2 Chapter 2: At the Heart of Atlantis
The lost empire was a beautiful city, far more advanced than the current human civilization at the time. It's rulers fair and mighty, descendants of Poseidon whose ancestry had persisted past the age of gods.
Gawr Gura was but a baby shark then, a child free of malice, oblivious to the responsibilities she would come to bear someday as part of the royal family.
Her blissful days spent skylarking with Artemis, a friend she couldn't do without. It was the perfect life in this child's eyes, but nothing truly lasts forever.
One day she met a strange human who claimed to be from the future, her name was Amelia Watson. Gura was fascinated to learn about human culture thanks to the time traveler, spending time together made her feel things she wouldn't understand until much later.
The calamity that struck Atlantis occurred not too long after the detective had returned to her time, it makes sense she would have known about it. Despite that Gura harbored no ill will towards her, as she had explained before that messing with the past was forbidden to her.
The screams, rumbles, and chilling sounds were something she would never be truly able to forget. Following her parent's instructions she ran, and ran, and never looked back.
Once she was far enough, Gura remembered her conversations with Amelia, and went on a journey hoping to find some help on the surface.
All she found instead was savages trying to kill her, there was confusion as they tried to understand why she looked like them, but in the end they saw her as no more than a food source.
Now out of options, she returned to the ocean and spent milenia simply surviving, hoping that the age of humanity she had heard of would come.
…
Why was Gura reminiscing her life at a time like this?
-
Failing to chomp the giant robot's leg off, Gura retreated back to the bottom of the ocean, as it would grant her cover from its attacks.
She shuddered, being underwater didn't scare her, but ever since she started living on land she was no longer accustomed to it and brought back unpleasant memories.
Amelia had been there by her side to help get over her trauma, diving with her to ease her nerves. But now that she had abandoned her, it only amplified things.
Pushing those thoughts aside, she analyzed what they knew of the enemy thus far.
1.It was incredibly resilient, neither she nor Ao-chan could do more than slightly bend whatever material it was made of.
2.There are at least 5 people controlling it, one in each limb, and one on the chest. They don't control that part of the robot, but rather they are in charge of the functions assigned to it. Either the chest is in charge of movement, or whatever that control room they mentioned is.
Watson could easily get them out of this problem. Despite her trickster behavior she's actually the smartest out of all five EN members, making short work of them in a fight despite being an ordinary human mage.
'I have an idea' she thought, recalling one of those instances.
Gura rose to the surface, just in time to see Marine's ship being rammed at full speed against the mecha
"AVAST YE MOTHERFUCKERS" She yelled, jumping into one of Ina's tentacles that was ready to catch her.
"Truly, there is no more dangerous marine creature than you" Ina chimed in, giggling at her own joke.
Upon contact the ship stuffed with explosives blew to pieces, knocking back the giant robot. Once it was down they planned to pummel it non-stop assuming the robot was not designed to lay down.
Without missing a beat both girls knew what to do, Gura came out of her shark and used it to leap into the air, twisting her body to put all her strength into this throw. Ina on the other hand, wrapped her tentacles into the falling robot to make sure it would go down.
What they didn't foresee was two jets sprouting out of its back propelling it forward, a safety mechanism put in place for that very reason.
Ina tightened her grip, as it turned into an endurance struggle between the two. Right at the last second Gura ferociously hurled her trident, breaking the sound barrier as it quickly approached her target.
Upon contact her trident pierced a massive hole through the center where she assumed the chest pilot to be, or at the very least she hoped it would damage something important.
Gura was falling midair when she suddenly felt a sharp pain course through her body, but not the one she expected. A chunk of her side was missing, and a sizable harpoon had lodged itself into her left shoulder.
From one of the limbs a pair of MILF soldiers had come out of the cockpit, carrying harpoon guns.
Without any time to think, Gura opted to resummon her water shark to cushion the impact. Ignoring the tug on her arm, through gritted teeth she snapped the metal rod in half, being careful to avoid pulling it out of her body.
"Hodwya like that you fu-" Before he could start to revel on his lucky shot, Marine shot a hole through the soldier's head with her rifle.
"Control room: We've lost contact with O7, employ the anti-dragon rounds and reassess damage. Permission to go into overdrive."
Using Gura as a distraction, the robot slipped out of Ina's grasp and immediately opened fire with the armor piercing shells designed with dragon's tough scales in mind, tearing her tentacles to shreds.
The now panicked Marine dropped her gun, jumping from one foot to the other. "W-what do we do Ina-chan!?"
Right now she had two options: Take cover underwater and think of a new plan, or shift her defenses to Marine who would become Swiss cheese otherwise. Against her own survival instincts Ina prioritized senchou's safety, pulling back her tentacles and forming a multilayered dome around her.
"Thermal data analyzed, the cephalopod's origin point has been found, coordinates are on your way."
Taking full advantage of the situation the robot opened fire again, shredding the last of her appendages, Ina's body now fully exposed.
Emitting great amounts of heat from its joints, it moved as if it did not weigh tons. Swiftly approaching her was one of its mechanical arms, but there was little Ao-chan could do right now to defend the priestess as time seemed to slow down around her..
-
Ninomae Ina'nis loathed the day that cursed book found its way to her.
From the moment a link to the ancient ones was established, Ina's life had gone down the drain. Those otherworldly eldritch creatures took away her normal life, her humanity, as well as her sanity.
'Ao-chan might be cute,and maybe less violent, but he nonetheless wishes for the same thing as his kind.' She thought. 'Prior to being in Hololive, I was nothing more than a puppet to their sick games. Dreadfully waiting for the day I would simply become a hollow shell for Ao-chan to inhabit so he can bring about the end of this world.'
'But when YAGOO found me, he made a pact with Ao-chan to return me my free will. Thanks to that I even managed to have something of a friendship with him, though I would be fooling myself to think it was truly genuine.'
'But… There WAS something genuine.'
'I met all sorts of people that could understand me, or went through similar struggles themselves. I could be myself again with them, without being thought of as an abomination.'
Ina knew that after YAGOO had died, the pact was no longer in place, thus she was running on borrowed time and there was nothing she could do about it.
'I had fun' Ina reflects on her life. 'It may have been brief, but I'm eternally grateful for that.'
'My death will solve nothing, those things will come back. But if all I can do is delay the inevitable, I'll do so with the hope that someone will find a way to permanently get rid of them'
Accepting death she closed her eyes.
…
Wait, what about Nene and Pol-
There was a very loud thud, but Ina didn't feel anything.
Opening her eyes, she saw Gura in front of her, using every ounce of strength in her body to stop the attack head on.
With bloodshot eyes she bared her sharp teeth and growled "DON'T UNDERESTIMATE AN APEX PREDATOR"
For an instant, it seemed like that would be enough to neutralize the blow. But alas, despite the shark's exceptional strength Gura was overpowered. The bones in her arms and skull shattered as her tiny body was shot like a bullet into the bottom of the ocean.
-
What am I doing? Why am I fighting?
In her dying moments, Gura pondered over these questions.
Atlantis, Watson, Hololive.
She kept losing all that brought her happiness, why?
What did she ever do to deserve that?
Singing, playing games, fooling around among friends. How could that possibly be wrong for her to enjoy?
Deep down, she already knew the answer.
'The path of a ruler must be walked alone, for that is burden only you must carry'
Her fate was sealed the moment she was born into Atlantis royalty, the gods' wicked sense of humor persisting past the ages.
'If that's what it takes, so be it'
The trident she carried was special, a weapon made by Poseidon himself as a gift to Atlas, the first ruler of Atlantis. It became more of a ceremonial passing of the torch between generations, her father gifted it right before escaping.
There was however, a catch. For lack of contracts a vow was put in place, accepting the trident and the power that comes with it means the bearer's soul will be bound to Atlantis, for it is their sole duty to protect it until they die.
Until the wielder doesn't acknowledge their duty, it will be no better than a regular human weapon.
Gura was always aware she could do that, but she was scared. Was there even a point when there was no kingdom to protect? Should she kill her chances of meeting that time traveler over false hopes?
After learning about the reconstruction of Atlantis had started a few centuries ago, from Artemis no less, Gura felt conflicted over what to do.
"No one can force you to do anything" Is what Amelia told her. "From what you've told me it doesn't seem like they're desperate to have you as queen. So what if it's your fate? I'll just ask Jack permission to ground pound the Moirai into changing it"
'Haha… She's such a bozo'
'Without you here, there's no point in holding back'
Gura opened her deep blue eyes, irises now enveloped with stars
'It's time to wake up from this dream and accept reality.'
-
The earth shook as Ina's bloodcurdling scream filled the air. She's had enough, after accepting death, not only did she immediately regret it but also caused Gura to die.
"Why would I even bother?" Ina said as she started cackling maniacally. "Maybe I should just kill all of you just like Ao-chan is telling me. Do what you want. K̷̝͉͙̝͔͗̒i̶̛̫͖͇͔̼̭̺̲͙̞͕͇͕͑̋̔̃́͘l̷̛̥̺̇̌́͛̓̆̑̊ḷ̶̛̗͓̫̠͇̏́̌̈́̈́̈́̍̄̕ͅͅ ̷̢͚̪̣͔͇͖͕͎̌͒̇̐̐̽͑̐̉̀͝͝͝ͅm̵̮͔͔̖̐̔̀̿̀͌̓̓̔͝ȩ̸̢̱̻͈͈̟͖͗̎͌̈͆̓̀͂."
Her tentacles wildy danced around her as they were shot in every direction, crushing everything it came across. Marine had already swam to shore by then, hoping to bring reinforcements as there was nothing more she could do.
"Halt at once" A familiar, yet different voice rang through her head.
Ina suddenly came to a stop, holding her head in pain.
"What?" She said. "I can hardly even breathe, who is commanding us to stop? Sure it's not like the ancient ones are omnipotent, but even I know that there are only so many entities with enough authority to influence them let alone completely overwhelm them."
"Z'uithl'ithad, because your connection to the priestess is now integral to her survival, I renew Motoaki Tanigo's pact so you're the one bound to her."
A figure emerged from the water. Her tall, slim body was adorned by a beautiful silky mermaid blue dress. The bodice covered with shining white crystals, and her pale white gloves connected to the sleeves. It was truly a majestic sight that commanded respect.
"Gura?" Asked an incredulous Ina.
"The trident of the sealord grants the blessing of Poseidon to the rightful ruler of Atlantis, which gives full control over aquatic creatures, Ao-chan although not of this world still possesses the required traits.
Slowly raising her hand, she summoned her weapon back from where it had fallen after the last throw and spun it around, pointing it forward. "Trying to reach greater heights than the gods is the very pinnacle of haybris (an: This is shorkbrain in action, not a typo)."
Ina started to notice the water level decreasing, as it enclosed the robot in a massive sphere. Muffled commands came out of it, but she couldn't make out what it was saying. Bullets, and rockets were fired but to no avail, as it was simply water.
Remorselessly closing her hand, there was an audible metallic crush as the mecha was crushed under the pressure. It was finally over.
After being released, massive waves struck the area, turning over whatever ships were not already destroyed. Without saying a word Gura turned to the ocean and started her descent.
"That was a last resort, but there was nothing else I could have done" She stopped, looking over her shoulder.
"At least I can't make fun of you for being a midget anymore, though you are still unfortunately lacking in some areas" With a smirk on her face Ina hugged her back. "I'm sorry you were forced to do this, but don't think we won't come to visit. You have what it takes to be a queen."
Ina noticed a smile creeping on Gura's face for only a slight moment, but once she let go of her she swam out of sight to the bottom.
Jumping to the sand, her legs finally gave out from exhaustion. "Holomyth may end up living up to its name at this rate, haha."
