Shrouded Seascape

Amidst the seemingly endless and dark expanse of the deep sea, Lily saw a dim blue orb drifting toward her. The blue orb was leaving behind a trail of what looked like a decayed rainbow as if it were smoke billowing out of a smokestack.

Lily had seen the orb not too long ago. Just as she was about to be engulfed by those fissures earlier, the blue orb collided with the iceberg, attracting the attention of the fissures.

Lily cautiously swam to the left, but she was surprised to see the orb moving in the same direction as her.

Why is it following me? Since it saved me earlier, it can't be an enemy, can it? Lily was uneasy. Actually, calling it an "orb" wasn't exactly accurate. It was actually made of several rings connected to each other to form an orb.

The dim blue orb was massive as well; it was almost as big as an island. It carried with it an oppressive momentum akin to a mountain as it made its way slowly toward Lily.

When the massive blue orb reached a certain distance away from Lily, it suddenly came to a halt. Then, a bizarre scene unfolded—it started orbiting Lily for apparently no reason at all.

"Are you the one who sealed me underwater? Why did you do that? Can we talk?" Lily asked, attempting to communicate with the luminous blue orb.

The luminous blue orb silently orbited around Lily, offering no response at all. The light emanating from Lily imbued half of the orb with a golden sheen. Lily made several attempts to communicate, but none of them were effective.

Just as Lily was about to swim away, the dim blue orb suddenly vanished for some reason, leaving Lily behind in the desolate seawater. Lily was at a loss for words. Just what was it trying to do?

Lily pounded on the sea surface. She created ripples in it, but that was it.

She was still trapped underwater.

Could it be that the culprit is something else? Not that orb? Lily quickly looked around and cast her gaze at the massive sunken island down below.

The buildings on the island resembled a bunch of tombstones, and there weren't any noises at all except silence.

Lily looked up once again and made another attempt to break through. The seawater's temperature rose rapidly until the sea around Lily started boiling. The waters churned as bubbles burst and appeared one after another.

Despite Lily's efforts, she remained sealed beneath the water.

To make matters worse, Lily's attempts to break through had allowed her to discover a terrifying fact—the water was isolating both her and her light. It was like the water beneath the surface had become an independent world, while the sea surface was the boundary between the two worlds.

The Lily of the past would have panicked, but Lily was no longer that Lily.

After pondering over it for a brief moment, Lily flew toward the island down below.

Since the culprit wasn't that blue orb, then the culprit had to be something else, and there wasn't anything suspicious around here except for the Foundation's island on the seafloor. After all, there wasn't anything else here except for the blue orb and the sunken island.

The seafloor was extremely "clean," and Lily felt like she was staring at an underwater desert. There was nothing—no fish nor underwater monsters.

Lily hovered above the island like the morning sun, illuminating the desolate island.

Upon comparing the island's features with Mr. Charles' words, Lily finally became certain that she had found the right place. The Foundation had created the Light God on this island.

Is it a restriction set by the Foundation to ensure that others can't come here? As far as I know, as soon as the Light God was made, everyone on the island vanished into thin air.

Lily landed in a park and walked on foot on the clean and tidy island. The trees around were bare, and their branches growing skyward resembled the claws of some beast.

The island was quiet, and Lily's figure emitting a radiant light stood out amidst the darkness.

The island was at least a thousand years old, but the buildings on the island appeared unaffected by the ruthless passage of time. Except for some moss, the island was no different from an ordinary island that had simply sunk.

Just then, the luminous blue orb from earlier reappeared out of thin air. More than half of it was buried in the island, but it was still orbiting around Lily.

Lily was extremely nervous at the sight and waited for the luminous orb to do anything to her. However, the luminous blue orb did nothing but orbit Lily.

Lily eventually walked out of the park and flew toward the island's research facilities. Her first stop was the most eye-catching grand metal arch. The Light God was created at the base of the metal arch.

Lily saw several white blocks assembled into an inverted triangle at the base of the arch. Lily assumed that the white blocks were once the Light God's "body" before He discarded them to become a god.

Lily pushed open a window and climbed into the arched building. The advanced machinery and the myriad of entwined cables on the floor matched up with Mr. Charles' statement.

There was an oval glass sphere in the middle of the room, and Lily assumed that it once housed the Divine Blood. The Foundation had created the Light God using the so-called Divine Blood.

The oval glass sphere was empty; the seven capsules on both sides of it were empty as well.

Lily flew toward a computer and felt around for a while before finally finding the power button. She pressed it, but the screen remained dark.

I think this thing is like Mr. Charles' phone. A black screen means that it's not on. In that case, how am I being sealed beneath the water? Could the machinery responsible for that restriction be somewhere else instead of in this place?

Lily scoured the massive arched building before exploring the gigantic ring-like building next to it. Upon flying outside, Lily discovered that the luminous orb had inexplicably vanished once again.

The luminous orb was friendly at the moment, but Lily could feel that there was something wrong with it. She really wanted to leave as soon as possible. With that in mind, Lily scoured the ring-like building before flying out in disappointment.

The ring-like building was no different from that building at the rear of Skywater Island, and the only difference between the two was the fact that the former looked newer.

Just then, the luminous blue orb appeared out of thin air once again. This time, there was clearly something off with it. It was too close, nearly touching her nose.

"Hello, can you hear me? Could you please move a bit farther away from me? You're making me dizzy." Lily gathered the light within her and condensed it into a giant palm. Then, she thrust it forward in an attempt to push the massive, luminous blue orb away.

As soon as the dazzling palm made contact with the luminous orb, it disappeared into it as if it were a stone dropped into the sea. Lily immediately realized that something had gone wrong. Her power was being rapidly drained away.

Lily's vision swam, and she staggered, almost keeling over to the ground. The absorption rate was astoundingly fast, and Lily felt like she would die at this rate unless something was done.

Just then, Lily realized something—perhaps the power that the Light God had bestowed upon her wasn't some kind of reward or some kind of backup to give way to His return.

Perhaps the so-called "resurrection" was just an illusion that was being maintained by the power within her.

Lily deduced that to resurrect something, the Light God would have to inject a clump of energy into the target, which would maintain their existence. In other words, Lily believed that she would die once the power inside her was exhausted.

Meanwhile, the luminous orb emitting a dim blue light was slowly taking on a golden hue as it absorbed Lily's energy.

At this rate, a brand-new sun would soon rise from the depths of the deep sea.