Crimson and Furs 2

Chapter Twelve: The Leviathan

The sea continued rippling and producing several walls of water which kept on rising till they blocked the sun from everyone's sights. Then they crashed onto the two ships.

The Witches on the Apostate immediately pressed their hands together, creating powerful hexes which surrounded the ship. When the waves of water came close to the ship, they emitted sizzling sounds as they quickly evaporated.

The Cursed on Mr. Stark's ship also reacted, using their various Cursed powers to stop the waves of water from crashing onto the ship. They were successful but then more waves kept on rising.

At that time a faint light was reflected from the bottom of the sea, causing the powers of all the Cursed in both ships to reduce by half! No, it wasn't that their powers was reduced by half. It was the unknown power coming from the bottom of the sea that was rapidly increasing!

The Soulless Emperor frowned instantly, feeling a great burning sensation. He wasn't the only one affected on the Apostate but the Horrors and Demons. All the Demons were incinerated while the Horrors were slowly purified one after the other. Even the Apostate was affected as it vibrated heavily, all the strange substances on its hull evaporating instantly!

"What is this...." John narrowed his eyes as he observed the phenomenon. He wanted to say something when Mr. Stark's ship lit up instantly, becoming as bright as the sun.

Everyone couldn't help but close their eyes to block out the intense sunlight. Dantes immediately yelled, "Captain, what do we do?!"

"Stay calm," Mr. Stark replied as he quickly summoned Michael. It wasn't strange that the angel hadn't responded even when they were faced with danger. At times he didn't respond because he felt the danger was trivial. It was only when Mr. Stark took the initiative to summon him that he would respond.

Suddenly the brilliance dimmed till the ship returned to normal, the waves immediately evaporating into thin air. Angel Michael responded immediately, resolving the immediate anomaly.

"There is a very powerful aura corresponding to my Cursed type here," Michael said within Mr. Stark's mind. "It is more powerful than my current self."

Hearing this, Mr. Stark couldn't help but frown. An ominous feeling was brewing in his heart and he didn't have a way to resolve it. He could only turn to look at the Apostate which seemed to be blackening due to an unknown power. Even the Soulless Emperor was affected, having a twisted expressions as countless pale faces screamed all over his body.

At that moment the Apostate turned illusory before vanishing out of sight. The Soulless Emperor had immediately used Realm Traversal which belonged to the ship to leave the dangerous waters. Even though he wasn't afraid of the other ship with a strange Path five Cursed, he couldn't afford to take the anomalies happening here for granted. He had several chips to use against the Path five Cursed but there was nothing he could do against the strange aura causing every Horror and Demon on the Apostate to be purified.

"It seems to be the nemesis of Demons and Horrors..." the Soulless Emperor muttered to himself as he watched the other ship turn illusory till it vanished. Even the surrounding waters vanished as well till they entered into the spirit world.

He let out a deep sigh, forgetting about the other powerhouse. There was still a chance to meet that same ship on the sea if they found a way to survive the anomaly which didn't seem to affect them negatively.

Meanwhile Mr. Stark who had seen the Apostate vanish couldn't help but turn to look at John, "I feel something is strange with the waters."

John nodded as he said, "I feel so too. I've tried using several loopholes to eradicate the effect but it keeps becoming more powerful and powerful."

That means even Michael wasn't able to resolve the anomaly, Mr. Stark thought within himself. What do we do now?

Mr. Stark was still thinking when suddenly the waters began boiling rapidly. It was as if it had been heated up by an unknown force, causing steam to rise out of the sea. This terrified the other adventurers and they couldn't help but become vigilant, ready to activate their Cursed powers at any given time.

On the seas the pirates were conceived to be the most terrifying force. The Soulless Emperor, being the most powerful pirate on sea, was greatly feared by everyone. They had thought that someone like him was the only existence capable of putting their lives at risk. Who would have thought that the sea itself was more dangerous than the pirates!

"Everyone, do not panic!" Mr. Stark yelled as he turned around to look at his subordinates. "Maintain a clear head so that we will know how to get out of his predicament!"

Hearing the words of their captain, everyone soon stopped panicking as they controlled their emotions. They took deep breaths, becoming more confident as they looked up to their captain who was nothing but a normal human being.

Boom!

Suddenly a large bolt of lightning tore through the sky, headed towards the ship. Its mere presence caused the waves around to rise up into the air, more steam billowing out.

Invasion!

John had already activated the ability corresponding to his current Cursed path, General of Invasion. It allowed him to break through various defenses and attacks with little or no damage. It also allowed him to create huge loopholes, causing abilities of targets to be met with failure.

As a Path five Cursed adept in combat, John's speed and reflexes were topnotch and allowed hi. react in time before the lightning even crashed onto the ship. He leaped into the air, shooting towards the lightning bolt like a canon.

Boom!

The lightning struck him, causing an explosive sound to fill the entire atmosphere. This deafened the other adventurers and they couldn't help but hold their ears as they gnashed their teeth. Mr. Stark was the only one who wasn't affected as a light halo surrounded him.

The impact of the lightning bolt sent John crashing back into the ship. And except for the charred marks all over his body, he was fine. He didn't even seem like someone who was struck by lightning.

Swoosh!

A powerful wind surged through the sea, causing more waves of water to rise into the air and tower over the ship. There were more flashes of lightning as powerful thunderings echoed through the sea.

"Michael, do something or we're gonna lose our lives!" Mr. Stark yelled at Angel Michael who was residing within him.

"I'm trying but a force seems to be suppressing me," Michael replied. "It is a force which stems from my Cursed type."

"I thought you were the first Cursed from your Cursed type!" Mr. Stark said, his eyes focused on the terrifying storm around him.

"I never said that I was the first Cursed," Michael said. "I once mentioned that I was the first angel...not Cursed."

So he was born as an angel...Mr. Stark thought within himself. Then if that's the case, why can't he resolve the anomaly? He's the angel of this strange Cursed type which is related to light, chaos and war. Why can't he prevent the anomaly then? We'll all perish if he does nothing!

"I can't prevent the anomaly because it stems from my origins!" Michael said.

"What do you mean by that?" Mr. Stark asked. Although he was very experienced and knowledgeable from his voyage around the world, there were things he still didn't know. And these things were related to the Cursed world.

Michael was about to respond when something crashed into the ship causing it to jerk upwards with a great force. Everyone was thrown into the air instantly by this force and only those adept in combat could land safely. The rest crashed back onto the deck, spitting out blood as they were injured in various parts of their bodies.

Suddenly everyone saw a gigantic serpent rise out of the sea slowly, towering over the ship easily. This serpent was so gigantic that the ship seemed like an ant to it!

"What in the name of God is this!" a Darkness screamed as he looked up at the serpent which had clouds rippling with lightning surrounding it. As a Path four Doppelganger he had fought several battles and seen several Cursed creatures. But he had never seen something as horrifying as this!

The serpent had red blazing eyes which were several times bigger than the size of the ship. These eyes were like miniature suns, causing the surrounding waters to churn. The body of this serpent was made of countless blood vessels which writhed as if they had lives of their own, producing countless lightning bolts which struck the sea and caused it to part into several waves.

"That is a Leviathan!" a Combat Magician suddenly yelled, his blue eyes filled with terror.

"Leviathan..." Mr. Stark muttered inwardly, his eyes quivering in fear.

"How did you even get here?" Michael asked Mr. Stark seriously.

"Weren't you the one that asked me to come down here?" Mr. Stark asked. "Didn't you say that you wanted to look for the Gates of Hell in order to defeat and kill Lucifer? You've fucking dragged everyone into a mess!"

Michael didn't pay heed to Mr. Stark's words as he said, "That Leviathan is the most powerful creature in the universe. It has an essence forged from countless essences of Beyond Path Cursed who perished aeons ago even before the world was created.

"In other words, it has all the powers from all the Cursed types and can use them at the Beyond Path!"

Beyond Paths refered to the levels at which godhood are achieved. They are the pinnacles of Cursed paths, standing atop them. Beyond Path Cursed were in essence Deities who were anthropomorphic symbols of various concepts and cannot truly die unless the concepts were completely vanquished.

Mr. Stark knew all this and was greatly terrified. He knew of the Primordial Wolf Furs and Blood of Cosmos Crimson who were Deities standing atop the Lycanthrope and Crimsone Cursed types. Angel Michael had mentioned that they were the ones who had recreated the entire cosmos, physical and metaphysical, restoring everything to how it was before. Then they had created the Realm of Degradation, a barrier to prevent Abyss from corrupting the Cosmos. This barrier also absorbed various derangements from the cosmos, feeding on the various corruption from the Cosmos. Hence he knew how powerful Deities were and what it meant for the Leviathan to possess essences of countless Deities!

"So what can we do to defeat it?" Mr. Stark asked. "We can't just sit around and do nothing! That Leviathan is gonna destroy this ship!"

Michael let out a deep sigh before saying, "The Leviathan can never be killed. Furs and Crimson tried it countless times in the past but it didn't work. Even when Abyss invaded the Cosmos and destroyed everything, the Leviathan wasn't killed."

"So you're saying it can never die?" Mr. Stark asked with a trembling voice.

"I'm afraid that's the case," Michael said. "Only the Supreme Being standing above even Abyss can kill it."

"What are we gonna do right now?" Mr. Stark asked as he looked at the Leviathan which had happened its mouth at some point of time, showing countless fangs which were wriggling with complicated symbols.

"Escape," Michael said.

"You're saying even you cannot defeat this Leviathan?" Mr. Stark asked. "You're the Angel of Light, Chaos and War!"

"Where did you keep your ears?" Michael asked. "The Leviathan can never be defeated in a fight except the Supreme Being intervenes! All you can do is escape!"

With those words a bright light enveloped the entire ship as countless primordial metals surrounded the ship, forming a gigantic armour. Angel Michael had acted, preparing to escape from the Leviathan!