Deceit and Depths

He lowered his hand and let it fall to his side.

Atlas was tired of this. Constant fighting—it felt like the same thing over and over again. Maybe it's better to just dive into the water now. Skip the fights, the running away, and go straight for the gamble. At this rate, they would end up dead soon, and it's best to enter the water when they're at full strength, which is what they are at now.

But this wouldn't work out—not here and not now. The team close to them would be waiting if they found nothing, so he couldn't just go under and have nothing to return to. Atlas now knew it was time to exert himself more than ever before.

The group of six was closing in on them, but at a slow pace. He was finally able to see every detail of the group clearly.

It was all women.

Atlas didn't bother looking at them to see if they were attractive or not because they did something unthinkable.

They stopped moving in the water and raised their hands.

A taller woman from the group stepped forward.

"Hey! I know this is going to sound soooo crazzzy and all, but we really don't want to fight... Okayyyyy?!"

Atlas was hit with a mental flashbang. For some reason, this girl was talking like she was a preppy teenager.

This was even scarier than if she had been threatening their lives.

The girl didn't stop talking and started rambling.

"So you're probably wondering why we don't want to fight, rightttt? Wellll, the reason is that we really want to make a lot of alliances and groups because we reallllyyy want to go to the edge of the walls and try to escape, mmmkay! Also, you're like totally hot, what's your name by the way? And ohhh my gosh, who's that girl next to you? Wait a second, are you two like tottalllyyy dating? OMG, that would be so cute. I totally didn't mean to hit on your man! I'm sorry, girl, he is just a handsome guy, mmmkay? So don't take it too seriously, mmmkay?"

Iris slowly turned her head and looked at Atlas. They made eye contact, then turned back.

Except by the time they turned their heads, the group wasn't just standing still. All six of their bodies had Aether imbuing them, and they jumped towards them.

A surprise attack!

Atlas was so caught up in her voice that he subconsciously lowered his guard, making the attack feel like yet another mental flashbang.

swords were falling from every direction at once. Three were on him, and three were on Iris.

This was a moment of pure death—at least for anyone who wasn't him.

The real thought that flashed into his head was: "Can I save Iris?" He knew that warping could save him, but Iris was dead meat. He didn't have time to react, so he simply went off instinct. He grabbed Iris and used warp at the same time.

Instantly, he appeared in the water, this time choosing to teleport off the slab.

His core felt like it drained to almost nothing from the single warp.

Next to him was Iris.

"It worked!" Atlas internally felt delighted now, knowing that he could actually warp other people with him! The cost of doing so was insane, leaving him with almost no Aether to use afterward. Now, he could warp at most once more and barely have Aether to cover his body for the ensuing fight.

Reality once again reminded him of how cruel it was. He was now stuck in a two-versus-six situation with almost no Aether.

The tall girl looked around in confusion, her blonde hair swinging in the air.

Finally, she saw Atlas and dropped to her knees.

"WHAT! Are you kidding me? How did you do that?! That is like sooo unfair! I really thought we had you! Also, really, how did you do that? I want to know like sooo bad!"

She kept going on, but Atlas tuned her out. Now was the moment to conserve his strength and think of a plan.

He had to either try to fight his way back or go under.

"Yo, teleporty guy, are you even listening? I saiddd I would give you a chance to come back on if you explain yourself!"

Atlas started to get irritated at the sound of her voice.

After thinking about his options, he had no choice. He whispered something into Iris's ear, and then with the last of his Aether surrounding him, he dove into the water.

Darkness almost instantly surrounded him. For some reason, the water made it seem as if light couldn't penetrate it at all, but only when you were in the water. Above the water, you could still see somewhat into it. It felt like an optical illusion.

Atlas cut through the water while staying next to Iris. She was mimicking his movements, and although they couldn't see, they could still feel each other's bodies. So, they knew where one another was.

They went deeper and deeper still. Atlas's Aether was already so low that he knew he couldn't hold on long enough for a deep dive. The plan now was to swim away underwater, leaving the six girls lost to where they went. If they swam above water, they would be caught easily.

He once again felt lucky that Iris came to the same conclusion as him.

He kept going through the water again and again, his body straining to keep up.

His breath was running out quickly, and so was his Aether. After over five minutes in the water, he had to resurface.

Tapping on Iris's shoulder, he started to ascend with her. He was so far down that he was worried about ascending too fast and dealing with decompression sickness. But that was a risk he had to take and hope that Aether countered it within his body.

Both Atlas and Iris broke through the surface into the darkness and tried looking around. It seemed as if they ended up over five hundred meters away.

Atlas's body was so tired, and his Aether was completely gone now. It felt like his body would collapse any second. He was trying to see where the closest slab was and felt even more desperate when he realized it was over forty meters away—and this one was occupied by two people.

He started to swim again, knowing that if he stopped to rest, he probably wouldn't move again. It was better to go now than later.

That's when he felt something touch his leg.

He looked down and didn't see anything but still thrashed his leg to get whatever touched him away.

Suddenly, it felt like a hand grabbed him.

Atlas tried to warp, but he had no Aether left. In fact, just making the mental connection to warp and trying to use it with no Aether made him even more tired.

It was hopeless. He tried to grab onto Iris for help, but she didn't even notice what had happened. His last move was to scream, but even that was too late. The hand that grabbed him yanked him under the water, and instead of being able to take a breath, his mouth filled with cold water.

The last thought before he was fully submerged was the same thing he felt when he found he had to face a Door Trial:

"I am dead."