Zoey swiftly lept into action, having seen the giant water beam. She sprinted at Travis and threw him through a shadow, teleporting him to a part of the ship the giant compressed water cutter had already been. Unfortunately, due to the angle the beam would have to take, and the power to cut through solid steal, the cut caused massive damage to the ship, causing it to lurch and make her lose her footing. She tripped as the beam passed through her area, cleanly bisecting her. As she hit the ground, her corpse burst into silver flame, and the moon burned through the sky. Her body disolved into ash and burned away...

Seidon saw his attack pass through Zoey, feeling a sense of accomplishment when he saw that she had been felled, like at least one member of his crew had been avenged. But that sense of righteousness was soon taken from him. Paul heard the sound Raiya's swing emitted, causing him to turn and look. The sight of the blade much larger than he was prepared for caused him to panic. He knew his water wouldn't stop it, so he did the only thing he could and tried to evade it by riding his water out of the way.

The Captain seemed to be nimble even in the air due to his water, but not nimble enough. By the time he finished his evade, to Seidon's dismay he found that his left arm he had been channeling his water beam with had been parted from his body just above the elbow. The Captain let out a heavy groan, fumbled his sword and gripped the already cauterized stump with his still-intact free hand. "I'll gut you for this you whore!" He yelled out. It's a shame the cut wasn't closer to his wrist, fashioning a hook onto that arm was going to be a lot harder now.

While Seidon was still reeling from the loss of his arm, he turned to see that Nemo had already capitalized on the opportunity the Captain gave when he lost his weapon. Nemo had used his warp to reach Seidon and already had a spell charged in his gloved hand. Before Seidon could move his water to swat Nemo back to the deck, he felt a heavy concussive spell connect with his body. One moment he was still riding his wave, the next he was sailing across the ship.

Seidon flew roughly twenty feet before he collided back to the floor. Pools of water tried to rush in to cushion his fall, but hearing the heavy metallic thud hinted that they were just barely too late. The pools that surrounded him obscured his body from the group, growing angrier and angrier, taller and taller, as if something big was coming. Maybe the Captain had finally decided he's had enough? It probably would of been a good idea to decide that before you lose half your arm.

However suddenly the entire storm of water stopped. All action growing inside it halted and let the pools drop back to the deck and disperse.

---

Nemo watched the spectacle expecting some sort of final stand, but instead once the water cleared he found something peculiar. Seidon had vanished. He thought that maybe the Captain had magically disappeared, but after looking around and spotting an open hatch door into the ship he realized what had happened. The Captain was just buying time to run into the ship, the water was just a large bluff-distraction to obscure his escape.

"He's making a run for it." Nemo called out before taking off towards the hatch on foot himself. He wondered what Seidon's end game was now. There obviously wasn't any real escape now that they were in the eye of the storm here. With that injured leg he probably wouldn't be able to outrun Nemo for very long either.

Once Nemo reached the door he noticed small trickles of blood, among a floor floor that was now freshly slicked with water. Nemo figured he had miscalculated by assuming that Seidon was on foot with that bad leg, he was still riding his water. But at least the Captain gave him a solid trail to follow.

Travis suddenly found himself experiencing the brief sensation being tossed across the ship, seemingly with no apparent reason or cause at all. He quickly collided and rolled on to the upper deck of the ship, closest to the bridge. Managing himself up, he spun around and looked over the railing to see Seidon still action and unceasing in his mad attack. Travis swore that Seidon had took aim at and casted water spell capable to cleanly tearing into any substance it came across. He recalled himself coming under the attack with little way of evading the spell's deadly upshot until he saw nothing but ebony. Now he stood upon an unfamiliar position looking over the main deck of the ship.

Given the shadowy visual cues he discerned through the moment that transpired, he quickly deduced and concluded that it was Zoey that transitioned him to safety; Surely this was one more favor he now owed to her in addition with renewing his back-up mana supply.

Before he could take another shot at Seidon, Raiya had leapt in to the scene with a startling follow-up blow, concluding with her literally disarming Seidon with a massively-sized sword of charged mana and plasma. Nemo then made his move and closed distance with the Captain before executing a powerful strike that sent Seidon flying across the deck. Seeing the events unfold, Travis quickly made his way on to the main deck where he could get better support the team.

Upon stepping back on to the deck did Travis and everyone else found Seidon having mysteriously vanish after his entranced pools gave a false impression of a large attack after violently contorting in to a raging mass which eventually dispersed harmlessly without retort. Travis eyed his surroundings having learned a lesson from fighting Roy earlier but became clear that Seidon had bugged out once Nemo confirmed the Captain's whereabouts. For now, it seemed they had a small moment for a breather before giving chase.

As he waited for Zoey's anticipated appearance and everyone else to form back up, he approached Nemo from behind and stared down the hall past the hatch and saw the bloodied trail left by Seidon, "Call it a dumb question, but where'd you think he's running off to? Surely his best advantage is out here and not down there."

Raiya figured the attack wouldn't be enough to kill their foe, but she didn't expect to dismember him. When the plasma sword passed through his arm, she felt a tinge of satisfaction at seeing the severed arm fall away. Immediately after her slash finished its arc, the blade faded, its width shrinking until it was a beam no bigger than a laser, and then dissipating altogether. As Raiya fell back to the ground, she was confused to see Zoey fall in two pieces and then burst into some sort of mana like flame and disappear. Raiya had never witnessed anything like it, and figured it was just another one of Zoey's illusions.

When the Captain hit the deck, he surrounded his body with water allowing the water to grow to an enormous size, which was a tad bit intimidating. After a moment the water sloshed back down to the deck in a normal pool leaving no trace of him or his magically controlled waters. That was when Nemo suggested their enemy had made a run for it. Raiya followed closely behind Nemo has he gave chase to the captain. The scent of the air was indeed thick with blood, even if the captain had attempted to mask his trail, Raiya's nose could pick him out from a hundred meters away. Fortunately enough the captain was kind enough to leave a visual blood trail to follow, but Raiya kept her senses keen just in case the captain was attempting to set up a trap of some kind. She summoned one of her sashimi knives and gripped the handle so the blade pointed down and out, preparing herself for any ambush style attack.

Nemo looked to Travis during his brief pause in front of the hatch. "It's hard to say for sure, but I can't imagine he's doing it for no reason. I fear now that he's wounded and his crew is dead, the good captain might have something a bit more drastic in mind. You can pursue him with us, or otherwise take a crack and disabling that last shield generator." Nemo commented before taking off down the corridor after Seidon with Raiya.

Nemo made sure to try to stay out of the trail of water as best he could. The last thing he wanted to do while chasing someone is slip and fall. He wondered where Seidon was going, as they passed the stairs down with no trail he knew that he must not be planning to travel to the bowels of the ship where Nemo and Raiya were before. Was he going to the Captain's quarters? The improved but dated decor of this level made it seem more "livable" than the underbelly was.

After rounding another corner the duo met some resistance. Two crew mates were defending the path. One at the end of the hall with a spell at the ready, and another peeking out from a doorway in the middle with a pistol and a dagger. The spell-caster struck first by letting loose a large blast of magic plasma down the hall, causing the other sailor to take cover behind the door frame to avoid getting hit.

Knowing that they didn't have time to waste avoiding the attack, Nemo pointed his gloved hand forward and let loose one of his own spells in the form of a large glowing white X. The spell collided with the plasma wall and exploded, absorbing most of it's magic energy and causing it to dissipate early.

Raiya continued to follow Nemo until they were met by a few normal sailors who were about to find out that they were in the wrong place at the wrong time. "I got these guys." Raiya said confidently.

Raiya clenched her left fist and charged mana into it. A glowing pinkish ball began to gather around her fist until she opened her hand, the energy coalesced into a somewhat solid orb that she could physically interact with, the size of a baseball. Raiya aimed and tossed her pink spell grenade at the wall. The spell hit the wall at an angle that bounced it into the doorway one of the crew members was hiding in. It rolled to a stop at his feet. The sailor only had a moment to look at the glowing pink ball before Raiya released the bounded field that surrounded the spell releasing a torrent of high voltage electricity which fried the hiding sailor as well as set off the rounds in his pistol which blew apart in his leaving a burnt corpse with a mangled hand.

Raiya then rushed the other sailor who was frantically weaving another spell to toss at them. Raiya rushed him so fast that the sailor was only able to release a partially finished version of his spell which was supposed to be a grand fireball that probably would have incinerated the entire hallway and everything in it. Instead what he released was a small ball of flames about the size of Raiya's body directly at Raiya. After the flames dissipated Raiya was nowhere within the sailor's line of sights. But as the sailor began to scan his surroundings he knew he made a mistake Raiya had used the bright ball of flame to hide as she jumped directly over the sailor's head. Raiya quickly stabbed the sailor in the side of the throat with her culinary knife. He crumpled to the ground as he let out a couple of death groans.

Raiya knelt down and used the sleeve of the now dead sailor to wipe the blood off of her knife. She looked up at Nemo from her knelt position as she wiped her knife down, "What?", Raiya asked innocently, "These knives are expensive and dried blood is annoying to clean."

Nemo jogged across the hallway to see the body of the sailor and Raiya, cleaning her blade. "I suppose I've done worse." He commented, at a loss with any type of scolding. He then continued on, rushing down the hall. Off in the distance Nemo could feel Seidon's manawaves. He was stopped now, and they were getting closer and closer to him. Judging it with his manalysis he figured Seidon was in the room at the end of the hall.

The manawaves weren't the only thing that tipped Nemo off either, even from their distance he could hear Seidon chanting a spell. However he couldn't easily decipher the language he was using. Hearing a couple more parts of the chant told him that it wasn't any worldly tongue. Intent on stopping him, Nemo picked up his sprinting speed to reach the door. This one wasn't a spinning metal hatch like the others, it was a somewhat luxurious wooden door. As soon as he reached it Nemo used his boot to kick the door open.

The door broke rather easily, swinging open to reveal the captain's quarters, with Seidon standing in the middle of a large runic circle crudely drawn with chalk. He had retrieved his cane-sword, now with it's sheath back on. As soon as Nemo entered Seidon stopped chanting and slammed the bottom of the cane into the circle. It began to glow a faint purple in response.

Nemo drew his revolver and quickly fan-fired four rounds into Seidon's chest. The Captain didn't seem to even try to defend himself, he was shot four times in the chest. Seidon let out a guttural grunt before stumbling back and dropping his cane. He kept on his feet for as long as he could despite the wounds, but eventually tripped on a small table and fell over on his back with a loud thump.

The glowing of the drawn runic circle had stopped, making Nemo feel like they had made it in time. After all they hadn't been wiped out by some incredible explosion yet either. Nemo stepped over to Seidon's body, his revolver still at the ready to finish him off. The Captain let out a few gurgles to clear the blood from his throat after he stopped Nemo. "If it's any reconciliation, this wasn't personal. I've always found your services to be superb." Nemo spoke.

"O-oh don't worry lad, I've taken no offense." Seidon paused to cough once more. "But I'm going to h-have to apologize, on the contrary I'll... b-be personally bringing you all to hell with me." Seidon turned his blood stained mouth into a toothy grin before Nemo abruptly executed him with his fifth shot to the forehead.

Nemo holstered his revolver, not saying anything. His final words put a bit of doubt in his mind that they had made it in time. A doubt that would be soon confirmed.

A incredibly loud sound suddenly shook the entire ship. Items vibrated off shelves of Seidon's room and the entire ship let out a metallic whine in response from the sheer volume that was emitted by the strange noise. Even on the deck of the ship Travis and Zuri would be able to hear it clear as day. The sound didn't seem like it came from in the ship, it sounded like it came from below, deep below.

Nemo stood silent for a couple moments, something uncharacteristic for him. After a long drawn out pause he finally spoke. "I'm sorry Raiya, but I fear I've messed up by bringing you with me." Nemo didn't turn around to face her either, he still kept his gaze on Paul Seidon's body.

The wooden door, the runic circle, the four shots in the chest of the captain, The loud sound of something sinister calling from below, it all felt surreal. Raiya didn't know how to respond to Nemo's sudden concern for her well being, she wasn't sure how to process any of it, but she knew that time was a factor. Nemo was the leader on this particular mission, and Raiya knew that the team didn't have the luxury of regret. So, Raiya dropped her knife back into her inventory, adjusted her body, and wound up the most powerful physical punch she could muster, aimed straight at the square of Nemo's back.

"WE DON'T HAVE TIME FOR SECOND GUESSING OURSELVES RIGHT NOW!" Raiya reprimanded, "WE CAN SECOND GUESS OURSELVES LATER OVER A ROUND OF UMESHU! SO TELL US WHAT TO DO!" Raiya commanded. Raiya was now more than ever not prepared to die. Raiya had survived her mistakes once during this mission. She was not about to throw away another shot at completing her life's mission. Exacting justice on her parent's murderer was what she cared about most and she was not about to have two close encounters with death in one evening.

Nemo let out a slight "Oof" from Raiya's punch. He turned around, letting out a small chuckle in response to her words. He rested his hands in his pockets and slowly started to walk back. "Back when I was gathering info on this mission I posed as one of Seidon's friends over the phone with him. Seidon brought up feeding the church members on board to "Ole Bess" if they try to cross him. At the time I didn't think much of it. I figured he probably had some pet shark that followed his boat around. I see now that isn't the case." Just as Nemo finished his sentence the entire boat shifted from a great wave. Nemo had to place his hand on the wall to keep his balance. That upset was going to be the first of many, as the waves outside had suddenly gotten much worse.

Nemo continued walking, at this point they were about halfway back to the exit to the deck. "I should of thought of it before we embarked. Even when we were fighting Seidon I found his choice of spells strange. They weren't what I thought they were gonna be. He wasn't manifesting the attacks I thought he would. You see Seidon isn't just some simple ship captain mage smuggler. Paul Seidon is is a ship captain mage smuggler that also happens to be a long affiliate of the Cult of Enlightened." Nemo explained.

"None of his personal spells match something of a cult user, but he must have gained something from that involvement. So if he doesn't use cultish magic, in our case that probably means that Ole Bess is something much worse than a shark." Nemo stated as they reached the hatch once more. Nemo swung it open to let them see outside. The storm had picked up even more, the heavy downpour of rain made it harder to see and hear anything besides the thunder crashing down on the sea intermittently. Nemo stepped outside and looked towards the sea and waited in the rain. Soon enough the same sound that shook the ship before emitted again, causing the entire ship to vibrate. If anything now that they were outside it had only grown louder.

As Nemo stared off in the distance, he spotted what he had been waiting for. Far off away from the ship a colossal tentacle slowly lurched out from the water. Even at that distance it was humongous, with a width easily double than that of a school bus. It rose from the water, but eventually sunk back down. Even that action caused a heavy displacement in the water as a result.

Nemo walked over to the edge of the ship and looked down. A flash of lightning lit up the water, letting him see a bit better on what awaited below. The brief flash outlined a great tentacled sea monster. He estimated that it was probably even larger than cargo ship itself.

"One way or the other, this ship is going down. What do we do? Well, I suppose we can hope we don't die afterwards."

Raiya listened to Nemo and followed him as he walked about. While Raiya was a bit skeptical about the idea of a greater beast being tamed, she knew that they existed. Talent marks were biological mutations where a talent could be born with a genetic trait from a greater beast, after all. And Raiya did possess an eye like that of a dragon or wyrm. And her empowering tattoo was that of Yamata no Orochi, the eight headed wyrm. But the idea of taming any of those feral beasts of power without a summoning contract seemed very far fetched. Raiya was about to voice her skepticism right before a large tentacle ascended a fair distance away from the ship.

Raiya gasped at the unsettling sight of the eldritchian monster's tentacle arising from the depths. Her heart rate was raised even higher as she followed Nemo to the side of the ship to see the outline of the monster in the depths briefly illuminated by the flash of lightning. After processing all this she looked at Nemo and said, "There has to be a way to fight that... thing. I have seen your power level briefly, I know you are holding back in every fight we have been in. Now would be the time to release everything you have at that monster." Raiya urged, "I am going to be honest with you, I am not ready to die here. My life's work has not been completed... So- If you won't take as stand against that thing, I will." Raiya stated as she summoned her pistol with the rounds of special ammo still in its chamber.

Raiya charged her pistol with mana and proceeded to start her ritual countdown from three. After three seconds, she pulled the trigger aiming down into the depths. The bright burning light from her plasma lance burst forth from her pistol and blazed through the water of the deep. She wasn't even sure if she was aiming at the monster or not, and she wasn't even sure how effective her plasma spears would be under water, but she didn't feel like standing around would be of any use. She was very aware of the risks she was taking using her special ritual ammunition but it was all she had against something that enormous without using her God Slayer form.

Travis looked up and eyed the top of the ship where the barrier emitter, his original and still present objective, was located, "Right. I'll have that generator down," he replied as he moved away and headed back up the stairs to the upper deck.

It only took Travis a few minutes until he found the remaining emitter located at the very back of the ship, just as Nemo had claimed earlier. He strolled up to the device and looked it over, up and down. Travis knew a few things when it came to machines however the implementation with mana had intrigued him in how it functioned and regulated the technicalities of the flow of mana. However the machine seemed somewhat crude in design and the groaning sound it resonated almost sounded as if a part and came loose and rattled against the inner moving components. In the end, there wasn't much to learn from the generator and with that, Travis backed off and distanced himself from it.

After placing Lori's rifle on the ground, he took one of the used mana crystals from his trench coat and grasped the crystal within his left hand while raising his right hand and directed his palm towards the emitter. Travis exhaled and began channeling mana from the crystal and poured its reserves in through his palm. One he was sure he had accumulated enough mana, he then chanted, "Antennes..."

A crimson circle soon materialized before his right hand, emitting a radiant glimmer within its holographic design as Travis turned his open hand into a clenching fist. He would slowly rotate his fist like one would turn a doorknob and each segment he cleared in the circle drafted a small white sphere at each point. Travis managed to clear the first section without too much trouble but then encountered resistance as he tried to clear the second point, moisture beginning to secrete from his shaky knuckle as he neared the next segment. Eventually, he reached the second and acquired another glowing icon as a result and decided to cease any further progression in to the circle's paved architecture.

Travis let out another exhale before drawing his right fist behind him and then swinging his arm into a throwing motion, "Burst Bluss!" he chanted at the exact moment his grip released and produced a bright red sphere light.

The flare-like object screamed threw the air as it was thrown towards the emitter. Upon contact with the shield generator, the flare had immediately detonated, engulfing the device in a large echoing explosion of concentrated mana and fire while the first light of Travis' circle vanished. The first detonation held enough force to toss the ravaged emitter in to the air where a second detonation occurred right afterwards, obliterating the remains of the device and consuming the last white node in the spell.

Travis took another step back and gently fell back on to the floor of the deck while observing his explosive handiwork. Admittedly, the spell he had conjured was by far the most destructive in his diverse arsenal of artes. However, it was a demanding spell that consumed large amounts of mana before it could properly case. While he knew how to use the spell, many of his Talent classmates could conjure the spell far faster and more efficiently than he could; a fact that made the spell for him unviable in combat. Nevertheless, the spell was enough to get by and its implementation saw more useful applications such as demolishing obstacles such at large decayed debris that blocked a potential passage way.

With the last emitter out of the way, Travis watched as the barrier that surrounded the bridge deteriorated, almost melting until there were no trace of it. With an exhausted sigh, Travis took the mana-powered rifle from the floor and rose back up while tapping into another crystal as he made his way up to the bridge. As he reached a few feet from the entrance, Travis couldn't help but notice that he was unsupported. While there was no longer anything stopping him from accessing the bridge, he however didn't know what was on the other side. Surely if anyone was in there, they would have known by now that the barrier had just collapsed and should understandably expected unwanted company.

"Zoey? Zuri? You guys down there?" queried Travis as he spoke through his manadial, "I could use some help up here securing...the...oh what now?!"

Travis' voice trailed off just has he started to feel the entire ship begin to shake followed up by an extraordinarily load sound seemingly originating from the bowels of the ship. The Untalent however believed it was perhaps much further down, below the vessel itself given how the almost organic sound reverberated through the ship's hull. Filled with a growing sense of dread and seeing as though a new threat was upon them, Travis abandoned his plan an storming the bridge and raced down to the main deck once more.

Just as he regrouped with Nemo and Raiya at the front tip of the ship, whom he had assumed already dealt with Seidon since they were back on the main deck, a massive-sized tendril quickly erupted from the ocean's surface and towered over the cargo ship. Travis' mouth fell open and terrified awe as he observed the single tentacle looming over them almost a quarter mile away before retracting into the deep. As if on cue, the overhead storm intensified with the waves becoming more aggressive and lighting clashed over the dark clouds above. One illuminating strike lit up the sea and momentarily revealed a much large entity swimming below them.

"Holy shit," Travis verbalized in dismay as stared at the titanic creating beneath the vessel. It was then that Nemo expressed a near sense of hopelessness regarding the threat before them which caught Travis' unamused attention, "really not what I want to hear right now."

Raiya voiced her own kind displeasure of Nemo's comment and unexpectedly opted to engage the underwater creature. The idea of attacking such a massive creature Travis was incredibly daunting and far more dangerous than anything they had ever encountered thus far. It terrified Travis to even consider participating in a fight, worse even getting eaten if we wasn't crushed first by one of those tentacles should the siege the ship. The more he thought about it, the more his conscious pleaded with him to run.

Miraculously, Travis actually followed Raiya on to the edge of the ship, however instead of firing into the depths of the stormy seas, he chose to take aim in anticipating for physical counterattack. While holding his fire, Travis turned his head to Nemo, "I hope we have an actual plan here!"

The spear traveled deep into the sea, seconds later a faint muffled explosion could be heard underwater, followed by a even louder groan from below the sea. Nemo almost had to cover his ears as the ship vibrated from the noise. "I think you've only made it angrier." He commented. The noise was followed by a new one this time, a low lurching looming noise, following by the ship shifting in the sea. Nemo's stance immediately shifted. "Everyone get away from the edge." He announced abruptly before he started to jog back.

Soon another one of the tentacles erupted from the sea, this time much closer than the last. It was rapidly moving towards the edge of the ship they were just standing by with clear intent to ram it. Within seconds it collided with the hull and the railings, causing unseen by undoubtedly heavy damage to the cargo ship. The entire ship was knocked around from the impact, the shift was definitely capable of knocking someone off their feet if they weren't ready. The tentacle then folded over the side of the ship and slammed down onto the deck. Nemo had to use his warp to shift himself out of it's path just it time to avoid getting smushed into a fashionable pancake.

The encounter made it much easier to see a part of the creature up close. The entire tentacle seemed to be a dark mossy black, except for the suction cup covered pinkish underbelly. Nemo quickly charged up a spell and fired, hitting the appendage directly with a large explosive beam of energy.

The attack connected with no contest, however the effects were a bad sign. When the smoke cleared not all that much damage had been done to it. Besides the surface being scorched roughed up a bit, the tentacle was still mostly unscathed. Tentacle jerked it's suction cups free from the deck of the ship and then began to slide back into the water.

"It's likely that it's skin acts like a magic resistant armor, it probably has a soft spot somewhere. But with the type of damage it's doing it wouldn't even need to show it in order to destroy this ship." Nemo explained as he surveyed the crumpled section of the deck the tentacle smashed down on.

Raiya let out a scream of annoyance before retreating from the edge as the tentacles emerged from the depths and slapped onto the deck. Raiya almost lost her balance but her reflexes kept her standing. She raised her hands and fired off a couple of her own blasts before the tentacle retreated. Nemo's suggestion that its skin worked as a sort of mana barrier put Raiya a little more on edge.

"Well, what the hell should we do then?" She asked in annoyance, "I don't have anything bigger than a .45, and I am not about to go swimming." She wasn't ready to explain that she didn't really know how to swim, she figured that detail could be left out.

"There has to be some sort of idea that we could come up with, right?" Raiya said in a tone of certainty, "Travis? Nemo? One of you two has to have an idea. This is not how our story ends, being devoured by some sort of demonic beast. Is there any way we can escape from this ship? Or maybe some sort of spell that can trick or disorient the beast?" Raiya had a fake frantic smile on her lips, which said more about her state of worry than any other expression she could have chosen.

Nemo put his hands back in his pockets as he surveyed the scene. "I've hunted my fare share of beasts in my day, the only way someone could kill this thing is with extensive planning and very specific, and very large equipment. Something we don't have. Face it Raiya, we're out of our depth here." Nemo replied, seeming calm despite what he was saying. Even going as far to inject a pun.

Just as he was prepared to speak again, the entire ship began to rock from a great disturbance in the sea. He was barely able to stabilize himself and prevent himself from sliding. Multiple shipping crates came loose, some banging against the ship, some breaking, and some just going overboard. The creature was rising. Tentacles of the sea monster began to lift out from the water all around the ship off in the distance. They were everywhere. There wasn't a single direction to go that wouldn't run into it, it was simply too massive to ever escape.

The tentacle appendages didn't stay for long however, all sank back down out of sight. Leaving Nemo to wonder why they had disappeared. The sound of the creature breaching the surface of the water caused Nemo to turn around. He was surprised to see that it wasn't close and about to break the ship in half with it's arms, instead it was far off in the distance.

This was the first time he got to see the whole creature as a whole, it was truly gargantuan. Anyone observing from a far off distance would probably presume it was just an even larger cargo ship. But closer inspection would reveal the hideous, barbed, barnacle covered goliath sea squid it was. The entire thing wasn't just mossy-black, it had a crimson maroon stripe pattern upon it's back that traveled down some of it's appendages as well. Even from Nemo's distance he could make out one of it's most striking features. It's eyes. It had mostly black eyes, except for lazer red dots for pupils. Nemo knew it was staring directly at them, not the ship. Even in his situation, and the threat the monster posed to them, Nemo couldn't deny that he admired the creature. For him it truly was a breathtaking sight to behold.

Before he could take in the sight anymore, all of the beasts limbs suddenly began to rise out of the water... straight up. They towered above like a fleshy skyscraper. The tentacles even grew in width as they got closer to the creature's body, making the size of the ends that hit the ship before look minuscule. Even with it's giant length, Nemo knew it wasn't close enough to hit the ship. But Nemo figured already that it had no intentions of hitting the ship... directly.

Once the tentacles reached apex height, all sound besides the rain stopped. They held there for a while, putting an ominous feeling in the air, and then silently began to start falling back down all in the direction of the ship. Then they all crashed back onto the water to make a gargantuan splash. Moments later the sound traveled over from the incident, sounding like a supercharged thunder-strike nearly capable of deafening someone's ears. The point of the action made itself more than clear when a colossal wave began to form in the sea from the splash travelling towards the ship. By the point it had made it halfway to the ship it was about the same size as the creature that made the wave itself. The sound of the looming wave began to loom around the group as well, gradually growing louder in time.

Nemo let out a small chuckle, at a loss. "Just how much do you hate swimming, exactly?" He asked rhetorically before busting out into a cackling laughter. Apparently nothing could truly shake Nemo's personality from him.

The wave grew in size till the point it loomed over the ship, appearing to double it's height. The sound of the impending rush of water made it harder to hear anything but their oncoming fate. It was almost there by now, just about to crash into the side of the ship. Nemo took the opportunity to do all he could, create a barrier to try to block the water from totally crushing them. It extending into a wall in front of the group. Unfortunately since it was made out of energy and mostly transparent, it did nothing to block out the ghastly sight of the wave about to collide.

The last thing Nemo saw was the side of the ship totally obliterate from the impact, the water immediately going onto collide with his shield...

and then everything went dark.

---

Nemo felt feeling in his body slowly come back to him, terribly sore. He had a hard time opening his eyes, but once he eventually pried them open he saw something truly unexpected. Light, bright sunny light. It was such a one-eighty of the dark storm they were experiencing before. It didn't make sense, and he already hated it. Nemo despised the light, it irritated him. He always worked much better in the dark, with his eyes it was actually easier to see in that environment. Nemo wondered if he had died and this was his punishment, stuck in a sunny place for all eternity. A truly terrifying thought.

He let out a groan and started to get up, rolling onto his knees for a start. While he did so he got to feel the ground, it was sand. Nemo wiped his eyes and looked around. After taking a few seconds to fully adjust to the brightness he could see again. Nemo had no idea how much time had passed. He was on a sandy beach, on what seemed to be a small tropical island. He turned around to see the ocean, and bits and pieces of Seidon's ship that had washed up, totaling to what he guessed was nearly a fourth of the original vessel.

Maybe they had actually made it to the island? He pulled up his manadial, relieved to see it was still operational. Nemo made sure the device was as sturdy and reliable as possible. Unfortunately, while it was still powered, the map was completely distorted, making finding any of his teammates or knowing where they were impossible. He figured this could either be because the paragon was nearby, or he really was in purgatory. A light use of his manalysis shed some arguably positive light. A great source of mana and energy was located at the center of the island, possibly the artifact they went through all this for.

Nemo stumbled to his feet, looking for anything else of value in his peripherals among the wreckage. After dusting off as much sand as he could from his garments and hair he started off walking. Nemo wasn't really sure where he was going, but he needed to find the rest of his team. As he traveled he wondered how this could have happened. Nemo knew that there was way the squid beast had spared them, the only reason that he could come up with is that after the wave, they must have passed through the threshold into the paragon's anomaly zone, sealing them off from the sea where the monster dwelled. That or it was scared off by something even it couldn't understand, a testament to the paragon's power.

Before Nemo could think any further on the subject, he spotted something peculiar off on the beach. It didn't look to be a part of the wreckage. Nemo used his hand to try to shade his eyes from the sun to get a better look. As he got closer he was able to identify what he saw, it was Raiya, or at the moment, just her body. Nemo immediately picked up the pace to make it over to her. As soon as he reached where she was Nemo keeled down beside her and looked over her body. She was laying on her side, not moving.

"Raiya, are you alright?" Nemo asked, putting his hand on her shoulder and briefly shaking her. "Raiya?" When she didn't respond Nemo started to fear the worst. He turned her on her back and pressed the side of his head up against her chest to listen for a heartbeat.

The deep echoing growl of the creature beneath them was enough for Travis to deduce that Raiya's attack had only angered it rather than killing it. Per Nemo's clear warning, Travis quickly broke away from his position almost seconds before another tentacle shot out from the ocean's surface. The sheer mass and momentum had developed a large enough wave to slam in to and alter the ship's course. However, the tentacle soon did much worse as it then collided with the ship with tremendous and unrelenting force. The intense impact punched right through the lower decks and devastated much of the main deck in the process. Travis himself was tossed into the air as a result from the heavy hit before his stumbled into roll across the main deck.

Shaken from the experience, Travis struggled to get back to his feet but witnessed Nemo engaging the shadowy tentacle that now occupied the deck. Dread returned to his face as the post-explosive haze created by Nemo’s attack soon cleared the field but only to reveal that the tentacle remained intact and hardly even scratched. If anything, the tendril simply slithered back underwater to regroup with its host body.

Just as Travis finally arose did Raiya respond in aggression by firing at the recoiling tentacle with her own spells but little to no effect as well. It was then that she, almost desperately, sought any immediate suggestions to solutions to their endeavor. Given how near alien her expression was, even Travis could easily read Raiya’s clearly forced smile as a growing sign of panic and frustration.

“I’m a scholar, not a monster hunter,” Travis bluntly replied.

He didn’t want to get Raiya’s hopes up through mere speculation. Honestly, her’s and Nemo’s show of force against the creature further proved that he held nothing of anything effective or efficient value that could top any of their displayed efforts. This was an overall bad sign and hopeless situation, further degraded by Nemo’s factual and unoptimistic tone yet he still tried to pass by a quip in the process.

Everyone was then met with the unsettling sight of the all the sea creature’s tentacles rising from the ocean and surrounded the damaged ship. Travis looked around but found no exploitable gap between the tentacles; they were now essentially within the clutches of the monster below them. The ginormous main body of the beast had now surfaced however the dark storm overhead certainly dimmed most of its physical features all but for a pair of red eyes that peered out of the shade of the storm. Travis stared back and took a step behind him before soon succumbing to fear’s paralyzing embrace. It was now evident that the creature was not only here to bring down their barely floating vessel, it was present to specifically kill them all.

In its final move, the creature had then raised all of its tentacles again but now into a vertically dwarfing line up. Once all the tendrils had seemingly reached and disappeared into the tip of the ebony skies, did they then all literally come crashing down against the surface of the ocean. The combined might of the monster’s appendages breaking into the ocean had generated a tsunami the likes that Travis had never seen before. The towering wall of seawater came surging forth completely unopposed and withstanding any resistance laid against it. Before Seidon’s ship was violently consumer and crushed by the giant wave, Nemo had quickly crafted a physical power around everyone he could but in the end, they too were absorbed by the tsunami. So much had happened at once for Travis that by the point of the wave destroying the ship and compromising their position, the only thing he could recall was then instantaneous melding into darkness.

---

Travis finally begun to stir as each of his natural senses slowly returned to him. Unfamiliar and less chaotic sounds flowed into his ears; a far cry of the storm they had previously endured through. The sound of what appeared to be the chirps of seagulls overhead and the soft crashing of wave against a beach began the turning of the mental gears that were his consciousness. Soon new senses came through too such as the salty breeze and the bright light of the sun penetrating past his close blinds of his eyelids. He eventually awoke with his eyes repeatedly blinking, struggling to open up to from the unrecognizable light that he was not used to bathing in for quite some time.

Groaning from the displeasure of light that assailed him, Travis quickly regain most of his most of his motor skills as he naturally turned away from the sun and toward something else that wasn’t as radiant for his still-recovering perception. The carried motion brought forth the feeling of him moving against something warm, soft, and grainy; the sensation of sand as he eventually deduced. Travis’ sight then adjusted and finally he could see was now on a beach. They sky was a perfect clear blue, devoid of any abstract colors and soon indicating that the storm had in fact passed by. He slightly tilted his head to see the green foliage of palm trees and other assorted tropical vegetation directly behind him.

However, as he tried to turn to the sound of the waves ahead of him, something large and notably heavy came into view. It would take him a minute before he realized and nearly panicked as he found himself trapped under a large yet small wreck from the ship, likely a torn off piece of the hull. Travis naturally struggled and eventually managed to free his arms out but found that the remaining part of his body, namely his torso and legs were still underneath the weight of the wreckage. It was certainly an uncomfortable feeling but it was clearly and thankfully not life threatening for the moment. Oddly though, he couldn’t feel his legs at all but he surmised that with the amount of time he lay beneath the wreck, it was more likely blood circulation was perhaps restricted; a fact that he knew he needed to fix soon.

At first, he tried to call for help but still found himself too weak to speak. Additionally, he further deduced that he had no idea where he was exactly and how close he was to the others that were swept ashore. As grim as it was, he also accepted the possibility that they may not have made it at all. Still, he had work to do and it would start by freeing himself from the wreck that has him partially pined to the beach.

For another few minute, Travis wrestled with his mana well in trying to promote the flow of mana through his body. Sparks jumped from the tips of his fingers as he tried to concentrate on casting a particular spell that he could use to free himself with. Awhile longer and eventually he had accomplished in casting a typical welding spell as a hot red-glowing field surrounded his right hand. Travis positioned his hand at a loosened section of the wreck and then pressed against, causing the metal to ignite into sparks as he began cutting through it. Because of bright effects of the spell, Travis used his free hand to isolate his eyes while allowing him to still oversee his progress. As an added bonus, the spell’s bright sparking brilliance would’ve been far too difficult not to notice or hear for anyone if they were in the vicinity.

Zuri's long break from all that has happened throughout the past half an hour abruptly came to an end when the floor deck started to shake from the waves caused by a tentacle monster, which then ended up absolutely destroying it from the massive wave they created. Everything happened so fast, and since Zuri was already a bit worn out, she just tried her best to stay on her feet before the ship was blown into bits.

Hours has past, and Zuri was laying beside some rocks on a bed of sand. She opened her eyes and was greeeted by the glaring sun shining straight into her eyes. She tried raised her hand to shield her eyes, but the pain from crashing and getting washed ashore was a little too much at that moment. She tries to take a deep breath, but chokes on a bit of sand. Letting out a loud groan, she throws herself onto her legs and starts limping around in attempts to find her teammates.

She looked around, palm trees and some green grassland to her left, and the ocean on her right. In a zombie-like fashion, Zuri continues to walk in the direction where there is more debris from the shipwreck. It was hot, she was sweating, and all she wanted to do is go back home, but she knew she has to keep pushing forward.

Electricity and water do not mix

Abernathy sat in his office pouring through parchment that was almost as old and withered as he was. The manacrystals that lit his study were dimming out, flickering from dim to dully bright like a candle. Abernathy was growing tired in those late hours. There was a time when Abernathy could pour over documents for days without requiring sleep, but almost eighty years presiding over the New York Cathedral, raising and training new generations of magi took its toll. He often found himself waking up in a sore and stiff stupor at his desk, not even recalling when it was that he fell asleep. But, he had convinced himself that if he were to die, he would like to do so lying down in his comfortable bed. Which meant that lately, Abernathy had been forcing himself back to his chambers at the first sign of eye heaviness. And recently he had been very good at committing to that pattern, however, he recently found himself fascinated over one of his promising students. An orphan named Raiya whose parents were killed in a car accident twelve years ago. Abernathy's interest in her was due to the fact that she was Talent Marked, her right eye being yellow with a slit-like pupil, and yet she still had a blank aura like a normal Talent. Normally regular markless Talents had a pure aura until they dedicated themselves to a craft enough to produce a shift in the color of their aura. However, those with Talent Marks were normally born with a predisposed aura color which made them virtuoso's in their whatever they were born with. Raiya was different, she was marked and had a blank aura like a normal adolescent mage.

Abernathy had held off his curiosity while she was growing up, not bothering to investigate into her condition until very recently. He had more things to worry about throughout the years than a single girl and her mysterious birth traits. He'd done such a good job of neglecting his curiosity that he'd gone and grown so old and feeble that he could barely charge a manacrystal let alone perform scholarly duties like analyzing old documents. Fortunately, he felt that his research was about to be finished. He had recalled that one of Pliny the Elder's lost documents contained a first hand mana analysis of a creature that had a varicolored aura that was naturally white but shifted as it attacked. He just could not remember which document it was specifically. Abernathy had spent the past three months pouring through all of the lost works of Pliny the Elder, and he was now down to the last two documents. The document he was now examining was entitled, Mysteries of Greater Beasts Vol. 7. Abernathy scanned through the dusty pages of the copy he owned, thumbing through page after page until... "The Great Chimera is perhaps the only beast known to man that can shift its aura at will. With a natural resting aura of pure white and three other auras it can shift through at will (Blue, Red, and Green) it proves one of the most powerful and versitle of beasts to date."

Abernathy was examining the following paragraphs just as the loud clank of his office door opening startled him. He looked up from his desk over to the door to his study to see Raiya standing in the dim manalight. "Oh, child!" Abernathy said in his raspy voice, "You gave me quite the start. Is there something I can help you with?" he asked the apprentice.

"F-Father Abernathy...," Raiya said in an embarrassed tone, "I have decided on what specialization I am going to take..." Raiya's young soft voice barely carried itself to the head Priest's ears. Abernathy knew that Raiya was having some difficulty choosing which path to go, and because of that she was a bit further behind than most of the other children.

"Oh you did did you? Well, that's very good of you. As you start working towards that by casting spells of the nature you wish to specialize in, eventually you will see a change in your aura," he explained, "Now, what did you choose child?" He asked Raiya.

"Well... big brother Felix gave me this book about Japanese mythology and certain dragons that can control the weather, so I decided to be like the dragons and I chose lightning destruction magic and decided my aura would be pink!" She exclaimed, "Can I get my anointed robes now!?"

Father Abernathy laughed at the enthusiasm of the young mage, "Well, you have to first train yourself," He continued to chuckle, "And your aura will change its color based upon what spells you use!"

Raiya let out a huff of frustration, "Well I didn't use any spells I just wanted my aura and I got it!" She said in a frustrated tone. Abernathy stopped chuckling. He looked at Raiya with concerned eyes as he activated his manalysis to see precisely what the young girl had stated. Her aura was dark pink with the echo of electricity humming through it.

"Young one. You must never tell anyone of how you got your aura." The Father said in a serious tone, "There are dangerous people out there who do not understand different people and will want to hurt you. You must tell everyone you have been secretly training and casting spells in the night." The head priest noticed Raiya's scared expression and added, "If you promise me that you won't tell anyone, I will give you your anointed robes right away and we will have your ceremony tomorrow. Do we have a deal?"

Raiya smiled with enthusiasm, "Deal!"

If the Vatican were to find out about this girl she would be excommunicated for sure talent marks such as hers would be seen as unnatural and impure. What the Vatican does not know will not hurt them. Abernathy thought as he went to retrieve her new robes from the chest of anointed robes. As he walked from his desk manacrystal light went completely dark, making it impossible for Abernathy to see.

"Don't worry, Father, Raiya assured, "I got it." A moment later a pink light bathed the room.

"Child... How were you able to find the manacrystal so quickly?" Raiya blushed, "Well, I can see in the dark with my right eye." She explained. A cat's eye... Like the chimera... Abernathy thought as he walked over to the chest containing the anointed robes. He retrieved a set of folded robes and presented them to Raiya who beamed with excitement.

"Maybe next year I'll be a grand mage!" She exclaimed optimistically as she retrieved the robes. She quickly bowed and exited the room to change into her new outfit. She's already set her sights on becoming one of the grand-magi... What a frightening girl...

---

Cats and water do not mix

Raiya saw Nemo put up a shield just in time for the massive wave to crash down on top of them. The shield did a good job of mitigating the impact but did noting to protect them afterwards. Raiya had enough time to take a deep breath before the water consumed them. Through the murky depths Raiya opened her eyes to see Nemo and Travis forced away from her by the ripping current of the massive wave that had just drug them all down. The shattered ship's pieces floated by, occasionally bumping into Raiya as she struggled to reach the surface to no avail. She had no swimming training, in fact, she was terrified of being in any body of water larger than a hot tub. Due to the nature of her aura, water continuously sapped her mana unless she repressed her aura which made spell casting underwater a dangerous venture for Raiya. Raiya had forgotten about this fact and did not repress her aura until most of her mana was already sapped. On top of everything, Raiya's snake-like nature, thanks to her tattoos, made operating in a cold environment virtually impossible. And while the waters were not particularly cold the further she sunk the colder it became. Her body began to shut down, her heartbeat slowing, until eventually she completely lost consciousness.

Raiya's mind began to drift in a sea of subconscious thought. She could feel her life force slipping away as she thought about letting go. Then she remember her unfinished business, the duty she had sold herself to, to bring justice to her parent's murderer. I wont die here. I REFUSE! I REFUSE!!!!!!!!!!!! Eventually even her mind succumbed to complete unconsciousness as her body drifted away.

---

Sunlight bathed Raiya's body as she lay on the sand among the rubble of the broken ship, with Nemo checking her vitals. The heat warmed her body, increasing her blood flow, and her heart rate began to rise. Her heart beat was so faint before that even Nemo would have had a hard time finding it, but the heat kick started the circulation of her blood. A moment later Raiya violently began to cough up sea water as she regained consciousness. She opened her blood shot eyes, completely groggy and sore, she looked out at the sand of the beach which she was lying face-on.

As her senses began to return to normal she could feel something pressing on the small of her back. Raiya almost did not have the willpower to exert the energy necessary to roll herself onto her back. But she gathered up every shred of energy she had left and flopped herself over. She turned her head to see Nemo staring at her with a concerned expression. "Oh great...," Raiya croaked out, "I've died and gone to hell..."

Most of the nervousness Nemo felt began to fade away when he started to hear a faint heartbeat. Her body wasn't cold either, as he felt a slight warmth on his cheek as he listened for the pitter-patter of her heart. The sound of her voice afterwards caused him to let out a small sigh of relief. He picked his head up from her chest, now using his hand to shade his eyes from the sun. "Strange, that's what I thought too..." He replied, completely serious and squinting slightly from the brightness as he looked down to her face. One might wonder what Nemo's vacation plans looked like, Siberia maybe?

"Are you hurt?" He asked. "That wave hit us pretty hard, I'm really sorry Raiya. I didn't have anything of a high enough caliber to protect us all properly." Nemo added, sounding genuinely downcast over it. "In the past I've often only ended up improving my absorption related barriers. Generic physical ones were always an afterthought."

Nemo looked away from her, turning back to the shoreline and the debris. "If you aren't hurt, we should try to find the rest of our team post-haste. Otherwise I could always carry you some more?" He suggested, scratching his head to free particles of sand from his hair. "Time is of the essence here, if we survived that wreck, then the two Fathers probably fared even better than us. And I'd certainly want to get my hands on that paragon before them. If it's even here that is. " Nemo finished.

"I think I'm fine," Raiya replied. She attempted to raise her torso so that she'd be in a sitting position to no avail. "Well, I think physically I am okay. Well... It's just that water tends to drain my stamina pretty fast, and we were in that ocean for God know's how long." Raiya explained, "On top of that, it was so cold in that water my body shut down completely. My snake enhancements were probably the only thing that kept me alive. So if it's all the same to you, I think I will just rest here a little while longer while my body gets back to working order." Raiya finished.

Raiya cringed at the thought of having to fight two more enemies who also happened to be powerful members of the Arcanocracy.
"Go find the others while I rest here. I certainly wont be of any help later on against any enemies if my limbs aren't functioning because they don't have proper circulation." Raiya replied. It was always her extremities that were the first to shut down whenever she entered this shut down state due to inadequate temperatures. Being cold blooded really limited how Raiya could operate in specific environments. "Come back here when you've located everyone else. Raiya said, her voice certainly carrying a tone of exhaustion. After she finished talking with Nemo, she spread her limbs out in the hot sand and closed her eyes

"As pleasant as a bask in the sun would be, it's a activity that might be a bit too risky for today. But I think I have a solution." Nemo added. He whispered a small incantation into his glove and then pressed his palm on top of Raiya's midsection. A warm sensation would soon start to spread throughout her body. Afterwards Nemo removed his hand and spoke. "This is a slightly modified version of a spell that I've used on my own body on missions. It's a technique to mask my body heat from sensors by increasing or decreasing it to match the surroundings. In your case, for the next five minutes it'll gradually heat you up. Since it works on your whole body, it'll probably get results even faster than a sunbath." Nemo explained. He then carefully scooped her up and started walking down the shoreline.

"I'm getting déjà vu Raiya." Nemo said, remembering carrying her back on the ship. "As your partner I just couldn't leave you there alone while you couldn't move, not with those two louts still unaccounted for." He admitted. "I fear the Arcanocracy isn't enthused for a friendly competition. Taking their abilities into account, Stockton and Galvadon aren't here just for the paragon, they're a hit-squad."

"But for you that might not be all bad news. Specializing in fire and light magic, and casting through a weapon to make my absorption mostly unusable, Galvadon was likely chosen specifically with my end in mind. By the end of this I might be out of your hair for good." Nemo finished.

A buzzing sound interrupted Nemo's thoughts. As he looked around he noticed a bright sight among the wreckage. Upon further inspection he found Travis cutting away at the metal wreckage. He walked over to him, seeing that he was trapped below the debris. "Need a hand?" Nemo asked, loud enough to hear over the sound of Travis' magic. Nemo let go of Raiya's legs and used his forearm to support them. He pointed his free hand towards the wreckage with his two forefingers extended. The then abruptly pointed them upwards, causing a distortion in the space between Nemo and Travis. Afterwards the torn hull magically shifted upwards, allowing Travis the ability to pull himself free.