Swish

The sound of metal being swung is heard, easily finding entrance into abominations of both human and inhuman appearance. Despite being in the depths of an ocean, the combatants are fighting with ease, their bodies seemingly built to handle the immense underwater pressure.

Crash

Metal crashes against the seafloor, the body of a man follows soon after. Dressed in black he rolls across the floor until his momentum dies, losing his tricorn hat along the way. He struggles to stand up, barely making it back to his feet before limping his way over to his weapon. A ship's anchor.

Crunch

The sound of a scream is heard as two figures similarly dressed in black quickly turn to see a large mass of white and blue creatures surrounding someone on the floor. They rush back to help their downed comrade, only to be pushed back by the horde of monsters. Try as they might, they are unable to free their ally from their fate and are forced to join the main group of fellow warriors, all sporting red eyes and white hair with slightly differing tricorn hats.

Shriek

Multiple people dressed in various shades of black and blue stare ahead at a towering serpent who screeches at them, its speed is too fast for a creature of its size yet the men and women fighting are somehow barely able to keep up with it.

Clash

A woman in white and blue swings her spear at a breakneck pace, creating ripples in the ocean and managing to create pockets of air for a brief second. She swims at incomprehensible speeds, managing to keep up with the leviathan and trading blows with it. Many creatures of the sea try to swarm her but fail to understand how powerful she is, readily sacrificing their lives to allow their god even a second more to counter attack. She does not slow down every time she kills those creatures, swiftly ending them with a single stab to the chest.

But this distraction gives just enough time for the leviathan to slam the woman to the ground, reeling its body back and opening its massive jaw filled with numerous sharp teeth. But just before it can pounce on its next victim the man with the anchor flies through the water and smacks it away, sending it flying hundreds of feet, crashing into a reef. The man swims over to the downed woman and lends out a hand to her who readily accepts.

"You left your squad behind, Gladiia. A few of your members might get eaten by the Seaborn." The man deadpans, stoically scolding the woman before swinging his anchor at an approaching Seaborn, crushing them under the anchor's tremendous weight.

"If I had been any slower the rest of your forces would've been overwhelmed, Ulpianus." Gladiia stoically responds, her spear cleaving through many Seaborn like butter. "The First and Fifth Company have already been wiped out. The Fourth and Sixth Company are barely keeping back the Seaborn from entering the city and you're already down to half your members while mine are supporting the remaining few Abyssal Hunters we have left." The two begin to bicker back and forth while culling the monstrous herd, waiting for their squads to regroup with them. Their fight against the Seaborn looks more like a masterful dance than a fight for survival.

"Laurentina, wait up!" a young female voice calls out, struggling to match her squadmate's pace through the reef they were swimming across.

"Oh little Guitarfish, you spend too much time playing by the city shores than you do actually swimming. Perhaps if you swam with us more you'd be able to keep up with my leisurely pace." Laurentina teases, spinning around to look at her fellow Abyssal Hunter who's the youngest out of all the others.

She had short white hair that was done in a bob cut, a tricorn hat that's wider towards the back and thinner at the front, a buttoned white suit with a single coat tail that ends between her mid-calfs, a white shirt with blue leggings and black gloves and boots. In Laurentina's opinion, she looked quite handsome in that outfit, her lack of certain assets helped in sending a "sophisticated" and "royal" type of air. The girl's weapons were a longsword and shortsword that are attached to her waist, one was meant for parrying and the other for attacking. It's a little too fancy for Lauentina's taste, especially considering who their enemy is, but she supposes that's what staying near the common folk of the underwater cities of Ægir does to you when you reabsorb everything that once made you normal and she couldn't fault her for enjoying the arts.

"For the last time, I am not a guitar!" The youngest Abyssal Hunter whines, "I just like playing it... And my name is Sonatina, please remember that."

"I'm sorry dear Sona, I can't hear you from all the way over in the battlefield." Fortunately, Sonatina's wishes weren't all in vain as Laurentina winked at her and swam faster, leaving her behind.

"That battle crazed woman…I swear she just might go insane thinking about only fighting." Sona wearily shakes her head before with a small burst of speed swims faster, attempting to catch up to her squadmate.

By the time Sona reaches their rendezvous point most of the hunters are already off swimming to confront Ishar'mla, the Seaborn god. The only Hunters that stayed behind were Skadi and Regulus from Ulpianus' third company, Fiona from the now dead Celestina's first company, and Aurelius from the now dead Thadius' fifth company. The four of them were locked in battle against a large horde of Seaborn while the other forty Abyssal Hunters were clashing against Ishar'mla.

Seeing Sona reach them, Regulus spoke while continuing to swing his large spiked bat. "Sona, you're late. We're to act as diversions for the Seaborn, making them come to us instead of their god."

Wordlessly she nodded and drew her swords, beginning to cull the horde. Every swing of her sword decapitated a Seaborn's head while her shortsword deflected any blows she couldn't dodge out of. Her dance of combat was elegant, with measured steps and breaths, every movement she did had a purpose, though it appeared some Seaborn had managed to dance alongside her. Putting more effort into her dance threw the abominations off, they stumbled and fell off the stage that only she, and a few others, could stand on.

But as the battle continued her mind began to wander, filled with these inhuman voices that most definitely did not belong to her fellow hunters. She didn't understand what they were saying, but it felt like encouragement to join them in celebration. Like a birthday party she had once seen through a window before being conscripted into being an Abyssal Hunter. She almost felt like joining them, being reminded of something she never got to experience before her life forever changed.

But while Sonatina's mind wandered, her movements slowly became sloppy and unrefined, like a new dancer beginning in ballet. Wounds were beginning to fester on her arms and legs, slowly the Seaborn began to overwhelm her and shoved her to the ground. But before they could begin feasting on her, a greatsword cleaved through them and a hand yanked the young girl onto her feet, breaking her out of her thoughts.

"Be careful, there's too many Seaborn to take on at once. Don't be afraid to ask for help." It was Skadi who saved her, though Sona was now receiving all the pain the Seaborn had inflicted on her while her mind wandered she nodded her head while taking deep breaths to calm herself down. Skadi nodded her head in return before spinning around and cleaving another wave of monsters with her weapon, leaving Sona all by herself once more.

Sona clutched her head in agony, the voices were getting louder, and more understandable. She could make out the words "we" and "many" but everything else still hurt to listen to. All of a sudden a loud crash caught her attention, turning to where the noise originated from she saw Gladiia and Ulpianus standing above a severely injured Ishar'mla, though the sea floor around it was infected with Nethersea Brand. Above them only fifteen of the original forty Abyssal Hunters remained, each sporting heavy injuries and some not being unable to fight again after the battle concluded. Both captains of their respective company raised their weapons, ready to finally end the threat to all of Ægir. But it seemed Ishar'mla had one last plan, just as the captains swung their weapons, Ishar'mla opened its mouth as a huge beam of blue light attempted to swallow them whole.

Just before they were swallowed by the light, Skadi had jumped in front of them, her greatsword cleaving the light in two and splitting the giant serpent god's head in half with her monstrous strength. But the light didn't disappear, instead forming back together and striking Skadi in the back. Every hunter nearby was pushed away by a shockwave that opened a large hole in the ocean, reaching all the way up to the surface. Every hunter stared in awe at the sight of the sky appearing before them, until the ocean began to rapidly fill in the void left by the shockwave, causing a vortex to begin sucking up everything in its path, including the Abyssal Hunters themselves.

Sonatina fought against the waves with every ounce of her strength, but the voices began speaking in her head once more, this time louder and seemingly angry at something, yet also happy. The voices began piling on top of each other, the numerous echoes of the same sentence began to give her a migraine. She felt a hand grab on to her glove, but couldn't focus on who had grabbed her. She tried reaching out to them, but was too weak and swept away by the ocean vortex, losing her left glove and blacking out from the torrent of the water pushing her away.

On a beach shore somewhere in Iberia, stood a tall black haired Liberi man with brown eyes. He was dressed in a gray and green suit with a briefcase in his left hand and a singular black wing covering the arm. He had been waiting with many others on that beach for the time when their god would come. But all they saw was a large wave of water coming towards them, a tsunami slowly rising over the horizon of what was supposed to be a day of celebration. Everyone but the man was happy, already celebrating despite not truly knowing what was going on.

"Fools…" He thought, "Why must the Abyssal Hunters always be in our way? Can they not see that the Seaborn are meant to be humanity's future?" Frustrated the man turns to walk away, leaving the awaiting people. No one saw that man go, everyone was far too busy praying and waiting for the ocean's tide to come claim them.

The man walked along the beach, heading towards his pharmaceutical office in the Iberian city of Armabella. Checking his watch he noticed he would only be slightly late to work today, not that he cared, the company he worked for was owned by the Church of the Deep and thus could open and close at any time and any place it wanted. But at the corner of his eye he spotted something come ashore. Looking up from his watch he realized it was a person, and his mood immediately brightened, hoping it was who he thought it was.

Rushing towards the beached figure he realized it was an unconscious young girl, somewhere in her mid to late teens. But that wasn't what made him excited, instead it was her appearance. The silky white hair, the tricorn hat, the mix of blue, black and white on her clothing. Everything but her yet to be checked eye color pointed to her being an Abyssal Hunter. But he didn't care if he was wrong, the timing was too coincidental to have not been. He thought he would have to wait centuries before even coming into contact with one such legendary figure. But now he had one given to him on a silver platter, perhaps it was a reward from his god, a reward for his continued loyalty and pursuit in achieving immortality. This had to be a sign of his god telling him that he was getting closer to his long sought after wish.

The man slowly began to chuckle before it turned into hysterical laughter. Gently picking up the young girl into his arms he cradled her like a newborn baby and continued his walk to his office. A large inhuman like smile crossed his face and reached the sides of his jaw, his skin almost began to mutate into that of a Seaborn's but he forced the reaction back. Though he couldn't stop the small amount of saliva from dripping out of his mouth and onto the girl who seemed to reflexively shudder at the touch. He couldn't get too excited, not yet. Not when his prey wasn't finished growing, she wasn't plump enough for his liking. She had to be a fully grown adult for his theories to work, so perhaps he could act like a father figure or some sort of savior to her in the meantime. She was still young and should therefore be at least partially impressionable.

Oh how his plans were already forming. Yes, it would be the perfect-

A single slice ended the Liberi man's life, his head flying off its shoulders as blood began to pool out of the opening. With a heavy thud a large weapon was dropped on the beach and two arms reached out to grasp at the unconscious Sonatina. Though it appeared the savior had caused too much noise, stirring the young hunter from her sleep. When she awoke, she was met with a white haired man with red eyes and a mask that stopped underneath his eyes. Her eyes widened as she blurted out his name.

"Captain Ulpianus?!"

How was that? I'll be honest, with how little we actually know about the Ishar'mla fight and the Abyssal Hunters as an organization that I'm pretty much just speculating into the abyss.

I really shouldn't be doing this either, I've already got two stories to do, adding a third one is just crazy… But I just could not get this out of my head, I remember reading this one story on AO3, I think, I can't remember. About a Lupo girl from Iberia being kidnapped by Ægir and forcibly being turned into an Abyssal Hunter with the capability to use Arts, though I don't really remember much else about it.

That and I was stuck in a birthday reception for four hours, listening to old people talk. So I downloaded and talked to a Gladiia bot that was surprisingly in character.

Anyway, I wanna hear what you guys think about this one. And I bet I faked you all out with Ulpianus' save, didn't I?