As those words left his mouth, the white mask on his face suddenly gave off a faint cracking sound.
Then, with a sharp crack, a thin yet obvious line split across it.
Through that crack, his eyes could be seen, filled with disbelief and deep fear.
His body trembled uncontrollably, and his voice turned hoarse and urgent.
"Report to the Five Elders immediately! Use the highest emergency code! Ancient Weapon Pluton has been confirmed awakened!"
When he lifted his trembling hands and slowly removed the broken mask, a pale face twisted by extreme terror was revealed.
His forehead was covered in beads of sweat that slid down his cheeks, and his eyes held fear and despair toward the unknown fate awaiting them.
"This world… is about to change."
At that moment, the tension had reached its limit. The air seemed to freeze into thick blocks of ice, so heavy and oppressive that breathing became almost impossible.
Then—
The horizon was suddenly torn open by a terrifying light that seemed to come from the depths of hell.
It was a massive pillar of lightning bright enough to make heaven and earth lose their color.
Like a berserk silver dragon, it carried power capable of destroying everything as it erupted violently from Pluton's mysterious and terrifying main cannon.
That blinding pillar of light surged forward with overwhelming momentum and thunderous speed, shooting with perfect accuracy toward the lonely uninhabited island in the distance.
Everywhere it passed, even space seemed unable to withstand such enormous energy and began to twist and tremble faintly.
In an instant, time seemed to stop.
The entire world fell into deathly silence.
That silence was as deep and chilling as an abyss, as though even nature itself did not dare make the slightest sound for fear of disturbing the catastrophe about to arrive.
However, that silence lasted only for a brief moment.
Then a blinding light hundreds and thousands of times brighter than the sun erupted.
The light was so intense and so scorching that it seemed ready to burn everything in the world to ash.
Even from dozens of nautical miles away, the fierce flash pierced through the darkness like sharp arrows, stabbing straight into everyone's eyes and forcing every agent present to shut their eyes, leaving them temporarily blinded.
"Get down!"
The commander's usually steady and powerful voice had become hoarse from screaming, carrying despair and terror as it echoed through the air.
Before his shout had fully faded, the devastating shockwave arrived like a raging tide.
That overwhelming force smashed into the CP0 ships without mercy, making those sturdy warships seem so small and fragile before it, like toys in a child's hand being easily tossed up and slammed back down.
The agents on deck immediately lost their balance, thrown all over the place. Some were even knocked straight to the floor, looking utterly miserable.
At the same time, the precise and expensive listening equipment burst with sparks under the violent shaking, crackling loudly as though announcing its own destruction.
Meanwhile, the sea that had been calm as a mirror was completely thrown into chaos.
Towering waves rose like furious giants swinging their massive arms, slamming madly against the hull.
The waves surged so high they almost swallowed the entire ship.
Seawater poured continuously into the cabins, crashing against all kinds of equipment and producing dull, chaotic roars.
After what felt like a long darkness, everyone's vision finally began to clear.
But the sight that entered their eyes made every single one of them freeze in place, as if time had truly stopped at that moment.
The lush, living island that had once stood there was gone.
In its place was an enormous abyss, still boiling and churning violently.
The abyss looked like a prehistoric beast with its bloody maw wide open, giving off an aura that chilled people to the bone.
Seawater was pouring madly into that bottomless pit, stirring up layers of white foam and mist.
The mist quickly rose and spread, forming a spectacular scene that blotted out the sky.
The air was filled with the sharp smell of ozone, the mark left behind by the release of terrifying energy. It stabbed at everyone's nose and lungs.
At the same time, fine ash drifted down like black snow, falling onto people's shoulders and faces, bringing a cold and hopeless feeling with it.
"The… the island…"
A young agent's legs went weak, and he collapsed onto the floor, his face as pale as paper.
A warm, wet stain had already spread across the crotch of his pants, the natural reaction of a body completely ruled by terror.
His lips trembled as he spoke in broken words.
"It was… vaporized…"
His eyes were filled with shock, fear, and disbelief, as if he had just witnessed a nightmare from hell with his own eyes.
The commander's hand shook violently as he held onto the railing. His forehead was covered in beads of sweat that rolled down his cheeks.
His gaze remained fixed on the abyss that was still churning with molten rock, and his voice was hoarse like an old bellows.
"This isn't war… This is extinction…"
His heart was filled with endless regret and despair.
He now realized that the enemy before them had far exceeded every previous estimate.
Suddenly, he turned sharply, his eyes flashing with urgency and resolve as he roared at the communications officer,
"Send an additional emergency report! Pluton's power… far exceeds expectations!"
His voice echoed through the entire cabin, every word striking everyone's heart like a heavy hammer.
Hearing this, all the agents' faces instantly turned as pale as frost.
They looked at one another and saw the same fear and helplessness in each other's eyes.
Amid the falling ash, the CP0 fleet began to retreat in panic.
Their figures looked so frantic and tiny, like a swarm of ants that had witnessed the end of the world descending, desperately struggling to escape before endless terror.
...
The mighty aftershock released by Pluton's main cannon still refused to fade.
That vast energy seemed almost alive, rolling and surging wildly across the sea, boiling up a sky full of white fog.
The fog was so thick it resembled a heavy curtain, covering the entire sea and turning everything around them hazy and mysterious.
Amid that atmosphere filled with smoke and mystery, four figures who could be called overlords of the sea stood on the deck.
Yet at this moment, each of them showed a completely different reaction, like four entirely different scenes.
"Gurararara!"
A bold, heroic laugh suddenly rang out, shaking heaven and earth like rolling thunder.