Chapter 292: Higher on the Food Chain

Erza hovered above the Atlantic, facing Leviathan across the dark water.

For several long seconds, neither of them moved.

It didn’t feel like hesitation.

It felt like two predators studying each other, each waiting to discover what the other would do first. Leviathan’s enormous golden eyes remained fixed on the tiny silver-haired figure before it, while Erza watched the creature with the same unsettling patience.

Far below them, the soldiers stationed along Davenport’s coastline had almost forgotten how to breathe. They had spent the last several minutes staring at Leviathan as though nothing on Earth could possibly be more terrifying than the colossal beast that had damaged cities with a roar alone.

Yet now they couldn’t tell which of the two frightened them more.

Erza’s violet eyes slowly lifted toward Leviathan.

Her lips curved upward.

She rolled one shoulder before opening and closing her fingers, almost casually testing what Leviathan’s earlier strike had done to her body.

The creature had caught her completely off guard, driven her through the surface of the ocean and sent her deep beneath the water with enough force that the many had believed she was dead.

Yet there was no blood running down her skin.

Nothing appeared broken.

Erza looked almost disappointed by that. ℯ

Then she remembered the impact.

The impossible speed of that enormous claw. The weight behind it. That brief instant when something had struck her before she could properly react and sent her plunging helplessly through the ocean.

Her disappointment disappeared.

"Amazing..."

Her voice carried strangely clearly across the water.

Erza lowered her hand and stared directly into Leviathan’s golden eyes. Her smile slowly widened as she replayed the sensation in her mind, savoring something she hadn’t experienced in far too long.

"Truly amazing."

Something changed.

There was no explosion of power and no dramatic release of aura. Erza simply remained where she was, but the atmosphere surrounding the battlefield gradually became heavier.

At first, the soldiers didn’t understand what they were feeling.

The wind moving across Davenport weakened. The violent waves beneath Erza slowly flattened, as though some enormous weight were pressing down upon the ocean itself, while clouds began gathering above the battlefield. Several soldiers shifted uncomfortably inside their defensive positions, and the captain found himself taking deeper breaths without understanding why his lungs suddenly felt constricted.

He looked toward Leviathan.

The creature hadn’t done anything.

Its enormous body remained partially submerged in the Atlantic, golden eyes locked on Erza while a deep growl vibrated through its throat.

The captain’s gaze slowly returned to the woman in the sky.

His stomach tightened.

The pressure was coming from her.

Erza slowly spread her arms.

No sword appeared in her hands. She created no barrier and made no attempt to protect herself. Instead, she deliberately exposed her entire body to the creature that had just struck her hard enough to send her into the depths of the Atlantic.

"Do it again."

Leviathan’s growl deepened.

Erza tilted her head slightly.

"Hit me again."

The captain stared at her in disbelief.

This wasn’t confidence anymore. The woman wasn’t preparing to counter Leviathan’s next attack.

She wanted to receive it.

"Come on."

Erza’s violet eyes gleamed with growing excitement.

"I want to know how far you can go."

The pressure surrounding her continued increasing. Soldiers along the coastline began gripping barriers, vehicles and weapons simply to steady themselves, yet Erza seemed to have forgotten they existed.

For that moment, she had forgotten Davenport.

She had forgotten the Agency.

She had almost forgotten the war.

There was only the enormous creature before her and one question she desperately wanted answered.

"Can you hurt me?"

Her smile widened.

"Can you make me bleed?"

Then her aura erupted.

The Atlantic buckled beneath her.

The ocean directly below Erza sank violently as though an invisible mass had crashed down upon it, and the displaced water exploded outward in enormous waves. Wind blasted across Davenport Port hard enough to force soldiers behind their defensive positions, while thunder cracked through the clouds gathering overhead.

The captain raised an arm across his face.

"Everyone, hold your positions!"

His command was nearly swallowed by the wind.

Some soldiers obeyed.

Others couldn’t move.

They were staring at Erza.

Her silver-white hair thrashed wildly behind her while brilliant white wings remained spread beneath the storm. Violet eyes shone from within the overwhelming pressure, and the smile on her face carried none of the reassurance they expected from their Supreme Commander.

It was delighted.

Hungry.

For the first time, the soldiers understood something they had never needed to understand before.

The terrifying presence they felt wasn’t Erza losing control.

She was still in control.

She was simply enjoying herself.

Leviathan’s enormous pupils contracted.

Erza noticed.

Her smile became almost predatory.

"Come on."

She spread her arms wider, presenting herself to the colossal beast without the slightest defense.

"Fight me."

Thunder rolled above them.

"Keep going until you make me bleed."

Leviathan remained motionless.

Its golden eyes examined Erza while the growl inside its throat became deeper, vibrating through the ocean beneath them. The soldiers watched the mythical beast that had terrified an entire coastline stare at the woman before it, and an uncomfortable realization slowly spread among them.

Leviathan was studying her too.

Not like prey.

Like another predator.

Then the enormous body moved.

The ocean behind Leviathan erupted as its serpent-like form twisted with sudden violence. For something so massive, the acceleration was almost impossible to believe. Its body cut through the Atlantic in a long curve before launching upward, water exploding from its scales as it rose toward Erza.

She didn’t move.

Not immediately.

Erza watched the colossal creature rush toward her, its crowned head rapidly filling her vision as the distance between them disappeared.

Only when Leviathan was almost upon her did she raise one hand.

Her fingers curled.

Then she struck.

The movement looked almost absurd against something of Leviathan’s size. Erza’s fist was tiny compared to the creature’s enormous skull, yet the moment it connected with the side of Leviathan’s face, the entire ocean seemed to react.

BOOOOOOM!

The impact threw Leviathan sideways.

Its massive body twisted through the air before crashing back into the Atlantic far away from Davenport Port. The collision sent water rising in enormous walls while the creature continued sliding across the surface for kilometers, eventually disappearing farther toward the middle of the ocean.

The Agency soldiers at the coastline stared.

Nobody spoke.

Erza remained suspended where she had struck him, her fist still slightly extended.

Then she smiled.

"Good."

Her white wings moved.

Erza launched herself after Leviathan.

She crossed the distance in moments, leaving Davenport farther and farther behind while the battlefield shifted toward the deeper Atlantic. The coastline rapidly became distant beneath the night, and soon the soldiers could barely follow the two figures with their eyes.

Erza slowed over the open ocean.

Leviathan was nowhere to be seen.

Her smile faded slightly.

She looked across the dark water beneath her.

The surface was disturbed, but the enormous creature had vanished completely.

Erza’s violet eyes narrowed.

She searched left.

Then right.

Nothing.

For a creature that large to disappear so completely should have been impossible.

Then Erza felt something beneath her.

Her eyes shifted downward.

Deep below the surface, Leviathan was moving.

The mythical beast had plunged into the Atlantic after being knocked away and was now using the depth of the ocean to build speed. Its enormous serpentine body twisted through the water with frightening efficiency, accelerating through the darkness like a monstrous shark preparing to strike from below.

Erza’s expression changed.

The water beneath her bulged.

Leviathan erupted upward.

Its enormous jaws opened wide enough to swallow Erza completely, rows of massive teeth rising from beneath the ocean as the creature launched toward her with all the speed it had gathered below.

Erza’s eyes widened.

This time, she moved.

Her wings snapped open and she twisted sideways at the last possible moment.

Leviathan’s jaws closed through empty air.

The force of the bite alone sent a violent pressure wave across the ocean.

Erza appeared beside its head.

"Too slow."

She twisted her body and drove her fist downward.

The blow landed directly on Leviathan’s skull.

BOOOOOOOOOOM!

The creature’s entire head was forced downward.

Leviathan crashed back into the Atlantic so violently that the ocean split around its enormous body. Water erupted hundreds of meters into the air while the mythical beast disappeared beneath the surface, driven downward by the force of Erza’s strike.

Erza didn’t follow this time.

She remained hovering high above the ocean, her brilliant white wings spread behind her as she stared at the violently churning water below. She could have pursued Leviathan into the depths, but that wasn’t what she wanted anymore. She wanted to see what the creature would do when given the chance to recover.

The ocean continued moving beneath her.

Then Leviathan rose again.

Its crowned head broke through the surface first, followed by more and more of its colossal serpentine body. Water poured from its scales in enormous streams, but something was different now. Thick steam began rising from between its scales, becoming heavier with every passing second until parts of Leviathan’s body were almost obscured behind white vapor.

Erza’s violet eyes brightened.

The creature was burning through an enormous amount of energy.

She could feel it.

Whatever Leviathan intended to do next, its body was preparing for something far greater than the attacks it had used before.

Erza’s smile returned as possibilities immediately crossed her mind. Perhaps another Solar Beam, only stronger this time. Perhaps fire. Maybe the creature possessed another attack entirely that she hadn’t seen yet.

"Show me..."

Leviathan’s golden eyes burned through the steam.

Its enormous body tensed.

Then it drew in a breath.

Erza’s smile slowly faded.

The surrounding air seemed to pull toward Leviathan. Its chest expanded as the growl inside its throat grew deeper, becoming powerful enough to vibrate through the ocean beneath it.

Erza realized what was coming.

"Oh?"

Leviathan opened its jaws.

"RRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR....!!!"

The roar struck her like a physical force.

Erza’s silver-white hair exploded backward as the pressure slammed into her body, her clothes whipping violently against her skin while the air surrounding her distorted beneath the sheer power of the sound.

This wasn’t the roar Leviathan had used when announcing its arrival.

It was far stronger.

The Atlantic convulsed.

The water directly between Erza and Leviathan was crushed downward before enormous waves erupted outward in every direction. Beneath the surface, schools of fish scattered for only moments before the overwhelming vibration reached them. Fish began floating motionless through the disturbed water, while larger marine creatures desperately fled deeper into the Atlantic.

Even kilometers away, Davenport Port was struck by the roar.

Soldiers immediately covered their ears. Several dropped behind the coastal barriers while others stumbled as the ground beneath them vibrated. Equipment shook against the concrete, damaged windows shattered farther inland, and the captain screamed orders that nobody could hear over the monstrous sound rolling across the coastline.

Yet Erza remained exactly where she was.

She didn’t cover her ears.

She didn’t retreat.

The roar continued pouring over her, violently whipping her hair and wings backward while her violet eyes remained fixed upon Leviathan.

Several seconds passed.

Then several more.

Only when Leviathan finally exhausted the attack did the roar begin to weaken. Its tremendous voice faded into a deep rumble before the last echoes traveled across the dark Atlantic, leaving the ocean violently disturbed in its wake.

Erza’s hair slowly settled around her shoulders.

For a moment, she said nothing.

She was impressed.

That roar had been powerful enough to kill weaker creatures through sound and pressure alone, and even at this distance it had shaken Davenport. Against almost anything else, it would have been terrifying.

Erza tilted her head as she looked directly into Leviathan’s enormous golden eyes. There was no fear in her violet gaze and no anger at being attacked. If anything, she appeared almost disappointed that the creature had finally stopped roaring.

"That was good."

The words carried easily across the disturbed Atlantic despite the waves still crashing beneath them. Erza slowly straightened herself in the air, her silver-white hair settling around her shoulders as the last echoes of Leviathan’s roar disappeared toward the distant coastline.

"But..."

Her smile returned.

"You can be louder than that."

Erza drew in a breath.

The world seemed to stop.

The soldiers watching from Davenport Port couldn’t immediately understand what had changed. The ocean was still moving and the storm clouds remained overhead, yet for one strange moment everything surrounding Erza seemed unnaturally quiet, as though the Atlantic itself were waiting for whatever she intended to do.

Leviathan noticed it too.

Its golden eye narrowed.

The enormous creature had faced countless enemies without hesitation, yet something buried deep within its instincts suddenly reacted to the woman hovering before it. Its body became tense, the growl inside its throat weakening as an unfamiliar sensation crawled through the colossal beast.

Danger.

Not the danger of an opponent capable of injuring it.

Something older and more instinctive.

The warning one creature felt when it realized that the thing standing before it belonged even higher on the food chain.

Leviathan’s enormous pupil contracted.

Erza’s chest finished expanding.

Then the Queen of Atlantis answered him.

"RRRRRRRRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR....!!!"

To be Contiuned...