An explosion sent a column of water high into the air, obscuring their vision with frothy rain. Two humongous pillar bodies erupted out of the lake, towering over the puny boat. Synchronized rough hissing blasted into their ears as screams, morphing into nasally inhales after every call. Dark azure scales covered its physique excluding its shielded underside layered with large amber plates. Thick, cerulean curved fins the size of buildings stuck out from their squirming backs and behind their jaws, expanding and contracting with every loud breath it took. Two long faces with broad spikes as crowns positioned rearward let out deep heavy growls, vibrating the wooden craft. It flared its gaping nostrils, causing its teal nasal barbels to wave with the howling wind. Moving its head in place, the beast scanned its surroundings below with its enormous catfish eyes. Once it had spotted the floating group, the pair heads snarled, giving out another bursting roar as it fiercely shook its limbless body that connected both torsos. Waves upon waves punched the boat, rocking them side to side with such voracity that everyone clang to the mast. Kei, unable to keep clinging onto the sail with just her talons, used her beak to bite into the wood.

“Namazzi!” Sebastian and Shani yelled together, trembling in horror as everyone held onto the boat for dear life.

Mustering an uneasy smile, Nia kept her wide eyes fixed on the immense monster before her as she yelled over the storm, “I think I believe you now!”

Gaining the courage to let go, Nia grabbed her bow from around her shoulders and an arrow. She pulled back the string with the arrow in place with all her strength, attempting to aim but struggling from all the wobbling. Finally able to estimate her shot, she released the arrow into the forceful air. Nia had let the arrow fly against the wind, allowing the gale to curve its trajectory to hit its mark. As soon as it made contact with the behemoth, it bounced off, not even leaving a single scratch on its scales. Bewildered by the outcome, she picked up another arrow and shot it in the same manner, only this time her target was the underside. Her attempt was fruitless, rebounding to sink into the water.

“I can’t penetrate its scales!” Nia put her bow in place, frustrated as splashes of water and rain soaked her by the second.

The double-headed water serpent paused its thrashing. With a mighty inhale through its nose, it tilted its heads back as it kept staring directly at them. Namazzi jolted its torsos forward with its mouths wide open. Jets of water rushed out from its maws, releasing the flow in their direction. Before the attack hit, everyone ducked with their hands over themselves and Kei jumped out of the way and into the air. The blast eradicated the sail with such strength it almost capsized the vessel with the other burst, destroying the bow of the boat. Struggling to stay up from the accumulated water in her feathers, Kei glided back to the damaged craft, landing on its rim next to Shani.

“This damn boat is gonna get wrecked along with us!” Doing her best to stay on, Camila switched to holding onto the broken mast.

Looking around to see if everyone was alright, Aiden noticed Sebastian was missing, “Where’s Sebastian?!”

Searching in the area, Camila spotted him on the verge of drowning, “There he is! I’ll go-”

Before Camila got to finish her sentence, Shani leaped off the boat in Sebastian’s direction. With all his might, Sebastian fought the waves slapping his face. Each time he attempted to take a breath, water filled the entirety of his mouth. Whenever he was plunged underneath, icy darkness swept over him, disorienting him which way was to the surface. Piercing through the abyss he heard more cries from Namazzi, reverberating his entire body from the sheer power. Submerged and swirling out of control from the currents, his limit for holding his breath was reaching its end. Sebastian was about to breathe, but before he did, a hand grabbed the back of his shirt and pulled him up to the surface. Coughing with his eyes closed, he sucked in air through his mouth, gasping to refill his lungs with the continuation of surges pounding into him. Opening his eyes, he spotted Shani swimming with one of her hands as she carried him. The Obliriumite bracelet she wore shimmered brightly from its cracks under his chin, then faded back to normal. With a single throw, she hurled him over the edge of the boat and back to the group. As soon as he landed, everyone was worried sick as Camila helped him sit up, allowing Sebastian to hack out the remaining water in his throat. Shani hauled herself back onto the craft with the help of Nia and Aiden, thanking them for their help.

“Are you okay, Sebastian?” With her hand on his back, Camila allowed him to breathe. The fact that she almost lost him made her hug him for the first time in days.

Surprised, Sebastian embraced her back in delight, “Yeah, I’ll be fine.” Switching his look to Shani, Sebastian smiled, “Thank you, Shani. Now -” returning to his senses, he let go of Camila and stared up at the monstrosity looming above them, still moving around, “- what are we gonna do about that thing.”

The titan halted its waggling to view the boat, rumbling the lake with its snarl. In a snap, one of its heads lunged forward toward them at impeccable speeds. Sebastian’s impulses swiftly stood him up, grabbed the handle of his katana with one hand, and took it out with an inhuman velocity. The moment it slashed Namazzi’s face, a dark scar appeared that pulsed with black energy, pushing the head back as it grunted in pain and staggered it. Perplexed and astonished, Sebastian stared at his weapon as it smoked a dark thin cloud emitting from the blade’s purple edge.

“What did ye do to it?!” Aiden gawked at both the goliath and the katana in Sebastian’s palm.

Sebastian, still in disbelief, gazed with wide-open eyes, “I-I don’t know!”

Namazzi regained its composure, shaking the pain away. With its eyes filled with rage, it locked onto them. Faster than previously, it respired a gush of water, zipping past the rain in a fierce rush. The group along with Kei split to either side of the boat at the last second as the jet ripped the boat in half. Debris shot everywhere with one plank of wood smacking Aiden on the head, knocking him out. With Shani’s sabers slipping down the wood, she attempted to catch them before they fell into the water. Unable to snatch them, they sunk into the violent waves. Shani struck the wood under her in frustration, cursing under her breath. Kei’s feathers zapped between themselves as she let out a chirp. She pointed at the Tsunami Blades still in the same place Shani had placed before with her beak. Promptly, she stood up and picked up the blades, one in each hand, and faced the behemoth in her presence.

“Shani, what are you doing?!” Sebastian called out from the other half of the broken boat, holding on to Aiden’s limp body with the help of Nia so it would not fall.

Ignoring him, Shani turned back to Kei, “Kei, distract the left head.”

Sebastian’s repeated cries caused her to finally see him. She only acknowledged him with a smile under her hood as Kei and herself leaped off the sinking boat. Kei’s wings spread out, giving her flight as she battled the wind. At the same time, Shani’s footing touched the surface of the water, but instead of her falling in, the bracelet once again illuminated brilliantly. The very second it did, the water transformed into small footholds of ice, one for either foot. With a great stride, she leaped forward, creating frost footings as she sprinted toward the right head of the leviathan. Multiple waves headed her way. Using the swords in her hands, she sliced each one in different directions, causing them to disperse to allow her passage. Kei reached the top of the left head and shot it with a bolt of lightning. The giant head turned to her, growling in anger. Namazzi opened its enormous mouth, endeavoring to pluck Kei out of the sky. Using the gale pushing against her, Kei directed her wings upward to let it sweep her away from the maw closing in on her. With a grumbling chomp, the colossus closed its large teeth inches away from Kei. Echoing her action, she persisted with aggression, taking the left head’s attention away from Shani down below.

Another beam erupted from the gargantua’s right head targeting Shani, shortening the distance between the two rapidly. As the jet hit the water in front of her, she used the liquid spraying all around to create a glassy rim above herself to grab while her feet skipped the crest of a tidal under her. As she pulled herself above the flooding ray, Shani leaned and arched backward to dodge the onslaught below her. Flipping herself rightward, her feet land flat on morphed ice on top of a wave. The momentum of the fall propelled her down the tide like a slide, accelerating her rapidly towards Namazzi. Just as a crescent wave was taking form near the colossal, Shani froze it in place to allow her to surf upward and jump from its peak.

Using the downpour to her advantage, she condensed drops of rain under her soles. Quickly expanding the compressed liquid into a blast of steam, Shani sprung herself upwards beside the short blue scales on the behemoth’s side. Repeating the action after losing impetus, she elevated up the beast with every jump she made. Upon re-finding its mark, the head twisted its side of the body to attack with a barrage of sharp icicles shot out from its lips as if it was blowing air. With the blades in her hands, Shani hacked at any chilling crystal that got too close to her as she evaded the destructive shower that tailed her from below, shattering upon impact on the goliath’s scales with loud cracks. The moment Shani reached the curved back of the monster, she did one last leap into the air with a half backflip and thrust herself forward onto the spine. Using the slick plates, she slid with ease down to the direction of the right head that was attempting to bite her. The gargantua reached the limit of what it could flex its body and roared with anger.

Finally, at the skull of the head of the monster, Shani grasped tightly onto the Tsunami Blades. Using the force of her movement, she plunged the swords deep into its forehead, causing her to abruptly stop. The titan let out a deafening scream of pain as the left head turned around to see what had happened. The head dove toward Shani with its mouth open, ready to eat her, but before it had the chance to lay its white teeth into her, it suddenly froze in place. Namazzi’s body exploded into a large body of water as if it had never been there.

With Shani falling, Kei quickly rushed in to grab her by her arms and glided down to the rest of the group on the broken half of the boat. Once Shani landed safely out of breath, Kei fell exhausted next to her, panting heavily. Shani, laying on the ground, placed one of her palms on Kei’s wet beak and smiled weakly, “You did a-a good job.”

“How were you able to do that?!” Sebastian exclaimed, not believing what he just saw along with everybody else.

“I’ll explain everything, just g-give me a few minutes to rest. All that took a lot out of me. I will say though -” Shani glanced at Nia, who had her arms wrapped around the remains of the gunwale, “- y-you were right.”