An earthquake struck, bigger than all of those that had hit before put together. Cracks appeared all over the mountain and the tip of Igna seemed to spin in the sky. The sky-ocean above which had been turbulent since the first quake ballooned with waves so high that some actually submerged the peak of Igna in its waters.

Other than the leaders of Igna and Myshk, fighting elsewhere had stopped. It had become impossible with the sheer strength of the vibrations that ripped through the earth.

Monsters clung to the ground, hoping that they wouldn't be struck by the cascade of falling stone from the upper parts of Igna. Others fell away in a scream as a crack opened up beneath them. The Aether itself had grown turbulent and Gi felt it as the [Entropy Field] faded and died.

Restarting it would be simple, but maintaining it when all the Aether around shook even worse than the ground? Impossible.

Gi wanted to take this moment and fight back, but his flight was impacted the same way being entirely dependent on channeled Aether. Without his arms, the only reason he didn't fall off the mountain was that he'd been grabbed by Georgia's old Subgenitor.

Gi could barely make out the combined shout of the Twins over the grating of rock against rock. "It's happening!"

Georgia's Subgenitor who had a similar ability was a bit easier to understand. "Fuck."

The sky-ocean fell.

Richard had seen a video of a fighter pilot accelerating at multiple Gs before. At the time, all it had done for him was give him a quick laugh at the pilot's face getting stretched backward. It was different when Gi felt those gravitational forces himself.

It wasn't that the sky-ocean had truly fallen, but the entire kingdom had risen up to meet it. Gi was pinned against the ground by the forces at play, no longer needing the Rhino Subgenitor to keep him safe against the violent earthquake.

The tip of Igna plunged deep into the sky-ocean like a sword stabbing into a vast chaotic beast. A roar of flame from the Queen was cut short as she herself disappeared into the water. The sound of surging water grew louder and louder as more and more of Igna disappeared into its dark gaping maw.

Only the rushing, vast waters of the sky-ocean were visible in Gi's eyes until it slammed into him. The impact bounced him against the ground and sent him spiraling upward in the water, doing the same to all those around him. Once inside the sky-ocean, the speed at which they moved increased exponentially except somehow the burden on their bodies lessened.

If it wasn't for how desperate their battle had been, Gi might have been frozen in inaction at the sudden change. What was happening? Where were they going? None of these thoughts even reached Gi's mind. His clan had been getting slaughtered and they'd been given this one chance.

"FIGHT!" The word ripped out of his lips echoing out in the water in a shout that was only possible thanks to his Quicksilver Body.

Rhinos, Mice, Spiders, Faithful - Everyone heard it, but only the Otters were truly at home.

Just as Gi dove towards the Angelic Mouse Progenitor, all of his Hunters and Elites surged forward, no longer bound by the [Entropy Field] and in their prime element. There was a slaughter.

When they struck, blood clouded the water, but only for a moment as the entire mountain shot them past it leaving the blood behind. Only scattered light from the Twins attacks lit the dark ocean, but Gi didn't need to see. He didn't need working arms. He didn't even need his [Divine Ire].

He just needed to kill.

Like a bullet, Gi shot through the water directly towards the Angelic Mouse Progenitor. A flash of light caused the two Progenitors to lock eyes, but Gi didn't care if he saw him coming. He surged forward into the darkness and a lance of pain in his chest that pierced through the the diminishing potion was the only thing that told him he'd been stabbed, but it also told him he'd reached his target.

Gi latched onto the Mouse with his legs, pulling himself even further along the Progenitor's sword before leaning in to where the Mouse's face would have to be.

[Endless Torrent] erupted from his mouth. Being surrounded by turbulent Water Aether, the attack practically exploded. The streams of empowered water cut into the Mouse and Gi could feel warm blood pool around his face, but the Progenitor didn't stop struggling. That attack wasn't enough.

Two [Archbishop]s appeared and started to fire their [Divine Ire], but their existence was wiped out by the turbulent nature of the Aether in the water. With his main attacks on cooldown or neutralized, Gi bent forward, impaling himself even further on the Progenitor's sword, and sunk his fangs into the mouse's shoulder.

With his teeth literally embedded into his opponent, he could tell that the wounds he was causing were healing almost as fast as he could make them. Surely, the self-healing Skill had limits, but Gi was't able to break through and for a brief moment, he started to despair.

He racked his brain for any way to end his opponent, but nothing came to him. Without being able to aim his [Divine Ire], he just didn't have the strength to kill him by himself.

A burst of light revealed the Angelic Mouse's face turned to horror and Gi felt two hands touch down gently on either shoulder as two more that were aligned palm to palm appeared just inches over the Angelic Mouse Progenitor's face.

Bubbles erupted from his mouth as he tried to scream or shout, but it didn't stop the Twins' attack. [Piercing Light] cut into the Progenitor's head, making both the mouse and flower sections flap wildly in the speeding water. His head slowly started to wrap itself back together, but the Twins didn't stop.

Every time their attack was off cooldown, another beam of light cut through the mouse. Even with the water rushing around them and diluting the power of their attack, their [Twin Core] more than made up for the lack. After several long seconds, the mouse's body finally stopped moving. The Twins must have gotten a notification because they announced his death.

The sounds of combat slowly died off, leaving only the rushing water as their entire group still shot upward and upward in the sky-ocean. For Gi, the pain was starting to ramp up to something that he could no longer ignore, but he had to see how they'd managed.

He activated a small burst of [Divine Ire] from his palm, letting out little bursts of light that were so spread out they they couldn't damage him. He saw bodies of the Angelic Mice floating dead around them. The Rhinos were huddled together, holding their breaths with Georgia and Poe holding each other in a death grip.

The otters fared better, being able to move around despite the speeds at which they moved and Gi could see that most of them had survived once the sky-ocean had fallen. In the distance, Gi could make out the shadows of bodies all around them, but it was hard to tell if they were the living or dead. With any luck, Galvina would be dead and he could flee with his clan.

For those with a high Vitality, holding ones breath wasn't difficult, but the Hidden Spiders started to struggle. Not wanting to see them drown, Gi stopped using his [Divine Ire] to light up the waters. Every second that crept forward, more and more sensation started to return to Gi.

Every inch of his body was in pain. Bones in his arms, back, and ribs all had to be cracked. Blood still pooled around him before being whisked away by their quick movement from where the two handed sword was stabbed into him up to its hilt in his chest. It was a miracle that it hadn't struck his heart, but one of his lungs had definitely been punctured and he could feel the little froths of blood forming and getting washed away with every breath.

The waters themselves were ice cold and Gi wondered idly if they'd ever even make it to the top.

For some reason, his thoughts turned to Danna. The memory of her approaching him while he sat on one of the benches at their college before asking him out for the first time bubbled to the surface. Gi smiled despite himself. Maybe it hadn't ultimately been a good relationship, but it had been nice for awhile, hadn't it?

A slow glow of light started to permeate the water all around Gi and he wondered where it was coming from. From the pain and the creeping cold, his thoughts were slow and it took him a long moment to understand where it was coming from.

Up.

The light grew brighter and brighter as their ascent grew and it slowly dawned on him that they were reaching the light.

***

Wax and Wane burst out of the water with the entire mountain. Those that had been swimming fell back down, crashing against Igna. The entire battlefield was soaked and monsters littered the entire mountain, but it didn't stop the battle between Queen Siht and the Myshkin Progenitor.

The turbulent Aether had finally settled, but it wasn't Aether that had the Twins eyes locked to the sky. There was no ocean above them and instead there was a giant ball of fire that shot light in every direction. Despite how insane it seemed, the Twins knew what it was somehow.

A sun. The sun.

A groan from below the Twins returned their attention back to the Progenitor. He still lay over the body of the Angelic Mouse impaled by his massive sword.

"TIRIA!" The Twins shout seemed to wake monsters up out of their confusion, but a notification that must have hit all of them at the same time caused everyone to pause.

The Monster Surge has begun!

****

King Rellington stood on the crow's nest of his massive ship, the Sacred Vow. As the flagship of his entire fleet, it was the only vessel of its size that could navigate the tight spaces of the Thousand Islands, thanks to expensive enchantments that were worked through its entire structure.

All around the Sacred Vow were hundreds of other smaller ships in his navy, each of them preparing for this day. The King's eyes were locked onto the mountain that had just burst out of the ocean in front of him. A dragon and a giant slenderman did battle across its face even as the notification had appeared to him.

The Monsters Surge has begun!

Monsters will now spawn all across the world. Some will appear in concentrated cities while others will appear wild in random places of turbulent Aether.

Destroy the monster cities to end the surge!

Ellen Swamp scaled the crow's nest to stand beside him and look to the monster's war going on just beyond their islands. "What are they doing?"

The King shrugged. "Monsters will act according to their nature."

"Brutality."

The King nodded. They both knew that he was thinking of Fader, the man who'd saved his life only to die at the hands of a monstrous otter. The King had pushed him along his path of cultivation because he'd thought his savior impervious to harm. He'd been wrong.

He hoped he'd get a chance to cleave that otter in two personally some day.

"What are your orders?" Ellen Swamp asked, pulling him from his dark thoughts.

"Form a blockade. If they are willing to kill each other for us, let's not stop them. Use your powers where it makes sense. Concentrate our Elites, but set up and spread out the ballistas. I didn't expect any of the monsters to be so large here."

She gave a lazy salute, but before she could leave, he added. "See what the damage is to the rest of the Thousand Islands and grab a runner to see if the wizards have an update from the main continent. The records indicated that they got hit the hardest last time. If the Eastern and Western Empires fall, our little Kingdom might not be long for this world."