The midday sun beat down onto the boughs of The Aurelia's Jewel. Nepped wiped their brow as she paced the deck's perimeter, scouring the ocean with her gaze. So hot. And for what? Nepped checked her phone, Damn, thirty minutes left. She quickly snapped her head upwards when a monstrous shadow moved into her peripheral. The waves were uncharacteristically large, as The Seaglass Ocean usually seemed still. Nepped lost track of the shadow when she accidentally got flashed by the sun. Just to be safe I'll call it in. Nepped raised her phone to her left ear and continued searching the depths below.
Holly picked up on the second ring, "All good?" She asked.
"It's probably nothing but, I saw a-" Nepped's voice was cut off by the sudden meeting of the guard rails and her chest.
Her phone flew overboard and into the water below. The entire ship had been lifted upwards causing Nepped's sudden imbalance. A giant wave? No!
Nepped quickly adapted, finding their footing once more and shouted out, "Ouroboros!"
Nepped's trusty chain materialized from the pocket portal and she quickly used it to scale higher onto the ship. Just as she popped over the top she managed to catch a glimpse of a massive beast. I-I don't understand, is that just it's neck? Nepped's eyes widened in disbelief as she began to lose altitude. The creature's head was the size of a two story building in Aegis. Its bloodstained teeth were large enough to pierce any normal transport vessel. The scales of the beast seemed to glisten in the sun, each scale was easily the size of a taller Laprin. The Seaglass Ocean's color seemed to complement the beast nicely.
W-what the hell are supposed to do against that? This is WAY bigger than any reported Nessy is supposed to be. Nepped's mind raced but her body moved on its own. The plan, just focus on the plan. Sending Ouroboros out, Nepped quickly swung around the ship until she was in front of the Nessy. Holly, Taiga and Terra quickly caught up to Nepped. All four of them stood for a moment basking in the stupor.
"The plan remains." Holly's voice brought the team back to reality. "You two, get going. Terra set me up."
"RIGHT!" The three shouted.
Taiga and Nepped dashed in opposite directions heading for their designated points on the ship. Terra quickly summoned a perfectly rectangular bounce pad made from water a few meters above Holly. Holly then leapt up onto the pad kicking it with both feet. This caused her to launch towards the Nessy.
"Bonk Bonk!" Holly called out grabbing her battering hammer from her pocket dimension.
Holly swung her body forward to begin somersaulting in the air and pulled the lever on her Breaker causing the exhaust to roar with flames. WOOSH! Racing towards the Nessy, Holly began spinning multiple times per second. With each rotation she gained even more speed. Gritting her teeth Holly held on with all of her might. The Nessy seemed to finally notice Holly but by the time it did, it was already too late. Holly's hammer landed squarely on the titan's maw. The thunderous crack echoed throughout the sky and vibrated the party's chests. Instantly blown back, the Nessy crashed into the water below sending massive waves in every direction. Large air bubbles formed on the surface, presumably due to the monster letting out a cry.
Terra set up a web of bouncepads to bounce Holly around, slowing them to a manageable level of momentum. By the time that Holly had navigated back to the ship's deck, countless barrels wrapped in a connecting rope were scattered across the surrounding ocean.
"You okay?" Terra asked Holly.
"I'm fine. I'd feel much better if that keeps it down for good though." Holly's chest heaved, "I underestimated how much we've grown."
"What do you mean by that?" Terra offered Holly a water bottle.
"Thanks," Holly chugged it down before continuing, "I expected to need two to three pads to reach the Nessy but... Between your upgrades and mine I wound up overdoing it." Holly's hands were shaking uncontrollably and had doubled in size.
Terra's face went pale, "Oh no! Hold on, let me call the others."
"There's no time, I can't close my fingers with my hands shattered like this and the beast can come back at any moment. Quickly wrap my hands around my hammer." Holly instructed.
"But I-"
"Do it." Holly's eyes burned with determination.
Terra nodded and produced a set of wraps, a sticky solution and some magical chain. "Listen, I can keep your hands tied to it, but you won't be able to pull the trigger. I'm going to freeze them in place as well to provide extra support so you don't wind up losing your arms too. So no fire, okay?"
Holly nodded and winced as Terra began wrapping her weapon firmly into her hands. Layers of the adhesive and wrap were used to fix the angle of the hammer. The chains were used to bind Holly's wrists to the shaft of the massive hammer.
"My ice magic isn't the strongest, so-"
"I know, no fire. You just said that." Holly said shortly.
"Well I don't know how you're even still lucid, this kind of damage should be enough to drive anyone mad." Terra finished freezing her patchwork into place. "All set, don't do anything stupid now my fearless leader."
The ship shook for a moment before four more Nessies popped up from below. Each one was a fraction of the one that came before them. From their heads hung the web of barrels that had been set free into the ocean.
"Of course the trap worked." Terra clenched their jaw, "But we can't use your fire."
"I got this," Nepped called out to Terra, "Carmine." Nepped said calmly.
Nepped thrusted her arm to her side depositing Ouroboros and cleanly pulling out a different Breaker all in one motion. She produced a silver chrominium rifle with various sigils etched into its body. Its slender barrel pointed towards one of the explosives centrally located among the Nessies.
"Carmine, spark!" Nepped's voice echoed as she pulled the trigger.
A single bolt of purple lighting screamed from the muzzle of her rifle. It pierced through the targeted barrel with ease causing it to erupt. What followed was a chain of explosions among the barrels that were tied strategically together. Chunks blew off the Nessies sending their bloodied gobbets soaring. Two of the Nessies fell into the ocean, presumably deceased. One of the two remaining beasts lifted its tail into the air and dropped it towards the deck of the vessel. Holly responded first, quickly swinging her hammer in its direction. Successfully parrying the Nessies strike did however drop Holly to her knees as her scream pierced the air.
"AAAAAAAGGHH!" Tears dripped from her face and her whole body trembled.
Terra positioned herself between Holly and the Nessies. But before she could do anything Taiga flew from below, plunging her Broadfeather straight into the passive Nessy's eye. While it writhed in pain Terra swiftly set up a handful of bounce pads for Taiga to utilize. Nepped began bouncing to a higher vantage point, Carmine in hand. Terra noted Nepped's movements but remembering Holly's words she stayed focused on supporting Taiga.
*****
"I'd like us to focus on fighting in waves if we can. This might turn into a battle of attrition, and if it does we need to do our best to conserve energy. So, Terra will focus on supporting one of us at a time with her jumpads. Whoever isn't over the water in the Nessy's face will have to make do. I also want to prepare a few traps to even the odds. A net of explosive barrels that I can trigger with my fire, a perch for Nepped to pepper it with Carmine and finally if things get really dire..."
*****
Nepped's Carmine cracked as it shot another bolt towards the one eyed Nessy. It managed to dodge narrowly by lowering its head, but on its way down Taiga bounced from below off of a jump pad. Aiming for the beast's gullet, Taiga's Broadfeather once again found its mark. The softer underside of the Nessy's upper neck shredded easily, sending it reeling.
"Yes!" Taiga celebrated.
The other Nessy sent a blast of pressurized water towards Taiga. Thanks to her quick reflexes she was able to use her Pathfinder Boots to gain some traction on the serpent's neck. Unfortunately, she noticed too late. While she wasn't caught in the attack her weapon was ripped from her hand by the sheer force of the water. Unable to lunge with Broadfeather or gain full contact with her boots she began to plummet. Terra tried catching her with a jumpad but the injured Nessy was intercepting her fall with its jaw wide open. Taiga's eyes widened. This is it. All she could see was the blood painted tongue of her foe and its massive bladed teeth. Her mind flashed to her hometown and her Mother's farm. The gum gum melon fields where she used to play with the Wyvern's. She loved watching them protect the Graowls that produced their farms dairy. I didn't get to collect more stuff. I didn't meet nearly enough people. I didn't find... My father. Taiga closed her eyes accepting her fate, but suddenly a hand grabbed her from The Big Smol Bag.
"Get over here!" A voice called out.
The hand ripped her into her bag. By the time she opened her eyes she was met with a peculiar scene. The sky revealed nothing but darkness and what appeared to be a nebula. Treasures were scattered around in every direction beyond her scope of view. She stood ankle deep in a water like substance but her feet didn't get wet, nor did the substance have any weight.
"Welcome, child of Lynterre." A voice called out.
"H-how do you know my father's name? Who are you? WHERE are you?!" Taiga shouted into the void.
"My apologies, I was instructed to wait but I shall introduce myself now." The voice responded
All of Taiga's hairs stood up as the sky exposed what appeared to be an unimaginably large yellow eye in the sky. Taiga's palms sweat as she fell to her rump. It's the size of a moon? A planet? I...
"My apologies for scaring you Taiga, Child of Lynterre. You can call me Zenni of The Infinite Prosperity." Zenni blinked slowly.
"And I, Harold of Altered Space." Taiga was raised to her feet by someone from behind.
She turned around slowly to find a being dressed to the nines in some kind of butler attire, its face was a warping mess that resembled a distant galaxy. Atop Harold's head rested a tophat. He had a cane tucked underneath his free arm.
Zenni spoke once more, "You may call us by our names or the name of our duty. It makes no difference to myself or my husband."
"H-husband?!" Taiga looked around frantically.
Harold released Taiga, "That would be me. But our marital status is irrelevant."
"The child must be wondering what this place is." Zenni chimed in.
"Or what they're doing here." Harold's empty face gave off the impression of a grin.
"Yes, to both of those things." Taiga's body began to relax.
"As Aeons we'd like to make you a deal. You'd be one of the few individuals in all of existence to have a pact with multiple Aeons." Harold's voice sent a shiver down Taiga's spine.
"I'd grant you countless treasures. Anything you could ever want, even things you could never dream of." Zenni purred.
Harold waved his arm as if to present the environment, "And I, a place to store and access your goods. Anytime, anywhere."
"No thank you." Taiga's voice was hardly audible.
"I apologize child," Zenni said, "I couldn't hear you."
Taiga took a deep breath and spoke clearly, "No thank you!"
"Oh? How interesting. You haven't even heard what we want in return." Harold retorted.
"I'm all set!" Taiga declared.
"What if we sweetened the deal?" Zenni responded.
"NO MEANS NO!!! JUST DROP IT!!! Why is everyone trying to give me stuff? I just want to adventure with my friends, see cool beasts and collect shiny stuff. Just leave me alone."
"Okay." Harold tapped his cane.
Taiga fell through the suspicious liquid and popped back out of her bag in front of the jaws that belonged to her soon to be killer. Oh, whoops.
"Just kidding." Harold pulled her back into his domain, "While that would have been a very silly way to meet your end I'm afraid we simply cannot let you die... Here." Harold admitted.
"As long as it's within reason I don't see why we couldn't assist the child." Zenni sounded entertained.
Taiga was unable to catch her breath as Harold continued his rambling, "You are a descendant of an old friend who also refused our deal. I must give you credit where it's due. Your bloodline is quite the interesting one. If you will not accept our power then instead how about one singular gift from an Auntie and Uncle?"
Taiga shook her head in defiance.
"It's only until you reach Lynterre," Zenni snickered, "Then if you so desire, you may part ways with us."
Taiga remained silent.
"The apple, the tree and all of that." Harold chuckled, "We aren't giving you a choice Little Raider, use this gift well and you may find the stroke of luck you're looking for." Harold placed the tip of his cane on Taiga's Big Smol Bag and she warped back to her reality.
Once again she was faced with certain doom as the Nessy began closing its mouth on her.
Without knowing why her mouth uttered words she'd never heard before, "Pilferer's Finger."
"How nice of you to call so soon." A familiar voice rang through her mind. It sounded like a mix between Zenni's and Harold's but it had its own twang to it.
An arm made from the same nebula sky and water-like substance reached from her pack grabbing onto a fang before whipping her out of the Nessy's gnashing teeth. She looked over her shoulder as she began to free fall.
"Missing something?" The voice called out once more.
"Who are you? You aren't Harold or Zenni." Taiga shouted over the wind.
"Have you forgotten about your dearest buddy ole pal?" The voice seemed to stabilize into an entirely unique one.
Taiga's eyes teared up as the arm delivered her Broadfeather into her sword hand.
"Alim a alum." The voice said happily.
"Alive and alright... Mono?!" Taiga called out.
"Heh, good luuuuuck." The hand waved before disappearing leaving Taiga alone.
Mono?! Wait, now's not the time. Taiga quickly recovered, flipping herself over to face the Nessies. The uninjured one already began swinging its tail at her. Taiga readied her Cinnabarrier to dampen the damage she would take, but before it connected thunder cracked through the sky. With a flash of purple lightning the beast's entire upper body evaporated. What the- Taiga turned her attention to The Aurelia's Jewel and spotted Nepped up on the hastily crafted eagle's nest they built much earlier. The right side of the gun had popped out a chamber where Nepped stuck their right hand into. The veins on the right side of her body gave off a purple glow. When she exhaled a sparkling mist expelled from her mouth. Nepped's eyes suddenly developed dark pockets underneath them and her body wobbled with fatigue.
Terra adjusted her jump pad setup to allow for Taiga to quickly navigate around the remaining Nessy as it let out an enraged roar. It began thrashing but Terra's ability paired with Taiga's natural battle sense and reflexes allowed the pair to outmaneuver its every move. With every pass Taiga managed to wound the Nessy. Within a minute its movements slowed to a crawl. Its ragged breathing and battered body tipped the team off to finish things. I almost feel bad for it. Taiga frowned as she ran her blade through the Nessy one last time. Such a proud beast, it was a strong foe. Leaping from jump pad to jump pad, Taiga made her way back to the ship's deck as the Nessy crashed into the ocean.
"How's your mana looking?" Taiga asked Terra.
Terra grinned, "I've got plenty left in the tank, we should be good to go for at least a few more rounds."
"That's great." Taiga said flatly.
"What's wrong?" Holly piped up.
Taiga sighed, "I've got a feeling this isn't over yet."
"So I'm not the only one then? Holly's eyes shifted nervously around the ocean, "If I'm being honest we did well but that mammoth of a Nessy was completely unexpected."
"I don't even think we could call it an Alpha." Nepped dropped down, rejoining the team. "But to be honest we might be in trouble."
"Yeah, I'd have to agree," Holly nodded. "I can't use my hammer anymore and it's too risky to use Lillith's powers here."
"Wait... Who's Lillith?" Taiga asked.
"Oh right, I never told you. My ability to control fire is more or less from a hellcat named Lillith. But that's a story for another time." Holly explained.
"Hmm, okay." Taiga tilted her head.
"Nepped, how are you holding up?" Holly asked.
"I put everything into that Nullifier shot. I can probably still use Ouroboros but I won't be flying around the sky. That's for sure." Nepped's voice cracked as though she hadn't drank water in days.
Holly turned to Taiga, "And you? Can you still maintain that speed? You almost died out there." Holly's voice sounded like a parent scolding a child.
"Yeah, I'm ready!" Taiga's eyes showed her passion but her chest heaved as she took shallow breaths.
"Right..." Holly took a deep breath before addressing team Decima. "So basically this is the part where I hand out a reality check. The only one of us even near peak condition is Terra. My body needs at least two hours to fully regenerate, and I can't even use the full potential of my fire magic. Nepped is down for the count for the rest of this quest... Or at least until we make landfall. Taiga, while still mentally sound, isn't even aware that her body's nearing its limit. If we get attacked again we're going to have to use that." The group fell silent but the expressions on their faces said everything Holly needed to know. "Great, rest up then. I'll keep lookout for the remainder of the trip and you three will sleep right here."
"RAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!!!" A roar from a Nessy shook the entire ship causing the team to snap back to their senses before they could even get comfortable.
"You've GOT to be kidding me." Nepped groaned as she fought her way back to her feet.
The shadow of the Titan Nessy darkened The Aurelia's Jewel. It opened its mouth presenting its gargantuan teeth that it so proudly devoured countless with. The vast majority of the bladed bones were cracked or broken in various places. It turned to eye Holly, hissing through its nostrils.
"It wishes to challenge you." Taiga said absentmindedly.
"Oh? Is that so?" Holly cracked a wry grin.
Holly stood proudly facing down the beast. They stared into each other's eyes for several minutes. Satisfied the Nessy resubmerged into the ocean. However in its place several Merfolk emerged a distance away from the ship. They quickly built what appeared to be a floating arena out of ice, rock and driftwood shaped into a circle. The team hurriedly tended to their wounds and tried to eat a little bit while they waited. After another twenty minutes the arena was fully finished and the titanic Nessy reappeared on the outside of the arena, causing it to sway wildly.
"I think it wants you to go over there." Taiga said.
Holly shrugged, "Alrighty, Terra, if you would be so kind."
"What? No! You can't be serious!" Terra objected.
"Actually, I'm very serious. This keeps the ship safe for now and gives you three some time to recover."
"But you're injured." Nepped pointed out, "Even if we didn't care about you, there's no way you'll last long in that condition."
"That might be so, but you're going to have to trust me on this one. Worst case? Just do that." Holly smiled at Nepped.
"F-fine."
"Any other objections?"
"When you put it like that, how could we refuse?" Terra whined.
Sighing, she created a bridge of jump pads across the ocean to the arena. Holly raced across them to reach the structure. She looked up at the Nessy as she landed, her eyes were sizing up the beast. Her hands were free of the wraps and her hammer. To her surprise the Nessy morphed into a smaller being, and stepped onto the platform. It was a naked woman with furry knifelike ears and a poofy tail, both had beautiful orange fur with white tips. Her blunt bangs covered her eyebrows but allowed her mystical red eyes to see freely.
"Oh, pardon me." The Demi Elf's voice was soft and sweet.
She took a breath and hair grew from her bare skin covering her entire body. After a moment it transformed into a rather modest miko robe. Her eyes cast their gaze beyond Holly and to The Aurelia's Jewel.
"Will your friends be joining us?" She asked.
Holly stared a hole into the woman, "I wasn't aware they were invited."
"You're a strange one, aren't you?" She giggled softly, "My name is Emilia Wyvernheart, a pleasure to meet an adventurer such as yourself."
"Holly Hawkins of The Fool's Carol." Holly Declared, "I'd be more inclined to share the sentiment if you hadn't attacked that ship."
"Oh come now," Emila's smile had a set of fangs, one of which was broken. "What's one ship in a valley of thousands?"
"Morality of attacking passenger ships aside, I take it you're of ennobled kin then?" Holly inquired.
"Oh my, straight to the point are we?" Emilia took a step towards Holly causing her to tense up, "I am nothing of the sort. Consider me an enigma that simply desires to understand the Nessies blight. I am, like you, very much one who walks the earth as a demibeing."
"Huh?" Holly gasped.
Emilia sighed, "I grow tired of this chapter of my life, how about a little bet to spice things up?"
"What did you have in mind?"
"It's simple really. I wager that in the next ten minutes your gang of evildoers will come to your aide in an attempt to outnumber me." Emilia pointed at the boat.
"Evildoers? What are you wafflin' about?" Holly bore an incredulous expression.
Emilia waved her hand in the air dismissing the question as though it were pointless, "If I win, I kill all four of you and sink that rotten ship.
"And if you're wrong?" Holy gritted her teeth.
"You can do whatever you please with me, I know your type. I'm never wrong. Oh, and if you die before entertaining me for ten minutes then the bet is null and void."
"I can agree to you killing me but not them." Holly stated simply.
"Fine. I accept. If they attack me they'll die either way." Her grin oozed confidence.
Holly and Emilia bit into their thumbs and poured mana into their blood. The drops of blood formed a trail to the other's causing a spiral between them. After the mass of blood popped, Emilia rushed Holly. Emilia's fingernails were like daggers as she swiped and stabbed at Holly's vitals. Holly synced with Lillith causing her aura to immolate her body. Her cat ears spawned on her head and they too were engulfed in flame. With Holly's Neko form in play she was able to deftly weave around the furious swipes. The last knife strike of Emilia's assault fell short of Holly's throat as Holly leaned way back to avoid it.
"Shame, I thought you were stronger." Emilia frowned.
Her entire striking arm exploded into a Carnviper's head extending forward and grabbing Holly by the neck. A WILDSPEAKER?! Holly automatically pumped a short burst of mana into her aura causing a small burst of flame. Emilia let go bouncing back a few meters and turning her hand back to normal.
"I understand it now. That fire is different. It is abnormal for a flame to wound me so." Emilia shook her burnt hand.
"A Wildspeaker? If you weren't an Ennobled Nessy why didn't you say so?" Holly wiped the sweat from her brow.
"You assumed I was an Ennobled, and now you assume I'm a Wildspeaker... Is that wise?" Emilia grinned with glee as she rushed down Holly once more.
In between ferocious exchanges of different animalistic based attacks and plumes of flame the two spat back and forth.
"Then what the hell are you?" Holly slipped a poison tipped Manticore tail.
Emilia swept at Holly's legs with a set of Kraken-like tentacles, "Does it really matter the origin of one's birth? I am a simple Demi-Elf. Nothing more, nothing less."
"No one in their right mind would accept that as an answer!" Holly focused two rotating spheres of fire in her hands and sent them careening into Emilia. A curtain of smoke and ember covered the arena leaving visibility limited. Holly closed her eyes and focused on her gate, casting out her aura one meter around her in every direction. There! Holly felt Emilia breach her meter perimeter and quickly turned to deliver a nasty spinning kick in Emilia's midsection. Emilia quickly dropped her elbow to guard the blow. To her surprise, she was only able to mitigate some of the damage. Her forearm snapped cleanly in two as she shot towards the edge of the makeshift arena.
"Oh? You know how to employ the mana domain technique? You aren't half bad." Emilia pulled herself to her feet and walked towards Holly once more.
I know I did some real damage with that one, how come she isn't reacting? Holly's eyes began to blur and her lungs burned. "I don't know what that is." She admitted, her voice was raspy.
"So you managed to pull it off without even knowing about the technique. How wonderful! Oh I almost forgot! Congratulations! It's been five whole minutes."
Holly felt her head get lighter as Emilia drew closer. Why is she moving so slow? Holly fell to her knees and puked up everything she had eaten prior. Heaving, she forced her way back to her feet but Emilia was already standing in front of her.
"Be proud, I've decided your life is not worth cutting short. Rest up, you inhaled a lot of that nasty stuff." She gave Holly a warm smile.
Emilia threw a mean uppercut that landed squarely into Holly's softened gut. As it pushed its way under the bottom of her ribcage, Holly's vision turned white before going completely black. Shit. After flying a few meters through the air Holly landed on her back, unconscious.
Within the moment Terra's scythe was hooked around Emilia's neck, Nepped's Ouroboros was wrapped around her entire body and Taiga's Broadfeather was pointed at her chest.
"See? I'm never wrong." Emilia smiled but that smile quickly faded to a frown. "But now we have a problem."
"YOU'RE DAMN RIGHT WE DO!" Nepped yelled.
"Just relax, she'll be fine, more importantly... I can't kill you three and now I don't want to kill her. What in Calamity to do about this?" Emilia wondered for a moment. "Ah, I know!"
Before any of them could react Emilia turned her face into a sniperdrake and exhaled as hard as she could. The force of the wind from her elongated snout caused her to rocket into the sky, freeing her from the chains and avoiding the blades on her body.
"I'll see all of you soon!" She called out, "I won't attack any more ships until I do!"
Terra popped a field of jumpads and Taiga had already ascended with her Broadfeather. By the time Nepped used the jump pads to reach Taiga in the sky they had completely lost sight of Emilia. Once back on the ground they hurriedly collected Holly and ran her to the ship's infirmary bay. Finally with a moment of peace in the waiting room Terra was the first one to speak.
"I'm sorry, what the FUCK happened?!"
"It doesn't make sense." Taiga complained.
Nepped groaned, "I'm sure when Holly wakes up she can explain, right?"
They all agreed to hold on to the questions until Holly rejoined them. In the meantime Nepped was forced into their own medical evaluation and the other two went to find the captain. After a quick debrief with Captain Dullahan the remaining two of the group took turns sleeping and keeping lookout. The remainder of the trip continued without any further incident. Holly woke on the final day just in time to reach the coast of The Leofloral Region. Just you wait Emilia, I will find you. Holly clenched her fist without a trace of pain. Team Decima had seemingly completed their mission but were left with questions about the foe they had faced and the answers were gone in the wind.
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(Uploaded version is the initial draft of the work LxD. The final edited version will be available for purchase in the future and you can check the progress of the book by visiting Lucky's streams twitch.tv/TheLuckyTempest)