Oceanid #1: "You'll understand soon."
Oceanid #2: "Hhmm."
Oceanid #2 opened her mouth in protest, but no sound came out.
She remained frozen for a moment before sighing, clearly frustrated.
Oceanid #2: "You're still as enigmatic as ever."
Oceanid #5 let out a soft laugh, like a gentle lapping of water.
Oceanid #5: "That's why she's the first."
Oceanid #4: "..."
Meanwhile, Oceanid No. 4, who had remained silent since No. 1's arrival, slowly approached her.
Her voice, when she spoke, was deeper than the others'.
Oceanid No. 4: "Tell us something else, then."
"What would be the consequences if the Abyss Herald succeeds in its plan?"
At this question, the atmosphere changed.
The water became heavier, darker. Even the observation surface seemed to lose some of its clarity.
Oceanid #1 closed her eyes for a brief moment.
When she opened them again, her gaze was harder.
Oceanid #1: "The consequences would be irreversible."
#3 frowned.
Oceanid #3: "Irreversible… to what extent?"
#1 slowly raised her hand, and a vision appeared around her.
The water began to form moving images, like memories projected into the liquid.
First, the cavern was visible, as it was now.
Then the image changed.
The water rose.
Again.
And again.
Entire galleries were submerged.
The currents became violent, charged with bluish flashes and slowly drifting ice crystals.
Oceanid #1: "The fusion of Hydro, Electro, and Cryo energies would create an unstable core."
A core capable of generating artificial tides, internal storms, and a cold capable of freezing the water itself.
Oceanid #2 observed the vision, horrified.
Oceanid #2: "It could transform the entire region into a frozen, electrified ocean…"
Oceanid #1: "Not just the region."
The vision widened.
Rivers connected to the cavern began to transform, then lakes, then entire coastal areas.
Oceanid #1: "Water is a link. It flows, seeps, travels."
What it would create here would spread elsewhere.
Number 5 clenched her fists slightly.
Oceanid Number 5: "And living beings?"
Number 1 remained silent for a second too long.
Then she answered.
Oceanid Number 1: "Those who survived would be subjugated."
"The combined energy would allow it to interact directly with the soul through the water contained within each body."
A shiver ran through the magical space.
Oceanid N#3: "It could... control?"
Oceanid N#1: "Compel."
"Torment."
"Break."
Hydro would become a vector of suffering, Electro a tool of domination, and Cryo a means of punishment.
N#4 looked away.
Oceanid Number 4: "It would be a profanation of everything that water represents."
"Life and calm."
Oceanid #1: "Exactly."
She dispelled the vision with a simple gesture, allowing the magical space to regain its apparent calm.
Oceanid #2: "So Venti really is our last hope?"
Oceanid #1 looked back at the observation surface. Venti had just stopped in front of a shelf, but he was no longer touching the books. He simply seemed to be listening… or sensing.
Oceanid #1: "He's not perfect. He already has blood on his hands. He's already crossed boundaries."
Oceanid #3: "But…?"
Oceanid #1 inclined his head slightly.
Oceanid #1: "But he still doubts.
"And as long as he doubts, his soul isn't fixed."
A brief silence followed.
Oceanid #5: "If he fails the test…?"
Oceanid #1 answered directly.
"He will stay here."
And the outside world will have to face the Abyss Herald without him.
The Oceanids exchanged meaningful glances.
Oceanid N#2: "Then he must succeed."
Oceanid #N4 nodded slowly.
Oceanid #N4: "And if he succeeds…"
Oceanid #N1: "Then he will understand what even the Abyss Herald has forgotten."
That true power comes neither from fusion nor domination…
but from the balance between the soul and what it touches.
They all fell silent.
Outside the Hydro Temple:
Tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap
The Abyss Herald's footsteps echoed slowly through the damp caverns, each echo reverberating against the walls covered in algae and dull crystals.
The air was heavy, saturated with an unstable energy, a mixture of residual Hydro and Electro pulses emanating from the pearl he held tightly in his hand.
He paused for a moment.
His icy gaze scanned the space around him, searching for the slightest anomaly, the faintest trace of the intruder.
Abyss Herald: "...Gone."
He gritted his teeth. When he snapped his fingers, he felt the space crack, as if reality itself had given way under a force he couldn't fully control.
A breach had opened, brief, unstable… and the green-clad bard had been sucked inside.
No corpse.
No trace of fresh blood.
Only a rupture.
Abyss Herald: "Tch."
He resumed his walk, his boots sinking slightly into the damp sand.
BBBBBBZZZZZZzzzzzzzzz
The electro pearl pulsed faintly, like an artificial heart beating at an irregular rhythm.
Abyss Herald: "No matter where you've gone…"
He murmured.
Abyss Herald: "If you're still alive, you'll regret surviving."
He forced himself to stay focused. Time was running out.
The pearl he had torn from the Millennial Pearl Seahorse contained a phenomenal amount of electro energy, but that energy wasn't eternal. Outside its natural host, it dissipated slowly, deteriorating with each pulse.
He knew this better than anyone.
That's why he had to find the Tulpa Hydro.
He entered a new, narrower gallery where the water trickled down the walls in small streams.
Tap taptap tap tap tap tap tap tap
As he advanced, he spoke in a low voice, not out of madness, but out of habit.
Putting words to his journey helped him keep his objective in sight.
Abyss herald: "All this way… all this bloodshed…"
His eyes hardened.
Abyss herald: "Do you know how long it took to get here?"
He remembered the beginning.
The first contacts.
The isolated villages.
Men easily persuaded when promised gold, protection, or simply survival.
Abyss Herald: "Brigands… poachers… mediocre souls, but useful."
He had patiently built a network.
Some thought they were working for a simple illegal trade.
Others knew they were connected to something greater, without ever understanding its scope.
Abyss Herald: "Some resisted."
His gaze darkened.
Abyss Herald: "Those ones are dead."
He still remembered the first village he had wiped out to ensure silence.
How Cryo energy had frozen bodies in expressions of terror, before Hydro death slowly took them away.
There were no survivors to tell the story.
Abyss Herald: "A necessary evil."
He gripped the pearl a little tighter.
Abyss Herald: "All this for what?"
"So some kid can play the hero and disappear down a crevice?"
He exhaled deeply.
No.
He refused to accept that idea.
He had sacrificed too much to fail now.
FFFFFFFFffffffffffffffffffffyyyyyyyyyyyyyy
The tunnels gradually changed.
The water grew deeper, colder.
In places, it rose to his ankles, then to his knees.
Invisible currents gently tugged at his clothes, as if the cavern itself were trying to slow his progress.
Abyss Herald: "You're close..."
He murmured.
He could feel it.
The Hydro Tulpa was an unstable entity, a raw concentration of elemental energy.
Its mere presence altered the environment. The water became denser, almost alive.
Sounds were muffled, as if absorbed by an invisible will.
Abyss Herald: "Just a little more…"
He recalled the ancient texts he had studied. The stolen tablets. The forbidden manuscripts.
Merging with an elemental pearl was already risky. But then merging with a Tulpa…
Abyss Herald: "No one has ever dared go this far."
A cruel smile stretched across his lips.
Abyss Herald: "No one… except me."
He thought briefly about what would happen if he failed.
The pearl would empty.
The Electro energy would dissipate into the water.
He would have to start over.
Find another ancient creature. Recreate a network. Make the blood flow again.
Abyss Herald: "Unacceptable."
He quickened his pace, ignoring the fatigue that was beginning to weigh on his body.
Even his power had limits.
Maintaining the pearl's stability, containing its energy, and moving through an environment saturated with Hydro required constant concentration.
Abyss Herald: "What if the Tulpa escapes me…"
He gritted his teeth.
Abyss Herald: "No."
"He won't escape me."
His mind drifted involuntarily to the bard.
Abyss Herald: "Venti…"
He uttered the name with contempt.
Abyss Herald: "You've survived too much. A Ruin Guard."
"A Lector."
"Dungeons."
"And now… this."
He chuckled softly.
Abyss Herald: "But you're still a temporary problem."
If he was dead, so much the better.
If he was trapped somewhere else… even better.
Abyss Herald: "The world doesn't need heroes."
"He needs order."
He finally emerged into a vast, partially flooded cavern.
Abyss Herald: "Ah, I'm finally here."
The water was still, but its surface vibrated slightly, crisscrossed by concentric circles.
In the center, something was moving.
An indistinct, shifting mass, as if the water itself refused to maintain a stable form.
Abyss Herald: "There you are…"
The Hydro Tulpa.
BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBbbbbbbbrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
The Abyss Herald stopped at a safe distance, observing the creature with almost religious fascination.
Each movement of the Tulpa unleashed waves of energy that coursed through the cavern.
Abyss Herald: "You are perfect."
He raised the hand holding the pearl. She reacted immediately, her electro light becoming brighter, more aggressive.
Abyss Herald: "Just a little longer… and everything will be ready."
But deep down, a thought persisted.
The fissure.
The altered space.
Abyss Herald: "If you're still alive, bard…"
A cold smile spread across his face.
Abyss Herald: "You're too late."
Or at least… that's what he hoped.
Unfortunately… for him.
BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBbbrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
Abyss Herald: "HUH?"
The air in the cavern vibrated violently.
At the precise moment the Abyss Herald attempted to channel the Tulpa Hydro's energy, something shattered in the creature's fragile equilibrium.
BBBBBBBBBBbbbbbbbrrrrrrrrrr
The water, until then almost still, began to boil, as if an ancient anger had just been awakened.
GGGGGGGGGGGGggggggggggggggggrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
The Hydro pulses intensified, becoming erratic, violent, uncontrollable.
The Tulpa Hydro let out a deep rumble, a profound sound that resembled neither a cry nor a roar, but rather the crash of a wave against an invisible cliff.
Abyss Herald: "...So, you refuse."
Murmled the Abyss Herald, a tight smile on his lips.
He didn't have time to say more.
The water around the Tulpa condensed abruptly, drawn in by its primal will.
Fush
In a fraction of a second, the Hydro energy solidified around its arm, taking the form of a gigantic, translucent hammer, composed of water compressed to such a degree that it appeared almost crystalline.
Abyss Herald: "Interesting…"
The hammer crashed down.
BAM
The impact was cataclysmic.
The cavern shook violently as the water weapon struck the ground in the exact spot where the Abyss Herald had stood a second earlier.
A Hydro explosion rippled out in concentric waves, hurling walls of water against the rocky walls.
Sharp, liquid shards shot in all directions, leaving deep gashes in the stone.
The Abyss Herald had vanished.
He reappeared a few meters away in an Electro distortion, his cloak snapping in the force of the air current.
Abyss Herald: "Impressive brute force… but predictable."
"You're even better than I thought."
He raised his hand, and the Electro Pearl pulsed violently, unleashing a volley of condensed lightning.
BAM
FLASH
The projectiles sliced through the air, leaving unstable purple trails before crashing into the Tulpa's body.
The Hydro energy absorbed some of the impact, but shards of water were torn from the creature, raining down around it.
The Tulpa took a step back… then another.
For a brief moment, silence seemed to return.
Then rage exploded.
The Hydro Tulpa raised its two arms, and the water of the cavern answered its call.
Blublublbulbulbu
Liquid columns erupted from the ground, twisting like serpents before being hurled toward the Abyss Herald at lightning speed.
Abyss Herald: "Tch!"
It erected an Electro barrier in front of itself.
The water projectiles struck the energy field, triggering a series of crackling explosions where Hydro and Electro collided.
Bloup
Bloup
Bloup
Steam filled the air, blurring visibility.
Abyss Herald: "You are unstable… but dangerous,"
it admitted.
It responded with a barrage of combined energy spheres.
BBBBbbbbbzzzzzzz
Each projectile was charged with pure Electro, teetering dangerously between cohesion and explosion.
BAM
When they struck the ground or the walls, they erupted in violent arcs, transforming the cavern into a field of erratic discharges.
The Hydro Tulpa absorbed the impact.
Or rather… it adapted.
Its body changed consistency, becoming more fluid in some places, denser in others. The lightning partially dispersed in the water, losing its effectiveness.
Abyss Herald: "A wild beast… but not stupid."
Then the Abyss Herald observed.
It sensed something shifting.
The Hydro energy around the Tulpa was no longer simply raging.
It was concentrating.
Gathering.
Abyss Herald: "...Oh?"
The Tulpa slowly rose, its luminous core pulsing faster and faster.
Around it, the water began to swirl, forming several smaller vortices, each vibrating at a frequency similar to that of the main creature.
Abyss Herald: "No..."
The Abyss Herald murmured, realizing too late.
With a low rumble, the vortices exploded.
From each emerged a smaller, but perfectly formed, silhouette. Miniature copies of the Tulpa Hydro, each possessing an unstable core and a will of its own—primitive, certainly, but undeniably aggressive.
One.
Two.
Three.
Five.
Then ten.
Abyss Herald: "Autonomous fragments... a deliberate split of your essence."
He breathed, both fascinated and annoyed.
The mini-Tulpas didn't waste a second.
They immediately scattered, gliding across the water like predators born in this environment.
Some condensed jets of water, others projected compressed shards, while the boldest charged directly at the Abyss Herald.
Abyss Herald: "Hmph."
He snapped his fingers.
A circular Electro field exploded around him, disintegrating several of the creatures on contact.
The mini-Tulpas he touched dissolved into splashes before falling back into the water, their energy dispersing.
But for every fragment destroyed, two others seemed to take its place.
Abyss Herald: "Exponential multiplication… if I let you, you'll overwhelm me."
GGGGGGgggggggggggggggggggggrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
The main Tulpa raised his arm again, reforming the Hydro Hammer, even more massive than before.
Meanwhile, the copies encircled their prey, creating constant pressure.
Abyss Herald: "Very well."
Growled the Abyss Herald.
Abyss Herald: "Let's change our approach."
He pressed the Electro Pearl against his chest.
The pain was immediate.
Violent arcs rippled through his body, cracking the ground beneath his feet.
His aura shifted, becoming denser, more oppressive.
The Cryo energy he had previously absorbed manifested, abruptly chilling the air.
The water around him began to freeze in places.
Abyss Herald: "You are made of Hydro elemental energy… so I will freeze you with my Cryo elemental energy before shattering you."
He propelled himself forward at supernatural speed, tearing through the horde of mini-Tulpas in an explosion of mingled Electro and Cryo.
Where he passed, fragments of water solidified for a moment before disintegrating.
It struck the main Tulpa head-on.
The impact was titanic.
BBBBBBBBBBBBBAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMMMMMMMMMMMMMM
The Hydro Hammer crashed against the barrier it had erected at the last second.
The collision of energies caused a shockwave that rippled through the entire cavern.
SLASH
BAM
BOOM
SLASH
Stalactites detached from the ceiling and crashed into the water with a deafening roar.
The mini-Tulpas were hurled in all directions.
BAM
The Hydro Tulpa recoiled, its core reeling.
GGGGGGGGGGgggggggggrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
Abyss Herald: "You feel the fear, don't you?"
Murmured the Abyss Herald, advancing slowly.
But the Tulpa did not yield.
In a final surge of rage, it roared silently, and all the water in the cavern began to vibrate in unison.
The dissolved fragments began to reform, drawn together by an invisible force.
Abyss Herald: "You still refuse…"
Chapter 63: Tulpa hydro and Abyss Herald
The End