Proofreader&Editor: Lotas
Somewhere in the Atlantic.
Elite Atlantis warriors, astride monstrous beasts resembling giant lobsters, patrolled vigilantly outside an abandoned deep-sea temple.
Inside the temple, seven towering statues, each several dozen meters tall, converged their weapons at a single point.
Beneath the weapons, rows of ancient thrones covered in seaweed stood in silence.
"King Nereus.
What matter is so urgent that you summoned me?"
Orm, with his golden hair and clad in black armor, floated through the water, each movement exuding an innate nobility and authority. His formidable stature seemed to harbor a power that even the ocean itself might fear.
The current King of Atlantis wore an expression of impatience.
He disliked this meeting place, once the site of the Atlantean kings' council, back when the Trident had not yet been lost.
The King of Atlantis was then the true ruler of the Seven Seas, his commands irrefutable.
He held little regard for the monster races beyond Atlantis and Xebel, considering them unworthy of the name Atlantean.
"An urgent crisis has occurred, necessitating your presence here."
Nereus's face was grim, as if it could drip water.
Soon to be in-laws, the tone between the two men lacked any familial warmth, possibly because neither took the arranged marriage to heart, valuing instead the shifts in power it would bring.
"My daughter has been abducted from the palace."
"Mera?!"
Hearing of his fiancée's plight, Orm looked up, his expression one of fury.
"Who dares abduct my betrothed within the Seven Seas?!"
Though he had agreed to the marriage for Nereus's support and to reclaim the Seven Seas' throne, he couldn't deny his fondness for Mera, the most beautiful pearl of the ocean depths, with whom he had grown up.
Most importantly, it was known throughout the Seven Seas that Mera was betrothed to him, Orm.
"I do not know.
But the one who took my daughter left a message for you."
Nereus gestured, and the disheveled Vico was brought forth by Xebel warriors.
"Orm.
The one who took Mera left a message.
He said to be ready, for when he returns, Atlantis will have a new king."
Vico, under Nereus's icy gaze, dejectedly relayed the message.
An innocent bystander, his significance was now irrelevant; his plan with Mera to bring Arthur to the throne had been thwarted.
A formidable young man, like a shark entering weaker waters, had disrupted everything, rendering the future of the seas unclear.
"A new king?
Courting death!"
Hearing this, Orm's eyes blazed with rage, his murderous intent chilling to the bone. He clenched his fist, sending ripples through the water.
The patrolling sea creatures outside the temple whined in fear and unease, like small fish sensing an enraged whale.
"The King of Atlantis will not be challenged.
Whoever he is, I will tear him to pieces!"
"Summon the army! Even if it means turning the Seven Seas upside down, find him!"
The fact that his soon-to-be bride had been kidnapped was undeniable. The King of the Seven Seas ordered in a fury, and the warriors outside the temple bowed their heads in silent obedience, dispersing to carry out his command.
"Vico, what exactly happened, and how did you end up in Xebel?"
This wasn't the work of Nereus, who had proposed the marriage. Orm's gaze shot towards Vico like a cold bolt of lightning, his voice thunderous with anger.
He needed to know the full story.
Who was this foolhardy soul daring to challenge him?
***
At the bottom of the deep-sea trench.
Before them swirled a dazzling and mysterious vortex of magical power, its purpose unknown.
Mera couldn't fathom where the man's confidence stemmed from, as if he had seen the Trident within with his own eyes.
"Wait, did you say the deep-sea leviathan Carlsen is inside?"
She suddenly remembered something, her body trembling.
"The same sea monster Carlsen that even the first king of Atlantis, wielding the Trident of Neptune, feared?"
Mera's bright eyes widened, and she turned to flee, but where could she go within David's force field?
David, with a calm expression, manipulated the gravity shield and plunged into the blue light vortex.
In an instant, the world spun.
As if time and space were shifting.
Whoosh!
Without warning, a shield appeared in a calm, light blue aquatic area.
Whoosh!
The water stirred as a nearly twenty-meter-long leviathan with a powerful tail swam swiftly towards them, its mouth filled with dagger-like teeth gaping open.
Seeing a dinosaur that should only exist in the Cretaceous period, David curiously observed it for a moment.
Like a crocodile rolling with force, stirring up the seabed currents, the ferocious deep-sea predator found itself unable to breach the high-density rubber ball and consume the two small creatures.
It was as if fixed in space, unable to move an inch.
Soon, the small creatures in its eyes unleashed an unimaginable power.
David pointed a finger, and the water, usually easily displaced by its fins, became as hard and solid as steel, compressing with immense force.
The leviathan, unable to comprehend, widened its eyes in terror, and the next second, its skull was crushed like a brittle cookie, blood spilling from its mouth, sinking to the ocean floor.
Without a second glance at his handiwork, David broke through the surface and ascended above.
In mid-air, pterosaurs soared past, a magnificent little world below, but instead of the sky, clusters of glowing crystals shone overhead.
"Where is this?"
Mera was astounded. Was this a cave?
But how could a cave be so vast, seemingly endless, with islands and mountain ranges, and an ocean?
"This is the inner world of the Earth."
David surveyed the land below, where a pack of small velociraptors scurried across an island beach.
Dinosaurs, extinct on the surface, still thrived in this inner world.
A female figure, armed with a spear, emerged from a coral cave, clad in armor made from the skins of Trench creatures, her helmet revealing strands of grayish-white hair.
She hid warily behind the rocks, observing the two newcomers to the inner world.
"The inner world of the Earth?
Is that… a person?"
Mera caught a glimpse of the figure, uncertain.
For some reason, the eyes beneath that helmet felt familiar, and she furrowed her brow.
David landed and deactivated the protective shield, stepping onto the sandy beach.
"You… are you Mera?"
The figure recognized Mera from her natural red hair and the features reminiscent of her childhood, stepping out of the cave in surprise and disbelief.
"Who are you?
How do you know my name?"
Mera didn't understand how someone from this isolated world knew her, but the voice felt eerily familiar.
The female figure removed her helmet, revealing an aged face with delicate features, wrinkles around the eyes, but still showing signs of youthful beauty.
"Queen!"
Mera exclaimed.
She was seeing someone long thought dead, the former Queen of Atlantis, Atlanna.
"Weren't you sacrificed to the Trench?"