more. At first, it was faint, but this changed as time passed. Growing brighter and brighter, something that Charchadon noted almost immediately.

“One last stand, Hm? You can try that if you want, but you’ll still end up a meal.”

With this much said, Charchadon charges once again. This time, however, his maw opened, revealing his dagger-like teeth, which were implanted into the skin and muscle of Miyamoto’s shoulder. Leading to blood flowing into the liquid that surrounded the two. Regardless, Miyamoto continued to charge her feint in one hand, while truthfully, most of said energy went to the other, which seemed to hang uselessly. Charchadon, none the wiser, did not relent, kicking her away as he removed her from his vice-like jaw. Something the woman certainly felt, but she kept her teeth gritted all the same. Then, Charchadon changed his pattern, swimming under and then behind, before kicking her in the opposite direction.

“Now, I shall end this!!!”

As Charchadon charged forth, another beam of demonic energy barreled toward him.

“That’s my line! AKUMAAA- RAYYY!!!”

The man looked upon this with a toothed grin as he simply moved out of the way. And closed in on her once more… While Miyamoto simply waited, and waited, until it was ready. A Harpoon, formed of red light, appeared in her hand in a single moment. Which was promptly launched like a Javelin, shearing through the scales on the demon’s torso and piercing right through, sending him reeling, caught by surprise. While injured, he was not dead, not just yet. However, the plan succeeded in giving her the space she needed to make her escape. More Akuma rays were promptly fired, pushing her further and further out of the area. Until she’d finally gotten out of the black liquid. The shark demon stopped his flight backward as he prepared to attack her once more.

“Tch… No matter- I’ll just condense the space there as well… You’ve only temporarily avoided death.”

“Alright, now, I’ll need to finish this. I need full power. That attack wasn’t nearly enough.”

With no more words, another Akuma Ray was fired off, the size of the beam increasing, as did its speed, and power, with more of Miyamoto’s energy consumed as she did so… Apparently, she made the right call, with the shark demon preparing to expand his space. But, instead, he was met with a red light barrelling toward him and, promptly, was enveloped by the attack and carried out. Which resulted in the depths dissipating without their creator. The demon himself, however, managed to stand against Miyamoto's blast long enough to fly above her, firing off more typhoon cannons. But, once more, she began to weave around them, only cut slightly by the attacks. She began soaring toward the demon again, only to find herself submerged in the same liquid... She was back to square one. But she didn't plan on remaining that way for long. As Charchadon plunged into the liquid, he began advancing, prepared to end this.

“Die!!!”

The beast opened his mouth wide, prepared to take a chunk out of her... But she was ready for that and knew what to do next. She used the weapon she’d left inside him as he came close. Grabbing hold of the shaft and increasing the size of the cutting edge. Before she swiped downward, turning what was once a simple stab wound into a cut that went down the length of the creature’s body… Now, she’d finally achieved her goal. The demon began scattering into red particles, signifying that he was finally dead, much to her relief.

“That… It wasn’t easy. But I couldn't expect anything less… It’s time to get a move on. No time to rest now.”

Miyamoto begins flying the other way. Reflecting on both her battle with that creature and the earlier one with that general… it went without saying that most people, even most proto-humans were not at the levels of her and her allies. And given what Hyperion had taught her about the Denizens of the other realm, the level of strength that one had just displayed didn’t bode well.

“There’s no doubt… A Lot of people are going to die today… Not just in Yamato.”

To Be Continued