Chapter 563: Do Not Let It Fall
Xavier was the first one to step into the water, and his whole body reacted like the sea had insulted his bloodline.
"What the fuck, this water is cold as hell."
He stopped right there with both shoulders tense, staring down at the sea around his legs like it had personally betrayed him.
"My balls are freezing"
Cynthia walked past him with a flat face and no pity at all.
"You were the one saying we should get in first."
"I wanted the sea. I did not sign up for this."
Zafira stepped in a little deeper, the water rising along her thighs while she pushed her hair back over one shoulder. "You complain a lot."
Xavier turned his head toward her, offended. "I am in pain."
"You are dramatic."
Trafalgar entered after them, the cold running cleanly across his skin. Sharp, yes, but manageable. He watched Xavier standing there half-stuck between pride and self-preservation and snorted.
"You done negotiating with the water?"
Xavier pointed at him. "No. Give
a second. A man has limits."
Bartholow had made it ankle-deep and already looked like he regretted every choice that had led him here. Cynthia noticed and leaned a little toward him.
"If you stay there any longer, Xavier is going to start saying he is braver than you."
Barth gave her a wounded expression. "That is emotional manipulation." "And it is working."
He exhaled and walked in farther, hissing under his breath when the water climbed higher. "I hate all of you."
"No, you do not," Cynthia said.
"Right now, I kind of do."
That got a laugh out of Xavier, who finally forced himself deeper with the face of a man marching toward execution. Zafira rolled her eyes at all of them, though the corner of her mouth shifted a little when Barth nearly jumped after hitting a colder current.
A little farther out, where the water reached their waists, Xavier picked up the ball again and bounced it once against his palm.
"Alright. New ga."
Cynthia folded her arms. "You saying that never leads to anything good."
"This one is simple. We keep it in the air."
Barth frowned. "In the water?"
"Yes, genius. That is what makes it better."
Zafira tilted her head. "And when it falls?"
Xavier grinned. "Whoever misses gets mocked."
Trafalgar raised a brow. "That was already going to happen."
"Exactly. So the rules are simple."
Before anyone else spoke, Xavier tossed the ball toward Trafalgar.
Trafalgar caught it with one hand and sent it straight to Cynthia. She tapped it up without trouble and angled it toward Zafira, who returned it neatly with a quick motion of her forearm. Barth got the next one and almost fumbled it before managing to push it back into the middle.
"There," he said, half proud, half surprised. "I did not ruin it."
Xavier caught the next pass. "Do it five more tis and I might respect you."
"You say things like that and wonder why Cynthia threatens to beat you." "That is because she is violent."
Cynthia hit the ball hard enough at his chest that he had to catch himself before it dropped.
"Shut up and play."
The pace built on its own after that.
At first it stayed light. One sent it high, another reached, soone laughed when Barth nearly lost his footing trying to save one of Xavier's worse passes. The water made everything slower and ssier, but that only seed to amuse Xavier more. Cynthia got competitive the mont he started talking too much. Zafira joined in without saying it aloud, and once she did, the ball started coming back with a lot more force than before.
It did not take long for the mana to co out.
Not skills, but enough enhancent in the arms and body to make the passes faster and way harder. What had started as a simple ga in the water stopped feeling simple very quickly.
Xavier caught one near his shoulder and sent it across to Zafira.
Zafira took it with the side of her hand and flicked it toward Cynthia.
Cynthia stepped through the water, pushed mana into the movent, and sent
it back with enough speed that Barth had to jerk both arms up to keep it alive. He barely managed, but the ball stayed in the air.
"There," Barth said, breathing a little harder now. "That was good, right?"
Xavier snorted. "It was acceptable."
Cynthia gave him a flat stare. "You really do not know how to speak like a
normal person."
"I speak perfectly."
"You speak like soone who wants to get hit."
Trafalgar caught the next pass and sent it back with a little more force than necessary. Xavier got both hands on it, but the impact still pushed him half a
step back through the water.
Xavier blinked.
"Oh, so that is how we are doing it now."
Trafalgar raised a brow. "You were the one who started."
Zafira's lips curved faintly. "Do not complain if you cannot keep up."
Xavier laughed once, short and sharp. "That is cute."
The pace rose again.
Now the ball cut through the air instead of floating through it. Mana sharpened
every return. Cynthia's compact fra hid more power than people usually expected, and once she committed, the ball ca off her hands with real sting behind it. Zafira's control made hers worse to deal with.
Xavier had too much fun now. Barth, dragged along by all of it, stopped trying
to play safe and started eting the ball properly.
Trafalgar did not stay out of it either.
Soone sent it hard, and he sent it harder.
A pass ca in awkward, and he corrected it without effort before driving it
back fast enough to splash Xavier in the face when he reached for it too late.
Xavier wiped water from his face and stared at him.
"You bastard."
Trafalgar almost smiled. "Was that not the point?"
Barth laughed under his breath.
Cynthia heard it and looked at him. "See? You are enjoying this."
The next few exchanges got worse in the best way.
Xavier put more mana into his shoulder and launched one toward Cynthia.
She cursed under her breath, got under it, and popped it back toward the
center.
Zafira stepped in first and drove t across with a clean strike.
Barth reached for that one, misjudged it for a split second, and ended up slapping it back up with both hands while half stumbling through the water.
"It stayed up!" he said.
"Barely, Xavier replied.
"It stayed up," Cynthia repeated, louder this ti.
Trafalgar took the next one and sent it straight at Xavier's chest. Xavier caught
it late, hissed when the force hit his palms, and looked up at him with open
accusation.
"Oh, co on, seriously?"
"You wanted stronger passes."
"I wanted competition, not attempted murder."
Zafira brushed wet hair behind one shoulder. "You exaggerate constantly."
"And you are enjoying this way too much."
"I am winning. That improves the mood."
No one slowed down.
At this point the ga had fully turned into pride, with a ball in the middle
serving as the excuse. The water splashed around them in sharp bursts now. Mana moved through every pass. Not enough to turn it into a fight, enough that the ball had beco dangerous if soone stopped paying attention.
Xavier caught one, turned toward Trafalgar, and grinned in that very specific way that always ant he was about to do sothing stupid.
"Alright," he said. "Take this one properly."
He put far too much into it. Mana flared through his arm, and the ball shot off his hand like he was trying to
put a hole through sobody. It skimd low over the water, caught a bad
angle, and rose at the wrong mont.
Trafalgar got a hand on it, but not cleanly.
The ball slipped off his palm, bounced once against the surface, and kept going
toward deeper water.
Xavier spread both hands at once. "That touched you last."
Trafalgar turned toward him. "You hit it like an idiot."
"It was a strong pass."
"It was trash."
Cynthia folded her arms. "Go get it, Xavier."
Xavier pointed at Trafalgar imdiately. "He touched it last. I do not make the
rules."
Barth muttered, "You literally did."
"And they were excellent rules."
Trafalgar clicked his tongue and started swimming out.
'What a bastard. Now I have to go.
Behind him, Xavier called out, "Do not die over a ball. That would be pathetic."
Cynthia answered before Trafalgar could.
"You are the pathetic part"
The water deepened fast the farther he went. The noise behind him faded little
by little until it was only sea, wind, and the soft slap of waves. The ball drifted
ahead, rising and falling with the swell.
Trafalgar reached it just as another wave lifted it slightly.
He stretched a hand toward it. Sothing wrapped around his leg.
'Ugh... Is it algae ?I didn't like this feeling even before on Earth.
The pull ca hard enough to rip him under on the spot. Cold water crashed
over his head, the surface vanished above him, and whatever had caught him
dragged him down into the sea. 'Shit, it is not an algae.
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