Spinning into the sky, he waited for the rope to reach its length. When it did, he felt as if he was being torn in half, though a flash of aspect along the rope helped him realise he was fine. The rope took the brunt of the force from him, so he felt all of the pain with none of the damage. Still, he spun so fast and stopped so hard that he was having trouble clearing his vision. Blinking away the stars and purple edges at his sight, he got his bearings.

The ship was still bouncing and snapping tight against the fish's escape. The sailors were in a similar state as him, attempting nothing more for the time but to right themselves somehow. Serril on the other hand, was already pulling himself along one of the chains and towards the beast. Murphy grabbed his own rope, and started to pull himself towards the boat. It was awkward with one hand, but the lack of strong gravity let him propel himself with little effort. He was approaching the still unstable boat rapidly. Tucking up his legs, he braced to push off the bottom of the hull. When he reached it, his inexperience on the hunt showed. His legs buckled beneath him, and he ploughed with full force into the craft, knocking the wind from his chest. The action sent him spinning in a random direction, away from his target. The fish came to his view each time he flipped, but it was gaining distance.

"I have an idea" Uundah shouted in his mind. "Point me in front of yourself."

Murphy entertained the O'jin’s demand, and pointed the staff forwards. "Now what?" He shouted back out loud.

Rather than respond with a thought, Uundah blasted a torrent of wind ahead of them, sending them soaring in the opposite direction. It took a few course corrections, but eventually they were travelling directly towards the beast. Serril had already managed to mount the thing, and was swinging his great blade downwards at its upper jaw. With the beast ahead of him, he prepared another stoneball, and released it. The spell zipped through the air, invisible to anyone but him, and landed a solid hit at the base of its tail. It caused the beast to flinch, sending Serril spinning once again.

"Damn it wizard. Warn me next time" Serril chastised in his mind.

"Dizzy, sorry friend, scales in the air" Murphy sent back. He couldn't understand why that trick was so hard to master, especially considering he and Uundah had no trouble communicating mentally.

He was still nearing the fish, so he pulled his sword out from beneath his cloak, and prepared to stick the thing with it on the way past. Thrusting down with all of his strength, he plunged the short iron blade into the same place he'd hit it with the stoneball. It bit bone, and stopped his flight forward, prompting the beast to flail wildly and change direction. The new course took them by the boat, and he caught a glimpse of the displeasure on Tugger's face. The two sailors had managed to remount the boat in the short time, but the fish swimming beneath it would be sure to turn the craft belly up again. Sure enough, the sailors were flung from the boat the moment it flipped. He held on with an iron tight grip, slamming over and over again into the beast's muscular tail.

"Hold tight" Serril commanded.

Murphy caught a glimpse of the giant man in the open sky. He was leaning forwards with one hand behind his back. Somehow, he was pushing himself towards the fish. With another glimpse, he noticed a torrent of wind aspect blasting out behind him. Within seconds, Serril was back atop the swordfish, poised to bury his blade into its spine. Together, they started to tear into the beast. The ship behind them was showered with glistening scales and mystified blood, and he could hear the sailors cheer them on against the vicious wind ripping past his ears. The monster's fight against them lessened, allowing Murphy a moment to scurry to its back and pick a new place to brutalise. He climbed his way to Serril, trying to get to the thing's face.

"It won't slow" the Demai shouted. "It's time for some of your magic."

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Murphy smiled at that. He knew exactly what spell to use. "Hold on big guy" he shouted back, before pressing his hand against the back of its skull. He summoned the aspect of protection, and infused it into the beast's body as best he could. There was resistance, the monster's own Daions fought against his fleshy enchantment, but when he had infused what he thought would be enough, he immediately empowered it. The fish shuttered violently, and was sent into a spin of its own as a large chunk of flesh was torn from the back of its head. Both of the men were promptly thrown from the beast again, though this time they were ready for it. Serril blasted himself with a handful of wind back towards their writhing prey. Murphy took the opportunity to fire off a few stoneballs, and was satisfied to see two of them hit. Flying past, Serril cleaved his greatsword along the things belly, opening it for a free falling glob of blood to be set free. The fish was noticeably slowing now, and he decided to end the show with a bang. After seeing how tough the thing was, he figured a space bomb wouldn't be a bad move after all.

"Can't wait, get back from it, should have brought snacks along" he sent to Serril.

The Demai turned in the air to look at him, attempting to figure out the message. He shrugged. "I have no idea what you're saying wizard" he responded with a confident thought.

"You’re really bad at that… maybe don't try anymore" May chimed in from all the way back at the boat.

"Oh hi guys, I'm here too" Oats also interrupted.

"Get back!" Murphy shouted in his mind, raising the rainbow fire in his palm.

Hearing the thankfully clear message, and seeing the spell come to life, Serril launched himself away from the fish as fast as possible. The action caused him to bounce at the edge of his rope, and be pulled back in towards their boat.

"Make it count" Serril thought back with a tone of exhilaration.

In the next second, Murphy released the spell. It cycled between the first two colours before it hit, then exploded in a flash of fury. He thought he was far enough from the beast, yet he still found himself being dragged towards the centre of the explosion. The first crack tore a fin from the gargantuan swimmer, then the second caught them both. He zipped towards the thing, blasting wind in front of himself to fight against the inescapable pull. His efforts granted him reprieve from the worst of it, but he still had to curl into a ball to avoid the flying fish bits. The chunks of flesh pelted him like charging bulls, yet he held firm and toughed it out. It wasn’t until a dislodged and heavy chunk of metal hit him in the head, that he went limp into unconsciousness. As he spun and his vision faded, he heard one final thought from Uundah before he slept.

"Can't you stay awake for one god's damned fight?"

~~

He awoke on his back, staring into a bright blue sky, and the wide smile of Serril.

"He lives!" The big man bellowed, helping him to his feet.

They were on the boat again, though it seemed as if the gravity had returned to normal. Looking around, he saw everyone was accounted for, Uundah still firmly welded to his hand. "Did we get it?" He asked groggily, rubbing the fog from his eyes.

"Aye, little bastard nearly got you right back though" Grat laughed, slapping the dazed Warlock on the back, before pointing with his thumb at the giant fish being dragged behind the boat. It was a bloody mess, bunched tightly into a massive net. "We usually save those spears for the fish, but he gave it right back to you he did."

Murphy rubbed at the lump on his forehead. He remembered seeing the harpoon for a brief moment, but he didn’t remember much after that.

"That was some spell you got there Murph" Tugger said, with a hint of concern. "Don't suppose you could keep that one off the ship."

Murphy blanched, he was worried the semi wild rune would draw the wrong kind of attention.

"A power like that needs to be shown" Serril defended. "I haven't seen mage-craft like that for a good millennia. You've earned yourself a name wizard, you should be proud."

That statement made Murphy blush. He'd always wanted a title name of his own. Technically he had his grandfather's title, though he felt no real connection to the title of LockHalm. Since he had started his journey to becoming a wizard, the title of 'Secret Hammer' made less and less sense. It wasn’t generally accepted for a human to give a title, especially if it came from himself, so he hadn't dared dream of receiving one so soon. The Demai would give people title names based on their accomplishments, making it easier for the person to be remembered by the nearly immortal beings. "What's that then?" He asked, excited to add a new name to himself.

Serril clapped him on the arm, nearly sending him tumbling overboard. "Gentlemen, I give you Munfiray Tane Eseyfirr" he said proudly.

Uundah chuckled in his mind. "Careful what you wish for" he teased.

Serril had given him the name of 'Murphy the Chaos-fire', and he slumped his shoulders. "You do know I don't worship Eseyrakir, don't you?"

Serril simply laughed in response, neither confirming, or denying his opinion of Murphy’s religious affiliations.