CHAPTER 113: THE SUNKEN ARENA

The buzz of victory from the Labyrinth of Echoes didn’t last long. After a short rest period, the Prime Warden’s booming voice once again filled every corner of the Crucible.

All screens in the champions’ lounge flickered to life, showing a swirling vortex of dark, deep water.

"Champions!" the voice declared, full of dramatic flair. "The second event will now be revealed! Welcome to... THE SUNKEN ARENA!"

The image on the screen zoomed in, plunging through the watery vortex. It showed a massive, ancient coliseum, bigger than any city Ryan had ever seen, submerged under miles of dark water.

The architecture was clearly Precursor, all sleek lines and impossible angles, but it was old and covered in strange, glowing sea life.

"Deep within this high-gravity environment," the Prime Warden explained, "your task is simple. Descend into the depths, overcome the Arena’s guardians, and be the first team to retrieve the ’Heart of the Leviathan’ from the central chamber.

The crushing pressure and the... local wildlife... will be your primary obstacles."

On the screen, one of the "local wildlife" swam past the camera. It was a huge, shark-like machine beast with glowing red eyes and long, sharp limbs that looked like they could tear through a ship’s hull.

In the lounge, Chris Magnus went a little pale. "Oh, great," he muttered, slumping back in his chair. "Water. Of course, it’s water. I sink in a bathtub. This is going to go great."

Emma was already tapping at a projected screen, her brow furrowed in thought. "High-gravity and deep water. That’s a gear-heavy challenge. We need specialized vehicles. Submersibles with reinforced hulls and powerful engines to fight the gravity."

"We don’t have any of those," Zara stated the obvious, her eyes glued to the technical data scrolling across the screen. "Our gear is designed for ground combat and starship operations, not for deep-sea diving in a place that wants to squash us into a pancake."

Ryan looked at his team. The confidence they had gained from winning the first event was quickly draining away. This challenge was designed for brute strength and heavy technology, two things they were short on compared to the bigger, more established sectors.

As if to prove their point, the screen switched to a view of the main preparation hangar. Teams were already moving towards the massive entry pool. The camera focused on Lord Valerius and the Technocratic Imperium. They weren’t just prepared; they were practically showing off.

Four enormous, gleaming aquatic mechs stood ready. They looked like giant metal knights designed for underwater warfare, with massive thrusters on their backs and huge cannons mounted on their arms.

Lord Valerius was in the command mech, which was even larger and painted a gaudy gold color. It had a sleek, angry-looking cockpit where he sat, a smug grin plastered on his face.

"He looks like a giant, angry toaster," Chris grumbled.

"A very expensive, very dangerous toaster," Emma corrected him, her expression grim. "Those mechs are top-of-the-line. They can withstand the pressure and have more than enough firepower to deal with those machine beasts."

Ryan’s team had... their standard combat armor. They looked completely out of place. Other champions from other sectors were starting to whisper and point in their direction. The dark horse winners of the first event now looked like they didn’t even belong here.

"So, what’s the plan, boss?" Chris asked, looking at Ryan. "Do we just hold our breath and swim for it?"

.

Ryan didn’t answer right away. He was watching the screen, his face calm. He wasn’t looking at the mechs or the submarines. He was looking at the water itself, at the data stream showing the arena’s unique properties.

His mind, powered by his SSS-Tier system, was working at a thousand miles per hour. He wasn’t a tech genius like Zara or a master strategist like Emma. He was something different. He didn’t just use the rules of reality; he could rewrite them.

A small smile touched his lips. "No," he said finally, turning to his team. "We’re not going to swim. We’re going to adapt."

Zara raised an eyebrow. "Adapt how? We can’t build a submarine in the next ten minutes."

"We don’t need to," Ryan said. He closed his eyes for a moment. His system was already at work, sifting through the massive amounts of data flowing from the Sunken Arena.

It was like a giant library, and he was speed-reading every data at once. He found what he was looking for. Two specific pieces of information, two sets of rules he could copy.

System Alert: "Aquatic Adaptation" data extracted.

System Alert: "High-G Tolerance" data extracted.

"Everyone, stand still for a moment," Ryan said, opening his eyes. They glowed with a faint, blue light.

He held out his hands, and a wave of shimmering energy washed over his team. It wasn’t loud or explosive. It was quiet, like the air was vibrating.

Chris gasped. He looked down at his armor. The thick, heavy plates of his gear seemed to melt and shift. The metal flowed like liquid for a second, then reformed into something new. It was sleeker, darker, with thin, glowing blue lines running along the limbs. Small fins, almost invisible, appeared on his back and legs.

"Whoa," Chris breathed, wiggling his fingers. His whole suit felt lighter, more flexible. "I feel... slippery."

The same thing was happening to everyone. Scarlett’s dark armor became even darker, like a piece of the midnight sea. It hugged her form perfectly, designed for silent, deadly movement.

Emma’s and Zara’s gear also changed, becoming more streamlined and elegant. Their helmets dissolved and reformed into transparent visors that sealed around their faces.

Zara stared at her hands, turning them over and over. Her scientific mind was struggling to understand what had just happened. "This... this is not technology," she said, her voice filled with wonder.

"He didn’t add anything. He reforged our armor. He fused it with the biological concepts of deep-sea creatures. It’s... incredible." She looked at Ryan with a new level of awe. This was a power far beyond simple machines.

"The armor will now let you breathe underwater and move as if you were born in it," Ryan explained simply. "And it will completely negate the high gravity. We won’t be faster or stronger than Valerius’s mechs, but we’ll be more agile. We won’t have to fight the water. We’ll be a part of it."

They walked towards the entry pool, their newly-formed gear making no sound. They passed other teams who were climbing into clunky, noisy machines. The other champions stared at them, their mouths open in disbelief. Ryan’s team looked like a group of sea gods walking among mortals in diving suits.

They reached the edge of the vast, dark pool. In the distance, Valerius’s golden mech made a huge, clumsy splash as it entered the water.

Ryan looked at his team. Scarlett gave him a sharp, confident nod. Emma smiled, her fear replaced with determination. Zara was practically vibrating with excitement to study this new environment. Even Chris was grinning now.

"Alright," Chris said, cracking his neck. "Let’s go show that toaster how to swim."

Without another word, they dove. There was no splash. One by one, they slipped into the dark water as smoothly and silently as otters, their forms cutting through the surface and disappearing into the crushing depths below.

They were faster, more fluid, and more graceful than any machine. The hunt for the Heart of the Leviathan had begun.