The waters of Atlantis's northern docks had finally calmed after days of relentless war. Yet this silence felt less like peace and more like the omen of an approaching storm.
The submarine Prince Nereus had assigned to them gleamed beneath the dim lights of the ocean floor like a massive silver leviathan. A masterpiece of Siren engineering, it was their only ticket to the surface, to the outer world filled with dangers they had never known. Preparations were complete. Bianca had secured the crates in the cargo hold, Kai had charted a route on the map, and Lypin, after a deep meditation to suppress the dark cosmic parasite within her, had quietly taken her place in the corner of the vessel.
Only minutes remained before the hatches would close.
Wearing his new battle-scarred outfit and carrying his scythe on his back, Hope stood directly in front of the submarine's entrance ramp. His eyes were locked onto the massive figure walking toward them from the end of the pier with heavy steps.
Deniz approached the ramp with his repaired gauntlets and a massive bag slung over his shoulder. The usual indifferent gladiator expression rested on his face. He looked as relaxed as if Hope had not told him just hours earlier to stay behind.
The moment Deniz stepped onto the ramp, Hope did not move even a millimeter. There was not a trace of emotion in his emerald green eyes. Only an impenetrable wall.
"Drop your belongings," Hope said, his voice as cold as the water at the bottom of the ocean. "You're not coming."
Deniz paused. He adjusted the strap of his bag and let out a deep sigh. The expression of an adult whose patience had run thin with a troublesome child appeared on his face.
"Stop joking around, Hope," Deniz said in a tired tone. "We don't have time. We don't know what's waiting for us up there."
Hope's posture did not change. Though there was no wind, the water around him began to ripple, his mana spreading like a thin, invisible threat.
"I'm not joking," Hope said, slicing the words like razors. "You've been working behind our backs. And I'm sure there's more than just that secret agreement with the Prince. King Khronos sent you with me for that reason, didn't he? To act as an agent."
The words hung in the air above the ramp.
Inside the vessel, Kai and Bianca froze. Lypin slowly opened her eyes. Everyone held their breath.
For several seconds, Deniz stared at Hope's face. Then his shoulders shook as he began to laugh. It wasn't fake laughter. It was genuine, deep, echoing amusement.
"You really are a smart kid," Deniz said, trying to suppress his laughter. His mask had completely fallen. The cheerful, protective older-brother figure was gone. In his place stood a cold, calculated, rational soldier. "But Hope, whether you want me or not doesn't matter to me in the slightest. By the King's order, I will be with you throughout this journey—"
"Explain what you've done!" Hope roared, cutting him off mercilessly.
Deniz crossed his arms over his massive chest and looked down at Hope, using their height difference deliberately. A condescending gleam shone in his eyes.
"Why should I?" Deniz said with a shrug. "Are you in a position to give me orders?"
In that moment, the last trace of innocence, the last expression of a heroic child vanished from Hope's face. In its place came the grave seriousness and pure threat of an executioner who reaped souls with his scythe and wrote the rules of death and the system himself.
The green flames in his pupils flared violently outward. The spiritual pressure of the water around him intensified. For that moment, Hope's aura pressed down on Deniz's shoulders with a suffocating weight heavier than even Ignis's flames.
"I command you to speak," Hope said. His voice was not raised, but whispered. Yet each syllable hammered into Deniz's mind like a nail. "Depending on what you say… my opinion about whether you come with us… may change."
For a brief instant, Deniz flinched beneath that overwhelming aura. He felt in his bones that the boy before him was no longer the rookie from the Arena. He was, in every sense of the word, the Architect.
The mocking expression slowly faded from Deniz's face, replaced by a cold smile.
"Very well, CAPTAIN," Deniz said, deliberately emphasizing the word with biting sarcasm. "As you wish. Let me start with what you want to hear: everything that has happened since the moment I met you was part of King Khronos's plan."
The metal tool in Lypin's hand clattered loudly to the floor inside the ship. But Deniz continued, never taking his eyes off Hope.
"He wanted me to get along with you," Deniz went on casually. "He ordered me to protect you, to approach you like an older brother. Because he was going to steer you. We were going to instill trust in you and turn you into the kingdom's loyal dog. But that cursed attack on the Arena and everything that followed changed things. All the plans were overturned."
Deniz stepped forward and leaned toward Hope.
"He told me to accompany you on this journey too. Do you know why? Because he couldn't send you into the outside world alone as an Architect. Whether you realize it or not, you are a one-of-a-kind asset. A very powerful weapon. Letting you roam freely outside would be a massive risk for the kingdom. Other kingdoms, other factions could steal you and use you for their own gain. My job was to hold the leash."
"In short…"
From the top of the ramp, Kai's voice rang out as he gripped his daggers tightly in fury, eyes narrowed with hatred.
"…you're a lying bastard."
Deniz slowly turned his head toward Kai. There was not the slightest hint of regret in his eyes. Only pure disdain.
"Bold words for an orphaned, thieving fox," Deniz spat.
Kai growled and bared his teeth, about to lunge forward, but Bianca grabbed his arm firmly and stopped him.
Hope dug his nails into his palms, trying to control his anger. He kept his eyes fixed on Deniz.
"Continue," Hope said through clenched teeth.
Deniz spread his hands indifferently.
"There's nothing else to tell. Most of what happened up until now was normal. I reported everything to the King. Every step you took, how your system functioned. The incidents we faced along the way were perfectly ordinary. Obstacles necessary for your progression."
Deniz smiled with a contemptuous sound.
"In many battles, I deliberately held back so you could see yourself as the hero. That way you were always the one who saved the day. Each time, you felt like you were growing, saving everyone. I allowed your ego to inflate so you would be easier to control."
Hope's breathing grew heavier. All those struggles, those life-and-death fights… had they been nothing more than a child's game under this man's supervision?
"The Eraser disaster in Greenhollow…" Deniz lowered his voice slightly. A deadly silence fell over the air. "…and Yaat's death were, in a way, planned."
Hope's heart stopped for a second.
The world darkened around him. In his mind, Yaat's broken body on the ship deck resurfaced. The final hopeless expression on his face.
"What…" Hope whispered.
"I contacted Prince Nereus," Deniz continued casually, as though discussing an ordinary business arrangement. "So that he would take us in and rescue us during the Eraser attack. But Yaat…" Deniz grimaced. "Yaat was cursed. He kept bringing disaster. He had to die. He was nothing but a burden to the team."
Deniz shrugged.
"So after Yaat died, Prince Nereus pulled us into Atlantis. Here, you would be under absolute control and receive safe training for a while, and I could securely coordinate future plans with King Khronos. I killed two birds with one stone."
Deniz smiled mercilessly.
"Actually… if we count Yaat's unnecessary death, we can say three birds with one stone."
In that instant, every analytical wall in Hope's mind shattered.
[SYSTEM WARNING: CRITICAL EMOTIONAL FLUCTUATION]
Hope's hands were engulfed in pitch-black green, blazing flames within seconds. The water in the air began to boil instantly. Hope swung his right hand to the side, and his scythe appeared in his grasp with a scream that tore through the air.
Green flames dripped from the long, curved blade of the scythe, melting the ramp immediately. When Hope slowly lifted his head, there was no child or hero in his expression. Only an executioner programmed for annihilation.
"You…" Hope roared. Even his breathing made the ramp tremble. "How dare you speak of Yaat like that! Is his life, are people's lives really that worthless to you?!"
Deniz did not step back against this lethal power. He did not even clench his fists. He simply stood there… and suddenly burst into laughter.
Hope hesitated. This was not the laughter of a madman. It was the triumphant laughter of someone who had uncovered the deepest secret of the person before him.
"They're worthless to me, yes!" Deniz shouted, spreading his arms wide. "But what about you? Aren't they worthless to you too, little Architect?!"
Hope tightened his grip on the scythe. "What nonsense are you talking about?"
"When you saw what happened to Mina in Greenhollow…" Deniz said, staring directly into Hope's eyes, into the darkest corner of his soul. "…when that girl's life was ruined, why weren't you as angry as you are now? You didn't even care that much. Why didn't you burst into flames and seek revenge for her?! What happened, Architect? Why do you suddenly act like such a good person when it comes to Yaat?!"
Hope's mind froze for a moment. Mina… Yes, he had tried to understand her. He had punished those responsible. But he had not felt this uncontrollable, destructive rage.
"Because…" Hope shouted, trying to suppress the turmoil within him. "…because Yaat was my friend!"
Deniz shook his head and laughed even louder. A merciless, tearing laugh.
"No! No, no, no!" Deniz said, pointing a finger at Hope. "That's not the problem. Have you truly convinced yourself that you're one of them? That you're really HUMAN?"
Deniz stepped closer. Their height difference resurfaced.
"You're not upset because your friend died, Hope," Deniz said, driving each word like a poisoned arrow. "You're upset because something you owned was taken from you! He was a valuable possession to you! An interesting member of your party! You liked being able to control his power! You lost him. You're angry because you weren't strong enough to save him! You're angry because you saw your own inadequacy!"
The green flames in Hope's eyes trembled. His grip on the scythe loosened involuntarily.
Deniz had found his weakest point: Hope's cursed arrogance. That god complex that believed he could control everything.
"Architect…" Deniz whispered, bringing his face close to Hope's. "…you're angry because you're WEAK!"
Hope froze at those words. The fury inside him gave way to a freezing confrontation. Was Deniz right? Was Yaat's death hurting him because he had lost a friend… or because his ego had been wounded?
Taking advantage of Hope's paralysis, Deniz adjusted his bag and walked past him, deliberately bumping his shoulder. His boots stepped onto the metal floor of the submarine.
Before entering fully, Deniz stopped and looked back over his shoulder at Hope.
"You're angry because you're too weak to stop me from boarding this submarine," Deniz said, his voice now flat and emotionless. "You're angry because you weren't smart enough to realize I was an agent sooner. Everyone told you that you were special, chosen… but now, in the outside world, you're nothing special. You're just a pawn."
As Deniz stepped through the submarine's doorway, he delivered the final crushing sentence:
"YOU JUST CAN'T ACCEPT THAT YOU'RE WEAK!"
As the heavy metal hatch closed over this broken team at the bottom of the ocean, those words echoed in Hope's mind.