"The mood here is a little heavy, don't you think? King Namor." As I said that, I smiled at King Namor in front of me. I am currently standing inside his throne room, with Mara dressed in her battle armor right by my side.

Meanwhile, King Namor is wearing full golden battle armor while gripping a golden trident with his right hand. At first glance, you would instantly notice that it was not a simple trident. The slender shaft and the three-p.r.o.nged head of the trident were perfect in balance, not a single excess part can be seen. It is a simple-designed golden trident.

Yet, it emits a little bit of G.o.d aura, so it can be said that it might be on par with the Mjølnir of Thor. However, I know for sure that it was not created in the same place as the Mjølnir. Thus, it can only be surmised that it is created by another G.o.d. And I'm putting my bet on their G.o.d, which is Neptune (Poseidon) that created it.

Yeah, that thing is dangerous. But the one wielding it is not. That's why; I can still be carefree in front of him even right now.

Mara, on the other hand, is so tensed that her gaze never left the trident. She was fully on guard and ready to act whenever King Namor uses it. In fact, she's so tensed that I tried calming her down through telepathy magic, telling her that it was okay. It was only then that she calmed down a little bit, although she never dropped her guard. What a trustworthy subordinate.

I turned my attention to King Namor with Queen Dorma by his side and smiled.

"By the way, I'm glad that the Queen is safe. You never know what will happen during a rescue mission, am I right?"

"You!!--"

King Namor stopped Queen Dorma from speaking by raising a hand. He glared at me without hiding his hostility.

"I refuse to pick in any of your choices. Atlantis will never bow to the likes of you. If war is what you want, war is what you'll get!"

Saying so, he stood up and readied his golden trident. I see, so he refused, huh. He chose to stand up and fight even though he knows he will lose (or maybe not). Maybe he even resolved himself to die while maintaining his pride rather than bow down to me. A n.o.ble gesture, if I might say.

However, I'm not accepting any other answer. On the contrary, I want to avoid a war at all cost. A few days from now, I'm leaving Lemuria with Lynn for a while to get back home, you see. Starting another war means prolonging my stay.

Although I can finish it in just a day, there's no saying that the Atlantis will give up that easily. They will surely call their alliance and team up against me. Again, it will prolong my stay. And by the time I defeated all of them, I still needed to think about what to do to their countries, making me stay even longer. After that, a rebellion might crop up again. Thus, it's a never-ending cycle.

To avoid all of that, I needed to settle this once and for all right now. Though I could just leave Atlantis alone and go home, how could I after they plotted against me? I want them to pay even a little bit. Mm-hmm, that golden trident might be compatible with Mara.

"Alright, I'm taking that trident. I'll give you a chance to bow and offer it to me." I smiled at King Namor while saying so.

"What? Hahahahahaha! You? Take this from me? You're free to dream whatever you like. You will never make me bow!" King Namor charged straight towards me.

I stopped Mara from getting in front of me as I erected a tier 10 barrier, [Perfect Aegis]. A trident from Neptune (Poseidon) vs. the magic s.h.i.+eld of Jupiter (Zeus). The golden trident stopped one foot away from me.

However, instead of stopping, King Namor continued to hit the barrier.

"I don't believe that I can't destroy this! Haaaappp!!"

He slashed horizontally and vertically; he stabbed twice, thrice, multiple times; and even charged again while striking. The clash of the barrier and the trident even caused s.p.a.ce cracks around me.

Nevertheless, I stayed standing still while my barrier protects me. Not even a speck of dust can get past my barrier. King Namor entered a berserk state after his pride was crushed.

After a few hundred strikes, which only amounted to at most a minute to the observers, King Namor finally stopped. He was left heavily panting with a bitter look on his face.

"Ohh, well done. You actually managed to make a few inches of crack in my barrier." I praised him while clapping.

However, it was not mockery. I am genuinely impressed that he can cause a crack on my highest tier barrier (though the crack disappeared almost instantly). There's no need to say how strong this barrier is if I said that it was currently the strongest one that I can cast. It also has the word Perfect, which signifies its absolute defense. On top of that, it is named after a Greek G.o.d's legendary s.h.i.+eld.

Although, part of the fact that King Namor caused a crack was because he also had an artifact from the same faction of G.o.ds. King Namor's strength was also on par, if not greater, than the green monster in Harlem, New York (Hulk). Despite having a human body, he can actually exert a much greater strength. I applaud him for that.

But, it seems like King Namor thought I was mocking him. He mustered up his strength again as he charged once more. The golden trident in his hand emitted a rainbow glow. King Namor's body was also covered in this glow. He appeared much stronger than before like it was a sort of enhancement. I guess it was one of the abilities of the trident.

Since it seems like this is taking too much time, I intended to finish it once and for all with my next move. Tier 10 s.p.a.ce magic.

"[Hypergravity]"

Before King Namor reached me, a strong gravitational force stopped him on his tracks.

"Whaaattt... is thisss...? GgAaArggHhh!!"

Not giving up, King Namor took a step.

Step by step. I increased the gravity once more.

Only after increasing the gravity tenfold, King Namor was finally on his knees.

"I said bow, didn't I? See? This is what happens when you don't listen to others."

"Im... po... ssible..." With that, King Namor fainted while still kneeling.

I released the magic and King Namor fell to the ground.

Crouching down, I picked up the golden trident and stored it in my Storage magic.