Mark coughed, rubbing his throat as the cold water soothed his heated skin. Kai glared at him, sneering out. "I need an answer. Now. Or shall I have Nate manipulate Sean into killing those petty and vain merfolk you led here?" Mark clenched his jaw, questioning him bluntly. "How do I know that you'll even keep your word? You talk as if Poseidon is here... You claim he led Sean here... but I can't help thinking he's an illusion you made up just to steal his power for yourself!" Kai's wings folded back down, before he calmly stated out. "Are you trying to be funny? That's a joke, right?" Mark shrugged, retorting seriously. "You don't see me laughing." Kai raised a hand to squeeze his temples, muttering under his breath. "Poseidon, save me from this stupidity... Mark... How could you miss him? He's exposed by the west gate." Mark shrugged again. He honestly hadn't been paying that close of attention to his internal nautical compass. Was it important? Kai lowered his hand to flash him a drained look as he sarcastically added out. "You can't be this stupid... Don't you know what happened to him?"

Mark furrowed his brow, saying in disbelief. "That thing encased in ice is Poseidon? But it looked like a-" Kai cut him off with an irritated groan, snapping out over his shoulder as he swam gracefully back to the anchor. "No, you idiot! Poseidon is trapped in the jaws of that thing. What's left of the north gate fell on them when the beast brought him down. The ice is the result of Poseidon's magic keeping it immobile. However, the weaker Poseidon gets... the weaker the ice gets. I've been commanding the Sirens to sing the beast to sleep to help. It was working for a time... Until YOU! Your flux in power has made the beast restless. It's trying to move! And the more it moves, the more it hurts Poseidon!" Mark rose in the water, saying bitterly. "So, why kill the merfolk for their power? Why not let them help you?!" Kai grabbed the chain and swam around the anchor lazily as he replied sourly. "Simple. They are vain cowards. THEY LEFT HIM! And we can't help it... Which is why I suggest you hurry. Merfolk don't last long here... Our dark nature demands that we eat them. You can thank Zeus for that."

Mark's eyes drifted to Sean with sudden worry. Nate was nuzzling Sean's throat, but how long would that last before he started trying to eat him? Kai followed his gaze, before telling him with a sharp toothed grin. "Don't worry. It's me that's keeping Nate from feasting on his flesh. One of my many... improved abilities." The castle vibrated violently again. Mark grabbed the doorframe to steady himself, hearing a sharper deep growl mixed with a strange low human sounding groan of pain. When it stopped, Kai hissed out angrily. "I told you what I want! Bring her to me! Or I'll sacrifice Sean's blood to Poseidon to keep him alive!" Mark dug his claws in the doorframe, asking heatedly. "And Nate?!" Kai gave him a swift shrug, coolly purring out. "That's a whole other bucket of worms... The only thing that can change him back is the Sea Crown. But the Sea Crown is MINE! Leaving you with nothing that you can bargain for him with." Mark lowered his hand from the doorframe, saying in a softer voice. "If I save Poseidon... Will you let him go?"

Kai stiffened, his hand clutching the chain tightly. Kai avoided his eyes though, when he growled out through his teeth. "It's impossible. The Leviathan will kill you first." Mark thought for a second, before whispering out in soft disbelief. "Wait, that thing incased in the ice... It's the Leviathan?" Kai slowly turned to look at him, his bright sea green eyes glinting through his soft pink bangs like emeralds as he answered sarcastically. "Ya. The Leviathan. What the fuck did you think it was?" Another violent tremor rocked the castle, causing Kai's face to suddenly go pale as he lifted his head and asked him with unsettling fear. "It's never moved this much before... Wait... What gate did you come in by?" Mark turned a bit to calculate the waters nautical direction, before answering softly. "The North. Why?" Kai's fins all tensed up as he snapped out. "WHAT?!" A stronger tremor rocked the castle, followed by cracks veining out across the thick blue crystal walls. A Siren swam up quickly behind Mark, causing him to raise Nate's sword at the ready.

The brown two tailed Siren didn't interact with him, but grunted and wailed terrified calls to Kai through his two large tusks from its upper jaw. Mark didn't understand a word of it. All he got was that something was seriously wrong. Kai let out a deep roar, before telling Mark bitterly. "The Sirens are attacking your ships and the vibrations have gotten the Leviathan's attention! If it gets out of the ice nothing will contain its fury!" Kai whistled and both Nate and Sean rose to flank him. Kai swam for the door, shoving Mark back and out of his way with surprising force. Mark slammed into the crystal wall, watching Kai rush off with Nate and Sean tailing him. As they swam, Kai let out growls and high-pitched calls that brought the other Sirens from their rooms and other halls. Mark rushed to follow them, getting hissed and snapped at by other Sirens as they rushed out across halls and out a door into what appeared to be ruins of a fallen city. The city had high white marble walls that appeared to surround the city like a massive bowl with a dome of ice encasing around that.

It was all so beautiful... until he saw what Kai had meant. Slowing down, he saw the shoulder of a pale human body that was squeezed between the ruins of the city's center. The long muscular arms outstretched across the sides of the castle. The man's face hidden within the border of the ice wall toward the back of the city. It was like the earth had been trying to devour him! The longer he stared, the more he couldn't breathe. In the man's hand was a massive golden rod that was pulsing with blue light every couple of seconds. It looked like it might be a trident, but part of it was missing inside a mass of scales by another far wall! Mark tried to take it all in and exhaled shakily. The scales were everywhere around the city. They were wrapped above and below the earth and upon looking closer. He noticed a scaly hand was holding the man's throat down. There were even traces of scales where the man's waist might be beneath the ground. Almost like something had bitten him around the waist and forced him down with enough force to encase them both.

Mark had always pictured Poseidon to look old... but from what he could see. Poseidon didn't look a day over forty with sandy brown hair and defined muscles that he could only hope for. What was interesting was that Poseidon's skin had those same glowing blue runes along his body like Sean had. Mark squeezed the handle of Nate's sword, watching the snake like body squeeze the city as it twisted within the compacted ice. Kai wasn't lying. The ice had trapped it, but it wouldn't last. The more awake the Leviathan got. The more distressed it got from being unable to move. Which was causing it to thrash with more of its strength to try breaking itself free. Twisting in the water, Mark propelled himself faster to follow the Sirens through a tunnel in the ice. Exiting the tunnel into the open water, Mark had to dodge a massive long tail with a deep purple fin down the spine of it. Had this been what had seen in the water before? At the end of the tail was a set of purple fins that looked like the spokes of a trident.

A few Sirens ran their hands over the enormous scales lovingly or out of fascination, he wasn't quite sure. Mark lost himself for a second as he swam over it. Reaching out absently to touch the tail for himself, feeling the iron hard scale and how warm it felt. The second he did, his felt power surge up his arm that caused the sides of his tail to light up in bright red light. He heard Sirens screech in fright around him, but he felt so calm and strangely affectionate toward it. Jerking his hand off the scale, he watched the tail suddenly go still in the water. Mark's heart began to race in his chest as he glanced down at his own tail, watching the fins at the end of his tail grow and unfurl out into a trident looked like the Leviathan's. What did this mean? What had it done to him? Nothing else on him had changed that he could see. Shaking it off, he found himself swimming much faster than the Sirens through the water now. Was he getting the hang of swimming with a tail... or had something else happened to him?

He had so many questions, but he couldn't dwell on them. Rushing around to the ships, he watched the Sirens calm down and part for Kai upon his approach. Mark breached the surface a short distance away from where Kai, Nate, and Sean surfaced. The exhausted looking merfolk on the Sea Star all gasped at the way Sean's eyes were clouded in purple fog. Hector stormed up to the edge of the ship, snapping out in a lightly winded tone. "Kai, you bastard! What have you done to Sean?!" Kai glared up at Hector, snarling out bitterly. "Call me a bastard again and I'll show you." Hector puffed his chest out, growling back firmly. "What do you want?" Kai glanced around at the Sirens, before answering Hector icily. "I want to kill you, but right now... The Leviathan-!" Hector glanced back at someone, giving them a swift nod seconds before a cannon from the Sea Star went off. A ball of coral that was sparking shot through the air, slamming into Kai's chest and exploded into a white light that sent out a concussion through the water.

Nate and Sean were sent flying from the force of the blast but were otherwise unharmed. The blast seemed entirely focused on Kai alone. The force knocked Kai deep into the water, where another hard impact rippled the water and sent a crack up the ice wall. Mark ducked below the surface to see what had happened with a fearful look. Something big had hit the ice below. As the water cleared of rushing bubbles, Mark cursed underwater loudly. Kai didn't look like a Merfolk anymore. The blast had clearly broken his glamor like Granny always wore. Kai's body had grown as big as the ship, his body completely breaking out into teal scales that glinted in shades of blues and silver. Kai's legs had grown into large hind legs with fins instead of claws. His arms turned into large claws with silver wedding between them. His long scaly tail thrashed in the water like a pissed off cat and his dragon head looked up at the surface with blazing emerald green eyes. Kai's silver fin wings flipped up from his back, his soft pink hair forming a beautiful mane from his brow to the back of his long neck.

Kai's wings flapped down hard in the water, launching him up from the ocean to roar angrily down at the Sea Star! Mark rose from the water slowly, listening to all the Merfolk scream in horror at Kai's form. All except Hector and Granny. They were the only ones not surprised by his new look. Kai bared his teeth at them, roaring out in frustration. "FOOLS!" Granny formed her trident from the ocean water, yelling up at Kai. "Relinquish the Sea Crown, Kai! I know deep down you're not a fighter!" Kai snorted water over the ship, purring out menacingly. "I'm a lover and a fighter! And if you hadn't trapped me, I COULD HAVE SAVED HIM!" Kai opened his jaws, blasting a jet of scolding water over the Sea Star. Merfolk that were drained of their power dived off the ship with ear shattering screams to escape being burned to death as the ship heated up enough to sizzle in the icy water. Granny and Hector used their powers to protect the people they could by manipulating icy water. However, the wood of the ship was heating up beneath their feet.

A cannon from the Battle Ballad went off, striking Kai in the shoulder. The cannon ball hit hard enough to stop Kai from spraying scolding water at the ship, but not enough to pierce his armored hide. It did knock him out of the air though, causing Kai to use his freefall as a means to dive directly onto the Sea Star! The ship splintered as Kai busted through the center, crashing into the watery depths. As the parts of the Sea Star sank, Merfolk began to scream for a whole new reason. The Sirens were rushing back in now to pick them off! Fights broke out above and below the surface as the two started to fight. The water churning and tinting with blood as wounds were dealt both physically and magically. Mark tried to look for Nate and Sean, but he had lost them in the mass fury of splashing that was all around him! One Siren latched onto his tail, dragging him below the surface with its lobster like claws. Mark jabbed the sword at its armored neck, until the thin layer of armor broke and allowed him to plunge the katana deep into its shoulder to its heart. Mark let out a hiss at the dead body, twisting in time to see large chucks of ice falling into the water.

Mark dodged a falling ice chuck, his eyes falling on a horrific sight.  Where he had seen the eye of the Leviathan... there was now a massive impact crater left from where Kai had hit the wall of ice.  No doubt practically sucker punching the Leviathan directly in the eye.  To add to the devastation, there was blood tainted water that was being sucked into the tunnel vent and snorted back out. The smell of blood must have triggered the Leviathan before into moving. All around the ice was trembling and breaking off in bits around the massive head. It was too late. The Leviathan was awake. To Be Continued...