I think that might have been a hurricane. The moment we thought we were in the clear we hit another side of the storm. I wasn't paying a ton of attention but I think we might have been in the eye of the storm.

But that came and passed. Now we head towards 'The ridge' as Rou called it. Apparently, we could see fish and magical beasts unlike any other. Already I was fairly surprised by the change in scenery.

About a day after the storm we began to see dolphin-like creatures sailing along beside us. They spent around 40% of the time in the air. I suppose it would be more apt to call them a dolphin/flying fish mix.

The pelicans, watching the show seemed jealous so they took flight to join with the soaring dolphins.

It was peaceful watching the dancing animals. Occasionally one of the three birds would dip towards the surface of the water scooping up a large amount of water before spraying it in the air in a shimmering cloud.

The birds began raining each other with water and soon the dolphins were spraying bursts as well.

"No fair I wanna play too!" Mirna pouts while gazing at the animals.

"I think I can help with that." Finally, i have an excuse to buy one of the most desirable things in my menu.

[Large water gun], originally I thought it was something for putting out fires or fighting pirates but no. In fact it's just a brightly colored super soaker.

"Ooooooooo" Mirna says gripping the gun carefully. "It's like El and Rou's gun."

"Mhm, but it's even better."

"I beg to dif…" El begins before getting a face full of water.

Mirna giggles and runs off to take shelter behind some boxes on the command deck.

"Captain," El says looking at me with narrowed eyes.

"Yes. Good luck, don't hold back. Mirna is more dangerous than you might think. I've inadvertently taught her high-level stealth abilities." I hand El two water pistols.

"Ah, Yes. Two, ideal!"

I thought as much, she's ambidextrous so dual wielding pistols would be in her wheelhouse.

"Captain. Me too."

"I want to play as well Master!"

"I understand little of the purpose, or source, of these strange devices but I want to have one!"

Alright, alright. Be patient everyone. I unload a large arsenal and everyone gathers supplies.

Soon the war begins.

Truces and teaming quickly create two factions. Rou, Aqua, and Clove, versus El, Mirna, Alice, and Coya.

Everyone else is simply casualties of war. I have truly now decided I never want to be on their bad sides. The tournament was nothing compared to this.

"Grenade out!" A black masked face shouts tossing a rubber balloon towards a pile of boxes.

"Suppressing fiiiiiiirrrrrreeeee." Another cries rapidly pumping the piston of the [water mini-gun].

"I won't let you die out here Alice."

"Leave me, you must survive El. Tell Master I love him!"

"Noooooooo."

Where did they learn all this? Am I perhaps a bad influence? And when did they all become A-list actors?

Demon power? I refuse to believe that.

Just as it seems Rou and Aqua's team are a shoe in for victory, Mirna appears from behind running an elongated sponge along Rou's neck she then swipes the water blade across the back of Aqua's knees and plunging it into her kidney. They both crumple to the ground understanding their loss.

"Yay! Mirna's victorious!" She shouts after taking the other sponge dagger from her teeth.

That was some straight up Rambo shit.

I suppose Mirna having knife skills isn't a huge surprise though. I'm not shaking, I swear.

"Pudding to celebrate?" I ask her gleaming grin.

"Pudding!? Yes!"

I glance at the saddened faces of the losing team before offering consolations. "You all can have some too, but yours will be vanilla."

Rou and Aqua moan in disappointment.

I don't get it, vanilla is definetly better. But I suppose chocolate is nonexistent in this world so it's more of a treat.

~ ~

The war continued off and on for three days as we jetted towards the ridge. We have now gone further off the coast than ever before. El lost sight of land days ago, and we likely won't see it again until we turn back.

The war on deck, however, was nothing compared to what we saw now. The dolphins, as well as Bu, Ye, and La, left quickly when we spotted the two beasts.

*BAM*

A long tentacle slaps the open ocean emitting an ear shattering roar. Its opponent, a colossal whale grips at another tentacle ripping it clean off the Kraken's body.

Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

"You were definitely right to bring us here," I say smiling at Rou who watched the show agape.

"I never expected to see two legend class monsters battling. This is amazing!"

"Should we join in?"

"No. Let's let them fight. I wanna see who wins. I never expected a colossal whale to have a chance against a Kraken though."

"It's winning though."

"I don't know, you think so? I still think the Kraken probably has this in the bag, I think it's just playing around."

"I've got 3:1 on the Kraken."

"I'll take that bet."

"Me too!"

I am definitely a bad influence.

The battle raged on for awhile, The Kraken lost a half dozen tentacles but the whale was in no better condition. The water was dyed a deep crimson at this point. We even had to move a few times to avoid becoming involved in the battle.

The odds have shifted and are currently in favor of the whale 2:1 according to Coya our resident bookie. How she got that position I have no clue. Perhaps she is the bad influence? No, I can't put that on her. We are the demons in this scenario.

But really Mirna, you are dropping a lot of coin. Just how much were the restaurant staff paying you for those tutoring sessions?

"Captain incoming from the west!" El shouts from her makeshift watchtower.

Turning to the direction she indicates we notice the approach of another opponent.

"What it in the name of the seventeen spirits is that?" Rou asks looking at the massive beast heading in our direction.

I thought the Abyssal was big. This thing made it look like a bath toy. I have no accurate analog to describe it, it appeared as a ship in the distance but I could quickly tell it wasn't man-made. This craft-like thing is its head. Heavily armored with a glimmering crest catching the light.

"We need to leave," Aqua says with widened eyes.

"What's going on? What is that thing?"

{Something even you are not prepared for.} Another worried voice answers.

The speeding enemy craft is suddenly obscured by rising water in the distance. The bulge forms a white cap of bubbles as a figure explodes from it.

"Aquaro…" I begin but I'm interrupted by a thunder of sound.

"LEAVE!" She shouts in a firm tone pressing a hand in the direction of our craft and pushing us away with a thick wave.

The two fighting beasts reacting to the crashing wave glance in the direction of the new challengers. They grow fearful when they spot Aquarou but terror spreads when they see the unidentified creature.

Finally realizing the danger we might be in Triff sprinted off to start the primary thrusters while Rou dashed to the controls to begin steering us away.

But we were late on the start. The battle had already begun, the creature had cut the distance between it and Aquarou and began to charge a bright light from within the glimmering gem on its face.

"Everyone shut your eyes." Coya warns from behind a nearby box. "It's using mutant class magic!"

Everyone follows her suggestion as the open sea begins to glow a bright orange.  

*Fap*

A light hollow sound vibrates through the boat followed by a sweltering heat. Just as i thought it might be over, and began to open my eyes another sound tore through the area.

*FWOOOOOOOOOOM*

I rocket my eyes open to look for the source of this terrifying explosion.

There is nothing behind is.

Literally nothing.

A round empty orb of air sits in the center of the area the ridge once existed. Aquarou, and all three beasts are gone. The vacuum from the blast begins to implode, pulling a rush of water into the void.

"Maximum speed!" I shout towards Triff who is staring in shock at the scene behind us. "Snap out of it, if we get pulled into that the ship is doomed. Come on!"

"Ri… Right." Triff nods pulling a golden key from her belt. She kisses it before quickly sliding it into a slot beside the engine key.

So we have a NOS button?

*Crack*

A thin vibration shutters through the ship as our abyssal core shatters into a billion pieces. Our ship shutters again but this time from speed. The instant release of so much mana causes a rocket of water to shoot from the jets on the bottom of the ship.

We avoid immediate disaster but complete disaster remains to be seen.

We now rocket towards the shore with a massive wave of water following us. We are pretty far off shore, will this wave calm before it hits land? Better yet can we even stay ahead of it?

I really hope so.