The air was thick with salt and silence. Mist curled around the edges of the broken arena, where time itself seemed to hold its breath.
From the shadows of the deep, a voice rose—low, rasping, and ancient.
"Human... do you truly intend to face me?"
The Kraken's massive bulk stirred beneath the shifting waters, its great tentacles slowly uncoiling, each one thicker than the trunk of an ancient tree. The sheer weight of its presence pressed down on the world like a curse remembered.
Josh stood still.
Unmoving.
His black mask shimmered faintly in the eerie light as he planted the kingly staff into the stone floor beside him. His left hand rested calmly on his hip.
He didn't answer.
He didn't flinch.
Instead, he studied the monster before him—the shifting limbs, the gnarled carapace, the rows of ancient scars carved into flesh from forgotten wars. But despite all his concentration, no strategy formed in his mind.
No path to victory revealed itself.
"Are you deaf, human?" the Kraken growled, its voice rising with irritation. "Why are you silent?"
Still, Josh said nothing.
He wasn't ignoring the beast—not really. His mind was simply elsewhere, drifting inward, combing through every memory, every tactic, every battle he'd survived.
But the Kraken didn't care for silence.
Rage, slow and suffocating, boiled in its ancient heart. With a screech that made the ground tremble, it lunged—one of its eight primary tentacles crashing down with devastating speed.
Josh's eyes widened—too late.
The tentacle slammed against his staff with the force of a falling mountain, and the impact sent him hurtling through the air like a leaf caught in a storm. His body spun helplessly, and when he landed, the earth cracked beneath him.
The pain was blinding.
He gasped, rolling onto his side, breath caught between shock and agony. The kingly staff, lodged firmly before his chest at the last moment, had taken the brunt of the blow. Without it, his ribcage would have caved in.
Even now, his arms throbbed from the shock, and every breath felt like swallowing glass.
But the staff...
It stood unmarred.
Ancient. Immoveable. A conduit of forgotten kings.
It had shielded him, but at this rate—he'd be dead before he even found a weakness in this thing.
Josh's fingers curled tightly around the staff.
And then, in a single breath, he reached inward.
"David..." he called within the recesses of his soul. "David Stormborn... I need your help."
Silence.
Cold, heavy silence.
No response.
Josh's heart pounded.
The Kraken stirred again—its limbs rolling with anticipation, ready to crush him before he could stand.
With a grunt, Josh forced himself upright, eyes narrowing behind the black mask. He pulled up the kingly system interface in his mind. A glowing ethereal panel flared before his vision.
Time slowed.
Lines of divine code and glowing stats unfurled:
--:--:--:--:--:--:
--: KINGLY SYSTEM INTERFACE --
Name: Josh Aratat
Age: 20 years
Realm Level: Brigadier General (4th level –
Ocean Flooding Realm)
Weapons: Staff of Power, Sand of Aphrota
Abilities:
Vortex State (C+ Tier) – 80% Storage Capacity
Kingly Awareness (C+ Tier)
I Am King Protocol (2nd Level)
Voice Power (C+ Tier)
New: ✦ System Rewards Available!
Subordinates – Generals:
Conrad Stan – (Death-level loyalty) | Corporal | 10th Level Ocean Opening | Glaive of Storms
Lola – (Death-level loyalty - Love) | Assassin-Maid Corporal | 10th Level Ocean Opening | Thunder Whip
Relia Amia – (Death-level loyalty - Love) | Empath Assassin |Corporal | 10th Level Ocean Opening | Orb of Memories
Adino – (Death-level loyalty) 60% | Corporal | 10th Level Ocean Opening
Shammah – (Death-level loyalty) 70% | Corporal | 10th Level Ocean Opening
Joab – (Death-level loyalty) 60% | Corporal | 10th Level Ocean Opening
Limro – (Death-level loyalty) 60% | Corporal | 10th Level Ocean Opening
Arroid – (Death-level loyalty) 60% | Corporal | 10th Level Ocean Opening
Baggon – (Death-level loyalty) 70% | Corporal | 10th Level Ocean Opening
Eliphaz – (Death-level loyalty) 70% | Corporal | 10th Level Ocean Opening
Lino – (Death-level loyalty) 70% | Corporal | 10th Level Ocean Opening
Miko – (Death-level loyalty) 70% | Corporal | 10th Level Ocean Opening
Naze – (Death-level loyalty) 70% | Corporal | 10th Level Ocean Opening
2nd Division Forces:
3786 First sergeant Rank (Death-level loyalty)
3840 First sergeant Rank (Above-normal loyalty)
--:--:--:--:--:--:--:--:--:--:--:--:--:--:--:--:--:--:--:--:--:--:--:
Josh's mouth slowly parted in awe.
He hadn't realized how far he'd come. He hadn't noticed the quiet evolution of power blooming within him, the steady rise of those who followed him.
He had ascended—once a mere Ocean Opening cultivator, now standing firm at the fourth level of the Ocean Flooding Realm. His rise had been meteoric. At this pace, even the strength of the current emperor was no longer a distant dream—it was a coming inevitability.
His power wasn't just growing.
It was surging, like a tide that refused to be held back.
And his followers?
What began as a trickle had become a flood. Day by day, loyalty gathered around him like stars drawn to a forming constellation. A king was emerging—not just in title, but in the hearts of thousands.
He had started with just Lola and Conrad... now he led over seven thousand warriors.
And still rising.
A new icon pulsed gently at the edge of the interface:
➤ NEW SYSTEM REWARDS
Josh reached out mentally to open it—
But the air shifted.
And his senses screamed.
The Kraken was on him again.
It moved with unnatural speed for its size, its limbs blurring into a rising tempest of destruction. The arena trembled as it surged forward for the second strike.
Josh gritted his teeth.
He didn't have time to think.
He had to act.
The tentacle struck again—brutal and unrelenting. His staff absorbed the brunt of the impact, held firm across his torso, but it couldn't shield him from the shockwave of agony that surged through his arms and crushed into his chest.
He was airborne once more, a blur of black and gold against the misty backdrop. Then—impact.
He crashed into the earth, tumbling like a discarded doll, dust and seawater rising in his wake. When he finally came to a stop, he lay motionless, breath shallow, vision blurred.
Twice.
Just two hits—and he was on the verge of unconsciousness.
This Kraken... it wasn't a beast. It was a catastrophe. It was no joke.