Alex could not worry about the second Intent at that moment. He could only focus on his own.
The mild Yin energy had now gathered at his palm upon his command. Mild as it was, it was more than potent enough for the girl.
Alex placed his palm onto Mili’s navel region and pushed it in there.
There was a rejection from Mili’s body, primarily by the Yang that was within her, so Alex had to force the Yin to enter her.
The Yang that came in contact with the Yin neutralized itself. Alex forced the Yin to move through all of her body, making it encounter more and more Yang.
By the time all of the Yin was gone, a major portion of the Yang within her body had been taken care of. The remaining portion would not be of much issue to her at all.
A signal from the chief alerted Alex that something else had arrived behind him. Alex turned around in time and saw a few different fish, larger than the swordfish before, had arrived behind him and were feeding on the dead fish.
And there was little of that remaining. Soon, they would come for them.
“Mili should be fine now. Can you take her back to shore on your own?” Alex asked the chief.
The chief looked at the fish and nodded.
“Good. I’ll handle these and return soon.”
The chief took Mili and swam back. After being alive for over 40 years, his body had become strong enough to handle the pressure this deep and keep swimming without much exertion.
He swam underneath the terrifying waves, faster than a normal fish could, and made his way back to the shore. He fought against the strong waves pushing back on him and his daughter and walked up onto the wet beach where people were waiting for him.
Soko’s husband quickly took Mili from his arms, while Tara held him up. Finally, the chief could take a breath.
“What happened? Is she healed?” the chief’s wife asked. Her eyes were red with tears, her face solemn at the grave possibility of all of it being for naught.
“I… I’m not sure,” the chief said against the pelting rain. “He said she’s okay, but I can’t say for certain.”
Tara looked back. “Where is he?”
“Still in the ocean. We were attacked by the other fish, so he stayed behind to let me escape.”
Many of the ones hearing it gasped. “Won’t he die?”
“I… I don’t think he will,” the chief said. “He knows what he’s doing. Take Mili back to the house. Take her away from the rain.”
Many of them ran back, but Tara stayed behind. “I’ll wait here just in case he needs help. If he’s truly helped Mili, we can’t let him die.”
The chief nodded and left with the others.
Tara stayed on the beach for a while, watching the strong waves crash close to him. He waited for a minute, watching far in the distance to see any sign of Alex, but he didn’t show himself at all.
He worried for the man. Strong as he was, could he stay in the ocean during the storm for so long?
“I… I should help him, right?” Tara asked himself. He understood his fear of the ocean the best. His father had died in the ocean when he was a child, so each time he went in, he feared that would be his fate as well.
However, he also knew he had to fight against that fear. He had to go and help him.
Before he could even make a decision, something struck him on the head with a rather strong force.
“Ow!” Tara quickly felt his forehead for blood, but thankfully, his skin was intact, albeit in a bit of pain. He looked to see what had hit him when he noticed that it was a beast core.
“Huh? Why did a gem hit me?”
He looked around, confused about where it even came from. Just as he wondered that, something fell onto the sand close to him. Looking to the side, Tara could see that it was another beast core.
He looked in the direction of where the cores came from and saw two more tiny spheres flying toward him. One landed to the side, and one he had to catch.
“More gems? Why are they…”
His eyes went wide when he saw nearly a dozen of such beast cores fly in his direction. He tried to dodge, but one of them even hit him on his thigh, leaving a rather painful sting.
Tara rubbed his thigh and looked out for more, but none came. As he waited, he saw something else next.
Alex ran atop the water, streaking through the ocean, and arrived at the beach. He had his arms cupped before his chest, holding onto another dozen or so beast cores.
“Oh hey! Did you see my gems coming in this direction?” Alex asked. “I threw them around— oh, there they are.”
He walked up to the cores, but his hands were full. “Hey, can you help me gather these?”
Tara absentmindedly nodded and gathered the beast cores from the beach. Once he was done, his hands were full too.
“How… how did you gather so many of these?” he asked.
“I killed some, and more came, so I killed those too, and even more came. I killed those as well, and decided I should return. I should have taken a sack to gather these when I left. I won’t forget that next time.”
Tara looked down at the cores in his arms and could only imagine how many people it would take to go to the ocean for hours to gather this many. He wondered how much food Alex had just wasted by simply bringing back the cores and not the fish.
It could’ve likely fed the tribe for over a week, if not more.
“Anyway, the chief returned with Mili, right? Did they return to the house? I should go check on her.”
