The Hollow God - 2 Is there something wrong with the water?

Though the situation was very strange he was able to quickly calm down. After just a few minutes he was already starting to get used to his new body and was even able to move around the water like the other mantas floating around.

´I guess I should thank my animal instincts for that.

If it was someone else god knows how long they would go into shock for but he was able to quickly get used to the situation. Was it scary? Sure, but he would still rather be a manta ray in the complete darkness then be a bedridden kid who could barely move and that no one cares about, so for him this situation was still a plus.

As he was Hovering around exploring his new underwater home the little manta saw something that left him trembling with excitement. One of the bigger mantas moved its long tail underneath its body and pointed it at a dark blue crab like creature covered in spikes that was scuttling in the sand and as he did a black Smokey arrow materialized foot in front of the tip of his tail and quickly shot out hitting the crab before it could react impaling it to the floor, only when it completely stopped moving did the black arrow dissipated into the water. The old manta then made his way to the top of the crab that now had a hole in its body and sucked out its insides leaving behind only an empty shell.

‘Th-that was magic? Real magic!! I’m not on earth! I’m also not a species of manta that was mutated by industrial chemicals!’

The little manta followed behind the older one watching it intensely as it hunted trying to understand how it was able to materialize the black arrow and he only stopped after the older one was full and left to rest lying down on the sandy sea floor.

`well from watching the older manta what i learned was .. nothing .. nothing at all. However, from the novels I’ve read, to use magic you have to first feel the mana in your body and learn how to control it before you are able to do anything with it´.

The little manta then laid down on the sand with its eyes closed as it felt for a kind energy in his body. Thankfully it didn’t take very long until he found a large space inside his chest. Inside it there was a large white ball floating right in the middle with a smaller black ball hovering around it looking almost like a small solar system.

´So this is where my magic comes from? It’s like the magical beast core from cultivation novels, if it’s the same thing then it should also be extremely valuable to the point humans would go crazy for it. I really hope I’m wrong…` He shuddered at the thought. Hopefully when he encountered other humans their first thought wouldn’t be to kill him for resources.

The little manta was a bit lost on how to even start controlling the mana in his body, he even tried all the teachings he could remember from the novels and mangas but nothing seemed to work.

‘The problem might be that i’m trying to control it using my human way of thinking, animals should be able to run, walk, jump, and even fight in some cases right after they are born so the solution should be inside me i just need to allow my instincts to take over and since i wont put myself in real danger for an experiment i’ll just have to make a fake danger!’ lying down for 15 years in a hospital bed if there was one thing he had confidence in was his imagination!

The little thing slowly created a scene in his mind, he imagined himself being chased by a shark with nowhere to hide and it was quickly catching up to him. The more he concentrated the clearer the images were, he practically hypnotized himself into believing it was real and the danger was really happening but even after he was getting eaten there was no response from inside his core.

‘hmm maybe the mantas instincts are to just run at the sight of danger when they go against a predator and not fight, lets try something different.’

He once again created a new scene except this time he was no longer being chased but floating floating over the seabed. There were little crabs scuttling about everywhere he looked and once his eyes saw them he finally felt it. HUNGER! He never felt so hungry before in his life! He could feel his strength quickly leaving his scrawny body, it was either eat or die! focusing on that hunger was when he finally saw some movement in his core though it was mostly just a small twitch from the black moon that was all he needed!

He Remembered the feeling and trying to replicate it he was able to make it twitch once again.

‘Yes that’s it! That’s the feeling!’ Once he found a direction he was quickly able to grasp how it worked and after just an hour he could already materialize small arrows and shoot it towards the sandy floor.

The little manta excitedly decided to go find a target to practice his new-found abilities. There were older mantas all around the big area where the mantas lived and the crabs never fought back when they were hunted so he wasn’t worried about any danger as he moved to the hunting zone.

After some time he finally reached the place. There was a very large stalagmite like coral protruding from the ground with many small holes over it, there were spiky crabs coming in and out of the holes constantly, completely ignoring the fact that there were black flying creatures that ate ⅓ of them all that had came outside to scavenge for food.

As he looked around he saw a strange scene. There was a crab walking around the corpses of his brethren however he had no spikes on his body like the rest and not only that but his blue shell was covered in golden stripes that blended with the yellow sand below. The strangest thing however was that all the mantas were also ignoring him completely as he walked around unperturbed.

´Such a cool looking crab is definitely the perfect first opponent and from his size he looked to me around my age as well so it’s even better. Our fight! Will be legendary!!´.

The little manta slowly moved his wing-like fins creeping closer and closer to the little stripped crab. As he reached a close enough distance he stopped and copied what the older manta did. He pointed the tip of his long tail at the little crab though his tail went over his body and not under. Why, you ask? Well why do gangsters hold their guns sideways? Because it looked cool! … probably. Gathering the shadow like mana in front of himself and channeling it through his tail, slowly a crude black arrow-like shape was materializing at the tip of his tail .

The Crab seems to have felt something as it turned around and locked eyes with the little manta. Then squinting his eyes he lifted both of his claws getting into what looked to be a defensive like position.

´Hooo and here I thought you were going to run. A strong opponent indeed, Ha! Here take my attack! ´. The strangely shaped arrow finally finished materializing.

́Shadow arrow!´ the little manta shouted in his mind as he released the black arrow spiraling towards the little crab. The little crab’s face became serious as he calculated where the arrow would hit in an instant and then quickly jumped to his left as the arrow barely missed him and smashed into the sand by his side.

Seeing his attack was dodged so easily the little manta shot a few others from different angels and at different speeds but the little crab dodged them all as if it could see the future.

´hahahaha! A Formidable opponent indeed. Looks like you are worthy to be the first to have a taste of my ultimate move!’

Even though the crab could not hear what he was saying it seemed to know that the upcoming attack was going to be the real deal and finally decided to get serious as well. The little crustacean pointed one of his claws at the sea floor and made a swiping motion over his head and a sheet of sand suddenly rose off the ground and completely covered its little body except for its two beady eyes that looked extremely smug.

Seeing this the little manta felt his blood pump faster. ‘HA! You can use magic as well! I knew you weren’t simple, you haven’t disappointed me!’

After getting a feel on how to better manipulate his mana the little manta could attack much faster now however it took out a lot from him as well.

Arrow after Arrow materialized in front of him, so many in fact that even the little crab could not keep up with the number therefore he tucked his eyes under the sand and went into full defensive mode.

The little manta only stopped when his mana was about to run out and then released them all at once.

‘SHADOW ARROW…. STORM!’

‘You were a formidable opponent…’ the little manta said as he turned around ready to leave like the people in the movies who would turn their backs before the big explosion happened, except as he started walking away he found that there was no piercing sound that was made when the older mantas hunted.

Turning around he once again locked eyes with the little crab who had popped his eyes out of the sand and was giving him a mocking look. If this was a game there would be a big 0 on top of his head showing the lack of damage.

‘H-how is this possible?! Did I miss? No, not possible! it was definitely about to hit him. Then….. I underestimated his defense…’ he could feel that his mana reserves were almost empty and decided to strategically retreat.

‘You win this time crab!’ he shouted in his mind then turned around and floated away in shame as fast as his little wings could carry him. Thankfully he didn’t look back and see the little crab raising his small claws in triumph.

——

Before the battle took place, not very far away there was a goofy looking old eel inside of a big coral reef silently waiting for any prey to swim by, however an strange event took away its attention.

it noticed a small manta slowly making its way to a small crab, from its size and the way he approached this was most likely its first hunt so the old eel watched it with interest.

the little thing started it’s attack but unlike how all the other mantas did it he put his tail over his head as he pointed the tip towards the little crab.

*sighs* ‘poor little thing could it be he was born retarded?’ he shook his head as he felt pity for the little manta and thought of how sometimes mother nature just wasn’t fair.

The little crab seemed to notice the mana that was being accumulated and went into its defensive position.

‘oh and the little crab did not run at the sight of its predator? Could there be something wrong with both their heads?’ the old eel kept on watching with interest.

the little manta then released its attack toward the little crab, it was a very small deformed arrow to the point where it couldn’t even go straight. it curved so much that by the time it reached the end it had missed completely.

‘bahaha what was that! you m-‘

What the eel saw next made him speechless. Two seconds after the little arrow had already missed and hit the ground was when the small crab reacted and jumped slightly to the side as if he had dodged the attack.

The manta then started to slowly but constantly fire more black arrows that flew everywhere except where the little crab was however it was still constantly jumping from side to side.

the last straw was when he saw them both get serious and the manta materialized 5 arrows at once and in turn the small crab used its mana to move some of the sand over its body. When the arrows were released the manta turned around for some reason which left the eel dumbfounded.

one of the arrows however actually curved so much that it actually curved back into the right direction hitting the crabs and then dissipated into smoke. the manta didn’t know how to use its mana correctly!

‘err could there be something wrong with the water around here? i better leave, Im still young enough to have some children so i shouldn’t take any chances’ the old eel though as it slithered out of its cave and swam quickly through the water.