Chapter 308 - The Firelight Shark Clan.

1 month after the volcanic eruption…

In an obscure part of the Green Mist Sea, 14 Great White Sharks were gathered as they all engaged in a solemn but sad ritual.

The 2 Great White Sharks who were at the front of the others were bigger than the others, and they were the ones who also led the solemn ritual as the other sharks followed their example.

Tungsten and Queen Heareth were silent in this solemn atmosphere as they engaged in the solemn burial ritual with the other Great White Sharks.

After 1 month of hectic struggle for survival after surviving the disaster of the ocean volcano, the new shark clan under Tungsten finally found a foothold, now they were ready to pay respects to their dead clan members.

During their hasty struggle to escape, they could not account for the specific number of their brothers that died but after they settled down, through her soul pin, Queen Heareth was able to provide accurate information.

Old Mak died, everybody already knew that, but the fact that none of the 3 elders survived was what really hit the Great White Sharks hard.

It was like they all suddenly became orphans and they were left confused on how to move forward with their lives.

In their clan, Old Mak was the father while the elders embodied their title, they were elders to them. Suddenly losing these 2 layers of security, these young Great White Sharks felt that they've lost everything.

Queen Heareth's survival meant that they still had a mother, but a child who lost his father and could only live with his mom was still an orphan.

This was what made this burial ritual all the more sad.

Apart from their clan head and the 3 elders, none of their brothers survived except the traitor, Torpedum who perhaps never saw them as brothers.

Thinking of Torpedum left them all furious, but experience already thought them to stop thinking about such negative things too much since it could cost them their lives.

After going through so many setbacks, the bond between these small groups of survivors became stronger. After losing brothers once, they no longer wanted to lose another of their brothers.

It was only after something is lost that you value it. This also applied to them, but their saving grace was that they all didn't die before they realized it.

Through his vastly improved proficiency over his light domain magic, after letting the silence stretch on for some time, Tungsten finally acted.

"Light Domain Skill: Basic Illusion!"

Once Tungsten acted, the reality before the Great White Sharks changed. Even if some of them could break free from the effects of this basic illusion, none of them did as they let Tungsten take center stage at this moment.

Through meticulous manipulation, Tungsten controlled the green glow of this region to form semi-realistic images of their dead brothers that floated.

By compressing the images together, Tungsten managed to form a semi-realistic compilation of the hundreds of brothers that they lost in the struggle to escape the confines of their previous home and the disaster.

Seeing his master one last time, even if it was a semi-realistic version of it, Tungsten felt his heart muscles clenching as sadness engulfed his heart.

Seeing the elders' familiar faces made all the weariness leave his body in a sad but refreshing way. He could still hear Elder Mangle's voice beside his ears.

"…Old Mak is dead, the clan needs a new leader".

"…With the power vested on me as the 2nd in command after Old Mak, I declare you the new alpha of this clan!"

As these scenarios played in his head, Tungsten experienced rapid emotional swings as a yearning to reverse time engulfed his heart.

Even while he felt emotional, he also made some important realizations. 

The power was already vested in him, the elders and his master would not be happy seeing him lamenting over their death, the best way to make them proud was to prove them right and lead the clan to greater heights. 

While Tungsten made all these realizations, the other sharks expressed their emotional state in various ways until Tungsten finally spoke up.

"Today, I lead the practice of the ancients".

"Today, I send the souls of our clan members to their place of eternal rest".

"Today, I send the souls of our brothers to eternal rest".

"Today…, I send the souls of our fathers to eternal rest".

"We lived together for a long time, we laughed together, we hunted together, we grew up together, but now most of them are no longer with us".

"In my opinion, this is not a sad moment. This is a moment where we should feel proud of our ancestors and brothers because they did not die in vain, they sacrificed themselves and died to secure the future of our clan".

"They are not martyrs, they are heroes!" 

"We should not mourn them; we should be proud of them!"

"Their legacies shall forever live with us".

"Their sacrifice gave us a goal, a goal to survive. We must not die; we cannot die because we carry the weight of all their expectations in death".

"This is why I say that we pay our last respects to our heroes by surrounding their images with a commemorative magic sphere to send them home".

Tungsten made the first move. By forming a simple rope outline with his magic power, he extended it forward to surround the images.

Once he made his move, the other Great White Sharks also made their moves as they formed simple outlines with their magic powers to surround the images.

In a few seconds, all the outlines formed by magic power surrounded the images completely, burying them underneath.

They all maintained this solemnly for a minute before, under Tungsten's signal, they all detonated their magic power in a brilliant display of fireworks.

Spark!

The sparkling fireworks gave the Great White Sharks hope. To them, this was the remnant will and expectations of their heroes, they were hyped up more than ever to survive and to make this expectation a reality.

It was at this moment that Tungsten spoke again.

"With the authority granted to me as the new clan head, I hereby declare the name of our new clan".

"From today, we are the Firelight Shark Clan!"

…

After the burial ritual, the group of Great White Sharks finally left the obscure part of the region where they finally settled after 1 month of escaping.

It did not matter if they were unwilling to believe it, but the new Firelight shark clan was a mere mirror reflection of the previous glorious majesty of Old Mak's shark clan at its peak.

They were no longer as strong as they were which directly brought their starting point in this new region to a very low point.

The new region that they settled in was an open seamount that was exposed to outside influence. Though no established predator clan was in the region, each of the small clans here had remarkable strength and foundation.

This was a relatively new rural settlement for predators like them.

To strive in this region, Tungsten and his clan members needed to work harder than ever to overcome the odds that were against them.

At this moment, Tungsten finally understood some of the stories that his master told him. He now understood what his master went through during the days of beginning of the previous clan.

Despite the challenges, he was determined to make the most of it and grow.

As the sharks swam back to their new home, 2 sharks clung together more than the others, they were still finding it hard to acclimatize to the sudden new environment.

"I miss my master". Verni sighed.

"I miss Seba bro".. Tosh sniffed.