The entire forest went silent. The water in the river made no noise anymore. The fireflies disappeared.
On the edge of the river stood one of the mighty Obsidian Seraphs herself, The Mermaid.
She had walked the earth since before the mountains bore names, since before mortal tongues had words for fear, and yet she wore the flesh of a maiden barely twenty summers old, as though time itself dared not touch her. Her skin held the pallor of drowned things, bone-white and cold, stretched over a beauty too perfect to be kind. Her eyes were dark as flooded tombs, twin pools that swallowed light and gave nothing back. From the sides of her skull rose long, finned ears, curling like something born in the deepest parts of the sea. She was dressed in black silk so old that it seemed woven from midnight itself. The cloth clung to her body like a second skin, untouched by age despite the centuries that had passed.
There was something wrong about her beauty. It was not the kind that made people admire her. It was the kind that made people want to run.
The air around her felt cold.
Wherever she passed, the air soured. Candles guttered without wind. Prayers died unspoken on the lips of the faithful. She did not merely bring death. She was its herald, its oldest and most patient servant, wicked beyond the reckoning of men.
For centuries, stories about the river goddess had been passed from one generation to another. Some called her a protector. Others called her a monster. Some believed she was a divine being who punished those who disrespected the river. But looking at her now, none of those stories seemed enough.
She looked less like a goddess and more like something that had crawled out of an ancient nightmare.
When she had been inside the river, her lower body had been that of a fish, covered in smooth scales that shimmered beneath the water. But now that she stood upon the land, something impossible was happening. The scales slowly faded away, and the tail began to change.
The long shape divided.
Bones shifted.
The scales disappeared.
Within moments, two pale, human-like legs stood beneath the black silk.
The mermaid took one slow step forward.
The ground beneath her feet became wet.
Another step.
The river behind her moved as if following her command.
Gorochi fell to the ground as soon as he saw her. His hands shook violently as he tried to crawl backward. The surviving soldiers wanted to run, but their bodies refused to obey. Their feet felt frozen to the earth. Some dropped their weapons. Others could only stare at the creature standing before them.
Inside the broken cage, Eamon, Damien, Roneth, and Haizer remained completely still.
Eamon's heart pounded.
Only a few days ago, he had learned that an Obsidian Seraph might be living somewhere within this river. At that time, the discovery had filled him with hope. He had thought that fate had finally given him another chance to move closer to breaking his curse.
He had imagined finding the mermaid.
He had imagined fighting her.
He had imagined defeating her.
But now, standing in front of her, he understood how foolish those thoughts had been because not in his wildest thoughts he imagined encountering the mermaid now, in this state.
His body was covered in wounds. His blood had barely stopped flowing. His strength had not fully returned, even after consuming the Pulam Lilies. Damien was injured. Roneth was badly wounded.
They had barely survived Haizer.
And now something far more terrifying stood before them.
Eamon swallowed.
He knew it immediately.
He could not fight her.
Not now.
Maybe not even at his strongest.
The mermaid's presence alone was enough to tell him that she stood on another level. She was not simply skilled with water magic. She seemed connected to it. The river moved when she moved. The moisture in the air gathered around her. Even the drops of blood on the ground slowly began to slide toward her feet.
She was not merely using water.
She controlled it.
The mermaid slowly raised one hand.
Nobody understood what she was doing.
Then she moved her arm sideways.
A thin line of water appeared in the air.
For one brief moment, it looked harmless.
Then it moved.
The wave shot forward with terrifying speed.
Eamon's eyes widened.
"Down!"
Everyone inside the cage immediately dropped.
The soldiers outside were too frightened to react.
The water blade passed through the forest.
Trees split.
Branches fell.
The ground was carved apart.
And then the wave struck Gorochi's cage.
There was no explosion.
No loud crash.
The cage simply split apart.
The magical structure that had required a Tier 4 spell or higher to break was cut cleanly through the middle as if it had been made from thin glass.
The upper half of the cage slid away.
The lower half collapsed.
Gorochi had already fallen to the ground, so the wave passed just above his head.
The soldiers were not so lucky.
Several of them were struck directly.
Their bodies were cut in half at the waist.
For a moment, they remained standing.
Then their upper bodies slid from their lower halves and crashed onto the ground.
Behind them, the trees suffered the same fate.
One after another, enormous trunks fell apart.
The forest groaned beneath the destruction.
Silence returned.
Eamon slowly lifted his head.
Damien did the same.
Roneth stared at the scene in horror.
Haizer's remaining hand tightened around his sword.
None of them had expected that.
The mermaid had destroyed Gorochi's powerful binding cage with nothing more than a casual movement of her hand.
Eamon looked at the remains of the cage.
His throat became dry.
The four men slowly stood.
The Pulam Lilies had helped them recover some strength, but none of them were close to being fully healed. Their bodies were still damaged, and their muscles were still heavy.
Roneth, however, was not looking at the destroyed cage.
His eyes moved between the mermaid and Haizer.
Again and again.
The two beings represented something he had been trying to understand for years.
His fists tightened.
He could not let the mermaid kill Haizer.
Not yet.
He needed answers.
There were things about Haizer's past that he had never understood. Things that had remained buried for years.
And now Haizer was standing right in front of him.
Alive.
Roneth silently promised himself that he would not let that chance disappear.
Eamon noticed him.
He had already seen Roneth's strange reactions whenever Haizer was mentioned. There was clearly something between them. Some old connection. Some history.
But this was not the time to ask.
The mermaid took another step.
Her thin legs moved slowly beneath the black silk.
She stopped.
Then she raised one hand toward Haizer.
Haizer's eyes narrowed.
He did not move.
He did not understand what she wanted.
The tension became unbearable.
Then Gorochi suddenly began screaming.
He dropped his head to the ground and pressed his forehead against the dirt.
"Great goddess of the river! Please forgive me!"
His voice shook.
"I am innocent!"
Eamon stared at him.
Gorochi pointed toward Haizer with a trembling hand.
"He is the one! He stole your pearl! He is your enemy!"
His voice became desperate.
"Kill him!"
Haizer's expression changed.
His eyes turned toward Gorochi.
The betrayal was obvious.
Gorochi continued begging.
"Please spare me! I had nothing to do with it! This peasant is the one responsible! Please, goddess, have mercy on me!"
Haizer's jaw tightened.
His entire body was already injured. His right arm was gone. His wings were damaged. His strength had been drained by the battle.
And now Gorochi was offering him as a sacrifice.
Haizer wanted to kill him.
But he knew better.
One wrong movement against the mermaid could mean death.
Even Haizer understood that the creature before him was far beyond anything he had faced tonight.
The mermaid stared at Gorochi.
Her expression did not change.
She raised her hand.
Gorochi looked up.
For one brief second, hope appeared in his eyes.
Then the mermaid moved her hand vertically.
A second wave formed.
Unlike the first, this one traveled directly from her feet forward.
It was almost invisible.
Only the faint shimmer of water revealed its path.
Gorochi opened his mouth.
"Wait—"
The wave passed through him.
He froze.
For a moment, nothing happened.
Gorochi blinked.
His eyes were still wide.
Then a thin red line appeared from the top of his face and travelled downward.
His body slowly separated.
The cut reached his chest.
Then his stomach.
Then his legs.
Gorochi's eyes widened further as realization finally reached him.
His body split cleanly in two.
Both halves fell in opposite directions.
Blood spread across the ground.
The man who had ruled Misticula through fear and cruelty was dead in an instant.
There had been no struggle.
No final attack.
No chance to defend himself.
The mermaid had simply decided that he would die.
Eamon stared at the remains.
Damien's face had gone pale.
Roneth stood completely frozen.
Even Haizer, who had spent the entire night fighting without fear, looked horrified.
The river goddess stood silently before them.
Her dark eyes slowly moved across the four men.
For the first time, Eamon understood what it truly meant to stand before a Primal Obsidian Seraph. This was different than Winston, the vampire he fought a few weeks ago. Winston though a pre-blood vampire, was not a Primal Obsidian Seraph.
This was not a battle they had chosen.
This was survival.
And the creature standing before them had just reminded them how small they really were.
Eamon, Damien, Roneth and Haizer were definitely not ready for this battle.