It must be said that Vulko's guess was very accurate; Nereus was indeed thinking exactly that.
When he walked into Atlanna's confinement room, Atlanna also roughly guessed something.
"You had an agreement with Orm?"
Nereus was a stern man, seemingly always so cold and rigid.
He did not deny Atlanna's suspicion but simply admitted it.
"That's right, your son promised me that Atlantis would form an offensive and defensive alliance with Xebel.
Now he has suffered a defeat on the Surface battlefield, but the alliance between our two nations cannot be voided."
In monarchies, a new King often brings new officials, but Nereus did not want to accept this unwritten rule.
This made Atlanna somewhat suspicious: "You recently... are you planning Military action~?"
This time, Nereus did not answer her, but it made Atlanna's heart sink.
She warned, "Now the King of Atlantis is Arthur. Under his leadership, Atlantis will absolutely not accompany you into the abyss of war again!"
Nereus merely sneered, looking at her meaningfully: "Then let us wait and see."
Atlanna's heart thumped. Oh no, she had become a hostage!
Nereus quickly ordered his subordinates to send a message to Arthur. Only after that person had departed did he remember that he should also confine his troublesome daughter to prevent her from messing things up.
But when he went to look for her, he found that Mera was no longer in her room.
He grabbed a subordinate: "Where did Mera go?"
The person replied, "I don't know. Princess Mera often disappears and reappears without warning; we cannot track her movements."
Nereus released him. He thought of Mera's past connection with Atlanna and already had some conjectures.
"Mera, I hope you don't forget, you are a Xebelian..."
Atlantis.
Arthur, for the first time, sat in the throne room for a council meeting, because someone had told him that an envoy from the Xebel Kingdom had come to seek an audience.
The newcomer wore chainmail in a retro style, which was traditional Xebelian fashion.
"So, you are the new King of Atlantis? The half-blood?"
All the Soldiers present, hearing this, immediately became agitated.
"How dare you speak to the King like that!"
Two guards even tried to rush forward and apprehend him, to punish him for his disrespect.
The envoy was a little surprised. This wasn't right; he had heard that the new King Arthur was unpopular, which was why he had adopted such an arrogant attitude, trying to intimidate the other party with his demeanor.
But the way these Soldiers were protecting their King, how did it not look like that?
He felt a little intimidated.
He didn't know that because Arthur had previously punished Nanaue, the Shark King, his strength had now been recognized by the Atlantean Military.
Furthermore, by timely stopping the X-Squad's conspiracy, he had also gained the Council of Nobles' favor.
Among the populace, thanks to the Dream Realm's filter, his public image was also quite good.
Although his approval rating was no longer one hundred percent as the excitement faded, the goodwill hidden in the hearts of the people was now the most solid foundation beneath his throne.
So this envoy from Xebel had completely misunderstood the situation.
But Arthur raised his hand to stop the guards. His expression was stern without anger.
"King Atlanna of our nation visited your country some time ago. How is she now?"
The envoy reined himself in a little this time, but he was on a mission, and thinking of that mission, he couldn't help but feel a headache.
Given the current situation, if he told the truth, he might well be torn to shreds on the spot.
But he could only grit his teeth and say, "Your King is currently a guest in our country. Our King said:
If the new King of Atlantis is willing to acknowledge the offensive and defensive alliance agreement signed by the former King and our country, then King Atlanna will naturally be returned unharmed..."
This was a threat! Anyone present who wasn't an idiot could hear it.
Arthur's rage was now uncontrollable. He gripped the golden trident next to the throne with his right hand, controlling the Water to instantly pull the envoy in front of him.
The immense Water pressure blurred the envoy's face. When he came to his senses, he found himself being held aloft by Arthur.
Arthur looked at him with fierce eyes: "You want to know my answer?"
With that, he plunged the trident into the envoy's chest.
"This is my answer!"
He pushed forward with the trident in one hand, sending the envoy's corpse back to where he had just stood.
"Throw that corpse to the remaining envoys and tell them that Atlantis will reclaim what is ours in our own way!"
The guards listened with surging emotions. As simple Soldiers, they were very susceptible to this kind of rhetoric.
To deal with any enemy who dared to offend, they had to respond with the most violent counterattack!
"Send word to all the Army, prepare for war!"
The first command Arthur issued after ascending the throne was to declare war on Xebel!
This was an outcome no one had anticipated.
The Council of Nobles immediately erupted in chaos. Who could have foreseen this, who could have foreseen this?
They had just begun to change their impression of Arthur, and then he pulled this stunt.
"Does he intend to force all kingdoms to submit to Atlantis by Military force? This is too hasty!"
They didn't understand the truth, thinking Arthur chose to wage war to solidify his throne.
This was a common tactic used in Western feudal systems. The former King of Atlantis, Orm, also thought this way, but he failed.
They originally thought Orm was reckless enough, but they didn't expect Arthur to be even more reckless.
Did he even know how many divisions Atlantis had? To issue such a command.
In Arthur's room, Vulko was also furiously berating Arthur.
"Are you out of your mind? Why declare war? How is this any different from Orm?"
Vulko was furious; all noble demeanor be damned!
Arthur also got angry and snapped at Vulko: "That old man dared to capture my mother, so he deserves to die! What did I do wrong?"
"Even so, you should have sought diplomatic solutions first..."
"Diplomatic solutions my ass!" Arthur snorted disdainfully.
Vulko's forehead throbbed with bulging veins, but he could also understand Arthur's feelings and could only try to persuade him gently.
"Arthur, Xebel and Atlantis have been allies for generations. Even if Nereus has placed Atlanna under house arrest, he won't harm her because of it.
On the contrary, to uphold the agreement with your previous King, he will do his best to protect her."
"But if you declare war rashly now, Atlanna will become a hostage, and the safety of a hostage is hard to guarantee…"
"How dare he!" Arthur roared.
Vulko started to get a headache again. Whether he dared or not wasn't the point; whether he *could* was!
"If you are worried about Atlanna, I can be your hostage."
Just as they were about to continue arguing, Mera suddenly entered from outside the door.
Vulko opened his mouth, unsure what to say.
Arthur, however, flatly refused: "I will never trade innocent people!"
This made Mera look at him with new eyes. Perhaps Atlanna was right; he did possess some Kingly aura, but it was far from enough.
A qualified King would not act on impulse, much less start a war lightly.
At this moment, Dane also suddenly appeared in the room.
He came and went like a Shadow, and the entire Atlantis now had almost no defenses against him.
Vulko frowned subtly, but he said nothing.
What he didn't know was that Dane had already downloaded Cortana's core to their Atlantean central processing system.
Although that system was not binary, it was no match for Cortana, who had undergone multiple evolutions and upgrades.
Now, the entire Atlantean network was basically in Dane's hands.
Every move here would be hard to hide from him.
"Arthur, are you mobilizing the Army?"
"That's right!" Arthur then recounted what had just happened to Dane.
After listening, he just nodded: "Since that's the case, then give King Nereus a lesson…"
Before he could finish, he felt someone pinch his arm. He turned to look, and Mera pretended as if nothing had happened.
So he changed his tone: "However, there's no need to cause too many casualties. A minor punishment to serve as a warning will suffice."
Arthur's clever little brain suddenly came online. His eyes darted around, then lit up.
"Are you saying… a dream?"
Dane nodded. The dream stone was very useful in such situations.
It was like creating a huge virtual Real World, allowing those within it to experience birth, aging, sickness, and death, but once they woke up, everything could be reset.
Arthur couldn't help but break into a wide grin.
"Since that's the case, then I won't hold back!"
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