Chapter 2 Atlantis

Shuttling through the ocean, the man and shark soon made it to a gigantic city like no other. It was easily 1000 kilometers across with a domelike bubble surrounding it. This was Atlantis, the Capital of Azure Star and the base of the ocean dwellers.

As the shark reached the bubble a gap opened allowing the two through before they continued on their way to the center of the city.

"Isn't that Great Red!? The Shark of War!?"

"Wait who is that man standing atop him?! It couldn't be!"

"It must be him! The Ocean God!"

The citizens below exclaimed one after another. They looked similar to humans but had various differences, for example those of the merman race had tails instead of a lower body, while the manfish had scales throughout their body, and gills instead of a nose.

Seeing these two figures was definitely a shock to them, after all one was the strongest being on Azure Star while the other ranked within the top 5. A word from either of them could change the entirety of the planet.

After about a minute a large castle appeared. Neptune. Placed at the deepest point of the ocean, taller than the tallest mountain on the surface, guarded by defensive formations just below the level of Gods, Neptune was the residence of the Aquatic King Poseidon.

Once the pair approached the castle 1000s of guards appeared, all clad in armour from head to toe, or fin. Each of them had a strong aura being comparable to geniuses at the top of the Earthly Powers List although not nearly as young.

"We greet the Ocean God and the Shark of War on behalf of the Aquatic King!" The guards roared in unison as they bowed towards the man and the shark.

"At ease, we're only here to view the Inner Cosmos Grand Ranking." Re declared as he waved them off. They then entered the castle ignoring the surrounding defensive formations. 'After all I was the one who created them.' Re thought to himself before they made their way through the castle.

Upon entering Great Red was surrounded in a glowing light before turning into a 3 meter tall manfish. Unlike most manfish he had a nose and gills, his hair was was a blood red as was his eyes, and he was clad in similarly blood red robes.

On his back a large fin pierced through his robes and his skin was covered in red scales in certain areas acting as a sort of protective layer.

Finally they entered a large door after a few seconds of walking. Opening it the two found themselves in a large hall with about 100 people inside it. Each person sat on a throne of sorts denoting their importance. At the very end of the hall were 5 Seats all of where were grander than the other seats.

"We greet the Ocean God!"

"Greetings Shark of War!"

The people within gave a short greeting to both of them as a sign of respect. Each and every person in the hall was a being of great power and could be considered the strongest Elites of Azure Star.

To their greeting Re gave a nod of acknowledgement before moving further in, and sitting on one of the 5 Thrones. Great Red did the same sitting to his right, while the other 3 seats to his left were already filled.

"So you've finally arrived, I thought you wouldn't make it." The man in the center chuckled, he looked almost completely human save for his spiked blue ears. His hair was long and golden his eyes as blue and as deep as the sea, this was the Aquatic King Poseidon.

"I lost track of time, luckily I had Red remind me otherwise I would've really missed it." Re replied, shaking his head slightly embarrassed.

"Don't worry about it, Poseidon here almost lost the Streaming Crystal, he put Aqua Star as the destination instead of Azure Star and spent the last week travelling across the Galaxy to retrieve it." A woman to the right of Poseidon mentioned.

She was a mermaid tail and all, with long light blue hair and green eyes, the Queen of Atlantis and wife of Poseidon, Aquarius.

"Ahem, it was an honest mistake and didn't I find it in the end? All's well that ends well. Anyway how's your cultivation been going Re? There's never been a God on Azure Star before so I am really curious how it works." Poseidon replied trying to divert the conversation.

Naturally Re noticed this but he didn't mind giving Poseidon an out, after all he was like a Senior Brother to him. "Well basically its kind of self explanatory, its being a Go-" Re was about to explain when all of a sudden a large screen appeared in the center of the hall.

A vast galaxy was captured on the screen, with nearly a trillion stars, and over 10 trillion planets it was bigger than any mortal could possibly comprehend. Unfortunately it was completely devoid of life, just as many galaxies within the Grand Cosmos were.

The key difference between those and this one, being the reason. "The Abyssal Nail...." An old man to the far right of the 5 Seats muttered. He had a long grey beard and hair, his eyes show cased his age and wisdom and his face was covered in wrinkles. This was Noah the only other human amongst the top 5 experts of Azure Star.

Hearing what he said everyone in the hall immediately nodded. They had all heard of the Abyssal Nail before and it made sense as to why it was chosen as the battlefield this time.

At separate parts of the Abyssal Nail, over trillions of kilometers away from each other 91 beings appeared, the Gods of the Grand Cosmos and literal Gods in a sense.

They each stood silently within the void of space, before landing on nearby planets. A few minutes later in the center of Abyssal Nail a star exploded and this signaled the beginning of the Inner Cosmos Grand Ranking!