RM Vol 3: For a World without Boundary – Chapter 23-1: Under the Sea (Part 1)

Author notes:

I am back! Holy crap, you all have no idea how deep the rabbit hole of investing historical landmarks and events would lead you. I sure as hell had wasted a lot of time trying to combine historical facts into a cohesive storyline in the latest chapter. But I think it's worth it in the end. In a way, the newest chapter is to remedy a lose end I have left opened way, way back. Better fix it now than never!

Now, enjoy the bonus pictures as usual! (2 of them)

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300 meters below the sea of the Atlantic, far away from the hustle and bustle of a naval battle still raging above, lies a strange sight. A group of four Nassau-class submarines, accompanied by three girls swimming in front of them, are slowly surrounding a dark shape beneath the ocean. These girls, calmly moving about in the water without any diving gears, helps the submarines deploy a few underwater objects, with one of them saying.

"Finally we can get to the shooting part," The girl with long black hair, dressed in a long black robe with orange inner that covers her mechanical arms and legs, said. "I would lose my mind having to wait for these subs to catch up." Her hands continue pushing the spherical device to its designated position while complaining. "Seriously, why have we made our submarines this slow again?"

The elder sister of the girl in a black robe tucks away a floating strand of her white hair before admonishing. "It would be better if you work more and talk less, Adeline. As for the submarines, they are of a transitional design, much like our current fleet of destroyers. Their capability is thus limited, hence the speed of only 18 knots beneath the waves." Unlike her younger sister, the girl chose the white palette instead of black. And as they are twins, they are easily differentiated by their color choices.

"Then what's the point of bringing them with us then? We belonged to Section Zero, we would have taken out this nest much earlier without them, Alina." Adeline complained after setting up her device, making sure it was stationary by deploying its fins and miniaturized propellers. "For all we know, their slow speed will be the dead of them."

Rolling her amber-colored eyes, with her right one hidden by a mechanical eyepiece, Alina replies with a tinge of exasperation. "They're here to help us field testing the Reality Anchors. Need I remind you that it would have been a pain to set bring all of the Anchors here and set them up ourselves?"

Suddenly, a new voice joins them by literally swimming in the middle of their work. "Woo~!" Though it's better to say that she is riding a translucent Megalodon instead of swimming. "And let's not forget we're here to supervise their anti-Demon training!"

Alina and Adeline direct their eyes at the black hair girl, wearing nothing but a black bikini, doing barrel rolls with her Megalodon, with Alina saying. "What she said. You can either suck it up and work patiently till we can get to the shooting part. Or I will treat you to a nice round of sparring when we get back." Letting out a sweet smile, Alina directs it at her younger sister floating 3 kilometers away.

Even though it's a far distance and it's very dark 300 meters beneath the surface, Adeline can see that sweet smile very clearly. She can feel her goosebumps raising while she replies. "No, no~! I am just fine and dandy with working out here. I wouldn't like to trouble my sis for a spar back home, right?" You would literally lob my head off, was left unsaid.

Alina allows a smirk on her face before addressing the girl still riding her shark. "Architect, I assume that you're done with your quota?"

Stopping her Megalodon before patting its translucent nose, the girl named Architect grins with amusement dancing in her pink eyes. "Already done like ages ago! It's why I bring Sharky here for a spin! You should give it a try sometime, Alina!"

"Maybe I will, maybe I won't. We'll see." Alina shrugged before making sure that all the sphere-shaped Reality Anchors were in place. Alina then addresses the girls while pulling out her silvery white scythe behind her back. "You girls ready?"

Adeline gives Alina a thumbs up with her right hand unholstering her a black rifle that's as long as her body. While above them, Architect unstraps her gun launcher with a big grin and loads it up with a warhead she took from a gear pack on her Megalodon's back. Seeing that her fellow Einheri are all good to go, Alina nods to herself while radioing the submarine force.

"This is Alina to U-569, we're good to go here."

"This is U-569, all U-boats are in place. Connections to Reality Anchors are green. Suppression script uploaded to all Anchors, IFF is working perfectly. Weapon bays are hot and ready. We're good to commence with the operation, ma'am."

"Good." Alina said while swimming, with her magic it's more like flying though. "The opening move will be left for you. I want to see how the torpedoes fair against the target. Start the countdown, Commander."

"Aye aye, ma'am. All elements, standby for activation of Reality Anchors in 5... 4... 3... 2... 1... Activate!"

With that command, the previously deployed Anchors light up in a soft, golden hue due to a halo surrounding each and every one of them. And then, nothing happens.

Adeline cracks a line at the quietness of everything. "I'm tempted to say that line..." She stopped when notice the side glare Alina was directing her way. Adeline sweatdrops when Alina angles her scythe, daring her to finish the sentence. "But I still very much prefer to live so not gonna do it. Hehe~!"

Alina lowers her weapon while mouthing. "Good girl." 

As soon as that little banter is done, however, the dark shape below their encirclement twists and turns before a large rumble echoes underwater. That audio attack almost ruptures the eardrums of the sonar operators if not for their protective earpads. Then, the three Einheri girls see as the shape grows larger and larger beneath them. It then unfurls into a mass of tentacles connecting to a giant diamond-shaped body that starts floating upwards to meet the ones that dare disturb its rest. That white and pink body is a telltale sign of its being a Demonic threat, a very large Sea Demon to be exact, nesting right beneath the Atlantic.

And to that monstrosity that is 400 meters in length, Architect says with a tilt of her head. "Hot damn, you're the most uncute aquatic lifeform I have ever come across."

Adeline sweatdrops at the casual disparaging of the Demon that Architect just pulled. And had the Demon had a vein, it would have popped one right now because that's not something one expected to hear right off the bat. Instead, it opts to level its two large, pink glowing veins on its diamond head that act as its sensory organ at Architect. Without a doubt, it acts with a certain intelligence to it, and boy it's pissed.

Alina calmly comments on that fact. "Great, so now it's not just mad that we woke it up, it's also enraged that Architect calling it ugly."

Rather than feeling sheepish, however, Architect just raises a palm up. "Oopsie."

That also signals the start of a torpedo attack on the Sea Demon as twelve torpedoes rush past the stationary Einheri. The torpedoes slam into the Demon, exploding into a dozen underwater blasts that cover half of its body in clouds of vapor, bubbles, and light. The pained scream of the Demon that echoed for kilometers, signified that the attack has been very effective. For a monster of 400 meters in length, torpedoes shouldn't have been an issue for it as this particular Sea Demon can instinctively cast a protective membrane of Mana around its body and tentacles. Yet, for whatever reason, the Sea Demon's proud defensive measure failed it today, and with it, it tasted the might of mankind firsthand.

Its scream, mixed with anger and pain, and even a bit of shock, continue for a while as it thrashes its limbs everywhere. The Demon's maddening action prompts Alina to signal Architect and Adeline with one single word.

"Attack."

Without further ado, Alina swoops into the mess of tentacles that are thrice her size, using a mixture of water magic and her extremely sharp scythe to cut away the frenzied mass. Whenever any tentacle dares to reach out to either squash or grab her, Adeline dissects each and every single one of them with ruthless efficiency. Each of her cuts, either with her treasured scythe or water blade, made for fine cubes or slices of milky parts, reminiscing of a masterful sushi chef at work.

Unlike her sister that specced herself for melee combat, however, Adeline chooses to hang back, supporting her large beam rifle with two hands. With the aid of her eyepiece mounted on her left iris, Adeline calculates the parts where her attack will deal the most damage on the Sea Demon. Having finalized her option, Adeline presses the trigger and unleashes a contained beam that superheated the nearby water. Thanks to her stabilizing spells she automatically deployed, Adeline is allowed the freedom of not exploding due to superheated vapor but the Demon is not so lucky. The beam cuts through almost half of its tentacles, rendering it in more pain and gutting its close-range offensive capability. This, in turn, allows Alina more leeway in further cutting the Demon apart.

Architect, on the other hand, utilizes her Sharky to literally play Ring Around the Rosie with the Sea Demon's head. With each circle around the beast, Architect deposits two of her warheads on it, leaving behind explosions that stun it and cratering its thick, silicon head. Architect never loses her grin while controlling Sharky to duck and dive the Demon's attempts to swat the nuisance of its face.

And since the Einheri has explicitly stated that they need not worry about friendly fire, the nearby Belkan Wolfpack unhesitantly dumps more torpedoes at the Sea Demon, much to its pain and dismay. The attack of the 533mm torpedoes leaves more than just physical damage, it also heavily impairs the Demon from casting any spell, if it could even at that.

After being pummeled for three minutes straight to the point of its being on death's door, the Demon realizes that something is debuffing it, suppressing it from utilizing any sort of mana. Had it not been in relentless pain, courtesy of the relentless assault conducted by the Einheri girls, the Sea Demon could have been able to forcefully cast a spell at a much lower efficiency. But as its stands right now, the Sea Demon knows full well that it won't be able to get out of this alive.

But maybe its offsprings can.

With an unwilling rumble beneath the waves, the Sea Demon spins in place, using whatever momentum its giant body has to dissuade the sharks in the water. It doesn't help much, considering that two of the Einheri are ranged attackers while the last one is just too damn good in a melee to be affected by the sudden dramatic change. Nonetheless, the Sea Demon isn't deterred from its duty. Making use of its momentum, it shoots out a wave of teardrop projectiles at high speed in a circular radius. Coming out of hidden crevices beneath its thick silicon armor, these eggs rush through the water in desperate attempts to get out of the combat zone.

Due to the attacks earlier, some of the Sea Demon's eggs were destroyed, much to its dismay. The Sea Demon mournfully wails when two of the Einheri use their long-range weapon to intercept most of the remaining eggs before they can escape. By the time the last eggs reach the perimeter guarded by the Nassau-class submarines, what's left of them are intercepted by countermeasure torpedoes from the Nassau. The very last egg managed to break past the interception, only to unfortunately bump itself into the hull of a Nassau at high speed, breaking it apart while denting the nose of the submarine.

With its attempt at leaving behind a generation of progeny utterly destroyed, the Sea Demon goes insane, screaming bloody murder at the pesky sharks around it. Yet, before it can act any more than that, Alina has already arrived atop its diamond-shaped head. Her scythe is held high while glowing the holiest of light at the edge of the blade.

"In the name of my master, the burial squad will recite prayers for you after you die~!"

Then, the executioner befalls her blade.