The Azure Gate was no longer a portal; it was a collapsing throat of white water and jagged coral. The "Depressurization Charge" set by the Void-Howlers had created a catastrophic pressure differential. While the Kingdom of Aquaria's elite guards scrambled to stabilize the city's primary dome, Konja and his team were sucked into the Trenches of Terror—a series of winding, subterranean tunnels that acted as the ocean's digestive system.
Their submersible, the Indigo Sieve, groaned as it was buffeted by the inward-rushing torrent. Inside the cramped brass cabin, the red emergency lights pulsed like a dying heart.
"Hull integrity at 60%!" Mina shouted, her hands flying across the Prana-dampeners. "The Void-Howlers didn't just want to stop us; they wanted to bury us in the trench!"
"They're behind us," Renzo said, his face pressed to the reinforced porthole.
Behind them, three sleek, shark-like pursuit craft emerged from the silt. These weren't standard Hegemony vessels; they were Void-Skimmers, powered by the same unstable "Null-Crystals" Konja had encountered in the Canyons of Cloud-Dust. They moved with a jerky, unnatural speed, ignoring the drag of the water.
The Predators of the Deep
"Konja, we can't outrun them in a straight line," Tali said, her knuckles white as she gripped the stabilizer bar. "The Sieve is a transport, not a racer."
"Then we don't run in a straight line," Konja said. He looked at the Salt of the Ancients secured in the center of the cabin. The crystal was pulsing in rhythm with the ocean's distress. "Zale, I need you to link with the ship's propulsion. Feed the engine the Umami-Flow."
Zale barked, his indigo fur crackling despite the moisture in the air. He placed his paws on the brass floor, and the Sieve's engine—a massive Prana-coil—began to hum with a deep, resonant indigo light.
The submersible didn't just speed up; it began to "slide" through the water, as if the ocean itself were parting to let it through.
"He's reducing the friction!" Mina realized. "He's 'seasoning' the water around the hull!"
The Gauntlet of the Trench
The Trenches of Terror were named for their inhabitants—massive, blind Abyssal Eels and Crag-Crabs that lived in the narrowest cracks. As the Indigo Sieve plummeted deeper, the walls of the trench tightened.
"Harpoons incoming!" Renzo warned.
The Void-Skimmers fired jagged, purple bolts of energy. One struck the Sieve's rear rudder, sending the ship into a violent spin.
"I've got the steering!" Tali roared. She channeled her Salt-Pillar technique, not outward, but into the ship's frame. The brass walls reinforced themselves, becoming as hard as diamond. "Hit us all you want, you scrap-heaps!"
The Sieve slammed against a trench wall, the impact echoing like a giant's drum, but the ship held.
"Konja, look ahead!" Mina pointed.
The tunnel was blocked by a massive Trench-Hydra, a multi-headed beast of muscle and slime that had been disturbed by the chase. Its heads lashed out, snatching up rocks and debris.
"If we slow down, the Howlers catch us. If we keep going, the Hydra eats us," Renzo said, his hand on his scythe.
"We do both," Konja said, his silver eyes flashing. "Mina, vent the kitchen's Capsaicin-Extract into the forward ballast!"
"The chili-oil? Konja, why?"
"Just do it!"
As the Indigo Sieve raced toward the Hydra's open maws, Mina pulled the emergency vent. A massive cloud of concentrated, spiritual chili-oil erupted from the front of the ship.
The Hydra, a creature of the cold, dark deep with sensitive, bioluminescent skin, didn't know what hit it. The "heat" of the oil was like liquid fire to its senses. The heads recoiled in a frantic, spicy agony, clearing a path through the center of the beast.
The Void-Howler's Gambit
The Sieve shot through the gap, but the Void-Howlers were relentless. The lead Skimmer, piloted by a masked commander known as The Wraith, ignited its Null-Engine.
"Surrender the Salt, Munka!" The Wraith's voice echoed through the Sieve's short-wave radio. "The Hegemony is a rotting carcass! Join the Void, or dissolve in it!"
The Skimmer rammed the Sieve, the Null-Crystal on its prow beginning to drain the Prana from Konja's engine. Zale whimpered as his energy was sucked away.
"They're eating our soul," Renzo hissed, his Leaf-Blight's glow fading.
Konja looked at the Salt of the Ancients. He remembered Queen Thalassa's warning: It has the power to preserve a soul—or to crystallize it.
"I'm not surrendering," Konja whispered.
He reached out and touched the crystal. He didn't take the salt; he shared his own Eternal Hearth energy with it. The crystal flared with a blinding, oceanic blue.
"Munka-Style: Deep-Sea Flash-Freeze!"
Konja didn't use fire. He used the "Negative Heat" of the Void-Salt technique he'd learned in the library, amplified by the Ancient Salt. A wave of absolute zero erupted from the Sieve's rear exhaust.
The water behind them didn't just freeze; it crystallized into a massive, jagged mountain of ice in a fraction of a second. The Void-Skimmers, caught in the sudden expansion, were pinned against the trench walls, their Null-Engines sputtering as they were encased in a tomb of blue crystal.
The Surface of the Dawn
The Indigo Sieve shot upward, riding the buoyancy of the ice-expansion. Within minutes, they burst through the surface of the Azure Gate, the sun of the surface world blindingly bright after the darkness of the deep.
The submersible bobbed in the waves, its hull scarred and steaming.
Konja slumped back against the cabin wall, his breath coming in ragged gasps. Zale crawled into his lap, his indigo fur slowly returning to its natural luster.
"We... we made it," Mina said, her hands trembling as she took off her goggles.
"But the Howlers," Tali added, looking at the boiling water behind them. "If they have tech that can reach Aquaria, nowhere is safe. Not even the Institute."
Renzo looked at the Salt of the Ancients, which sat quietly on its pedestal, once again a silent blue crystal. "We have the ingredient. But I think the 'Summit of Stars' just became a war council."
Konja looked at his marked hand. The brand of the Dragon-Piercer was pulsing with a cold, blue light—a resonance with the salt.
"The Vanes, the Howlers, the Hegemony..." Konja said, his voice hardening. "They all want the recipe for power. But they forgot one thing."
"What's that?" Mina asked.
"A cook never leaves the kitchen until the job is done," Konja said. "Let's get back to Pangaea. We have a Banquet to prepare