Aaron's vision swayed and blurred as he fell to the deck of the Ghostship with a heavy thud.
His thoughts were clouded and messy as if he had just woken from a long dream, yet a lingering feeling of need tugged at his heart.
Where am I…
The boy's eyes were covered with a strange substance that sealed them shut, preventing him from taking in the scene around him.
My body is stuck with something… sticky?
Trying to move himself, he felt resistance holding him against the wooden floorboards of the deck, only fueling his annoyance more.
This burns like hell! Get me out of here!
As he struggled internally, he heard a quiet voice calling his name from the deepest reaches of his subconscious.
『Summon me.』
The feminine voice resounded through his skull, urging him to bring her into the world to save him; however, his hands wouldn't respond.
F-Feeling dizzy…
His brain buzzed as his consciousness faded into nothingness.
BANG!
An explosion of light shot through the cocoon that Aaron was trapped in, freeing him from its hold.
Without even thinking, the boy rolled to the side, dodging another blast of sticky goo and tapping the ring on his index finger.
A burst of turquoise radiated throughout the ship, illuminating the shadowy form that clung to the fiery mast, hiding its face from the light.
As the glistening blade materialized fully into the boy's grasp, the creature answered its arrival with a chorus of horrifying clicks and hisses that rolled out across the sea.
In the chaos, Aaron knelt, whispering a question to the possessed sword that he wielded in his right hand.
"Penelope, can you reinforce my leg muscles?"
He wasn't sure if Penelope could truly reinforce his body as he asked, or if the foul concoction Cam had forced on him during training still clogged the flow of his mana.
There was a pause, but then a sudden surge of strength coursed through his calves and shins, giving him the answer.
I hope this works…
With a burst of energy, he blasted forward, running across the deck faster than the spider could react.
A tangled web of thread covered the surface of the Ghostship, threatening to snare his every step, yet with a single slash from Ocean's Bane, the tough strands parted like smoke torn by wind.
Aaron ducked and rolled past various obstacles that blocked his path, which was only possible thanks to Penelope's support..
『AARON WAIT—』
Her words jolted him into motion, and he jerked his head aside just as a sharp, hairy leg shot downward in front of his face, slicing off a single lock of blond hair from his head.
Even so, droplets of blood trickled from his forehead where a nasty scratch oozled and bubbled as venomous sludge seeped inside.
Without her warning…
At that moment, anger took over his mind—at Cam, who had laughed as she cast him into the water; at the spider who tried to kill him; and most of all at himself, for being too weak to stop any of it.
Another barrage of needle-like legs rained from above; however, Aaron just stood there, sword in hand, staring at them like a fool waiting to be skewered.
SHHIING–!
The spider's ironlike talons clashed with the turquoise blade, causing sparks to fly through the air, only to dissipate moments later.
Attack after attack, the legs were deflected and sliced as a strange expression, unlike anything he had shown before, dawned on the boy's face.
『I-I don't know how long I will be able to keep this up, so please hurry, Aaron…』
Tiny particles of water condensed from the air, and even the blood on his face darkened as its liquid part was pulled away, leaving only streaks of deep crimson behind.
Flowing in tendrils of blue light, they surrounded the blond boy's figure, coating him in a robe that sparkled like the moonlight and danced like waves.
His slow and methodical steps brought him closer and closer to the creature that released a flurry of desperate attacks.
The slowest of the legs was chopped into pieces, left to rot on the hardwood floor, while the rest bounced helplessly off the cloak.
Terrifying screeches resounded through the sky, deafening even the sea creatures that watched from afar.
With each step, the boy brought the arachnid closer to its demise, forcing it to retreat to the bow of the ship.
Its pitiful attempts at escape were halted by another cloaked figure who stood at the very tip of the ship with a dagger in hand.
Cam stared at Aaron, who approached the horrified and trapped terror whose clicks once were wrought with death, but now only sounded like pleas.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
Inside Aaron's head, the unyielding sound of his heart echoed with despair as it was pushed past its limits to accommodate the boy's power.
His heartbeat was unnatural and disturbing, a sound that made even the Marshal of the Hunters' Guild frown, creasing her youthful face.
Then he spoke.
It was his own voice, but also not.
The voice of the whiny, arrogant brat whom Cam had trained was mixed with a hardened, feminine way of speech that caused the sea terror to tremble with fear.
『Tidal Slash』
And with that, he swung the blade.
In one final attempt to survive, the terror opened its maw wide, ejecting its two sharp fangs that dripped with white fluid.
They flew through the air, shattering the sound barrier before making contact with the heavy longsword.
Sparks burst forth, casting sudden light across the arachnid's many-eyed face and revealing every detail with terrifying clarity.
Locks of brilliant golden hair draped down her face, nearly covering her magnificent gray eyes that glistened with the reflection of the blade.
Its mouth opened to speak, yet no words came out.
While it was a worthy imitation, it lacked one key detail.
Emotion.
It was that flaw, above all else, that branded these vicious monstrosities of the sea as something apart, neither beast nor human.
As the sea terror blinked, the last thing its countless eyes caught was the gleam of Aaron's blade, before it carved through them all at once.
SQURTCHHK!
Brain matter exploded over the deck as the creature's skull burst into pieces, flinging its beady eyes in every direction.
Its hairy legs were left in shredded chunks, sprawled all around the ship in a gruesome display.
Aaron watched the scene with a cold expression, his cloaked face dripping with blood and guts.
"Filth—"
His words were cut off as he staggered close to the edge of the Ghostship and grabbed the railing for support.
From behind, Cam stepped toward him, a faint grin curling her lips.
"That wasn't so bad, greenho—"
She froze mid-stride, the smile vanishing from her face as her eyes fixed on the crimson liquid trickling down Aaron's chin.
A moment later, blood seeped from every orifice of his face as he bent forward, vomiting it into the depths below.
The sight rooted her in place.
She watched his struggles with a grim look, and pangs of regret gripped her from inside, dragging her back to memories she had spent years trying to bury.
Years ago, when she was but a child, she had sworn never to repeat the sins her master and mentor had carved into her, yet here she was, continuing the cycle of pain.
"I'm sorry…"
She spoke in a whisper, inaudible to the sickly boy before her.
More flashes of her childhood echoed in her mind—misery no one should endure, now passed on against the boy's will.
"Really…"
…
As night fell, the two remained silent, quietly passing each other the tools needed to dissect the sea terror's lifeless carcass.
Cam had cancelled the remaining training for the day, instead staying inside the turquoise bedroom staring emptily at the ceiling, awaiting an answer that would never come.
Once dinner was served, they began to work together on cleaning and scraping the corpse; however, the process was slow, and their morale was at its absolute lowest.
Blood and entrails oozed from the arachnid's corpse as they tore through its body, uncovering the core only after nearly dismantling it entirely.
Cam ripped off the stringy cords that still twitched with constricting fluids and gases, pulling the small magenta orb from inside.
She held it carefully between her fingers, examining its surface before sighing softly and facing the blond-haired boy.
"Aaron… I… I'm sorry for making you do this… I should've asked you first, and we could've planned it better to prevent what happened…"
Taking a deep breath, she collected herself and continued talking firmly to the boy.
"I do not ask for your forgiveness, but I would like the chance to explain myself a little to you so you don't think that I'm someone… cruel…"
Her big brown eyes stared shamefully at Aaron, burdened with guilt and memories from which she could no longer hide.
Meeting her gaze, Aaron only nodded in quiet acknowledgment of her explanation.
She then shifted her eyes downward and began to speak as the unpleasant past surfaced within her mind.
"My mentor was someone who you could classify as… abusive… Whenever I didn't complete my training or simply couldn't work any harder, he would…"
She flinched as she closed her eyes, gripping the terror's core tightly as if it was trying to escape from her hands.
"He would strike me relentlessly until I was on the brink of death… I promised myself that if I ever took on an apprentice, I would never be like him, yet…"
Her eyes drilled holes into the floor as a strand of her hair fell over her face, hiding her expression from the boy who watched silently.
Inwardly, Aaron felt sad for the woman, finally realizing that even though she might have been one of the strongest people throughout the world, after all was said and done, she was still human.
I thought of her like one of them… An emotionless and ruthless killer.
Slowly, with the remaining bits of strength that still coursed through his body, he raised his right hand and placed it gently on her small shoulder.
As if reacting instinctively, she flinched; however, she raised her head to face him again, filled with courage that Aaron could only wish he had.
His gloomy expression, which radiated anger and disappointment at the woman's mentorship, faded away, replaced with a smile.
It was a warm smile, the kind two friends might share as they reminisce about better times, or a smile between siblings as they pull pranks on one another.
Cam stared at him with a blank face, searching for the meaning behind his expression.
When she finally understood, her eyes widened in shock at the acceptance he offered her.
"Y-You don't resent me?"
Her words weren't those of a seasoned Marshal, and they didn't need to be.
At this time, Aaron wasn't speaking to that powerful figure who commanded indescribable power, but instead to a lonely girl who had never had anyone support her.
"No. I don't resent you… Not in the slightest…"
His tone was groggy, and his words slurred together as he stumbled forward, bumping into the magenta core that rested in her hands.
"S-Shiny…"
The boy's hand pressed against the orb, and its surface pulsed with a glow that seemed to come from deep within it.
Cam looked down in confusion as the body of the half-conscious boy flashed in the same colors as the core.
"Aaron?"
Her confusion only grew when his turquoise eyes fluttered shut and reopened, only to reveal the same shade of brown as her own.
His once blond and blue-streaked hair puffed out in lush strands of brown that reached down to his shoulders.
The boy's masculine face vanished in an instant, replaced by features that mirrored Cam's own.
Aaron's body was suddenly filled with renewed energy, and he promptly pushed himself off the young woman, apologizing.
"I-I'm sorry! I-I don't know what came over me—"
The apology went unfinished as he noticed a glint of reflection on the metal cannon at the ship's edge.
"W-Why do I look exactly like you…?"
His onset of panic and confusion spiraled out of control, and even the Marshal was bewildered by the sudden turn of events.
At the helm of the vessel, a solitary crab watched the scene indifferently before turning the ship's wheel northbound, towards the city of Corvassa.
Moonlight danced across the calm waters as the currents carried them into a new adventure.
And in the blink of an eye, several weeks flowed by like the endless tide.