(Maguro's POV)
The day before the world nearly drowned, I was thinking about mugs.
Not like, "end-of-the-world" magical relic mugs. Just… our chipped mismatched ones at the café.The green one with the cat. The ghost one with the smiling skull. The purple one that says "I'm 90% caffeine, 10% socially awkward."
I wondered if Takashi had washed them.
Or if Chiyo had finally scared away the bean gremlin haunting the espresso grinder.
I wanted to be there. With them. Brewing something warm and dumb and unnecessary.
But instead?
I was underwater.
Wearing coral-woven armor.
Floating in a throne room turned war camp.
Preparing to fight the literal embodiment of ancient sea chaos.
Typical Wednesday.
The Sea King stood before me, regal as ever — though I saw the weight in his eyes. The wear. His hair drifted in slow motion behind him like dark mist, and his trident leaned slightly as if tired, too.
"Vritra rises by moonfall," he said. "The Seal fractures further every tide."
I nodded, arms crossed over my chest.
Beside me, Commander Gaji cracked his claw like a knuckle.
Karu stood stoic, hand resting on the hilt of his manta-blade. He hadn't said much since his possession.
Tuli was gently glowing behind me, murmuring protective chants.
The Sea King looked at me — not like a ruler to a soldier, but like a father to a rogue daughter.
"I regret asking this of you."
I swallowed. "I regret being the only one who can do it."
We both chuckled. It wasn't funny. But sometimes, that's the only option.
Before the battle, I swam alone — to the kelp-engraved mirror pool where the Bean Witch first revealed my fate.
I stared at my reflection.
Silver scales glittered down my arms like accidental jewelry. My gills fluttered with every breath. My hair floated wild, bleached by moonlight and memory.
I looked like someone else's dream.
But my eyes?
Still mine.
Still Maguro.
"I don't want to lose my café," I whispered. "Or my weird friends. Or the stupid mug with the cat."
A quiet voice rippled back
"Then fight to keep them."
Dawn never comes underwater, but the light changed.
When the hour came, the sea churned in warning. Creatures fled from the trench. Coral cracked. The current held its breath.
The Sea King rose above the crowd of warriors — his voice echoing like thunder in a cathedral.
"Today, we face the storm. Not to erase it, but to end its rule."
"And today," he added, looking at me, "our tides follow a new current."
I floated up beside him.
Heart racing.
Hands trembling.
And smiled.
"Let's give him something to scream about."
We surged forward — a flood of warriors, beasts, spells, and steel — descending toward the abyss where Vritra's seal had shattered completely.
The trench opened below us like a mouth with no bottom.
And from it?
He rose.
Vritra was not a monster.
He was a concept.
A leviathan built from tide and nightmare.
His body stretched for miles — a spine of glowing fissures, fins like voids, a face shaped like a forgotten god.
His eyes opened — two stars gone wrong.
The water boiled.
And then...
He screamed.
Sound vanished.
Pressure exploded.
Half the first wave was scattered.
Gaji cursed and charged anyway.
Karu followed, blades spinning in twin arcs of light.
Tuli hovered behind, hands glowing as she cast shielding songs across the sea.
I closed my eyes.
And jumped.
I plunged straight toward Vritra's heart — the dark glowing crystal in his chest, pulsing like a second ocean.
He noticed.
Shadow tendrils shot toward me like barbed whips.
I dodged, twisted, summoned a spiral of slicing current and sent it flying back.
Then I screamed right back at him.
"YOU'RE RUINING EVERYONE'S WEEK!"
I don't remember every move.
It was a blur of instinct, light, and raw ocean.
But I remember when it changed.
When Vritra opened his mouth and spoke — not words, but visions.
Flashes of ruined land.
Drowned cities.
The café, broken. Empty mugs. Chiyo's laughter fading into silence.
I nearly lost control.
Until I heard another voice
"Maguro. You're not alone."
The Bean Witch.
I didn't know where she was — maybe in the currents, or maybe in my head. But she whispered something ancient
"You are sea and soul. Let it rise."
And something did.
A surge from deep within me — not power, but clarity.
I reached out — not just to water, but to meaning.
The love I had for the surface.
The longing I had for the deep.
The ridiculous, unexplainable joy I got from making foam art shaped like ducks.
All of it.
I let it become me.
My body shifted.
Scales spread like galaxies across my shoulders. My eyes glowed blue-gold. My hands pulsed with current-light. A trail of shimmering tide wrapped my waist and back like wings.
I became the Riptide Avatar.
Not sea. Not human.
Both.
I surged forward and punched Vritra's heart.
It didn't kill him.
But it cracked something inside him.
He reeled — shrieked — darkness bled from his chest.
And I heard it then,fear.
"You should not exist."
I grinned, floating inches from his face.
"I get that a lot."
Then I did something I hadn't trained for.
I hugged the crystal.
Wrapped around it like an anchor. Like a friend. Like someone not there to destroy — but to change.
I let my power melt into it.
Offered not fury.
But balance.
And the crystal began to glow.
The Sea King raised his trident.
The warriors focused their magic.
And together — all of us — sea and soul — we sent the final blow.
Light tore through the trench.
Vritra roared.
His body shattered like glass in a storm.
And then…
Silence.
Real silence.
No more shadows.
Only… stillness.
I floated there, numb. Breathless. Glowing faintly. My gills fluttered weakly.
The Sea King caught me before I sank.
"You did it," he said.
I looked at him. "I still want my café."
He laughed.
"Then go home, child of both worlds."
The palace rebuilt slowly.
The sea healed slower.
But the people?
They whispered my name.
Not as a queen.
Not as a warrior.
But as a girl who chose her own tide.
—A Week Later – Back at the Café —
I slammed open the door, hair soaked, face still slightly scaly.
"DID YOU GUYS MOVE MY MUG?"
Takashi screamed and dropped a tray of croissants.
Chiyo floated in with a deadpan look. "Oh, she's back. I was hoping the octopus prince would take over."
I stepped inside, heart full.
Everything smelled like home.
I went behind the counter, grabbed the purple mug, and poured myself a fresh brew.
Then I looked at the sea through the window.
And whispered
"I'll see you again."
To be continued.