The descent into the heart of the Sunken City felt less like swimming and more like falling through a liquid nightmare. As Kaelen sank deeper into the brine, the amber light of the surface faded, replaced by the oppressive, bioluminescent glow of the underwater hive. The pressure was a physical weight, pressing against his Starlight-Steel skin with the force of a thousand tons, but the Aegis of the First Forge on his arm acted as a gravity-anchor, pulling him straight toward the sapphire pulse in the darkness.
His vision was fragmented. The violet Void-Scars on his face acted as sensors, picking up the frantic, geometric chatter of the Star-Eater "rebuilders" scurrying through the skeletal remains of the skyscrapers. He wasn't just seeing with his eyes anymore; he was feeling the displacement of water, the vibration of machinery, and the cold, rhythmic hum of the Crown of the Deep.
"BREADTH, ECHO. DO NOT FIGHT THE PRESSURE. INVITE IT," Ignis whispered. The dragon's voice was distorted, echoing as if from the bottom of a well. "THE FOURTH RELIC IS THE SPIRIT OF THE OCEAN. IT DOES NOT RESIST; IT FLOWS. IF YOU REMAIN RIGID, YOU WILL SHATTER."
Kaelen let his body go limp for a moment, allowing the iridescent Pearl-Glass mutation to spread across his torso. The grey stone calcification on his shoulder softened, turning into a shimmering, flexible membrane. He began to move not by kicking, but by Spatial Rippling—small, micro-blinks that propelled him forward like a needle through silk.
He reached the perimeter of the Cathedral of Lumeria. The structure was a gothic masterpiece of white marble and obsidian, now choked with thick, pulsating veins of Star-Eater biomass. The massive stained-glass windows had been replaced by translucent membranes that acted as incubators for thousands of larval Hounds. At the center of the nave, floating above an altar of ancient coral, sat the fourth relic.
The Crown of the Deep was a circlet of "Living Water"—a ring of liquid sapphire that maintained its shape despite the surrounding ocean. It pulsed with a deep, subsonic frequency that kept the tectonic plates of the Marshes from grinding into dust.
As Kaelen touched the cathedral floor, the "rebuilders"—spidery, multi-limbed constructs—froze. A thousand glowing violet eyes turned toward him.
"THE CARRIER TRESPASSES," the collective voice groaned through the water, a vibration that rattled Kaelen's teeth. "THE ARCHIVE REQUIRES THE ANCHOR. THE CROWN IS THE SYMBOL OF THE END. DEPART, ANOMALY, OR BE ASSIMILATED INTO THE SILENCE."
"I've had enough of 'the silence' for one lifetime," Kaelen rasped. Under the water, his voice came out as a series of bubbles that glowed with emerald fire.
He raised the Scepter of the Unspoken. Instead of a fire-bolt, he unleashed a Sonic Shear. The soundwave, amplified by the density of the water, hit the front line of rebuilders like a physical wall, pulverizing their glass shells and sending a cloud of obsidian dust into the current.
The hive reacted instantly. The membranes on the windows burst, releasing hundreds of "Ghost-Guardians"—wispy, jellyfish-like entities that trailed long, electrified tentacles of Void-energy. They swarmed toward him, their movements erratic and fluid.
Kaelen engaged Void-Ignition.
His pearl-colored skin flared with a violet-and-green light. He became a blur of motion. He didn't just strike the guardians; he moved through them. Using the Aegis to stabilize his form, he performed a Liquid-Blink, turning his physical body into a stream of high-pressure mana for a split second. He passed through a cluster of Ghost-Guardians, and where he went, they simply dissolved into salt.
But for every guardian he destroyed, the cathedral's architecture itself seemed to turn against him. The pillars of the nave began to shift, the Star-Eater biomass within them tightening. The floor beneath his feet groaned as the cathedral began to tilt.
5 Days, 01 Hour, 05 Minutes.
The clock was a reminder of the storm above. Every second he spent fighting here, the Nanite-Storm was shredding the atmosphere of the surface. He could feel it through the Scepter—a thinning of the world's mana, a sense of Gaea's breath being choked out.
"Ignis, I need a path!"
"THE ALTAR IS SHIELDED BY A KINETIC NULL-FIELD, ECHO. YOU CANNOT BLINK THROUGH IT. YOU MUST OVERLOAD THE CORE OF THE HIVE-VINE TO BREAK THE BARRIER."
Kaelen looked up. Above the altar, a massive "Heart" of obsidian and flesh was pumping violet fluid into the Crown, attempting to "infect" the relic with the Hive's geometry.
Kaelen launched himself upward. He used the Aegis as a shield, bashing through a swarm of rebuilders that tried to drag him down. As he neared the Heart, the pressure increased. The Star-Eaters weren't just using water; they were using Heavy-Void, a substance that made the brine feel like liquid lead.
"Final Spark: Pressure-Point!"
Kaelen slammed the tip of the Scepter into the center of the Hive-Heart. He didn't release fire; he released Gravity. He inverted the spatial coordinates within the Heart, causing it to implode.
The explosion was catastrophic. The shockwave shattered the remaining marble pillars, and the entire cathedral began to collapse. The kinetic null-field around the altar flickered and died.
Kaelen tumbled through the wreckage, his Pearl-Glass skin cracking under the debris. He reached out, his fingers brushing the liquid sapphire of the Crown of the Deep.
The moment his hand touched the relic, his mind was flooded with the memory of the world. He felt the pull of the tides, the weight of the trenches, and the slow, ancient heartbeat of the planet's tectonic plates. The Crown didn't resist him; it recognized him. It recognized the other three relics—the Fire of the Spark, the Voice of the Scepter, and the Shield of the Forge.
Relic #4 Claimed: The Crown of the Deep.
The sapphire liquid surged up his arm, coating his skin and merging with the violet Void-Scars. The mutation stabilized. The "Pearl-Glass" hardened into Abyssal-Plate—a deep, translucent blue armor that was both flexible and indestructible.
5 Days, 00 Hours, 50 Minutes. (Stability: Maximum).
The "One-Week Clock" slowed. For the first time since the bonding, the countdown turned from red to a steady, calm blue. Kaelen felt a surge of vitality, his lungs no longer needing oxygen, his blood replaced by a high-pressure mana-conduit.
But he didn't have time to celebrate. The collapse of the cathedral was accelerating, and the Hive-Heart's death had triggered a "Distress Beacon."
Outside the cathedral, the water was boiling. A massive silhouette was descending from the surface—the Void-Leviathan, a Star-Eater titan designed for planetary consumption. It was miles long, a living mountain of geometry and shadow, and its maw was opening directly above the Sunken City.
"Ria! Korg! Get the Valkyrie out of there!" Kaelen shouted into the Aura-Link.
"We can't!" Ria's voice crackled, distorted by the Nanite-Storm's interference. "The storm is too thick! The engines are stalling! Kaelen, the air is literally turning into needles!"
Kaelen looked at the Crown on his brow. He felt the power of the deep. He wasn't just a hero anymore; he was a force of nature.
"Hold on," Kaelen said, his voice now a deep, oceanic boom. "I'm bringing the ocean with me."
He planted his feet on the ruins of the altar. He raised the Scepter and the Aegis, and the Crown on his head flared with a blinding sapphire light.
"Great Tide: Ascension!"
Kaelen didn't swim up. He commanded the water. A massive column of brine—a literal waterspout miles wide—erupted from the Sunken City. It surged upward with the force of a volcanic eruption, carrying Kaelen and the ruins of the cathedral toward the surface.
The waterspout hit the surface of the Salt-Marshes like a physical strike. It punched through the Nanite-Storm, creating a massive "Clear-Zone" of pure, high-pressure water that washed the glass-dust out of the air.
Kaelen emerged from the center of the spout, standing on a platform of frozen water, his Abyssal-Plate shining under the amber sky. He looked up at the Void-Leviathan, which was looming over the Valkyrie.
The Leviathan fired a beam of violet dissolution. Kaelen raised the Aegis and the Crown together. He didn't block the beam; he reflected it. He turned the Leviathan's own energy into a tidal wave of sapphire fire that struck the titan's underbelly, forcing it to tilt.
"Pip! Jump-start the engines now!" Kaelen roared. "The water will shield you for sixty seconds!"
The Valkyrie's engines coughed, then roared to life, fueled by the localized mana-surge Kaelen was providing. The ship soared out of the "Clear-Zone," narrowly missing the Leviathan's closing jaws.
Kaelen remained in the air, his wings now massive, shimmering curtains of water and light. He looked at the Leviathan, then at the sky. He had four relics. He was stable. But he was no longer the boy who scavenged for bread in Oakhaven. He was a god of the New World, and the price of that godhood was written in the scars on his soul.
5 Days, 00 Hours, 10 Minutes.
The Leviathan let out a sound of tectonic grinding, its eyes fixing on Kaelen.
"You want the Crown?" Kaelen challenged, the sapphire light of the relic reflecting in his eyes. "Come and take it."
The battle for the South had reached its peak, but as Kaelen prepared to strike, a final message appeared on his vision—a message that didn't come from the Relics or the Star-Eaters.
[WARNING: RELIC #5 DETECTED. LOCATION: THE SILENT KING'S ORIGIN. THE VOID IS NOT OUTSIDE. IT IS BURIED IN THE ROOTS.]
Kaelen's heart went cold. The final relic wasn't in some far-off land. It was back where it all started.
"We're going back to Oakhaven," Kaelen whispered, even as he dodged a strike from the Leviathan. "The end isn't at the Forge. It's in the ash."
~Current Status~
The One-Week Clock: 5 Days, 00 Hours, 05 Minutes remaining.
Relics Collected: 4 out of 5 (Scepter, Core, Aegis, Crown).
New Power: Abyssal-Command (Total control over liquid density and pressure; immunity to drowning and high-pressure environments).
Destination: The Dead Zone of Oakhaven.