Dragon Raja

21 - In Your Arms

The nuclear vessel dropped below to the sea bed. It landed in a close enough proximity to the beating embryo that the blast would surely destroy it, as well as most of the surrounding death servitors hatching and crawling through the cracks of the sea floor.

Caesar swam down to the nuclear vessel, the remaining weight of the mission had now been set upon his shoulders. It was up to him to remember his password, set off the bomb, get back on the Trieste, and give Chisei Gen an earful about almost leaving them in the sea.

At least, that was how Caesar imagined it would go.

But things were a lot harder than he had originally thought, yet another one of his plans backfired. Right as his feet finally made contact with the floor of the trench, it was as if something had gone off within the cracks in the ground. All the death servitors came rushing out, surprisingly not paying Caesar any mind. Instead, both the aquatic and land death servitors swam their way to the surface.

Not only did a hoard of death servitors come charging out, but Caesar was also hit with a sudden intensity he could only describe as falling into a near-death situation. His vision went blurry, his mind was hazy. The force of the dragon embryo was making him lose consciousness, and he hadn't even reached the nuclear vessel; Momotaro.

Though his head throbbed and his chest flared with an intense burning sensation, Caesar willed himself to push on. With every floating step he took, he could feel the weight of a thousand chains, as if they were wrapped till suffocation on his ankles. He did his best to plow through his hazy vision and the force of the water trying to push him back.

Fortunately, Caesar had finally gotten within arms reach of Momotaro. "I did it," he mumbled to himself.

"Caesar?" Johann's voice suddenly rang through his ears, forgetting that he was still connected to the Trieste's channel. "What's going on down there? You look like you're slowing down,"

"I'm fine, Johann Chu," Caesar retorted back, "I just didn't expect the pressure to be this high, I lost my footing is all,"

Despite his evident lie, Caesar brushed off his teammate's worry. He had more urgent matters to attend to, quite literally. He was faced with the keypad of his nightmares. It urged him to input the password he had mistakenly made while having one too many glasses of wine one night at the hotel.

But Johann could see from the safety of the submersible that Caesar was not fine. It was the intuition deep in his guts that told him he needed to go and help him. Despite their rivalry, Caesar was still someone Johann could care for.

So even as Caesar struggled to keep his head on his shoulders, and tried his best to force his eyes open, he found himself becoming weaker and weaker. All due to the intense pressure emitting off of the dragon embryo. Surely, if Cassell College had sent any other students with lower dragon blood percentages, they'd succumb to the pressure, ultimately turning into death servitors.

"I'm going down there," Johann suddenly asserted. He turned quickly on his heels and headed straight towards the other suits. "If even I fail to bring Caesar back, you two need to do whatever it takes to get Chisei Gen to pull you guys up,"

"Johann," Y/N tried to intervene, reaching her arm out in an attempt to stop yet another friend from leaving her side.

Before she could reach him, Johann turned around first, holding her shoulders tightly, yet fragile enough not to break her. "Listen to me," he emphasized, holding her gaze within his sharp, golden eyes. "I will not let anything happen to you. I will not let you go down there to save him, as much as you want to. Just as Caesar said, you're going to live. So if I don't come back, you're going to get Chisei to pull you up, got it?"