"It's what they call nature's blessing, Eren. A conscious fragment of water elemental attainment."
Alephee appeared beside Eren and spoke. She looked at the swimming fish with keen eyes. It was obvious she wanted to catch it.
This fish had fins that shined with various colors. The blue eyes it had were like diamonds with a brilliance of their own.
Eren was shocked by the fish's presence because it felt extremely strong and weak to him at the same time.
"Aaaah!"
Kirin was taken aback when Alephee appeared on Eren's other side. She was more surprised by the realization that Alephee was a witness to her intimate moments with Eren.
Eren and Alephee both looked at each other and laughed when they realized what Kirin was thinking about through their soul senses. The homunculus cleared her throat before speaking up in a playful tone.
"Don't worry, Kirin. I don't try to peek or disturb him when he is busy with his… let's say personal matters. I know where to draw the line even while being inside his personal space."
Alephee then looked at Eren before telling him.
"I'll tell you about this later on. First, we need to catch the fragment, lest it gets away. Kirin is not compatible with it. But it would help you a lot."
Alephee said before jumping down from the cloud platform. She landed safely over water without creating ripples. She raised her hand in the fish's direction before casting her time-element spell.
The water around the fish stopped moving. Alephee raised her hand and separated a rectangular mass of still water from the lake that contained the fish inside. It looked like the job was done. But she knew this was not enough to catch the fragment.
"Eren!"
Alephee yelled at Eren as she felt there was an anomaly getting created in her spell. She watched with a stressed expression as the mass of water she had separated from the lake started disintegrating.
The rectangular mass of still water started developing ice-like cracks. When the water from the rectangular mass was separated and rejoined the lake, it turned into a shapeless form of ice.
"Coming."
Eren saw the phenomenon with his own eyes and decided to respond. Two Wind-Fire Wings sprouted from his back as he jumped down the cloud platform. Kirin dispelled the platform and created a miniature white nimbus beneath her feet. She followed Eren using the dense mass of flying clouds she created for herself.
The fish managed to break free from Alephee's spell. It didn't cast any spell. But the water beneath Alephee's feet suddenly changed shape. A bunch of Aqua Chains sprouted from the lake surface and shackled the homunculus in no time.
Alephee suddenly turned weak when the Water Chains wrapped around her body. The Chains didn't try to hurt her. But they managed to incapacitate her without the fish seemingly taking any effort.
The fish seemed to be non-violent. But that didn't mean it would be easily captured. Now it was just Eren and Alephee chasing after it as it swam in the waters with such ease.
"Don't hold back. You can't hurt it. Try to capture it using your spells. Or use your water attainments to lure it towards you."
Alephee yelled as she watched Eren and Kirin charging after her. It was clear that she was unable to get out of her restrictions anytime soon.
Kirin charged ahead. She altered the space around the fish. She tried to create a spatial wall around the fish. But she too couldn't keep the fish contained for too long. It would either use its unique powers to disintegrate the spell or go around the walls so fast that Kirin wouldn't be able to keep up.
Igni Chains
Wind-Fire Shards
Eren took over Kirin and bombarded the fish with his attacks. This fire-element spell created chains made of fire-element mana, enabling him to bind his opponents and subject them to DoT while being restricted.
The Igni Chains sprouted from thin air. He held one Igni Chain in each hand and extended them toward the escaping blue fish. However, he soon found out that his fire-element attacks were not effective at all even though the fish was supposed to have a water element attainment and magic.
The Igni Chains disappeared as soon as they touched the fish. They lost all the heat they had and dispersed the fire-element mana they had in them.
'What the…'
Eren was surprised by the fish's nimbleness and its unique powers. The fact that it could incapacitate Alephee spoke volumes about how extraordinary it was.
Eren and Kirin tried their best to capture the fish using various means. Alephee freed herself after some time and attempted to do the same. Despite their efforts, none of them were able to stop the fragment in any way.
Dawn broke over the lake, and the first light of the day began to illuminate the water. The blue fish's horn started growing when that happened as if being recharged by the sun's rays.
"Eren, the fragment is going to disappear soon. And we won't be able to catch it after today."
Alephee warned Eren about the possibility of this unique existence escaping from their clutches. He narrowed his eyes before deciding to fight water with water.
Aqua Wall
Aqua Whips
Aqua Blades
Eren cast his water-element spells to see how the blue fish dealt with his spells. He first created a giant water wall made of the lake's water. He then used the Aqua Whips which was a vine-like rope made of water-element mana. It was thick and as thick as a boa snake.
Lastly, he used Aqua Blades that were about 5 meters in length and sharp. They had a crescent-moon shape and reflected the light of the daybreak on their surfaces. Since Alephee had said that he didn't need to hold back dealing with the fish, that's exactly what he did.
Eren had digested a lot of water-element attainments from various rankers. He also developed an affinity for the element ice, courtesy of mating with Lensa. As a result, the spells that contained his water-element mana and his attainments had various facets attached to them.
The blue-horned fish was finally tempted to have something for itself and stopped in its tracks.
