Atlantis

[Apollymi]

Atlantis is the seat of power for the Mer Kingdom. A large expanse of the ocean is covered in technology very different from the land dwelling areas. You swim between large areas of the city to land on air filled platforms were you can see all manner of sea creature and Merfolk walking around.

[Apollymi]

At the end of the deep tunnel there was another giant clear pond, but instead of being acid one could see a giant dome underneath. Actually from this angle one could see even more than that. Several domes and sea creatures could be seen swimming about and going between spaces. Miki's eyes widened as she looked down and stopped. "Sugoi! I never got around to this before.... it's Atlantis!~" she chimed seeming excited by the prospect. Fiona had shifted from Miki's shoulder to the top of her head and was looking down into the water as well. The hues of blues and the movements of the water were all stunning. Eventually Hikari showed up at the edge of the pool and looked down at the pond as well. "Are we going there? Can we go there?!" she asked seemingly excited about the potential to see the Merfolk's Kingdom up close. She'd also not been to very many places in her own play through.

[Bloodedge]

Kou followed behind the two girls, keeping his eyes ahead for what eventually became an incredible sight. Through what could have been a simple pond, one could see numerous underwater domes filled with... civilization. The largest and most central of these domes contained the most impressive spectacle, and through Miki's words, Kou was informed of exactly what they were seeing. "Atlantis!? I thought people had to go through entire quest-lines and sacrifices of first children to get there," he said, realizing something more about this location soon after speaking. "It's supposed to be a city though, right? What's with the surrounding spots? Looks like way more than a city to me..."

Karna, who fell in at the back of the line, was having none of this. He'd been waiting for hours for the others to appear, all for the sake of them finding this place. If they were going to pussyfoot around about the location after all the time he'd spent waiting, he'd give them a little shove. As such, the moment Hikari asked about going to the place beneath the pond, Karna became the one to respond. "We can!" he said, stepping up behind both Kou and Miki to tap their backs with his fingernails. This simple action would send jolts through their bodies and incapacitate their legs just long enough for them to either fall, or be tipped into the pond. Of course, it would last only a second to avoid actually forcing the pair to drown. The next thing Kou knew, he was slamming face-first into the water, then sinking. Karna, meanwhile, would turn to Hikari and gesture toward the pond.

[Apollymi]

Miki gave a gentle nod to Kou's assertion about Atlantis, there were several prerequisite quests that were usually required. These things included a certain jewel, which you either had to have the luck to find, or the combined skills to make and it was a bit strange to consider going without those things. "Hai, breathing underwater is something that could be problematic. The extra bits to get there weren't supposed to be that bad, but in game it wasn't spoken about like it was so much..." she said about the city itself. And then after she spoke and without warning, she lost control of her legs and she was falling face first into the water. The only thing she'd heard in reply before this moment, was Karna mentioning that they could go there. 'Ugh... why did we agree to him?' she asked herself and even her dragon-self. Moving right along Miki was sinking underwater and Fiona atop her head climbed up to the back, looking mad from side to side and then, jumped into the water before both of them, beginning to swim down where Miki could see. 'Shimatta! Fiona come back...' she thought reaching out to the little bird and making the conscious effort to swim after her, lest they lose their recently found pet bird once again.

In the meantime, Hikari looked exceedingly happily at the pool and was great with the agreement. But as the other two sank she shook her head from left to right. "Ya' know, they are just going to stay mad at you if you keep doing stuff like that..." she said, but having gotten what she wanted in the moment she didn't care either and jumped into the pond to take off towards the biggest of the domes. As this was the way Fiona was headed, Miki also did the same while letting herself stew in unspoken amounts of annoyance.

[Bloodedge]

Kou didn't have the time or thought to breath properly before falling into the water, resulting in him taking a bit on as he sank. It also seemed Miki was thrown beneath the surface as well, with Fiona following both of them in. 'Why even!?' the lad thought, looking toward the dome below and wondering if he'd be able to make it before drowning. He did have a realization during this descent, though, and acted upon it immediately afterwards. Kou made use of his Transcendence skill to turn small areas of water into air pockets, which surrounded the heads of himself, Miki, Fiona, and even Hikari once she dove in.

Speaking of Hikari, the girl had words to share with Karna after his most recent actions. The white-haired male didn't seem to care about said words, reacting with only a shrug. "Good thing I'm not here for them to like me then, isn't it?" Karna had no intention of sharing his actual motives with any member of the group, including Hikari as it stood. Once everyone else was on their way through the pond, Karna casually dropped in himself and began simply sinking down after the others.

[Apollymi]

Miki was swimming after their shared pet, and found herself suddenly more comfortable with the idea of breathing. As it turned out, Kou had decided to use one of his abilities to make breathing regularly possible. She took a deep breath after this with a sigh attached because obviously she was now even more annoyed than she had been. Still this wasn't Kou's fault or even the fault of the small creature she was currently chasing how also now had an air bubble to breath in. 'Sankyuu!~' she chimed to the lad, though she was still rather obviously annoyed. 'Fiona... come back...' she thought at the bird as it happily swam towards the glowing colors of the open dome. Whether she knew it or not, Karna was also descending apparently without help for whatever reason. And eventually Miki would find herself falling into the open space of a city street with a fountain in the center chasing after the Filolial chick.

Hikari seemed to find it strange that this lad Karna didn't really care if he was liked or disliked by his companions. Whatever his endgame was, he apparently thought that such things didn't matter. 'Interesting...' Hikari thought. Knowing this lad couldn't really know what he was getting himself into picking a fight with her brother long term. But whatever, she figured the lad had been around him long enough to know such things wouldn't end well for him if he pushed too much or too often. To be honest from what she could tell about Miki the same could be said of her. Soon after her head was surrounded in a bubble of air and she didn't even have to worry about potentially drowning. She turned to her brother, figuring he was the one responsible and gave him a thumbs up. And soon enough her swimming would end her in the middle of the plaza along with Miki and Fiona. Strangely this space had plenty of air to breath around it, and apparently wasn't completely permeable to the water outside. "Sugoi! Sugoi!~ This place is awesome!~" Hikari chanted, seeming enthused by this undersea kingdom. In the meantime, Miki had recaptured her little chick and was holding her in her arms with her large bag of grabbed goods at her left side atop the large pillow form of her weapon. "Hai hai, it's a pretty nice spot. I always wanted to explore it a bit so whatever but... I don't like having decisions made for me." Miki's words hinted at a deep distaste for Karna's more annoying tactics. Whatever the case, they were soon standing around watching the movements of the daily lives of Merfolk of all varieties.

[Bloodedge]

Upon catching up and meeting Miki's pace, Kou looked to the lass and nodded. The path was still a long one, even with breathing apparatuses applied, though they made it into the open space without much issue... bar the fact that they still had to chase the Filolial around. Kou hardly had a moment to even appreciate where they were at present, but soon enough, Miki captured the chick. He could at least rest easy now, and both Hikari and Karna had made it inside safely as well. Now he could appreciate the surroundings.

... Of course, there was a comment made by Miki, and of course it was aimed at resident troll, Karna. He didn't care. Why would he? Nothing up to this point had fazed him, and it would take much, much more to even garner more of a reaction than what he'd been offering as of late. "Hesitation is death. Try that experimental method, go to that place you've never gone, pull your dick out in front of that girl. That's how we evolve," he said nonchalantly. With that, he walked out ahead of the others, seeming as if he knew exactly where he was going. "Gripe later, move now. Time to go find that big-tittied chick."

[Apollymi]

Hikari was busy looking around this new place. She'd heard Miki's discontent, and could sort of commiserate as the lass had done nothing to deserve simply being tossed in. What she'd learned of the pairing between Miki and Kou by observation alone, was that they enjoyed doing things together but also talked about it in a fair way. Their partnership was an extreme form of a fifty-fifty split. This was something she appreciated from her brother and also found interesting in the lass considering what she knew of her background. It was quite unusual. "Nii-san, this place is pretty awesome looking. We should explore a bit and have some fun while we're here!~" Hikari mentioned happily, she knew for a fact her brother wouldn't mind this, she also knew given how Miki behaved she wouldn't mind either.

In the interim, words being spoken by Karna made Miki scoff. If it was at all possible she was more irritated that he had the nerve to have something in mind to do, after forcing them to come here. Beyond all of that, she also had this feeling at the back of her mind which only furthered her own general annoyance at this situation. "No, you don't get to lecture me about doing something different, I've been doing that since I fucking got here. Fuck off. If you want to do something I don't care, but don't drag me along because you feel like it!" Miki's words were beyond the level of annoyed that she normally showed, even to Karna's antics. It was as if in this moment, he'd finally found something which was capable of getting under her skin. The little bird in Miki's arms looked up at her obviously annoyed face and vibrated within her arms as if trying to comfort her, such a feeling made Miki exhale gently and in doing so her magical senses which usually opened up to the bird caught a whiff of something she didn't understand being in this place. 'Oh? Is that...' her mind wandered as she turned in place multiple times trying to find the proper direction to face to look for the thing which had appeared to her senses. Hikari watched this and her eyes widened. She'd been alone with this pair for days and over the course of those few days, she'd never seen Miki react in such a negative way to anything as she had to the most recent words of the constantly trolling Karna. She had no idea what the lad intended to do, but it was obvious by Miki's reaction that such a thing was not going to go very well at all if he was insistant upon being annoying to her the entire time.

[Bloodedge]

Now that he had the opportunity to appreciate his surroundings, Kou could agree with Hikari's assertion. Everything around them was a different type of amazing compared to their previous experiences, and he also thought it would definitely be worth a bit of exploration. It seemed, however, that Karna had other plans meant to include the group as a whole. Miki was the first to comment on this, voicing very clearly her displeasure with Karna as a being through her retort. "Fine, whatever. I don't wanna hear anybody's shit when things go south later, just 'cause nobody wanted to listen to ol' Karna." This was all he had to say before moving on, leaving the others behind if they so wished it.

Kou felt strangely about this entire exchange. On one hand, he sided with Miki when it came to the annoyance of dealing with Karna. On the other hand, though... there was something else about this ordeal that he hadn't seen occur within this group previously, and it made him wonder the purpose. 'Huh... that's weird,' he thought while observing Karna's departure.

[Apollymi]

Karna took Miki's words in stride, apparently stating that if they wanted to ditch him in this it was fine but that it would cause more problems later. Miki for her part in this, didn't really feel bad for snapping at Karna, the lad made it his personal mission to push her buttons every time they were together, unless he had another target for the moment. In this particular case, he'd gone out of his way to put this group into this Kingdom and there were a few reasons he might have done this, but none of that really mattered to Miki at this point. No... right at present she'd found what she was looking for and it was annoyingly in the same direction that Karna had walked towards. Given this, she went on in that direction without saying much of anything as if entranced by something. Every step she took, made her move closer and closer to the magical thing that had hit her radar which required her attention.

Hikari watched and motioned to her brother to follow along. She knew that Karna was very interesting in how he chose to deal with the group at large, but she also knew enough about how the team worked out as a whole to know that no one would actually abandon him unless he did something properly worth being left behind. A hushed whisper would leave the lass aimed at her brother, "Nii-san is this okay? She seems pretty spaced out and well..." she was trying to think of a way to phrase what she was thinking about Karna's current level of antics but didn't really know how to phrase it. She was fairly certain the lad wouldn't lead them astray aside from his being a bit of a troll, whatever the case she didn't really want to lose sight of either of these individuals. While they walked, Miki didn't really take in any sights. They were being watched by the Merfolk at various crossing as they didn't see strangers very often. Even so, there was something much more pressing which would lead Miki towards a monument which looked a bit like a chapel in the middle of this 'city' like space. Once here she stopped and stared her steps becoming slow and measured as she frowned intently her brow furrowing. 'There is no way one of these should be here. There really isn't...' she thought as she approached the monument. It seemed to be a swirl of blue gemstone carved to look a bit like a pillar. But she recognized it for what it actually was. Still she supposed there were worse places for one of these to pop up. She'd seen the other places there were, and there were supposed to be five of them and this one counted among the ones she'd hadn't been able to track down and now the reasoning behind that was obvious. Still, the Merfolk in the area moved around it as if it was a perfectly normal object, none seemed to realize the gravity of what this thing actually was.

[Bloodedge]

Kou's focus was just about unwavering, until Hikari grabbed his attention with a gesture. He followed along, still in thought. 'What's missing?' he wondered. Hikari's concern did not go unnoticed, but he did take a few moments to answer. In those moments, he viewed the path taken by Karna again, seeming a little spaced-out in his own right upon answering. "No. It's not okay, but... it will be, if I'm right." Surely he couldn't be wrong in his line of thought, though there was one vital piece of information missing for his conclusion. He would be getting it soon, it seemed. Their path behind Miki led to an interesting-looking monument at the city's center, ignored by the citizens, but focused on by the blonde Adventurer. Kou looked to this point of focus and opened his senses as well. He wondered why she could have been so entranced by it, but... there was only one other time he'd felt this sensation.

"... Sou ka," he mumbled. There it was, the missing piece to the puzzle he'd been working on for the past minute or so. He nodded. Now he knew, everything would work out in the end, provided variables didn't ruin the entire situation at random.

[Apollymi]

Hikari followed along being a bit huffy that no one had anything proper to say about the nature of the thing happening before them. Miki to her credit found what she was looking for and was left standing in front of it for several uninterrupted seconds. She knew exactly what this monument was and though it had no reason to be here in the middle of such a place it was indeed. Hikari upon reaching the place had no idea what the older teens were doing but managed to look annoyed. Her brother had stated things would be fine, but also wasn't making any moves to do anything about it. "I don't get it, what is this statue and why is she fixated on it?" the girl said her own senses still closed to it so she had no idea what the big deal was. Miki would say something aloud for the first time since snapping. "This is one of the Lich King's Obelisks..." she commented, with Fiona in one hand she placed her hand against the statue even as the Merfolk continued to walk around. They thought the activities of the lass strange but if she wanted to pray to their statue they wouldn't stop her. "Sou ka, it's unclaimed," she said seeming to breath a sigh of relief. It would have been very problematic to come down here and find yet another Lich controlled player with access to the denizens of things connected to the greater dead of the sea. "I should take this one... I don't really want to deal with someone else having it," she said calmly. She knew where the other three of these things were located and knew they wouldn't be a direct problem for quite as long.

"Lich King's Obelisk? The hell is that supposed to be... and why do you want it?" she asked the whole thing seemed a little far-fetched and Hikari herself didn't get why anyone would care if it was claimed and what it did. "The Obelisk are monuments containing fragments of the power which once belonged to the Lich King. They were spread out across the world to keep his power from coming back together. Certain kinds of mages can be called by this power and are able to use it to perform necromancy. But they have to deal with the Lich King's influence as a side-effect and from what we've seen of it. It will turn them into megalomaniac demons. This applies even to those who are players for some reason, and would be particularly bad coming out of here..." Miki gave a quick summary, she knew that given their previous experiences in Dwargon and the Marsh Kingdoms, Kou would also be of the same general idea about getting rid of it.

[Bloodedge]

There was no explanation necessary on Kou's end. Miki gave the general summary of the monument, as well as the artifact within. Kou understood this to be a potential problem if left alone, but not a problem at all for Miki in particular. True enough, she should certainly be taking it.

On the other hand, though, it was a monument acting as the centerpiece of a major city. They obviously couldn't just destroy the monument and take its secrets without creating an incident the likes of which would equate to war. "The people here can't know what it is. If we're going to take it, we have to find someone important and get them to understand why such an important thing needs to be broken by outsiders... unless we were very sneaky about it, but... this is the central plaza."

In the meantime, Karna's journey came to an end. He reached the palace belonging to Atlantean royalty, bypassing the guards entirely. Once within the throne room, the ashen-haired male crossed his right arm over his chest and bared his fangs with a grin. "Hisashiburi, Paizuri-dono~"

[Apollymi]

Kou seemed to understand the seriousness of this situation, Hikari upon hearing out the entirety of Miki's speech was left a bit aghast. "So, like we should break it?" she asked seeming to not want to deal with undead Merfolk anymore than anyone else. But Kou's own explanation would come soon after, listing all of the supposed reasons they shouldn't do exactly just breaking it. Miki sighed. "It would be troublesome to randomly start an international incident just because I don't want to deal with a 'Flashpoint' Scenario. Not that the ones already backing us wouldn't agree with our decision..." she said a grin on her face. It was mentioned by the lad that they'd either have to consult the higher authority or try to take down the monument stealthily. "Flashpoint?" this was a question asked by Hikari as all of the references made by this nerdy duo didn't always stick within her mind. "I don't think I need to break it. In fact... I have Snatch and I am sure I could just take it while leaving the statue whole. Stealth is my primary expertise after all. It isn't absolutely necessary for us to involve any authority figure. Besides, every time we talk to someone in charge of something in this world it turns into an entire ordeal. Unless, of course, you're up for another ordeal... I don't really mind or anything. I was just really annoyed a minute ago..." she said simply. She wouldn't immediately try to remove the artifact though, as it was more than obvious she didn't plan on making any overly forceful moves when they could chat it out and come to the best overall conclusion for everyone present.

In the throne room of the Mer-Kingdom's palace atop a high back throne sat a young woman with large pinkish eyes and very pale skin. She seemed to be wrapped in fish scales, though she had two functional legs, the scales were open about her top like a wide v-necked shirt almost to the point of exposing her chest. That being said there was a crown atop her golden locks which framed her face. "Seri-chan desu. I thought you were bringing friends with you Karna-kun. Didn't you say you had something important to that the whole group of you had to tell me?" she asked, though the Nexus had changed what she'd tried to call herself. When they'd parted ways last he'd claimed to help her out with a problem she didn't have yet but would have soon. But he'd returned alone this time, she didn't really understand it at all. The large necklace shifted about her exposed midsection but she didn't seem to have any care in the world about it.

[Bloodedge]

Kou had already given thought to how they could go about breaking the monument. Now, he thought of what could happen if Miki used her Snatch ability to retrieve the artifact without destroying anything. His train of thought led to the consideration that there may be more importance to the monument, or rather, the artifact inside. It wasn't the most probable thing, but... it was quite possible. "I don't know if that would be a good idea. Same goes for breaking it, actually. The thing is... How are we breathing down here? This is the Sunken City, but what's making the air domes around the city itself? That's the kind of thing an Artifact could do, but there's no telling what Artifact is making it happen. The location of this piece makes it seem really important, so it's probably worth checking out for information before deciding. It would at least be better than the chance of killing the people here who don't have gills."

Karna removed his hand from his chest, placing it on his hip instead. The woman atop the throne may have insisted that he call her something specific, but there was little to no chance of that happening for anyone when it came to him. "Oppai-chan? I said I would bring the people I travel with. I did. They're outside, letting the whole plan go to shit because they won't listen to poor little Karna. Whatever~. I could have always told you myself, but there's nothing I'm going to do about the problem. Your kingdom is going to become more of an aquarium soon."