The battle of war song clashed in a frenzy of subsonic harmonics, vibrating Kore’s teeth as they tried to carve easier paths for their sovereigns.
Nyxarion roared—the sound shaking the invisible bonds that suspended Kore in the middle of the Gauntlet.
But raw power couldn't match Thalos's precision. The Shallow King slipped through each corridor with an effortless grace. Almost lazy as he displayed his every sleek line, each glittering, decorated curve. Close enough that she could see his grin as he rode the current.
Halfway.
Nyxarion slammed into another unseen bend in the shifting prism. Recoiling, dark tendrils of blood curled from a fresh gash across his shoulder. And for one breath, Kore saw him clearly—obsidian eyes locked on hers, lips peeled back in a snarl of desperate anguish. Fighting to reach her with everything he had, gaining speed and momentum, but… it wouldn't be enough.
She could see that, now.
The blood pulsing from Nyx's gills with every breath. Every miscalculation cost precious seconds he couldn't spare.
“Such raw power,” Thalos hummed, and she flinched. Whirling to find him so close. Only a few layers away.
He grinned.
All teeth.
The smile of a hunter who'd already calculated his prey's final breath.
Stomach twisting, Kore tried to scramble back, whispering, “No,” under her breath as her fins flared wide. Twisting. Helpless. “Poseidon, n-no…"
“Oh, yes,” Thalos grinned, snaking under a gleaming blade of crystalline water. “I wonder,” he crooned, “if raw power will be enough?”
Thalos was close enough now that Kore could see the cruel light in his eyes as he darted through the currents. "I've never felt a Siren's slick," he mused, his voice a melodic promise. "Perhaps before I kill you, I'll?—"
A violent tremor cut his words short. Not from within the Gauntlet, but outside it.
Something massive surged from below.
She felt the basin shift.
Ruffling her scales before the sound reached her ears. Before her bones could ache.
It was a surge.
A void.
Jaws hanging slack, Kore watched with wide, shocked eyes as the wall of water surrounding them went white. Frothed by violence. Moving at a nauseating speed, as if rushing to fill a crater.
A massive undertow imploded. Leaving a vacuum that seized the Thalassari choir in a clenched fist that shattered their formation.
Radiant bodies tumbled down, their synchronized singing replaced by shrill notes of terror. High, elegant harmonies twisted into shrieks of alarm as they were ushered into the abyss.
The effect was immediate.
The Gauntlet trembled.
Thalos snarled, his perfect composure shattered. Fins caught on a corridor that collapsed, sending him reeling back with a frustrated snarl.
She laughed.
A pretty chime of surprise escaping her lips as she looked, and saw Nyxarion.
Surging forward, seizing the gap, he rode the wave of chaos. His tail a massive coil that let him crash through the currents with ever-increasing momentum.
And Kore grinned. Her heart leaping in her chest as a savage triumph bloomed behind her ribs. Wicked as she watched that perfect sovereign tumble backward, the invisible wall of the Gauntlet crushing against his pristine scales with brutal force.
