The atmosphere in the throne room of the Black Coral Temple was suffocating. General Vane stood with his hands behind his back, his gold-trimmed uniform a stark contrast to the dark, ancient surroundings. Behind him, the frozen figure of Commander Ren remained motionless, a silent prisoner of the Eternal Frost. Kaito's grip on his father's dagger tightened until his knuckles turned white.
"You talk too much for a man hiding behind guards, Vane," Kaito spat, his voice echoing off the obsidian walls.
Vane's smile didn't falter. "Guards? No, Kaito. These are not just guards. They are the future of the Iron-Empire."
With a subtle nod from the General, the four soldiers moved. Their brass diving suits hissed as high-pressure steam was injected into their mechanical joints, giving them superhuman speed even under the crushing weight of the abyss. They moved in a diamond formation, their high-frequency sonic blades humming with a deadly vibration that could shatter bone through water.
Kaito didn't wait for them to reach him. He slammed his left hand into the water, channeling his Tide-Walker energy. "Tidal Pulse: Repulsion!" A massive shockwave of water exploded outward from Kaito, knocking two of the guards back into the coral pillars. But the other two were faster. One swung his sonic blade in a wide arc, the vibration creating a pocket of boiling steam in its wake. Kaito barely dodged, the blade grazing his shoulder and tearing through his reinforced diving suit.
"Is that all?" Vane taunted. "Your father was a legend, but you... you're just a boy playing with a toy boat."
The insult burned hotter than the steam. Kaito closed his eyes for a split second, feeling the heartbeat of the temple itself. The Black Coral wasn't just stone; it was an ancient organism that thrived on magic. He reached out with his mind, not to the guards, but to the very foundation of the room.
"Ancestral Art: Coral Thorns!"
Suddenly, the floor beneath the guards erupted. Sharp, jagged spikes of obsidian-black coral shot upward like spears. One guard was impaled instantly, his suit's pressure seal failing with a violent burst of bubbles. The others scrambled back, their mechanical limbs struggling to find footing on the shifting floor.
Kaito didn't stop there. He leaped into the air—the water making him light—and brought his dagger down toward General Vane. But Vane was no ordinary soldier. He drew a heavy, steam-powered pistol and fired a specialized harpoon point-blank.
Kaito twisted his body mid-air, the harpoon whistling past his ear and embedding itself into the throne. He landed gracefully, but the exertion was starting to take its toll. His vision flickered blue as his magic reserves began to drain.
"You have spirit, I'll give you that," Vane said, reloading his weapon with a metallic click. "But spirit doesn't survive at 10,000 meters. The Iron-Empire has spent decades perfecting the art of killing your kind. We've mapped every current, every spell, every weakness."
Vane raised his hand, and a hidden door in the temple ceiling opened. A massive, mechanical claw—part of the destroyer's secondary crane—descended into the chamber. It wasn't targeting Kaito. It was moving toward the Eternal Frost.
"If I can't have the Azure Ghost's key today," Vane sneered, "I'll simply take the lock with me. Your father belongs to the Empire now."
"NO!" Kaito screamed. He felt a surge of raw, untamed power rising from the depths of his soul. His father's dagger began to glow with a blinding, white-hot light. The runes on the temple walls reacted, pulsing in sync with Kaito's heartbeat.
This wasn't just Tide-Walker magic. This was something older. Something the Iron-Empire couldn't map.