The Pacific Ocean raged like a living creature.
Waves as tall as buildings battered the research vessel without mercy.
The ship's metal hull groaned.
Lights flickered wildly.
Emergency sirens blared across every deck.
WHOOMMMMM!
Another wave slammed into the side of the vessel.
A long crack split across the main hull.
One of the crew members was hurled against the railing. His body nearly swept into the churning black sea.
"GRAB ON!" someone shouted.
Bimo moved first.
He sprinted across the slippery deck and leaped without hesitation. His hand caught the crewman's wrist just before he disappeared beneath the waves.
Seawater slammed into his face.
Bimo gritted his teeth.
"Listen," he said, hauling the man back up.
"You're not allowed to die before you buy me a meal."
The crewman coughed violently, but he was alive.
On the other side of the deck, a small explosion erupted in the engine room.
CRASH!
A steel pipe snapped and came crashing down toward an operator.
Dika spun around.
Without a second thought, he lunged forward and braced the falling metal beam against his shoulder.
His knees buckled.
The muscles in his arms strained.
"GET OUT!" he barked.
The operator scrambled away.
The beam grew heavier by the second. A sharp edge sliced into Dika's shoulder, drawing blood.
Still, he held it up until everyone was clear.
Inside the control room, the screens went dark one by one.
Farhan slammed his hand against a dead control panel.
"Not now... not now!"
Electrical sparks snapped across his laptop keyboard. Several keys shattered beneath his fingers, cutting his skin.
He kept typing.
Manual override.
Backup sonar.
Emergency navigation.
Sweat dripped onto the screen.
"Come on... work," he muttered.
Lila stood beside him, staring at the chaotic data.
Energy patterns twisted wildly across the display, like the erratic heartbeat of something dying.
Then her eyes widened.
"Wait!"
Farhan turned toward her.
"Oblivion Rex isn't consuming the Core..."
Lila enlarged the frequency patterns.
"It's converting the Core's resonance into void frequency."
The room fell silent.
Farhan swallowed hard.
"If the frequency changes..."
Lila stared out at the sea beyond the window.
"...the entire ocean could die."
On the main deck, Sinta stood in the middle of the storm.
Her hands trembled.
She was afraid.
Terrified.
But her voice remained sharp and commanding.
"EVERYONE, TO YOUR EMERGENCY POSITIONS!"
The crew rushed to obey.
"SEAL THE LOWER DECK!"
"EVACUATE THE STARBOARD SIDE!"
"NOBODY PANICS!"
The wind lashed against her face. Her hair whipped wildly around her, and her breathing was unsteady.
But she refused to back down.
Because if the leader fell apart—
everyone else would sink with her.
Amid the raging ocean, the colossal battle continued.
Leviathan Thalassa roared as it surged forward and slammed into the Cosmic Leviadon.
BOOOOOOM!
Seawater exploded into the sky.
But far beneath them—
Oblivion Rex continued its descent into the depths.
It didn't care who stood in its way.
It didn't care what battles raged around it.
It wanted only one thing.
The Heart of the Ocean.
Arga stood at the edge of the deck.
His body was still trembling from the previous battle.
A thin trickle of blood ran from the corner of his mouth.
His breathing came in short, ragged bursts.
The MBG Lunchbox in his hand shook violently.
Twenty-seven glowing grains of rice spun inside it like wild stars.
Kai stood beside him.
His gaze remained fixed on the dark ocean, his expression unlike anything Arga had ever seen before.
Grief.
Arga turned toward him.
"Kai...?"
Kai didn't answer.
He stepped forward.
Waves broke around his feet.
Somehow, the sound of the storm seemed to fade into the distance.
"There is something I've never told you."
Everyone turned toward him.
Sinta.
Farhan.
Lila.
Bimo.
Dika.
Kai stared into the depths of the ocean.
"Thousands of years ago... I witnessed an ancient Guardian awaken."
Arga fell silent.
Kai slowly raised his hand.
Golden light flickered in his palm.
"I swore... I would never summon it again."
"Why?" Arga asked.
Kai closed his eyes for a moment.
"Because every time an ancient Guardian awakens..."
He opened his eyes.
"...something must be paid in return."
The wind died.
The ocean seemed to hold its breath.
Kai turned toward Arga.
"If I do this... I may not be the same afterward."
Arga immediately stepped forward.
"Don't."
But Kai offered a faint smile.
For the first time—
it was a smile that felt unmistakably human.
"This world is too precious to let it sink."
He walked to the edge of the ship.
Then he released all his energy.
WHOOMMMMMMMMM!
Golden light erupted into the sky and across the sea.
The entire ocean trembled.
Far below—
Oblivion Rex came to a halt.
The creature turned its head.
It sensed something far older than itself.
BOOM.
The first pulse rose from the ocean floor.
The entire ship lifted momentarily out of the water.
BOOM.
The second pulse shattered the control room windows.
Bimo nearly lost his footing.
"Okay—I'm officially sick of that sound!"
BOOM.
The third pulse tore through the sea.
The ocean's surface split open like a colossal door.
Water surged violently to either side.
An endless blue radiance rose from the depths of the world.
Farhan stared at the sonar display, his face drained of color.
"An object... something enormous is emerging!"
Lila whispered in disbelief.
"Not enormous..."
"...it's a living continent."
The ocean erupted.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
From depths no human had ever touched—
something arose.
A pair of blue eyes opened beneath the storm.
Then an enormous head emerged from the sea.
Its body was so immense that Leviathan looked tiny beside it.
Glowing crystal scales covered a body that stretched beyond the horizon.
Its ancient fins cleaved through the clouds.
Every movement unleashed another tsunami.
Leviathan Thalassa immediately bowed its head.
Thalorion emerged from the depths—
and bowed as well.
Kai sank to his knees.
His voice was nearly swallowed by the thunderous ocean.
"Aethernox..."
The Ancient Guardian of the Ocean.
The being that had guarded the seas since the world was young.
Aethernox fixed its gaze on Oblivion Rex.
Then it opened its mouth.
There was no roar.
Only light.
WHOOMMMMMMMMM!
A beam of primordial ocean energy tore through the depths.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
Oblivion Rex was blasted hundreds of meters through the water before bursting back to the surface like a meteor flying in reverse.
The Cosmic Leviadon shrieked.
The Void Kraken recoiled, its enormous tentacles retreating into the depths.
The entire ocean trembled from that single strike.
Bimo stared, his mouth hanging open.
"...Now that's the real boss of the ocean."
Arga turned toward Kai.
But Kai's body was beginning to fade.
Cracks spread through the golden light surrounding him, like fractures in glass.
"Kai!"
Kai managed a weak smile.
"Now... it's your turn to protect them."
His knees gave way.
Arga caught him before he collapsed onto the deck.
"Kai! Kai!"
But Kai didn't answer.
His eyes remained closed.
His breathing was barely perceptible.
Before anyone could move—
Farhan screamed from the control room.
"LOOK AT THE SKY!"
Everyone looked up.
The storm clouds split apart.
Not one rift.
Not two.
The sky was covered in crimson wounds.
Dozens of cosmic rifts opened above the Pacific.
And beyond them—
a shadow blotted out the stars.
Something larger than Aethernox.
Larger than mountains.
Two crimson eyes burned in the darkness of space.
Even Aethernox stopped moving.
For the first time—
the Ancient Guardian of the Ocean looked afraid.
And Arga realized something horrifying.
The war they had been fighting all this time...
had been nothing more than a prelude.