After the great chaos of the world passed, a tidal wave surged over the once-calm deep sea.
The war between the Ignis Empire and the Metallum Empire ended with the battle between the Azure Dragon Nemorensis and the White Dragon Aureus.
Nemorensis sacrificed his own body to bring down Aureus.
And when Aureus vanished, the atmosphere of the battlefield reversed in an instant.
Ignis’s army managed to drive back the remaining soldiers of Metallum with their blazing flames.
Meanwhile, the skies over the Aqua Empire were clear.
The waves gently embraced the foot of the fortress, and the currents were as orderly as a group dance performed by dozens of dancers.
Aqua’s fortress had finally completed its deepening to the final stage.
The fortress that rose above the surface of the water also extended far beneath it, and walls of crystal formed from condensed water surrounded the fortress in layer upon layer.
The fortress’s outer walls shone with their distinctive blue aquatic light more brilliantly than ever, and unlike before, they maintained their form with far greater solidity.
In addition, Aqua’s fortress refined the currents of the deep sea and sent a stable order flowing through the entire ocean.
Centered around the Blue Cradle Nereis, transparent pillars formed from gathered seawater circulated here and there.
“Now… the sea is entirely ours.”
With a quiet smile, Nereia looked down upon her sea from the fortress.
Beside her, Naus nodded.
“The currents are alive. They are incomparably more precise and more flexible than before. Our tactical operations will rise to another level as well.”
The citizens of the Aqua Empire also sensed the change.
The long-standing anxiety and gloom had disappeared, and playfulness and vitality filled the entire empire.
The citizens still enjoyed riding the waves, and now they no longer even had to worry about losing their way atop them.
That was because Aqua’s waves no longer flowed in disorder.
“All right, here I go…!”
One citizen climbed onto an approaching wave and hurled himself far into the distance with all his might.
Swaaaaah…
“Whoa!”
Countless droplets scattered from the wave in every direction, drenching the nearby citizens.
“I’m not the only one thinking this, right? It feels like the waves have gotten incredibly strong.”
At one citizen’s words, another answered.
“No, they definitely have. That means our power in the world has grown just as much.”
Another citizen nodded as well.
“With this much power, we could collapse earth and carve away rock.”
The first citizen asked again.
“Then we should be able to call forth a dragon too, right? But what happened to the dragon that appeared in Silva?”
The citizens looked at one another.
“Well…? I definitely heard the news that a dragon had appeared in Silva.”
“I think I heard it went toward Terra…? Or was that wrong?”
One citizen looked toward Silva, which lay to the east, and said,
“We’ll find out soon enough. In any case, the important thing is that we can have a dragon now too.”
The sea of order foretold a stable future for Aqua.
Next came the deepening of the barracks.
Nereia instructed Sian to deepen the barracks to their final stage.
“The time has finally come. Once the barracks are deepened, our god will soon appear before us.”
At her words, Sian answered confidently.
“Of course. I am already prepared, Your Majesty. We have enough wave cores as well. I will begin at once.”
Before long, the Aqua Empire’s Wave Barracks completed their deepening to the final stage.
The final-stage barracks shone dazzlingly, like a gigantic pearl floating upon the sea.
“Ah, this place is…?”
Naus said as he looked at one part of the barracks.
A new space existed along the side of the existing barracks.
There, multiple layers of dark, transparent walls formed a large circle, and within them, the surface of the water surprisingly rippled calmly.
Naus asked,
“Is it a place isolated from the waves outside?”
Sian answered him.
“As far as the surface is concerned, yes. But not beneath the surface. Down below, the currents are still maintained. And that is the very place where the being we have long awaited will awaken.”
Nereia nodded quietly.
“You mean the being who will protect our sea will appear within there.”
“Yes, that is correct. It will not be long before our own dragon is summoned.”
At that moment, Levian approached them.
He bowed his head before Nereia.
“Your Majesty, there is news from outside. They say Silva’s dragon, Nemorensis, has fallen.”
Nereia’s eyes widened as she looked at him.
“What do you mean? It has not even been long since Silva summoned their dragon.”
“Th-that is true. But it seems that as soon as it was summoned, it immediately threw itself into war. Unexpectedly, that war was the war between Metallum and Ignis. And Silva’s dragon intervened in it.”
Naus and Sian, and even Nereia, could not hide their bewilderment.
“I heard that Metallum had also summoned a dragon. But if Silva’s dragon joined that war, was it to keep Metallum’s dragon in check?”
“Yes… that is correct. They say it faced Metallum’s White Dragon Aureus and ultimately died in battle.”
Naus frowned.
“What exactly was the purpose of that dragon of Silva? Did it simply notice the existence of Metallum’s dragon and go to fight it? Or could it be… that it went to support Ignis, which was in danger…?”
Levian shook his head.
“How could we dare to fathom the intentions of a dragon? What we must be careful about here is that this situation was by no means intended by Silva. Silva merely summoned the dragon. From that point on, it was purely the dragon’s own will, so even if Silva’s dragon saved Ignis, we cannot hold Silva accountable for it.”
Sian carefully added a word.
“I think so as well. Even now, Silva is providing us with enough life cores. I believe their sincerity is not false.”
Nereia looked out at the sea with her mouth closed.
Her expression held a mixture of unease, regret, and sorrow.
The ones most troubled by the unexpected actions of Silva’s Azure Dragon Nemorensis would be the people of Silva themselves.
On top of that, Nemorensis, whom they had expected to protect the forest, had fought Metallum for the sake of the Ignis Empire and then fallen not long after. It felt as wasteful as if it had happened to them.
From somewhere, a great wave was rolling in.
The wave, seemingly coming from the fortress, struck the barracks.
Nereia’s voice rang out calmly.
“I am not certain how I should respond toward Silva. If our relationship has not yet loosened, then we may offer them words of consolation. Even if they have maintained ties with Ignis without our knowledge, I do not think their relationship would be one in which they would fight for Ignis to the point of sacrificing their own dragon…”
She looked at the wave that had reached the barracks and continued.
“For now, let us summon our dragon as well. We have no intention of fighting anyone immediately, but I wish to entrust our next decision to our dragon. Let us see where our dragon will head in this situation.”
With those words from Nereia, they headed toward the barracks.
The time was now drawing near for the dragon of the Aqua Empire to descend.
A gate to the deep sea, dark as night, opened.
The waterway at the center of the barracks revolved, creating some kind of current within.
The current twisted in reverse, and the seawater vibrated as if boiling.
Levian said,
“It seems to be going well. The sea is shaking.”
Aqua’s soldiers and citizens alike gathered one by one near the barracks.
Levian clasped both hands before him and murmured,
“Following the waves of the abyss, you have finally come.”
Everyone gathered around the barracks held their breath.
Soon, a change in the current occurred beneath the barracks.
The sea within the barracks flowed along the circular walls, and before long, it began to rotate.
It had now become a whirlpool.
Ssssss…
Chwaaaaaah…
The waves inside the barracks gradually grew fiercer, and droplets of water shot up into the sky.
It felt as though some tremendous force was surging up from the depths of the sea.
In that instant, a dark shadow began to flicker within the seawater.
It was riding the whirlpool beneath the surface, rising toward the water.
What had seemed small at first grew larger and larger the closer it came to the surface.
And at last, it struck the surface of the water inside the barracks.
Chwaaaaaah!!
Swaaaaah…!
At the same time that a gigantic being rose from within the barracks, an enormous amount of water poured out in every direction.
“Ooooooh!”
“Waaaaaah!!”
The citizens fell onto the surface of the water at the suddenly violent waves.
Even so, they could not take their eyes off that being.
“At last, that being has come before us.”
Levian spoke in a low voice.
The scales of the dragon summoned by Aqua were darker than the night sky.
That form of deep, dark blue, made of condensed crystals of water, was so solid that one could tell at a glance it was as hard as rock.
“Kuaaaaa…”
The dragon let out a monstrous cry and stepped out of the barracks.
It was not even affected by the flow of the waves.
Rather, it was controlling the currents.
Nereia moved and stood before the dragon.
She looked up at the dragon, and the dragon, so dark it appeared black, looked down at Nereia.
“Your name is the Black Dragon, Marinus.”
Nereia and Marinus looked into each other’s eyes.
There was a bottomless depth in Marinus’s pupils, and the breath that poured from its mouth was intense enough to solidify the sea.
Its very existence alone made the entire empire fall silent.
Nereia spoke to Marinus.
“It is an honor to meet you. All of us have been waiting for you. We have been through many things. We joined hands with Silva, but Terra sought to interfere with our relationship, and Ignis is also scheming something in that distant place. And… you must already know well what happened recently. That is why I wish to ask.”
“Haaaa…”
Marinus once again exhaled a cold breath.
Nereia continued.
“If it were you, where would you go now? If there is something you must do in this world, what is it?”
Her question rang out as though she were asking the sea itself.
Marinus did not answer with sound.
Instead, it raised its head and looked at the sky.
It seemed Marinus would first read the world, then move calmly.
“Kuaaaa…”
After a moment, Marinus turned its head.
The direction it looked toward was the Silva Empire to the east.
“Haaaa…”
Splash, splash, splash…
Marinus began to walk, setting its feet upon the surface of the water.
The waves of the deep sea also swelled behind Marinus as they followed.
Watching its back, Nereia said,
“Marinus is heading toward the border between us and Silva. There will be no battle, so we will move with a small force.”
Nereia, her retainers, and a few Tidal Warriors moved together with Marinus.
Soon, Silva would receive Aqua’s Black Dragon.