Guilt

Everyone that wasn't knocked unconscious looked around at one another then shrugged, confused about what happened. Aquila looked over to the water as well, before retracting her gaze and slipping into a dark corner. Although she was also curious about what just happened, she understood that she was in a very precarious situation at the moment.

Her eyes narrowed as she thought about her earlier fight. Even though she was greatly outnumbered, with her skills, it should have been possible for her to escape relatively unharmed even when being surrounded by the enemy.

However, at that moment when she was surrounded, something clicked in her. Even if she knew she was being impulsive, she wanted to fight, to prove to the world, and to herself, that she was strong enough. Although she hadn't really been thinking about it much after arriving at Kepler, deep down, her near-death experience really upset her. She was mad at herself for not being stronger; mad at herself for falling into that woman's trap and nearly dying.

She had been trained since birth, and when it came to aspects in speed and body agility, there weren't many that could match her. Yet, during that last battle at home, she felt so utterly useless and powerless. During that earlier battle, she was reminded once again that no matter what she did, she still wasn't good enough. She wasn't fast enough, she couldn't react quick enough, she wasn't flexible enough while dodging through the air... and she wasn't strong enough.

She felt it was all so laughable. She wanted to protect others when she couldn't even protect herself. And now, the only person she ever wanted to protect in her life was gone. She blamed herself for it. If she hadn't been so weak, if only she had been stronger, if only she had done something, anything, ANYTHING other than nothing, then maybe, just maybe, things would've been different...

The light in Aquila's eyes dimmed as she thought about how badly she failed during that fight in the cavern earlier. In her mind, only two words repeated endlessly; I'm sorry.

Taking a deep breath, Aquila closed her eyes as she looked upwards, right where a blood-covered stalactite was located. Reaching a hand up to her face, she covered her eyes with her fingers. After a few breaths, she opened her eyes again. Behind her fingers hid a pair of cold eyes that held a certain amount of bloodthirstiness in them.

'Alright, Aquila. This isn't the time for you to be feeling self-pity. Be your own prince charming. That's what she always said. You got yourself into this situation. Now deal with it.'

As she thought that, her resolve finally took over her guilt.

Moving her hand off her face, she watched as several small but sharp blades made of energy appeared in her palm. Smiling lightly, she closed her fingers around the blades.

'This should be able to protect me a bit more if anything arises.'

She kept her guard up as she moved around in the shadows, trying to get to a place hidden and far away from people. All of a sudden, she looked forwards, her eyes flashing dangerously.

Her cold voice was light but threatening as she said, "Come out. All of you."

Several shadows flashed forwards in a split second, their energy wrapped around them revealing their silhouettes, the blades on their weapons glinting with an icy chill.

***

Ten minutes ago, in the Sea of Misfortune:

"Sir! We can't go down any further! The pressure is too-" Before the person could finish speaking, he flew back, unable to withstand the pressure anymore.

One by one, more people started flying back.

"Use your energy to support me! I can't... go... any... further!" An old man shouted as he tried drilling downwards, resisting the pressure to the best of his abilities, but still unable to break through the last barrier. As the energy from his subordinates flowed over to him and started assisting in pushing him downwards, the old man managed to proceed a bit lower, but still failed to pass the threshold.

At this point, his blood was mixing with the water, creating a blood red mist surrounding the old man.

Another old man further up coughed slightly. His body was trembling in the water, barely holding on, but his expression looked as vigorous as that of a young man's.

"Old Dust, you'll owe me one after this. Hahaha..."

"What... are you... saying now? You old... man..." The first old man took a while to reply. At the moment, he was wholeheartedly focused on breaking through the barrier and hardly had any strength left to converse with.

Without saying anything, the second old man raised his arms, albeit with a little difficulty. Aiming at the first old man, two large and round bursts of energy shot out from his palms. However, because he transferred all his energy into the old man he called Old Dust, his body was unable to contend with the water pressure at this level and he shot out of the water like a broken kite.

Luckily, there were a couple of his subordinates behind him at this time, and they flew out of the water along with him, using their remaining strength to make sure they all landed safely.

Without his energy reinforcing his body, the old man passed out.

"Old Sir! Old Sir, are you alright?!" His subordinates were frantic and worried when they saw that he was unconscious.

Meanwhile, down in the water, the man called Old Dust drilled through the final barrier like a cannon. The moment he did, an enormously powerful energy wave burst out, pushing everyone except Old Dust himself out of the water. Even his subordinates beside him weren't spared, and in the blink of an eye, everyone was thrown out of the waters.

However, Old Dust wasn't focused on his subordinates and didn't even realize what had happened. He only felt that the earlier pressure that felt like a mountain range pushing down on his shoulders was suddenly lifted the moment he pushed through and landed on the seafloor. He was awestruck as he walked towards the final underwater cavern in the Sea of Misfortune, 'Moon's Thirty-Fourth Misfortune', the cavern that no one had ever managed to enter. He was apprehensive but also excited as he knew whatever was in that cavern must be such a powerful treasure for it to release such a massive amount of energy and power.