Alvian raised his own hand inside the cockpit. The Titan mimicked the movement instantly.

"You brought an army," Alvian's voice was amplified by the Titan, sounding like the grinding of glaciers. "I brought a mountain."

Kulit stared up at the monstrosity. Fear flickered in his shark-like eyes, but he was a Warlord. He didn't run.

"KILL IT!" Kulit screamed. "IT'S JUST ICE! SHATTER IT!"

The knights rallied. They charged the Titan, firing harpoons and water blasts.

"TING. TING. TING."

The attacks bounced off the Titan's legs harmlessly. The ice was too dense. It was reinforced by Alvian's 240 Physique.

"My turn," Alvian whispered.

He swept his arm horizontally.

The Titan swept its massive arm. The movement created a displacement wave so powerful it threw hundreds of knights backward. The arm connected with the flank of the army.

"SMASH!"

Fifty knights were vaporized on impact. The force of the blow turned the water into a shockwave that pulverized coral and bone alike.

[-45,000!]

[-45,000!]

[-45,000!]

Damage numbers filled Alvian's vision like a waterfall.

"Scattered," Alvian noted. "Inefficient."

He looked at his other hand.

"Gravity Well."

The Titan raised its left hand. A sphere of black void energy formed in its palm, then shot out into the center of the scattering army.

"VWOOOM!"

A singularity opened. The water rushed in. The knights screamed as they were dragged backward, their mounts fighting uselessly against the pull. They were compressed into a tight, struggling ball of metal and flesh.

"Deep Freeze."

The Titan clapped its hands together around the gravity well.

"BOOM!"

A flash of white light illuminated the trench. The ball of knights was instantly flash-frozen into a solid moon of ice, trapping two hundred elites inside.

Alvian let the ice moon float away, sinking toward the bottom.

"Monster..." Kulit whispered, watching half his army disappear in ten seconds.

Alvian turned the Titan's head toward the Warlord.

"Your turn, Kulit."

Kulit roared, a sound of pure, desperate rage.

"I AM THE TIDEBREAKER!"

His trident glowed with blinding blue light. He channeled every ounce of his mana into his mount. The armored seahorse shot forward like a torpedo, aiming not for the Titan's legs, but for the chest—for Alvian.

"PIERCE THE HEART!" Kulit screamed.

He was fast. Faster than Alvian expected. The Warlord moved at Mach speed underwater, a streak of blue lightning.

Valeria, far below on the seabed, shouted, "Alvian! Incoming!"

Alvian watched the Warlord approach. He didn't try to dodge. The Titan was too big for agility.

"Physics Lesson Number Four," Alvian whispered. "Mass wins."

As Kulit closed the distance, trident poised to shatter the ice protecting Alvian, Alvian didn't block. He opened the Titan's chest.

The ice plates shifted, creating a path straight to Alvian.

Kulit's eyes widened in triumph. "FOOL! YOU OPENED YOUR DEFENSE!"

He drove the trident forward.

But just as he entered the Titan's chest cavity, Alvian activated [Runic Aegis +2].

Fourteen runes materialized, not around Alvian, but lining the inside of the tunnel Kulit had just entered.

"Compression."

The runes didn't explode. They clamped down.

"CLANG!"

The runes slammed onto Kulit and his mount from all sides, pinning them mid-air, inches from Alvian's face. The kinetic momentum of the charge was instantly arrested, the shockwave nearly liquefying Kulit's internal organs.

[-12,000! Kinetic Reflection!]

Kulit coughed blood, his trident halted a centimeter from Alvian's nose. He was trapped inside the Titan, held by the runes.

Alvian looked at the Warlord. He was floating calmly, his arms crossed.

"You are fast," Alvian admitted. "But you are inside me now."

"Let... me... go..." Kulit wheezed, struggling against the runes.

"As you wish."

Alvian dismissed the runes.

But before Kulit could move, Alvian closed the Titan's chest. The massive plates of ice slammed shut.

"CRUNCH."

Kulit was encased inside the Titan's torso.

"System. [Frost Descent +2]. Internalizing."

Alvian flooded the interior of the Avatar with absolute zero cold. He didn't freeze the water. He froze the space inside the chest.

Kulit screamed as the cold ate through his armor, through his scales, and into his marrow.

[-5,000 per second.]

"Freeze," Alvian commanded.

The screaming stopped.

[You have slain Warlord Kulit!]

[Experience Gained: 600,000!]

[Level Up!]

[Level 51.]

Alvian exhaled. He deactivated the Avatar.

The massive ice giant dissolved into water and light. Kulit's frozen corpse drifted down to the seabed, shattering on impact with the sand.

Alvian floated down. He picked up a glowing blue orb from the remains.

[Item: Tidal Core of the Warlord]

[Grade: Epic]

[Description: The power source of a master of the waves. Contains the essence of the tide.]

He also grabbed the trident.

[Item: Thundershock Trident]

[Grade: Epic]

"Clean sweep," Seraphina said, swimming out from behind a coral formation. She had used the chaos to assassinate the few remaining lieutenants.

Valeria walked over, her armor dented but her spirit high. "That... was terrifying. You were a kaiju."

"It was effective," Alvian said, stowing the loot. "The army is broken. The threat to Azureus is gone."

He looked back toward the city lights shimmering far above.

"Let's go back to Thorne. I want my reward."

They returned to the Rusty Anchor. The mood in the slums had already changed; word traveled fast in the water. Thugs stepped out of Alvian's way, their eyes filled with fear.

Thorne was waiting. He was standing on his new legs, polishing a glass. When Alvian placed the [Tidal Core] on the table, Thorne stopped.

He picked up the core. He looked at it for a long time.

"Kulit is dead," Thorne whispered. "The reefs are free."

He looked at Alvian.

"You did the impossible. You took a raw skill and turned it into a weapon of mass destruction."

Thorne reached under the counter and pulled out a map. It wasn't a map of the city. It was a map of the currents.

"The Second Guardian," Thorne said, pointing to a swirling vortex marked on the map. "Master Kaelen. The Flash of the Deep. He hides in the Lightning Naga territory."

"Lightning Naga," Alvian noted. "Fast enemies."

"The fastest," Thorne confirmed. "Kaelen won't teach you unless you can catch him. Or unless you can survive the storm."

Alvian took the map.

"I don't chase storms," Alvian said, his eyes glowing violet. "I am the storm."

[Quest Complete: The Warlord of the Reef.]

[Skill Mastery Updated: Avatar of the Deep -> Mastery Level: Perfect.]

Alvian turned to his team.

"Next stop: Lightning Territory. Valeria, get some rubber insulation for your armor. It's going to get shocking."

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