The ocean churned with fire and fury as the first reinforcements arrived.
From the western trenches came a surge of warriors clad in sea-forged armor, bearing silver crests upon their chests—the mark of the Guardians of the South Rift. Among them swam mages astride coral serpents, their staffs crackling with magical energy. From the northern ridge thundered with the sound of cavalry—massive armored sharks ridden by knights of House Thalassor. Behind them moved the enigmatic silhouettes of the Isonade Pact, cloaked and silent, but radiating deep magic.
Hope ignited.
Queen Athena stood at the highest vantage of the palace's great shell tower, her hand clenched white on the coral railing as she watched the reinforcements descend into the chaos. Around her, her commanders barked orders and channeled spells, attempting to keep the city's defenses from fracturing completely.
Below, the battle intensified.
Triton surged forward again, empowered by the arrival of his allies. His trident glowed brighter as he led the charge, flanked by elite soldiers who had regrouped. "Form the crescent line! Encircle it from the sides—force it into the narrows!"
The Bukavac, massive and enraged, turned with a bellow that rippled like a thunderclap through the trench. Its horns lit with red fire as it crashed into the oncoming lines. Shark-mounted knights harpooned its flanks while Isonade warlocks cast binding spells that wrapped around the creature's limbs like glowing chains.
Helios and Kurai, bloodied and fatigued, pressed their assault from the rear. Helios, now wielding Equilibrium in both hands, alternated between precision spells and short, controlled bursts of darkness and light. Each spell drained him further, but he did not slow.
Kurai, her injured arm bound with darkness allowing it to move like normal, moved like a storm. She hurled compressed spheres of shadow, each one detonating against the Bukavac's armored hide with brutal force. Her fury was wordless, but it blazed in her every strike.
Still, the Bukavac endured.
Even wounded, its strength remained terrifying. Its tail whipped sideways, striking down entire squads. A shockwave of sound erupted from its throat, sending mages reeling. It reared back and loosed a deafening shriek that cracked the bones of the coral ridge and forced many to cover their ears in agony.
And then came the second roar.
It was lower, deeper—and closer.
From behind the ruins of the eastern ridge, another Bukavac emerged.
Smaller than the first, but no less monstrous.
"No," Helios whined. "There's more of them… why is there more."
"Of course there are," Kurai muttered, not even flinching. "Why would that sea witch send just one of a creature that we could possibly defeat when sending more can make sure to finish us off? I'll still kill her but I must say I'm impressed."
The second Bukavac charged without hesitation, goring through a formation of foot soldiers and scattering the line. Kurai turned mid-stroke, intercepting its advance with a barrage of dark firaga arrows which were smaller but faster than the normal dark firaga that forced it back.
Above them, Athena turned sharply to her aide. "Signal the final wave. I want the Sea Crows in formation. Tell the Leviathan Guard to engage—now!"
The aide nodded and relayed the command. Moments later, a shimmering vortex opened near the reef wall, and a unit of deep-sea warriors emerged, riding massive crustaceans clad in plated armor. The Leviathan Guard—the last line of Atlantis' elite defense.
They dove straight into battle.
With their arrival, the tide truly began to shift.
The first Bukavac, pinned down by binding spells and sustained attacks, began to slow. One of its horns, already cracked from earlier, shattered completely beneath a focused strike from Triton's trident.
Helios, seizing the moment, poured his remaining strength into a final combination—Aeroza spun around a core of compressed Blizzaga, forming a vortex of razor-edged ice. The Freezing Gale, and when it struck the beast's exposed flank, it tore through scale and sinew alike.
The Bukavac shrieked and buckled.
Triton surged forward, driving his trident into its exposed throat. For a breathless moment, the entire battlefield paused.
Then the creature collapsed.
The second Bukavac, seeing its kin fall, attempted to retreat—but the Isonade Pact encircled it, casting a seal that disrupted its internal pressure. Kurai struck it from above, landing on its back and firing a concentrated beam of darkness into the base of its skull.
It thrashed, screamed—and died.
Silence.
Only the sounds of exhausted breathing and the distant cries of wounded citizens remained. The water, though still tinged red, began to still. The tremors faded.
The Bukavac were dead.
But the cost was high.
Bodies floated through the water—soldiers, citizens, even healers caught in the creature's wake. Entire districts were wrecked. Emergency shelters had collapsed. Half of the second coral ward was gone.
Helios floated above the wreckage, chest heaving, vision flickering at the edges.
Kurai drifted near him, blood staining the water around her. "This was quite a difficult battle. I see why you were so upset about her obtaining that trident. If she can assault us like this as she pleases we have little to no hope," she said coldly.
Helios nodded. "Yes, tactically we won, but strategically things are a disaster."
They turned to see Athena and Triton descending together, grim-faced. Behind them, medics and commanders rushed to assess the damage.
Triton looked upon the corpse of the Bukavac with hate. "She sent these things knowing they'd die. This wasn't conquest."
Athena clenched her fists. "It was a demonstration."
"A warning," Helios added. "The trident gave her more than power—it gave her confidence."
Kurai crossed her arms. "She's letting us know the next attack will be worse."
A long pause followed. The city swayed behind them, wounded but not destroyed.
Triton looked to Helios and Kurai. "Thank you. Both of you. Without your help…"
"We're not done yet," Helios said. "She's still out there. And now she knows how far we can go. Next time we might send five or more creatures like this and then we'd be defeated."
Athena closed her eyes briefly, then opened them with iron clarity. "Then we must locate her post haste and take the fight to her to spare the citizens."
Far from the battered halls of Atlantica, in the darkness of the trench where light no longer reached, the parasite-controlled Ursula sat upon her obsidian throne, surrounded by shadows.
She watched the remnants of the battle through a swirling mirror of blood and ink.
She smiled.
And whispered to the abyss, "What to send next?"