The Atlantian System: Creation

Unintentionally, she dropped the spear as her head collided with the stone walls, causing her vision to blur with dark spots, while she struggled to find something to cling onto.

Someone shouted her name, but it was soon drowned out by the rushing water and the orca-like chattering of the nixies.

The water was colder than she had imagined, with a darkness rivaling the deepest parts of the sea. The tunnel’s safety lights provided only a vague outline of the surface, and in the dim obscurity, Leta could barely distinguish the presence of dark shapes that appeared to be the nixie crawling up her body.

There was a dull scraping noise as the creature’s long claws gripped her armored legs and chest, its frantic movements giving the impression of fingers everywhere. Despite the channels unexpectedly shallow depth, the nixie’s heavier than expected body prevented her from pushing off the channel bottom to the surface.

Leta could make out the outline of the nixie’s toothy grin, its face so close she could have smelled its breath if they were above the surface. The beast was taking joy in her struggle to kick off the channel bottom and take a breath.

Despite the burning in her lungs from depleted oxygen, her anger propelled her forward, overpowering the discomfort and suppressing the panicked need to breathe.

Despite the nixie’s pressure, Leta managed to securely grasp its slippery throat.

The creature’s wild gaze showed no response to the tight grip on its neck.

Not long after, Leta received the awaited notification from Gada.

[Corrupted-Nixie. Inert Nanites: 856,492. Absorb inert Nanites? Yes/No?]

Watching the nixie’s eyes widen in shock, a twisted excitement in her gut pulled her lips into a smirk as the skin under Leta’s hand started to turn black and wrinkled. The creature sensed the impending threat and released its hold on her, attempting to push her away without success.

Her hands still on the creature’s throat, Leta got one leg underneath her and up pushed them both into the air, breaking the surface and pulling cold stale air into her lungs.

“Leta!” The sound of Atreus shouting her name echoed down the tunnel like a crashing wave.

As she gripped the nixie tightly, it recoiled and let out a hiss as two throwing daggers manifested on its shoulder and back without warning, causing its dark blood to blend with the churning water.

Despite the claws piercing her face, Leta refused to release her grip. Gada told her that nanites were already healing her bleeding cheek as she kept her eyes locked on the beast’s frightened movements.

The rot on the nixie’s neck under her touch was spreading at a sluggish pace, in contrast to the rapid decay observed with the other creatures she had consumed.

Both of them were constantly remaking themselves after each injury, making no progress.

‘So let’s get you out of your element.’ Leta growled to herself, her mind wrapping around the nixie, and pulled.

Alarmed, the beast’s clicking shriek intensified when it lost its footing as unseen hands started to lift it out of the water.

Leta’s forehead became covered in a cold sweat and her face turned red from the effort. The nixie’s weight was so much greater than hers that lifting it from the water was like struggling with a wiggling weight heavier than an elephant.

She maintained a firm hold, enduring the discomfort, and steadily lifted the nixie off the ground.

When its hips eventually appeared from the murky depths, its thrashing became even more insistent, resembling a snake on scorching pavement. The creature’s wide yellow eyes were filled with fear and shock as it struggled to escape the grip around its neck and find refuge below the water’s surface.

Alerted by the screams of its comrades, the other nixie hissed and raised its webbed claws, showing its intention to attack Leta from behind.

Hayato pulled the cord of his grappling hook out and swung it forward with expertise, preventing the creature from ever touching her as the cord wrapped around the beast’s neck and pulled it back.

The creature spun back into the water, struggling against the cord in a desperate attempt to save the other nixie, but it was too late.

Leta successfully freed the nixie from the channel and held it in the air, its legs almost touching the tunnel’s ceiling, while Gada commended her improved control over Magician’s Hand.

The creature’s hair, long and stringy, touched her face as it continued to fight back, despite its skin drying and turning to ash.

First its claws, which cracked and crumbled before the webbing between its long fingers, turned to parchment.

Then its hair fell into the water in clumps as its skin and muscles began to flake off its body.

Allister and Hayato joined forces to lift it out of the water, a feat that was like grappling with a blood thirsty shark as the nixie writhed, only managing to pull it halfway out of the water as they traversed the slippery walkways.