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

The moment the grounds of the arena began to tremble beneath her, Katrina tried to move forward as the shock of everything that just happened finally wore off. Before she could even reach Lukas, strong arms clamped around her, halting her advance. Two of the Earthborn held her back, their grip iron-tight even as the world itself seemed to shatter around them. Katrina thrashed against them, but her struggle was drowned out by the sudden thunderous cracks. The very arena they had built, stone and soil woven together by their own hands, began to twist and collapse inward. It was no ordinary spell, no simple display of power—it was Divinity, raw and overwhelming, the kind that bent reality into submission.

The Dragonborn of Earth rose higher into the sky, their movements measured, their voices silent. Leading them was Kaela Telaryon, granddaughter of Erandyl, her presence like a mountain.

Katrina's eyes widened as she realized what they were doing.

Their magic pulled the arena into itself, folding it down, condensing an entire battleground into a massive sphere of stone. It seemed to bear impossible weight, a meteor born of their united will.

Katrina's breath caught.

Within that collapsing mass—within that suffocating prison of stone—were the bodies of the three Dragon Lords of Linemall, along with the Elders and Flameborn who had done no wrong. They had been engulfed by stone itself before anyone could react, swallowed whole by Kaela's command.

Then, the great meteor tore itself free from the air and plummeted downward, and Katrina's heart lurched as she watched it fall.

The impact came like the wrath of Titans.

The Ancestral Lands shook with a deafening boom as the colossal sphere smashed into the earth, the ground splitting beneath the force. Shockwaves rippled outward, cracking soil and stone alike, sending tremors through even the high air where Katrina hovered. The land itself seemed to groan as if wounded, and a choking plume of dust and debris surged upward like a storm cloud.

Katrina's thoughts raced. Could anyone have survived that? Could anyone have truly lived through such an impact?

And yet, Katrina could not bring herself to believe it. She could not bring herself to believe that Lukas was dead. Her uncle had been the strongest person she had ever known. To picture him broken beneath that stone was impossible. It had been only moments ago—too fast for her to even process—that Valkari had struck him down. Not in a battle of equals, not in glory, but like a beast slaughtered before her very eyes.

Katrina had watched Valkari put Lukas Drakos down like a dog.

Her chest tightened with grief and fury. This couldn't be real. It just couldn't be.

Adrenaline coursed through her now, sharp and burning.

Katrina drove her elbow backward, smashing it into the nose of one Earthborn. Bone cracked under the blow, and the first Earthborn's grip faltered. With a sharp twist Katrina wrenched herself free from the second, her body cutting through the air with sudden freedom. She was still in the air, her wings flapping furiously, thus she was not bound by oath she had sworn like so many others.

Drawing on the endless tide within her soul, Katrina summoned the Divinity of the Seas. It surged forth in a wave of energy, salty and cold, the roar of an unseen ocean echoing all around her. For a fleeting moment, the Earthborn around her faltered, their gazes snapping toward her as they recognized the force she wielded.

Katrina's magic gathered, ready to break like a tidal wave—until it shattered.

The spell dissolved in her hands as though undone by invisible fingers, stripped from her with casual precision.

Katrina gasped, staring at her empty palms as the Divinity she had called upon was scattered like mist in the wind. Her heart thundered, caught between despair and defiance, as the reality of her helplessness pressed down harder than the falling meteor ever could.

Just as she braced for the two Earthborn to rush forward and attack, Katrina realized they were simply watching her.

Then, she turned sharply and saw why.

Valkari Ishtar hovered before her. The faint light of the sun reflected of its edge, in her hand Valkari held her brother's sword, forged through the Divinity of Craftsmanship, a weapon steeped in legend and in terror. More than just steel, this blade carried with it the negation of magic, silencing every spark of Divinity in its reach by undoing its spells.

Katrina had felt its power only moments ago when her ocean-born spell had unraveled like mist.

Now that same weapon was leveled straight at her heart.

They were close—so close—that Valkari needed only a breath of movement to end her life.

The knowledge sent a shiver down Katrina's spine, but she forced herself to stand her ground.

Katrina met Valkari's eyes, and the cold fire there nearly hollowed her out. Those eyes had not wavered when Valkari had driven that sword through Lukas's throat. No hesitation and not a single drop of mercy. Katrina's stomach twisted at the memory, her grief rising like bile. And yet, within that murderous calm, there was something else in Valkari's gaze—a softness, a flicker of something warm reserved only for her. It was that same softness that had gained Katrina's trust, had made her heart betray her reason.

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They had grown close, close enough for Katrina to consider Valkari the sister she never had. Perhaps not everything about Valkari had been a lie. Even now, after the blood, the betrayal, after watching her brother's life snuffed out, the love Katrina bore for the Flameborn still lingered, painful and ever-persistent.

But had Katrina ever truly known her?

Valkari shook her head slowly, her expression unreadable. Her voice was quiet but firm when she spoke.

"I don't want to do this, Katrina. I don't want to cut you down." She tilted the blade ever so slightly, its edge catching the bright light of the sun. "You don't have to be my enemy. You could join me. You could join our cause."

Katrina's pulse hammered in her ears. Her throat was dry, her grief and rage warring with the fragile thread of hope that still tethered her to this woman. Her voice cracked when she finally managed to speak. "And what cause is that?"

The blade lowered, but only by an inch—an inch that carried no promise of safety. Katrina knew that if she so much as twitched wrong, Valkari would slice her apart without hesitation.

The tension between them was simply a noose waiting to snap tight.

Valkari's sigh was heavy, weary even, as though burdened by truths too long carried.

"I am the same person I have always been," she told Katrina, and there was almost a plea in her tone. A plea for Katrina to believe in the words she now spoke. To believe that their friendship had not simply been a lie.

Katrina's jaw tightened.

"I find that hard to believe." Her eyes remained eyes locked on Valkari's. "Tell me Valkari. What cause do you stand for? Why do all this?"

For the first time, Valkari's lips curved into something like a smile—small, quiet, dangerous. "I mean to start a Second Great War."

The words struck Katrina like a blade of their own. Her breath caught sharply, horror etched plain across her face. "You can't mean that. Do you even understand what you're saying? Do you know what that would mean?" Her question trembled in the air, but she forced herself to ask again, her voice firmer despite the fear coiling in her gut. "How? How could you possibly hope to do that?"

The answer came with chilling certainty, spoken without hesitation.

"I know our people don't want war. They are afraid of it. So I will not give them a choice. I will force war upon them, whether they like it or not." Valkari's eyes burned with terrible conviction as she lifted the sword just enough to remind Katrina of its weight. "I plan to find the Heart of Kaeryth. And I will make certain that it does not beat any longer."

Katrina knew that the true location of the Heart that kept the Founder's Spell alive had remained hidden for centuries now. Only those who had been present when the very first Lords of Linemall cast that spell to keep Linemall hidden away from the rest of Hiraeth knew where the Heart of Kaeryth was hidden; all they knew was that it lay somewhere within the Ancestral Lands.

The silence between them stretched, heavy as stone, until Valkari's voice cut through it like the blade she held in her hand. "I will hunt them down, the most ancient of the Elders. I will find the ones who walked this soil when Linemall itself was born. And they will tell me where to find the Heart."

Katrina's stomach twisted. To imagine Valkari setting her sights upon the Elders themselves was unthinkable, sacrilege against everything their kind had sworn to preserve. But Valkari's gaze carried no hesitation. She believed in this cause of hers, even if it meant committing atrocities to make it a reality.

"Lukas was right," Valkari continued, her voice rising with conviction. "Our people cannot hide behind the borders of this nation any longer."

At the sound of her uncle's name, Katrina's breath faltered. The dragonborn of the Seas shook her head, trying to keep herself steady, but her eyes drifted downward.

Far below, the Ancestral Lands lay wounded. The crater left by the collapsing arena yawned like an open scar, vast and raw, the earth still trembling from its impact. Dust clouds swirled across the ruin, swallowing what had once been sacred ground.

Movement caught Katrina's eye once more. Kaela Telaryon had moved forward, her presence calm but firm as she came to Valkari's side. Her face was unreadable, but her nearness was telling enough—Kaela had known. She had always known. The Dragonborn of the Earth had not simply been allies of convenience; they were the cornerstone of Valkari's plan. The Divinity of the Earth had been used to serve Valkari's ambition and it had served that ambition well.

Katrina's heart pounded in her chest. She felt cornered, her world collapsing just as surely as the arena had.

Then Valkari lowered her blade completely and extended her free hand.

The gesture was disarmingly simple, almost tender.

"I know how your father died, Katrina," Valkari whispered softly, almost tenderly. "Your father was killed by the Hero From Another World. I know you know that. Rodan died at the hands of the one who fought for humanity, the one who left our people in chains. Tell me you do not want revenge. Tell me you do not want him to pay. The Hero still lives. You can be the one to ensure he lives no longer."

The words pierced deeper than any sword.

Memory clawed at her—memories not her own, but given to her through Lukas, burned into her soul with searing clarity.

Her father, towering and unyielding even in his last moments. The Hero, moving like a tempest. The flash of a fist plunging through her father's chest. The sound of tearing flesh as Rodan's heart was ripped from him, his body shredded as he pinned the Hero down in a final act of sacrifice. Katrina remembered her father's desperate strength, the way Rodan had clung to the enemy, trying to give his brother Lukas, her uncle, the chance to flee.

Katrina had seen it all.

She still saw it when she closed her eyes, when sleep embraced her only to torture her mind with dreams of the past.

Of course she wanted revenge. Of course she wanted the Hero to suffer for what he had done. The rage simmered inside Katrina like a tide, pressing against the walls of her chest until she thought it might consume her.

Valkari's eyes softened when she saw it. "Stand with me, sister." The Flameborn said again. Her voice was both command and request, unyielding and yet vulnerable.

Valkari held her hand out steady, waiting for Katrina to take it.

Katrina's mind raced, her thoughts a storm with no clear path forward. The faces of her uncle, her father, her people—each flashed before her, demanding her to make the right choice. When her eyes finally looked up to meet Valkari's once more, Katrina knew what she had to do.

"Are you with me, Katrina?"

Her hand lifted. Slowly, deliberately, Katrina clasped Valkari's, her grip firm and unshaking.

The words left her lips in a quiet whisper.

"I am."