Child of Destiny

...

Shin suppressed the boiling anger that was coming from his bloodline before turning his attention to the floating gemstones on top of the altar.

From the look of it, Octo and Nuguro used these gemstones as bait to lure Shin and Falan to come at them, especially Shin who had the rest of the Sea Gems. All Shin needed to get his hands on these gemstones, he would be able to acquire the complete sets of the seven Sea Gems.

Fusing them would then follow so that the Emerald of the Seven Seas would be completed.

"What a bold way to invite us," mumbled Falan after also seeing those Sea Gems.

At the same time, he also felt that this was going to be even more troublesome given that the opposing side would focus more on protecting those gemstones while also trying to snatch the rest from Shin.

He turned his head and looked over his shoulder while instructing his tribesmen. "You guys protect this friend from those filthy creatures while he is trying to get the gemstones. I will handle those two on my own."

"But Young Leader-…" one of them tried to say something, but he was immediately silenced by Falan's sharp glare.

"This is going to decide the fate of the Great Ocean and the Seven Seas, so make sure to dedicate yourselves to our duty and forget about everything else," said Falan as he could read what his tribesmen were thinking.

They were already in such a dire situation, yet they were still thinking about the 'glory' of being the so-called 'Greatest' among all the tribes by him being crowned as the Champion of the Seas.

He sighed before turning to Shin. "I will be leaving the rest to you."

Shin nodded his head before directing his eyes at the altar once again. His gaze met Nuguro's, creating invisible sparks in the air.

After a few seconds of staredown, Nuguro smirked at Shin before pointing toward the corpses of World Serpents scattered around the altar and those being hanged on the poles behind him.

Shin gritted his teeth and clenched his fists tightly.

"Let's go!" shouted Falan to signaled everyone. He led the charge as the overwhelming aura that he was emitting instantly enveloped the entire place.

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

The others followed right behind him alongside Shin, who was only slightly behind Falan. The aura that he was releasing was not much weaker compared to this warrior of the sea.

Seeing them charging toward the altar with a very strong momentum, the pair standing on top of it smirked.

"I will be taking on Falan. I will leave the rest to you," said Octo before jumping off the altar before partially transforming himself into his original form.

Roar!

His body remained in humanoid form, but countless tentacles appeared behind him, charging at the group in front of him while primarily targeting Falan.

Seeing those tentacles aggressively charging at them, Falan increased his speed and suddenly took a deep breath, making his chest expand.

Roar!

A moment later, he suddenly opened his mouth, releasing a powerful shout that sent an overlapping series of ripples that disrupted the advance of the tentacles.

With this, the members of the Devouring Whale Tribe were able to maneuver around the tentacles as they continued their advance.

Falan squinted his eyes as he saw that Octo was purposely letting everyone swim past him while directing the tentacles to obstruct Falan instead.

This disrupted the plans Falan had as he wanted to at least force Nuguro to leave the altar so that he could take them both at the same time.

"I guess I have to find other ways to lure him away," mumbled Falan as he focused on dealing with Octo in the meantime.

Seemingly able to read what was inside Falan's mind, Octo suddenly grinned deviously. "Do you think that it will be the same as that time?"

"Let me tell you something-… Do you know why the Lord of the Ocean Depths turned his back on the Sea Palace? It is because he has been promised to get a portion of the powers of your God!"

"It is the same for Lord Leviathan, the Ruler of the Sea Monsters, and Lord Serpentra, the Ancient Hydra!"

Hearing those words, Falan's eyes suddenly contracted as he realized what these guys were planning. "You-… You are planning to forcefully summon the Gods of the Seas to weaken their divine powers and rob their Divine Essence!"

"The Lord of the Ocean Depths, the Ruler of the Sea Monsters, the Ancient Hydra must have received the powers from Hell and become a Great Demon King!"

With that, Falan quickly entered his reinforced form and started throwing a barrage of attacks at Octo.

He understood what it meant to become a Great Demon King; it was a ruler from hell that rivaled the powers of the Gods overseeing the Origin World.

All they had was the ascension process where they must rob the Divine Essence of a Divine Being, preferably those who managed to become a True God.

With the current powers of these three former kings of the seas, no one would be able to match them aside from the original guardians of the seas such as the First Ouroboros, the Sea Dragon King, and the Black Tortoise.

But if those three revealed themselves, the Great Demon Kings, who were currently eyeing them and possessed powers comparable to them, would without about join the war.

Once it happened, another Great Oceanic War would start, where their forces would be on the back foot since the opposing side would have more powerhouse than them.

What was even more troublesome about this was the tribes that were under the direct authority of those three newly crowned Great Demon Kings would also receive the portion of the demonic powers that their lords possessed.

This could only mean that-…

Octo grinned as he could tell that Falan had finally realized who he and Nuguro had slaughtered all these World Serpents and other powerful participants that tried to take them down with just the two of them.

"I will show you have powerful I have become!" he shouted as his eyes suddenly shone with a bloody light along with black miasma shrouding his entire body.

Not long after, his new appearance was displayed for everyone to see.

Those sharp and savage-looking pair of horns sticking out from his forehead and bloody eyes made him look terrifying.

There were also thorn-like spikes around his shoulders, arms, and even his tentacles as well.

In this form, the aura that he was currently emitting instantly overwhelmed those around him, making the members of the Devouring Whale Tribe feel uncomfortable. They felt like they were being strangled by an invisible hand that was trying to kill them.

Such an overwhelming demonic power was so strong that it robbed their abilities to move, much less fight.

The Devouring Whales started to fall on one another as they were gasping for air.

Seeing this scene, Falan quickly activated his bloodline, making his muscles expand noticeably. Then his aura quickly increased by threefold and somewhat matched the aura of his opponent.

Boom!

Due to the collision of the two powers, the pressure that everyone was getting quickly rose exponentially, making it harder for them to move.

But what Falan had done gave them an idea. They then quickly activated their respective bloodline powers, covering their bodies with it while also supporting one another with a special technique that their tribe had.

The combined energies let them withstand the overwhelming pressure pressing at them, which also somewhat supported Falan, who was getting powerful himself.

"Trying to use the unified force to match my powers? As expected of the greatest genius of the Devouring Whale Tribe," commented Octo as he saw Falan easily nullify his aura suppression with a single trick.

With that, he quickly launched a series of attacks at Falan, ignoring the rest who were swimming past him.

From the look of it, he was fully confident with Nuguro, who would be fighting all of them alone.

…

Watching from the altar, Nuguro shook his head slightly, especially when he saw Octo releasing his Demonic Powers from the very start.

He expected that Octo would not dare to underestimate Falan, who was their greatest threat in this independent realm.

"I guess I have to finish my side fast as well," he mumbled as he looked at the Devouring Whales charging straight at him.

With a similar bloody light that Octo emitted earlier alongside a dark miasma that enfolded his entire body.

When everything settled down, Nuguro, who originally had azure scales, now had black scales along with the shadowy miasma that was leaking out from the gaps of every scale.

There was also a sole horn curving upwards from the center of his forehead while his hair turned into an azure light that seemed to be made of pure mana.

Boom!

With this transformation, the place was immediately filled with another overwhelming pressure that pressed on everyone.

But since they were enduring it 'together', the outcome was not as bad as what happened earlier. They could withstand the pressure, albeit their movements were somewhat affected.

At this point, Nuguro pointed at them, immediately followed by the appearance of a huge group of sea snakes that assaulted everyone from all sides.

These snakes were made of demonic powers, signifying that it was one of his techniques.

Amid this chaos, an individual was calmly advancing forward and seemingly unbothered by what was happening around him.

The sea snakes also avoided him instinctively, acting as if they feared him.

Nuguro smirked when he turned toward this individual, seemingly expecting this scene. "Now, show me if you are any different from the rest."

Shin ignored those words as he extended his hand to the side, conjuring an icy sword out of his Mana Essence.

He then pointed it forward, seemingly inviting the opposing party to come at him.

...…