Open sea stretched endlessly in every direction.

The Iskandar Peaks were long gone behind them, swallowed by distance and darkness. Out here, there were no landmarks—no mountains, no coastlines, no reassuring silhouettes. Just black water rolling beneath a starless sky, the moon veiled behind thin clouds that dulled its light.

The ship sailed on regardless.

Its lanterns cast pale halos across the waves, reflections breaking and reforming with every rise and fall of the sea. The wind had died down, leaving behind an unsettling calm—the kind that pressed against the ears until even the creak of wood sounded too loud.

Noel was mid-deck when it happened.

A sharp sound cut through the night.

A wet crack—followed by a scream that cut off too abruptly.

Noel's head snapped toward the port side.

A sailor staggered backward near the railing, eyes wide, mouth open in shock. Something dark protruded from his chest—thin, jagged, glistening under the lantern light.

Then it yanked back.

The body followed.

He was pulled clean over the railing and into the water below, blood scattering across the deck before the splash even registered.

For half a second, no one moved.

Then the sea answered.

Shapes surged beneath the surface—long, fast shadows cutting through the water in impossible arcs. The waves around the ship churned violently as something struck the hull from below, hard enough to rattle metal and wood alike.

"CONTACT!" someone shouted.

Too late.

Another sailor rushed forward instinctively—only for a spear-like appendage to erupt from the water, punching through the railing and skewering him mid-step. His scream tore through the night before he was dragged down with terrifying force.

Noel moved.

"DEFENSIVE FORMATION!" he barked, mana already flaring as he sprinted forward. "DO NOT GO NEAR THE EDGES!"

The deck erupted into chaos.

Water exploded upward as multiple shapes breached at once—twisted, elongated bodies hauling themselves onto the ship with clawed limbs and barbed tendrils. They weren't humanoid. They weren't clean.

They were wrong.

Black, slick hides reflected lantern light in fractured patterns, eyes glowing faintly as if lit from within. Chains of water clung to them unnaturally, moving as if alive.

"Glacialis!" Noel shouted.

Ice ripped across the deck, flash-freezing the water beneath one of the creatures mid-leap and shattering it against the mast in a spray of frozen fragments.

But more followed.

Too many.

Below deck, bells rang—alarms spreading through the ship as crew members scrambled into position. Mana flared as mages reacted, spells igniting the darkness in bursts of light and sound.

From the water, something sang.

Not aloud—but inside the skull.

Noel's jaw clenched.

"…So it starts," he muttered.

The song slithered through Noel's mind like cold fingers brushing exposed nerves. A suggestion—a pressure behind the eyes, a whisper that promised safety if he only stopped moving.

Noel snarled and slammed his boot down, grounding himself as mana surged violently through his core.

"Focus!" he shouted. "Don't listen—don't listen!"

That snapped a few sailors out of it. Others weren't so lucky.

One man froze near the railing, eyes glassy, turning toward the water as if he'd spotted something familiar below. A tendril lashed up and wrapped around his ankle.

Noel moved instantly.

"Stormpiercer."

Lightning detonated around him.

The world narrowed to a single line of blinding blue-white light as Noel vanished—the crack of thunder arriving a heartbeat later. He reappeared midair near the railing, Revenant Fang already swinging.

"Eclipse Rend."

Shadow devoured the lightning.

A crescent of absolute black tore forward, cleaving through the tendril, the creature attached to it, and the water beyond as if reality itself had been peeled open. The sea screamed—literally screamed—as the monster's body collapsed into dissolving fragments of void.

Noel landed hard, boots skidding across wet planks.

More were climbing.

Three creatures hauled themselves over the starboard side at once, barbed limbs scraping against reinforced metal. Their eyes pulsed faintly as the song intensified—overlapping whispers now, tugging at memories, faces, regrets.

"Voltage Needle!"

Noel flicked his wrist.

A needle-thin bolt of lightning punched straight through the nearest creature's skull, exiting in a burst of sparks and sizzling steam. It dropped instantly.

"Chain Flash!"

The next bolt split on impact—arcing violently to two more monsters still half-submerged. Their bodies spasmed as lightning crawled across their slick hides, muscles locking as they collapsed back into the sea with violent splashes.

"DO NOT LET THEM SING!" Noel roared.

Fire and ice answered.

Flames roared across the deck as Clara and others burned back climbing limbs. Ice spikes erupted near the hull, pinning creatures mid-ascent. Still, the sea hit back—the ship shuddering as something massive struck from below.

A sailor screamed.

Noel turned just in time to see another man lifted clean off the deck, suspended by multiple tendrils.

Noel's eyes hardened.

"Ignition Surge."

Fire wrapped Revenant Fang as lightning danced along its edge.

He didn't hesitate.

Noel jumped.

Midair, he twisted—blade flashing in a burning arc as he tore through tendrils, severing them in a storm of sparks and flame. The sailor crashed back onto the deck, alive.

Noel landed between him and the railing.

From the water below, dozens of glowing eyes stared up at him.

The song swelled.

Noel raised Revenant Fang, electricity roaring louder than the whispers.

"…You picked the wrong ship," he said coldly.

A shadow surged beside him.

The darkness near Noel's feet stretched—then tore itself free from the deck.

Noir emerged in a burst of living shadow, her form expanding mid-motion into a massive shadow wolf, fur pitch-black with veins of deep violet light running through it like cracks in obsidian. Her eyes burned purple, sharp and intelligent, reflecting the lantern flames as she landed with a thunderous impact that rattled the planks.

Her jaws closed around one of the creatures mid-climb, crushing it in a violent twist before hurling the body back into the sea. Shadow clung to her claws as she moved again, intercepting another beast before it could crest the railing—dragging it down in a blur of darkness and fangs.

Noel felt her presence instantly—solid, lethal, unwavering at his flank.

"Good timing," he muttered.

'You jumped in first,' Noir replied, her voice echoing inside his mind—calm, focused. 'Someone had to keep you from being surrounded.'

Another impact rocked the deck.

From the opposite side, Marcus hit the ground hard, boots cracking stone as mana exploded outward.

"Stoneburst!"

The deck beneath a cluster of creatures detonated upward in a spray of jagged rock, shredding limbs and throwing bodies back toward the water. Marcus didn't slow.

"Azure Flare Strike!"

A short, compressed burst of blue fire detonated point-blank, vaporizing one creature's upper half in a flash of searing heat. He pivoted immediately, slamming his foot down.

"Terra Slam!"

A line of sharpened stone surged forward from the impact, ripping through two more monsters as they tried to gain footing.

Around them, the battle intensified.

Clara's magic surged—not as flame, but as water.

A violent arc of compressed seawater snapped forward from her outstretched hand, slamming into a creature mid-climb and blasting it back into the waves in a spray of foam and blood. Around her, spiraling currents formed along the hull, water obeying her will as it wrapped around barbed limbs and dragged them downward, crushing and twisting until bone cracked beneath pressure.

Still, the deck was stained red.

Several sailors lay sprawled across the planks—stabbed through the torso or limbs by jagged tendrils, some barely conscious, others screaming as blood pooled beneath them. Charlotte was already there as her hands pressed against a man's chest, light sealing a puncture wound inch by inch.

Beside her, Elena moved like the wind.

"Snare Bloom."

Vines erupted beneath a creature that had crawled fully onto the deck, wrapping its limbs and slamming it flat. Elena followed immediately, dashing forward—

"Sylvan Step!"

She vanished in a blur of leaves and green light, reappearing behind another monster as her arm swept outward.

"Verdant Slash."

Natural energy coated her strike, carving through slick black hide as if it were bark. The creature shrieked and collapsed, roots bursting from beneath it to finish the job.

Marcus roared as another wave surged.

"Terra Slam!"

He leapt and crashed down, a line of jagged stone ripping forward across the deck, impaling two creatures mid-charge and throwing a third back into the sea.

The song returned—louder now.

Noir snarled, shadow flaring violently around her as she planted herself protectively between Noel and the water.

Noel raised Revenant Fang higher, lightning screaming along its edge as his gaze locked onto the glowing shapes below the surface.

"Stay focused!" he shouted. "They want you to hesitate!"

The deck exploded into motion as reinforcements poured in.

Selene was the first to arrive from below, boots skidding as she took in the chaos in a single glance—the bodies, the water boiling with shadows, the crew scrambling to hold formation. Frost crawled up her arm instantly.

"Gravition Hold!" she snapped.

The space near the starboard railing warped, invisible pressure slamming down on two creatures mid-climb. Their limbs buckled as if crushed by an unseen hand, bodies pinned against the hull long enough for the sea to reclaim them.

Laziel followed with a curse already on his lips. "Of course it's tentacles." He raised his staff and unleashed a crackling burst that detonated in blinding light, forcing several shapes back into the water. "I hate the ocean."

Garron didn't bother with commentary. He vaulted straight into the fray, mana roaring through his veins as his fist came down like a hammer. The impact shattered a creature's skull and sent the remains skidding across the deck in a smear of black ichor.

Roberto slid in beside him, expression unreadable but movements sharp—too sharp. He intercepted a lunging tendril barehanded, twisting and snapping it with brutal efficiency before driving the creature back with a knee to its core.

"Crew—form up!" Captain Gustave's voice cut through everything, steady and absolute. He stood at the helm, hands firm on the wheel, eyes never leaving the sea. "Port side, reinforce! Starboard, maintain distance from the edge! Do not chase them!"

Elyra was already moving, magic flaring as sigils anchored themselves along the deck. "Stabilize the formation!" she called, reinforcing footing, locking positions. "No gaps—no one breaks line!"

Near the mast, Charlotte knelt beside a wounded sailor, hands glowing with soft, radiant light as Elena joined her, vines and leaves weaving together to staunch bleeding and steady broken limbs. More crew were down—stab wounds, punctures from barbed limbs—but they were alive.

For now.

The song rose again, sharper, more insistent.

Noel felt it scrape against his thoughts like a hook.

He stepped forward.

Lightning detonated outward as he drove Revenant Fang into the deck.

"Chain Flash!"

The bolt tore into the water, splitting and branching—one strike becoming many. Shapes convulsed beneath the surface as electricity raced through them, lighting the sea in violent flashes. Screeches echoed, distorted and furious.

Noir surged ahead of him, shadow swelling as she grew larger, her purple eyes burning bright. She lunged at a creature cresting the railing, jaws snapping shut as darkness swallowed it whole and dragged it screaming back into the sea.

Noel lifted his blade, lightning gathering again.

It was time to counterattack.

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