Torrents churned and waves raged—the sea turned violent in an instant.
No one believed this was a natural prank from the ocean, not even Chu Tianjiao and Zero, who had recently been caught by a wave. Their minds immediately flashed back to the White Whale's earlier tsunami.
This wasn't a coincidence—something worse was coming.
The shapeless ocean swelled violently upward, as if lifted by an invisible hand. The sea level visibly rose before their eyes.
"Don't stand near the coast at a time like this—head for higher ground!"
"Emiya-dono, snap out of it!"
Their first instinct was to follow standard tsunami protocol—run for high ground.
But after reinforcing his vision with magecraft, Emiya shouted, "No time! The higher ground is too far! The area around us is all flat highway!"
The sea was already swelling upward at terrifying speed, white foam bursting into countless fragments. Whirlpool currents rampaged like a colossal titan rising from the deep blue sea.
At that moment, Nono grabbed Emiya's hand and motioned toward Melusine—who was completely unbothered by the threat and instead looked excited for battle. The young shrine maiden's quick thinking jolted Emiya.
"Melusine, can you carry us again like before? Including the other two?"
Emiya gestured for the others to hold off on fleeing.
If Melusine could fly everyone up, even the biggest tsunami would be useless against them.
"Hmm?" Melusine's small face dimmed, and the lively wag of her dragon tail drooped. Carry everyone again?
She was confident she could maintain flight speed, but it meant she wouldn't be able to go all out in battle.
So disappointing… Another chance to show off her graceful aerial maneuvers lost?
"Sigh…" Emiya felt her shift in mood—dragon taming really was a hard job. "Don't worry, I promise you'll get your chance to shine later. You're the strongest dragon, after all."
"Okay!" Her tail perked up again, swaying joyfully.
As they hurriedly discussed what to do, a sudden and unexpected change struck—
The ground trembled violently, emitting a wail from deep beneath the earth. The rising sea suddenly stalled and dispersed in chaotic, directionless currents.
"What now?!"
Chu Tianjiao and the others struggled to stay on their feet. The quake was strong enough to make running dangerous. He feared this was the Dragon King unleashing a world-ending kotodama.
Could this be the Earth and Mountain King?
Principal Angers had once said that when Odin appeared during the Chen Family Incident, the academy detected elemental turbulence resembling a doomsday-level kotodama. But this time, the source was inside the Nibelungen—would the academy even notice?
"Down! Everyone get down!"
Sensing the intensifying tremors beneath his feet, Emiya's expression changed dramatically and he shouted to everyone.
Everyone except the unbothered Melusine dropped flat.
BOOM—BOOM—BOOM—
The very land beneath them buckled and heaved upward in massive sheets, accompanied by the thunderous grinding of rock and soil.
Emiya looked ahead—and was stunned by the sight.
From the coastline highway all the way ten kilometers inland, an enormous stretch of land convulsed and lifted, as if hoisted by a colossal invisible giant.
Those who had dropped flat avoided being tossed by the rising earth, but everyone was left in awe and fear by the sheer scale of it.
"Look! The sea—it's splitting!!"
Someone's terrified scream drew all eyes back to the ocean.
There, where a vast tsunami had loomed moments before, a massive chasm now split the sea in two—like Moses parting the waters. A horrifying rift divided the once-continuous ocean.
The water still surged, but now half rose upward while the other half plunged down—an unnatural division of a once-whole sea.
The rift extended from the shoreline deep into the ocean, exposing the shallow seabed and then the deeper trench—an apocalyptic sight, as if…
…space itself had been torn apart.
——
Meanwhile, Xia Mi had just smashed a ghost ship barehanded and was joyfully harvesting waves of heroic spirits when the tremors hit.
"What the hell—Leviathan's up to something again?" she gritted her teeth, fists clenched.
The self-proclaimed Queen of Scavengers and Errands had barely started enjoying herself when the vibration ruined the mood. Though small, it was a total buzzkill.
Far away, Norton was unleashing searing orange heatwaves from his arms, torching sea monsters that tried to leap from the water.
A massive flaming dragon danced across the waves, mauling a dragon servant. Its eyes and membrane wings crackled, charred and smoking, its screams echoing across the sea.
Norton looked far more composed than Xia Mi.
Then the sea shook harder. The No. 0 Overpass collapsed, its thick pillars and wide roads shredded by the escalating tremors.
"No—something's wrong!"
Norton leapt onto rubble, face darkening as he sensed a shift in the spatial flow.
"Leviathan is doing something irreversible! The Nibelungen space is being torn apart!"
"Huh? That can happen?" Xia Mi, standing atop a dark ghost ship, looked up in confusion. She'd only heard of self-destructing a Nibelungen—was it possible to tear one open?
"Don't forget—this Nibelungen is still linked to others," Norton said coldly. "If Leviathan suddenly loses control of the 'space-opening' alchemy array mid-operation…"
Xia Mi's jaw dropped. Leviathan's move was insane.
"You mean—this Nibelungen will be forcibly torn apart?!"
"Normally, no. But first, the power output this time is huge—enough to link multiple Nibelungens."
"Second, Leviathan's kotodama is stirring up massive elemental flows, worsening the spatial instability. If this keeps up, the whole Nibelungen will be destroyed in an irreversible spatial rupture!"
Norton gazed across the vast sea. The chaos was a clear sign of the Sea and Water King's world-ending kotodama—Kotodama: Return to the Abyss.
"So he wants to drag us all down with him? That psycho's made of divine metal or what?!" Xia Mi couldn't believe Leviathan's madness.
"What did you expect? He's a king, just like us. You think he'd surrender now that we have the upper hand?"
"Damn… But didn't you say Odin hung around with humans and learned to adapt? Why's Leviathan so rigid and suicidal? Aren't they allies?"
"How should I know?"
"…Shouldn't you know?" Xia Mi scowled. "Last time during the Odin incident, you kept stuff from me. I spent ages tailing that Emiya guy for nothing! You better not be hiding Leviathan details too!"
"I'm not! I only learned about Leviathan from you!"
Norton's annoyed voice was followed by a blast of orange flame, instantly vaporizing a massive wave.
His mood darkened. Xia Mi's nosy antics were driving him nuts. She had talent—but only when it came to scavenging and freeloading. If she were really that lucky, why hadn't she ascended like Hela yet?
Maybe he just wasn't cut out for academic mentorship. Or maybe he and Jormungandr were cosmically incompatible…
No—he had to find a way to kick her out without violating their blood pact. Maybe swap her for their brother Constantine—he was more obedient.
"Now's not the time. We need to find a stable exit to the outside world before the Nibelungen collapses. It won't be easy—it'll drain us."
"Oh, that kind of technical stuff's your job! I'll just keep collecting heroic spirits!"
Xia Mi waved and skipped off toward another ghost ship, leaving Norton fuming.
"…You're useless!"
After this is over… I'm handing her over to Emiya.
(End of Chapter)
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