Then a tiny green light shot out of the cloud of sand and slammed into its eye, disappearing with a disgusting popping sound. Inside its eye cavity, that little green light stabbed two huge blades into the inside of the fish’s head, careful not to angle towards the palometa’s brain. The fish thrashed a few times and slammed its head up against the coral, but eventually it passed out and suddenly disappeared.

In place of the nearly two hundred foot long fish, there was a person covered in a strange goo. Sage looked down and winced, glad that he had the Jade Mantle to insulate him from the eyeball goo that he was covered in. It was also a good thing that he was under the sea so after swimming a short distance away most of it was diluted and washed away. He realized that the fish was not that smart and while its plan to remove him would work it would also cause it great damage. Instead of running away he chose to cling tighter and make the palometa more determined. When it seemed he was out of time he let go and used his Stormbreath enhanced Divine Breath to blast against the coral and keep himself from colliding with it. The storm of wind created a huge disturbance of the sand and sediment, blasting it out of the holes and caverns in the coral, giving him the equivalent of an undersea smokescreen to close in with the Moon Palometa and finish the fight.

The only downside was that he hadn’t realized when he was fighting the leader, the others in the school had abandoned them and disappeared from his view. Sage swam upwards to get a better view of the coral around him and reorient himself. He might also see the other palometa as he wanted to get a couple more for breeding. Unfortunately, he didn’t see the Moon Palometa, but there was something else there to catch his attention. He swam over the reef that the fish had crashed into, crossing over the mountainous reef to look into the neighboring ‘valley’. There he saw another battle going on, and not one between sea creatures.

On one side he saw ten knights, complete with shining plate mail, shields and swords. They had brilliant red tabards with an upside down sword emblem over their armor. A similar symbol was upon the front of their large heater shields. The shields were unusually made of a solid shimmering metal like their armor was. They were loosely arranged into a circular shield wall, preventing an attack from behind. When a projectile came towards them, their shields lit up with a soft red light and the triangular knives bounced off harmlessly. After deflecting the attack, one of the knights turned his shield to the side and ‘stepped’ forward, swinging his sword down from overhead into the new gap in the shield wall. There was no one in range of his blade, but it lit up with red light and an arc of energy was shot through the water. The glowing energy left a trail of tiny bubbles in its wake.

The knight’s opponent’s were far less obvious. From his range, Sage had a hard time keeping track of them. After a moment he caught sight of them, two groups of four were circling around the knights at high speed. They were not in a floating formation like the knights, but walking on the coral. Their feet seemed to stick to the rocks and they shuffled about in a strange running posture, bent forward at the waist with their arms thrust back behind them. Their hands would sometimes flick forward and they threw four pointed metal stars or small knives with a triangular profile that looked like giant arrowheads with handles attached.

“This damn water is terrible for throwing.”

Sage understood their cursing with his Heart’s Tongue, and was surprised to see these two very disparate groups facing off against each other. The people running across the coral changed tactics. One group stood up slightly while running and their hands moved in front of their chests. They put their fingers together and formed sets of handseals. These motions were far different than the ones that the Cultivators Sage knew used, but they seemed to follow similar principles. After a moment they thrust their hands forward and the water around them turned whiter than normal. The water spun into vortex-like columns that further coalesced into what looked like the heads of dragons.

“Water Release: Water Dragon Style!”

The four of them spoke at the same time, each of them talking underwater somehow without issue. Eight giant columns of water ‘swam’ towards the knights, twisting and coiling back and forth like a real beast swimming its way through the water. The immaterial dragon jaws opened up and a huge force slammed into the knight’s shields. They were blown backwards a hundred yards, but remarkably they were able to remain in formation. At this time the other group of four were waiting directly beneath the spot the knights were pushed to. They finished their own handseals and their bodies were covered in golden arcs of electricity.

“Lightning Release: Chain Lightning!”

The lightning crackling around their bodies shot upwards, connecting them to the knights. The armor of the knight’s lit up with a soft red glow. The group of four that released the attack suddenly frowned as they saw the four bolts of lightning strike different knights and then chain to the others. The problem was that it didn’t stop there. The lightning spread further into the water and the four who launched the attack grit their teeth as they suffered from their own attack. They did not seem to be used to using this attack under the water and were suffering for it.

The knights were also at a loss, visored helms covered their faces so he couldn’t see their reaction but their bodies seemed to lock up. Their ring shaped shield wall was not able to protect them from below so it seemed they were also unfamiliar with the three dimensional nature of underwater combat. Both sides seemed inexperienced in this environment. Sage also wasn’t extremely confident underwater, but he had the guidance of the Violent Sun Sect’s techniques and years of practice on the Inner World.

While the knights were trapped in lightning, the first group of four shot off the coral reef on a wave of dark colored water. One of the four was kneeling down and pressing his hands into the dark water while the other three drew short straight single edged blades from their back. They were carried into the center of the knight’s circular formation and dashed across the flat surface of the column of dark water. The knight’s tried to stand on the dark water but their feet were actually trapped by it instead. They were caught unaware and a blade passed between the gaps in their armor. Three of the knight’s were stabbed and their blood spilled into the water.

Their comrades weren’t sitting on their laurels and as soon as one knight was stabbed the ones to their left and right spun and their swords lit up in red. One of the three got his arm chopped clean off while the other two chose to abandon their weapons to evade the attack. While nine of the knight’s were busy fighting off the three attackers in their midst, the last three knights swam downwards. They formed into a line and the man in the middle tossed aside his shield, the man in front blocked the arcs of electricity that were redirected towards them protecting the other two. The third man in line held up his shield and the one in the middle twisted to press his feet against it. Then the first one dodged aside, pulling the lightning with him while the second man pushed off the third’s shield and shot downwards.

With only a sword in hand the knight shot towards the group of four wielding lightning. His sword lit up with red light, but much brighter than anytime before. The sword became so bright it was blinding and then the knight threw it downwards. It landed in the center of the group of four and it released a brilliant shockwave. The lightning came to a stop and three of the four releasing it were blasted apart into a cloud of ‘smoke’. In place of these three were torso sized rocks with a piece of paper stuck to them. The rocks and paper were destroyed by the shockwave, and the fourth person looked like they were stuck with a sledgehammer. Their chest caved in and blood shot from their orifices. The other three appeared next to the now sword and shieldless knight and stabbed blades into him from three directions.

Knights vs Ninjas?