Chapter 658: Coming out of the shell
Little Nixie was sitting inside the clam shell, with what seemed like action figure toys of sea monsters surrounding her.
She had a miniaturized version of Cthulhu in one hand, and the Leviathan in the other. She was playing with them, propping them up and making it seem as if they were interacting with each other.
She was so focused on playing her game that she didn’t even seem to notice their presence at all.
"Nixie?" Juniper called out as she carefully approached the little mermaid.
But still, Nixie ignored her. She kept on playing with her toys.
"We’re here to help you. Why don’t you come out with us and we can talk," she said to Nixie.
This time, Nixie finally reacted. She stopped playing with her toys but kept her gaze down.
"I don’t want to," she muttered.
Juniper pursed her lips. "I see now why her Dao Heart deteriorated to this state. It’s because she has chosen to live in her own subconscious and refused to experience the real world."
Nixie’s real life was bland. With the curse of her Dao Heart, she was unable to do things that normal mermen children would do. While everyone rode on manta rays for school, she remained at home, unable to even leave her coral bed. While everyone swam through the seven seas for a trip, she remained at their home, with no friends to accompany her.
The worst part was that even through all the sacrifices, she would still end up dying because of her curse.
Compared to that, her subconscious was filled with excitement and adventure. She had Cthulhu and the Leviathan by her side, keeping her company and making sure that she was never lonely again. And in this place, she could move, swim, and fly as she liked without her heart hurting at every movement.
She would rather spend her time here than live in the real world.
However, by choosing to live in her subconscious, she was only further dooming her Dao Heart into failure. Even now, when Juniper had fixed the strain of her Dao Heart, Nixie was choosing to let it fail.
After all, even if she survived today, it would only delay the inevitable. The curse would still linger in her Dao Heart, destroying her body again and again and again.
In her mind, there was no point in trying to fix what was unfixable.
"Nixie, honey, you can’t stay here forever. You have to wake up. Your parents are waiting for you," Juniper said, approaching her.
"NO!" Nixie screamed.
Juniper took a step back, respecting her wishes.
"She is adamant in staying, and that’s bad for all of us," she said to Michael. "We have no choice but to force her out of this place. We have to get her out of Cthulhu’s body."
"Okay, how are we going to do that?" he asked her.
"Taking her is easy. It’s what comes after that’s hard. Her whole subconscious will fight against us," she warned.
I have about 350% charge left on my batteries. That’s good enough for one ’Quantum Slash’ and a ’Quantum Step’.
Thankfully, he absorbed a lot of AP from Nixie’s awakening. If he hadn’t, then he wouldn’t be as confident doing this mission.
"I’m ready," he said to her.
Once again, Juniper counted with her fingers before lunging towards Nixie, grabbing her tightly.
"KYAAA!" Nixie screamed, with the whole subconscious void trembling with her voice.
But no matter how much Nixie tried to squirm out, Juniper had a firm grip on her waist.
"Let’s go!" she said, jumping out and back into the hole they came from.
Michael followed suit, swimming up and eventually emerging from the whirlpool’s spout.
Suddenly, the despondent Leviathan reared its head up, surprised at his preys’ sudden reappearance.
Juniper quickly swam through the waters, getting out of the raging currents before the Leviathan could get to them.
With the monster hot on their trail, they eventually reached the hole they diverged into and squeezed past its cavity.
The Leviathan charged head first into the hole, using its Dragon-like spiky scales to pierce through the very lining of Cthulhu’s body.
And this time, it seemed to have been able to burst through!
It seemed that the disturbance in the subconscious void caused by Nixie’s distress weakened the structure of Cthulhu’s body enough for the Leviathan to break through!
Not only that, but Michael and Juniper were now swimming back up Cthulhu’s body, fighting against the current and slowing them down.
Eventually, the Leviathan finally caught up to them. With its jaws open wide, it could swallow an entire city completely. Michael and Juniper were easy prey.
"We’re close to the exit—"
Juniper’s words trailed off when she saw Michael slowing down his ascent.
"What are you doing?!" she asked him. She could see the Leviathan going straight for him!
"You guys go ahead," he replied to her. "I’ll slow it down."
Juniper was speechless.
The Leviathan would have most certainly caught up to the both of them. There was no doubt about it. So if Michael hadn’t sacrificed himself and made himself bait, then Juniper wouldn’t be able to take Nixie out of Cthulhu’s body.
However, this would almost certainly spell certain doom for Michael.
He was facing a legendary monster of the ocean! Even if this was just a representation made by Nixie’s subconscious, its strength still far exceeded Michael’s strength. Heck, he wouldn’t be able to fight against it even if he was a 9th stage Maugnetic!
Michael didn’t seem to care about any of this and came to a standstill as he waited for the Leviathan to come closer enough near him.
Then, he took out his switch and manifested his Unity Saber.
As the Leviathan closed its jaws to tear him in half, he activated his batteries, allowing him to gather enormous amounts of Aubility Power in his wrists.
Space began to warp around his hands as he grabbed the very fabric of reality in front of him and forcefully transported him into another location.
Juniper saw Michael’s body completely disappear from her sight, surprising her.
It took a few moments for her to realize where he had gone off to.
She looked up at the Leviathan’s head and saw Michael in between its eyes, with his strange weapon in both hands.
More and more Aubility Power poured out of Michael’s batteries, basically draining it of energy. With 300% charge in his hands, the reality-bending power extended up to his Unity Saber, allowing it to tear space apart and create an accretion effect around it.
He swung his blade, letting a crescent of torn space to launch towards the Leviathan’s head.
His ’Quantum Slash’ collided against the Leviathan’s head, quickly tearing the scales off its skin.
The Leviathan recoiled in pain, receding back into the darkness.
Juniper couldn’t believe her eyes. Somehow, for those brief moments, Michael was able to exhibit a strength above his own stage, above his own realm! Those were techniques that only Nascent Spirit realm cultivators could achieve!
"Impossible... Who is he?!"
Aerith already told her about his impossible feat of defeating Alaric and Potbol. But it was only now did Juniper finally believe those words.