Infinite Paths: The Raging Phoenix

"Keep your guard up," Rain declared.

Before Rain's friends could say anything, Rain suddenly used Impulse toward the beach. In the blink of an eye, he reached a group of sea folk that opened their eyes widely when they saw him.

Even without moving a single finger, they made several water blades emerge from the ocean instantly and fly at him. Rain blocked them with his forearm guards, but he could feel a crazy pressure from the attack… that didn't stop him, though.

With his left hand, Rain fired a blast of wind on the ocean when the sea folk tried to swim to the deaths of the sea, but the blast opened a hole in the water and hit them as well. Soon enough, Rain fell and then grabbed a random merman by the neck and then threw him to the land.

In the next moment, the water returned to its place, and then Rain froze the area around him as well, making him fly in the same direction. Before long, he and the prisoner passed by the giant of the giant octopus, and then he grabbed the prisoner and used Impulse to move away.

The shock of the sea folk when they saw the capture of one of their own couldn't be described with words alone. Their expressions, too, transitioned from disbelief to a deeper terror of the situation at hand. It was as if the world had momentarily come to a halt, and a long moment of collective astonishment hung in the air.

However, this moment of stunned surprise was short-lived. As the sea folk and their colossal sea monster allies regained their senses, an overwhelming surge of anger and fury began to ripple through their ranks. Their aquatic voices blended in a cacophony of enraged cries and guttural shouts that reverberated across the water.

The colossal monsters, initially taken aback, quickly shifted from shock to aggression. Their massive tentacles thrashed in the water, creating churning waves and turbulent currents. Eerie and thunderous roars erupted from their colossal forms, shaking the very ground beneath Rain and his companions.

The capture of one of their own had ignited an unrelenting determination within the sea folk and their colossal allies. It was clear that they would not forgive that easily, and the impending battle promised to be a fierce clash between two distinct worlds and people.

After a couple of steps, Rain stopped, and then a platform of ice emerged in front of him. Branden, Lorene, and Orcis were at the top of it, and Rain jumped on it with the prisoner already handcuffed with heavy weights on his limbs.

"It seems that I captured someone popular…" Rain said while looking at the giant octopuses trashing in anger. "By the way, you two might want to move away since the monsters can attack from that distance."

"... We can't fall back now," Lorene said. "You understand us, right? Why are you attacking us?"

The prisoner seemed to be a young adult merman. Aside from his hands, feet, and ears, he looked pretty human. His eyes were a bit weird, though. They looked like cats, but they were also blue, like the sky.

The prisoner tried to free himself, but it was useless; he was unable to move his body even a centimeter since Rain made weights as heavy as his own, and they were one hundred kilograms each.

"This humiliation won't go unpunished," The merman said, enraged, while he was trying to move.

"What cliched words, he can understand us, but I don't think that he wants to talk," Rain said. "Is torture time?"

"We can't do that. It isn't our goal to hurt anyone," Branden said.

Although Branden said that, there were plenty of soldiers that were having their bones being smashed by the giant monsters. Rain could see his friends in the distance dodging the attacks of the monsters with all their might.

"Tell us already why you are attacking us," Rain said. "If you don't do that, I will make you swim in a pool of mud."

"I already told you we won't torture him," Branden said.

"How is that torture?" Rain asked.

The merman refused to say anything, and then Rain lost his cool when he saw the giant octopus invading the beach. It seemed that he captured a big shot, but he didn't care either way. In the end, Rain touched the ground and then made an earth pillar fly toward the monster. The attack paralyzed the beast and made the monster spin its eyes, thanks to the dizziness.

The prisoner saw that and left his mouth hanging.

"I could have made that way sharper, you know?" Rain asked. "Unless you want your pets dead, then you should cooperate with us."

"My name is Branden Corsalis, and I am here representing His Majesty," Branden said. "We don't want to fight you people and want to understand why you are attacking us, please, cooperate."

"... Please, why are you trying to play dumb now? You humans have been asking for this for ages," The merman said.

Rain was surprised by the merman's words. The merman claimed that someone had been planning this conflict for a long time, suggesting a deeper motive behind it. Rain felt a bit confused, not because he doubted the merman, but because the idea of long-term planning caught him off guard.

As Rain thought about it, he realized that he had initially assumed this conflict was more recent, mainly due to the increasing tensions between the sea folk and the coastal town. The merman's revelation added complexity to the situation, something he hadn't considered before.

In hindsight, Rain understood that his initial thoughts might have been biased. He had quickly blamed those in power for the conflict without considering external influences. The merman's words made him realize that the situation might be more complex than he thought. Stay tuned with mvle-mp _y,r.

"How humans have been asking for this for ages?" Rain asked.

"You people have been kidnapping mine for decades!" The merman roared. "I will be sure to make you regret that."