What am I thinking?! I don't even have a weapon to fight them! Josh has it with him back on the ferry. I can't leave Alex here alone oblivious to the shark's approach to go retrieve it. I can only delay them until the survivors make it to the cruise ship. I hope I survive that long.

Noah didn't have confidence that his [Battle Instinct] ability would be useful in the water with enemies that he couldn't even see. That's why he preemptively activated his [Grade 1 Spirit Armour Chestplate]'s ability to cloak himself in faint, swirling blue, ethereal glowing armour.

As he floated there in the almost freezing temperature ocean water using his six ethereal arms to paddle, he prepared to face his fast approaching unpredictable fate. The ocean surface was dyed a red-brown colour by the woman's blood as it spread further, drawing in more unknown threats at any moment.

He drew in a deep breath before closing his eyes as he tilted his head back to face the burning sky. He imagined that it was the sunlight shining down, warming his face as he savoured what may be his last moments of calm while he tried to ignore the enormous fins cutting through the waves towards him.

The water surrounding Noah as he floated was illuminated in shimmering patterns by the fiery sky above, which had replaced the blue sky with the Pylon's arrival, heralding the changes brought about by the beginning of the Trial Phase.

He opened his eyes to the sight of a pair of shark fins as high as a man standing at full height towering above the water. Now near enough, he could see the light of their lifeforce moving within their grade two muscle below the surface of their abrasive skin. One was on a direct course towards Noah slightly ahead of the other.

By some small mercy, the lifeforce was a white colour that Noah had garnered from the survivors eating the Kraken meat, which meant that the shark had no abilities. Whereas the one lagging behind had blue light contrasting with the red water flowing through its powerful apex predator body, indicating that it possessed an unknown ability, making it far more dangerous than its blank companion.

The ability-using shark suddenly veered to the side to bypass Noah as if it had predicted his intentions to delay them, while it left behind its companion to deal with him. The intelligent shark chased After the departing ferry. The ferry was now almost wholly submerged below water level, carrying far more rewarding prey than a lone man shared between two of them.

He cursed loudly at the shark that had circumvented him, secretly letting out a selfish mental sigh of relief as his own chance of surviving this hopeless situation increased. He needn't have been overly concerned because as soon as the shark passed him, he heard a dull thud followed by the sound of screeching metal from the ferry grinding along the side of the cruise ship's hull. There were cheers from the survivors on board the ship as the ferry survivors ascended the rope ladder.

He had no time to celebrate with them as he was currently being circled by the blank shark, searching for an opening to strike. The ability-using shark's fin had slowly sunk beneath the waves while circling the wreckage of the ferry, abandoning its prey that had successfully escaped due to Noah and Alex's combined efforts.

***

Noah was tensely waiting as the shark circling him ate away at his tightly controlled sanity that had been on the verge of breaking since the arrival. He had become further on edge now that he could no longer see the ability-using shark, he highly doubted that it had left.

This was a great idea, Noah. How do you plan to make it out of this? You just had to try to be a hero. There's a reason that you haven't received the [Rite of Heroism] the man who was with Rachel died just so that she could come in at the last second to claim the glory.

Noah berated himself with wide eyes as perspiration formed on his brow. He couldn't afford to loosen his vigilance for even a moment in case the sharks chose that time to attack.

Noah jerked as he heard splashing behind him, believing it to be one of the sharks finally making its move as he was distracted by his thoughts.

"Alex, nooooo!" Josh shouted in panic.

An echoing scream originating from Josh came from the ship's deck, which attracted Noah's attention as he took a sharp breath. He turned to see that the rope ladder had snapped under the weight of Alex's titanic size. He had fallen back into the water and was now standing on the bobbing wreckage nervously staring up at his lover above, kissing his fingertips before lovingly reaching in his direction. Alex turned his head down in dejection so that his lover could not see the fear on his face as tears began to fall.

At that moment, the ability-using shark hiding underwater revealed itself to lunge with its mouth open at Alex. He reacted in time to catch its jaws, forcing its mouth apart to reveal rows of serrated teeth.

Noah could no longer stay idly floating in the water and began swimming to the aid of the struggling Alex, who was starting to show signs of strain as his arms began to tremble.

As he swam towards the cruise ship, the blank grade two shark fins circling him began to submerge into the water in pursuit.

"Alex!" Josh cried out. "Let go of me!" he yelled hysterically as he struggled in the grasp of some other survivors who were pulling him away from the rails to prevent him from witnessing what happened to Alex next.

Noah's [Battle Instinct] ability still had not activated. It was worrying that he was utterly blind to the perilous unknown dangers under the water.

The hair on the back of his neck stood on end as the water surrounding him began to rise. With no other options, he threw his ethereal arms wide in every direction as he ground his teeth in a tight grimace.

The glowing incorporeal purple arms found purchase on the jagged teeth now enclosing him, preventing him from being swallowed whole.