Initially, when the news of the rebellion by the commoners of Atlantis reached them, from Poseidon, Lord of the Sea, to the royal family and nobles of Atlantis, no one took it seriously.
After all, the commoners of Atlantis had no right to participate in external wars; although the upper and middle classes of Atlantis were equally superficial, these superficial individuals at least trained in combat and possessed excellent weapons and equipment.
Dealing with a group of commoners who only wielded pitchforks and hoes, and lacked armor, fighting many at once was not an issue.
However, when the lower classes of Atlantis rose in rebellion, these nobles and the royal family of Atlantis realized how thoroughly mistaken they had been.
These commoners of Atlantis had somehow acquired a large quantity of excellent weapons and equipment.
Initially, the nobles and royal family of Atlantis could still suppress them with their superior military training, but after a period of time, these commoners of Atlantis seemed to awaken.
They not only began to organize well-coordinated attacks, using their numerical advantage to force the nobles and royal family of Atlantis into continuous retreat, but also some strange individuals ran behind the noble and royal lines, starting to preach the worship of some heretical gods to them.
They spoke of "lord of armies mars" and "Lord of the Surging Waves Neptune." Not only that, but they also persuaded these nobles and the royal family to think about their wives and daughters who had been taken by Poseidon.
Under such a two-pronged offensive, it wasn't long before some of the royal family and nobles of Atlantis simply joined the commoners in rebellion.
They attacked their colleagues from behind with the commoners, then opened the gates of the middle and upper levels, letting the commoners of Atlantis in.
Subsequently, this group of royal family members and nobles who betrayed their own colleagues openly became the leaders of these Atlanteans.
Instigated by some commoners who believed in the lord of armies, they toppled all statues of Poseidon in the city, smashed all items related to Poseidon, and even set a fire that destroyed the symbols of Poseidon's authority within Atlantis.
This made Poseidon gnash his teeth in anger, so the Lord of the Sea drove his golden chariot directly to the coastline near Atlantis, preparing to unleash a tsunami to utterly destroy this nation.
However, at that moment, he encountered an uninvited guest.
His dear nephew, Ares, the God of War, was happily squatting on the outermost circular city wall of Atlantis, watching the chaos within the city.
"Ares, what are you doing here?"
Seeing his foolish nephew, Poseidon also thought of his father, so his mood worsened, and he shouted at Ares without ceremony.
"Oh, it's Poseidon."
Ares smiled, turned his head to look at Poseidon, then turned back, chuckling:
"Is that even a question? Of course, the smell of blood here attracted me.
Poseidon, it's really interesting here.
There's fighting every day; after fighting Athens, you fight among yourselves; after the upper class fights, the middle class fights; after the middle class fights, the lower class fights.
Then, a part of the middle and upper classes fight the upper and middle classes together with the lower class.
The people here are quite spirited; I really like it here."
"Hmph, get lost!"
Poseidon drove his chariot past Ares, simultaneously warning him:
"Atlantis is my city!"
"I know, I know, that's why I haven't intervened, right?"
Ares spread his hands, showing an innocent smile, watching his victim, Poseidon, drive his chariot past him.
Then, his true body in the Underworld manipulated four mechanical gods, sending revelations to their believers:
"Poseidon has arrived; quickly go to the lower assembly hall for refuge."
So, upon receiving the revelations from the mechanical angels, those devout believers who had been fighting alongside the Atlantean army immediately turned around.
They abandoned the temporarily rebellious Atlantean nobles and royal family members, taking most of their own relatives and friends from the army with them, and all went to the lower assembly hall in Atlantis.
And after this group of people gradually arrived, Ares looked towards the sky.
Poseidon had already driven his chariot to the very center of Atlantis.
Seeing his temple being burned by a group of Atlantean royal family members and nobles, Poseidon's face was red like a monkey's backside in anger.
So the Lord of the Sea no longer granted mercy to his descendants.
In the clouds, he directly raised his trident and summoned the power of the sea.
Under Poseidon's command, the boundless sea surrounding Atlantis slowly began to churn with waves.
Initially, it was just a shallow ripple, but propelled by the wind, this ripple grew higher and higher along its path, eventually transforming into a wave taller than the highest city wall of Atlantis upon reaching the Atlantean coastline.
The surging wave, like the heavy hammer of Hephaestus, the God of Fire, easily smashed the outer walls of Atlantis.
Boundless seawater poured into Atlantis, quickly transforming the entire city of Atlantis into a watery expanse.
At the same time, the entire continent of Atlantis also began to experience violent earthquakes, continuously shaking, and the entire continental shelf began to sink.
At this moment, Ares also raised his hand, pointing out a magical aura that fell into the lower assembly hall within Atlantis.
Besides inciting the Atlanteans to rebel against their faith, those Spartan bards also bore another task from him: secretly helping Ares establish an escape passage within this city-state.
After they disembarked, every subsequent Spartan merchant ship that came to Atlantis for business would have one or two boxes of goods secretly handed over to these poets by the Spartans.
Although these bards were not as professional as the Magicians who specialized in magic research in Sparta, they had also learned some magical knowledge for unforeseen circumstances.
Ares ordered them to arrange these goods in the lower assembly hall of Atlantis according to his requirements every time they received a shipment.
That location was where the middle and lower levels converged, usually bustling with people and a mix of all sorts, making it the most convenient place for subtle maneuvers.
After several such exchanges, Ares, with the help of these bards, set up a large-scale teleportation magic array there.
This magic array led to a magical ark that he and Hecate had built a long time ago and was now docked in the deep sea next to the continent of Atlantis.
Rather than an ark, it was more like a submarine.
In any case, this magical ark, maintained by magic, could not only sail on the sea but also travel unimpeded on land or in the depths of the ocean.
After Ares activated this array, light emanated from beneath the floor of the lower assembly hall.
A profound array appeared under the feet of these people, teleporting them all into the magical ark located in the deep sea.
And those Spartan bards responsible for inciting them were also saved by Ares's spell, diverted to the Underworld, and sent back to Sparta.
And after Ares completed this series of actions, in the distance, Poseidon, Lord of the Sea, once again activated a wave of his kingly authority.
The towering giant waves pressed down, completely shattering the entire continent of Atlantis into countless fragments.
Shortly after, these fragments, under the dual action of the tsunami and earthquake, slowly sank into the seawater, swallowed by the waves.
Atlantis, this nation personally created by Poseidon, the Lord of the Sea, now met its end at the hands of Poseidon, the Lord of the Sea.
…
Inside the ark, the Atlanteans, who had just been teleported there, looked at each other, then all showed expressions of relief at having survived the disaster.
And Noah, the Atlantean commoner who had received this revelation and led everyone here as a priest of Mars, was subtly regarded as their leader by his compatriots.
"Excuse me."
Upon arriving here, Noah did not show as much happiness.
He parted the crowd and walked towards a window next to this wooden magical ark, and the people around him also made way for him.
He came to a circular window in the cabin.
A material was embedded in this window as a baffle, blocking the water outside the ship, yet allowing those inside the cabin to clearly see the outside situation.
Noah leaned close to the window, and through the deep, dark ocean, he quickly noticed four figures rapidly moving through the sea.
They were four giants constructed of steel, with metallic wings, and their entire bodies glowed, illuminating the deep ocean.
They had their backs to Noah, swimming towards the distant continent, and at the very edge of the window, Noah vaguely saw their homeland and nation, crumbling under divine power, slowly sinking into the ocean.
Seeing this scene, Noah let out a soft sigh.
He withdrew his gaze, then turned to look at his companions.
"Everyone," he said softly, "from today onwards, we are no longer Atlanteans.
To avoid retaliation from the minions of the demon Poseidon, we should no longer refer to ourselves as Atlanteans to outsiders."
"Then what should we call ourselves?" the people asked.
"Latins," Noah said after a moment of thought.
"According to the divine revelation, this ship will take us to a land called 'Latium,' and we will take the land's name.
From now on, we are Latins."