The Pacific Ocean roared like a living creature.
Waves as tall as buildings slammed into the research vessel without mercy. The steel hull groaned violently. Emergency alarms screamed through every corridor. Red lights flashed like the heartbeat of something on the verge of death.
WHOOMMMMM!
The ship was lifted—
then slammed brutally back into the trough between the waves.
Water burst across the upper deck.
The crew screamed.
Smoke poured from the main engines.
Outside the storm—
two colossal shadows continued their battle beneath the fractured sky.
Leviathan Thalassa surged from the ocean like a living blue spear.
Its enormous body tore through the waves before slamming into Cosmic Leviadon in midair.
BOOOOOOOOM!
An explosion of water and light shook the horizon.
But Cosmic Leviadon retaliated with an obsidian claw that raked across Leviathan's neck.
Blue scales shattered.
Glowing blood fell into the ocean.
Arga, standing near the railing, flinched at the sight.
Leviathan was wounded again.
He tried to step forward—
but his knee immediately gave out.
THUD!
Arga's chest burned from the inside.
His breathing came in short, ragged gasps.
His vision began to shake.
His body still hadn't recovered from the Sahara.
And now—
the world was asking even more of him.
Sinta immediately caught his shoulder.
"Don't move!"
Arga gritted his teeth.
"We don't have time…"
"If you die, we'll have even less time!" Sinta snapped.
For a moment, Arga fell silent.
Bimo ran toward a crew member who had been swept across the deck by a wave.
"Grab my hand!"
He pulled the technician back onto the deck just before the man's body slipped overboard.
Dika kicked the jammed engine panel.
"Come on!"
BANG!
The backup generator roared to life.
Some of the lights flickered back on.
Farhan sat on the floor, hugging his half-drowned laptop.
"Why does every apocalypse have to come after my laptop…?"
Lila was already at the radar console.
Her fingers moved rapidly across the controls.
"Sonar is back!"
Rani and two crew members struggled to shut the steel door to the engine room.
"Lock it from the inside!"
Kai stood at the front of the deck.
His eyes were fixed on the sky.
A faint golden glow burned in his eyes.
And for the first time since they had known him—
there was fear on his face.
"He's coming."
Everyone looked up.
The storm clouds split apart.
A massive crimson light pierced through the atmosphere.
Larger than the first meteor.
Slower.
Heavier.
As if even the sky itself was struggling to hold it.
Farhan stared at the radar, his face blank.
"The system can't calculate its size…"
Lila whispered,
"It's… too big."
The meteor plunged into the ocean to the east.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
The Pacific exploded.
A wall of water rose like a mountain born from the sea.
The shockwave slammed into the ship from the side.
The main windows shattered.
The deck tilted violently.
Everyone was thrown off their feet.
Bimo was dragged several meters across the deck.
Dika caught his leg just before he went over the broken railing.
"Okay!" Bimo screamed, completely pale.
"I officially hate water in every possible form!"
The rain of seawater came crashing back down.
But in the middle of the enormous crater—
something moved.
Not one body.
Not two wings.
But dozens of long shadows crawling beneath the water.
Then a tentacle emerged.
Black.
As wide as a building.
Covered in glowing crimson crystal spikes that seemed to burn from within.
Then a second.
A third.
A tenth.
The surface of the ocean split apart.
The creature slowly rose from depths that even light had never touched.
Its central body resembled a gigantic dark heart.
Its skin was black as the void itself.
Crimson cracks glowed along its cosmic flesh.
And in the center of its body—
eight red eyes opened simultaneously.
The ocean suddenly fell silent.
The ship's sonar died completely.
Every screen went black.
Farhan whispered, trembling,
"No…"
Kai answered in a low voice.
"Void Kraken."
The creature did not roar.
It simply stared.
And that gaze felt like thousands of meters of ocean pressing down on everyone's chest.
One of the crew members dropped to his knees, silently crying.
Rani took a step backward.
"I… can't breathe…"
Kai raised his hand.
Golden light spread across the deck, shielding them.
The pressure eased slightly.
"Don't look into its eyes for too long!"
Out in the ocean—
Leviathan stopped fighting.
The Ocean Guardian turned toward the Void Kraken.
Its massive body tensed.
Then—
it took one step backward.
Bimo stared at it, his eyes wide.
"Leviathan…"
His voice dropped to a whisper.
"…is it afraid?"
Cosmic Leviadon roared triumphantly from the sky.
Now two predators surrounded the ocean.
The Void Kraken raised its tentacles.
But it didn't attack Leviathan.
It didn't attack the ship.
Instead, its massive tentacles plunged into the ocean floor.
DOOOOM!
The entire Pacific trembled.
Farhan managed to bring up a small emergency display.
His eyes widened.
"It's digging!"
Lila turned sharply.
"Where?!"
Farhan pointed at the energy map.
"Straight toward the Ocean Core!"
Sinta cursed under her breath.
"If it gets there first—"
"The ocean's energy will be consumed," Kai finished.
"And the world's currents could die."
Everyone fell silent.
Arga forced himself back onto his feet.
His body trembled.
Blood dripped from the corner of his mouth.
The MBG Lunchbox in his hand shook violently.
Twenty-six glowing grains spun wildly inside it.
A new light began forming among them.
The twenty-seventh grain.
But its light was unstable.
As if it had been forced into existence too soon.
Kai looked at Arga.
"If you force it now, your body could break."
Arga gave a weak smile.
"If I don't…"
He looked toward the raging ocean.
"…the world will break instead."
He stepped toward the edge of the ship.
The storm wind slammed into his face.
Leviathan continued staring into the depths.
Afraid.
Uncertain.
Arga raised the MBG Lunchbox.
Golden light began to glow—
then Arga suddenly coughed up blood.
He nearly collapsed.
Bimo and Sinta caught him from behind.
"You don't have to do this alone!" Bimo shouted.
For the first time, Arga turned toward them.
Toward his friends.
Toward the people who had always been willing to get hurt alongside him.
Then he slowly nodded.
"Then…"
He tightened his grip on the Lunchbox.
"…together."
Sinta raised her own hand.
Bimo did the same.
Dika.
Rani.
Lila.
Farhan, still clutching his damaged laptop with one hand.
Kai raised his palm.
Golden light flooded across the deck.
The ocean trembled.
But not because of the storm.
Because something beneath them—
was answering the call.
BOOM.
The entire ocean pulsed.
BOOM.
The water around the ship began glowing deep blue.
BOOM.
The Void Kraken's tentacles suddenly stopped moving.
Its eight red eyes turned downward.
And beneath the ocean—
a light appeared.
A light far greater than Leviathan.
Far older.
Far deeper.
Farhan whispered, his voice breaking,
"There's… something beneath the Core…"
A colossal crack opened across the ocean floor.
From within the ancient darkness—
a pair of golden eyes slowly opened.
Even the Void Kraken recoiled.
Leviathan lowered its head.
And the entire Pacific Ocean held its breath.