Before Lumine and Paimon could figure out what was happening, a strange noise came from the center of the room.
As if realizing something, Lyney swung his mechanical gauntlet, and with a sound of mechanical closure, the gauntlet fully extended.
Not only that, but Lyney's Ice Vision, hanging from his cape, also glowed faintly at this moment.
As the grinding sound of gears and metal grew louder, the four closing switches controlling the 'sluice gate' began to tremble.
However, trembling was just the beginning.
Within the next second, the four gears controlling the closing switches stopped rotating one by one, and the closing switches lost control.
Bang bang bang bang—
Four continuous strange noises indicated the complete collapse of the closing switches, followed by streaks of water arrows shimmering with an eerie glow.
The collapse of the closing switches also indicated that the 'sluice gate' could no longer withstand the pressure from the primordial sea water.
The pointer on the 'sluice gate' swung back and forth at an extremely abnormal speed, and in just a moment, it followed in the footsteps of the collapsed closing mechanisms.
Boom—
With a huge explosion, the primordial sea water, accumulated for countless years, burst forth instantly, directly cutting the 'sluice gate' in half and completely breaking through the seal.
Lumine stared dumbfounded at the towering water column shimmering with an eerie glow, momentarily at a loss.
But she was also someone who had seen big scenes and quickly emerged from that state of shock, turning her gaze to Lyney, who was closest to the Seawater.
"Duke!"
Lumine exclaimed, reminding him.
Looking at the Primordial Sea rushing towards him like a raging tide, Lyney's face showed no trace of fear.
He forcefully swung his mechanical gauntlet again, and as an ice-blue light gathered on the fist, he unhesitatingly threw a punch at the giant wave.
An extremely condensed ice-blue streak of light detached from the black gauntlet, rushing towards the giant wave like a roaring cold wind.
Almost the moment the condensed Ice elemental energy came into contact with the surging Primordial Sea, the previously destructive giant wave instantly froze, transforming into a beautiful crystal waterfall.
"Great, it worked!"
Paimon shouted excitedly.
However... no one present, except Paimon, dared to relax because of this.
The reason was simple: The Prophecy stated that Fontaine would be swallowed by great waters, and the seemingly fierce surge just now was far from enough to submerge Fontaine.
Just as they expected, an even more turbulent giant wave rode the crystal waterfall upwards, rapidly approaching their location.
Looking at the approaching waves, Lyney's expression was somewhat solemn, and then he unhesitatingly began to retreat.
The main reason he was able to stop the previous wave was 'concentration,' but this more violent wave was directly 'diverted,' and he couldn't continue to control it.
"Now we'll see how long these three gates can hold up against this wave of invasion..."
Lyney thought to himself as he quickly ran towards the gate.
The other three, who were already standing further away, had now reached a safe position.
Clorinde glanced at Lyney, and the Electro Vision hanging on her body sparked with electric arcs, as if she was about to shoot at any moment.
Feeling the primordial sea water gradually closing in behind him, Lyney accelerated his running speed and nodded at Clorinde.
Years of cooperation made Clorinde immediately understand Lyney's meaning. She spun the gun in her hand, then aimed the muzzle at the mechanism used to open the three gates, and whispered:
"Three, two, one."
Bang—
As Clorinde's countdown ended, she pulled the trigger without hesitation.
A bullet shimmering with lightning slipped out of the barrel, instantly wrecking the mechanism, and the gates it controlled slowly lowered at this moment.
Looking at the gradually shrinking escape exit, Lyney's expression grew solemn, then he unhesitatingly crouched down, accelerating his movement with a slide.
Thanks to Lyney's calm decision at the last moment, he was able to slide out just before the last gate was about to close.
But he did not relax; instead, he quickly sprang up from the ground, and the Ice Vision on his cape glowed with an unprecedented ice-blue light.
He swung the gauntlet in his hand, and streaks of ice-blue light shot straight into the gaps between the gate and the wall, instantly transforming into ice crystals, directly freezing the gate and the wall together, thereby buying time.
At this point, Lyney finally caught his breath and then spoke in a rapid voice:
"This place won't hold for long. Go find Neuvillette immediately and tell him that the underwater defense line is about to collapse."
"After that, if there are no more surprises... go find Mr. Yuto and tell him to prepare to manage the surface defense line."
Looking at the sturdy back, Lumine wanted to say something, but ultimately chose to remain silent, then quickly ran out of Meropide.
...
The bottom of Beryl Region is directly connected to the seabed and Fontaine's underground water veins, which means... once the Primordial Sea erupts, this will be the second eruption point besides Seawater.
However, for Mr. Yuto... this happened too suddenly.
In his estimation, there were at least two or three days before the Seawater erupted, so he was unprepared for such an emergency.
This directly led to... his current situation, where he could very likely be swallowed by the surging Seawater.
"Mr. Yuto?!"
Navia, who had been standing at the uppermost edge of Beryl Region, naturally observed the anomaly at the very bottom of Beryl Region.
She saw some strangely glowing water rapidly gushing out of the pool at the bottom of Beryl Region at a visible speed, gradually engulfing their former home.
"Yuto! Come up quickly! Tsk... Miles, Silver, you two continue to evacuate the citizens, leave the rest to me!"
Navia said as she resolutely jumped down step by step, attempting to meet Yuto in this way.
And Yuto himself seemed unwilling to accept this so-called fate; the Electro Vision hanging at his waist emitted a purple lightning glow.
"Using the surrounding walls... maybe I really can escape..."
Yuto only took a moment to determine the approximate route, then transformed into a streak of lightning, rapidly teleporting back and forth on the rock wall to quickly return.
Seeing this, Navia also temporarily stopped her descent, standing on the steps to await Yuto.
As the streak of lightning drew closer to Navia, it was as if the cage of fate was about to be completely broken at this moment.
But fate is called fate because it cannot be defied.
Just as Navia's hand was about to touch the streak of lightning coming from below... the primordial sea water, like a shark that smelled blood, grew rapidly at an incomprehensible speed.
"Yuto! Quick! Grab my hand!!!"
Navia shouted anxiously.
But the growth rate of the primordial sea water did not slow down because of Navia's voice; on the contrary, its growth rate became faster and faster.
In just a moment, the surging primordial sea water was already within reach, and the speed of that streak of lightning clearly could not keep up with the growth rate of the Seawater.
"Faster! Just a little faster!"
Yuto fully activated all the elemental energy he could, hoping to break this desperate cage of fate.
And just before he was about to touch Navia's hand, the rapidly rising Seawater instantly swallowed Yuto, leaving only Navia's hand suspended at the edge of the stairs.
Navia's hand hung blankly over the strangely glowing water, and her hand... was empty.
She wanted to grasp something, but felt like she couldn't grasp anything.
The girl's expression was blank; at this moment, she truly found it hard to believe... that the pain of losing a loved one would once again come knocking.
Strangely enough, after swallowing Yuto... the Seawater actually stopped growing and even receded little by little, as if
—Yuto was their target.
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