The water on the battlefield had turned murky, silver and black blood twisting together in thick, drifting clouds. Prince Nereus clutched the noble blood seeping from his left side and stared in horror at the god of ruin before him, Octopus King Dagon.

  Dagon's aura was so dense that the surrounding water rapidly grew colder, and the marble floor shattered beneath his colossal feet. Nereus had faced many powerful beings in his life, but this giant was no simple warrior. He was the crushing pressure of the ocean given flesh.

  But a prince of Atlantis would never kneel. No matter the cost.

  Nereus slammed his golden spear into the ground. From his lips spilled a forbidden command in the ancient language of the sea.

  [ROYAL EDICT: ABYSSAL GUARDIANS]

  The water behind the Prince rippled violently. Ten separate whirlpools formed, and from each emerged one of Atlantis's deepest secrets: ten elite Siren guardians who had undergone special mutations.

  They were not ordinary soldiers. Each bore the traits of a different deep-sea predator. One possessed the speed of a swordfish and piercing bone armor. Another was covered in the thick, venomous hide of a stonefish. A third carried the hypnotic lure of a colossal anglerfish glowing above her head. Ten elites. Ten living weapons.

  Octavia stretched the arms she had torn off and regrown. She was breathing hard. Though her body had healed at an astonishing rate, her mana reserves were dangerously low. Fighting those elite guardians in her current state would be a tiresome chore rather than an enjoyable slaughter.

  She smiled and gracefully withdrew her tentacles behind her, drifting back toward her father.

  "Go ahead, Father," Octavia said, licking the blood from her lips. "I present the dishonorable Prince to you on a golden platter. Bon appétit."

  King Dagon did not even look at his daughter. He fixed his pitch-black, soulless eyes on the Prince's elites and began walking forward with the unshakable steps of an emperor who had already claimed victory.

  "Protect the King!" shouted the swordfish-mutated guardian. He shot forward like a bullet, splitting the water, accelerating to near sonic speed as he aimed directly for Dagon's chest.

  King Dagon did not slow his step. He did not raise his hand. One of his massive tentacles lazily flicked forward.

  SLAK!

  The swordfish guardian split in two midair before even touching Dagon. As his blood dissolved into the water, Dagon was already among the remaining elites.

  The stonefish-armored guardian flared his venomous spines and blocked Dagon's path. Dagon lifted his massive foot and stepped down.

  CRUNCH.

  The impenetrable bone armor crumpled like a tin can. The guardian inside was reduced to pulp.

  King Dagon did not fight as if in battle. He killed the ten elites as though crushing weeds in his garden. He did not take so much as a scratch. Exploding spells, venom, and spear strikes left no mark on his volcanic-rock-like skin.

  When Dagon tore the final guardian's head from her body, only a few meters remained between him and Prince Nereus. Nereus could feel the cold breath of death on his face.

  Just as Dagon extended his massive hand toward the Prince—

  BOOOOM!

  A tremendous shockwave exploded through the water.

  A gigantic fist descended from above like a meteor and slammed into the left side of King Dagon's face with devastating force, launching him backward. The impact was so heavy that even the surrounding water surged violently, pushing the Prince back.

  The owner of that fist was Deniz, smoke rising from the massive gauntlets on his arms.

  Dagon's head shifted only a few centimeters from the blow. The colossal king slowly turned his eyes toward the small worm who had punched him. There was no pain on his face. Only the fury of a disturbed god.

  Deniz gritted his teeth. "Damn it… Felt like punching solid rock."

  Dagon raised a massive tentacle to tear Deniz apart—

  But from Deniz's shadow, green flame erupted.

  [SHADOW STEP]

  In less than a thousandth of a second, Hope grabbed Deniz by the collar and hurled him out of the battlefield, behind shattered coral pillars.

  This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

  As Hope and Deniz crashed behind the pillars, Kai and Bianca appeared above them. Kai spun his daggers in his hands while Bianca scanned their surroundings.

  "What's going on, Architect?" Kai asked excitedly. "Who are we fighting now? A giant octopus?"

  Bianca swallowed as she stared at Dagon's overwhelming aura. "The Octopus forces are too strong this time. The Sirens are being slaughtered."

  Hope struck his scythe into the ground. His green eyes locked coldly onto his teammates.

  "We are not fighting them," he said, his voice icy. "We're not taking sides. This is not our war. Stay out of it."

  Deniz stood, brushing off debris, anger burning across his face.

  "What do you mean stay out of it?!" Deniz shouted. "The Octopus army is butchering Sirens out there! Innocent people are dying!"

  Hope slowly turned toward him. As he stepped forward, the analytical walls in his mind collapsed, replaced by pure disappointment and anger. He stared directly into Deniz's eyes.

  "Why should we fight, Deniz?" Hope hissed. "Or are you afraid your ally might die?"

  Deniz froze. The anger on his face flickered into panic and shock before he forced himself to recover.

  "W-what are you talking about?" Deniz said, his voice trembling slightly. "What ally?"

  Behind them, Bianca crossed her arms and gave a faint smile.

  "I told you you're terrible at lying, tin head," she whispered.

  Hope continued walking toward Deniz.

  "Don't bother lying. I don't know why, but it's obvious there's a connection between you and that Prince. I saw you talking through your room window! Why did you lie to us? You didn't save him during that leviathan attack, did you? But you let him take us from that ship to Atlantis… into this cage!"

  Deniz was cornered. Being confronted with the truth seemed to shrink his massive frame. His defense mechanism kicked in, and he raised his voice.

  "Yes!" Deniz shouted, throwing his hands out. "Yes, idiot! I made a deal with him because we needed to survive! Eraser was after us! If we'd stayed on that ship, we'd all be dead! We had no other choice!"

  He leaned toward Hope, desperation burning in his eyes.

  "You're alive because of me! Or would you rather Eraser had killed you like he did Yaat?!"

  Time stopped.

  When Yaat's name was spoken in that sentence, something inside Hope ignited.

  "You…" Hope whispered.

  His right hand slowly rose. The surrounding water began to boil. Green flames engulfed not only his hand but his entire arm.

  "Don't you dare speak Yaat's name… while you're a traitor."

  Deniz did not step back. He believed in his justification too strongly. He clenched his fists.

  "And what will you do, Architect?" Deniz spat. "Add me to your list of dead teammates?!"

  "You're crossing the line!" Hope roared. The green flames intensified so violently that nearby coral began to melt. "The louder you shout nonsense, the more obvious it is you have no rational defense. You really are a traitor."

  A cold, contemptuous smile reminiscent of Prince Nereus appeared on Hope's face.

  "After all…" Hope said, his words sharp as razors, "…trusting an arena gladiator who fights for money and has no real purpose… was entirely my mistake."

  Those words struck Deniz's pride like a final hammer blow.

  "I'LL KILL YOU, BRAT!" Deniz roared. He activated his massive gauntlets and launched himself forward with a ground-shaking right hook aimed at Hope's face.

  But Hope was no longer the inexperienced Architect from the arena.

  [ANALYSIS: GOLIATH PUNCH][SPEED: LOW. POWER: HIGH. EVASION ROUTE: 15% LEFT SHIFT.]

  Hope barely moved. He simply tilted his head and torso slightly to the left. Deniz's massive, lethal fist tore through the water mere millimeters from Hope's ear.

  As Deniz stumbled forward from the missed strike, his defense completely open, his chest and abdomen became a giant target.

  "Too slow," Hope whispered.

  He pressed his flame-covered palm directly against Deniz's unarmored stomach.

  [FLAME SPIRIT: PINPOINT BURST]

  BOOM!

  Green flames detonated violently against Deniz's abdomen. The massive man was blasted backward ten meters as if struck by a cannon, crashing into a ruined wall.

  Hope had not killed him. He could have incinerated his organs on the spot, but instead used only enough power to burn the surface and incapacitate him.

  Deniz groaned in pain, clutching his stomach as blood trickled from his mouth. Trembling, he tried to push himself up.

  "You're talking without knowing what I've been through…" Deniz gasped. "You have no idea what happened. Things your cold, emotionless analyses could never understand."

  Hope walked toward him slowly, showing no pity.

  "If you had told us what you went through, we could have solved it together as a team," Hope said. "But you chose silence. You chose to betray us. No trauma, no excuse… justifies what you did."

  Hope was about to draw his scythe and finish it—

  When a colossal shadow fell over them, blocking out the light.

  King Dagon stood directly above Hope and Deniz in all his terrifying grandeur. He had come to crush the fly that dared to punch him.

  Dagon's black eyes locked onto the injured Deniz. One massive tentacle rose, ready to grind him into paste.

  Kai and Bianca grabbed their daggers in terror but could not move. The pressure pinned them in place.

  Yet the tentacle stopped midair.

  Dagon shifted his gaze from Deniz to Hope's emerald-green, flame-burning eyes. He muttered something under his breath.

  "You are fortunate," Dagon said in his deep, echoing voice to Deniz. "My daughter wishes for you and the green-eyed boy's crew to live. Consider it a life debt."

  Dagon turned away, abandoning Deniz, and began walking toward Prince Nereus to finish his true task.

  But Deniz's reckless punch had bought twenty seconds.

  Exactly the time Prince Nereus needed.

  When Dagon returned to the Prince's position, he felt the water temperature rising to a boiling point.

  Nereus was no longer on his knees. He had risen into the air. The silver noble blood pouring from his wound did not disperse into the water. Instead, it spiraled around him, forming enormous rotating spell constructs. Sacrificing his own blood and life force, the Prince was invoking a spell from the deepest, darkest archives of Atlantis.

  Nereus's eyes had turned completely white. His voice no longer sounded human. It echoed like the screams of thousands of drowned sailors.

  "I WILL FEED YOU… TO THE TRUE MASTERS OF THE DEPTHS!"

  Prince Nereus clapped his hands together violently.

  [FORBIDDEN BLOOD SUMMONING: TWIN MEGALODONS OF THE ABYSS]

  Space and time tore apart within the water.

  From those ruptured dark portals burst two colossal prehistoric sharks composed of bone, ghostly blue flame, and pure lethal mana. They were so enormous that even King Dagon seemed small in comparison.

  When the ancient Megalodons opened their dead, bottomless eyes, everyone on the battlefield—even King Dagon—felt true terror down to their very marrow.

  With a single move, the course of the war had completely changed.