Part 11
Only the sounds of waves hitting against the wood could be heard. It was surprisingly peaceful inside a ship. Especially the captains quarter as it was a lot bigger than the rest of the sleeping spaces. There were a lot of random valuables in one of the chests nailed onto the ground. There was no denying it, this was a pirate ship. Though Cyeen knew that from the start. The demon woman's clothes looked really familiar to her for a reason. She was known as "Devil's Sword" across Setina. This entire crew was another pain in the ass for Enidia just like Dog Tamer. Goodness. Just my luck, two of the most renowned criminals met in the span of a week.
"Hello? Can you hear me Cyeen?"
She stood upright on the bed, looking around before realising the whisper came from inside her head.
"Yes, your divine Highess. I can hear you clearly."
The god sounded a little embarrassed.
"First of all let me apologize. I would like to give you my apologies for the poor extraction of your eye. It was my first time doing that. But trust me, I needed to take your eye for an important reason."
Cyeen bowed her head for no reason.
"I accept your apologies your divine Highness. May I ask how I ended up on this ship in Taryio?"
"Of course you could. While you were in that half conscious state of yours, I whispered commands into your ear which you followed. I have to admit in shame that I made you steal a carriage to get to Taryio. The journey took about two days but trust me, you waking up inside this ship was essential for the mission I gave you. Also, please adress me as "En" if you could."
Cyeen rubbed her chin. Right, En said they needed me to get rid of all corruption in this world.
"I understand En. Have you got any requests of me?" she asked, waiting for orders.
"No, nothing for now. Just keep an eye on that demon."
Cyeen stayed ready for a while longer in case En had any last words. She relaxed her body after not receiving anything. Ergh, it stinks in this ship.
She blinked a few times, trying to remember something. Oh right, En's arsenal! The lady extended her arm forward to summon the weapons.
"A scythe, some knives, blasters and... strings..."
Cyeen looked at the arsenal in genuine disappointment.
"Isn't this just my arsenal but in white? It's also lower in damage???"
She felt a vibration inside her right pocket. After taking out the source of the vibration from her pocket she carefully lifted it close to the window. A white notebook? It was actually a smaller sized book. She opened the small book and got to reading it.
"Since direct communication takes a large amount of energy I will be using this book. I know you are disappointed but do not worry, that's not all of my arsenal. My old arsenal, or your new one, has the ability to copy the moves you observe although with it's limits. Most weapons created with it has a high cost and low damage but I trust you can put it to good use. Also you can use this as a diary, I won't read what you write."
Cyeen's eye shined brighter than the almost full moon outside. This essentially meant that she was not locked into a single arsenal but had infinite combinations. Just the thought of it was possibly the best late birthday gift she had ever gotten. I hope you are waiting Dog Tamer. I'll deal with you once I'm back. She tucked herself into the bed before falling asleep.
***
There was some hair inside her mouth. It wasn't going away no matter how many times she brushed her hair away. After a while of repeating the same moves she got up, furious at her hair. But instead, what she saw next to her was a sleeping Jess. Cyeen was chewing on Jess's hair.
The noble lady rushed towards the small window to spit the hair out. There was still a terrible smell inside the room. At this point, she couldn't tell if it came from Jess, herself or from the ship. Cyeen poked the sleeping demon, waking her up.
"Who's sailing the ship?" she asked.
Jess stared at Cyeen's for a while with a dumb expression on her face as she tried to understand the question.
"Huh? Oh. Zoen." responded the pirate.
The demon woman closed her eyes again. Cyeen grimaced, looking at the demon. She couldn't believe she slept next to each other. With a criminal no less.
Cyeen searched for the door. Upon findig it she opened it before heading towards Zoen.
The young man was in front of the helm, giving Cyeen a good chance to finally take a look at him.
His brown hair was touching his shoulders further bringing out the black in his eyes. He looked to be at the same height as Cyeen meaning he was shorter than his sister. He was matching with Jess as they wore the same white tunic. The only thing he didn't have was the sleeveless shirt. Other than that, his pants were pale red and he had a belt supporting it. These siblings know how to dress for sure. Cyeen lifted her hand to greet him.
"Good morning. How long has that demon been sleeping next to me?" she asked with a hint of annoyance at the end.
Zoen looked up for a second to think, seeing the clothes take a darker color. Damn, it's most likely a storm. Better tell the crew later. He looked back at Cyeen.
"I think for about three hours. I hope you didn't mind her." he responded.
"I actually did mind her a lot but nevermind. So, you said you were siblings, how is that possible exactly?"
"Well, we are not blood related of course. It's just that we came to accept each other as siblings. It's a long story, I recommend you ask Jess about it when she wakes up."
Cyeen wasn't thrilled by that idea. She went towards the other pirates to see their daily routines. They were mostly fishing, there didn't seem to be that many things to do in a pirate ship. Cyeen decided to give it a go as well. She took a fishing rod laying around and cast her line, waited, waited again, still waiting. Nah never mind. She tossed the fishing rod away. She was not that patient. A few people from the crew would occasionaly come up to her, trying to make small talk but she'd grimace and turn away as she did with most commoners. They were nothing but filth to her.
A certain person with two horns coming out of the cabinets took her attention. She stopped for a second to think if she had anything better to do. No, I don't. Cyeen dragged her feet towards Jess. She cut her path as she brought forth her scythe.
"Fight me."
Jess was confused. Why did this girl try picking a fight first thing in the morning? She rubbed her eyes before answering.
"Leave me alone."
Cyeen raised her violet scythe to Jess's eye level. Looking straight into her eyes. The reason for this challenging attitude was because of the curiosity she had towards Jess's nickname.
Jess brushed the weapon away as she went towards her brother. They made the three fingered hand sign before Jess took control of the helm. Cyeen felt humiliated for the first time in a while. She could feel the stares of the crew members. The noble sighed before dismissing her scythe.
The waves had started getting bigger. Even without any experience, Cyeen knew a storm was approaching. There wasn't a single ship, let alone a single seagull anywhere. The noble began feeling uneasy. Now that she was actual thinking, she was asking herself why she had asked help from the pirates. It was possible they could kidnap her. Well, they were helping her so she crossed that out. Did they plan to plunder Enidia using her? Maybe. Either way a mass of stress had engulfed her.
"Ey, Cyeen Flame. I'm pritty sure that isn' edible." said the demon, interrupting Cyeen's thoughts.
The lady looked down to see her right index finger in shambles. She quickly lowered her hand before looking at Jess.
"I know." She said in an annoyed tone.
"Zoen told me ya wanna know bout our story. Ya sure ya do?"
Cyeen looked her dead in the eyes.
"If you're looking forward to it that much, go ahead, tell me."
Jess ignored the snide comment.
"Yar gettin' the shortenad version then. Me village was burned down by players. Same for 'is. Then we crozzed pathz somewhere. That'z all ya need fo' now."
Cyeen looked disappointed. It was obvious the demon left nearly all of the parts out. And what the hell were "players"? She was more confused about their story than before. Jess was by far the most insufferable person she met. Cyeen nodded, acting like she understood the story before turning away from her.
The day was coming to an end pretty quickly. She had wasted the entire day looking at the waves get bigger as she was able to witness the sunny weather turn into a raging storm. All of the crew members were trying their best to stay on their feet as they did anything they could to minimise the damage done to the ship.
They were passing by a cliff with sharp rocks on the bottom. It looked like they were pointing directly at any ship that passed by, threatening to impale them.
Cyeen was soaked by the time Jess approached her. The demon approached her with a short rope attached to her belt.
"I tink it's bout time ya sleep. It's alreadi night. Come, let me escor you to me quarter."
The noble wiped her face.
"Where's Zoen."
"Sleeping." quickly answered Jess.
All the pieces were coming together now. Way too quickly as well. It felt like the world was wrapping around her ever since she ran away from home. This was one of the more extreme wraps she had found herself in. She had to make a move now as she wasn't sure if she could make one ever again.
Cyeen followed Jess until they reached the main deck. All of the pirates were looking at her. Cyeen quickly summoned her scythe and swung it towards Jess's head.
"You knew din't you?"
The demon caught the tip of the scythe with her back turned. A few dark red longswords fell from the sky, making Cyeen back away. Jess signaled at the crew to not interrupt as she summoned a cutlass in her right hand.
Cyeen spoke up.
"I always wanted to mess up that face of yours. I can't stand your accent."
"The feelin's mostly mutaul." she said back.
"It's pronounced as mutual."
The demon dashed towards her at inhuman speeds. Cyeen parried her cutlass with her own white one, making Jess look at her in suprise.
The captain scoffed, changing her sword type to a kord and striking back. Cyeen answered this with the same type of sword as well, further confusing Jess. The noble knew how to use swords unlike her own soul weapon.
A giant wave hit the ship, making the girls struggle standing up. After getting her balance back, Cyeen changed the white kord in her hands into a claymore. She began rushing at the demon, dishing out countles attacks but all of them were getting blocked.
They clashed swords, trying to throw off the each other's balance. They started sliding to the left of the main deck as their swords were still locked. While sliding, a plank stopped Cyeen, making her fall down. The noble had accidentally slashed the demon's knee as she fell.
Cyeen got back up on her feet. The odds looked like they were in her favor until she heard a whirring sound come towards her. She teleported away and looked at the object that almost hit her. There were four different types of swords lodged into the wood. I see the name now. The four swords started levitating towards Jess. As Cyeen followed them with her eye she was met with the sight of roughly hundred swords levitating behind the demon. The swords began illuminating the main deck in a bone chilling red.
"Neat aren' they! Constructs of someone stronger than you!" yelled the demon pirate.
The swords started spinning one by one. With a slight move of her eyes, Jess began accelerating them towards Cyeen. The trajectories and speeds of the essence swords looked to be random, rendering them impossible to dodge or block.
Cyeen felt terror once again as she stared at the incoming swords. A part of her brain activated as she was given two options. Fight or flee.
The noble teleported behind Jess, trying to throw a side kick. The demon woman caught her leg. However, Jess hadn't realised Cyeen was holding two blasters in her hands as she teleported. Jess's eyes were hit by pure essence as she was knocked back, hitting the gunwales. Cyeen also fell down as the demon let go of her leg.
"Can't aford to joke arund with ya now can I?"
Cyeen raised her eye to the storm-washed rail. A shadow loomed — Jess, her silhouette drenched in moonless dark, standing against the rage of sea and sky. Behind her, thousands of blades hovered in silence, glowing red like the wrath of hell.
Jess closed her hand as each of the swords rushed at Cyeen. The noble couldn't parry all of them, causing her to suffer terrible cuts on her legs and arms. They hurt like hell but it wasn't anything her shield couldn't regenerate.
Cyeen summoned a blaster in her hand before pointing at Jess with the other, causing the blaster to fire. The demon held her hand forward and blocked the beam with ease.
Jess's pupils had started glowing as a sadistic expression formed on her face.
Although, the demon's eyes were not the only thing glowing. There was something in the sky.
A female crew member looked up and saw something glowing more than the stars. What is that? She thought. It seemed to be getting bigger as the milliseconds flew by. Finally, the pirate yelled at the top of her lungs.
"BRACE FOR IMPACT!"
Jess quickly unsummoned her sword and held onto the gunwale. Cyeen on the other hand was not ready let her go yet. She teleported to Jess, grabbing her by the collar and throwing a punch. The demon grabbed the punch easily and twisted her wrist. Cyeen didn't care about the pain as she summoned a knife and stabbed the demon's eye.
Jess grunted in pain. Just as she got ready to strangle the noble, an object crashed into the main deck at the speed of sound, shattering the pirate ship into pieces.
The sky tore open as a dark blue color became dominant. Moving became harder and breathing was impossible. No, that wasn't the sky. They were underwater.
Cyeen kept trying to punch the demon in the face even though they were fully submerged. The demon's hand squeezed her neck right before countless amounts of swords pierced Cyeen. She tried screaming but only air bubbles came out. Cyeen threw one last punch just before blacking out...
A colorless house. A couch in the middle of the room with a television in front of it. What was a television? She sat down. Did she finally bite the dust?
No, not yet. You have to save them first.
Cyeen came back to her senses. She was not underwater anymore as she was being dragged by Jess. The waves were tossing them from one side to another, making them hit the debris, causing tons of bruises unrelated to their fight. Jess realised that Cyeen woke up.
"DO SOMETHIN' MORON!" she yelled as she pointed at her unconscious brother being taken away by the waves.
Cyeen made a loop with her string and threw it towards Zoen. By some miracle, she was successful on the throw. Jess summoned three swords behind Zoen, stabbing him. With a hand movement, she started pulling on the swords.
It wasn't working, the waves were still dragging him away. Jess let out a roar as hundreds of swords accompanied the other three. With a final push, they managed to grab him.
Cyeen swiftly tied all three of them together. There was now one last problem—the extremely spiky rocks they were being thrown against. Cyeen tried coming up with a solution but her thoughts were getting interrupted bb the constant thunders in the background.
Jess pointed upwards, to the place the cliff ended. She opened her mouth but didn't have enough energy to give out orders. Cyeen tried throwing a rope but it fell short. The noble hadn't learned how to summon things mid air. She attempted another throw which had the same result. They were seconds away from being impaled by the spikes. Cyeen closed her eye and held her arm out towards the edge of the cliff.
The three were at the top of the cliff. Jess was trying to perfom cpr to Zoen. Cyeen yelled "MOVE!" as she punched the guy's chest with the bottom of her fist. Zoen woke up spitting out water. After making sure he was alive, Jess went to the edge of the cliff. What she saw was a blonde girl, snapping the neck of one of her crew members with navy blue arms coming out from her back.
The girl looked to be floating as there were other arms holding her up. Jess reached her hand out to the dead pirate, letting out a wail. The girl turned towards the demon with eyes of a cold blooded killer accompanied by the smile of a child.
"You're alive? That's awkwardzzz... Oh, where are my manners? My name's Fragen! Nice to meet you!"