"They came for me. I am human... but... my father was one of them. My mother... might also have some... bloodline. In 1963, my parents met in a laboratory. My father had been captured by the government. My mother was a janitor at the lab..."
Bella suddenly understood. She'd heard this story from that bald guy: "You're that mute woman Elisa Esposito's..."
Calculating the time from 1963, the female doctor's age fit: "You're Elisa Esposito's daughter?"
The female doctor gave a smile mixing sorrow, pain, and embarrassment. "Very few people know my mother's name. Miss Swan, it seems your identity isn't simple either..."
"I've only told Dr. Serizawa about this. Today I'm telling you—our world isn't peaceful. The waters hide tremendous horrors. Only Dr. Serizawa can unlock these mysteries, for me, for my parents..."
Sadako cautiously watched Bella, her expression asking: I'm not getting silenced, am I?
"Move!" She opened her mouth, about to say something, when Bella suddenly leaped and tackled her to the ground.
The next moment, several fish-people returned. They tore open a membrane-like gelatinous scroll, and a tentacle—gray-brown, over three meters (~10 feet) in diameter, twenty-some meters (~65+ feet) tall, covered in massive suckers—suddenly shot up from the sea surface.
The tentacle easily wrapped around the ferry like a toy, slowly constricting as if trying to squeeze the ship in half.
"Bella! Your sword!" At this critical moment, Sadako proved reliable. She ran into the cabin and retrieved Fushigiri "Open Gate."
Taking the Fushigiri and drawing it from its sheath, Bella—before coming to Izu Oshima—had divined she'd need to use the sword and had deliberately stored some of Ying Long's power in her body. Using this blade now posed no problem.
The ship's hull was on the verge of destruction. Under the tentacle's massive squeeze, numerous steel plates and iron sheets deformed and shattered. The captain's cabin was pulverized in the first instant. The captain and sailor hiding inside died immediately.
There was no time to cast spells—Bella didn't even know what spell to use right now. She charged forward in a rush. Black blade light flickered along the edge as she swung at the massive tentacle.
Fushigiri was razor-sharp. She put her full weight behind it, her technique flawless.
And the tentacle? This thing appeared out of nowhere—at most a projection-type spell or quasi-spell ability. The tentacle's true body wasn't here. A mere projection couldn't stop her.
Bella's blade continuously hacked at the tentacle's front, sides, and suckers.
The four fish-people were going all-in to maintain this spell's effect. They used their own life force to drive the tentacle, but Bella's attack speed was blinding. With each slash, the fish-people had to use equivalent life force to compensate.
The first fish-person didn't even grunt. Its life force instantly emptied, and it slumped sideways into the depths.
The second quickly followed.
The remaining two fish-people supplied the tentacle together. The tentacle's attack power suddenly increased substantially.
One strike shattered the ferry's deck. The massive force made the ship top-heavy, tilting forward.
"Damn it!" Bella shouted at the female doctor and Sadako, "Into the water! Abandon ship!"
She was going all-in too. Worst case, she'd summon the Flying Dutchman. Today, she had to kill these fish-people.
She stopped tangling with the tentacle and leaped off the deck, charging at those two fish-people.
I can't beat this damn tentacle, but I can still beat you!
"CRACK!" A tremendous crash—the moment after Sadako and the female doctor jumped into the sea, the giant tentacle rapidly contracted, forcibly crushing the ship's hull in two.
Sadako had grown up on Izu Oshima—her swimming skills were excellent.
The female doctor looked combat-incapable but, relying on her parents' bloodline, swam like she was flying underwater—fast and stable. She even managed to pull Sadako away from the sinking ship's whirlpool before it formed.
"Die!" Bella cast Water Walking on herself. She sprinted across the water's surface at high speed, raised her arm, and beheaded the third fish-person with one slash. Its headless corpse sank to the ocean floor.
Just as she prepared to kill the last enemy, an unexpected change occurred. The massive tentacle crossed dozens of meters and suddenly appeared before her.
Before Bella could raise her blade to meet it, the tentacle's center suddenly bulged. The next moment, energy gathered to its maximum. The tentacle's head slowly opened like an alien egg, vaguely revealing a woman's face inside!
Calypso?! Or some other monster?
Bella had no time for a close look. She assumed the Ashina-style Iai stance, sheathing her blade, then drawing it explosively. This strike gathered both her physical and mental power. The pitch-black blade light sliced through the top third of the tentacle's head like cutting tofu, then flew another hundred-plus meters.
The tentacle was on the verge of collapse, but a ghostly blue beam still shot from that petal-like giant maw.
Bella had no intention of taking it head-on. The thing looked incredibly dangerous. She turned and ran.
She went left, the beam went left. She went right, the beam followed right.
A spell with tracking abilities? She wasn't even sure if this thing was a spell.
She ran fast, but the beam tracked faster. At the critical moment, she canceled Water Walking and dove headfirst into the sea.
The beam followed into the ocean, striking her back after she'd swum fifty meters (~165 feet).
The finger-thin beam struck like a giant hammer. Its energy was pure and concentrated. The massive impact hit her back, mixed with extensive mental erosion.
The last image Bella saw was a monster—human woman on top, giant octopus below—sneering at her. Then her vision went black, and she passed out.