Noah floated in darkness until images began to form. He was underwater and could see the shimmer of fiery-daylight filtering down from the surface. The sky turned dark as a squall built-in force above the ocean. The hull of a large ship could be seen weathering the storm. A short time later, the body fell from above, only to be caught by an enormous tentacle to be dragged toward him. Noah could see the expression of terror on the man's face in exaggerated detail as he was devoured. Another body fell into the water. This time Noah recognized it as himself. Tentacles stretched toward the unconscious figure but suddenly hesitated. The tentacles retreated as a plan began to formulate inside his mind. The scene changed.

***

The still form of the man drifted aimlessly in the ocean current above, blocking the light. His arms and legs were outstretched as he floated on his back. Many days and nights passed. Inquisitive ocean predators that dared to approach the man were mercilessly slaughtered.

A few of the smaller ones made it through his protection to harass the man. They were quickly deterred when six ethereal arms emerged from the man's back to swat them away. The man eventually awoke and found a log to cling to until he was rescued by a medium-sized boat.

The underside of the boat was repaired with exposed metal and covered in patches of barnacles. The man was retrieved from the water to be brought on deck. Noah continued to wait. His plan was beginning to be enacted.

***

An enormous stone spike pierced through the hull of the boat, lifting it from the water. A colossal snake that Noah felt rivalled himself in size and might, pursued the boat. It swam underwater. It saw him before being challenged by another creature. It decided to avoid a conflict with him to fight the other.

He witnessed their battle, a giant formed from molten lava attempted to wrestle the colossal snake, only to be defeated when Noah chose an opportune moment to strike. A geyser of pressurized water erupted from his mouth to rapidly quench the giant's form. Cooling it to stone as the colossal snake coiled around it. As he attempted a second ambush, he was forced to flee after the snake absorbed its defeated opponent's lifeforce. Noah's plan was making progress. He would wait as long as he must.

***

Giant crabs overran the boat above, fighting against each other to reach the deck. Pulling their rivals back into the water as they competed to be the first. Muffled screams could be heard from the men on board as they were dismembered. One of the crabs dwarfed the others in size. It tore a hole in the hull to reach the men contained within. As long as it did not ruin Noah's plans by killing the man he was protecting. He would allow the titanic sized crab to do as it pleased. He knew how abilities were formed. Many creatures would futilely gain abilities as they sought to escape their deaths as they struggled against his tentacles.

The giant crabs dropped off into the ocean, with the titanic one pursuing them hungrily. Noah began to feel hungry himself. He overpowered the titanic crab, which was tiny in comparison to his mass. It was entangled in his tentacles, attempting to break free as it was drawn into his mouth to be swallowed whole. He grew in size after absorbing the lifeforce contained in the titanic crab's flesh. Mysterious yellow glowing runes appeared on his body's surface after he reached grade four, unique to him. Granting him new useful abilities. Noah continued to follow the boat above. His plan was nearing its fruition.

***

Noah encountered the cruise ship once again. It had almost mutated beyond recognition. Smaller boats had been salvaged and grafted to its sides to enlarge it. There were enormous doors that exposed a workshop inside. Something was being built inside. He had discovered the cruise ship while the fishing boat followed a whale soaring through the sky above. The whale had seen it upon one of its dives. It would dive less frequently and use an ability to form ice, obscuring his vision, and blocking any thoughts he might have had to hunt the whale. The gruesome death of the flying whale had caused an overwhelming appetite to form as he hungered to taste its lifeforce-rich flesh. Noah restrained himself, then followed the cruise ship in the hopes of an opportunity to strike. He could also accomplish his plan by observing them.

Many ships had been collected to enhance the cruise ship. After the flying whale had been killed, many awakened its [Levitation] ability. There were thousands of human survivors on board. They were still oblivious to him following in the depths below them, imagining the ecstatic feeling of devouring them alive. The cruise ship had become airborne, causing the basic anatomy to be restructured to more closely resemble a flying fortress.

***

The humans had almost finished building the mysterious construct inside the workshop. It was a titanic mechanized suit of armour, multiple floors in height. It hung suspended from the ceiling by chains just inside the enormous doors to the workshop. Multiple compact airships had been built. They consisted of a compartment with short outstretched wings and a large fin atop the cabin, covering the vehicle's length. They were given flight by uniformly armoured ability-users wearing helmets with coloured plumes representing the colour of their lifeforce and black cloaks displaying a serpent. They called the ships' Airsharks'. They would be used to scout for prey over the ocean and small islands. Noah needed to reevaluate his plan before proceeding. The flying cruise ship returned to the twin islands ringed by stone spikes with the active volcano.

***

The world serpent had increased in mass at a similar rate to Noah. It was conspicuously coiled around both islands. The strange thing about the world serpent was that it now appeared to be carved from stone. It was discovered by scouting Airshark squadrons. Once the flying ship neared the islands. The statue of the world serpent returned to life. Chunks of stone fell from its body as it shed its skin.

The world serpent rose to its full height while hissing out a challenge toward the flying ship. The doors of the workshop opened to reveal the target of Noah's meticulous planning buffeted by the wind.

They were the ability-users who had injured it at the beginning of the apocalypse. He might have his revenge sooner than he anticipated. The ability-users entered the head of the titanic mechanized armour. It was an assortment of colours, being built from repurposed metal salvaged from countless boats. Gripped in its hand was a strange, gigantic stone hammer. The hammerhead was a giant statue of a nude, muscular man kneeling in submission with an expression of pain displayed on his face. It knelt on a metal disk with a wall behind the stone figure from which the handle extended. The metal disk acted as the flat edge of the giant warhammer. Noah recognized the statue as belonging to his friend Alex. The foreign thought caused a ripple in the vision as it seemed to alert the host.

The vision stabilized, but the details of the battle were lost. It ended with the mechanized armour's victory. The helm opened to reveal the ability-users inside. Noah recognized them as Ronan sitting upon an opulent throne with Sophie seated on a chair at his feet. Causing the vision to become unstable and dissolve into darkness. Noah saw Ronan claiming the red ability origin crystal from the defeated world serpent before the vision disappeared. His appearance was as pale as porcelain, with the whites of his eyes replaced with black. His beard covered his face while his head remained bald, but it had become entirely colourless white. His features were contorted, giving him a feral appearance. Noah suspected that must have been due to the curse Avery had mentioned. The scene faded away.

***

Noah stood as himself in directionless darkness. A shadowy silhouette of the Kraken silently confronted him. It was more vast than Noah could even comprehend. The mysterious yellow symbols began to appear on the surface of its skin. Next, the shadow started to morph. It shrank in size while becoming humanoid as it walked toward Noah. The humanoid shadow covered in glowing yellow patterns stopped in front of Noah, almost touching.

Its features became revealed by a mysterious light source. Its form may have been humanoid, but the creature in front of him would never be mistaken for human. It had the alien eyes of an octopus. Tentacles extended in place of its mouth while its skin looked almost slimy to the touch. A tentacle reached out to caress Noah's face.