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The warmth of celebration, the weight of shared memories, and the comfort of togetherness wrapped around them like a second skin.

But even golden nights must surrender to the dawn.

As laughter softened into smiles and festivals faded into quiet stories, the time to move on arrived.

Their journey wasn't over.

In the Golden Dragon Kingdom, there were no grand send-offs. No parades or parting festivals. After all, farewells were rarely something people celebrated.

The atmosphere turned quieter, more reflective. There were heartfelt conversations, shared meals, and long silences.

Moments when words fell short, but presence said enough.

Taufik and his family lingered for a few more days, tying up loose ends, sharing final glances with allies and friends, and preparing for what lay ahead.

And then, when the time came, they left.

Their final destination: the Ice Continent.

A land of snow and silence.

The birthplace of Anugerah.

--------

This time, Taufik didn't open a portal straight to the Ice Continent.

They had new companions now.

And Basukhi, in particular, had a request.

He wanted to see how the world had changed during his long absence. To walk its lands once more, not as a forgotten relic, but as a "Man" returning home.

So, they traveled a long way.

Not out of necessity but out of respect... For memories, for those they had met, and for the world itself.

They rode upon the vast, serpentine body of Basukhi, The Original Dragon, The Dragon of the Beginning.

High above the clouds, they soared.

Below them stretched the endless ocean, dotted with uninhabited isles, each a silent witness to their passage.

Their pace was neither fast nor slow, just enough to savor the journey, to let the beauty of the world unfold beneath them.

But even the skies above the ocean held their perils.

As they drifted farther from familiar lands, the color of the sea darkened.

The clouds thickened, not with rain, but with pressure like the breath of some ancient, slumbering thing rising to meet them.

They had entered The Maw, the most dangerous stretch of ocean in the known world.

A region where compasses spun wild, where myths were born, and where sea monsters thrived.

Basukhi slowed.

Not out of fear.

But out of respect.

Below, the water shifted unnaturally, waves breaking in spiral patterns as if something beneath was watching, intelligent, territorial, waiting.

Massive shadows loomed beneath the surface. Some moved with impossible speed, others drifted slowly, like mountains that breathed.

Aksara stood at the edge of Basukhi's back, hand resting on the hilt of his Ninjato, his eyes scanning the waters.

"There's... Something down there," He murmured.

Taufik didn't respond immediately.

He could feel it, too; the sea below wasn't just water. It pulsed with something ancient. Alive. Hungry. Primordial.

Beneath the gentle waves, there was something waiting. Watching.

And Taufik knew exactly what it was.

"…I know that monster," He said at last, a smirk tugging at the corner of his lips. "It's a Moving Trap Island That Has a Tentacle"

He chuckled at his own words, and Kaela, who knows what Taufik means, couldn't help but join in, her laughter light and unbothered.

The rest of the group stared at the two of them, confusion etched across their faces, uncertain whether Taufik was joking or if they were truly flying over some kind of monstrous, tentacled island that devoured ships for sport.

But that was where the amusement ended.

The wind shifted.

Taufik stood up fully now, his eyes no longer playful. The smirk was gone, replaced by something sharper. Focused.

Basukhi rumbled beneath them, not with fear, but readiness. The massive dragon's ancient instincts stirred as the pressure in the air thickened like coiled smoke.

Aksara, meanwhile, didn't take his eyes off the sea.

"I still can't see it clearly… But it's massive. And it's pretending to be part of the ocean," He muttered. "The waves... They're part of it, aren't they?"

Taufik joined him at the edge, his coat billowing slightly in the high-altitude wind. His gaze was cold, sharp, and calculating as he stared down at the seemingly tranquil sea below.

"That's right," He said, his voice low and steady. "It doesn't hunt like a beast. It waits like a trap. Like a mimic… But the size of a country"

He paused, his eyes narrowing.

"Arman, Kaela, and I once fell into that trap"

Aksara turned to him, curiosity flickering behind his cautious expression.

"Is it strong, Father?"

Taufik gave a small, amused breath through his nose.

"No. Not exactly. It's just… Difficult to kill. At least, it was for Arman, back then"

He shifted his stance, one hand resting casually on the hilt of his katana.

"But for me? I killed it with a single swing"

Then...

A faint tremor ran through the ocean.

Not violent. Not loud.

But deep.

It was like the world exhaled from beneath the waves.

Something was rising.

Slow. Purposeful. Patient.

A shadow began to swell beneath the surface, massive, shifting, and unnatural. Not an island. Not a creature.

But both.

First came the shape, dark and sprawling. The sea bulged unnaturally, like the horizon was lifting. Then came the sound, deep and resonant, like thunder being dragged across metal.

One massive tentacle breached the surface.

It didn't lash or strike. It rose, slow and graceful, as if testing the air. It shimmered with coral and shipwreck bones, draped in moss like royal robes. Barnacles clustered like crowns near the top, and luminous algae pulsed softly across its length like veins.

Then another.

Then three more.

Dozens.

A forest of tentacles towered into the air, casting impossible shadows across the sea and sky.

And in the center, just beneath the waves, a single, ancient eye cracked open.

A vertical slit, golden and unblinking.

It saw them.

And in that moment, the air dropped in temperature.

Everyone aboard felt it like a primal whisper brushing their souls.

You are seen.

Basukhi let out a guttural growl that shook the skies. His wings widened defensively, coiling slightly to shield his passengers.

"What is that? I don't remember something like that exists on this planet"

Taufik didn't take his eyes off the colossal eye beneath the sea.

He didn't flinch.

Didn't blink.

Didn't breathe.

"…That's because it shouldn't," Taufik said quietly, almost to himself.

His voice cut through the wind like a whisper of steel.

The others turned toward him, expecting more, but he didn't meet their eyes.

His gaze remained fixed on the shadow swelling beneath the ocean's surface, his expression unreadable, yet darkened by something deeper than caution.

There was more to this than just a monster.

"Don't you feel it?" He murmured, his voice barely louder than the wind. "It's faint… Almost nonexistent. But it's there... There's Lembu's presence in that thing"

A heavy silence followed.

Not fear, yet. But something close.

Kaela's smile slipped away. Aksara's gaze sharpened, scanning the sea for what only his father seemed to sense. The others remained still, caught in the quiet weight of Taufik's words.

Then, as if drawn by instinct, all eyes turned to Lembuswana.

He rested in Alice's arms, still in his small, doll-like form.

But before they could hear the answers they longed for.

It came.

There was no roar. No warning. Just presence.

The tentacles did not lash out or thrash.

They simply were vast, immovable, rising from the depths like the roots of some ancient god, stretching toward the heavens with terrifying grace. Each one broke the ocean's surface in silence, casting shadows that swallowed the light.

And then, beneath the waves, that golden eye was opened.

It gazed up at them, unblinking, eternal.

Timeless.

Watching.

Judging.

Waiting.

Taufik's fingers tightened slightly around the hilt of his katana, not out of fear, but instinct.

Because what he felt wasn't just the faint echo of Lembuswana's presence.

It was the contradiction.

The creature below radiated an ancient, primal hunger, older than language, deeper than thought. A monstrous will that did not belong to this era… Yet, somehow, it felt familiar.

Taufik's gaze shifted toward Lembuswana, cradled in Alice's arms.

His mind traced backward, sifting through memories like worn pages in a forgotten book.

As far as he could remember, Lembuswana had collected all the fragments.

With Nāgāntaka by his side, they had completed the task.

'So why…? Why was there still this one left? And why did it feel wrong?'

No answered.

Because then...

It moved.

Not one tentacle. Not two. All of them.

The ocean itself seemed to breathe upward, spiraling around the shifting mass like a whirlpool dragged from the heavens.

Waves climbed against gravity.

The sky trembled.

And the mimic-island began to rise, truly rise.

No longer pretending.

No longer waiting.

The forest of tentacles twisted, forming spirals and sigils in the air. Ancient markings. Summoning circles.

Not magic meant to create but to reveal.

From beneath the monstrous mass, a city began to surface.

Ruined, flooded, drowned, and yet, not dead.

Structures carved of bone coral and volcanic glass. Statues worn down by time depict beasts with many heads and many truths.

A civilization that had no right to exist.

Gaia whispered, "That's not a monster. It's a world fragment"

Aksara muttered, "A fragment of what, Mom?"

Taufik responded softly,

"Something that was erased"

And then came the voice.

Not from above.

Not from below.

But from within.

....

...

..

.