"The crown belongs not to blood but to courage."
---
The sea split open.
From the depths of the world's oldest trench, Karathen surged upward, her scales gleaming like molten crystal beneath the volcanic light. Water cascaded from her body in titanic torrents, each movement birthing tsunamis across the depths itself.
Upon her crown stood Arthur Curry, armored in gold and azure, the Trident of Atlan blazing in his hand beside him Mera and the silent, unyielding form of King.
The armies of Atlantis halted mid-charge, awe and fear strangling the will to fight. Even Orm, astride on his Mosasaurus, stared in disbelief as his half breed brother rose from the abyss riding the ancient god-beast of the sea, wielding the weapon that commands the sea.
Then came the sound.
A deep, resonant hum. Unyielding yet alive, pulsed through the ocean.
DOOM… DOOM… DOOM…
The King Engine awakened.
Waves stilled. Roars died. The ocean itself froze in reverence. Fish, leviathans, even the seaweed bowed with the current's kneel.
Where King stood, the entire Atlantic held its breath.
The seas had known storms. They had known gods. But never this.
The Proclamation
King stepped forward, the weight of eternity in his stride. The waters parted around him like a curtain before judgment.
His voice was not raised. It didn't need to be. It moved through the sea, vibrating through the bones of every creature that heard it.
"Hear me, sons and daughters of Atlantis.
Before you stands Arthur Curry, bearer of the Trident of Atlan. King by law and legacy.
Before him stands Orm Marius, King by blood and throne.
Law and blood stand divided and only truth can reconcile them."
Orm sneered, trident sparking with energy. "You speak as though you are Atlantis's god."
King's eyes shone faintly, an otherworldly calm that swallowed the reflection of war machines.
"No, Orm. I am its witness."
The sea rippled under his words. Even the Karathen bowed her titanic head lower in the water.
King extended a hand toward the surface.
"Let the judgment be seen by both worlds. Below and above.
I decree a trial by combat, fought not in shadow nor in secret but on the surface of the sea, before the eyes of the sky and the stars.
The victor shall reign.
The defeated shall answer not to man, nor to god but to truth."
The Atlantean soldiers trembled, uncertain whether to kneel or flee.
Mera whispered, almost reverently, "He silenced the ocean itself…"
Arthur glanced at King, jaw tightening. "You're sure this is the only way?"
King's voice was absolute.
"It was written before you were born. Now, live it."
The Calm Before the Storm
The sea beneath them shimmered like glass, unmoving. No current stirred. No gull cried. The clouds hung above in perfect stillness. An impossible, divine pause between worlds. A Atlantean warship rose to serve as a platform for fate's duel.
Orm rose, trident poised, eyes burning with pride and resentment.
Arthur leveled the Trident of Atlan, its prongs pulsing with light as old as Atlantis.
"Let's finish this, brother." Arthur said quietly.
Orm's lip curled. "You're no brother of mine."
King took one step back, standing upon the water's surface as though it were marble.
"Begin."
The stillness shattered. Waves erupted as two kings collided, steel and lightning crashing against divine gold.
As their tridents struck, lightning tore through the sky, and the King Engine roared once more, keeping the seas themselves from interfering.
Every strike was a clash of dynasties. One born of rage, one born of love and duty.
From the coastlines of the world, fishermen, sailors and satellites alike saw it, somehow saw it. Two figures battling atop a mechanical monolith atop the sea while a third stood motionless, the ocean bending around him like a living halo.
The war of Atlantis had begun its judgment.
And King's eyes were the epitome of silence and the ocean obeyed his silence.
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