The Crimson Council.

​The Island Lord received the horrifying news of the failed subjugation of the Blue Tribe just as evening began to fall.

​He sat upon a towering throne carved from bleached leviathan bones at the head of the grand Council Hall. He was an incredibly broad and imposing merman, his massive frame draped in a heavy crimson coat woven from the skin of a deep-sea predator.

In his right hand, he gripped a massive red trident that reflected the dying sunlight that bled through the high stone windows.

​Before him stood his elite commanders and a single trembling survivor of the camp massacre.

​"Speak clearly! You tell me that a force of three hundred elite warriors was wiped out by the cowardly Blue Tribe? A tribe that barely has enough weapons to hunt fish?"

​The survivor swallowed hard. His eyes still wide because of the lingering terror of the slaughter.

"It was not the Blue Tribe, my Lord! It was an absolute monster! A single human outsider appeared among them. And then... the dead came back to life!"

"What nonsense! Did he think we are fools?"

"There is no way that kind if power is real!"

​Murmurs of disbelief and outrage immediately erupted across the Council Hall.

The elite commanders exchanged wary glances.

​"Silence!" the Island Lord roared, slamming the butt of his red trident against the stone floor.

Boom!

"Explain this anomaly. Dead men do not rise on this island."

​"They did, my Lord!" the scout cried out, falling to his knees. "They tore through our camp with unnatural strength and hollow violet eyes! They felt no pain, and our blades did nothing to stop them. That human controlled them all with absolute authority. He turned our own fallen brothers into his personal vanguard!"

​The Island Lord frowned, leaning back against his bone throne.The Blue Tribe was supposed to be a simple conquest, a minor stepping stone to solidify his absolute rule over the surrounding waters. Now, an unknown variable had entered his domain, wielding an unnatural, terrifying power that defied the very laws of the ocean.

He looked at the commanders.

​"Commanders, gather the remaining forces. Equip them with heavy coral armor and prepare the blood-frenzy potions. If there is a human playing god on my island, I will personally mount his skull upon my trident by dawn."

"Oh, really?"

​All of a sudden, a deep, amused voice echoed through the hall.

​Everyone’s eyes turned to the main entrance, where the figure of a young human was seen walking with the grace of a ruler.

​Step. Step. Step.

​Each step he took felt heavier than the last. And the invisible aura he radiated felt so chilling that it sent shivers down their spines.

​The Island Lord, Grakal, snickered.

​"So you’re the messiah of the Blue Tribe? You look like a human, so why do you insist on interfering in the internal matters of this island? If it is about the mana stones, I would have given you tons for free."

​Neo met the reptilian eyes of the Island Lord with the intensity of a predator.

​"Gathering mana stones was a goal of the past, Grakal. Now, I want the whole island under my rule!"

​"Atrocious!" one of the elite commanders barked, standing up with his harpoon.

​"How dare you call the lord of this island by his name! You will die a horrible death!" another added.

​"Such arrogance is not good for you, human. Do you think we are rookies? We have been ruling this island since before you were even born."

​"Seize him! Feed him to the Sea Hounds!"

​Judging by their auras, they all looked to be in the power rank of Type 8 (Adept).

​Meanwhile, the Island Lord was possibly a Type 7 (Superhuman).

​Still, Neo wasn’t afraid. It only intensified the thrill of the battle.

"Raagh! Die!"

​One of the elite commanders leaped forward with the agility of a predatory leopard, driving a heavy halberd straight toward Neo’s chest.

​However, just as the gleaming blade was about to pierce his skin, Neo casually stepped sideways. The evasion was so fluid and minimal that it completely wasted the immense kinetic force behind the commander’s strike.

​Crash!

​Unable to halt his own momentum, the commander crashed face-first onto the hard ground, his weapon skittering away as he lay there seeing stars.

​"How infuriating! Out of the way, you useless fish!"

​Another commander snickered, his eyes flashing with irritation. After reinforcing his fists and legs with swirling pressurized water currents, he lunged at Neo like an unleashed torpedo.

​But the outcome didn’t change in the slightest.

Woosh!

Neo dodged the incoming onslaught with effortless ease.

​It was a matter of simple arithmetic. His Reaction Speed was more than twice as high as theirs. Within his heightened consciousness, every single movement they made was slower than a crawling snail. He easily predicted the trajectory of the water-infused strikes, slipping past the lethal boundaries every single time without breaking a sweat.

​Deciding he had seen enough of their pathetic display, Neo countered by throwing a solid punch of his own.

​Bang!

​The rushing commander’s face caught Neo’s fist like a descending sledgehammer.

Crack!

The brutal impact caused his aquatic features to deform instantly, shattering bone and cartilage as his head was driven straight into the solid stone floor, creating a gory mess.

The other elite commanders were turned to stone, their wide eyes expressing their utter astonishment.

​He had crushed two of them like it was nothing. Even though they numbered ten in total, Neo’s terrifying power scared them all.

​They turned to the only man who had any hope of defeating him.

​The Island Lord had shown great elemental power in the duel with the previous Island Lord and had successfully seized the lord’s seat. That battle was still etched deeply into their minds.

​"Lord Grakal!" they called out.

​And Grakal responded with a sigh of disappointment.

​"Useless! All of you are useless!"

​With that, he rose from the throne.

​Buzz!

​As soon as he did, the whole building shook, as if it were going through a calamity.