Mermaids. Those white fingers belonged to mermaids, and they’re slowly taking over the Witches now that Cascasia has sunken. The first of the creatures pulls itself over the edge of the ship, baring its razor fangs and slithering across the wooden floorboards like a snake. Lissa reacts the quickest, darting forward and slamming her pike down on its back. It smashes the mermaid’s ribcage, the audible crack of bone sickening. The mermaid hisses and gasps for breath, but it soon goes motionless and breathes no more.

However, that mermaid is not the only one that made it onto the deck. Several more, snarling and growling, have hoisted themselves up the hull, flopping over the side and scrambling towards them.

Ren kicks one away, then summons a ball of fire and burns it to a crisp. Vane and the others leap to action, slashing with swords, firing bolts and bullets from crossbows and pistols. The Witches and the Cascasians begin to panic, screaming and shouting as the mermaids lunge at them. The creatures grab them by their ankles, pulling their legs out from under them. The moment their prey loses their balance, the rest of the mermaids descend upon the unlucky fellow, chomping and tearing at flesh.

“Where are all of these coming from?” Vane snaps, slicing a particularly tenacious mermaid in half, and killing it. Gridel looses more bolt at the mermaids, striking a couple on the forehead, while Clemon blasts them with his revolver.

Then, Ren hears something distinct. Something like a bang, or a boom. Something that sounds just like a—

A cloud of dust and debris bursts from beside Ren. A cannonball falls through the floor, right next to his feet, smashing into the wood. It was inches from him—any closer and Ren would have been utterly crushed. He glances towards the source of the cannonballs, but he needn’t have—after all, there is only one vessel that it could have come from.

Ghouls exclaim in triumph and pump their fists into the air as they loose cannonball after cannonball at the Witches. They don’t care who they hit—the mermaids are getting as destroyed as the humans. All they care about is the total destruction and death of everyone on board.

“Fire!” Lissa shouts, whacking a mermaid away with her pike. “Don’t let them get away!”

The Devil’s Coffin is doing way more than just “getting away”. If anything, they’ve secured a flawless victory. With the onslaught from both the Devil’s Coffin and the mermaids, there’s no way that they’re winning! They’re going to sink in no time and fall prey to the mermaids, if they haven’t already been consumed by those on the deck.

Another round of cannonballs fires from the Devil’s Coffin, smashing into their hull, into the mermaids, and into the sailors and pirates. Ren grits his teeth, ducking his head to avoid another spray of dust into his eyes—

Scaly fingers enclose around his ankle. Before Ren can react, the hand gives a sharp yank.

Ren screams as the crown of his head slams into Penny’s shoulder. Penny’s scream mirrors his, but she grabs his arm with both hands, Mira cutting into Ren’s skin. The mermaid hisses, her body half disintegrated, but she appears adamant on securing her final meal. Ren stomps hard on her hand with his free foot, but the mermaid isn’t letting go anytime soon.

Vane spears the mermaid’s chest through with his sword, the blade piercing her ribcage. The mermaid screeches and Ren wrenches his ankle from her loosened grip. She goes limp and unresponsive. Vane makes a threatening swipe at another approaching one, and the mermaid retreats, hissing.

“Are you okay?” Penny asks, steadying Ren with a firm grasp of his shoulder. Ren nods and reassures her.

“We have to go!” one of Lissa’s crew shouts. “The ship’s sinking!”

“No captain worth their salt abandons their ship!” Lissa shrieks. “You—”

Her head goes flying. Right off her neck.

Ren jumps, eyes widening at the stump where her head used to be. It now rolls across the deck, staining the wood with trails of blood. Her pike crashes to the floor, and her body soon follows, now nothing more than a delicious meal for ravenous mermaids. A few screams ring out from around them, and Ren fights the bile burning the back of his throat.

With Lissa’s death, the crew flies into a frenzy. Ren is shoved and jostled by hysterical men and women alike. They scramble to the back of the ship, in a futile attempt to get away from the Devil’s Coffin. The ship’s slow approach has not stopped, and at the pace they’re moving, it looks like they’re going to plough right through them.

“There’s only one way to go,” Ren breathes. He glances over at his companions, and jerks his chin at the incoming ghost ship.

“That’s suicide!” Isla shakes her head. “We cannot fight those pirates!”

“Well, we’re not going to wait for them to kill us!” Penny shouts. “Come on!”

They must be either the bravest of the bunch, or the most foolish. And yet, Ren knows that if they don’t do anything, they will die. Staying on the ship is sure to bring about death, but getting on the Devil’s Coffin affords them a slim chance of survival.

The only way they can get up there, when their hull is much taller than theirs, is to find a vantage point high enough to jump over. Already, the pirates on the Coffin are readying their swords and knives, prepared to hurl them and lob their heads off. Just like they killed Lissa.

“This way!” Clemon calls. He begins climbing the ladder leading up to the crow’s nest. Isla follows him, and Penny and Ren go next. Vane and Gridel hold the mermaids and the ghostly pirates off. They block any attempt made on the Luminaries’ lives and slay off the rest of the surviving mermaids. Gridel is the last to begin ascending the rope ladder, grip tight on the rungs as she climbs.

From the top of the mast, Ren can see eye-to-eye with the ghostly pirates that haunt the Devil’s Coffin. Most of them possess grotesque features: bloodshot eyes sunken into their sockets, peeled lips exposing the most crooked sets of teeth that one could ever imagine. They wave their swords with utmost vigour, in spite of their state of living.

“Watch out!”

Penny draws Mira, parrying a blade flying straight at Clemon’s neck. The blade, upon deflection, dissolves into a cloud of dust. The crowd aboard the Coffin whoops and cheers. They’re toying with them, like cats would with mice. Well, they’re about to get a taste of their own medicine. Ren squints. From here, it is possible to reach the hull, but could they get on board without getting their heads chopped off?

There is only one way that Ren can think of, and he needs all the energy he can get. He’s done it once before, crossing two ships, and he can certainly do it again.

And this time, he must. It’s not a matter of choice.

Ren raises Ifrit, shuts his eyes, and concentrates. Really focusses on the dragon of fire. Ren’s eyes snap open at a burst of heat. There, in front of him, shooting forth from Ifrit’s fiery orb, is the dragon. It roars, body spiralling as it flies forward. It clamps its flaming jaws on the side of the ship’s hull, knocking the ghouls off their feet.

“Penny, Mira, now!” Ren shouts.

Penny drives Mira into the dragon’s body, and water springs from the blade to coat the serpentine figure. This is the same trick they employed against the bats, back when on that mountain in the Ashen Plains.

At Penny’s urging, Vane goes first, sprinting along the watery path towards the ship. Despite the narrowness of the passage, Vane dodges and parries incoming projectiles gracefully. Clangs of metal resound in Ren’s ears as Vane blocks arrow after knife after scythe. Clemon shoves his pistol into his holster and heaves Isla into his arms. She gives a cry of surprise, arms wrapped tightly around Clemon’s neck as he runs across the dragon. Finally, Gridel follows, each step spraying water as she splashes through the rushing current.

“Come on, Penny!” Ren shouts over the din of battle taking place just a dragon’s length away. Penny removes Mira from the dragon and slams it back into her sheath. Immediately, the coat of water falls away, hissing as it vaporises in the flames of the dragon.

Ren stabs Ifrit back into the strap on his back, scoops Penny into his arms, and runs. The dragon begins to dissipate behind him, evident from the sizzling that’s gotten so much more intense than before. Ren grits his teeth, forcing his legs to run faster, his muscles to pump harder.

A knife slices through the air, nicking Ren across the arm. Pinpricks of pain peppers where he had been struck. Ren clenches his jaw, and he bites back a cry of pain. Penny screams his name, and Ren ducks his head, a scythe curling through the air and almost shaving his hair off. No matter what happens, he will not stop. He cannot stop. The Coffin is barely a couple of metres now. Just… a little… more…

It is inches from the ship when Ren sees it. A lone pirate whipping a scythe above his head, entire body rattling as he cackles. Before Ren can react, the pirate lets his scythe loose, the weapon soaring towards them.

Ren stumbles as the scythe sails by his side, and he falls onto his backside, taking Penny with him. Penny scrambles to get off him, and as soon as she does, Ren leaps to his feet. He tosses a glance back at the tail end of the dragon, jaw dropped. It’s burning faster than they can possibly run, and—

“Ren! We have to go!”

They’re not going to make it. If they both run, then…

“What are you doing?” Penny shouts.

I’m sorry, Penny.

“Ren? What are you—?” Penny starts, as Ren hoists her into the air. Her gaze darts from the dragon’s burning tail, then to Ren, then to the ship…

“Gridel! Catch!” Ren yells at the top of his lungs. Gridel spins on her heels, and her eyes widen for a fraction of a second before Penny hits her like a truck. The two of them right themselves, and Penny lurches against the Coffin’s side.

A moment later, the fire disperses from under Ren’s feet, and down he falls. Into the water, into the mermaids’ waiting arms.

Accompanied by a figure leaping from the ship.

*

Ren’s body hits the water, seconds before something grabs his ankle. He barely has time to scream when he’s pulled under. Claws rip at skin, and razor teeth stabs through flesh. Ren whips his head about, fear spiking through him as he comes face-to-face with a creature of death. Yellow eyes, gaunt cheekbones, and a set of fangs. It opens its mouth in a scream, though it produces no sound underwater, and Ren resists the urge to scream back. The mermaid lunges at him, and Ren shuts his eyes, bracing himself.

However, the attack never comes. Instead, someone yanks on Ren’s collar, dragging him away and out of the mermaid’s path. Ren’s head breaks the water’s surface and he takes a deep breath. It’s only then that he notices just who saved him. Isla keeps her grip tight, and she swims towards the nearest shore, as fluidly as a fish.

Is it just Ren, or are the mermaids… shying away from her? They snarl, baring their fangs, but none of them make a move to strike. Isla returns their hostility with a growl of her own, weaving and darting between their ranks as she drags him towards shore. Before long, she and Ren make it to sweet, dry land, and Ren would have kissed the beach if he could.

The mermaids remain in the water, watching them with the most furious gazes that Ren has ever seen. It figures—they’re not as agile on land as they are in the sea. Ren looks over at the Devil’s Coffin, at the ship picking up speed as it sails away. He can still hear the clash of blades, and the commotion as his friends battle it out on the deck.

He definitely hadn’t expected to survive that fall, to be entirely honest. But Ren has to get back to the Coffin, because that’s where all his friends are waiting. That particular reunion was very short-lived, and Ren won’t let it stay that way, not when he’s still alive. He turns to Isla, who appears to have walked a distance from him, now moving to inspect the other items washed up on shore.

“I-Isla!” Ren hops to his feet and makes after her. If she heard him, she makes no indication. Isla sidesteps a couple of bones and kneels at what looks to be a drawer bound with a heavy chain.

“What are you doing?” Ren asks. Isla does not respond. Instead, she glances around, snatching up a cutlass washed up on the sand. She stabs the chain with the sword. Again and again, until the chain breaks and gives way. It opens without much resistance, and within, it stores sparkling and glinting gems.

Isla hisses and stands, running over to the next item washed up on the shore. She slices the chain on this wardrobe as well, throwing the doors open and sighing in relief. She reaches into the wardrobe and gathers something up in her arms.

Something grey, and furry. Ren remembers seeing something like this before, back in Penny’s room, draped on a rack on the wall. It’s a skin that Isla hops into easily, holding it against her waist. She drops the cutlass and meets his gaze.

“Come,” she says, “let us catch up with them. Whatever you do, do not let go of me.”

Ren nods dumbly. Isla grabs his wrist and drags him towards the water, right towards the mermaids. Isla takes a dive into the sea, letting go of Ren’s wrist as she morphs mid-jump. Ren can only stare at the majesty of the transformation, as Isla sails in an arc, her human skin tones turning an ash grey, her face changing into that of a seal’s.

She calls, angling her head into the air, and letting out a high-pitched squeal. Ren charges forward into the water and hugs her neck. Within seconds, the duo is off, plunging into the cold of the sea.

As soon as Ren’s entire body is submerged, he begins to glow. It radiates off his body, as though it were a cloak that trailed behind him, Isla calls again, her voice loud and clear in Ren’s ears as they sail forward, towards the Devil’s Coffin. As far as it may be now, Isla soon closes the distance.

But… how are they going to get up onto the de—

Isla swerves, just in time to avoid a cannonball falling just inches from them. Ren bites back a cry as Isla twirls and rights herself, her fins and tail propelling them through the water. She ducks and weaves through the sudden onslaught of cannonballs and sharp implements. Then, Ren spots it—the ship’s anchor dangling from the hull and dragging through the water.

Isla must have noticed it too, because she quickens her pace, making for the anchor. Another bang resounds from above Ren’s head, and he braces himself for an impact that never comes.

When they’re close enough to the anchor, Ren whips Ifrit from his back with one hand. Keeping the other still tight around Isla’s neck, he thrusts his staff forwards. Embers spray from the orb, seconds before a coil of fiery rope spurts from the staff and coils around the anchor’s length of chain. The fire rope pulls taut, and Ren tightens his grip on Isla’s neck.

“Hold on tight!” Ren shouts.

Yanking Ifrit towards him, the fire rope shortens with a snap. They soar from the water and fling through the air.

Ren smashes his face against the metal, hissing at the ringing in his ears and bones, but he hugs the anchor with all that he’s got. He straps Ifrit to his back, before glancing over at where Isla landed. She is in as precarious a position as he is, her slender arms hardly long enough to wrap around the anchor’s main body.

Ren lifts his head and looks up at the clinking chains as the ship rides the winds. Now, it’s time to begin their perilous climb. Up to the deck of the Coffin, up to where their friends are fighting for their lives.