The school of assorted nightmarish devil-fish were almost upon Noah. He had no choice but to let go of his grip on the thrashing crocodile's jaws. He quickly realized that the anticipated attack from the giant grade two crocodile never came. Noah looked in the crocodile's direction in time to witness it fleeing in terror. It seemed to sense something that Noah couldn't.

He returned his attention to the encroaching swarm of devil-fish. There was something rapidly approaching. Noah squinted his eyes to peer through the murky water. There was a large yellow glow growing in size by the second. That was what had frightened the aggressive crocodile into retreating.

What is that? I don't want to stay around and find out, especially with those devil-fish coming towards me. I can't even count how many there are! They'll tear me apart if they catch me!

Noah resurfaced, inhaling a deep breath of sea air. The fishing trawler had beached on a sandbar at the entrance of a bay. Noah could see land in any direction ahead of him. He had begun swimming, using his six ethereal arms to assist him. A crocodile passed by, it could have easily ambushed him, but it was preoccupied with something behind Noah. He glanced over his shoulder.

There was a wall of water stretched across half of the bay rushing toward him. Initially, he thought it was Greg, but the lifeforce was a yellow colour instead, ruling out that possibility.

There's a shadow with yellow light in the tidal wave. The feeling I get when I look at it is similar to when I was being watched earlier. I need to get to land as fast as possible.

Noah hadn't stopped swimming as he examined the approaching tidal wave. There were devil-fish being swept from the ocean as the tide grew larger. Suddenly, the origin of the swell was revealed. An ability didn't cause it, but something unimaginably large. A colossal tentacle rose from the water, covered in mysterious glowing patterns formed from yellow-lifeforce. Nothing Noah had seen even compared to it in scale. The medium-sized fishing boat seemed like a toy before it.

The tentacle held something wrapped in its grip as it emerged from the water. Noah recognized it as the fishing trawler's damaged husk, dripping water and debris into the ocean. The hull's exposed underside was covered in barnacles, along with sleek metal from where the boss had attempted his repairs.

"Is that what I think it is?..." Noah asked out loud.

Looking closer, he could see a red, ghostly figure standing beside the savage form of the transformed Louis.

Those two are always causing trouble. This time it looks like they've bitten off more than they can chew. Fuck, I can't save them from the monster that tentacle belongs to. I don't know how they'll be able to survive this.

Avery's body passed through the rails to plummet into the water below without disturbing the surface as Louis clung to the mast in desperation. Noah watched in horror as the colossal tentacle threw the shipwreck hurtling toward the beach. He could see the terror on Louis' face as they hugged the makeshift mast as the fishing boat spiralled overhead.

As the heavily damaged fishing trawler flew through the air, Noah watched as the mast Louis was holding onto broke off to plummet into the breakers below no more than one hundred meters in front of him. The mast pierced into the shallow water, miraculously remaining upright as the bewildered Louis made eye contact with Noah fleeing the devil-fish behind him. Louis was still in their transformed state, clinging to the makeshift pole with both arms and legs, upside down.

The wrecked boat crashed onto the sandy beach in a spray of sand and debris. It continued to bounce then roll, crushing an unfortunate pair of oarsmen fleeing from a giant crocodile at the water's edge. The crocodile didn't escape sharing the same fate as it snapped at the nearest oarsmen moments before the wreckage landed atop them. Noah could hear their screams cut short.

Noah was now in shallow water. He had reached the breakers and was now wading in chest-deep water as the tide receded. Just in front of Noah was the upside-down Louis, who had reverted to their original form. Their face was still white from fear.

"Are you okay? Why are you still upside down?" Noah asked.

"It spoke. It wants you, Noah," Louis replied ambiguously.

"What spoke? Why were you back on the boat?" Noah spoke as he aided Louis from the mast into the water with a splash.

"We went to help you. By the time we arrived, you had already left. Then it picked up the boat and started speaking. It knew your name! It said that it had a plan for you, so it would keep you alive for a little longer. But the rest of us could be disposed of," Louis said hysterically.

"Calm down. I don't understand what you're saying," Noah interrupted.

"I saw it, Noah. I looked into its eyes. I saw its intelligence, its patience, its... hunger. I've never felt anything so evil, so… so… alien. How could an animal become so twisted?" Louis said while flinging themself into Noah's arms.

Noah absentmindedly rubbed Louis' back while turning to survey the horizon that was becoming lit with firey-light as it became daylight. He couldn't see any sign of the colossal tentacle.

A glint at the edge of his vision caught Noah's attention. He turned to discover that the gleam came from the boss standing atop the floating corpse of the ability-user crocodile from earlier, prying the sleek metal spear free. As the boss raised his arms in a spray of blood, Noah noticed a red gleam at his wrist. It was too far away for him to make out what it was.

While Noah observed, a colossal tentacle savagely burst from the water from below the boss. It wrapped the crocodile's corpse while holding the boss immobile as he futilely attempted to struggle free of its grip. The boss thrust the sleek spear into the colossus's flesh before being wrenched helplessly into the air. Noah heard laughter echoing inside his mind in response to his actions. The creature ignored the spear. It was not even the size of a small toothpick in comparison to the creature's immense size.