Chapter 25

Under Lexandar’s influence, Sifa used her considerable mastery of Elemency to break into the secret chamber of the Orb of Creation. As she entered the hallowed grounds of the Orb’s resting place, a voice of warning seemed to resound from deep within her. She knew she was violating Maranu’s faith in her. She knew that despite her good intentions, she was committing a cardinal sin. But Lexandar’s words still played in her head. Elementals had been forced to undertake many dark deeds; had been forced to kill ruthlessly in their desperate struggle to keep the human race alive. She was doing this for her people, for her love of Maranu and all that he taught her about the sanctity of life. It was not out of malice or ambition that she disobeyed Maranu, but out of love. In that sense, her heart was pure, and the ancient beings who guarded the Orb saw that purity and allowed her entry. Even if a part of her knew that Lexandar was manipulating her, she reasoned that it would be worth the risk if she could accomplish at least part of what she set out to do. With the gravity of her mission weighing heavily upon her soul, Sifa reached out and touched the Orb of Creation. And that was the beginning of the end.

Éclair was in her element. At first, she had been worried about fighting underwater, but those fears quickly vanished as she moved as smoothly through the currents as any sea creature. Indeed, there was some adjustment needed after they jettisoned from the Venture, though that was partially due to their haphazard arrival into the palace. Just as they came out of warp, Leon got another vision of danger and activated the emergency ejection system just before their ship exploded under the enemy’s bombardment. Eclair was quite surprised he had the awareness to hit the emergency ejection sequence in the first place. Everyone was out of sorts for at least a few seconds after they arrived, even Erica. It was also surprising that the enemy responded to their appearance so quickly, priming Éclair’s suspicions of spies within the Atlantean Government.

Luckily, she and everyone else took the precaution of activating their headgear before they left, or things might not have gone so well. But even still, it was quite jarring to be thrown from the ship and cast into the sea. Not even her Psionic Armor could fully dispel the intensity of the water pressure, or the bubbles fizzing around her head which were very distracting. The feeling of vertigo and weightlessness nearly overwhelmed her. For the first few seconds, her movements were a bit clunkier than she would’ve liked. But then the weeks she spent training in zero gravity soon kicked in, and her body adapted fairly quickly. Although her maneuvers weren’t quite as graceful as the Water Elementals, Éclair thought she accorded herself quite well.

Using her sensory abilities, Éclair instantly deduced the hostiles from the friendlies. With the propulsion system of her Psionic Armor, she glided through the water like a falcon through the clouds, summoning her Psionic Bow and notching an arrow while avoiding enemy fire. Her trajectory wasn’t thrown off in the slightest as her arrows sailed through the water as quickly as they would in the air. Three Sharkmen were instantly frozen with a single shot. With her element already based in water, she found she didn’t have to exert as much psions to freeze her opponents. However, after creating several very long, spiraling icicles, she adjusted her arrows’ psionic frequency to only emit ice after they hit their targets. On land, creating ice streams was a natural advantage that slowed enemy movements, but underwater in a confined space, it was just too hazardous.

“The Royals are there!” cried Erica as she pointed down to the bottom of the chamber where most of the Sharkmen had gathered, her long, blonde braid floating behind her helmeted head.

Éclair noticed three Merfolk besieged by the Sharkfolk. She nearly went herself, but Leon held her back with a hand signal. Tork was closer and Leon obviously wanted Éclair to join him on his assault on the larger group of Sharkmen, so he gave the Dragon the signal instead.

“I’ve got them,” responded Tork without hesitation. Even underwater, his voice rang out loud and clear as if he were speaking on land, though bubbles did seep out of his mouth when he spoke.

With a mighty flap of his wings that were nearly as effective underwater as they were in the air, Tork went to the aid of the Royals within an eyeblink. After dispatching their attackers, he scooped them up and swam to an uninhabited corner of the chamber. With no obvious exits in sight, he took up a defensive position in front of them, shielding them from enemy fire with his hard scales. Every now and then, Tork would fire pinpoint strikes with his flame breath at the Sharkmen snipers. He was correct in his assumption that he could still use Fire Elemency, though his attacks lacked their normal potency. Éclair decided it best to thin the herd of enemy combatants in order to help Tork safeguard the Royal Family.

As Éclair zigzagged past enemy fire in a serpentine pattern, Leon and Grafael moved to either side of her, their natural teamwork already kicking in as the three fought in perfect sync. The other team members set about their tasks with the deadly proficiency that only Elementals possessed. As Leon swung his swords, his wind element created underwater arcs of pressurized water that sliced through enemies with terrifying precision. With his dark cape and armor, Leon looked almost like a giant sting ray as he flew through the ruined chamber, dishing out death with every swing of his blades. Grafael mostly resorted to brute force, using his hammer and armor to absorb the Sharkmen’s fire as he rammed into their ranks like a bulldozer. Some of the Sharkmen were strong enough to contend with Grafael’s power as they fought back with their fangs. This only excited Grafael, making the Saurian laugh maniacally as he bashed his opponents into bloody bits of chum.

Victor also seemed to be in high spirits. Like Tork, his flames were hot enough to burn even underwater. The Sharkmen seemed particularly frightened of the Fire Wielder in his blazing red armor, screeching in their throaty voices as many got incinerated just by swimming too close to him. No doubt none of them could fathom the idea of underwater flames, but such was the power of Fire Elementals. Victor moved nearly as masterfully as the Water Elementals, performing complex dives and twisting arcs that confounded his opponents when they tried to give chase. The flames that shot from his spear fizzled out quickly, but not before roasting the Sharkmen ranks.

Torsha was the slowest to adjust as she floundered through the water. By her flailing movements, she seemed to be panicking slightly, her suit taking several shots that threatened to compromise its integrity. Just when Éclair made up her mind to help the endangered Werewolf, the Water Elementals moved in perfect formation around her, blocking incoming shots with their Psionic Weapons. Erica, who was leading the Water Elementals, maintained a protective formation around Torsha until the Werewolf signaled her gratitude with a thumbs up. Afterwards, Torsha’s movements became more fluid, and the Water Elementals moved on knowing that the Werewolf had adapted.

Éclair had to admit, the impeccable finesse of Water Elementals fighting on their home turf was a sight to behold. Erica wielded her twin energy whips, but the others used more conventional weapons. Jack and Dawson both used Psionic Longswords, and Rose used twin daggers that glowed in that familiar blue coloring that often adorned Water Ministry weapons. Jack would often confuse his enemies by flying into the floor only to reappear behind them using his ghosting abilities. He mostly used physical strikes from his sword to cut his adversaries down, but he also used ranged attacks in the form of exploding bubbles that shot from his free hand. Occasionally, he would even turn his body into a bubbly cloud of mist as his enemies returned fire upon him, avoiding injury and sowing terror among the Sharkfolk.

Out of all the combatants, Dawson was indeed the fastest. Éclair wasn’t sure that his running speed would be the same beneath the water, but that question was soon answered as the Young Water Elemental moved like a torpedo. Nearly everyone took at least some damage to their armor. Even Éclair suffered a shot to her midsection that left her ribs feeling bruised, but Dawson was so fast that his enemies would’ve been better off hitting a shooting star. Though he was a fellow Ice User, unlike Éclair, he didn’t freeze his opponents. Instead, he shot thousands of tiny shards of ice from his sword that ripped his foes apart like wet paper. Rose wasn’t too shabby either, using her knives like boomerangs to attack her opponents from afar. The little Water Elemental would occasionally expel her slime-like element upon her enemies, immobilizing them so that Jack or Dawson could finish them off shortly afterwards. She was easier to recognize than the other two as her long, blonde hair cascaded outside of her helmet much in the same way that Éclair’s did.

The Merfolk Defenders rallied around the Water Elementals after recognizing their blue armor. Though the Sharkfolk were caught off guard by the Defender’s counterassault, the large creatures swimming about the chamber were less easily frightened. Éclair had heard that these beings were called Zombie Whales, believed to be a mutation caused by pollution from old, abandoned factories in the deep ocean. Their appearance was ghastly, though thankfully they didn’t seem as tough as Parasites as they died fairly easily. They were also slow and clumsy compared to the Parasites, allowing Éclair to avoid their ungainly lunges with relative ease. Although one Zombie Whale did manage to nail little Rose with a savage tail swipe that sent her careening into the wall. The power of the blow was so great that Rose’s small body dented the metal-plated wall. Éclair felt her pulse stop as she felled the creature with a single shot to its head which made its skull explode in a torrent of ice and blood. Rose wasn’t moving as her body floated lifelessly, and her head was bent at an unnatural angle. Éclair’s instincts as a medic kicked in as she dove for the little Water Elemental. Suddenly, Rose’s head snapped back into place as she righted herself. Éclair swore she could even hear the crack! as Rose’s bones repositioned themselves through the power of instant regeneration. Éclair blew a sigh of relief as Rose waved at her and swam off to join the other Water Elementals and the Defenders in their aggressive against the remaining hostiles.

With much of the Sharkfolk dead or in retreat, Éclair, Leon, and Grafael opted to focus on the Zombie Whales still plaguing the frightened Atlantean diplomats huddled together in a far corner of the chamber. The creatures were fiercer and tougher than the Sharkfolk, but lacked intelligence and speed. The Squad 99 leaders took on each one at a time. Eclair conserved her psions as she opted to simply blind her targets with unpowered arrows to the eyes. Then Leon and Grafael would finish the beast off using close-quarters attacks to the chest and head with their weapons, also opting to conserve their psions.

At some point during the battle, Erica partnered up with Victor. The two Wielders made for a magnificent sight. One in red armor with a golden cape, the other in blue armor with a cyan cape. Erica refrained from using her usual flashy moves with Water Elemency as she fought with her long-reaching energy whips, but she was no less diminished at Victor’s side. She did, however, seem a bit more lethargic in her movements in Éclair’s estimation, prompting her to wonder if the Wielder’s previous exploits with her foresight abilities had drained her.