In the sky Sera and the rest of the party started to worry. Will and Sarah had been gone for way too long.
She trusted both of them with all her heart, and she knew they would come out victorious, but that didn't stop her from worrying.
Flying on Kastral's back she scanned the blood soaked waters for any sign of them, and so did the others. After about half an hour of looking, they decided to meet up and talk about their next step. All of them stopped about a hundred or so meters above water.
"So? What do we do now?" Asked Hellfire, he was the least concerned of them which made sense given his very pragmatic personality. It also would've made him a bad leader who didn't really care for his people... Luckily he wasn't the real leader.
"There is only one thing we can do... Faith, are you up for it?" She had shown no surprise when Sera asked her, but she was always like this, knew exactly what Sera will request of her.
"Anytime My Lady!" But as she was about to leave something changed, there was a very large shadow approaching their position currently from the water. Which either meant the monster had came back, or Will had evolved further.
She quickly told the others this information and they decided to wait for the creature to surface.
It took a minute, but soon they saw the beast. At first they thought it was a larger version of the previous devourers, but they quickly realized that wasn't the case.
It had a very similar mouth, but with six segments and as he opened it a deep circular maw appeared capable of swallowing smaller ships whole. It's massive body grew over 60 meters with a large fin on the top of it. The back end was made up of long tentacles which gave the creature unnaturally swift movement speed and maneuverability.
From his sides large, sharp appendages grew, hundreds of them. Each had the strength to cut one of those smaller sea monsters in two pieces.
The color of the beast was black on top and bright blue bellow, making it able to perfectly blend in while looking from either above or under him.
But these were all small details compared to his eyes, which seemed to contain the waves themselves.
"Hello everyone! How is my new look?"
The sound was very familiar, but also different. They began to look around trying to find the source and soon understood why it was strange. The voice belonged to Will, but it didn't came from anywhere near them, instead it just appeared in their head.
Collectively they stared at the large form moving bellow them, and they heard a laughing sound right within their minds. Lucy's face turned red and she shouted, "Hey Will! Get out of my fucking head!"
*Chuckling* "I'm not inside your heads, just projecting my voice into your minds. Turns out the Colossal Sea Devourer had a lot of powers related to the mind and waves! I can even make soundwaves that have the power of destroying solid objects... At least I think so, haven't tested out yet... Any volunteer?"
The group looked at one another with raised eyebrows. They understood his change in appearance, and abilities... What really made them question their reality was Will's behavior.
"Isn't he a bit too talkative?" Asked Bea while making a weird expression.
"So I wasn't the only one to notice... But what happened?" Answered James making the same questioning face.
"Yeah...*sigh* I don't know why, but my personality changed. And now I just want to constantly talk, I nearly drove Sarah to insanity on the way up... But don't tell her that I said that! She is very sensitive about her strange taciturn self!"
"HEY! I HEARD THAT!" Came a shout from a woman who at some point appeared next to the group.
"Shit! I forgot not to include her in the group message... And I said this one out loud didn't I?... Damn how do I turn this off?!"
This was the last thing he said, but non of them heard it as they were dying of laughter. Even the hippogryphs heard him and found it hilarious. The only person who just stared at sea monster bellow with murder in her eyes was Sarah... She didn't seem too fond of his new talkative personality trait.
Since the battle was over and nothing left to do they returned to the island to discuss when do they move to the next destination. The answer was pretty obvious, tomorrow at first light. They weren't really that tired, but that couldn't be said about Will and Sarah... They were near dead from exhaustion.
The two of them settled down on the ground ready to fall asleep, but the curiosity was killing Will about his new ascended abilities. Instead of sleeping he opened his status and read through it quickly.
Name: William
<Stalwart Mind>
Description: <The Devourer was an excellent hunter, its mind genetically enhanced for only one purpose... Killing anything that is stronger than itself. After every victory it adapted, in every situation it knew what to do. One of the best hunter species ever created.
Sadly its development was locked so no matter how much it killed, it could've never reach Stellar, but that's where Madness breaks reality. With its help every genetic lock can be unlocked, and heights that was previously impossible could be reached... if you pay the price, of course.>
There is strength in knowledge and fast thinking. You brain gets an upgrade, your mind works faster than most and it can handle a lot more.
'Why is the Watch so weird about matters related to Madness. It always acts ominous when the topic is related to it.'
Neither Sarah or Will had anything to talk about, so he moved onto the next one.
<Depth Guardian>
Description: <An unholy union of the ocean's best soldier and best hunter, created by Lord of the Waves.>
This form gives you incredible strength and speed. Your mind becomes immune to any forms of attack below Stellar. The waters are yours... use them wisely.
To Will's absolute surprise Sarah was the one to speak first this time.
"Ah, so that's what happens when the evolution is made with two creatures very closely related. Unlike Hellfire or James your transformation didn't just upgrade, it fused!... I hope mine will do the same!"
There was a lot of hope and barely contained anticipation showing on her usually emotionless face. Will just smiled at her, then turned back to open the entry both of them were very interested in.
<Perfect Union>
Description: <When this union was created something truly remarkable happened. The two forms fitted together perfectly, like they were meant to be one from the beginning. Both of their strong suits got more powerful, resulting in a menacing creature none had seen before.>
With this incredible union you gain an upgrade both to your skin's toughness and your power over waves.
"Even more upgrade to my wave powers! It's sad that I can only use it when I'm transformed, but better than nothing." He was grinning from ear to ear, his new self became vastly stronger than he could've ever hope for.
Sarah just looked at him with a raised eyebrow and motioned for him to open the last entry.
<Depth Charge>
Type: Weapon
Description: <Your previous Item has been hijacked and turned into a spear like no other. The path forward is treacherous and full of hardship, only the strongest of minds can create waves that can block out the brightness of reality!>
Attribute: This spear can ignore air and water resistance and it increases your mind's bearing.
"So that's why my spear is missing?! I really hope that at least it had gotten stronger!"
When he turned his head to look at Sarah, all he saw was her face covered by her hands. From time to time it shook like she was laughing behind them.
"Hey! It's not funny! What if my heritage made my spear worse!... Which isn't really possible since it was basically just an ordinary spear, but still! This is a serious issue!"
What he said was the opposite of what his face shown. There was only a bright, loving smile on it and soon he started laughing as well.
As the night was coming to an end the laughing and talking sounds turned less appropriate. Needless to say neither had gotten much sleep.