Mark of the Abyss
906 Words
The ocean swallowed him whole.
Cold.
Heavy.
Endless.
The light from above vanished within seconds as Harold plunged deeper into imperial waters. Pressure wrapped around his body like a tightening fist, crushing inward from all directions.
But the Monkey King’s aura held.
Barely.
Golden energy shimmered around him in a tight sphere, deflecting the worst of the abyssal force.
Luke’s voice was quieter now.
“You’re entering its territory.”
Harold didn’t respond.
He focused.
Below him—
A pulse.
Blue-black.
The forming Leviathan Core.
The wounded ancient beast was retreating, but not fleeing. It was drawing him downward intentionally.
Predator instincts.
It wanted him in its domain.
Good.
Harold accelerated.
⸻
The Deep Domain
At a certain depth, the water changed.
It was no longer moving.
It was suspended.
As if time itself had slowed beneath the surface.
Massive shapes moved in the darkness.
Not the Leviathan.
Other things.
Ancient things.
Watching.
Harold’s eyes narrowed.
The core was almost fully formed now—a swirling sphere of condensed abyssal mana lodged near the Leviathan’s gill channel.
But the creature wasn’t resisting.
It was waiting.
Luke spoke carefully.
“It knows what you are.”
Harold extended his staff.
Golden light cut through the dark waters.
The Leviathan’s eye opened again—this time only meters away.
No rage.
No panic.
Recognition.
Then—
The ocean moved.
Not violently.
Intelligently.
The Leviathan’s domain activated.
Water pressure multiplied tenfold.
Harold’s aura cracked.
His ribs strained.
Blood seeped faintly from the corner of his mouth.
This was not brute force.
This was a territory technique.
Devourer instinct.
The Leviathan was attempting to consume him without biting.
Luke’s tone sharpened.
“If you lose focus here, it will crush your internal mana pathways.”
Harold steadied his breathing.
The Monkey King’s aura flared outward—
But the ocean absorbed it.
Dampened it.
Suppressed it.
This wasn’t the Monkey King’s battlefield.
It was the abyss.
Harold smiled faintly despite the crushing pressure.
“Then we adapt.”
He didn’t expand his aura.
He condensed it.
Compressed every thread of golden energy into a needle-point around his core.
The pressure still crushed his body—
But it no longer interfered with his mana.
The Leviathan hesitated.
Just slightly.
That was enough.
Harold shot forward.
⸻
Claiming the Core
He reached the forming Abyss Leviathan Core.
It pulsed violently in response to his proximity.
Blue-black lightning crackled across its surface.
Devourer essence.
Raw consumption authority.
Harold grabbed it.
Agony exploded through him instantly.
It wasn’t just mana.
It was hunger.
Ancient hunger.
Visions flooded his mind—
Worlds drowned.
Beasts consumed.
Hosts devoured from within.
The Whale Falcon’s sealed door trembled violently in his inner world.
Luke’s voice echoed sharply.
“Careful! The Whale Falcon is reacting!”
The second door glowed faintly.
Hungry.
Interested.
The abyssal core resonated with it.
The Leviathan roared silently in the deep.
It wasn’t trying to stop him now.
It was marking him.
The surrounding ocean darkened further.
Something far larger stirred beneath even the Leviathan.
Harold felt it.
Something ancient.
Watching.
Judging.
Then—
A thin line of abyssal energy shot from the Leviathan’s eye into Harold’s chest.
A mark.
Blue-black and faint.
Burning.
Not a curse.
Not an attack.
A recognition sigil.
Luke’s voice lowered.
“You’ve been acknowledged.”
Harold’s eyes snapped open.
The crushing pressure intensified once more—
Then vanished.
The Leviathan retreated fully into the abyss.
The domain collapsed.
The ocean resumed natural movement.
Harold clutched the Abyss Leviathan Core tightly.
He had won.
But this wasn’t a victory through dominance.
It was acceptance.
And something far deeper now knew his name.
⸻
Surface Chaos
He burst through the surface like a golden comet.
The remains of the frost vessel floated in fragments.
Riven and the Dragon retainers were still hovering above the waters.
Riven’s eyes widened.
“You survived that?”
Harold stood on the ocean surface, golden aura stabilizing beneath his feet.
In his hand—
The glowing blue-black core.
Riven’s expression darkened instantly.
“You actually—”
Harold didn’t let him finish.
The Monkey King’s aura flared outward in a sudden, overwhelming pulse.
Not attacking.
Warning.
The retainers instinctively pulled back.
Riven’s dragon projection flickered under the pressure.
Harold’s voice was calm.
“You interfered once.”
A faint abyssal glow flickered across his chest beneath his clothes.
“Do it again, and I won’t be patient.”
Riven clenched his fists.
But he didn’t attack.
Not this time.
Harold turned.
Golden afterimages carried him across the water toward the distant imperial shoreline.
He didn’t look back.
⸻
That Night
Back within the Frost Phoenix estate—
Harold sat cross-legged in meditation.
The Abyss Leviathan Core floated before him.
Contained.
But volatile.
Inside his inner world—
The first door (Monkey King) remained calm.
The second door—
The Whale Falcon—
Was shaking.
Not violently.
Eagerly.
Deep oceanic sounds echoed behind it.
The mark on Harold’s chest glowed faintly.
Luke spoke slowly.
“You weren’t rejected.”
“No.”
“But you weren’t dominant either.”
Harold’s lips curved slightly.
“That wasn’t the goal.”
The second door pulsed again.
Stronger.
The Devourer titan had felt the core.
And it approved.
⸻
Elsewhere
Far beneath imperial waters—
The Leviathan descended into deeper trenches.
And something older than it whispered.
“The Devourer candidate has been marked.”
Storms gathered across the sea.
- Writer
