Adrian was good at a lot of things, but swimming was definitely not one of them.

Yet, he was somehow in the middle of a dark ocean, at night, with a massive wave approaching and threatening to swallow him.

Still, panicking would do nothing to help with his situation so might as well start thinking of a way out.

Unfortunately, the incoming wave was not going to wait on him.

Adrian clicked his tongue as the wave rose higher and got close enough for him to see what was waiting for him within.

"Of course."

Because drowning wasn’t enough, the surface of the water was rippling and even though the sea seemed to be made of endless darkness, he could clearly see some silhouettes moving beneath.

But before he had the chance to think of a way to get away from the wave,

Water swallowed him whole, dragging him under with violent force. The pressure hit immediately, his ears ringing as his body was pulled deeper into the black water.

His glasses quickly left his face, but he was unwilling to lose it, so he immediately extended his arm and grabbed it.

Though, the magic tool should’ve been the last of his problems because he was sinking faster by the second.

Opening his eyes made no difference either since there was no light within the water , though he still didn’t panic.

[Shadow Sense]

The moment he activated it, his senses spread all around and he could finally make out his surroundings.

The next second, Adrian immediately released a [Shadow Clone] behind him and switched places with it, just in time to avoid a set of sharp teeth that bit into his clone.

Clenching his fist, the clone transformed into a spike ball before piercing through its attacker’s mouth.

’Piranhas?’ Adrian thought as its senses relayed the shape of his attacker, and they were definitely in the shape of fishes, just giant ones.

And there were a lot more approaching thanks to his sudden movements.

Although, from the mana he sensed from them, they were only C-Ranks, fighting underwater was definitely not ideal since he was quickly running out of breath.

And drowning.

There was also the fact that the piranha-like beasts weren’t alone, they were just the closest to him.

In short, fighting here would be stupid. Even if they were only C-Ranks, the environment alone made it deadly.

Every movement drained him and every second underwater chipped away at his chance of survival.

So the best course of action was getting the hell out of this sea, and that was exactly what he did.

Based on the way the beasts were responding to only his movements, he guessed that they were blind.

Or also couldn’t see well within this sea of darkness, so he knew exactly how to get to safety.

Creating three more clones a distance away from him and they immediately started swimming in a different direction....or at least they tried to.

But they were even worse than Adrian himself at swimming, and all they did was flail around creating a disturbance in the sea.

"...."

Well, at least that were completing the task they were created for, and just as he expected, the attention of the piranhas were directed towards the clones.

The creatures headed towards the flailing clones giving letting him put enough distance between them.

Now came the hard part, swimming out of the water.

Adrian kicked upward, or at least... what he hoped was upward.

There was no sense of direction in the suffocating darkness. There was neither light nor surface tension, just the ever increasing pressure and the slow, creeping burn in his lungs.

Fortunately though, [Shadow Sense] assured him that he was going in the right direction, so he continued ’swimming’ upwards.

His movements were clumsy and unrefined but desperation made up for lack of skill.

Behind him, the clones were keeping the Piranha’s attention away from him, though that didn’t mean he was completely safe though.

Soon enough, his senses picked up something large, quickly swimming towards him.

At the rate which it was moving, it’d reach him in a few seconds.

Instead of swimming faster, Adrian suddenly stopped and placed both hands beneath him.

«Are you waiting to die?» Noctis’ voice was heard in his head again, «swim.»

He gave no response as he kept his hands pointing downwards, mana gathering in them.

The large creature, sensing that its prey had stopped, suddenly picked up speed, swimming faster towards him.

It’s mouth was wide open, and although the sea was made of complete darkness, if one was watching from above, they’d be able to make out an outline of its mouth.

But just before it could snap shut on Adrian,

BOOM!

A blast, originating from his palm launched him upwards, causing the creature’s jaw to close on just water, missing him by inches.

But the current it created dragged him sideways violently, slamming him into what felt like a large rock.

His mouth opened and water immediately rushed within, forcing him to cough and in turn during in more.

«Stop panicking you idiot,» Noctis called out again, «use the rock to get out the water.»

Barley catching himself and forcing his mouth close, Adrian let his shadow roll up the rock, searching for wherever the top was.

Unfortunately for him, he was quickly running out of breath, and he could barely stay conscious.

Whatever tried swallowing him just now was headed towards him again, and this time, Adrian was sinking straight into its mouth.

«You need to stay awake,» his cat’s voice was heard in his head, but even that sounded as if it was coming from a long distance away.

His consciousness was slipping away by the second, and try as he might, it was getting harder and harder to awake.

Just as the creature’s maw loomed over him, and was seconds away from snapping shut,

[Shadow Swap]

"HAH!!"

Adrian choked the moment he switched places with his shadow, and air immediately forces itself into his lungs.

His body started convulsing as he rolled onto his side, coughing up water again and again.

It took a while, but he soon lay on his back again, looking up the sky that didn’t truly look like one as he let out a breath.

"That," he rasped, "was unpleasant."

***

Meanwhile, deep within the sea of darkness, way past the monsters Adrian had sensed and in a region where anything would be instantly crushed, stood a broken temple.

Within that temple, a single statue stood, both its hands resting on the sword before it.

Its head was rested on the hilt of the sword as it remained kneeling on a single knee.

For a single second, it seemed as if the statue had moved, but with how dark the water was, it was hard to tell.