The Lord of the Seas - An Isekai Progression Fantasy [ Currently on Volume 2 ]

Lukas tore through the air, one hand dragging a spear of boiling liquid, the other coiling a ribbon of hardened ice around his forearm like a second spine. His muscles ached, not from fatigue—but from memory. Three hundred fucking years of pain, blood, and failure carved into every movement. Rodan was relentless. He moved like a storm given flesh—elegant, brutal, effortless. One moment he was solid, striking with waves folded into blades sharp enough to split mountains.

Lukas had died ten times already today. But in here, in this mind-forged realm of illusion and truth, death was just another teacher.

And this time…

Lukas did not fall. He pivoted, spinning beneath Rodan's axe of sharpened pressure. A breath. A flick of the wrist. The moisture in Rodan's left eye crystalized. Rodan blinked. He hesitated for just a moment too long.

That was all it took.

Lukas surged forward, a tidal force wrapped in human skin, and drove his fist into Rodan's gut. Not a spell. Not a weapon. Just a strike. One delivered straight to the solar plexus, knocking the air out of his lungs. Rodan staggered back. And Lukas didn't stop. A dozen blades, shaped from the very air all around them formed mid-air and crashed down like divine punishment upon the former dragon lord. His brother tried to defend himself, raising a shield of his own formation—but it cracked. Then it shattered.

The explosion of pressure sent Rodan to the ground, even pushing Lukas back in the process. The silence that followed rang in the air.

And when the mist cleared—

Rodan was on one knee. Lukas was still standing. Barely. Bleeding. Chest heaving and struggling for breath. But Lukas Drakos was still standing.

"…Did I…?" Lukas whispered.

Rodan looked up, eyes wide, stunned. Then he laughed. It was loud, a laughter filled with pure happiness and shock.

"You did," Rodan said with a nod, rising with a groan. "By the skin of your godsdamn teeth."

Lukas dropped to his knees, still in disbelief. And then he screamed. A roar of joy, of victory, of triumph that echoed across the shattered sky of this imagined world. He fell back and stared at the heavens he had torn apart with his own hands. Laughter burst out of his chest like a child who had just outrun a storm.

Rodan walked over and helped him up. And when Lukas collapsed into him, laughing, breathless, it wasn't pride or rivalry that passed between them.

It was brotherhood. Like two boys who had just escaped punishment after stealing food from the kitchen. Like two boys who had snuck out of their sleeping chambers to explore the vast seas. Just like old times.

"I was sloppy towards the end," Rodan commented, half-heartedly. "I slipped."

Lukas pulled away just enough to grin. "Doesn't matter. You were the one who taught me that a slip is all it takes to decide the victor. A win is a win."

Rodan shook his head, ruffling Lukas' hair like they were children again. "You really did it…"

For a moment, nothing needed to be said. They stood in the ruins of the battlefield, surrounded by broken glass oceans, falling sky, rivers frozen in mid-air. A monument to everything Lukas had become. And everything he would one day be. But as much as he wanted to remain here, he had to go.

For there was someone waiting for him on the other side. She was waiting for him on the other side.

Styx stood barefoot in the kitchen, sleeves rolled, stirring something fragrant over the stove. The small room was warm with spice and sea salt, and for once, everything was quiet. She didn't hear the door open. She didn't even sense his presence behind her until a familiar voice whispered, "Dinner can wait."

She turned to face Lukas, blinking in mild surprise. "You're up already? I thought you'd be out cold after your training."

Lukas smiled. Not the weary, distant smile he wore when his mind was lost in spells and strategy. It was a smile of clarity. Like the first sunlight after a storm.

"I just wanted to see you," he told her simply. "Come with me."

The Goddess frowned, wiping her hands on her apron. "What are you up to, Drakos?"

But he only grinned wider, stepping behind her, gently covering her eyes with both hands. His palms were calloused, rough from training—but they trembled. Just a little. He was nervous, she realized.

"Do you trust me?"

Styx sighed, half amused, half intrigued. "You know I do."

Lukas led her out of the kitchen, through the winding halls of the castle that had become more memory than home, and into the training yard. But it was no longer the training yard that Lukas had spent the last six hundred years in. Not the same training yard Styx had spent, waiting for Lukas each and every day and remaining by his side especially when he needed her the most.

She heard it before she saw it, it was the sound of running water, of creaking wood, of the soft lull of waves. And when Lukas removed his hands that shielded her vision—

The Goddess gasped. They stood on a wooden boat, small and steady, drifting along a river of pure starlight, the water shimmering like the clearest crystal.

They were beneath the ocean.

Above them, below them, around them; the seas flowed freely. A vast cathedral of oceanic life, held in place by invisible walls of magic and divinity. Shafts of sapphire light filtered through a dome of flowing current. Giant manta rays glided overhead like living shadows. Schools of fish danced like painted ribbons. A colossal jellyfish pulsed in the distance, its bioluminescence casting soft hues across Styx's face.

All of it was still. All of it was theirs. Lukas stepped beside her, watching her take it in.

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"I know I haven't really...been present," he said, quietly. "Even when I was here, I wasn't really here. And I'm sorry. Which is why I wanted to make it up to you. And I know it won't. I don't think anything can make up what you've done for me. But I am going to keep trying."

Styx didn't say anything. She didn't need to. Lukas gestured at the sea around them, almost shy. "It took me a few weeks to get everything ready, longer than I expected."

She turned to face him, and her eyes were glassy now. "It's beautiful," she whispered.

"It's not real though," Lukas said, with a small shrug.

She looked at him for a long moment. "It's real enough for me, Lukas."

Then Styx reached out and took his hand. His fingers intertwined with hers as they stood there on the boat, drifting slowly through an ocean that wasn't quite real but felt more alive than ever.

The river curved gently beneath them. The boat drifted in silence, save for the soft creaking of wood and the distant echo of whalesong through glassy blue walls.

And then…the water began to shift.

At first, Styx thought it was a trick of the light—the reflections of passing fish, the distortion of movement. But no. The current stilled, and the water turned clear as crystal, a mirror not of the world, but of memory.

It was his memories. It was hers too. No, it was their memories.

The surface rippled and out of it bloomed a scene from the past: A humble hand-carved stone table. A single plate. Lukas, younger and more awkward, asking Styx to sit and eat with him. The two of them sharing a meal in awkward silence before Lukas said something stupid and the tension melted away.

The river shimmered again.

Now they were in the kitchen. Styx was laughing, her cheeks flushed, and Lukas was glaring at her with mock offense as she flicked soap suds at him. The kitchen behind them was a disaster of foamed-over pots and shattered eggs.

And it shimmered again.

Now, they were clambering over the outer walls of Kairos Castle—Styx on his back, yelling in terror while Lukas laughed like a madman. They sat at the summit, wind in their hair, and screamed their hearts into the vast empty void that was the Underworld.

Scene after scene bloomed within the depths.

Late nights spent in strange silence, where no words were needed. Long walks around the castle. Burnt dinners. Lukas teaching her how to make ramen, crying from the spice. Styx daring to try sushi and nearly gagging. Lukas introducing her to mango mochi.

A river of memories.

Styx's lips trembled. She looked away, blinking rapidly, but the tears came anyway—hot, aching, and sudden. But they were not tears of joy. They were not tears of a woman who was overwhelmed by love and adoration. Lukas took one look at her and he knew. Those were the kind of tears that came from a deep sadness.

"Styx?" Lukas whispered, stepping closer, concern in every line of his face. "What is it?"

She shook her head.

He touched her arm. "Hey, talk to me." But she pulled away from his touch. The distance created between them broke him. She took a shaky breath.

Then Styx finally said, "I can't do this, Lukas."

He froze.

"What—"

"You're going back soon Lukas," she said softly. "You've already defeated Rodan. And that means it won't be long before your time here comes to an end. When this is over—when these Trials end—you'll return to the living world. To Hiraeth."

He didn't answer. Couldn't. What was she trying to say?

"You still have your whole life ahead of you," Styx continued, eyes brimming. "You'll walk among the living. You'll rebuild. You'll meet new people. And you'll find someone. Someone who can grow old with you. Someone who belongs to the same world as you do."

"That someone is you," Lukas whispered. Voice low. Shaking. What was she getting at?

"No, Lukas." She smiled, but it was a pained smile—the kind that comes when you're already pulling the knife from your own chest. "I'm not. I can never be that someone to you. Every single day...I see you using the Crest and pushing yourself to the brink. Every single time I see you, I am reminded that...you are still a mortal. And I am not."

He stepped forward again, voice firm now. "Styx, don't—"

"I love you. Lukas Drakos, I love you more than you know." Her voice broke. "But I can't do that to myself. I cannot and I will not spend the rest of my life once this Trial ends, wondering when—or if—you'll ever come back to me. Wondering whether the next time I see you, it'll be with someone else's child in your arms. Or someone else's name on your lips."

The ocean held its breath around them. Lukas moved forward again, more urgent this time. "Then I won't go."

Styx blinked. "What?"

"I'll stay here," he said. "In the Underworld. With you."

The Goddess of Unbreakable Oaths looked at him, looked deep into his eyes, and for a second, the hope nearly broke through. But then, like a tide retreating from the shore, she closed herself off again.

"No," she whispered. "That is exactly why we can't do this."

Lukas stared at her, confused. Hurt. Angry. Did she not understand how much he'd come to care for her?

"You don't understand—"

"I do," she said, cutting him off gently, but firmly. "I understand you better than you think. We've known each other for centuries now Lukas. If you stay...if you choose to stay here with me…then you will never return to Hiraeth."

Lukas opened his mouth, but nothing came out. She was right. He'd been here for so long that he had forgotten, even it had just been for a moment, why he'd chosen to partake in the Trials of Kairos Castle in the first place.

He had a whole life waiting for him back. The people he'd come to care about: His mother Selene, Katrina, Jesse, Lady Kaitlyn and even Velena. Not to mention, it had become his responsibility to lead his people. To lead the Seas of Linemall as their Lord.

Styx continued, voice steady now, even as her eyes shimmered with restrained grief. "You'll never see your mother again. You'll never see your niece. You'll never rebuild what your people lost. You'll never be the Lord of the Seas. And you want that, Lukas. I know you do."

He took a half-step back, as if the weight of her words had struck him across the chest.

"I can't be the reason you never go home," Styx's voice was hoarse now, and her voice was barely above a whisper now. "I won't be."

A silence. Heavy. Absolute.

And then—

"I think…" She inhaled shakily. "I think we need to stop seeing each other."

"Styx, please—" But she had already made up her mind.

"If we keep doing this," Styx cut him off, stepping away from him, "I don't think I'll be able to stop myself."

Her voice trembled. Her gaze faltered.

"Because I promise that the longer you are by my side, the more likely it is that I will lock you away in this realm. I will chain your soul to mine. I will make you stay, Lukas. I'm selfish enough to do that. And I'm scared that if I don't walk away now…I will."

He reached out. Just barely. But Styx was already backing away, her expression unreadable now—only her tears betraying her. Lukas watched her leave. And then she was gone. Just like that. The world around him dimmed. The river faded, the fish disappeared, and the glowing coral that once danced along the glassy walls of this illusion dissolved into mist. The sea above collapsed into stars. The boat vanished beneath his feet and Lukas stood alone in the training yard once more, the salt-scented breeze replaced by cold, dry silence.

Just an empty stretch of stone…and the ache of being alone once more.