Authors Note: Hi all, please leave a review telling me what you thought, only two chapters left before this fic is done! And I hope you all have a happy thanksgiving.
The team of eighteen were all ready to fight Abraliopsis Morisii and its possessed army. They had to have devise kind of plan. This was a small platoon versus another small platoon, but if they did not stop it, who knew how many more squids or octopi this watery monster would go on to possess.
"What's the plan here?!" Marie requested, aiming her E-liter 3k as she eyed the crowd of possessed cultists. All eighteen of them were ready. Maize had to think up a plan, and fast. He was the one who was heavily armed here, and it made sense that he should take on the Abraliopsis Morisii. He had two chargers and the splatling gun at hand, ready and waiting. Thankfully the yellow squid came up with a plan fast, or at least one he hoped would work.
"Okay! Callie, Marie, Fallow, you're with me. We'll deal with Taupe and the big guy," Maize started. The Squid Sisters and his sibling all agreed, obeying his command.
"Aero, Basil, ECO, Fulvous and Auburn. You make sure anyone nearby is long gone. I don't care how you have to do it. Just get it done and dusted," Agent 3 continued. The five were a bit upset that they had to abandon the ones close to them and their new friends, but if it was for the best, then they did not argue. They immediately headed off to clear the area so the water monster could not possess anyone else. A few more of the possessed cultists attempted to approach, when Callie swung overhead, splattering them all with a wave of pink ink from her roller.
"Umber, Mauve, Onyx, Rose, Amaranth. You try and distract as many of these possessed nuts as you can and get them away from here," Maize ordered. They agreed, but doubted they would be able to get their attention easy. However, Onyx had the bright idea to attack the big one in control of them all in the first place.
"Hey! You wanna go, ya ugly freak!" the bodyguard shouted, firing his Tentatek splattershot. The black ink splotched onto the Abraliopsis Morisii. The monster glared at him, and just like that, over half the possessed cultists were beginning to chase them. The group of five headed off to the other direction to lure them away like they were ordered to.
"Octoronia, Aureolin, Violet, and Cobalt. Gather spare weapons and ink tanks, and go around and help anyone of the other groups that needs it. Make sure everyone can still fight," Maize's final ordered was given, and the four of them headed back into the facility to gather the spared weapons, leaving Maize, Callie, Marie and Fallow together against the last of the possessed cultists, the Abraliopsis Morisii and the trapped Taupe within it.
"Maize… I feel like I'm in a bit of a daze right now. If we could, what do you think we should do?" Fallow requested while turning up her oxygen, trying to calm herself, wanting to know what the four of them had to do to beat this monster. Marie had to fire another fully charged shot from her E-liter 3k, splattering two more of the possessed lunatics.
"First, we smash each of those ruby crystals. Then we gotta figure out how to save Taupe," Maize answered, preparing his splatling gun, the three yellow filled ink tanks on his back ready to send their ammo toward the enemy.
"You really want to save him? Didn't he beat you to a pulp?" Callie responded while slamming her roller on the ground. She had been aware of what caused the facial damage that had happened to her dear friend after he had stated it earlier.
"We're the Special Squid Services. It's our job," Marie sighed, repeating the saying she had heard the yellow squid say one too many times as she prepared her charger.
"Couldn't have said it better myself, Marie," Maize gave her that bright smile of his. Even in this very scary situation, he was able to stay positive. The white inkling felt embarrassed to be taking his orders and somewhat enjoying it.
"Let's go!" Callie exclaimed, charging ahead with her roller, Fallow following behind her shortly after with her ink brush following behind her. They both left behind their trails of ink. Abraliopsis Morisii made Taupe point toward them, and one of the water creature's tentacles pointed toward them like a puppet string. Instantly, a few of the cultists began to approach in their zombified state.
"Well, it's on now!" Maize began firing his splatling gun, firing a spray of yellow ink to suppress the approaching cultists. Multiple were splattered easily. Callie spun around, bashing three with her roller, splattering them and leaving behind nothing but a pink mess of ink where they once were. Marie fired at the watery creature, toward one of the ruby spheres. She hit the area with green ink. However it seemed to just clean it right off fast.
"Ugh! Even a charger isn't breaking through" the white inkling groaned, trying to think of a way to break through the Abraliopsis Morisii. That monster seemed content to watch its goons fight for it, as all of the leftover possessed cultists began to approach. Fallow was helping Callie keep them away since they were unarmed. It was very easy to splatter them all. They all just looked and acted like breakable shields.
"If this is the kind of army that it wants to make, then it sure is weak," Marie stated, though she was feeling that same suspicious feeling in her tentacles.
"Unless… I think we're underestimating them…" Marie spoke up. Maize was confused until he suddenly heard a shattering noise. One of his three ink tanks had been broken, now just seeping out the yellow ink. He groaned, gladly tossing it off, thankful to have some of that heavy weight off his back. He turned around to see the cause of it, but there was no one behind them. He gulped at what he saw.
"I think you just jinxed us," Maize spoke up. Marie turned around, letting Callie and Fallow deal with the leftover cultists. However, Agents 2 and 3 saw three more possessed cultists, but these ones were very different. They each had four small water tentacles surrounding them, which had great range on them.
"Huh… they wanted to be human, yet they wound up with more squid properties," Marie said, finding this a bit ironic. Then again, she doubted any of the cultists anticipated the very entity they worshipped turning against them all.
"Oh, dang it!" Maize revved up his splatling gun, Marie aiming her charger, both seeing one of them throw all four of their tentacles toward them in an attempt to attack. At this point they had to deal with the cultists before they could even touch the Abraliopsis Morisii, and it looked like a somewhat unfair contest on both sides. Callie and Fallow had to cover their family for now.
Aero had taken up the role as leader for her division of the group. Thankfully no one butted heads with her over the matter. They had been doing their best to clear out every home and usually pointing out the giant water monster in the near distance did a pretty great job of making someone run away from this area.
"Look, buddy, I've shown you that big blob of water. Why can't you just buzz off?" Basil growled while talking to a stubborn inkling who sat on his front porch with a book in his hands. ECO was watching from nearby, seeing one of the rouge possessed cultists approaching. She shot her slather blaster at them, and only three hits from the purple ink were able to splatter them, leaving behind just a small ink puddle.
"I don't care. I'm not moving an inch," the stubborn squid retorted. The green boy was really feeling his patience get pushed. He pulled his 96 gal deco off his side and aimed it right in the face of the squid.
"Threatening me won't make me move."
"'Course not. I'm done talking," Basil squeezed the trigger, firing a close up burst of green ink that splattered the stubborn squid, coating the porch and the chair he had been in with green ink.
"I'm questioning the ethnics of this," ECO stated. Aero was rubbing her head. She had witnessed the end of that. If splattering someone was the best option to see them safe, then they would do it without hesitation.
"Waaah!" they suddenly heard a loud scream. They turned around to see Fulvous who fell to the ground, scraping into the dirt. Her odd entrance of flying from the air surprised them. ECO and Aero went down to help their friend up, Basil hopping off the porch in confusion, when he saw someone running toward them in the distance.
"Guys! We got a problem!" Auburn shouted while she was running toward them, panicked.
"What? Did it multiply or something?" Basil joked before they suddenly saw her head jerk back. Something had grabbed her by her tentacles.
"Gah!" she got thrown backwards, crashing onto the gravel. This had startled them all.
"Th-there's something invisible tossing us around," Fulvous stated sorely while she was helped up. Aero quirked an eyebrow before making an ink bomb. She tossed the triangular bomb near Auburn. She gulped, guarding herself before it exploded, creating an explosion of blue ink around. They suddenly saw a cultist appear, covered in said ink.
"Gruhh…" the possessed cultist muttered as he became visible. The water surrounding their body washed away the ink quite fast. Somehow it was refracting the rays of light to become completely invisible to them.
"…well, that's a neat trick," Basil said before he suddenly got bashed in the back of the head, forcing him onto the ground. That hurt a lot, and he wondered what had done that. Fulvous fired behind him with an orange blast of ink. She found another invisible cultist, who she then shot a couple more times with her ink before the cultist splattered. She helped up the relieved green squid.
"Oh dear. I believe we're surrounded," ECO stated, her chest light turning red in anger. Aero was helping Auburn who had gotten some blue ink on her legs, which stung badly, but she would tolerate the pain. Before anyone could say anything, the many cultists decided to make themselves present. There were at least twenty in all, Basil was already out cold.
"Splatter them all, then!" Aero ordered before seeing them all begin turning invisible. She gulped before being hit in the stomach, grunting in pain, before she fired her splattershot pro in front of her, and nothing happened. She missed, wondering where they had gone to, when she suddenly got picked up off the ground.
"Eep!" she got tossed onto a bush, crushing the plant. The Tentatek CEO was relieved to have gotten a soft landing. They heard a loud clanging noise. ECO was being hit from multiple directions, and she was having a raging feeling boil up each second. Everyone was beginning to get beaten up. Being unable to see their enemies was a huge problem. None of them were able to attack, and their ink tanks were beginning to get broken as well. Agent 7 looked into the air, and her eyes went wide when she saw an ink strike straight their way. Either this was the most perfect timing in the world for help, or a poor decision to just splatter the entire area without a care.
"Uh oh… everyone, hold on!" Fulvous pushed a button on the rapid blaster she had. A bubbler shield appeared around her, and being so close to the others, everyone else was shielded as well. The physical attacks began bouncing off, doing nothing. The ink strike hit the ground, erupting in a giant purple explosion of ink that caught all of the cloaked possessed cultists off guard. They were all splattered in the wave of the mess. Thankfully Aero's group were safe, thanks to that bubbler that had been used.
"…please tell me we won't have to clean this mess up," Basil sighed in relief, glad they were safe. Everything around the group was covered in a layer of purple ink, including the house that belonged to the stubborn inkling they had splattered earlier.
"Depends on how bad we let Inkopolis get damaged," Aero stood up while rubbing her sore stomach. Her ink tank was broken. None of their ink tanks had survived.
"Hey!" a voice echoed. ECO smiled brightly, her chest light changing to green in happiness, as they saw Octoronia, who approached with Aureolin, Cobalt and Violet.
"Hahahaha! Oh, that felt great!" Violet maniacally laughed. He was the one who had launched that ink strike, and he surely enjoyed being able to spray his ink once more.
"Thank you for the rescue," ECO bowed to the non-tentacled inkling. Octoronia hugged her robotic sibling, glad she was alright.
"You're welcome!" Octoronia said happily.
"Baby, you know the best timing," Basil chuckled as Aureolin was making sure he was alright. Her boyfriend had a small gash on the back of his head, as if he had been hit with a rock, but otherwise, he was alright.
"Why are you guys over here?" Aero requested, wondering if they had been assigned to aid in evacuating the area as well. She was worried about her ex-husband, hoping he was alright. They could hear the roar of the Abraliopsis Morisii from all the way over here.
"We got assigned to run around with the spare weapons and ink tanks, and make sure everyone's able to keep fighting. It looks like you could use some new tanks," Cobalt explained. He had a collection of ink tanks on his back, each one of them filled with different colored ink. He had gotten stuck with carrying duty. His sister Auburn came over and happily took a few off his back, relieving him of the stress, and she began to switch the broken ink tanks out.
"Thanks for the rescue," Aero stated. They were not done yet, but they had gotten a good number of squids and other people evacuated. However, they had sadly splattered a good few just to force them to somewhere safer, and they had a lot more they needed to evacuate.
"I think we were too slow…" Violet exclaimed. Everyone was confused by his statement. They were seeing an odd horde approaching them. There was a mix of possessed cultists, but they had unfortunately taken possession of other inklings, and even jellyfish, crabs, and anyone unfortunate to run across them.
"N-no way! It's an army!" Aureolin gasped. ECO adjusted her goggles while making sure her slather blaster was prepared. Octoronia was trying to stay calm.
"Don't panic! We're a lot smarter than them! Keep together, and don't let them corner you," Octoronia ordered the best tactic she had in mind. As long as they stuck together, watched each other's backs and worked in good unison, this would be a cakewalk. One person with a roller could take on a wave of these possessed fools, unless they had more odd tricks up their sleeves. Being able to turn invisible was already a very scary ability.
The third team had done their best to keep as many of the possessed distracted as they could. Unfortunately they had done their job somewhat too well. They were now in a fight, surrounded by a big group of the possessed lunatics. Onyx and Umber had wound up being the leaders of this team right now, and they were done distracting and had begun fighting.
"How you guys holdin' up?" Umber called out to his group, unable to see, as five of the cultists were surrounding him. He spun around with his ink brush, unleashing dark red ink which splattered three of them easily. The other two however survived the attack. One grabbed his side and his weapon, stopping his movement, and the other jumped on his back.
"Grah!" Umber could not shake them off. One got shot with a burst of pink ink, followed by the sound of disturbing laughter of enjoyment. The dark red inkling watched as the other possessed cultist got punched in the face, being knocked off him before they got splattered by a burst of pink ink as well.
"You alright?" Onyx spoke up, having been the one to punch the possessed madcap off him.
"Ye-yeah. Just not as good with a brush as I thought I was," Umber chuckled, feeling relieved to have someone as strong as him watching his back.
"Then quit sucking, ya dimwit!" Rose roared, having helped save him. The club owner did not seem to have one care for how high his rank was in competitive turf wars.
"Gee… thanks for the motivation," Umber sarcastically responded, swinging his ink brush and sending out a wave of the red ink, splattering two possessed robed figures who were right behind her unaware self. Onyx rubbed his head, asking himself how he found himself in this situation.
"Ow!" Mauve was caught in a rough beating. Sadly enough, the construction worker had little experience with turf battles, and this was the closest thing to a turf war at the moment. It was like they were just splattering hordes of zombies that knew how to punch. Suddenly, the possessed people got splattered by a huge blast of dark pink ink. He saw Amaranth who was holding an inkzooka.
"Eh. This isn't the first time I've been surrounded before by a hordes of people wanting to beat me up," Amaranth claimed, firing another big blast of the inkzooka, splattering another group of the possessed cultists. They were all hoping that splattering them was the best way to free them of their possessions, and at least they would reappear at a hospital a long distance away from the town that was now becoming a dirty battlefield.
"Keep up the good work, guys," Onyx insisted as he pulled his Tentatek splattershot off his side before aiming it at the next approaching wave. Ridiculous for them, that for every possessed person they splattered, another appeared. He had to presume that a lot more were being possessed beyond the cultists now, and that was a worrying thought that made him fear for his girlfriend Aero's safety.
"We're fighting for a lot of lives today, but if you wind up getting possessed, you'll be splattered without a second thought," Umber added. As secondary leader, the only reason they needed two leaders in this team was because everyone in their group was not exactly the most reliable with decision making, but at least it was working out so far.
The battle raged on, as the Abraliopsis Morisii was destroying the ground under it, desperate to crush Callie and Fallow and just missing them, leaving great cracks on the concrete. The two of them had been keeping its attention after they had splattered most of the possessed cultists, all but the three cultists whose watery tentacles on their back stayed intact, and they were putting up a mean retaliation.
"Dang it! Those guys won't just take a hit!" Marie snarled. Every time she tried to fire her E-liter 3k, one of them would just throw off her aim. Maize was firing his splatling gun. Tens of yellow ink sprayed out. One of the cultists spun around, smacking a fraction of the ink aside with their water tentacles before they threw them at Agent 3, piercing his splatling gun.
"Wha-?!" Maize was in awe, seeing his splatling gun fall to pieces, demolished by those water tentacles. They had somehow gotten into his weapon, and broken all of the key components that had been keeping that weapon together.
"Do you have anything we can use to get rid of them?!" Marie requested. The yellow boy hesitantly nodded, reaching into his pocket before pulling out the cellphone bomb that Octoronia had created in the prison.
"Um… this?" Maize nervously suggested, seeing them begin to approach.
"That'll kill them, not splatter them!" the white inkling claimed. They weren't going to murder others just because they were possessed. The yellow squid nodded in agreement. However, he had an idea that could save them trouble.
"I don't have any plans on becoming a murderer, Marie! …err, not again, anyway…" Maize caught himself on that sentence, aware that it had not been that long since he was cleared of being Cyan's murderer. He pressed the big button on the side of the bomb before tossing it on the ground in front of the path where the possessed cultists were charging through. It suddenly exploded, creating a huge pit in the ground. It left a great, gaping hole which they all fell down, into the sewers below, their screams echoing.
"Smart move," Marie complimented. Maize, relieved, pulled the octo charger off his back, planning to save his splatterscope for last, in case somehow his weapon was broken. Once again, they suddenly heard a loud scream. Callie had gotten hit by one of the huge water creature's tentacles, sending her sliding across the ground, scraping and bruising her badly, her roller landing nearby her.
"Callie!" Maize and Marie said at once. At one glance though and they saw an infuriated Abraliopsis Morisii, sick of these games and thirsty for inkling blood. Fallow jumped over a swipe of its tentacle.
"Hah! You should know; you're too slow," the brain damaged squid rhymed in her usual cheerful self. She wanted to keep its attention on her, but she doubted she could keep it up much longer with how fast her energy was draining. The white sister wanted to go help her cousin, but Agent 3 stopped her.
"Wait a moment! We need get those ruby spheres. Callie will be fine, but I need you to work with me, alright?" Maize requested. Agent 2 bit her lip, but then nodded, aiming her E-liter 3k and activating her charger.
"Now aim for the crystal in its left arm, and shoot," Maize ordered while preparing his charger. She fired a strong burst of green ink that hit the arm, forcing some of the water to clear aside. Maize fired next, and a huge yellow ink pierced through the water that was not able to clean the green ink in time. The combined ink blasts sent the ruby crystal flying out of the Abraliopsis Morisii's body, shattering it on the ground.
"My… crystal…! You… shall suffer for this!" the monster spoke through Taupe's voice. It only had the two ruby spheres in its legs, not counting the one that was still in the grey inkling's body. Maize was having another idea now, as he got his octo charger ready.
"Alright, now you can go help Callie. Me and Fallow can get the other two easily," Maize insisted. The Squid Sister nodded, thankful for this, especially when she saw Callie having trouble trying to get back up. It looked like she might have hurt her leg on the fall.
"Please tell me, man. Do you have a plan?" Fallow rhymed in request as the Abraliopsis Morisii was grabbing some of the parts of concrete from the road, beginning to toss the debris at them. They both had to run aside to dodge it, the rubble hitting the ground and breaking into pieces.
"Get on the right side, sis! I'm going to break it in half!" Maize exclaimed.
"Uh?!" his sister was confused. If he had the ability to cut the watery monster in half, then she would love to watch it. The yellow inkling was beginning to run at the Abraliopsis Morisii, seeing it roar as it began to swing three of its watery tentacles at him.
"Whoa!" Maize jumped over the first one, before he was forced to do a dive roll to go under the next one, and then slid under the third one. He was panting wildly. He never imagined that all that training and exercise Captain Cuttlefish made him go through would come in handy. When he got underneath the creature's legs, he hit a button on the octo charger.
"Here we go!" Maize watched the tentacade rip up around him, surrounding him with huge tentacles as they appeared. They were ripping through the Abraliopsis Morisii. It was unable to react in time as the tentacles were ripping through it. This had forced both of the ruby spheres out of its legs. Fallow smiled, bashing the one crystal that fell toward her on the right side with her ink brush like it was a baseball, sending the ruby crystal flying through the air, shattering on the first piece of ground it came into contact with.
"Can you get that one?" Callie asked her cousin. The Squid Sister nodded, aiming her charger before firing. It hit the ruby sphere and sent it flying through the window of a nearby building, shattering both the glass of the window, and the gem itself. The Abraliopsis Morisii was beginning to flail and roar in agony. It smacked Maize away with its huge hand, an attack which tentacade did little to stop. His sister however was fast enough to catch him in her arms.
"D-did we get it?" Marie fearfully requested an answer. Sadly none of the four had any clue. They watched it start shrinking, looking to be severely wounded. The only ruby sphere left within it, was the one Taupe still had in his stomach. They were nearing the end of the fight, but Maize saw a menacing gaze from both the Abraliopsis Morisii and Taupe at the same time.
"Get back! Get back!" Maize shouted. The watery creature, now small, only had the water around Taupe left to its size. The Abraliopsis Morisii smashed its hands on the ground, and a wave of water erupted, sending out a huge wall of water. It sent all four of its enemies flying backwards, like it was a horrible tidal wave on a beach.
Maize gasped for breath once the water vanished. Marie was helping Callie up. They had gotten nearly washed down the road, but they had gotten lucky to not be sent even farther. Fallow was stuck to a street lamp, having grabbed on with her tentacles in the panic while spitting out water.
"…No way…" Maize panted, seeing a huge wall of water that surrounded the watery monster. It had sealed itself away from any form of attack. They did try shooting through the water, but the ink was immediately splashed off. The wall was too high to super jump over.
"Wha-what do we do now, Maize? It may be small, but how are we going to get past that?" Callie requested a plan. He had so far done great with leading them, and his plans all had worked so far. The yellow squid tossed off the extra ink tank that had run empty before he rested his octo charger down.
"I… I've got no idea…" Maize responded. Fallow had become too terrified to move from her spot. If they did not find a way to get to Taupe fast, then the watery creature would be able to call for help. There were so many of the possessed still remaining, and all of their friends were in danger, as much as everyone in Inkopolis was. If they did nothing, then it was all over from here. Suddenly he felt a hand on his back.
"I have an idea," Marie spoke up, holding her E-liter 3k. Callie was relieved to hear this, having to be leaning against the wall with how much pain her leg was in. However the devious look the white girl had on her face gave them a hint of worry. The two of them got close to the water wall.
"Sorry, Maize. But it's going to be all on you right now," she apologized. Maize had a bad feeling that he knew what her plan was, but he nodded.
"I'll do it… and I promise to come back alive," Maize reassured, aware of the worry she had. They had to go all in and break out everything they could, and all they had to do was find some way to break the ruby crystal in Taupe's stomach, and there seemed to be only one way.
"Get ready!" Marie hit a button on her E-liter 3k, activating its special ability. She quickly changed into a huge white kraken. Maize gulped before she wrapped her tentacle around him, picking him up with the new brute strength she had from activating this form. She swung her tentacle, tossing him up as hard as she could like a rocket. Maize went flying upwards, screaming.
"Wow… that actually looks like fun," Callie admitted.
"Don't get any ideas," Marie retorted not having any plans of playing toss up and catch with her cousin. Fallow frowned, having the same thoughts on her mind as well.
Maize was flying up high. It was astonishing how fast he was going up. He could feel the air breezing past him. He finally reached high up enough to be over the water wall. He pulled his splatterscope off his back before firing backwards. It gave him enough momentum to be over the wall.
"I'm coming, Taupe!" Maize shouted while he was beginning to fall, his charger charging up, ready to splatter the grey inkling. The Abraliopsis Morisii saw him, and it bubbled for a brief second.
"You struggle in vain against the current of the river!" the monster shouted. Its small water tentacles went flying up toward the yellow inkling as he fell. One hit his hand, cutting it deeply, and then another cut his side. One wrapped around his shoulder as another hit him right in the face, breaking his goggles and sending them flying off. His ink tank got destroyed, as well as his splatterscope. Each of the tentacles were attempting to halt him.
"I don't care!" Maize caught one of the water tentacles in his mouth, biting into it as he dodged the next one. He finally got right up toward the Abraliopsis Morisii. That one moment, everything seemed to pause like everything in the world was frozen. Agent 3 dug down his fist at full force from his fall, into Taupe's face. It was his only method left without having a weapon. It sent the possessed cult leader falling onto the ground. Maize was freed of any of the tentacle's grips as he fumbled onto the ground as well. Now he was trapped in this water wall that surrounded him and his enemy.
"I'm not going to let you kill anyone else!" Maize stood up, just as the Abraliopsis Morisii regained its footing, but then it received a hard uppercut to the jaw. It glared down at Maize before raising its fist up, returning the punch to him overhead. Maize grit his teeth, delivering another hard blow to the chest of the creature.
"You are doing nothing, but delaying the inevitable!" the water creature spoke through Taupe before it brought its elbow down on Maize's back, sending out a shock-wave of pain through him. The yellow squid grabbed the water monster's arm before tossing it over his shoulder, sending him flying up, and flopping back first onto the ground.
"The inevitable?! I promised to make sure that squid you took over will be alright! That's the inevitable I'm trying to achieve!" Maize shouted, seeing the Abraliopsis Morisii stand up once more. The yellow squid dug his feet into the ground, throwing a hard left hook and punching it in the jaw.
"I have to break another promise to do this!" Maize roared, referring to the promise he made to his mother long ago, the one where he promised to not hurt another person if he could help it. This was a matter that seemed far out of control, but it still felt like there were other options available. Suddenly, Agent 3 felt a few of the water tentacles wrap around his legs before he got thrown into the wall of water face first. He groaned in agony.
"One promise? You're fighting, for just that?! You are causing me so much pain… destroying each of my hearts over feeble words?" the monster questioned, finding this ridiculous. Those ruby spheres were what the water creature described as hearts, and each one shattering did nothing but hurt it badly. Maize was panting as he spat on the ground, getting back up, ripping the tentacles off from around his ankles.
"Know this. I'm not just a squid. I'm Maize Dagenhart, Agent 3! I've made promises to… well, tons of people, and I helped change their lives doing it. That is what a Dagenhart does. When you're defeated, I promise this world is going to change… and for a good cause!" Maize spoke, and then he charged straight for the Abraliopsis Morisii. The monster unleashed a barrage of its sharp tentacles, attempting to stop him. One impaled the yellow inkling's shoulder. Another hit his leg. It did not stop him, though. All his friends could do was watch the fight break out in horror.
"You entered a battle, but there was no chance of victory for you. All you did was delay my efforts. As a favor for halting my progress, I shall kill you slowly," Abraliopsis Morisii exclaimed as another tentacle impaled Maize's side. The inkling was still coming for him, despite being slowed down. His blood dripped and ran down his body and onto the ground. One step at a time, he slowed down, but he could not afford to care how deep his enemy's tentacles cut him.
"I… won't die…" he coughed up a splatter of blood, grabbing the tentacle in his shoulder and ripping it out, watching it retract. Maize took another few steps as he grabbed the ones in his lower body, ripping them out also. It felt like a serrated blade being ripped from his flesh. When he removed them, the Abraliopsis Morisii threw another set of ten tentacles at him.
"I've got too many promises to keep!" Maize declared as he continued his approach, dodging most of the tentacles. Each one that missed seemed to send the water creature into a steadily increasing panic. At only a short moment, the yellow inkling was right in front of the water monster's face, and he delivered a strong blow to Taupe's stomach. Everything froze again. He saw that look in the Abraliopsis Morisii's eyes. It was the look of despair, as each of the water tentacles splattered onto the ground.
"You… you've killed me…" the possessed monster weakly spoke. Maize's strong punch was enough to break the ruby sphere inside the cultists' leader's stomach.
"…I know that… and I don't feel good about it…" Maize stated before gaining a grin.
"…but I sure don't feel bad about it, either," he chuckled, watching as the water creature began to sink into the ground. It was losing control of its true form, and the water wall was beginning to fall. It had lost all of its powers now, and was going to soon lose its control on Taupe, too.
"Before you go… why? Let me know why you wiped out the humans?" Maize requested just one answer for this. After all, it was safe to presume that it was involved with the great disaster that befell the world and flooded it, wiping out most lifeforms that existed eons ago.
"I had no hand in this. I have been slumbering within my egg for thousands of years. However, it appears my awakening was short lived," the Abraliopsis Morisii said his last words before suddenly Taupe fell out of the water creature's body. The grey inkling, unconscious as he was now, collapsed onto the ground, and just like that, the water monster splashed onto the ground, just turning into a puddle of water. Maize sighed, unsure whether to be happy that the monster did not remotely kill any humans at all, or be upset that the mystery of the great disaster was still unknown. He considered maybe it would be best if that remained a mystery.
"Heh… I kept my promise to you Taupe…" Maize weakly said to the unconscious grey squid. Maize had lost so much blood from that great showdown. He fell onto his knees, his eyelids getting heavy. His eyesight was getting blurry as he saw a vision of Callie Marie and Fallow rushing toward him to help him.
"I'm sorry, mom…" the yellow inkling weakly spoke, before he fell onto the floor, unconscious, as his blood pooled around him.