At this very mont of despair, the surface of the sea suddenly changed. A pale blue column of water abruptly shot straight into the sky, a powerful vortex piercing through the cloud layer, forcing the dark clouds to give way to a hole of light like a skylight.
The gigantic vortex of light almost instantly drew everyone’s attention. Even as the great flood continued to surge closer, they could not help but stare at this scene in a daze.
The violent vortex gathered together, yet it did not imdiately dissipate. Instead, it seed to transform into enormous curtains of water. A single figure hovered at its very center.
His golden hair had now turned blue, with the tips a deep azure. A few strands at the back grew longer, carrying an intense blue hue as they curled and writhed in the wind.
His ears had transford into those of a rfolk, elongated, with mbranes stretched between the bone structure, and precious gems embedded within that shimred endlessly under the sunlight.
A silk scarf gleaming with the colors of shimr weave draped over his shoulders and arms, fluttering faintly in the wind. From his arms down to his legs grew a layer of pale blue scales, with only the area from his upper abdon to his chest retaining a trace of the wan, pale tone of human skin.
Along the sides of his arms and legs sprouted large fins, their fin bones razor sharp and pointing straight upward. The bony fins on his legs carried a faint red tint at their tips. Around his waist was armor pieced together from countless fin bones, with white fabric combined with shimr weave hanging down. Around his neck was a brilliant gemstone necklace, its large pendant engraved with arrays no one could possibly decipher.
Small scales extended from his neck up onto part of his face.
At this mont, his eyes were frad by long, pale white lashes. The fierce wind caused his bangs to sway, yet it could not make the halo ford of rhombus-shaped blue gemstones above his head shift even slightly.
Behind his back hovered a ring of light larger than his entire body, as if it were the very gate through which he had erged.
Right then, he suddenly opened his eyes wide. His golden eyes blazed brilliantly as he clasped his hands before him. A trident with massive prongs appeared, its tip pointing straight down toward the raging sea below.
"Boom! Crash!"
A thunderous explosion resounded. The roiling dark clouds around it drew down streaks of lightning, while the energy ignored everything else, converging at the tip of the trident. Below, the sea began to spin, forming a colossal whirlpool with a radius of over fifty ters. The center of the vortex nearly turned into a void that allowed nothing to intrude.
The Aetherium Tower on the seabed, already listing and unstable, was dragged back onto its axis by this imnse maelstrom, spinning endlessly once more.
The columns of water that had already surged upward now tore through the cloud layer even further, rushing straight toward the land at an unimaginable speed, completely blotting out the distant light.
At this mont, tears were the most aningless thing of all. Death was already right before them.
"O god of water and life, heed the command of your master..."
At the sa ti, beneath the tip of the trident, a magic circle spread out, so vast that it obscured the entire silhouette of the vortex. Imdiately after, Silvanus raised the trident high.
"Glacial Calamity!"
The trident ca down, piercing straight through the magic circle. Instantly, a colossal phantom took shape, drowning the entire sea. The imnse energy drove the waves even higher, blotting out the sky and burying the earth.
But destiny had already been written. They would never be allowed to touch the land.
"Crash! Boom!"
The gigantic phantom carried irresistible power as it slamd Aetherium deep into the sea. From that point, energy erupted violently. Almost in the blink of an eye, with the water vortex as its center, ice spread outward at terrifying speed, growing without pause, like an invincible invading force.
Towering waves pierced the heavens, roiling whirlpools surged upward, and in an instant, all of them were frozen solid. The energy tore through the sky. The dark clouds let out a low, resentful rumble before finally being ripped apart. The aftershocks made the air itself seem torn asunder, bringing with them violent gales.
Sunlight poured down from above, illuminating faces frozen in disbelief at life being granted when death had been so close, at the magnificent scene before their eyes.
The colossal frozen waves glimred briefly under the light. Then, all at once, the sound of shattering water rang out.
"Clang!"
Like the simultaneous cracking of glass that made one’s eardrums ache, the water columns that had reached the heavens and were now frozen suddenly disintegrated into countless tiny particles of ice, dissolving into the air and drifting with the wind.
In an instant, within the sight of ordinary people, pillars of light appeared, shimring fantastically like the legendary shimr weave.
They were ice particles reflecting the sunlight, seemingly invisible, yet once illuminated, they transford into a scene like a garden of paradise.
The pillars of light continued to stretch all the way to the open sea, spreading out like an endless shimring cloth. Now, the waves undulated gently, the sea taking on a mild blue hue. This second ho that had nurtured countless lives was once more gentle and forgiving, as if the towering waves that had nearly swallowed everything had never existed.
An eerie stillness settled in, so profound that only the wind and the sea could be heard, along with two strange sounds from the ice dust, like wind passing over distant stone, or the faint crackle of porcelain.
Noisy echoes rose from the distant mountains. Those who had been saved by a hair’s breadth nearly broke down as they cried, yet this ti, their tears were no longer born of despair.
They cried because their lives continued, because they had once stood on the brink of death. They knelt upon the ground, giving thanks to the hero who had never clearly appeared before them.
The clamor echoed from afar, but Nana heard only the rhythmic wash of the waves against the shore.
Startled, she opened her eyes wide. Her body ached so badly she could barely move.
Instinctively, she clenched her fist and discovered that Nicole was still beside her, while the strange girl had vanished at so unknown point.
Just then, the gentle sound of the sea seed to break. Nana lifted her gaze on instinct and saw a figure slowly returning from the ocean.
He looked even more battered than all of them, yet as if sensing Nana’s gaze, he suddenly smiled faintly, his eyes narrowing, the corners of them seeming to spill fragnts of light.
Perhaps it was because the shimring pillars of light from the ice dust were still glowing and glittering, or because the sea reflected that light, like countless stars drifting upon its surface. All of it wrapped around him, making his smile—no, even his entire being—seem to shine, as though he had rged with the light. This detestable man had just achieved his ideal.
How detestable, Nana thought to herself, yet her eyes could not help but close as she lowered her head, afraid of being burned by the light, or of letting it reveal emotions in her eyes that should not be there.
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