[LOCATION: ATLANTIS – ENTRY]
[DEPTH: -4000 METERS]
[PRESSURE: CRITICAL LEVEL]
The world was spinning.
No. Not just the world. Hope's stomach, his organs, even his sense of reality were spinning with it.
The vortex swallowed them like a toy boat and hurled them down the dark throat of the ocean toward a beam of blue light. The pressure kept rising. A violent ringing filled his ears, as if something inside his skull were about to burst. At this depth, a normal human's lungs would have collapsed and their bones crushed to dust.
But the System… that cursed green interface flickering before Hope's eyes kept him alive.
[SYSTEM WARNING: EXTERNAL PRESSURE INCREASING. MANA SHIELD ACTIVATED.]
"I'm going to throw up!" Hope shouted, plastered to the deck of the boat. "I am absolutely going to throw up!"
And then the fall ended.
There was no violent crash. They did not smash into the ocean floor.
The boat passed through something massive. A gelatinous sphere of air.
VUUUP.
The wetness vanished. Air rushed in.
The boat slammed onto a metallic platform inside a colossal air pocket constructed beneath the sea, an entrance hangar hidden under thousands of meters of water. The wooden hull cracked but did not break.
Hope lifted his head, clutching Mira tightly in his arms.
And his breath caught.
This was not a cave.
This was not a ruin.
This was a metropolis.
A vast underwater city illuminated by neon blue and violet corals. Towers that defied gravity spiraled upward. Glass domes floated between structures. Bioluminescent plants cast a soft glow over bridges and terraces.
The buildings were not angular.
They flowed.
As if sculpted from frozen waves.
Hope's architect eyes shone with pure awe.
"Structure…" he whispered, rising to his feet. The green flames in his eyes danced against the blue radiance around them. "No columns. No beams. The buildings are stabilized through buoyancy manipulation and mana pressure. This is… impossible engineering."
"Forget the engineering!" Kai snapped, drawing his daggers. "Look around!"
Hope turned.
His awe shifted into sharp curiosity.
They were surrounded.
But not by humans.
They stood upright on two legs, clad in armor.
Fish.
Their skin was dark blue, their scales metallic and rigid. They had humanoid arms and legs, but fins along their backs and long tails swayed behind them. Gills fluttered at their necks.
One resembled a hammerhead shark, his skull flattened wide with eyes at each end. Another had the elongated blade-like snout of a swordfish. A third was nothing but muscle, carrying the teeth and savage aura of a great white.
They held spears tipped not with metal, but with glowing crystals crackling with electricity.
"Surface dwellers!" the hammerhead snarled, his voice rasping as though still half-submerged. "Violation! Violation!"
"Surrender!" another barked. "Move and I'll skewer you!"
The team instinctively reached for their weapons, but Hope raised a hand.
"Wait," he said, eyes locked on the hammerhead. He wasn't afraid.
He looked excited.
Hope jumped down from the boat. The guards flinched and leveled their spears at him.
He stepped right up to the hammerhead.
"Incredible," Hope said, reaching toward the guard's scaled arm. "Your dermal structure… is it designed to reduce hydrodynamic friction? Or is this an armored evolutionary adaptation?"
The guard blinked. "What are you doing, surface worm?"
Hope continued, unfazed.
"And your coloration. Why blue? Deep-water camouflage? Or elevated copper concentration in your blood? Can your gills extract oxygen both underwater and in air? Your anatomy seems extremely efficient. How long can you survive on land?"
The guard's eyes flared with fury.
"Silence!" the hammerhead roared, shoving Hope hard. Hope fell, but Mira instantly leapt in front of him, growling, her fur crackling with electricity.
"How dare you ask such questions?" the guard snarled, raising his spear. "Do you think we are laboratory animals?"
"I was merely curious," Hope said, standing and brushing himself off. "Scientific curiosity. No need for aggression. Your pulse rate has increased significantly."
"I'll kill you!"
The spear swung.
CLANG!
It struck Deniz's Goliath Fists instead.
Deniz stood like a mountain in front of Hope.
"Don't touch the kid," he said calmly, though his voice carried iron. "Or I'll fillet you, fish-head."
The air tightened. Other guards prepared to attack.
"Chain them all!" the hammerhead ordered. "Especially the big one! I'll feed him to the sharks!"
The guards lunged with magnetic restraints. Hope and the others could have resisted, but they were vastly outnumbered and this was enemy territory. The cuffs locked around their wrists, releasing a shockwave that suppressed their mana.
"Disgusting," Bianca muttered, rubbing her wrists. "Where the hell are we?"
Even restrained, Hope continued studying their surroundings.
"Atlantis," he whispered. "This is Atlantis."
The hammerhead leaned close, the stench of rotten fish on his breath.
"Yes. Atlantis. And surface dwellers are not welcome here. You'll rot in our dungeons. Anyone who enters without the King's command dies… and I won't forget what you said, surface worm."
He raised his spear toward Hope's shoulder.
"STOP."
The voice was not loud.
It did not need to be.
It was so sharp, so absolute, it felt like it froze the very air. An unseen force halted the spear mid-swing and blasted the guard backward in an explosion of pressure.
The massive pearl-inlaid doors at the hangar entrance opened.
Light poured in.
And someone stepped through it.
The fish-stained air shifted instantly.
He did not resemble the guards.
Tall. Human in form. His skin was marble-smooth and pale. His hair was the deepest shade of ocean blue, falling to his shoulders. His ears were slightly pointed, and elegant, gold-lined gills adorned his neck.
No scales. No jagged teeth.
He was breathtaking. Noble. Beautiful in a way that transcended gender.
Hope forgot to breathe.
As the Prince walked forward, the savage guards trembled and bowed deeply.
He stopped before the hammerhead.
"What did I command you?" the Prince asked. His voice was melodic but glacial.
"M-My Prince… they are surface dwellers… they violated—"
"I commanded you," the Prince said, not even looking at him, "not to touch my guests."
He placed a gloved hand on the guard's shoulder.
"You exceeded your authority."
Then, with visible disgust:
"Filthy Scale-skin."
The word detonated in the room.
The guard shrank as if struck physically, shame and fear flooding his eyes.
"F-Forgive me, my lord… I was only performing my duty—"
"Disappear," the Prince said coldly. "Before I assign you to octopus duty."
The guards retreated instantly, tails lowered.
Hope frowned. Weren't they the same race? Was that a biological classification… or a social insult?
The Prince erased the disgust from his face and turned toward the group, replacing it with a polished, merchant-like smile. With a casual gesture, the magnetic cuffs unlocked.
"My apologies," he said warmly, stepping closer to Hope. "Lower-class Scale-skins are difficult to educate. Their instincts often outrun their intellect. I am Prince Nereus. Welcome to my kingdom."
Freed, Bianca immediately reached for her dagger, but Kai grabbed her wrist.
"Why save us?" Bianca asked sharply. "You are Sirens. You hide yourselves. You despise surface dwellers. Why free us from them?"
Prince Nereus smiled faintly, hands folding behind his back.
"I did not bring you here to imprison you," he said. "I brought you to save you. From the disaster known as Eraser."
Lypin stiffened at the name.
"You know about him?"
"The ocean hears and knows all," Nereus replied. "Eraser and his men are currently searching your intended route across the land. Had you continued by sea, you would already have been erased. Down here, you are safe. Eraser cannot enter my waters. The sea is my domain."
Bianca's eyes narrowed.
"You still haven't answered why. What do you gain by helping us? Sirens do nothing for free."
Nereus paused.
His gaze drifted across the group.
It settled on Deniz.
An exaggerated look of gratitude bloomed on his face.
"Ah," he said, walking toward Deniz. "Have you truly forgotten?"
He grasped Deniz's hand with both of his.
"A life debt," he said solemnly. "I honor my debts."
Deniz stared blankly.
"Five years ago!" Nereus continued. "In the Northern Sea! I was young and foolish. I ventured too close to the surface. A colossal Leviathan nearly devoured me. And then you arrived with that massive axe of yours and drove the beast away. You saved my life, my great friend!"
Deniz blinked slowly.
"Leviathan?" he muttered. "Northern Sea…"
He exchanged a brief look with the Prince.
Then his eyes widened dramatically, his mouth forming an exaggerated O.
"HAAA! Right! That one! Huge teeth, yeah? Heh! Totally forgot, Your Highness! You've really changed since then!"
He slapped the Prince's shoulder so hard it nearly knocked him over.
"Guess we're even!"
Bianca pressed her hand to her forehead.
"You are a terrible liar," she whispered. Something was off. What was Deniz doing with the Siren Prince? There was another game being played here.
Lypin and Hope, however, looked impressed.
"Wow, Deniz," Hope said. "You killed a Leviathan? I read their hide is as hard as titanium. How did you cut it?"
"Well… the King gave me a special axe for that mission," Deniz muttered, sweating.
Prince Nereus smoothly intervened, clearly tired of the subject.
He turned toward Hope.
The warmth vanished from his eyes, replaced by something sharp and calculating.
"And you…" he said, stepping closer.
"Green eyes. That aura. The mark left by that scythe."
He circled Hope once.
"The rumors were true. You are the Architect."
Hope tensed. "You know me?"
"Your reputation has reached even the depths, child," Nereus replied. "The eye that sees structures. The mind that solves dungeons."
He gestured toward the impossible city behind him.
"This is Atlantis. The pinnacle of engineering and magic. Yet even we have problems we cannot solve. Errors in the System."
Nereus locked eyes with Hope.
"If you will remain in my kingdom under my protection for a time… then there must be a price."
"What do you want?" Hope asked.
"I want to test you," Nereus said, smiling. There was challenge in it.
"First, I will evaluate your current strength. Then you will enter the Pressure Chamber. If you truly are the legendary Architect… you will not be crushed beneath the ocean's weight. You will grow stronger."
He gestured toward the palace gates.
"Come. Eat. Rest. Because tomorrow…"
His eyes gleamed.
"Training begins. And Atlantis does not train like the surface."
Hope looked at the magnificent city behind the Prince.
The blue light in his veins pulsed with excitement.
A new realm.
New rules.
A new level.
"I accept," Hope said.
And thus, his journey in Atlantis began.