Guardian of the Abyssal Sea —A Sakamata Chloe Side Story— - Those Who Return to the Abyssal Sea

The engine roar of the *Shiokaze-maru* tore through the pre-dawn silence. Beyond the horizon, the boundary between sky and sea was beginning to blur into whiteness. The stars had not yet faded, and low in the eastern sky, only the morning star still cast its phosphorescent glow. Sakamata Chloe leaned against the stern railing, watching the white, foaming wake. The wound on her neck still throbbed. Beneath the bandage Urabe Takeshi had wrapped for her, the marks where scale-like patterns had peeled away stung, exposed to the salt wind. But more than that—deep in her chest. Her fractured Tide Core pulsed with an irregular rhythm. With every beat, a pain shot through her, as if shards of glass were scraping her blood vessels. (*This might be… the end.*) She thought it quietly. She had almost no lifespan left. Even so—if she could protect the Abyssal Sea, that was enough. —A creak. The cabin door opened. She turned. Kaito stood there. His face was pale. Fragments of gold from his shattered prosthetic eye still bit into the lid of his right eye. Only his left eye, deep green, glowed with a strange calm in the dimness before dawn. "Mind if I stay here?" Chloe nodded silently. Kaito leaned against the railing and gazed at the waves. The sea breeze stirred his dark blue hair, tied back in a single tail. It had been black once—living in human society had thinned its pigment. Chloe stole a glance at his profile. (*Kaito…*) When they had reunited after fifteen years, she had thought he had become a cold scientist. A man who dismissed the ideology of mere protection as weakness, who would even harness the power of an evil god for the sake of progress—she had thought he had changed into that kind of man. But she had been wrong. He had simply been on the verge of being crushed by the reality that everyone who tried to protect him died, one after another. He could not stand unless he denied the very word "protect." "Let me go over the Tide Core succession procedure again," Kaito spoke quietly. Chloe's fingers tightened around the railing. "No." Her voice was hoarse. "I don't want to, Kaito… not that. I'll go alone. You wait on the boat—" "Your Tide Core is already at its limit." Kaito's voice held no emotion. "It must be sealed before the fractures reach your heart. Alone, you'll exhaust your strength before you even reach the sealing grounds." "But—" "Listen, Chloe." Kaito placed a hand on his own chest. Beneath his Shivers Corp. lab coat, around the scales on his right chest. "My Tide Core has a control device embedded in it, planted by Naruse. But the Tide Core itself is intact. The donor extracts their own Tide Core by their own will, and brings it into direct contact with the recipient's Tide Core. That initiates the fusion." His tone was matter-of-fact. As if explaining an experimental procedure. "At the moment of fusion, all of the donor's memories and emotions flow into the recipient. You will come to know everything about me… everything I have carried until now. And the moment the fusion is complete, the donor's body dissolves into the seawater." "—" Chloe bit her lip. She desperately fought back the tears threatening to spill over. But her vision blurred, and Kaito's figure wavered. "For me, someone for whom just protecting never changed anything… this is my first and last choice to 'protect.'" Kaito said it quietly. —That was when it happened. The old radio in the *Shiokaze-maru*'s wheelhouse chimed an emergency news alert. *'—Breaking news. Moments ago, Shivers Corp. CEO Naruse Souichirou held an emergency press conference and made a shocking announcement regarding the collapse of the deep-sea base Station Leviathan in the Mariana Trench.'* Chloe and Kaito turned toward the wheelhouse at the same time. The voice of the female announcer on the radio came through in fragments, mingling with the sound of the waves. *'—Mr. Naruse announced that the collapse of Station Leviathan was a planned act of sabotage by an international terrorist organization calling themselves the People of the Sea. He stated that the ringleader is a Japanese woman named Sakamata Chloe, and her accomplice, Kaito—'* The strength drained from Chloe's hands. The radio continued. *'—Mr. Naruse, in tears, stated that he had confirmed the deaths of all fifty-two crew members, and strongly condemned this as a despicable attack on humanity's ocean development. According to the announcement, suspect Sakamata, while active as a popular VTuber—'* "…You've got to be kidding me." Chloe's voice trembled. She rushed into the cabin and grabbed her smartphone. On the screen, a live broadcast of Naruse Souichirou's press conference was displayed. Naruse, his graying slicked-back hair undisturbed, the burn scar on his forehead exposed, was wiping tears at the podium. Behind him, a massive screen had been set up, displaying Chloe's photograph. *'Dangerous Terrorist'* *'Deep-Sea Deception — The True Face of Popular VTuber Sakamata Chloe'* *'People of the Sea — A Monstrous Race Hostile to Humanity'* Chloe stared at her own face on the screen. It was a clip from one of her VTuber streams. Waving cheerfully at her viewers, joking, laughing—a scene from *my* "ordinary everyday life," the life she had tried to protect. Now it was being broadcast with captions calling it "a deceptive front to fool her audience." "For many years, we have refrained from disclosing the existence of the People of the Sea as a matter of national security. However, in light of this tragedy, I will now reveal everything." Naruse's voice came through the speaker. "They have lurked in the deep sea, obstructing humanity's ocean development. Station Leviathan fell victim to their barbaric acts." "Lies…" Chloe's voice was faint. On the other side of the screen, Naruse was appealing to the audience, wiping away tears. Pretending to offer condolences to the victims' families—when he was the one who had left all fifty-two of them to die. "An international warrant is currently being issued. Both individuals are extremely dangerous, and upon discovery—" Kaito took the smartphone from Chloe's hand. And casually tossed it into the sea. A small splash rose among the waves. "We can't go back to the surface anymore. There's no need to." Kaito spoke quietly. Chloe hung her head, her shoulders trembling. "We're heading to the sealing grounds now. That's all." Kaito took Chloe's hand. Cold fingers. But—for some reason, that coldness felt warm now. He turned his left eye directly toward Chloe. Deep within the green iris, the ghost of Kaito's boyhood flickered for just a moment. The face of her childhood friend from that day on the coral hill, when they had promised to protect the Abyssal Sea together—a little awkward back then, but more earnest than anyone. "I was wrong. The sea can only be protected by you and your kind. But protecting you—that's something even I can do." Chloe was speechless. Because Kaito had spoken with emotion in his voice for the first time. "That is my first and last—choice to protect." — Shivers Tower, top floor. Returning to his private room after the press conference, Naruse Souichirou gave a curt order to his vice president. "Completely erase all data from Project Abyssal. Leave no trace whatsoever." "Understood." As the vice president left, Naruse stood by the window. Beyond the glass, Tokyo Bay stretched out. The morning sun dyed the sea's surface gold, countless ships coming and going. (*This is fine.*) Naruse murmured in his heart. (*A necessary sacrifice for the progress of humanity. The fifty-two staff members, Kaito, and that girl of the Sea People.*) He gently stroked the memento ring of his wife on his right ring finger. A woman who had died in this very sea over twenty years ago. To Naruse, the sea was something that took, and simultaneously, an object to be conquered. If he could seize the deep-sea resources, humanity could advance to a new stage. "No one can stop it now." He smiled quietly. Outside the window, the city of Tokyo continued its unchanging daily routine. — When the *Shiokaze-maru* reached the waters above the sealing grounds, the anomaly was visible at a glance. The sea surface was swirling, black. A massive whirlpool, hundreds of meters in diameter, rotated slowly but inexorably. From its center, clusters of bubbles and something like black mud occasionally erupted. The sky was heavy and overcast; not a single bird flew. "…So it's come." Kaito muttered lowly. Chloe silently donned her dry suit and gripped her Tide Core bracelet. The fragment of her grandmother's memento Tide Core glowed faintly, pale blue. "Let's go." Together, they dove into the sea. — As the depth increased, water pressure crushed against their entire bodies. But the bodies of the Sea People adapted to the darkness of 6,000 meters deep. The traces of scales on her neck began to extract oxygen directly from the seawater, pulsing in place of her lungs. Chloe's physical abilities soared, and her vision cleared. Before long, the seafloor came into view. Trieste Knoll—6,300 meters deep. The octagonal sealing altar that had once stood there was now brutally destroyed. The luminite floor, pulverized by the resonance drill, had been reduced to rubble. The Tide-Lock Stone that should have sat enshrined in the center was scattered across the seafloor in fine fragments. And— "…" Chloe gasped. Countless Spawn of the Maelstrom drifted around the altar. The small ones were about three meters in diameter. The large ones—five colossal entities, each exceeding twenty meters across. Their black, swirling bodies writhed and squirmed, corroding the surrounding seawater. When the black tendrils extending like tentacles touched the luminite fragments on the seafloor, the stone melted and vanished before her eyes. Furthermore, from beneath the altar—the depths where the main body of the evil god should have been sealed—a low-frequency vibration like a heartbeat, and an energy resembling black mud, leaked out incessantly. *Gogogogogo…* Chloe's Tide Core reacted abnormally, as if screaming. A violent pain shot through the wound on her neck. A heat that seemed to burn through the bandage. She instinctively pressed a hand to her neck and gritted her teeth. "First, I'll retrieve the altar fragments." Kaito landed on the seafloor and began sifting through the rubble. What he was searching for— Eventually, from beneath a shard of luminite, Kaito unearthed a small coral box. "…Lady Minashi's hidden cache. It contains a fragment of a Tide Core." Chloe stared at the small box. A reserve power that her grandmother, Minashi, had secretly buried while she was alive. (*Grandma… you really…*) Tears spilled from Chloe's eyes. In the darkness of the deep sea, the tears floated like tiny pearls before dissolving into the seawater and vanishing. Her grandmother had foreseen Kaito's rampage. No, not just that—it was as if she had been waiting all along for the day Kaito would return to this place and entrust his Tide Core to Chloe. "…You have my gratitude, Lady Minashi." Kaito murmured softly and handed the small box to Chloe. —That was when it happened. *Zuzuzuzu—* A low vibrational hum shuddered through the seafloor. The five colossal Spawn of the Maelstrom had begun to move, all at once. "—They're coming!" Chloe reflexively began to chant the Litany of the Tide's Murmur. "—Voice of the tide, answer my blood—" Generating a specific frequency with her voice and the vibration of her Tide Core to disintegrate the Spawn—the power of a Guardian. But. "—Gah…!" The moment she began to chant, blood erupted from Chloe's mouth. Deep in her chest, her fractured Tide Core pulsed violently. A load beyond its limit. The cracks widened further, and the Tide Core itself seemed about to shatter. "It's impossible, Chloe! With that Tid

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Episode 7

Name: Guardian of the Abyssal Sea —A Sakamata Chloe Side Story—
Author: Novelia

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