The days passed by uneventfully, and Arthur felt his body growing stronger. Recently, his strength had increased significantly; now he could effortlessly lift a car with one hand. His vision and hearing had also become more sensitive, allowing him to observe flies flying in the air in slow motion, a bit like Spider-Man's abilities. He felt his current reaction speed was comparable to Spider-Man's reflexes.
Arthur now felt an indescribable connection to water; wherever there was water, he felt a deeper intimacy. Being in the ocean was being at home, as if he had merged with the water, able to feel its very essence. This mysterious feeling was undoubtable strange and it has been growing stronger day by day, and he could feel it reaching its breaking point.
Arthur, laid on the seabed at an unknown depth, his eyes closed suddenly opened and glowed golden giving off an intense golden light. He roared loudly as the light in his eyes intensified. Suddenly, the water around him seemed to boil and slowly formed a sphere. The water within the sphere was squeezed out, creating a five-meter-square anhydrous zone around him. This happened on the seafloor thousands of meters deep where the pressure was immense yet Arthur easily created a waterless zone were he could stand and breathe.
Arthur understood: he had awakened water magic, an ability similar to Mera, Aquaman's wife in DC comics, which allowed him to control the form and density of water around his body and even create immense water pressure. This was an ability of the Atlantean royal family; Arthur had slowly awakened the blood of Atlantis within him through his practice on the seafloor, thus gaining this water control ability.
Arthur's could only control water for a short while before he feeling exhausted and dizzy. Using this power drained his mental strength quickly. With his current mental fortitude, he could only use this water control ability for two minutes, and the power of the water he controlled was also very kinda weak. He was determined to practice more diligently, hoping to fully master it one day!
Arthur also checked the news daily, waiting for the plot to unfold. Aside from eating, he spent most of his time at the bottom of the sea desperately absorbing energy. The restaurant business was left to Jack, whom he appointed as manager. Arthur no longer needed to handle ingredient procurement, as they now had a fixed purchase channel; he only intervened if a customer ordered rare fish which he could catch by himself quite easily due to his powers.
The restaurant was operating stably and providing him with a steady income, making Arthur a very wealthy man. However, he wasn't very interested in money. He had no need for a house or a car because he lived in the sea, and he found cars too slow, unable to match his speed even on land. So, he repeatedly raised the salaries of his employees, making them incredibly grateful. His female employees, in particular, has repeatedly expressed their desires to date him yet Arthur always turned them down.
One evening, Arthur took a rare break from training to enjoy some delicious food. He sat in his usual corner, focusing on his meal, which included his favorite spicy chicken, boiled pork slices, fried beef, fish with pickled vegetables, and a large bowl of rice.
Suddenly, the customers in the restaurant started shouting and panicking. Arthur looked up at the wall-mounted TV and saw the host urgently announcing something as a breaking news banner remained under her: "A giant grey monster has appeared on Broadway in Manhattan and is currently rampaging through the city. The military has intervened and is trying to bring down the monster but nothing is working..."
"Oh my God, what kind of monster is this? It's so terrifying. Glad, it didn't show up here, right, boss? Boss?" Jack said, looking at the TV. He turned his head to find that Arthur had long since disappeared, leaving only half a bowl of unfinished rice on the table.
The streets of Broadway in Manhattan were engulfed in flames, and countless civilians fled in panic. Military choppers hovered in the sky, while in the center of the fiery chaos, a massive, ugly grey monster wreaked havoc. Soldiers continuously fired at it, but their bullets had no effect on it. Soldiers continued to fall, unable to halt the monster's rampage. The streets looked like hell on Earth, like a meteor smashed through it.
No one noticed the huge waves that were rolling in from the sea not far from Manhattan, and the seawater churned as it approached the Brooklyn Bridge rapidly. This monster was the Abomination, and it destroying the city indiscriminately, smashing through cars, building and people alike. Despite continuous gunfire from soldiers, it felt no pain, the bullets were like flies hitting his skin. Finding no worthy opponent, the Abomination shouted angrily: "THIS IS HE POWER OF A GOD!! IS THERE NO ONE WHO CAN CHALLENGE ME?!!?"
High above the wrecked ground in a military chopper, Bruce Banner sat watching the carnage somberly. To stop the monster, Banner decided to jump from the plane which would transform into the Hulk from the adrenaline rush. Banner's girlfriend, Betty, clutched his hand desperately, crying she yelled, "This is crazy, Bruce. You don't have to do this, please, don't!"
"Betty, I have to try, I'm so sorry!" Banner kissed Betty and jumped out the helicopter.
"No!" Betty cried out in despair as she watched Banner fall.
Her father, General Ross, hugged her tightly. "Hey, what is that!" a soldier shouted, pointing ahead to the general.
The general immediately looked over, his eyes widened he saw as a massive wave hundreds of meters high, towering above the Brooklyn Bridge. The huge waves churned but did not advance on the Manhattan coast; they seemed to stand there, the people could only stare at the unmoving wall of death in fear.
Suddenly, a massive column of water erupted from it, and rushed towards the fiery center of the city a few kilometers away. The water column reached the flames instantly, striking the Abomination directly. "AHH!!!!" the Abomination screamed, as the tremendous pressure the water exerted crushed him from all sides.
The jet of water eventually dissipated, and the Abomination laid on the ground, gasping for breath. His bones had been crushed by the water, and yellow blood spurted from his mouth and nose. The surrounding fires were also extinguished by the water jets. The soldiers around were bewildered, seeing a jet of water fall from the sky, put out fires, and knock down the monster and couldn't help but wonder, "Was it an act of God?!"
Soon, someone noticed a person standing in front of the monster. "Hey! Its dangerous! Get out of there!" the soldier yelled at the man. The man turned around; he was a young blond boy. The boy smiled slightly at the soldier.
"Hey! I said its dangerous, watch out!" the soldier urgently yelled, as the monster unexpectedly slowly got up. Its superhuman regeneration already kicking in and healing it rapidly, all the damage it had just sustained seemed to have recovered in the blink of an eye.
The monster punched the boy in front of him, and the surrounding soldiers instinctively closed their eyes, assuming the boy would be crushed into a pancake.
"What the f--?"
"Impossible."
The boy grabbed the monster's descending tree trunk of an arm with his small hand stopping it in its tracks, no matter how hard the monster struggled, it couldn't break free from the boy's iron-like grip. Using his strength, the boy's fingers dug into the Abomination's fist and flung it away. The monster flew a few hundred meters before crashing into a building, the soldiers were stunned, some gaping as their eyes refused to believe what it just saw.