Arthur heard that Karasen didn't seem to believe him, and a competitive spirit arose in his heart.
"Good! Then you watch closely!"
He turned and reached for the trident, closing his hand around it with ease.
Arthur's heart swelled with joy. Just as he was about to pull it out, a current suddenly erupted from the shaft of the trident, and the trident flashed with a White light, sending Arthur flying.
"How could this be?" Arthur hadn't expected such a result.
Perhaps because Vulko and Atlanna's tone was so certain, he also believed he would definitely obtain the trident. However, the current situation caught him off guard.
He couldn't imagine the disappointed expressions his mother and Vulko would have when he came out later. He didn't want to see such looks, so he swam forward with all his might, wanting to try again.
But Karasen didn't give him that chance.
"You are too arrogant, young man!"
The giant tentacle once again flung Arthur away; he was completely unable to resist Karasen's strength.
"Your heart is not sincere, Arthur Curry. You may have the potential to be King, but you are still lacking something. Think carefully about what you are missing..."
With that, Karasen's huge body rolled, stirring up violent Water currents that directly pushed Arthur out of this area.
"No—!"
Arthur's voice gradually faded, and the Water returned to calm.
Outside, the waiting crowd suddenly saw the waterfall erupt with spray, and a figure flew out from the middle—it was Arthur.
Mera noticed his empty hands, and a bad premonition already formed in her heart.
Atlanna and Vulko rushed forward to help him up.
But they saw Arthur looking greatly defeated, and seeing no trident in his hand, they instantly understood.
Arthur said dejectedly, "I wasn't recognized..."
Atlanna asked anxiously, "Didn't Karasen let you approach the trident?"
"No, it gave me a chance." Arthur shook his head, still looking at the waterfall. "I just didn't seize it myself..."
Now everyone was stumped. Without the trident, he couldn't have absolute rule over Atlantis.
Although he could still contend for Orm's throne through a "King's Challenge," Orm was a warrior who had trained in the Water since childhood, with extremely strong underwater combat capabilities.
Many people don't quite understand that underwater combat, similar to aerial combat, is three-dimensional, and a grasp of direction and three-dimensional spatial awareness is crucial.
However, Arthur's training was mostly on land. On land, he was invincible, but a land battlefield is two-dimensional, completely different from Water combat.
Vulko had estimated that if Arthur and Orm fought on land, Arthur would most likely win.
But if they fought in Water, Orm would most likely win.
However, a King's battle would certainly take place in Water. There aren't many spectators who can breathe on land, and they would definitely prefer to adhere to tradition.
Things were getting tricky.
Mera watched this scene with a clear mind; she even thought it was normal for Arthur not to get the trident.
Because up until now, she hadn't seen a single kingly quality in him.
But she admitted Arthur probably had potential; she just didn't believe he was a "King."
She subconsciously looked at Dane beside her: "What do we do? It seems a war between the Undersea and the Surface is inevitable."
"Not necessarily."
To be honest, Dane was also somewhat caught off guard by the current situation. He had thought Arthur would easily obtain the trident, just like in the movie.
After all, no matter how he looked at it, that weapon seemed to have been prepared for him on purpose.
Although he knew the movie definitely lowered the difficulty for Arthur by N degrees, he didn't expect that there wouldn't even be a second chance.
But since he was already here, and Arthur couldn't get it, Dane couldn't help but wonder, was that thing really that difficult?
So he flew directly, and with a sonic boom, he flew into the waterfall.
Atlanna and Vulko were startled when they saw this scene. What did this mean?
Arthur just scratched his head and said, "If Shazam went to get it, he should be able to, right?"
"What nonsense are you talking about? That's a divine artifact passed down through generations of Atlantis royalty; it cannot be used without royal blood!" Atlanna said, exasperated.
However, within the Water, Dane easily penetrated into the inner great hall and saw the throne and the golden trident.
Karasen was just about to go back to sleep when another guy came in, and he couldn't help but feel annoyed.
He already said no, are you not listening to him?
Because he was angry, the tentacles he swung this time were very powerful, stirring the Water until a vacuum appeared.
Dane instantly detected an attack, swam upwards, and dodged the blow.
He focused his gaze and realized it was a giant Undersea beast.
"Karasen?"
He seemed to have a bit of a temper. Seeing Dane evade the attack, the next blow came immediately.
Dane easily dodged again. Karasen was too large, and being a Water creature, his speed was unusually slow. Dane couldn't possibly be hit by him even with his eyes closed.
But he also noticed that Karasen was deliberately compressing his activity space, which showed that he was also a creature with tactical intelligence.
However, Dane was not Arthur; he wouldn't let him manipulate him.
So when Karasen approached again, trying to force Dane back with his tentacles, he directly crashed into the tentacles and grabbed them in his arms.
Karasen was stunned for a moment, momentarily confused about what this "little thing" wanted to do.
But Dane quickly let him know. His hands were like pincers, his arms tightly clamping the tentacle.
Then he exerted force suddenly, and Karasen suddenly felt a huge force pulling him forward.
Since he had grown to this size, he had never encountered such a situation, so he didn't react for a while.
While he was dazed, Dane had already started spinning like a fire wheel, using himself as the center to rotate Karasen's huge body.
The Water in this area was instantly stirred into a murky mess, and he could barely control his body.
This is impossible! Karasen roared furiously.
But to Dane's ears, it was just a series of huge beast roars.
Karasen tried hard to dig his pincers into the ground, wanting to stabilize his body, but he didn't succeed. White lightning lit up on Dane's body, instantly paralyzing him.
Don't let this monster's thick skin and flesh fool you; he's not immune to true magic damage!
When Dane thought he had spun enough, he suddenly let go, and Karasen, along with the surrounding water, flew out, directly smashing the ruins here.
He crashed against the wall, and the huge vibration stirred up turbulence all around.
Even the several Atlanteans waiting outside the waterfall felt the power of the earthquake and nearly lost their footing.
"...What's going on?"
"An earthquake?"
However, Mera just stared blankly in the direction of the waterfall, a bold guess forming in her mind: that man, he couldn't be fighting Karasen in there, could he?
Inside the ruins.
Due to his immense weight, Karasen's head was a bit disoriented after that collision. In this situation, he certainly couldn't stop Dane from approaching the trident.
Dane swam close to the throne and reached out to grasp the trident.
No reaction?
He gave a gentle tug, and King Atlan, long decayed, instantly turned into sea floss, leaving only a yellow-green close-fitting armor.
He wondered what Arthur in the movie was thinking, just putting on clothes that had just fallen off a dead person... He held the trident and waved it, feeling that the weight was still too light, but it was very compatible with the divine power in his body.
As he was twirling the trident in his hand, a divine power suddenly surged into his body, as if activating something.
This feeling... it was like when he first obtained the Shazam Force, an energy spread throughout his body.
Then Dane suddenly felt that he could breathe underwater. He let the seawater flood into his lungs, then took in oxygen as if breathing normally.
Originally, he only treated being underwater as a vacuum environment and couldn't take in oxygen like Atlanteans, but with the activation of the divine power within the trident, he suddenly gained this ability.
If he was not mistaken, the Atlanteans' ability to breathe underwater was originally transformed by the divine power of the trident.
This was Poseidon's blessing to the Atlanteans.
And although Dane was not an Atlantean descendant, he possessed the divine power of a Greek god, and even Zeus's lightning, thus he also received this blessing.
This thing, while it didn't feel very useful, was better than nothing.
Of course, the abilities he gained were not just underwater breathing.
At this moment, Dane could finally understand what Karasen was saying.
"Damn it, who exactly are you?!"
Dane smiled and raised the trident.
"Karasen, do you see this trident?"
The trident glowed with golden light, and the divine power within radiated outwards like ripples, instantly suppressing Karasen's violent thoughts.
He lowered his huge head in fear.
"Your loyal servant Karasen, hereby obeys the King's command!".
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