“What the fuck is this thing?” he muttered to himself, his mind going blank as he realized that the tip of its tail had likely reached into the troposphere. Most of it had disappeared into one of the many clouds that still hovered high up in the sky, almost immediately after it had left the water. What was more, the fact that the base of this creature’s tail was so close to its eyes led him to the conclusion that there was no way that it was any sort of creature that he knew of, since alligators and crocodiles—the animals from Earth that it most closely resembled—usually boasted a body that was roughly the same length as their tails. This creature’s body, however, could only have been about a third of its tail’s length, if what he was seeing was any indication.

Looking at such a mythological scene, Nolan couldn’t help but feel a perverse sense of appreciation for the briefest of moments. Just how many people from Earth had ever seen such a mind-blowing sight? Surely just him and his friends. Such thoughts were cut short as a heavy downpour of rain began to fall, which was actually, he realized, the water that had been kicked up by the tail’s sudden ascent to the heavens.

Off in the distance, a frightened scream could be heart. “Little White, you backstabbing wretch! You’ve doomed us all!”

The gigantic eyes turned in the direction of the extravagant ship where the sect’s upper echelons were gathered, and there they remained fixated.

“This moron,” scoffed the woman in question, who unexpectedly spat up a large amount of blood that remained in the air in front of her similar to the look of the liquid inside of a lava lamp. This quickly returned into her mouth, and she swallowed it down before closing her eyes to meditate.

Seeing the woman’s actions, May did the same.

Doubting their chances of escape, Nolan called out in his mind for Uncle Grey to take control of his body so that he could salvage the situation.

I can’t, he said helplessly. Even though it was only for a second, your cultivation was sealed by that formation again. Even if I take control of your body, I won’t be able to use either of our energies.

Well fuck, it was good knowing you then. Thanks for warning me about that fog just now, eh. Good thing I’ve got you around.

Dear disciple, don’t be like that…

If you didn’t go MIA as soon as we left that tower, then this wouldn’t be happening!

I’m sorry, Nolan. Something came up, and…

What, did a neighbour stop by to ask for milk and sugar? What the hell could have possibly come up in that glade?

You know…this and that…

While he continued to snap at the old, forgetful ghost for unwittingly driving him and his friends to their deaths, the air around the white-haired woman suddenly began to shake under the pressure of her unrestrained aura. May quickly followed suit, though Nolan didn’t have any time to foster a false sense of hope, for that was the moment that a terrible tsunami spilled forth from the distant haze. Facing the oncoming wall of water that easily topped forty metres in height, Nolan had no other thoughts aside from wondering if this was where he was destined to die, along with musing over the fact that such a catastrophic response was merely the result of the behemoth lifting its tail.

For the first time in a long while, Nolan was at a loss. Even though the Millennial Ring had instilled within him a strong sense of calm, there wasn’t much he could do at the moment.

As he was standing there thinking about any possible mode of escape, May slid an arm around him and beneath his armpit, pulling him into a tight, one-armed hug. This happened just as the gargantuan tail began to descend like a toppled building, slowly at first but quickly gaining momentum. As she leapt off of the deck and began to fly away from the ship, Nolan called out to the white-haired woman and ordered her to flee the ship with his friends, and to protect them at all costs. She didn’t need telling twice, as she soared skywards and began to fly in the same direction as May, both of them moving at least two hundred kilometres per hour as they made their way to the northeast.

They hadn’t gone far when they were suddenly battered by hurricane-level winds, a prologue to the tail’s impact. May held Nolan tightly as they were thrown this way and that, struggling with all her might to maintain a forward course through the generated tempest. Gritting her teeth, she ultimately decided to conjure a platform of inner essence beneath her feet and leapt off of it as hard as possible, her jump coinciding with the tail’s collision with the ships on the right side of its head. Nolan had almost been thankful that it had chosen to target the Falling Rain Sect’s leader rather than him and his friends, though the explosion of raw force that followed quickly smothered these sentiments and replaced them with alarm and worry.

The last glimpse he caught of the others afforded him a slightly comforting sight; Nyla had pulled out her treasured canvas and was in the midst of handing it over to the white-haired woman when true devastation ensued. He had no idea whether or not they were actually able to escape, however, for they were quickly removed from his line of sight by the superstorm that followed.

Not only had the gigantic tail just smashed into the water with an unbelievable amount of strength and weight behind it, but the cultivation of this beast suggested that it had likely been reinforced by a substantial amount of inner energies. Halfway through its descent, the appendage had abruptly tripled its downward momentum, giving it a sharp, whip-like motion as it smashed into the lake and penetrated thousands of metres beneath its surface in a matter of moments. A tremendous explosion of water erupted skyward, giving life to a massive, widening pillar that literally touched some of the lower-riding clouds above. Rainy wind blasted out in all directions, closely followed by an ear-splitting, earth-shattering sound of impact that would have destroyed Nolan’s eardrums had May not cloaked them both in a thick barrier of spiritual energy.

It took Nolan a minute to realize that May was no longer in control of her own movements. Hugging each other tightly as they spiraled around in a nauseating, disorienting manner, the two of them were thrown high up into the sky without any way to alter their course. May’s barrier broke almost immediately, at which point all of Nolan’s limbs fractured like fallen glass, many of his organs ruptured, and blood began to leak out of his every orifice. All it took was a momentary exposure to the initial shockwave and he was dropped onto death’s doorstep in a merciless manner, though a slight stream of energy that May directed into his body kept him conscious long enough for him to continue to experience the terror of their current predicament.

Whiteness. Open sky. Whiteness. Open sky. The same discombobulating views continued to disturb his already failing mind, made all the more difficult to comprehend now that his spiritual sense had been sealed again. He couldn’t hear a thing, could only feel excruciating pain. His vision was limited to the periodic stretches of open sky and hovering clouds that he and May continued to cut through, though occasionally he saw clothed blobs of bloody, palpitated flesh that could only have been disciples of the Falling Rain Sect whose bodies hadn’t been able to handle the force of the blast.

Don’t fall asleep, Nolan!

Sleep? That felt like a good idea. The pain, the fear, the disorientation—all of these would simply disappear if he fell asleep. Still, the frightening prospect of not waking up helped Nolan to maintain his hold on his consciousness, and the soothing energy from the Millennial Ring aided in his ability to make such a crucial decision despite his failing state of mind.

Uncle…Uncle Grey. How far…have we…?

Many of your kilometres. Quiet now. Just focus on maintaining your bodily functions. I’m close to completing an arrayment that should help me heal you a bit.

He wanted to laugh, but no air left his lungs. Evidently, they had both collapsed from the blast pressure that he’d just been subjected to. Was he really going to die this time around? All he could see below him were clouds, and May had just fallen unconscious despite the fact that she still held him close in a tight grip. It was hard to believe that they had been flung so far away from where they had just been, that they still had enough momentum to carry them through the skies without any signs of slowing.