Realm Wars

"Man, is this boring or what?" Kai yawned as he reeled the fishing pole in his hand. "Boring days are good and all but drifting in the sea for three days straight with nothing do but stare at your fellow mortals could get you insane."

Ryu concentrated on his fishing pole and didn't hear what Kai said. He wanted to catch some Queens Horned Mackerel like what Ferris wanted. 

He needed to do something. Anything that would make him feel not useless as he idled on the boat. He was scared that he would go berserk if he had nothing to do to keep his mind off of Ferris's death.

"Ryu, are you listening?" Kai nudged.

Ryu grumbled, "Yeah."

Ryu didn't know when Kai became a familiar companion to him. The man had an innate nature of blending in with the others that it felt like Ryu had known him long before.

But it was nice to have Kai and Fifi accompany him though the former was annoying with his constant complaints. At least he was not alone on the already isolated boat.

"I hope we get something delicious this time to eat." Kai stomached grumbled. "I'm out of coins."

Fifi pouted. "If you hadn't been gambling all night with the crew and the other mercs, then maybe you wouldn't be eating seaweed for the rest of the travel."

"Shut up," Kai barked, "A man gotta do what a man gotta do. And besides, what do you want me to do the whole stay here? Dry myself under the scorching heat and sleep my way from an exciting match?"

Fifi twirled above the air and pointed at Lucian and the others. "You could meditate and train."

Kai's lower lip puckered out at seeing Lucian and Rosa meditate while Cecily was swinging her sword. There were also others that were training, but Kai was never fond of practicing his sword skills.

"I'd rather fish for my dinner tonight." Kai checked his rod and sighed when nothing caught his bait. Not even seaweeds.

His Were-Sharks loot were all consumed, and he was sated every meal with Ryu's offerings of Were-sharks sashimi.

Any more Were-Sharks and Kai swore that he would hurl the food in his stomach into the stinking sea.

"What's wrong with the fishes here? Why am I not catching anything?" Kai complained.

Fifi looked over the water, but she couldn't see beyond the blue ocean. "Maybe the fishes are asleep?"

Kai sneakered. "Maybe they're busy mating in the sea–ouch!" 

Kai blew cold air from the burnt spark on his hand when Fifi shut him a bolt of electricity.

"S-stop being so lewd!" Fifi uttered with a reddened face.

"Hehehehe." Kai's nose flared, and he teased Fifi all the more. "Why so red? My darling Fifi? Come to think of it, how do sprites mate?"

Fifi's cheeks puffed, and she twirled and twirled in the air. "I don't know! No one told me!"

Kai laughed. "Our darling Fifi is so innocent."

Fifi wanted to zap Kai again when she felt something on the water.

Ryu sensed it too. There were tiny ripples, and they didn't come from the ship.

"What is it again?" Kai lamented when Ryu and Fifi's face turned serious. 

Kai looked over the ocean when the ripples turned to waves. Little by little the waves grew like it was being sucked.

"What's happening?"

Everyone stopped what they were doing, and they went to the edge of the boat to take a look. Fifi hovered onto the air and took a swept of their surroundings.

"Fifi?! What do you see?" Kai asked when Fifi just stared ahead like she was hypnotized.

"Fifi!"

At Rosa's voice, Fifi snapped out, and her eyes watered. With shaking hand and trembling lips, Fifi croaked, "T-there. .. a. .. h-hole. . ."

"A what?" Rosa wanted to pummel Fifi's head if only the darn thing wasn't hovering so far above.

"A hole!" Fifi screams collided with the others, and everyone on deck panicked.

Lucian and Rosa looked at each other before they pressed their way into the front of the ship with Cecily.

Hundreds of meters from their ship lay a hole so huge it was impossible not to detect it. The only explanation was that it appeared out of nowhere, and the torrent and waves it created were sucking their ship towards its depth.

"Not good!" Lucian looked over at Skull stirring the wheels. The sweat and crunch on her face were not because of the sudden gush of rain brought by the ominous clouds hovering above the hole, that was for sure.

"What are we going to do?" Cecily asked. Voice and eyes panicked. 

Lucian pushed the panicking mercs on deck and went straight into Skull. "What is that thing?!"

Rumble!

The thunder shook the boat, and not before long, everything turned dark as the rain never stopped, and the hole never ceased sucking everything in the ocean.

"It's a sinkhole!" Skull grit her teeth.

"Can we go around it?!" Lucian shouted. The storm was impending all visions and their voices.

".. . It's not just a normal sinkhole. It's like its swallowing our ship."

Skull's face was grim, and Lucian knew that they were in a severe predicament.

Lucian clicked his tongue and appeared before Rosa in the blink of an eye. "Can you do something about it?"

Rosa pulled Lucian's cheek to loosen his face. "Relax. Love." Rosa then tapped his cheek and grinned. "Leave it to me."

With her spell, Rosa hovered in the air and zoomed in the hole. As she went closer and closer, Rosa's smile disappeared. The hole was more extensive than she expected!

Much bigger like it would swallow the entire ocean! And not only that, the edges of the vast sinkhole have rows and rows of jagged, sharp teeth like the mouth of sharks, and she couldn't see the depth of where it led.

Mother's Skull Ship was only hundreds of meters from it, but from the waves and torrents that seemed to drag their boat into its jaws, there was no way to go around it.

"This is bad."