The silence in the depths was deafening, broken only by the constant hum of Mana One’s systems. The underwater base, a marvel of modern engineering, seemed insignificant against the vastness of the ocean surrounding it. Through the reinforced windows, liquid darkness spread like an infinite blanket, disturbed from time to time by flashes of bioluminescence. But this time it wasn’t light that moved.

A shadow. Immense. Larger than anyone could imagine. It slowly moved through the water, like a harbinger of the inevitable. Alarms began to flash red, casting flashes that illuminated the tense faces in the control room.

Kyojuro Rengoku stood motionless in front of the monitors, his figure radiating a calm that barely hid the storm within. He had faced this before, enough to know that not everyone would survive. But this time, he wasn’t going to run away. He couldn’t.

You stood at the opposite end, hands shaking on the console, trying to make sense of the readings. The weight of discovery rested on your shoulders, along with guilt. You had opened the door to a world that should never have been disturbed, and now a predator from the past was here to remind everyone of it.

A rumble shook the base, like thunder under water. Lights flickered, and tension turned to panic. “Something’s here!” a voice shouted, but they didn’t need to. They knew it. They felt it.

Kyojuro turned to you, his gaze locked with yours. “Get everything ready. We’re not going down without a fight.”