The Azure Ghost roared like a wounded beast as its thrusters ignited with a blinding blue flame. Instead of fleeing from the Colossal Sand-Lurk, Kaito did the unthinkable—he steered the ship directly into the swirling vortex of the monster's open maw. Inside the cabin, alarms were screaming, and the "Ghost-Steel" plating was groaning under the immense gravitational pull.
"Kaito! Are you insane?" Silas's voice seemed to echo in his mind, but Kaito wasn't listening. His eyes were fixed on the glowing core of the creature, deep within its throat.
The Sand-Lurk's mouth was like a graveyard of its own. Rusted anchors, bones of prehistoric sea creatures, and jagged rocks swirled in the vacuum. As the Azure Ghost crossed the threshold of the monster's teeth, Kaito grabbed the hilt of his father's dagger. The metal felt hot, pulsing with the rhythmic beat of the Tide-Walker's legacy.
"You want to eat my magic?" Kaito shouted, his voice cracking with intensity. "Then let's see if you can digest the power of the Abyssal Gate!"
He didn't just fire the ship's weapons. He channeled his own life force through the ship's bioluminescent circuits. The Azure Ghost began to glow with an ethereal, white light. This wasn't just water magic; it was Pressure Manipulation.
Kaito slammed his palm onto the ship's main console. Outside, the water pressure inside the Sand-Lurk's stomach began to increase exponentially. One atmosphere... ten... a hundred... a thousand! The monster's internal organs began to collapse under the weight of the very ocean it lived in.
The Sand-Lurk realized its mistake too late. It tried to spit the ship out, but Kaito had already locked the mechanical arms onto its inner jaw. With a final, desperate surge of magic, Kaito unleashed a Tidal Burst.
BOOM!
The explosion wasn't made of fire, but of pure, high-velocity water. It ripped through the Sand-Lurk's thick hide from the inside out. The massive creature shuddered, its green eyes flickering and dying as it began to sink toward the bottom of the trench.
Kaito, gasping for air and drenched in sweat, watched as the monster's remains drifted away. But he didn't have time to celebrate. The explosion had pushed the Azure Ghost deeper than ever before. He looked at the depth gauge: 10,000 Meters. He was no longer in the Dead Zone. He had entered the Silent Abyss—the final layer before the Abyssal Gate. And there, floating in the center of the dark trench, was a massive, ancient structure that looked like a temple made of black coral.
The emergency signal from his father's capsule was coming from inside that temple. But as Kaito approached, he saw something that made his blood run cold. Two more ships were already docked at the temple. Modern ships. Armed with heavy cannons and flying the flag of the Iron-Empire.
"They're here too," Kaito whispered, his grip tightening on the controls. "And they're not here to rescue anyone."