Light.
Or more specifically the electro magnetic spectrum which light belonged to.
It was the fastest thing there was in the universe due to several factors, the most prominent of them of it being pure energy.
Light however could be manipulated by clever placement of light reflecting, emitting and absorbing objects making what people would call an illusion.
However, if someone had foreknowledge of what was happening ahead of time, then they wouldn't be affected by the illusion that much and would just dismiss it.
But I was currently wishing that what I was seeing was an illusion.
"You guys are fucking disgusting"
Feeling the urge to curse in all the languages that I knew of bubble up in my throat, I glared at the Atlantean mer people who had been the ones to cause my great anger.
Because laying on the ground in front of me were the corpses of children.
And not just one child had their bloated bodies be tossed aside carelessly floating aimlessly in the water.
Hundreds, if not thousands of children had been reduced to aimless corpses which the Atlanteans ruthlessly pushed aside to reveal the path to the place we were going.
It was disgusting.
And I would say that gunpowder Garry mirrored my sentiment.
Grinding his teeth audibly in the water, I stared steadily at the back of the head of the Atlantean guard leading me.
Anchored down by a series of rusted metal chains, the binds were barely being held up by the buoyancy of the children bodies.
And from what I can tell...
They didn't even die that long ago as their corpses didn't show any signs of deterioration.
In fact, they were in pristine condition.
And that made it all the more disgusting.
Thinking about all the ways that I could rip and tear these beings in the most efficient yet painful way possible, soon enough, we made our way out of the forest of corpses and into the pentagram.
Water swirling ahead of me to form a large and visible whirlpool, several pillars made out of prismarine were erected.
Strangely enough however, were the chains which were leading into the large whirlpool that blocked all forms of sight.
'What the hell is behind that thing?'
Slowly inching my sight towards the whirlpool, I simultaneously realized that I should probably start to free myself in the mean time.
So as I held a dagger in my hands and grinded it against the chains on my arms with slow deliberate motions, Gunpowder Garry was making a few moves of his own.
And those moves really made me question his sanity and intelligence.
"Attack men!!!" Pointing his hand directly at the mer people surrounding us the guards immediately pointed their spears and tridents away from us.
Aiming them at the surrounding area silence befell the area as only the sound of swirling currents and the deep breaths being taken in could be heard.
Turning around to stare directly at the man I looked around me.
'...'
"Is something supposed to happen?"
Speaking the question that was literally on everyone's mind, the Pirate kept his nose up and shook his head.
"What do you mean? I didn't say anything."
'I think he has brain damage.'
Realizing that I couldn't trust this damn drunk pirate to do anything that would be of aid in our current situation I redoubled my efforts in cutting the metal on my hands.
*Bzzz
'Hm?'
Pausing when a vibration came from my inventory, I subconsciously opened and widened my eyes once I saw what the source of the disturbance was.
And I must say, the timing of the disturbance couldn't be any better.
'...But I should make sure that I can run away though.'
Feeling sweat bead on my forehead then join with the surrounding sea water, we soon enough reached the altar where a giant whirlpool was located.
And standing there were a large group of mermen who floated idly while praying... to a squid?
'What the hell?'
Looking at the squid thing, I glanced to the side by chance and opened my eyes wide when I realized one very, very important fact.
The pirate guy is gone.
And it seems that I wasn't the only one who noticed that fact as the one responsible for leading him felt the floating shackles hit the ground and drag against it.
"!)$^*# &$#)("
Shouting loudly the guards surroundings me were in a panicked state as they quickly dragged the one who was guarding Garry to the side and stabbed him in the guts.
After that a squad of them hurriedly swam away in chase of Gunpowder Garry while ringing the alarms.
The Alarms being rung however were unique in that it sounded like... whales?
Feeling a chill from the back of my neck I looked upwards to the very dangerous angler stars and saw something I would probably not be able to forget for some time.
Breaking through the piercing veil of darkness a rich ray of sunlight instantly seeped through the sky as gigantic rocks serving as the ceiling instantly broke apart.
And as they slowly moved away to reveal the beings behind them, a rush of very familiar beings came down to the earth as the Angler fish and other deep sea creatures turned to look at the intruders.
Guardians.
The spiked fish that I had initially fought against were now here with an angry look in their eyes as lasers of all colors flashed across the sea.
Gigantic tentacles rushing to the breach they crushed any rocks that were in their way as other beings just like the [Overlord of the Sea] that I had seen appeared.
Large blade like teeth biting through the stones, dust filled the sea as they finally clashed against the intruders creating a visible shockwave made out of water.
It was chaos.
Light flew out of the dust cloud like a light show as multicolored lights flew out of the dust cloud without any rhyme or reason as screeching beings unlucky enough to be hit by them rushed into the fray.
Blood being spilled in mass amounts and causing all of the beings in the nearby area to go into a crazed blood lust, the angler fish swung their lights as they fired lasers of their own.
And I would say it again, it was chaos.
Chaos I could get behind.
Feeling the shackles on my hands finally break apart and allow mana and malaise to run through my upper bodies veins again, I grinned.
Bringing my dagger to the neck of the merman staring at the skies in a dumbfounded expression I paused for a moment before putting my dagger away.
And snapped their neck.
Staring dumbfoundedly at me, a pair of fish like eyes stared at me all the while the mer people surrounding me finally noticed that I was partially free.
But it didn't matter, quickly snapping the metallic binds on my legs I quickly twisted my body through the water to dodge the tridents aiming to subdue me right before I quickly launched myself through the water.
Flipping my swords to the side like a pair of wings, the not so poor mer people that were in my path became mer peo/ple in that they became bisected people.
And as they flailed in the short moments that they were still alive I quickly turned my attention to the skies again where several beings were fighting.
Hand on handle I kicked against the water as the currents swirled around my body, mirroring the fight in the skies I quickly whipped out the [Hard Light Sword] that I just crafted.
I don't know when and where I got the blue print for this item, but it didn't make sense to not use it right?
And seeing as it was made out of literal light that was able to quickly cut through the water, I was happy with the usage of the weapon.
So as I spun in the water, I mirrored the fight above my head by causing several flashes of multicolored light to spin around the altar.
"!^$*( )#*$)#"
And it seems that just like the fight above, reinforcements were quickly arriving.
But I must admit one thing.
Since they brought me to this very important looking place made out of several metric tons of blue stone that had been molded into incredibly smooth stones, I had to wonder.
What would they do if I started to break it apart.
'Well I guess I just have to find out.'
Glancing at the horde of armor wearing mer people who were swimming rapidly at me with spears and tridents in hand I flicked my hand causing ice to sprout out behind me.
Forming shields they were quickly barraged by a series of spears that would've rendered my own unprotected back a porcupine.
I swiftly turned to the side.
And watched how they were obliterated by forces that I had never seen before.
Actually scratch that.
Weren't those streams of light just like the bullets that the pirate man fired at me earlier?
+++
I got an incredibly good idea for next chapter.
Tree