Chapter 1343: Where the Ocean Wasn’t

Voruun stared at the seawater he’d hauled up under his control, then glanced at the bubble still drifting closer.

And then he froze.

He’d gotten the water into the air.

Now what?

His tentacles flicked around the suspended water mass a few times, but he couldn’t organize anything into a real attack. Meanwhile, the little bubble didn’t slow. It had already crossed more than half the distance between them.

Panic thickened in Voruun’s eyes. He opened his mouth and blasted a flood of black ink forward. The viscous cloud hit the water and spread fast, staining everything in front of him into a dense black curtain that you couldn’t see through.

Everyone watched that ink cloud with open curiosity.

The small bubble slipped into the darkness without a sound. It didn’t pop. It didn’t change course. It passed through the heavy ink, touched Voruun’s body—

and sank into him, silent as a needle.

The bubble looked harmless.

But what it carried inside had never been ordinary air.

At first, nothing happened.

The moment it entered his body, the world stayed the same. Voruun bent his head, checking himself. His tentacles twitched experimentally, and for a heartbeat he even wondered if he’d overestimated the attack.

One second later, the sea surface collapsed.

A gigantic vacuum zone unfolded outward with Voruun at its center. The boundary raced over the surrounding water, expanding until it reached the ice sheet beneath Namyanna’s feet—then stabilized.

Inside the vacuum zone, all seawater was expelled. Voruun’s massive body lost its buoyancy, hanging in the empty space at the center like a stranded monster. Sound was cut off too—waves outside, ice grinding, even the others’ voices—all gone, like someone had closed a door on the world.

Voruun finally, truly panicked.

He thrashed his tentacles, trying to grab the seawater outside the vacuum zone. But every limb moved as if an invisible force was dragging it back—slow to the point of almost stopping. Strength that used to flip waves like toys could now only make his body rotate sluggishly in the emptiness.

And the harder he struggled, the faster his soul burned.

Those souls hidden inside the blood aura dulled one after another, their light going out in a steady chain. If this continued, Voruun would be drained dry—killed by a slow, suffocating torment.

On Seraphina’s back, Elira’s excitement had vanished.

She watched Voruun’s sluggish struggle in the vacuum, then looked at the souls fading out, and her lips pressed together. Even after everything he’d done to them... this kind of death still made something in her twist.

Namyanna noticed.

She didn’t say a word. She simply straightened a little in her ice chair and lifted one open hand.

Her five fingers slowly curled into a fist.

The vacuum zone began to shrink.

The outer boundary surged inward toward Voruun, the vast space compressing rapidly. His tentacles were forced in first, squeezed back toward his body—then the half of him that was still regenerating. Flesh, tentacles, and the remaining souls were all shoved together, crushed into a single sphere hovering above the sea.

Namyanna rose to her feet. The ice beneath her extended toward the sphere like a walkway. She walked over and fed a small stream of frost power into it.

White rime crept over the sphere’s surface, seeping inward layer by layer. Only when it was completely frozen did Namyanna lift her trident and lightly tap the ice ball with the shaft.

Crack!

The entire ice sphere exploded outward from the point of contact.

Fine ice crystals shot in every direction, flashing bright in the sunlight. Voruun’s compressed body blew apart with the ice, losing any recognizable shape—nothing solid left to call a "body" anymore.

A few souls drifted out from between the shards.

Most had vanished with Voruun’s destruction. Only two survived by sheer luck. They hovered above the ice, half-transparent, turning slowly as they studied everyone around them.

Elowen lounged in her ice chair, watching with open curiosity.

The two souls didn’t leave immediately. Instead, they drifted back and forth among the group. They floated up close to Seraphina, then circled Ataneya, clearly searching for a better host.

They took their time.

Long enough that Elowen’s curiosity soured into irritation. Frostlight gathered at her fingertips—sharp, ready. If those two hesitated much longer, she was going to crush them herself.

Finally, the souls made their choice.

Both turned toward Ethan.

The frostlight at Elowen’s fingers faded. When she looked at the two souls again, there was a hint of pity in her eyes.

They could’ve picked anyone... and they picked Ethan.

Was Ethan really that tempting?

The souls didn’t notice her expression. One after the other, they flew into Ethan—straight into his body.

Ethan felt several unfamiliar presences appear inside him. First one or two—then more chaotic soul fluctuations crowded in. But before he could sort any of it out, every last trace vanished.

He looked down at himself, his expression turning strange.

A second ago, he’d clearly felt a bunch of souls enter him.

So why couldn’t he find even one now?

While Ethan was still trying to make sense of it, Elowen and Namyanna waved up at the others.

They raised their palms together. Cold rolled outward across the sea. The ice sheet that had only covered the nearby area thickened and spread, quickly forming a wide, solid platform beneath Seraphina.

Once everyone had somewhere to land, Seraphina pulled in her wings and shifted back into human form.

With her dragon back gone, everyone dropped at once.

Luckily the ice wasn’t far. They hit the surface in quick succession, shoes scraping and thudding in a messy chorus.

And almost immediately, the same question rose in everyone’s mind.

Why did they just burn that much power... to lay down ice this thick?

Elowen and Namyanna both turned to Seraphina at the same time.

Their eyes said the exact same thing:

Why would you pick now to turn back?

Seraphina didn’t even open her eyes.

She stood in the center of the ice, arms hanging loosely at her sides, face utterly relaxed—

and fell asleep standing up.

At the same time, deep inside the undersea palace, the mantis shrimp and the small shark had returned to Thalvyr.

They stopped at the foot of the throne and dipped forward slightly. As their gaze settled on Thalvyr, both pairs of eyes gradually lost focus, turning blank and dull.

Thalvyr watched them quietly from the throne, not even blinking.

After a moment, he nodded.

The mantis shrimp tapped the shark’s back. The small shark turned and carried it out of the grand hall. From arrival to departure, they didn’t speak a single word.

"How interesting," Thalvyr murmured, leaning back, fingertips tapping the armrest in a slow rhythm. "A vacuum zone..."

Then his gaze lifted.

"Where is Vaelor?"

The name had barely spread through the palace before a figure appeared below the throne.

A dragonman—his features strikingly similar to Thalvyr’s. He raised his head, first looking at his father, then up toward the ceiling of the palace as if he could see the world above.

"Father... did you call for me because of the humans on the surface?"

Thalvyr nodded.

A white orb of light formed in his palm. It rotated slowly in the water, pure and flawless, without a speck of impurity. Thalvyr flicked his fingers forward, and the orb drifted to Vaelor and slipped into his body.

Vaelor lowered his gaze to his chest.

The orb’s glow dimmed little by little, until it vanished completely inside him.

"My son," Thalvyr said, voice calm, almost gentle, "this is a gift from your father. When the moment is critical, it will save your life."

Vaelor’s expression hardened. He rose and bowed to Thalvyr.

Dragon scales flowed over his body. His limbs shifted, reshaping in an instant—until he became a small dragon. He swam out of the palace and disappeared into the dark seawater beyond.