The All-Devouring Narwhal
In the Opera Epiclese, the audience members who had already learned that something had happened at the Fortress of Meropide — that the prophecy might well come to pass before long — had been barely holding back their anxiety and dread. Now, hit with this sudden calamity on top of everything else, they plunged straight into chaos and fled for the exits.
The children, caught off guard by the sudden earthquake, momentarily forgot they were inside a game, and for a few seconds panic threatened to take hold.
Fortunately, they collected themselves quickly. They all knew a fair bit about how to handle earthquake emergencies, and with Ran and Xia Yu right there soothing them, the brief flurry of scrambling feet and frightened voices settled into calm.
Seeing that the children were no longer panicking, Xia Yu and Ran exchanged a relieved glance and finally found the breathing room to take stock of the situation.
Then Genta suddenly pointed at the auditorium and shouted, "Everyone, look! The floor split open — there's a giant hole!"
Emori's voice trembled. "That gap is huge... We're not going to fall in later, are we?!"
Kikukawa only grew more frightened at his words. "What do we do? It's so deep — falling down there would hurt so much!"
"Waaah — it's so pretty!" Ayumi suddenly cried, pointing at the chasm.
Everyone turned to look, and there, gliding up out of the crevasse, was an enormous blue creature — patterned with strange markings, a horn rising from its head, shaped uncannily like a whale.
Haibara nodded in agreement with Ayumi's assessment. It really was beautiful. It was just... far too big. It would be much nicer if it came in a smaller size.
Conan, meanwhile, was on the verge of losing it.
What is THIS supposed to be?! Why does this game never give us any context whatsoever?! And a "whale" that size — it's not going to expect us to fight it, is it?! Even if Xia Yu-san is as tough as she is, she wouldn't stand a chance against that!
Thankfully, Conan's fears proved unfounded. The game wasn't quite so heartless as to pit a handful of children against the All-Devouring Narwhal.
The whale-like creature swam a lazy circuit through the open air above the opera house, then — as if sensing something — launched itself straight toward the stage.
"Look out—!" Everyone whipped their heads toward Neuvillette, hovering high above center stage, and cried out in alarm.
"Whoa..."
Conan and the others had been certain Neuvillette was in danger — but what happened next left them gaping.
Neuvillette leapt down from his seat in a single fluid motion. With a sweep of his hand, clusters of blue light bloomed around the narwhal and struck home — yet they dealt it hardly any damage at all, and the creature bore down on him at undiminished speed.
Neuvillette's expression never so much as flickered. He extended his left hand, and a blue magic circle unfurled in the air, halting the onslaught.
By this point the audience had nearly all fled. Aside from Focalors and Neuvillette, the only ones left in the opera house were Xia Yu's group.
Conan and the others, having just witnessed that display, were still struggling to process it, stunned by the sheer power on show.
Ayumi's eyes had turned to literal stars. "That was amazing!"
"What were those blue lights?" Mitsuhiko asked.
"I'm more curious about what that whale actually is," Haibara said.
Emori and Kikukawa were still lost in the memory of Neuvillette's bearing, and murmured half to themselves, "So... Neuvillette must be the Hydro Archon, really..."
Moroboshi nodded along, offering rare praise of his own. "He does look pretty cool, I'll give him that..."
It seemed that even Japan's so-called second- and third-generation heirs couldn't help but be captivated by a spectacle like this.
Hearing Emori and the others, and noting that Neuvillette had consistently attacked the narwhal with water, Conan couldn't help but nudge his suspicion that Neuvillette was the Hydro Archon up a notch or two.
Still, he remained doubtful. According to everything said before, Neuvillette didn't understand the prophecy — he certainly didn't grasp it as well as Focalors did — which made the odds of his being the Hydro God considerably lower.
Then again, any being that had lived for five hundred years was bound to keep its cards close to its chest.
Several exchanges later, the two sides had settled into a stalemate — Neuvillette unable to deal the narwhal any serious wound, the narwhal equally unable to break through his defenses — until at last the creature departed the opera house, leaving behind only that vast, abyssal fissure gaping before the stage.
The moment the danger seemed past, the children's curiosity came roaring back. If Ran and Xia Yu hadn't stopped them in time, they would doubtless have been scrambling right up to the edge of the chasm to peer in.
Conan saw that Genta and the others had been successfully corralled by Xia Yu and were safe for the moment, so he slipped over to Neuvillette's side and asked in his sweetest child's voice, "Mister Neuvillette, that was so cool! Do you know what that whale was?"
"I do."
And with that, Neuvillette gave a brief explanation of the creature's nature.
The whale was called the All-Devouring Narwhal, and it did not belong to this world. It fed insatiably upon the energy of the Primordial Sea — and this, in fact, was the very reason the sea level in Fontaine had continued to rise.
The Primordial Sea? The people of Fontaine?
Conan's head snapped up as the pieces clicked into place. The All-Devouring Narwhal's target was the people of Fontaine themselves — the ones who carried the power of the Primordial Sea!
And it was tied to the rising waters. Which meant it was the source of the calamity foretold in Fontaine's prophecy.
Conan's mouth twitched. The condition for clearing this game was to resolve Fontaine's prophecy crisis. Surely — surely — it wasn't going to make this group of children plus two adults go up against a monster of that scale?!
At that moment, the rest of them arrived at the same grim realization. Moroboshi was the first to voice it, muttering in clear displeasure, "So what's this 'Noah's Ark' thing actually playing at? It never intended for us to clear the game at all, did it? What kind of opponent is anyone supposed to be against a monster like that?!"
"Don't lose heart, everyone — there's always a way out," Conan said, then turned a probing gaze on Neuvillette. "Mister Neuvillette, who exactly are you? Could you fight that All-Devouring Narwhal?"
To everyone's disappointment, Neuvillette did not answer. He only shook his head.
"Then what about the Hydro Archon?" Conan pressed. "Focalors is human, so there has to be a real Hydro God somewhere. Would she know a way to solve this?"
Ran had been quietly worried about Focalors ever since the verdict had been handed down. Even as everything spiraled into crisis, she had kept a sliver of her attention on the woman — and seeing her still seated with head bowed, apparently unharmed, had put her somewhat at ease. It was only natural that she would be the first to think of Focalors now.
That made sense. Hearing Ran's suggestion, everyone turned, ready to march straight over and ask her everything she knew.
But before a single word could leave their mouths, the Oratrice Mecanique d'Analyse Cardinale — silent until now — began to glow.
Oh no. The death sentence is about to be carried out...
Conan, Xia Yu, and Moroboshi realized it in the same instant. Without a moment to explain to the others, they bolted for Focalors.
Even so, they were a step too late. Just as they were about to reach her side, a wave of darkness swallowed everything...
Meanwhile, down beneath the stage of the opera house, Haibara, Mitsuhiko, Ayumi, Genta, Kikukawa, and Emori — along with Neuvillette — had remained behind. Unlike what Conan and the others experienced, all they saw was a blinding surge of blue light...