The Hoshikage cut through the water at full throttle, its engine growling like a cornered animal. But no matter how far they fled, the ocean refused to lighten. The sky remained bruised and dim, as if the sun itself feared to shine where the Umibōzu lurked.
Riku kept one hand on the wheel, the other trembling slightly at his side."Kazuro," he muttered. "I can't believe that actually worked."
"It only worked once," Aya warned, flipping to the marked journal page. "The text says a false name confuses the creature temporarily. It can't bind your soul unless it hears your real one. But now it knows you're resisting."
Riku felt a cold knot tighten in his stomach."So it'll try again."
"No." Aya's eyes darkened. "It'll try something worse."
The sea answered her.
A deep rumble rolled beneath the hull—low, guttural, like a giant exhaling from leagues below. The entire ship shuddered, almost lifting sideways. Riku tightened his grip on the wheel as spray lashed across his face.
"Hold on!" he shouted.
The waves ahead rose unnaturally high—not like wind-driven swells, but like something huge shifting beneath the surface. A ridge of black water rolled toward them.
Aya grabbed the railing. "It's not trying to drown us… it's herding us."
Riku swallowed. "Toward what?"
Aya pointed ahead."There."
Through the mist, a shadowed line appeared on the horizon—tall, jagged shapes rising sharply from the sea. Not rocks. Not cliffs.
Structures.
Old ones.
Riku frowned. "Is that—"
"A submerged village," Aya murmured. "It matches the drawings from the journal."
Wooden beams jutted from the water like broken ribs. Stone pathways glimmered beneath the waves, half consumed by barnacles and dark algae. Tattered prayer flags clung to the remnants of gates, fluttering weakly in the stale wind.
Aya's voice dropped."I've heard stories of places like this. Villages swallowed by storms. Coastal towns erased by tsunamis. But this one… wasn't taken by nature."
The journal slipped slightly in her hands, pages fluttering.
"It was taken by the Black Tide."
A chill cut through Riku deeper than the ocean wind."So the Umibōzu doesn't just drown people… it drowns entire places?"
"Not just places," Aya said softly. "Memories."
The rumbling grew louder.
Riku turned sharply.
Behind them, the sea was rising.
A massive column of water swelled upward, spiraling like a dark cyclone. Something moved inside it—something tall, bald, and impossibly massive.
The Umibōzu was coming.
And it was done waiting.
"Riku!" Aya shouted. "Head for the shrine! The journal says the village had a sea shrine built to keep the Black Tide at bay!"
Riku nodded and slammed the throttle. The Hoshikage surged forward, weaving between half-sunken rooftops and shattered wooden walkways. Behind them, the towering wave followed, gaining.
Aya pointed frantically toward a structure ahead—a small stone pavilion rising from a cluster of submerged steps. Seaweed draped over its roof like decayed banners.
"That's it! The Tide Shrine!"
The moment she said it, the air thickened.
The water around the shrine glowed faintly—not bright, but enough to look alive. As if something beneath the structure was still pulsing, still breathing.
The Umibōzu let out a roar so deep it rattled the bones of the ship.
It hated that shrine.
Riku spun the wheel and brought the ship as close as he dared. The wind howled, currents twisting violently around them.
"Aya," he said, voice sharp. "Go. I'll keep the ship steady."
She froze. "Riku—"
"Just go!"
The Black Tide surged behind them—a wall of darkness, rising higher, higher—
Aya leaped onto the shrine's submerged steps, nearly slipping on the slick algae. She scrambled inside the pavilion and lifted the journal, flipping pages, searching desperately for the ritual described.
The ocean roared.
Riku's heart hammered as the massive shadow loomed over him, filling the sky like an eclipse. The monster's silhouette stretched across the shrine, swallowing the light.
Aya found the page, eyes widening.
"Riku!"
He looked up.
The Umibōzu was directly above the ship, its enormous face dipping low, empty eyes locked on him.
"It's not after your name anymore!" Aya shouted.
Riku froze.
The water around him vibrated, humming with unnatural force.
Aya shouted again—
"It wants your fear."
The sea exploded upward.
The Black Tide fell.
And Riku saw nothing but darkness.
To be continued…