"What!? Gyaaaaa!!"
"Guh...!"
It was a strike that caught both Ryuga and Biran completely off guard.
The electrical discharge, which had been directed carefully to avoid excessive dispersal in the water, coursed through them both with agonizing intensity, leaving their bodies numb and reeling.
Biran let out a scream even more flamboyant than when Ryuga had stomped on his face, his body sent tumbling through the depths.
Ryuga also went spinning with the current, gurgling as the last of his precious oxygen bubbled from his lips. He squinted through the water, looking for the source of the attack.
(That woman...!)
The moment he saw Raiha swimming desperately toward him, Ryuga felt a surge of pure annoyance.
To be honest, he had suspected it was her doing the moment the current turned electric, but confirming it only deepened his irritation. It was a relief that a new Magic Armor Beast hadn't joined the fray, but that was overshadowed by the fury he felt at the situation spiraling toward disaster.
(You idiot...! That was the last of my air! Everything is ruined because of you...!)
The oxygen Ryuga had accidentally lost when the shock hit... that had been the very last of his reserves.
He had intended to intercept Biran, pin him down, and then use the monster as a physical platform to launch himself toward the surface. Now, he had lost the air necessary to execute that plan.
Ryuga no longer had the luxury of time or breath to unleash a technique.
The distance between him and Biran had widened, which was a minor blessing, but at this rate, the monster would catch him long before he could swim to the surface.
From Raiha’s perspective, she had probably dived into the sea, seen Ryuga about to be overwhelmed by Biran, and hurriedly fired off her magic to save him. It was a completely catastrophic move.
Unable to find a way out of the predicament, Ryuga glared at the approaching Raiha, cursing her in his mind.
(This is your fault...! Because you had to interfere—!)
If anyone else had done it, Ryuga might not have felt such vitriol. But because it was Raiha—someone he found exasperating yet held indescribable feelings for—anger was the first emotion to bubble up.
However, in a sense, Raiha felt the same way.
She had interfered with Ryuga's strategy, but it wasn't an impulsive, thoughtless act. Raiha had released the lightning specifically to force a distance between him and Biran, setting the stage for a gambit that only worked because her partner was Ryuga.
"……!?"
Raiha reached him and grabbed his face with both hands.
In the next moment, Ryuga’s eyes flew open in shock. He felt her small lips press against his own, her tongue prying his mouth open. The oxygen he had craved so desperately began to flow into him, revitalizing his entire body.
(Is she...!?)
Having transferred all the air from her own lungs into his, Raiha drifted away, her body limp and exhausted.
She had understood from the very beginning. She knew Ryuga was out of air, and she knew that if he had breath, he could shatter this stalemate.
Realizing she had done this as a calculated tactic, Ryuga instinctively reached out for her, but Biran was already closing in from behind.
"You’re in the way! Both of you, just die together!!"
Biran’s scream—and his ability to speak underwater—proved to be his ultimate undoing.
Hearing the Magic Armor Beast’s roar, Ryuga remembered exactly where he was. He focused every ounce of his renewed strength and swung Ryuo-ga.
Based on the distance and their relative positions, it was a slash that should have missed entirely.
But a heartbeat later, Biran and the group led by Marcos above the waves witnessed the impossible.
"Wh-What!?"
"Wh-...!?"
On the boat, Marcos and the others felt a massive vibration shake the very sea.
Biran felt a sudden, weightless sensation followed by a thunderous crash as his back slammed into solid ground.
Why was he hitting the earth? He should have been in the middle of the ocean.
Biran scrambled to his feet, gasping for air, and then froze in sheer terror as he took in his surroundings.
"The water... it’s gone...!?"
The massive volume of seawater that should have surrounded him had vanished from where he stood.
It hadn't disappeared completely. A few meters to his left and right, walls of water stood like sheer, towering cliffs. But along the path where he stood, for a vast distance ahead and behind, the ocean had been hollowed out.
The thought was insane. It should have been impossible.
And yet, there was no other explanation. Biran stood trembling beside a coughing Raiha, staring at Ryuga as the youth slowly turned toward him.
"You... you didn't... Did you actually cut the sea...!?"
The single stroke Biran had witnessed wasn't meant to be a direct attack.
It was a Sea-Cutting Strike—an act of such monumental power that it cleaved the domain of the ocean itself, dragging Biran out of his home ground and onto the dry seabed. As the monster reeled at the sheer scale of the youth’s power, Ryuga slowly sheathed his blade.
He didn't do it because the fight was over. He did it to end it.
Realizing that Ryuga was preparing to unleash a finishing blow of the same caliber as the one that had just parted the ocean, Biran didn't panic. Instead, a twisted, joyful grin spread across his face.
"Kishashashasha!! I know exactly what you’re thinking. It’s a fifty-fifty shot, isn't it? Right or left!?"