The rain on the flight deck of the Kunpeng was no longer vertical; it was being whipped into a frenzy by the thrashing of the Kraken. The monster had pulled half its bulk onto the ship, its weight groaning against the titanium struts. A beak the size of a city gate snapped shut, shearing through the control tower's radio mast like a twig.
Ye Bai slid across the wet steel, ducking under a tentacle as thick as a redwood tree. He was the Sword Saint, a master of cutting, but cutting this beast was like trying to chop down a forest with a paring knife. He slashed, his Autumn Water Sword leaving deep, gushing wounds in the rubbery flesh, but the Kraken's regeneration was unnatural. The wounds knitted shut in seconds, fueled by the abyssal Qi of the storm.
"It heals faster than I can cut!" Ye Bai shouted into his comms, leaping over a crushed Ronin exo-suit. "I need a decapitation strike, but its neck is buried under ten meters of muscle!"
Inside the bridge, Jiang Chen was holding onto the tactical table as the entire ship listed twenty degrees to port. Sparks showered from the ceiling panels. His chest reactor was screaming, the Ghost King essence vibrating in sympathy with the monster outside.
"We don't need to cut it," Jiang Chen's synthesized voice grated out, calm despite the chaos. "We just need to give it indigestion."
He keyed the Engineering bay. "Old Wu. Status on Auxiliary Reactor Two?"
"Stable, Administrator! But the cooling pumps are flooded! If we don't vent it, it's going to melt down!"
"Don't vent it," Jiang Chen ordered. "Eject it. Topside. Tube 4."
"Sir?" Old Wu paused. "That's a fusion-containment vessel. It's a bomb."
"Exactly. Ye Bai, listen closely." Jiang Chen switched channels. "I'm sending a package up the cargo elevator. It's a sphere, two meters wide, glowing blue. Do not cut it."
"Then what do you want me to do with it?" Ye Bai shouted, deflecting a Merrow spear with his scabbard.
"It's going to be ejected at velocity," Jiang Chen said. "I need you to hit it. Into the mouth."
Ye Bai stared at the Kraken's maw—a cavern of spinning teeth dripping with acidic slime. He looked at his delicate, legendary sword.
"You want me... to play baseball?" The Sword Saint sounded offended.
"It's a curveball, Saint. Don't miss."
On the deck below, a heavy cargo hatch blasted open. A hiss of pressurized steam obscured the rain. Then, with a pneumatic THUMP, a metal sphere shot into the air. It was pulsing with unstable blue light, the containment runes flashing red.
The Kraken, attracted by the sudden spike in energy, turned its massive head. It sensed the power. It wanted to eat it. It opened its beak wide, letting out a roar that smelled of rotten fish and ancient death.
Ye Bai took a breath. He dropped his stance. He didn't hold his sword like a blade; he held it like a bat. He channeled his Spirit Severing intent not into sharpness, but into Kinetic Force.
"Dao Art," Ye Bai whispered, eyes locking onto the flying reactor. "Reversal of the Mountain."
He swung.
The flat of the blade connected with the reactor.
CLANG.
The sound rang out like a temple bell. The reactor didn't shatter; the force was perfectly distributed. The sphere changed trajectory instantly, accelerating from the impact. It became a blur of blue light, arcing through the rain.
It flew straight past the snapping tentacles. It bypassed the regenerative armor.
It slammed directly into the Kraken's open throat.
The monster choked. The sphere lodged deep in its gullet. The Kraken thrashed, confused by the sudden burning sensation in its chest.
"Detonate," Jiang Chen whispered.
He pressed the kill-switch on his console.
Inside the Kraken, the magnetic containment field on the reactor failed. The superheated plasma, compressed spirit steam, and nuclear isotopes expanded instantly.
MMPH-BOOM.
The sound was muffled, wet, and horrific.
The Kraken froze. Its eyes bulged. Then, light began to leak out of it—not from the outside, but from the inside. Beams of blue glowing energy pierced through its thick hide, shooting out from its chest and neck. The creature lit up like a jack-o'-lantern.
The internal pressure liquefied its organs. The regeneration factor worked against it, trying to heal tissue that was being vaporized by plasma fire.
With a final, gargling shudder, the Ocean King collapsed. It slid off the deck of the Kunpeng, dead weight dragging it back into the bay.
As it hit the water, the heat from its body boiled the harbor, sending up a massive plume of steam that smelled of cooked calamari.
Below the ship, Fisherman Zhang and the militia lowered their harpoons. They watched the massive carcass float belly-up.
"Did... did the metal island just feed it the sun?" Zhang asked, wiping sea spray from his face.
High above, the disciples of the Blue Wave Sect hovered on their swords, mouths agape. They had seen Elders fight beasts for days, whittling them down. They had never seen a beast of that magnitude simply... turned off.
"One strike," a disciple whispered. "No chanting. No formation. Just... boom."
On the flight deck, Ye Bai inspected his sword. It was vibrating slightly from the impact, but it held. He wiped the rain from his face and looked at the steaming corpse.
"Messy," Ye Bai noted. "But effective."
The storm clouds began to break. The death of the Ocean King dispersed the unnatural weather pattern. A ray of sunlight pierced the gloom, hitting the grey armor of the Kunpeng.
Jiang Chen walked out onto the bridge wing. He held onto the railing, his chest reactor cycling down to a steady rhythm. The pain in his nervous system was receding, replaced by the cold satisfaction of survival.
He looked down at the city of Eastport. The people weren't fleeing anymore. They were gathering at the base of his ship, cheering, waving flags, and bowing—not in religious prostration, but in gratitude.
"Administrator," Chen Wei walked up behind him. "The Blue Wave Sect Elders are requesting permission to land. They say they want to... 'pay respects' to the Savior of the East."
Jiang Chen adjusted his coat.
"Let them land," he said. "But tell them the docking fee is ten thousand Spirit Stones. We have repairs to make."
He looked at the dead Kraken.
"And tell the kitchen... we're having seafood tonight."