So how do I kill it, Jonah wondered. Whilst he would have preferred to think the question through before approaching the monster, he had a time limit. He had to do it now before he drowned.

Jonah kicked his legs with all his strength, slamming Midnight Ode into the Kraken. It seemed luck hadn’t abandoned him after all, or the prayer had done more than he wished; Jonah had landed close to the Kraken's body — If he had been any further, he would have died trying to swim to it.

As before, the sword pierced through like a needle, and he gripped onto the hilt as the monster turned its body trying to dislodge the weapon. In some ways, the creature had started hurting itself, the movement causing the sword to slide up and down, cutting further into it.

It would be a battle of endurance; how long Jonah could tolerate the barrage of water smashing into him, and how much damage the Kraken could take. Could it bleed to death? Jonah didn’t know and it didn’t matter. In a battle of endurance, he knew he would lose.

It had only been a few seconds, but he realised immediately it was punishing him more than the Kraken.

His body had yet to forgive it's mistreatment, his chest still in pain, his mind still hazy. And now his arms were pleading him to let go as he was swung around once more.

Jonah needed to find a way to stop it from moving. If he couldn’t stop it, then he needed to move with it.

The ship guard pushed the sword into the flesh at an angle. Happy it was sufficiently wedged, he yanked at it, using the sword to propel forward onto its skin. He then kicked his feet into the cut, ramming it in, trying to use it as a footing.

Once squeezed in, he paused his assault, watching the world rotate. It had worked! As the beast moved, so did Jonah.

No longer reliant on the Midnight Ode's hold on the creature, he cut the sword free.

Then he struck at it. Stabbing it, once, twice, thrice. He squinted through the black liquid that gushed out of the surface, wary of the creatures appendages.

He had no desire to be squashed.

With no sign of being ensnared, he continued to cut.

Within the black and red mist, a shining silver slid effortlessly into skin. But despite the ease, Jonah's arms ached and his movements felt increasingly lethargic.

He kept at it, his desire for it to regret; to feel pain; to feel his despair, much greater than the agony of his soul.

And then the Kraken answered.

The beast twisted with such force, he felt his shin snap, his body lagging in following the Kraken's motion. He didn’t feel the pain or hear the breaking of bone, he just knew it. His body bent but still followed.

Jonah didn’t relent. Even with the movement, he hacked away, digging a trench into its surface. Though his leg was broken, he knew it was a small price to pay.

Absent-mindedly, he wondered why his arms didn’t break in half when the sword was stuck in the Kraken. It was still moving around, though not as fast. He would need to ask Delia.

He left the thought to float as he hacked away.

In a short time, a chunk around him was carved out, a crater in the head of the creature, bar the portion that coddled his leg.

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The Kraken increased in its speed and the world duplicated in Jonah's vision as he was spun chaotically. His grip tightened on the sword in fear of letting go and he skewered it down, using it as another hold.

Though his mind swirled, the pausing barrage of the sea told Jonah that the Kraken had stopped spinning. Likely because Jonah had stopped whittling away at its thick hide.

Now he had a choice. He could free himself, use his good leg to kick out, but then he wouldn’t be able to swim after the monster. But if he stayed where he was, there was no way he could hurt the creature further. And if it spun again...

The tightening of his chest warned him of his impending death, his lungs reaching their limits. Jonah ignored it, refocusing on the problem at hand.

Well, there was the option of burying the sword down.

Deciding on his course of action, Jonah raised the sword and thrust it into the Kraken. Up and down like ploughing a field, the Midnight Ode sunk into the monster.

He felt the Kraken shift and braced himself. An appendage slammed into the beast, mere feet's away from where Jonah stood. The vibrations rattled his bones and sent ripples in the Kraken's hide. If it had landed on him, he would have splattered like a fly.

Panic welled in his chest, but he closed his eyes, disregarding his close demise. He pressed with all his weight, plunging down the Midnight Ode. It wasn't long till the weapon was buried an arm's length into the flesh - even further if he considered the hilt.

A bursting burning sensation filled Jonah’s chest as lava entered his nostrils. He almost choked, his body involuntarily holding breath that he didn’t know he had. His vision seemed to darken. His heart seemed to pop.

So, this was what drowning felt like. It was like drinking fire rather than water.

His vision ebbed but Jonah was determined to make it pay till his last breath.

He gathered his mana for an air slash.

He hadn’t forgotten that it didn’t do any damage before, but with the sword up to its hilt in the creature? Surely the insides were softer than the outside.

There was one way to find out, he mused.

All the remaining mana in his body seemed to condense, and he channelled it into the blade. He watched the blade shine like a full moon on a clear night, though there was a tinge of green in the blade. It was either because of his fading vision, or a side effect of seeing it underwater.

Regret and sorrow filled Jonah as Mana filled the Midnight Ode. This was it.

As he felt the power surge, he let it go, swiping the sword in an upwards motion.

BANG!

Jonah’s body shot out of the water as the water erupted. A jet of red and chunks of flesh followed his ascent like a meteoroid.

His body convulsed, likely splitting away at the seams, but he still gulped in the air mid-flight.

In less than a second, he was metres above the air.

He knew it was instant, but at the apex of flight, the world seemed to slow. His vision was consumed by the red droplets trailing after him. The taste of blood filled his mouth and the putrid stench of death assaulted his nose. He noticed that he didn't feel pain, nor did he hear. The world was silent. It had been for some time, now that he thought about it.

Only the sudden force that ejected him into the air told him there was an explosion. He didn't bother thinking about what had caused it, he only wished it had hurt the Kraken.

Jonah made his final prayer, hoping for forgiveness. Hoping he had done enough. Hoping that the creature would choose easier prey, abandoning the ship to the mercy of God.

His vision distorted and the edges darkened as his body, whatever remained of it at least, smashed back into the water. He couldn’t move, the energy sapped out of his body. He didn’t know if he even had a body to move.

Jonah bobbled up and down in the water, mirroring his mind as it loitered at the gates of the nether.

After some obscure period of time, he floated back to the surface, the currents having pity to let him die where Delia could reach him. If they lived. If he had done enough.

Answering his unspoken question, Jonah stared at the dark clouds in the sky, no longer raining hell. And then he smiled.

“Thank you,” he uttered, and then closed his eyes.