Atlan's enormous phantom suddenly froze.
A dense aura of darkness suddenly churned beneath Orm's feet, spreading upward from the deepest part of the sea. As it neared Orm's feet, Atlan appeared extraordinarily panicked.
"What is this? This... no... no..."
The phantom shot back into Orm's body, but Orm was still being controlled as he raised his trident. He howled in agony as lightning flickered behind him and towering waves crashed toward the shore, drawing terrified cries from the crowds on the docks.
But another figure soon stood before the city. Arthur and the Sea People of Atlantis, like Orm before them, formed a solid wall of waves that blocked all the invading seawater.
The waters from both sides gradually converged. Though they both came from the ocean, they remained clearly distinct while twisting around one another. Not far from the docks, they formed a towering waterspout that sucked in even the clouds and lightning, creating an incomparably violent vortex that reached the sky.
Within the waterspout, two powerful figures fought fiercely. Arthur's black hair was soaked by the water, then swept upward by the gale. He shouted at Orm, "Wake up, Orm! Don't let him control you! We are descendants of Atlantis! The sea has a will of its own—it cannot be represented by anyone!"
Blue and golden patterns flared across Orm's body at once. Countless violent forces poured from his eyes, mouth, and nose as he let out a pained roar. Endless seawater coiled around his limbs, like both a prison and a weapon.
Thunder and dark clouds churned and roared across the horizon, pressing down in a pitch-black mass. The curtain of rain seemed to carry crushing weight. Whether it was corpses floating on the sea or crowds fleeing in panic along the docks, they looked as tiny