On a bleak, quiet stretch of shoreline, everyone boarded the spacecraft Hal had shaped out of Green Lantern energy.
They descended.
Passing through that trembling boundary where the sea's surface shimmered like glass, the light itself changed texture—no longer sharp golden threads like blades, but broad washes of liquid blue and green, bleeding into one another in vast, drifting gradients.
Following the direction Mera indicated, Hal drove the ship forward at high speed. In a blink, they left the land far behind and plunged into the deep.
The farther down they went, the stranger the underwater world became.
Thousands of meters above, the noise of the surface was filtered away until nothing remained but an immense, gentle silence—yet it wasn't dead. It felt alive.
In the distance, gigantic bioluminescent jellyfish opened and closed lazily, like breathing ghost-lantern castles. Their trailing tendrils spilled iridescence into the dark, draping the abyss with flowing, dreamlike silk.
"So this is what the seafloor looks like?" someone murmured, unable to stop themselves. "It's beautiful…"
Faced with that breathtaking sight, no one could help the soft exhale of awe.
When Hal's ship passed over a stretch of ruined ancient city—collapsed arches and broken stone spines half-swallowed by time—the true Atlantean capital finally began to emerge ahead of them.
They saw it first as movement and geometry.
Ships of every imaginable design lined up neatly along a massive, battered bridge—an entire queue stretching across the water like a living roadway.
Some vessels looked like sleek high-tech craft. Others resembled bizarre deep-sea fish, all curves and armored ridges. And some were shockingly old-fashioned—like carriages—except they were being hauled through the water by enormous fish as draft beasts.
Mera pointed at the damaged bridge and urged Hal sharply, "We're almost there! Follow them—get on the bridge and queue up for entry."
Hal steered the green-lit ship toward the bridge. Shazam, bewildered by Atlantean customs, blurted out the question he couldn't hold back.
"Why would Atlanteans build a bridge underwater?"
By now, Mera was used to Shazam's wide-eyed curiosity, and she answered evenly.
"That Gate Bridge was built before Atlantis sank. It's the only way in or out of the capital. Don't even think about trying to bypass security—if you can evade the guards, you'll still face high-pressure water cannons."
The fleet crawled forward in slow increments. As the checkpoint drew closer—close enough that they could see the inspection lanes—Hal glanced at Mera.
"Didn't you say entering Atlantis requires a pass?"
Mera didn't look worried in the slightest. As the princess of Xebel, she spoke as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
"Relax. I have a diplomatic transit permit."
No sooner had the words left her mouth than the Gate Bridge's security system broadcast a voice that sounded like it had been echoing through the ocean since antiquity itself—deep, resonant, and impossibly clear.
"Green Lantern of the cosmos… Atlantis welcomes you."
Hal Jordan's face split into a smug grin.
"Oh ho—so my name carries weight even down here."
Even Wonder Woman looked genuinely surprised. Raised on Themyscira's legends and records, she'd long been fascinated by civilizations that endured from the ancient world. Atlantis, surviving beneath the sea, might preserve histories far more complete than anything her island still held.
"Even Themyscira has very few preserved records about Green Lanterns," she said. "To think Atlantis can identify one instantly…"
"Maybe it's because the Gate Bridge system has been running since before Atlantis sank," Mera replied—without the slightest pride.
What she did know was this: the Gate Bridge existed long before the ocean claimed the city. And without the lost trident—the symbol of the Seven Seas' true sovereign—even Atlantean royalty lacked authority to alter the bridge's identification protocols.
For Mera, having a diplomatic permit wasn't comfort—it was a liability.
That grand, automatic announcement would only draw Orm's people faster.
"Move," she said urgently. "We have to meet my father immediately. After that broadcast, Orm will know outsiders have arrived—he won't take long."
The system approved their passage. The gates of Atlantis opened.
At Mera's urging, Hal surged forward, accelerating through the entry corridor.
Standing beside Mera, Arthur looked confused by both the broadcast and her tension.
"Has no one thought to… update the system?" he asked, half incredulous.
Mera could only answer with weary frustration.
"The authority to modify it belongs to the ruler of the Seven Seas. Without the lost trident, no one can change anything."
After Atlantis sank, vast swaths of its magical and technological knowledge were lost. The capital had clawed its way back to brilliance in the deep—but beyond it, much of Atlantean civilization had regressed.
The Fishermen Kingdom still preserved art and philosophy. The Brine Kingdom had become crustacean-like—devolved into something harsh and barbaric. And the Trench… the Trench had become little more than beasts.
Not to mention the kingdoms that were simply gone—erased: the Desert Kingdom and the Lost Kingdom.
This was why Mera wanted Arthur to find the lost trident, and why she wanted Atlantis to begin relations with the surface. Human development was accelerating; their exploration of the oceans expanded every year.
If Atlantis continued to seal itself off, sooner or later it would lose its place in the world entirely.
Under Mera's guidance, Hal continued toward the residence where her father was located.
And just as she feared, the Gate Bridge announcement quickly attracted Orm's people.
To them, a Green Lantern received no special treatment.
A set of Atlantean patrol vessels intercepted and accelerated after Hal's glowing ship. A hard-edged broadcast cut through the water.
"This is the Border Defense Corps. Your vessel has illegally entered Atlantis. Stop immediately and surrender!"
Hal didn't even slow down.
The border ships surged closer—and their weapons began charging, condensing beams of light until they snapped forward in blazing lances.
"Damn it," someone hissed. "They found us already!"
Hearing the accusation over the loudspeaker, Hal Jordan's pride ignited like a fuse. He barked back at the broadcast with outright indignation.
"I'm a Green Lantern! Your gate let me through—what right do you have to arrest me?!"
Join here to read ahead.
In Star Rail, Ultra-Beast Armored — Have I Caught "Equilibrium"? l (Chapter 80)
Uma Musume, But I Only Have Five Years Left to Live (Chapter 80)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 80)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League (Chapter 80)
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter50)
Yu-Gi-Oh! — Transmigrated into the White Dragon Girl (Chapter50)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter50)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter50)
Can Playing Games Save the World? 10
Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 10
My patreon : patreon.com/queen_sin