"At the bottom of the sea awaits a cunning adversary: Merak, who forges deadly traps from the fabric of space itself..."
海底の深淵に潜む策謀の狡猾者
“怠惰なる亜空孔”
歪められた空間から迫り来る計略が蒼き雷霆を襲う
The cunning complotter that lurks in the seabed abyss…
The “Lazy Subspace Hole (Sloth Holer)”…
The plot (trap) looming from distorted space hits the Azure Thunderclap…
Abyss is one of the main missions in Azure Striker Gunvolt, set in the stage Subaquatic Base. After receiving intel on a possible submarine being constructed, QUILL sends Gunvolt to investigate.
Banking 3000 or more kudos in the stage will unlock the Lumen Audiolocket 2 pendant, which when equipped causes Nebulous Clock to always play when reaching 1000 kudos.
This is the game's obligatory water stage, though no water actually shows up until the second half. Instead, the main gimmick in the first half is the wormhole traps placed by the boss, Merak. These wormholes lead to enemy-filled corridors, and there's three of them total. However, one is placed in an avoidable place right above a platform, so it's easy to avoid it by just jumping straight to the area above the platform.
There also exists a hidden route right before the first wormhole that requires either Anthem or the use of Equipment that grants at least two air hops. This hidden route leads to a secret wormhole that grants 300 Kudos for just entering, though the area it leads to is identical to the third and final wormhole area. Once you leave this area, you'll instantly be transported to the last part of the first section, a short walk away from the hexapyle.
The second half of the stage is where the "water" part of this water level finally comes into play. After a short walk, you'll arrive at a vertical section with rising water. Obviously, you need to outrun this water, though don't worry, it won't instantly kill you if you land in it. Instead, you'll slowly begin to take damage after spending too much time in it, and you'll be unable to use the Flashfield without instantly overheating. After this long vertical section, there's just a small area before an enemy room, then an even shorter corridor leading to a hexapyle and the boss, Merak.
Jewel Location
Proceed through the stage as normal until you reach the flooding sequence.
During the last part of this section, you'll find the jewel near the top of the ascent in a little area.
Challenges
Subaquatic Sprint: Clear in 8 minutes or less. (Reward: Garnet x8)
Euphotic Euphoria: Clear in 5 minutes or less. (Reward: Microdegenerator x1)
Trench Fighter: Clear with a rank of B or higher. (Reward: Graym Culture x8)
Power Plunge: Clear with a rank of S or higher. (Reward: Antigravity Engine x1)
Aphotic Apotheosis: Clear with a rank of S+. (Reward: Antigravity Engine x5)
Early Bird: Clear while avoiding as many wormhole traps as possible. (Reward: Microdegenerator x2)
Above the Brine: Clear without getting submerged in seawater. (Reward: Antigravity Engine x1)
Gallery
Concept art
Additional concept art
Background 1
Background 2
Background 3
The area where Merak is fought
Trivia
This stage has a secret icon that can be found by shooting an area below an elevator with Mizuchi five times, and will set your Kudos to 1000. This icon is the mascot of the gaming news site "Game*Spark".
It is normally impossible to hear all of the stage dialogue that plays during the rising water sequence, as it will be cut off by either GV's drowning dialogue or the dialogue that is triggered by encountering the trapped soldier. The only way to hear it is to get Anthem prior to the sequence, as it prevents GV from drowning. Even then, it is still impossible to hear all of it. Moniqa apologizing after GV's monologue will be cut off by the soldiers who stop the water, which appears to be automatically triggered when the water level reaches a certain height.
If you allow GV and a single Sumeragi Gunner to be submerged in deep water for one minute, the former will drown, but the latter, oddly, will not.
Due to the water trap being one of the most likely things in the game to actually kill the player and trigger Anthem, Reincarnation gained the nicknames "Theme of Submergence" (水没のテーマ) and "Theme of Drowning" (溺死のテーマ) among some Japanese fans.
