The plunge into the icy water of the Swan Sea was jarring, sending all his senses into shock. And the cold piece of metal embedded into his body was like a blade of ice, freezing his insides.

Harry let out a soundless scream, then immediately closed his mouth. All his air was escaping.

Theodore's sword was stuck fast into his body, the blade buried deep to the hilt. The sharp end of it protruded well out his back. To Harry's surprise, although the blade was thin, this sword was actually extremely heavy. It must have weighed hundreds of kilograms. With so much strength and momentum behind it, the blade effortlessly pierced through his strengthened body.

'It must be an Earth Grade weapon – maybe even high-quality,' the part of his mind not screaming in pain managed to conclude. Earth Grade metals were both stronger and heavier than Ordinary Grade ones. As the Young Master of a Sacred Clan, it was probably a simple matter for Theodore to possess a weapon like this.

But now that he was in the water, the sword was no longer just a sword. It was an anchor, dragging him to the depths of the Swan Sea.

'I didn't expect this,' he hissed, and made a motion to yank the sword out of his body. It refused to budge.

The pressure was increasing, growing as he sank further and further. His ears began to hurt, and his vision was spinning. He felt as if his eyeballs were about to burst out of their sockets, such was the pressure of the water above him. He yanked at the sword again and again, but it just wouldn't move. He was too exhausted, and the sword was too heavy. And every time he moved his arms, the gaping wounds screamed out in pain. Combined with the increasing pressure, it only made the sword impossible to dislodge.

'Get out! Get out!' he panicked. His desperate plan hadn't accounted for this!

Harry gave it a heave with all his might, and the result was that the sharp blade shifted slightly. He let out another scream as it cut deeper into his body. He could only helplessly watch as the remaining air in his lungs turned into bubbles that floated upwards.

Also floating upwards was a trail of blood – a thin red line, snaking upwards and out of sight. He was bleeding out far faster than he expected.

More importantly, he was running out of air.

'Forget this sword, I can't breathe anymore!' he was forced to change his priorities.

He pulled out the vial of pills he kept in his robes, and stuffed its contents into his mouth.

First went his last two healing pills. The moment they entered his body, he felt the relaxing medicinal essence spreading through his body, working to heal his wounds. The broken flesh on his arms was stitching itself together, and he could feel his stomach mending itself. Not for the first time, though possibly the last, he was grateful for his ability to refine Qi at monstrous speeds.

The pressure was increasing, and he was seeing black at the corners of his vision. His lungs felt like they were about to collapse, his stomach was on fire, and with his last breath, he stuffed the Gilly Weed Essence Pills into his mouth.

Those pills, the ones he robbed from Nelson, formed the crux of his plan. He had been holding onto these pills this whole time, for no real reason, not expecting to ever need them. But now, they could save his life. The pills slid down his throat like slimy rat tails, sticking to the sides as he swallowed. He wrinkled his nose at the disgusting taste, but he didn't have the ability to be picky right now.

'The moment of truth,' he prayed. He had no idea if these pills worked – perhaps Nelson was a garbage Alchemist and these pills were defective. All he knew was that these pills were supposed to give him gills, and he could only wait for it to happen.

His lungs were burning like they were on fire, and his brain was pounding like someone was clubbing his head with a hammer. There was a long, tense moment of suspense – Harry was ready to curse Nelson to death – and then he felt his body squirming and morphing.

The skin on his neck was first to change. He raised his hand to touch it, and felt slits – no, gills – on his throat, and he made a desperate heave of his lungs. The gulp of water was a breath of fresh air, and he felt like a fish in water. The pressure on his body disappeared, counteracted by the magical effects of these pills. His vision cleared next, then his hands and feet transformed to grow webbing.

Harry let out a long gasp of relief. For the time being, he was safe.

He tried removing Theodore's sword again, but to his horror, he found his webbed and slimy hand couldn't grasp the wet hilt properly. Even worse, the stomach wound was healing around the sword. Blood no longer streamed out his body, though the pain of having a sword stabbed through him didn't lessen.

'I messed up,' he thought grimly. Without removing the sword first, he was doomed to sink to the bottom of the Swan Sea. But there was just no way he could have pulled it out, and if he had delayed taking those pills any later, he would have succumbed to his injuries. Now, even if he managed to pull the sword out, the wound would reopen. No matter what choice he made, there was no good outcome.

He tried to propel himself upwards, but even with all his strength, the best he could manage was to hover in place. The Earth Grade sword was just too heavy.

Harry glanced upwards, and his blood chilled. He must have been 30 meters below the surface, but he could just barely see the water at the sea level, like a glass window offering a glimpse of the sky. And currently, the window was broken by hundreds of Qi blades stabbing into the water, creating an illusion as if the water was boiling. The area of the sea where he dived in was frothing, and every second, dozens of blades were piercing through, stabbing into the sea. Clearly, Theodore was using the Rainstorm Sword to make sure he was dead.

It didn't seem like Theodore could see him, as the blades were falling randomly across a huge area. He had sunk too far for that. But even then, it didn't make it any less dangerous. One blade just narrowly missed him by a few meters. Despite the resistance in the water, it was still able to pierce this far – and without hesitation, he turned and propelled himself further down as quickly as he could.

Ironically, being stabbed through with this heavy sword probably saved his life, as it caused him to quickly sink below the reach of Theodore above. Unfortunately, it also condemned him to a slow death. Whether he was found by a Magic Beast, or sank to the bottom after his pills wore off and he suffocated, he didn't see a way out of his predicament.

His original plan was to dive deep enough to evade the attackers, then swim towards one of the beaches, hopefully avoiding Magic Beasts along the way. After that, he'd hope no one from the Ivory Fist Clan or New Port Sect was there, and he'd make a run for it. As he had eight of these pills, he estimated that he should have gills for around eight hours. That was plenty of time for him to make his way to safety.

There were a lot of hopeful wishes in that plan, and he wasn't optimistic about this plan succeeding at all. It was just his only hope.

But this sword changed everything. If his original plan had a 1% chance of working, then now there was a 0% chance. Theodore's last move caught him unaware, and he had no idea the sword weighed so much. No matter how he struggled, he was sinking, with no way to get back to the surface.

The best proof he was sinking was the fading light around him. Though the Natural Essence in his webbed hand emitted some light, it was restricted by the water. His immediate surroundings were lit up by a light shade of blue, and past that, everything was black. He nervously descended, praying that no Magic Beasts would take a passing interest in the light. He was almost expecting a giant fish or some other lurking beast to arise from the depths and swallow him up.

Speaking of giant fish – out of the corner of his eyes, he saw a whole school of them float by. They were enormous creatures, definitely at the Earth Grade, each one easily twice his size. If they noticed him, it would be over. And just as he thought that, one of them caught sight of him and shot towards him.

'Oh shit!' he swore, and did the only thing he could – he stuffed the Heaven Grade Natural Essence into his mouth, cutting off the light. The surroundings turned black, and he hurriedly propelled himself in the opposite direction, and further down.

He had no idea where he was going, and he swam blindly. Dark shadows moved below, the lack of light preventing any identification. He jumped at every one, cautiously swimming in the opposite direction to avoid whatever he prowled beneath.

Downwards…

Downwards…

He didn't know how far or long he sank, but he did know one thing – he was sinking. He fought every inch of the way, trying to struggle up, but at best, he could only manage to stay in place. Even with Rebirthing Muscle, it was fruitless. He felt like he was climbing a ladder with 500 kilograms strapped to his back.

'I can't even see anything!' he muttered, but all that came out was a stream of bubbles. In a fit of impulsiveness, he opened his mouth and allowed the Heaven Grade treasure to shine. The water in front of him became illuminated by a soft blue light –

And RIGHT THERE was a monstrous creature, round and pink, with a dozen tentacle arms spread out like the petals of a sunflower, and in center of the tentacles was a gaping hole of ugly flesh and serrated teeth –

'Holy fucking shit!' Harry screamed, and closed his mouth, cutting off the light. He turned around, and bolted into the darkness as fast as he possibly could.

He took powerful strokes through the water, not caring where he was going, as long as it was far away from that creature. It was an octopus, he belatedly realized, probably an Earth Grade variant of that leviathan he saw the Sect Master slay, but in his current state, more than enough to kill him.

Harry frenziedly swam for many minutes, only stopping when he was sure he made it. He risked a glance behind him and opened his mouth again – only to see the octopus beast was right on his heels. It was using its tentacles, undulating them in a rhythmic manner to propel itself through the depths.

'It can sense where I am!' Harry realized. It must have been the vibrations in the water, or perhaps it could see in the dark. Either way, he had to get away from here.

He felt something soft and puckered brush against his leg, sending him into a panic. He redoubled his efforts, but the beast was still right behind him.

'This can't be happening!' Harry wanted to scream into the darkness. Killed by an octopus? What sort of stupid ending was this?

Rebirthing Muscle!

Nothing happened. The Nameless Seed was still charging.

Rebirthing Muscle! Rebirthing Muscle! Rebirthing Muscle! Rebirthing Muscle!

No response.

He felt something, something horrifying and disgusting, latch onto his left leg, and then another tentacle latch onto his other one. In his mind, he pictured that beast pulling him in, towards that ugly beaked mouth that would swallow his legs and chomp them off –

Burning Blood!

Thankfully, the Nameless Seed spun into action.

A thin stream of fire raced through his veins, and he kicked as hard as he could. He shot through the water like a fish – but the octopus' suctioned appendages were still attached. If anything, he was just pulling it along for the ride.

'I don't want to die like this!' he wailed. If he were to fall in battle, that would be one thing. But hugged to death by an octopus? He was unwilling.

The bit of Fire Qi was already dissipating, as he didn't have enough time to charge it more. A few more seconds, then he'd become octopus food –

'No, there's one last thing! This is my chance!' he gritted his teeth, and firmed his resolve.

He knew this would hurt like hell.

With both webbed hands, he grasped onto Theodore Nott's sword. His hands didn't have a good grip of the hilt, so he grabbed the blade instead, as firmly as he could. He allowed the edges of the sword to sink into his palms, and used the friction there to grasp the sword in place.

With the last iota of his burning strength, he let out an underwater roar and yanked the sword out his body.

'AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA'

The sword exiting his stomach was another taste of Hell. His hands were burning, stinging, but that was nothing compared to what he felt in his abdomen. The healed wound was violently reopened – and he was left with a gaping hole in his stomach – but Theodore Nott's sword was finally free from his body.

With a final unwilling howl, he twisted and blindly sliced the blade through the water.

The whole reason he was sinking in the first place was because this sword was an Earth Grade weapon, and thus very heavy. But it being an Earth Grade weapon also meant it was very sharp. It sliced through the octopus in a single stroke, not even encountering any resistance, turning one monstrous creature into two bloody halves. The tentacles on his legs released their grip, and he was free.

'I did it,' he exhaled. 'Two birds with one stone… urrggghh'

Blood was freely flowing out his stomach and hands, and the pain was overtaking his senses. Even for someone as experienced as him in suffering pain, there was still a limit to what he could take.

Harry quickly let go of the sword, allowing it to sink to the bottom of the Swan Sea. Now that the anchor was gone, he was finally able to swim upwards –

Except to his horror, his vision was darkening, and this time, it wasn't due to the lack of light. He was losing consciousness. The muscles of his body wouldn't respond, no matter how he tried to move them. He was rapidly blacking out, mind overwhelmed from exhaustion and pain.

'It's over, for real this time,' Harry sighed.

This time, there was nobody to save him.

'My mother's necklace,' he suddenly thought, as he sluggishly lifted his hand and grasped it.

'This is my last hope. It's the only thing that could save me now… will it work?'

He could only place all his hopes into this lifeline.

'Please,' he begged it. 'Bring me to safety.'

Yet, nothing happened. The necklace remained a dead piece of metal, a dull red bird that mocked his plight.

From below, a soft glow of orange light caught his attention, and he used the last bit of his strength to keep his eyes open.

'What's that light?' he blearily wondered.

It was a dim light, a strip of orange luminescence that lit up his surroundings, though just barely. It was still far below him, but getting larger with each passing second.

The strip of light wasn't very wide, initially only a few meters, but extended towards the right and left as far as he could see. As he sank and got closer, the strip of light grew wider, until he estimated it was about 100 meters wide.

More accurately, it was actually two parallel strips of orange light. In between the two bands of light was a narrow strip of blackness –

'It's the Swan's Seamount,' he realized. The orange must have been the two sides of the seamount, and the black was the underwater vent. No one ever told him it glowed – for that matter, no one told him it was orange, either. He imagined it to be gray or brown, like a rock. Perhaps, nobody knew. After all, it was suicide to come down here, and it had been many years since someone had last done so. Maybe this knowledge was lost to time.

'How ironic,' he thought through the pain. He previously wanted to make a visit to the Swan's Seamount to get some treasures, but now that he was actually here, the treasures were all gone. The only thing waiting for him here was death.

A few more meters, and suddenly he could make out the thousands of Magic Plants growing by the seamount. The legends were all true – Magic Plants grew in this area by the hundreds and thousands, forming a garden that put even the Alchemy Hall's to shame.

Ocean Pepper, Tangle Bitter Seaweed, Flowering Sea Grass, Yellow Heart…

'Oh, what's the point?' he tore his eyes away from all the Magic Plants. It wasn't like identifying these plants would help him at this moment.

The pain and exhaustion overtook him, and he closed his eyes for the final time.

Harry blissfully drifted into unconsciousness, and sank the last few meters to the bottom of the sea.

By sheer coincidence, the path he had taken to the seafloor had brought him directly above the Swan's Seamount. The Swan Sea was enormous, and though the seamount was also a colossal structure, it wasn't very large when compared to the entire Swan Sea. To end up on top of it was nothing more than an act of chance.

His sinking body landed on a cold, hard surface.

And as it did, a mysterious seed within Harry's body woke up…