CHPT 435: Sharks in his closet……

Thursday, January 22nd. 2241. Inside Lupine Claimed Deep-Sea Tangent…..

Bringing a boat inside a Tangent had never felt so smart.

None of them had the elemental might to alter Tangent Biomes like The Red Knight of Rage. Or the high speed ultimate violence of Ronin. As a matter of fact, only one of them had that deep sea capability of the worlds current Ocean Lord.

Even the thought of the word, Ocean Lord, made Claude's stomach writhe and his slowly healing injuries burn.

Maybe that was simply because they'd been at sea for a full day outside and in.

The sea was beginning to make him uncomfortable again. It held too many secrets. Too much he didn't understand. Like a forest cut deep into the earth full of inhuman monsters and absent of breathable air.

It was a nightmare.

Just as that thought settled a Shark burst from the waters in the distance, a Fishman corpse caught on the horns protruding from its hammer-shaped head.

The storm clouds above bubbled and thundered at the sight as if they were a cheering crowd above.

They'd have no more fire soon.

Claude continued to eat his chewy cooked sharkmeat with the others. Blood fresh on their gear, muscles tired. Fishman corpses hanging from their boat.

The Boss was bound to the side of the ship with Claude's nature. A Fishman resembling a Shark. Terrible timing considering what Claude ran into in the outside world. Either way they left it out to dry.

Thankfully it was a Bronze Ranked Tangent. Claude didn't need the ultimate challenge at the moment, he needed to sort his thoughts. And Ursula used it as practice. Practice in maintaining her human form.

She didn't need the practice at the moment. The current conversation kept her human. Human and afraid. As it was for Cassidy, and Ma and Frosty.

"YOU FOUGHT THE OCEAN LORD??!!"

A bolt of lightning fell out of the sky and smashed into the endless ocean in the distance. It lit up the dark waters ahead showing hundreds of dead creatures rising to the surface like debris.

"You may be stronger than I thought, wolfboy…" Cassidy regarded him differently than before.

"I was lucky." Claude replied.

Cassidy chuckled, "Well god damn. Here I was thinking that was the unlucky outcome of the month."

Claude shook his head, beads of water flung from his cold wet hair. The flaming campfire they sat around did little more than warm their skin. "I mean I got lucky I faced our current Ocean Lord and not the one that was Ocean Lord before her. She's different from the others."

Ursula swallowed a massive chunk of burnt sharkmeat, "If the Ocean Lord is a member of The Nine, I'm sure she's very different from the other Ocean Lords before her already."

"No. I mean she's different— from even The Nine."

They silenced on the rocking boat. Frosty slid in closer to Claude and rested his head on his lap. He burped and it smelled like fish-blood.

"She wasn't human."

That right there was enough to shake the world. The worlds team of strongest Heroes and Monster Slayers. Humanities highest. The Nine Outliers. One happened to be the very thing they profited from. That was enough to start riots world-wide. That was enough to ruin The Nine.

Ursula seemed to be thinking the same thing and more. Her tanned freckled face grew pale. She no longer ate at her food as if starved. She simply shook her head.

"No….. no way. Rory wouldn't allow that ever. He's too pigheaded. They all are. They only see the world one way…. They would never. It's against every of them as a person. Are you sure about this?" Ursula said.

Claude removed pieces of his armor to slide off his shirt, showing them the many rowed bite marks still healing on his shoulder and arms. Healing, but much slower than the rest. They hurt like hell.

"What is that?" Even Cassidy was confused.

"Wereshark." Claude replied, "She was kicking my ass without the use of any Skill or power other than her physical ability. I'm healing, but I think it's slower than usual because I'm fighting the infection."

"That's why she was such a good swimmer." Cassidy mumbled.

"She lives in that ocean."

"You said infection." Ursula interrupted.

Claude nodded.

"Like Wereshark infection?"

Claude nodded again, "You have to get mauled by a Shifter and nearly die to become one. I didn't get mauled, but I nearly did. She would've….."

"A Wereshark Lupine sounds like something I'd see after a few shots of Vampire piss and Gin."

"Can Lupines become Silver Cursed?" She questioned in horror before snapping her eyes over to Cassidy, "What?"

Cassidy shrugged, "What? It puts hair on your chest."

"Women don't usually have hairy chests….." Ma explained casually.

"Speaking of hair…. Based on hers I'd say she lived in that water for a long time." Claude added.

"She didn't have any backup?"

"She could speak to sharks, but she scared the hell out of everything else." Claude replied.

"Perks of being an Ocean Lord." Ursula mumbled. "You said she didn't use any System abilities or powers?"

Claude nodded.

"That's got to be impossible. It can't mean she isn't Reborn. To be apart of The Nine you have to be. You need that limitless potential to keep growing at a steady rate. Being part of the Nine is a competition as much as it is a team."

Claude nodded, "That's what I was thinking. And she changed without a Full Moon— meaning Lunar Evolution may not be a thing for her species. I think she had a System, she just wasn't using it."

"Why?" Cassidy question.

Claude shrugged, "I can only think of one thing."

Another bolt of lightning. The boat shook and the loot they'd collected under water slid across the boats interior.

"Forced restriction."

"How so?" Ursula asked.

"She gave me a name. But she also said two other things that might cause this to add up. She said her name was Gizagiza. She said no human casualties….. as if she wasn't allowed. But she also called herself Ronin's Ocean Lord."

Cassidy and Ursula's eyebrows raised exponentially.

"I think Ronin enslaved a Wereshark…. One strong enough to be part of The Nine without using any System power."