‘Are you sure you can do this?’ I ask Curruid as I slowly get up.

   ‘I can and I will. Now stand back. This is my fight and mine alone.’

   I shrug. ‘Just yell if you need my help.’

   ‘You’re actually going to let him handle this all by himself, master-kun?’ Coinchenn asks me.

   ‘He said that he’ll handle this, so he will.’ I answer.

   Curruid scoffs. ‘You will be sorely mistaken if you think I will end up just like in Round 1.’

   ‘Those are some brave words. For you sake, I hope you won’t end up eating them.’

   ‘You will find out soon enough.’

   Curruid swings a fist towards Coinchenn. Unlike the first one I saw him throw, this one is fast, firm and precise. Coinchenn raises up his arm to block it, but it was just a clever feint from Curruid. Curruid was aiming to kick his stomach, and it landed right on its target.

   Coinchenn actually bends down from the kick. Looks like Curruid’s kick is much more effective than mine. As Coinchenn is busy gasping for air, Curruid moves in and grabs both side of his head with his hands and gives him a knee kick. And another. And another.

   I see Coinchenn grasping both of Curruid’s arms and use them as a leverage to do a backflip. Or more precisely, it’s an elaborate method to kick his head. Curruid grunts in surprise and let goes of Coinchenn’s head. Coinchenn uses his momentum to do a triangle choke hold on Curruid, but Curruid was faster and headbutts Coinchenn’s stomach. With a loud and painful grunt, Coinchenn flies backwards and lands on his back. He quickly gets up before Curruid could continue his attack.

   ‘My my, you sure managed to master you new body in such a short time. What’s your secret?’

   ‘I do not have any. Even if I do, I would rather slit my own throat than telling you.’

   ‘A stick in the mud as always, eh?’

   ‘Better that than a certain scheming swine.’

   ‘Wow, that person sounds awful.’

   ‘I was talking about you!’

   ‘Oh, are you? I never noticed.’

   Curruid lets out a tired sigh. ‘This is just fantastic. Now there are two of you. And do not try to look innocent! I am indeed talking about you!’

   The last part is obviously aimed at me. I don’t even know how he managed to tell my expression even though his eyes were on Coinchenn this whole time.

   ‘You’re being too stiff, Curruid. Learn to live a little.’ Coinchenn tells my exasperated partner.

   ‘Exactly. Well, you might not be able to since you’re, well, dead, but you ought to relax.’ I add.

   ‘Shut up, both of you. Just, SHUT UP!’

   Curruid is almost screaming right now. I guess he got really tired of us annoying him.

   He growls hostilely at Coinchenn. ‘We will settle this once and for all.’

   ‘Just so you know, even if by some miracle you manage to win against me, the score is still 1-1.’

   ‘It is not! You have cheated on our first fight! Therefore, that particular fight should be judged as void!’

   ‘Hey, it’s not cheating if everything I did happened before the fight.’

   ‘What exactly did you do?’ I ask Coinchenn.

   ‘I believe I told you that we are not talking about it!’ Curruid butts in.

   ‘He always couldn’t resist eating tunas. So I hatched out a plan to make a shoal of tunas consume some venom that will in turn weaken those who eat them. Curruid ate those fishes unsuspectingly and got really groggy right before our death match.’ Coinchenn explains while ignoring Curruid.

   ‘You see! Did he not cheat?’ Curruid asks me.

   I slowly raise up my hand and points it towards Coinchenn.

   Coinchenn beams. ‘I knew you would understand.’

   ‘Why are you on his side? That was obviously a foul play!’ Curruid demands.

   ‘Sorry bud, but it’s not cheating if what he did happened before the match began. If anything, it’s your own fault for gobbling down the first thing you see without inspecting it.’

   ‘Yup yup. It’s totally your own fault.’

   Curruid growls frustratingly.

   ‘Enough! We are continuing the fight.’

   ‘Whatever you say.’

   A tail made of water appears on Coinchenn’s back again. He turns around and swings it towards Curruid. Before it could hit him, he steps forward and punches Coinchenn’s ribs.

   I hear the sound of bones being broken. Coinchenn cries out in pain. It was so painful his water tail disappeared. Just as Curruid was about to continue his attack, Coinchenn swings a punch at his face and manages to hit it. I hear a loud knocking noise, and Curruid’s forehead is bleeding. Rather than stopping, Curruid swings his right leg upwards and kicks Coinchenn to the air. Curruid then jumps, raises up his right leg and kicks Coinchenn’s stomach so hard he lands on the ground and formed a small crater on it. As Curruid landed, Coinchenn quickly gets up and does a somersault so that they have some distance between them.

   Coinchenn wipes away some blood coming out from the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand.

   ‘You actually managed to master the control of that new body in such a short time. Impressive.’ he compliments.

   Curruid scoffs. ‘This is nothing. There is literally nothing that you can do that I cannot.’

   ‘Ever the modest one, aren’t you?’

   ‘Face it. It is true. I am much stronger than you are.’

   ‘I hate to admit it, but you’re right. I guess I have to get serious.’

   Coinchenn’s blue eyes starts to glow in an eerie way. His fingers and toes are turning into sharp claws. His arms and legs are growing round, azure scales. His fangs grow curved and extremely sharp. He grows a tail again on the top of his buttocks. Unlike the previous ones, this one is real. The caudal fin of the tail is shaped like a crescent moon,and the tail overall is thick and looks very strong. I don’t fancy getting a hit from it. Now that I take a closer look, Coinchenn’s second form is kind of similar to mine when Gáe Bulg transform under Curruid’s power.

   Before I realized it, I’m standing next to Curruid.

   ‘Do you need more time to do the same thing he did?’ I ask him as I brandish my spear towards Coinchenn.

   He shakes his head. ‘I would have to learn it as we fight. With that form of his, he might be too much for you.’

   ‘Got it.’

   I notice that he’s not chasing me away for interrupting his fight with his arch nemesis. That’s not a good sign. With his pride, he would never allow me to butt in unless he could tell that Coinchenn has become so strong that he alone won’t be enough to beat him.

   I look towards the sky. I couldn’t hear a single sound of fighting ever since Coinchenn has transformed, and I found out why. The water serpent Coinchenn conjured out of nothing has disappeared, leaving my skeleton whale shark just hovering on the sky and doing nothing.

   ‘What happened to you water snake?’ I ask Coinchenn.

   ‘I made it disappear. It would only be fair for you to use your shark now that I’m in this form.’ he answers.

   His voice used to be the very embodiment of being covered in honey. After he partially transformed, his voice has become slightly deeper. It’s like he got promoted from being a suspicious salesman to a gang leader that doesn’t look like he could hurt you, but actually can.

   ‘Ever the confident one, aren’t you?’ Curruid says sarcastically.

   ‘Not as confident as you. You probably knew that I was lying in wait at this world where every single creatures will turn into a human, and yet here you are, trying to fight me in my terms.’

   ‘Contrary to what you might think, I was confident that I could get used to this new body of mine since he was here to stall the time.’ Curruid says while jabbing a thumb at me.

   I raise my eyebrow. ‘Is that a roundabout way of saying that you trust me?’

   ‘I do not trust you. I am merely using you as a pawn.’

   ‘Don’t be deceived. He’s just being shy. The last time he said that to me, we ended up defeating a group of fellow sea monsters. It’s all because he trusted me to watch my back while he’s going on a rampage at the front.’ Coinchenn whispers at me.

   ‘I heard that! Are you even trying to whisper there?’

   ‘I knew it. You’re a tsundere through and through.’ I nod my head in satisfaction.

   ‘I am not! Why are we even having this discussion in the first place? We were in the middle of a death match!’

   I scratch my head.

   ‘We were? And here I thought we were trying out different methods to piss you off.’

   ‘We totally were.’ Coinchenn agrees.

   Curruid growls in frustration. ‘Can we get back to the fight already?’

   ‘Of course. We can’t have any unnecessary break time while we’re still fighting, can we?’ Coinchenn says while winking at me.

   Drat. I got found out. I guess my trembling hands are a dead giveaway.

   ‘Transform your spear. We need all the boost-up we can get if we are to defeat him.’ Curruid advises.

   ‘Can I even transform it if your soul isn’t inside?’ I ask.

   ‘As long as I am not vanquished, my bone can reveal its true form.’ he assures.

   ‘Well, if you say so.’

   I concentrate and sure enough, Gáe Bulg transformed. The entire shaft of the spear I now covered with black fish scales. The tip, on the other hand, is coated by a blade made of seawater. Next, a whip also made of seawater appear from the butt. It’s cuff-like-end latches onto my left wrist.

   ‘Wow. It actually worked.’

   ‘Were you doubting me?’

   ‘Not at all.’

   All these while, Coinchenn is waiting for us patiently. It’s like he has all the time in the world.

   ‘I’m surprised that you were just standing there waiting for us. Anyone else would have use this chance to attack us.’

   He shrugs. ‘I’m a sucker for a fair fight. Are you done yet?’

   ‘Yup.’

   ‘Indeed.’

   In the next moment, Coinchenn is right in front of me. I swear that I’ve never blinked, but here he is, his claws ready to rip me apart.

   Of course, I’m not going to let him go that. I aim a turning kick at his face with my right leg, making him block the kick with both his arms. With both his arms busy blocking, I thrust my spear towards his face. He makes the thrust miss by slightly tilting his head. Curruid joins in by aiming a kick towards Coinchenn’s ribs. He responds by lifting up his knee and blocks the kick with it.

   Coinchenn then does a somersault to give himself some distance away from us. As we’re about to attack, he inhales deeply and breaths out a jet of water from his mouth. I immediately dodges out of the way. I check on Curruid and found that he has done the same.

   I will my whale shark to provide us some air support by firing jets of water of its own at Coinchenn. Coinchenn aims his jet of water towards my whale shark’s, and the two pillars of water, one clear and the other murky, collides with each other.

   Wasting no time, Curruid and I charge forward to attack Coinchenn while he’s being occupied. When we’re few steps away from him, he stomps the ground with his right foot and summons a few pillars of water from the ground. I was one step away from being blasted by one, but Curruid wasn’t as lucky. I see him getting blasted towards the sky. It happened so quickly he couldn’t even look surprised or upset.

   Meanwhile, Coinchenn is winning the tug of war. My whale shark is almost getting overwhelmed. If I don’t do something soon, it’s going to get blasted by the water Coinchenn breathes out. Before I could think of something, Curruid somehow manages to land on the whale shark’s back. He then jumps down with his right fist pulled back.

   As he was about to reach Coinchenn, Coinchenn stops breathing out water and rolls to one side to avoid Curruid’s punch. Without anything to get in its way, the murky water that my whale shark shoots out reaches all the way to the ground and drench the area around it. The two of them are careful not to touch any of the foul liquid. I will the whale shark to stop spraying out water before it gives out collateral damage.

   Curruid, however, is not done. He tries to kick Coinchenn on the face with the sole of his right foot, but Coinchenn breaks his balance by sweeping his left foot with his tail. Now the two of them are on the ground with Coinchenn the faster one to get up. He looks down at Curruid, his tail ready to smash his face or wherever he’s aiming at. In order to stop him, I charge forward with a speed that could probably earn me a gold medal if I was competing in a race, my spear aimed at Coinchenn’s head. Without looking, he swats away my spear. That said, this slight distraction was enough for Curruid to get up and get back in the fight.

   Despite what Curruid said, I still want to give him some time to be able to transform part of his body just like Coinchenn. I could tell from Curruid’s expression that he’s trying his best to do so as soon as possible. His expression right now is a mixture of concentration and frustration.

   ‘Heads up!’ I say to him loudly.

   He barely manages to dodge a tail whip from Coinchenn. Strike that. The tail got him a little. His right cheek is bleeding from the cut given by the caudal fin shaped like a crescent moon.

   ‘You really ought to concentrate while you’re in a fight, Curruid.’ Coinchenn chides him. ‘I guess you were indeed concentrating, but you have to look at your surrounding too.’

   ‘Are you sure you don’t want me to stall some time for you again?’ I ask Curruid again.

   ‘No. That is not necessary.’ he says firmly.

   He said that, but I better attract Coinchenn’s attention as much possible. There are two reasons for this. One, I don’t fancy him getting impaled or suffer an equally bad fate while he was too busy concentrating until he can’t even dodge attacks. Two, it’s certainly impressive that Curruid managed to master how his human body work in less than an hour. However, he would be no match for Coinchenn who did a partial transformation. Until he’s able to do that, he’s on the role of support.

   With my sense greatly sharpened and my strength greatly increased by Curruid’s power, I could actually fight on par with Coinchenn, even though his stats have increased by a huge margin too. A kick that I aimed towards his stomach actually made him wince, and my leg didn’t become numb from it. He aims two quick punches at me, I manage to dodge them seconds before they found their target. I try to pierce his chest next. It missed, but it manages to wound his right shoulder. Coinchenn grimaces in pain.

   Even when all two of my attacks manage to do some damage, I didn’t push my luck and attack aggressively. For all I know, Coinchenn’s just faking to be weak so that I would get carried away and lowers down my guard. Best to be careful.

   Coinchenn blocks a kick from Curruid. Before my partner could react any further, the tail swats him at the face. Curruid manages to block it, but the force of the swat was so strong he was blown away a few feet. While he’s struggling to get up, Coinchenn does a somersault so that his tail can swat me next. I saw that coming miles away. I responded by taking one step back, then charging in for a thrust. However, I was one second too slow. Instead of piercing his back, he managed to get back on land on time and blocks my thrust with his right claw. At the same time, he tries to punch my face. I evade it by tilting my head.

   While Coinchenn and I are fighting each other claws to spear, Coinchenn is fighting Curruid at the same time by only using his tail. I don’t know how Coinchenn is doing it, but it’s going bad for Curruid so far. The tail is much faster and agile than he is, for one thing. Curruid would try to grab it with both his hands, but it always slips from him before leaving a gash on his cheek or some other parts of his body. From the way the tail is moving, Coinchenn is most likely aiming for Curruid’s neck, but Curruid saw through that and does his best so that he’s not strangled by it.

   And then, it started to happen. A tail starts to grow right on top of Currui’d buttocks. It’s almost as long as Coinchenn’s, but instead of covered with blue scales, it’s covered with black ones just like Gáe Bulg is right now. The tail also has some white stripes on it. You might think that it’s like a zebra, but based on Coinchenn’s description of how Curruid looks in his fish form, the tail is most likely a copy of a lion fish. At this rate, he would probably need a few more minutes to complete his partial transformation. Hopefully.