Apocalyptic Rebirth: With a repairman system space, she rises again.-Chapter 585: Deep Tailed Burners.

The museum floor groaned, a deep, metallic sound that vibrated right up through the soles of Sunshine’s boots. She gripped her hammer, the weight of the cold steel providing the only sense of reality in a world currently turning upside-down. Her eyes darted between the flashing red emergency lights and the ceiling, where the crystalline dome was beginning to shed flakes of dust like snow.

Secretly, she sent the beacon into the space because it was like a hot potato in that moment. If it was discovered that she was the reason the Glacian empire was about to be attacked, neither the king nor the princess would show her mercy.

"What creatures? Princess, look at me_ what is out there?" Sunshine demanded, her voice tight.

The Princess didn’t answer immediately. She looked like she had seen a ghost, or perhaps several thousand of them. Her skin, usually a regal, shimmering translucent blue, had gone a dull, sickly grey. "The Tailed-Burners," she whispered. "The Deep-Tailed Burners. They’ve woken up somehow."

Before Sunshine could ask what a ’Tailed Burner’ was or what it was doing beneath the sea, the heavy museum doors opened. They didn’t just open_ they were practically kicked off their hinges.

A squad of Royal Guards surged in, their heavy armor clanking like a silverware drawer in a hurricane.

"Your Highness! Move! Now!" the lead guard bellowed, his voice echoing off the high vaulted ceilings. He didn’t wait for a royal invitation; he grabbed the Princess’s arm with a grip that looked decidedly not very ceremonial. "The emergency exits are being prepped. The attack seems to be focused on this direction. The entire Southern wing might collapse at any moment."

The Princess pulled her arm away glaring at him. "How dare you? I am the soon to be Crown Princess of the great Glacian territory. I will not hide; I must stay and fight."

"But.....the king ordered you to be escorted to the vaults. You are the one Glacian who cannot be harmed in this chaos." The guard said_ begging.

"It’s too late!" Nine yelled. He was currently huddled behind a statue of an ancient Glacian hero King, his claws scraping against the stone as he pointed a trembling finger upward. "I knew it! I knew this oversized fishbowl would break! We’re in a giant marble, Sunshine, and the universe just picked up a hammer! I’m too young to be fish food. I haven’t bought my hive; I cannot make my wife a widow!"

"Nine, shut up and move your legs!" Sunshine snapped, though her own heart was drumming a frantic rhythm against her ribs.

She grabbed his claws, forcing him to follow her and the guards that were leading the princess to safety. They scrambled out of the museum, flanked by guards on either side. It almost seemed natural, as if they were part of royalty itself.

As they sprinted through the corridors, the Princess began to speak, her voice breathless but remarkably steady for someone whose kingdom was currently being besieged by creatures from a nightmare.

"Beneath the ice shelves of this territory," she explained, dodging a falling piece of decorative molding, "the Deep-Tailed Burners were buried in ice tombs. They weren’t just frozen; they were sealed with a massive magnetic field. It’s an ancient prison. Every five thousand years, the field weakens as the planet’s poles shift. Usually, we’re ready. We have teams. We have tech. We strengthen the field before they even twitch a wing."

"And let me guess," Nine grunted, leaping over a crack in the floor. "This time, nobody was on watch duty because everyone is watching that games." He huffed. "Haven’t you ever considered a permanent fate for them? You know...death."

The leader of the guards looked at Nine as if he was a fool. "There are only a handful of them left in the universe."

"We would have suppressed them for good if we could," the Princess continued from where the guard stopped.

Neither of their explanations answered Sunshine and Nine’s questions. And they had many!

"So, why haven’t you?" Sunshine asked. "If they’re that dangerous, why keep them on ice like leftovers on a from hell?"

"Because," the Princess sighed, "the Oxbens refused to cooperate. They claimed that ’erasing an entire species’ was a violation of the Great Sea Accord. They called it a moral imperative. In reality? It was a political move to spite my grandfather, the former King. They wanted to look like the enlightened pacifists while we did the dirty work of being jailers of a species that is considered our enemy."

Nine let out a shrill, hysterical laugh. "Are they just dumb? Or is ’stupid’ a requirement for high office down here? These creatures aren’t going to check their political affiliations before they start snacking! They’ll eat the Oxbens, after they finish eating you, then they’ll probably find a way to go to other worlds.... who knows."

"A joint sea army was formed to fight them again in case they made their way out," the Princess said, her brow furrowing in genuine confusion. "That is what is so strange. The signals were sent. The sensors tripped minutes ago. But the others... they haven’t come yet. We are alone."

They reached a massive observation mirror, and for a second, the entire group stopped dead.

Outside the glass, the dark, comforting blue of the deep ocean was gone. It had been replaced by a swirling, hellish orange. It looked like the water itself was on fire. Three glowing embers drifted in the currents, but they weren’t sparks_ they were scales.

Massive, serpent-like creatures swarmed the dome. They were beautiful in the way a forest fire is beautiful_ terrifyingly bright and utterly destructive. Their bodies were long and muscular, covered in scales that glowed like molten lava. As they moved, trails of steam hissed off their backs, boiling the surrounding water into a murky white shroud.

One of them_ a beast the size of a city bus_ turned its head toward the observation mirror Its cold eerie eyes were pits of white heat.

Nine froze, and so did Sunshine. It looked like the eyes were looking right at them. Like it knew who had activated the beacon!

With a flick of its powerful tail, it launched itself forward.

THOOM!