They were now close enough to the cruise ship that Noah could see individual people pointing at their ferry, which was now almost completely submerged. He had learned that Sophie had used her ability to create a pocket of air to act as afloat. The ferry was still slowly being dragged under, as everyone gathered at the bow of the ship holding their belongings. He had his decoy swimwear bag slung over his shoulder and leaned on his newly acquired fire escape axe, head down to support his weight.

Even Sophie was there as she no longer had the stamina to steer the boat. She could only power their forward momentum. Her teeth were clenched tight as her entire body became drenched in perspiration. It caused her tight, revealing clothes to cling to her figure, displaying her curves and her vivid red hair to stick to the sides of her head, framing her attractive face.

It was close enough to the cruise ship that Noah could safely swim the distance. It was unknown how many of the survivors would be able to make it, especially those who were injured or weak.

He heard a loud groan as the ferry's front lifted out of the water almost vertical before crashing back down into the waves. Causing the survivors to stumble and fall. Noah caught Sophie with both arms, who was about to collapse overboard as the faint subtle orange light from within the structure, stopped glowing.

His heart stopped beating in his chest as he realized that he had let go of his grasp on his axe to catch Sophie out of reflex. The axe then bounced awkwardly off the deck before sliding towards the water. Luckily, it skided to a halt and didn't go overboard as his sword had.

Su lunged to grab the handle, saving it just in the nick of time while she grabbed hold of the distorted rail beside her to prevent herself from going overboard instead.

A pair of survivors fell into the water with a cry of panic. One was a bearded man and from another part of the broken rails was a young woman. The man decisively began to swim towards the cruise ship while the woman began to drum against the side of the ferry, pleading for someone to rescue her out of the water until she let out an alarmed cry as she slashed her hand open on a jagged metal piece of the hull's wreckage.

The survivors still on board the half-submerged ferry were hurriedly trying to find a solution to pull the woman from the ice-cold ocean water, but there was nothing close at hand to use.

A few attempted to reach down to grab hold of the woman's hand. It was impossible given the distance between the raised deck and sea level.

"That was the ferry splitting in half, the propeller went with it. This is as far as we can go", Sophie said weakly in Noah's arms, causing the nearby survivors to panic.

Su arrived at Noah's side, dragging the fire escape axe with a frightened look on her face before offering his axe to him.

"Are we going to die, Noah? We're so close too, but I don't know how to swim!" Su said on the verge of tears.

"We're not going to die. I'll carry you, Su." Noah replied as he helped Sophie stand on her own before taking the fire escape axe from Su.

"Sophie, are you okay to swim on your own, or will you need me to help you as well? I can just make another trip", Noah asked.

"I can make it, I still have enough strength to make myself a buoy. We don't know if the survivors on the cruise ship are hostile or have any ability-users, so we need you there. All we can see is that they're not soulless from this distance." Sophie replied.

"Don't worry, I'll stick close to you just in case anything happens", Noah offered.

"What a gentleman", Sophie said with a knowing smile.

AHHHHH!

"Well, hero. How do you plan to save this one?" Ronan said rhetorically over his shoulder at Noah as he glanced away from the panicked woman below him.

He rushed to the edge of the rail while pushing Su behind him so that she couldn't see the carnage in the water. The other survivor swimming in the ocean turned behind himself to see what had happened to his unfortunate companion, his face turned completely white as it changed into an expression of terror. The survivor turned back towards the cruise ship then increased his pace to its maximum due to terror.

"Noah, what happened?" Su peeked her head around his waist before releasing a scream of her own.

The woman in the water was now clutched between the jaws of a giant shark. The helpless survivor was now at eye level with the survivors standing at the sinking boat's railing as the gigantic head's momentum carried the woman upwards. The shark's eyes had rolled into the back of its head, only displaying the whites of its eyes.

Almost as if it was happening in slow motion, all sound seemed to stop as time began to crawl. The woman made eye contact with Noah with a pleading expression while she stretched her hand towards him to save her. The giant shark had its eyes closed as it burst from the ocean water with a shower of blood and seawater.

White lifeforce flowed under the surface of its skin as its powerful muscles flexed, indicating that it naturally reached that size upon advancing grades, not due to an ability, unlike the Kraken, which had used the [Titanic Growth] ability to achieve its colossal size.

The Kraken would dwarf the enormous shark, comparable in size to its extinct ancestor, the megalodon. The megalodon's existence was hotly debated, but this giant shark could not be denied.

He helplessly watched as the gigantic shark clamped its deadly jaws closed in a spray of blood and flesh. Time returned to normal as Noah witnessed the life drain hopelessly from the woman's eyes with an expression of horror on his face.

Suddenly, the sound of screams of fear and horror came flooding in as he became aware of his surroundings. He tentatively reached up to touch his face before pulling it away to examine his fingers. On his trembling fingers, there was blood mixed with seawater, which allowed it to drip freely from his fingertips as his arm dropped limply at his side.