The moment Tartarusios awakened, the whole sunken city trembled. Ancient mechanisms buried under endless layers of stone groaned back to life one after another, and far beneath Atlantis, colossal engines that had been silent for countless ages burst into a thunderous roar, crimson dust erupting from the cracks in the streets as glowing streams of pale energy surged through veins carved into the old structures. The dead city was waking up.
Inside the control chamber of Tartarusios, Youri staggered back as dozens of dormant consoles ignited around him, symbols in ancient Sacrosian script flashing across towering panels and bathing the room in waves of pale gold and deep crimson. The chamber was enormous — a vast circular hall beneath a domed ceiling lined with moving mechanisms and suspended rings of metal that turned slowly overhead. Before them stood a gigantic transparent viewing panel that looked out over the whole of Atlantis. From there, Youri could see the battle unfolding outside. It was absolute chaos.
Almesis roared, and the sound alone shook the city. The skeletal ruler spread its massive wings as endless pressure burst from its body. The ground beneath Atlantis split apart as infinite gravitational force dragged whole structures upward toward it — buildings collapsing inward, stone towers folding like paper, entire streets ripped from the earth and drifting toward Almesis as though reality itself were being pulled into its grasp. But before the destruction could reach Tartarusios, Gaisen intercepted it.
The colossal dragon slammed into Almesis from the side with hurricane force, its massive wings unleashing a catastrophic burst of compressed wind that detonated across the city and drove Almesis backward through three gigantic towers in an explosion of stone. For the first time since it had appeared, Almesis actually slid across the ground — and its hollow jaws slowly widened into a grin. "So another one still dares to stand before me…"
High above Atlantis, Gaisen roared back. The dragon had regenerated much of its body, though scars still marked parts of its dark scales, and massive currents of wind spiraled violently around it into gigantic cyclones that tore through the skies of Tartarus. Even injured, it still radiated overwhelming power.
And facing Almesis from the other side was Altopereh — not the Orbiton, not the restrained vessel, but its true form. The black anti-matter creature hovered above the shattered city like a living abyss, endless darkness bleeding from its body and swallowing the very light, its massive frame shifting unnaturally as parts of it dissolved into void-like smoke and then re-formed. And unlike Gaisen, Altopereh was smiling. "You finally found an opponent worth looking at," it said, and its voice echoed through the skies.
Almesis laughed, a monstrous sound. "You still speak proudly, after being chained by mortals?"
Altopereh's grin widened. "And you still speak proudly, after letting those same mortals walk into your home and steal your world."
For the first time, Almesis stopped smiling. The atmosphere changed instantly. The pressure became unbearable; even inside Tartarusios Youri felt his chest tighten violently. Lea grabbed one of the ancient control panels to steady herself. "He's angry," she whispered.
Outside, the fight exploded. Almesis vanished. It didn't move, it vanished, and the city imploded beneath its acceleration as infinite mass warped the space around it. A shockwave swept across Atlantis before Almesis appeared directly in front of Altopereh. Its claw came down, and reality tore open. The attack didn't simply slash through space; it ignored it entirely. The Eternal Echo — the wound existed before the impact. Altopereh's chest split apart before the claw had fully connected, dark anti-matter bursting outward and revealing the Orbiton inside.
And yet Altopereh laughed. Its body dissolved instantly into black particles and re-formed behind Almesis. "You are predictable." A gigantic anti-matter blade formed in its hand and carved across Almesis's side, splitting apart sections of its skeletal armor and scattering dark fragments across Atlantis.
Almesis answered at once. Its halo-like domain expanded, and everything around it began to collapse inward. Whole mountains from distant parts of the desert tore free of the horizon and hurtled toward the battlefield, and the gravitational pull became catastrophic. Even Gaisen struggled to stay in the air as it unleashed colossal storms against the force, hurricane currents spiraling around its body and clashing directly against Almesis's gravity field, until the skies shattered — tornadoes colliding with gravitational distortions while lightning burst everywhere.
Below, Tartarusios shook violently, and Youri grabbed the controls as alarms began flashing across the chamber. "We need to power the navigation systems now!" Lea shouted.
"How?"
She rushed across the room, activating ancient mechanisms one after another. "These ships weren't built like modern vessels! Tartarusios draws on the energy circulating through the city itself!"
The walls lit up, and far beneath Atlantis gigantic rings began to rotate as ancient reactors awakened.
Outside, Altopereh lunged again. This time its shoulders split open and dozens of crimson laser arrays emerged. A catastrophic barrage tore through the city and struck Almesis head-on, the beams of anti-matter energy detonating across its skeletal body in explosions large enough to erase whole mountain ranges. But when the smoke cleared, Almesis was still standing. The ruler laughed again. Then it moved its hand, and suddenly everything stopped. The lasers froze in midair. The debris stopped moving. Even the storms halted unnaturally. Almesis slowly closed its claw. All the frozen attacks reversed direction at once, and Altopereh's own barrage came screaming back at it. The explosions engulfed half of Atlantis, dark firestorms consuming whole districts, and even Gaisen was forced to retreat upward to escape the devastation.
Inside Tartarusios, Youri watched in horror. "That thing…"
Lea stared at the battlefield in silence. "You can't fight Almesis like a normal enemy."
Outside, Altopereh came out of the explosions — damaged, but still smiling, dark anti-matter dripping from parts of its body as it stared straight at Almesis. "Good," it growled. "Finally, something entertaining."
Almesis lunged again, and this time Gaisen intercepted alongside Altopereh. The dragon unleashed a concentrated blast of storm straight into Almesis's face while Altopereh attacked from below with twin anti-matter plasma blades. The three Domain Rulers collided head-on with an impact that split Atlantis apart, whole districts collapsing into the abyss beneath the city as storm, gravity and anti-matter consumed everything around them. Gaisen's winds sliced through skyscraper-sized structures like paper; Almesis crushed whole sections of the city merely by stepping forward; Altopereh carved black scars through reality itself. The battle grew beyond anything Youri had ever witnessed.
Then Altopereh found an opening. Gaisen wrapped Almesis in colossal currents of wind and held its movement for only a fraction of a second. For beings like them, a fraction was enough. Altopereh appeared directly above Almesis, and its anti-matter blade swelled to enormous size, the darkness around it twisting violently. It swung down with everything it had. One of Almesis's massive horn-spires was severed instantly, and the blackened horn crashed down through Atlantis like a falling mountain.
For the first time, Almesis screamed. The sound shook all of Tartarus; the crimson skies cracked with violent distortions as endless pressure burst from the ruler's body, and its grin vanished completely. What replaced it was fury. "You…"
The whole city began to collapse inward as infinite gravitational force erupted in every direction at once — buildings folding into singularities, streets twisting apart, Tartarusios itself groaning under the pressure. In the control room warning lights flashed wildly, and Lea's eyes went wide. "The ship's core is reacting!"
Youri turned toward the central chamber. At the heart of Tartarusios, something ancient was awakening.