Three hours ago.
*BOOOOM*
A powerful wave of force blows up the main building of one of the Naga outposts farther east of the border. And even though it's underwater, everyone nearby hears the loud noise as the bodies of Naga soldiers falls lifeless to the bottom of the sea.
Around the outpost, a b.l.o.o.d.y battle takes place; approximately two hundred thousand Naga soldiers try to defend their position as an incredible number of Mermaids appears from all over, thirsting for more blood.
The Nagas and Mermaids below the Sky Realm fight only in water, while many of those above the Sky Realm fight even in the sky, not containing their powerful abilities.
The sea starts to turn red with blood and angry with so many deaths. Increasingly bigger waves try to calm the battle, but nothing can stop those furious Mermaids from fighting back after so many years of being abused. And nothing can stop the Nagas from fighting for their lives as well.
But in the current situation, the Nagas will clearly not last long due to their numbers and also the fact that the Mermaid elites have a higher power level than their best colonels.
"s.h.i.+t! We can't hold the position anymore!!" One of the colonels exclaims after killing another Mermaid.
*ShhhhaFH!*
A blade made only of bright blue water filled with magic cuts Its path inside the sea and pierces that colonel's armor and body, killing him instantly.
Another Naga beside him looks to the side and sees one of the most beautiful women in the Blue Star, someone anyone could recognize due to her body parts having one of the most brilliant and magical blue colorations of all, as an unmistakable long white and bright blue hair.
"It's Saria!!!" That man screams for all his fellows to hear. "Saria is leading the attack!!!"
For all the Nagas who hear those words, hope slips out like smoke between their fingers. If the only Mermaid Princess is attacking them, there is no way for them to survive.
The Naga colonel in charge of that outpost looks to the west with an apprehensive expression as he yells towards no one in particular. "Where the h.e.l.l is the reinforcements?!?!"
As if the sea itself answered his request, a small green shark appears from the darkest part of the water, and a Naga woman looks at all those Mermaids with a worried expression before starting to report.
"General Ritika is coming!" Her words give hope to that colonel. "Her orders are to hold the position."
The colonel quickly turns around and uses his energies to make his voice echo as far as possible for all the Naga there to hear. "General Ritika is coming; don't stop fighting!!"
That name renews the energies and morale of the Nagas, who begin to fight even harder to survive. Yet, the Mermaids remain very motivated to kill them all.
That Naga colonel, a man from the middle Sky Realm appears behind Saria and tries to make a sneak attack on her as she takes on several other enemies.
She realizes that and starts to create a magical barrier on her back, but then a golden flash appears out of nowhere, and that Naga colonel has his body cut in half and split into two perfect halves.
His brain and bowels leak into the water while a delicate figure emerges from his blood. That charming lady quickly retains a blade in her scabbard, where some of that golden glow can still be seen from the sidelines.
Saria smiles and kills all the Nagas around her with a long blade of blue magic water. So she swims up to the charming lady, leaving not an entire inch between their bodies.
"You got so dirty…" Saria says as she gently wipes the blood off Claire's face. "How can you not mind being covered in blood?"
Claire's neutral expression slowly turns into a gentle smile, just like Saria's. "If I cared about something like that, my father would beat me until I got covered in my own blood..."
Saria continues to wipe the blood from Claire's face gently, but her expression turns p.i.s.sed off, or rather, really angry. "Don't worry; I won't let your father hurt you anymore... in fact, no one will ever touch you ever again because I'll always be protecting you."
"Awww, how sweet!" Claire warmly holds Saria's hand as she giggles. "Are you like my knight in s.h.i.+ning armor?"
"Hehehe..." Saria starts to blush as she likes that t.i.tle a lot.
But Claire makes a strange expression as she gazes at Saria's body. "Yet, you look nothing like someone in s.h.i.+ning armor while barely wearing clothes..."
She doesn't actually wear a single piece of clothing as her private parts are covered in her natural armor, layers of bright blue skin that is tougher and more resistant than most of the best armors in the superior worlds.
"I could never hide my natural armor under some usual clothing." Saria comments. "It's my royal heritage, and I'm proud of it."
"I see," Claire responds, but she still feels that something is wrong. "However, aren't you revealing too many parts of your body to random people?"
"Hahaha..." Saria starts to laugh at their cultural differences. But then her eyes get brighter as a proud and happy smile appears on her face.
"Wait, are you jealous?" She asks while not realizing that Claire is stroking her hand in a very suggestive way.
Claire tries to look away as she blushes even more. "Well... it's just... it's normal for best friends to be a little jealous of each other, right?"
Saria thinks deeply about that as she is still not used to seeing another person as her best friend. "Well, I guess so… why not?"
"Yeah, why n-" Claire starts moving her hand towards Saria's shoulder, while the Mermaid Princess also moves hers towards her.
"What are you doing???" But then the deep voice of Ramla, the Queen's right arm, echoes above them.
Claire and Saria quickly take their hands off each other as they swim back and look at Ramla with a sorry and embarra.s.sed expression.
"That's not what you-" Saria quickly tries to stop that from looking weird.
But Ramla interrupts her, respectfully, of course. "This is no time to relax and talk, your highness; we are in the middle of a deadly battle."
"Yeah…" Saria is glad that is not about something else. So, she summons blue orbs around her body while making a determined expression. "Let's get it over with!"
Ramla looks at Saria with a suspicious expression before speaking to Claire. "Take care of the Princess; the Queen trusts you."
"Sure." Claire nods, and then Ramla swims towards another group of Nagas.
Saria and Claire refocus on the battle and continue killing the Nagas, but before they all die, a gigantic black shadow appears in the west.
Everyone looks in that direction and sees a horde of mystic sharks emerge from that black shadow, each one bringing two Nagas soldiers, totaling about a hundred thousand troops.
"The blackguard!!" A Naga exclaims in bliss as that group of Nagas are actually part of Tyrion's blackguard, which are led only by generals in battle.
That hundred thousand soldiers are just a part of General Ritika's troops, which arrive in battle first due to the mystic sharks.
In front of the group, Ritika wastes no time before ordering the blackguards to attack the Mermaids and defend their people while the rest of the troops comes.
The battle quickly gets even bloodier, and amidst the chaos, Ritika sees Saria and Claire. She only recognizes the Mermaid Princess and sees in that situation an opportunity to end the battle and even the whole war.
"Capture the Princess!!" She orders her personal guards, Naga soldiers from the late Sky Realm and early Immortal Realm.
Ten powerful blackguards go straight to Saria and Claire, ignoring all other Mermaids. Ramla doesn't even notice that as she is busy fighting off the Nagas reinforcements arriving from the west.
After killing a few other blackguards, Saria and Claire find themselves surrounded by the ten mighty Naga warriors. Saria feels their Immortal Realm aura just as Greed mentally warns Claire.
"Stay behind me!" Saria quickly stands in front of Claire to protect her. The Mermaids Princess is in the fifth layer of the Immortal Realm and has all the b.l.o.o.d.y heritage of the Mermaid Royalty, but she thinks Claire is just a special human from Earth Realm Peak.
Saria knows that Claire is much more powerful than she appears as she manages to kill Sky Realm people with her special and mysterious abilities, but half of those blackguards are in the Immortal Realm, which should be too much for her.
Claire can't help but smile as she is protected by Saria. Although the reason she approached the Mermaid people was greed, now she really likes them.
Not only are the Mermaids very kind and loving people, but Saria also treats her like a sister, even protecting her from dangerous enemies.
When thinking about how Saria is a sister to her, Claire also remembers her other sisters and also her little brother. She knows where Naomi is but has no idea what the others are doing.
But those blackguards don't give Saria and Claire time to do anything; holding their weapons, mostly black spears made of black pearls, one of Blue Star's finest and most precious materials, they prepare to attack.
"Now!!" The leader group orders while charging against the girls with the intention of capturing Saria and killing anyone in their way.
The other blackguards do the same, and Saria creates a glowing blue barrier in front of them. But before those black spears touch the barrier, they mysteriously start turning to dust.
[WHAT THE h.e.l.l?!?!?] The blackguards are shocked that their weapons turn to dust out of nowhere, while only two of them keep attacking as they have soul weapons, which continue the same.
Even Saria is shocked to see those black spears turning to dust, which also changes color from black to gold.
Before they understand what's happening, that golden dust gathers again, turning into golden blades that mystically point to the heads of those eight blackguards.
*BAM*
The other two blackguards. .h.i.t Saria's barrier with their soul weapons, but without the rest of their partners, the attack fails completely.
She looks back and sees Claire smiling while her eyes glow golden. Saria is even more impressed and can't help but praise her. "You are really incredible!"
"Hehehe..." Claire giggles as she feels something special about receiving compliments from Saria; that feels similar to receiving praise from Eve.
Wasting no time, she uses her demonic energy to make the golden blades attack the eight blackguards while Saria attacks the two with soul weapons.
"Just hold them while I deal with these two," Saria suggests.
But Claire wants to impress Saria even more to get more compliments, so she doesn't wait…
As those eight blackguards try to contain the golden blades that were made with their best weapons, they see another golden glow appear.
*Burble* *Burble* *Burble* *Burble* *Burble*
Sounds of blade cutting water are heard as one after one, those blackguards have their bodies cut in half. As their blood and guts fall into the water, the golden glow faints, and Claire sheaths her katana again.
When Saria finishes killing those two blackguards, her eyes meet Claire's again, and they both start giggling.
All the Nagas who see that scene get terrified, but Ritika maintains a determined expression, and now, also curious.
She knows she can't beat Saria in a duel even though they have the same power level. Yet, she advances towards them as she has over a million soldiers who believe in her, and she cannot let them down.
---------------------------------
Three hours later.
The Nagas lost that battle even after so many reinforcements arrived. The Mermaids not only had superior numbers but also stronger elites than theirs.
After an intense fight against Saria and Claire, Ritika was severely injured to the point that she could do nothing but flee.
Still wanting to be useful to her people, Ritika let a spy Mermaid follow her and ambushed her along with other Nagas near their outpost.
Now, she tries to get any information out of the poor girl.
*BAM*
After landing another brutal punch on the belly of that Mermaid, Ritika continues the interrogation. "How many Mermaids are coming??!?"
"..." But the girl refuses to say anything despite feeling a lot of pain. Another characteristic of Mermaids, besides being very kind, is to be extremely loyal.
Ritika is also feeling a lot of pain due to her injuries and also the fact that strange energy is hurting her body from inside.
But she keeps punching the Mermaid. "Speak!! Who was that human with Saria?!?!"
*BAM* *BAM* *BAM* *BAM*
The Mermaid is about to die, but Ritika continues. Yet, when she tries to punch the girl in her face again, something surprises her.
*Whoosh*
Without Ritika being able to hear or feel anything, someone mysteriously appears behind her and grabs her wrist. She immediately tries to get rid of that grip, but the person seems to have absurdly incredible strength.
Before Ritika looks back, she notices a strange smile appearing on the Mermaid's injured face.
"Hahaha..." The Mermaids start laughing as she looks at the person behind Ritika. "I always thought I would see something like an angel or the Water Spirit before I died... but you look like a devil... a handsome devil though."