The vast sea stretched endlessly as the starry sky layered above as beautifully as a painting. It's many eyes looking down on a large destroyer as it sailed across the vast body of water. On its sides were large amounts of cannons and ballistas which used bolts that were hooked like a harpoon.
The vast void of space danced above the ship as suddenly, it was replaced by the hair of a man. He was a handsome man, wearing a black outfit that contained red chained-lines run across the arms which ended into a short blade to cut it off before the wrists which held four golden stripes across them on each sleeve. He gave off the aura of a protector. Warm, unafraid, and somewhat fatherly for his young age.
He sat in a chair in a large room which seemed to be a captain's cabin. It was lit by a small candle on a desk about three feet to his feet.
The man looked at the clock on the wall before reading the time, "Two'twenty five AM." He muttered to himself before shifting in his chair and muttering to himself again, "Eh, I have enough time to sleep."
Somewhere else in the ship, inside the bridge, sat three men all minding their business.
The first man, the helmsman, who was steering the ship and sometimes took his eye off the wheel to look at a chart.
The navigator looked at the radar and some holograms of maps.
The third man was watching on his phone. Completely and utterly useless when it came to the work needed when on the bridge.
"You meant want to get off that before James comes in and puts you to work." The man on the radar said as he turned to the one on his phone.
The man on the phone smiled before he pointed at his cuff containing two golden stripes with his empty hand, "He can try but I outrank him now."
"At least do something helpful." The helmsman said before returning to staying focused on driving.
The lieutenant sighed before he placed his phone in his pocket as he took an extra pair of binoculars and looked at the sea.
After a short while, the handsome man with blond hair turned to his left before he spoke something with a nonchalant expression, "I think we're gonna crush."
"What, why?" The helmsman said as he seemed to instinctively turn away from where the other was looking.
The man on the radar looked closer to the sonar and refreshed the hologram maps and found no problems.
"I don't see anything Hans." He stated while looking down at this area.
"Well," Hans said before a large boom was heard and a splash could be seen nearby, "a wizard is here and a ship doesn't seem far behind."
"You couldn't have started with that!" Both men yelled as they stared at Hans. To which the handsome man merely chuckled and said, "Well yeah, but I wanted to make y'all mad for putting me to work."
In the sky, a man wearing a pure white robe stood in the sky. His baggy clothing of black pants and white grab flowed in the wind as a sail would.
He merely looked down at the large destroyer under him before he pointed a figure to it and seemed to shoot something.
A large boom resounded as something hit the ship.
Meanwhile, the man who was of captain rank, deemed by the four golden stripes on each cuff, stirred in his sleep as the ship waved away. He took the book from his face and stood up, revealing the back of the coat which read Ryuzo Nakaya, Squad 8 in English, Japanese, Chinese, French, and German. Having them all in small letters in a faint color to where it's enough to read up close but not enough to even see from about ten to fifteen away.
"Oh come on, I was supposed to have actual rest today." He mumbled before he left the room as a burst of dark black fire bloomed in his right hand as a sheathed katana appeared in his right hand. Its white handle mixed well with the light grey saya, which seemed to have dark spots running along its sides, making them seem like sparks of ash that fell on the scabbard.
As Ryuzo left the room, he saw multiple groups of people run around the hall. He moved opposite of them as he yawned before touching the stubble on his face.
"Captain!" The voice of a young man was heard from behind him.
Ryuzo turned around and met a man with a flat face and brownish red hair. His own eyes were the same dark brown and they also carried the scent of tiredness.
"James, is there a problem?" Ryuzo asked as he turned to his subordinate
The man spoke, "The enemy attacker seems to be a single man of Chinese origin and most likely belongs to Erza and seems to belong to the rank of saint to angel sir."
"And from the fact they could send one out here so easily either makes them stupid to send their strongest or they are powerful enough to where such an individual is simply a mere chestpiece." Ryuzo finished the sentence.
"Correct sir." James replied back with.
"Well, as a junior lieutenant I think it's best you take control of info gathering. I need not explain this, should I?" Ryuzo said as he raised an eyebrow at the end.
"No sir, I shall get going sir." James said before he walked past Ryuzo and turned down left in the hallway before a door was heard to be opened.
Ryuzo grasped his hair and smiled wittily before he resumed his progress to the dock of the ship.
At that same moment, in a captain's cabin filled with books and charts, was a man with a cold presence. His long blond hair covered his neck and gave a slight shadow to his cold and damp blue eyes.
His coat was wrapped around his featherweight state. Its darkish purple outside allowed the inner side of the bone white inside to strike more intently.
His dark cross buttoned up shirt mixed with skull motif only seemed to appeal to the look before he snapped his fingers with his right hand which wore a blue half illusory glove that screamed kinship to the tyrant seas.
As he snapped his figures, the room seemed to get colder as the people sitting down in his cabin simply stared at him, before a man of the junior lieutenant rank took out a stack of papers with a shaky hand before Yan grabbed them.
As he began to read through them, another officer spoke up, his long light grey coat seemed to dampen in color by the sheer lack of reaction of the blood haired entity.
"Commander Drezner, I know this report may seem like a horrid decision on our core strategy but I assure you, that sending Sir Zhou Wang Loo of the sixth division is a most wise decision for this plan and-"
"I wish to know who gave the command." Commander Drezner said as he interrupted his subordinate.
The officer was shaken before he replied hesitantly, "It-it was the leader of the eighth division. Miss Emma Michael. She gave the order because she deemed that Sir Zhou was the best unit for a testing attack. He was powerful to flatten ships that pose no threat and make it easier for us while being able to hold back ships that pose major attackers on the enemy side unless they took their heavy hitters."
The commander continued looking through the paper he was given, scanning them repeatedly like how one would a newspaper.
He stopped as he placed down on the table. Before he adjusted his collar and spoke, "Leave this room and send her in your stead."
"Yes sir." Everyone there said before they filed out.
A few minutes passed as the clock hand ticked again and again until the dampness of the commander's eyes seemed to disappear as he grabbed at them with an empty hand. A faint wetness now on the surface of his fingers.
He sighed before he heard a knock at the door.
"Come in." He said before he stared straight at the door and who would enter.
A young woman of western europe descent entered. She wore the same outfit as the men before her, a light grey military uniform which covered the whole torso and legs. White gloves and black boots alongside a sailor's hat colored in tints of silver.
Her brown eyes looked a bit afraid as she looked at the man before her.
She swallowed her saliva before speaking up, "I take it that you did not like my decision of sending Zhou Wang Loo into combat?" She said as the room seemed to enter a faint silence.
"No," Commander Drezner said as he placed his fingers on the table in front of him. "the reason is quite simple. You disregarded my authority over the fleet and this ship's crewmembers especially. You took someone from another division and ordered them into combat with an unknown variable. Finally, you took a newly advanced individual into combat. Someone whose mental and spiritual fortitude are not as high as they should be which makes them weaker overall and greatly countered by controllers of the mind nature. A nature that every combatant in this war is basically required to have a mid rank or higher. I don't think I have seen a single ship without at least two on board. Having just one is lucky until you realize it's a high ranked one.
Can you understand why I would dislike your decision on sending our new demigod into conflict?" He said as he sifted his hands.
The young lady simply glubbed before she grasped her gloved hand and spoke up, "Yes I can see why this would be a problem. But sir with all due respect-"
"Slience Ms. Michael, I'll have you know that if I was any other commander with a reputation similar to mine than I would have court-martialed the very second I heard about this. I'm pretty sure everyone but Captain Nayaka Ryuzo from the UN's eighth squad of controllers and Tao Di Ling who leads Druhsin's main naval unit would do this. So count yourself lucky I'm being lenient. In response to your action you're only forced to feed the controller beast we have captured downstairs. To the right of the boiler room. Go to Mr Standten of the third division to get details. Now go and let me clean up your mess."
"Yes sir." She said as she bowed before turning back and leaving the cabin.
The lady gave a sigh of relief on the outside of the door before walking away.
Ryuzo looked at the vast ocean as he raced across the ship. No one but him seemed to be moving as he passed hundreds of people that belonged to his crew and looked at the man in the sky.
As he sprinted across the area, he suddenly felt a pressure not from the wizard, but a few miles out. An aura composed of wood and strings. He knew only one person whose aura felt such a way, Yaz Drezner. The current owner of the marionetteist title.
Realizing this, Ryuzo knew that he needed to remove the wizard immediately. As if he didn't, Yaz could use him to switch places.
Ryuzo unsheathed his katana, which revealed a blade composed of pure black fire that emitted only a faint light. He jumped up and cut blasts of the wind in the air before he slashed into the person shooting them. Though when he did cut into Zhou, no blood came. In fact, no wound even appeared, but it seemed it had the intended effect.
He then created black chains also composed of flames and wrapped them around him before throwing him down to the ship.
He then created a small platform made air to jump off and return back to the ship. As he landed, he sheathed his sword and created a coat rack. Grabbing the chain from mid air, he wrapped around the rack and stared at Zhou. As he did, time seemed to resume and Zhou seemed shocked as he thought back on what was happening.
'What the, wasn't just in mid half. When did I-' He stopped as he realized who was standing in front of him. The young man touched the stubble on his face before he asked a question, "So, how you feeling?"
Ryuzo stated as Zhou realized what had happened, 'Just what did I do to get a guy who can run faster than light on me. I'm a threat but not to true false god. In fact I'm not a threat to anyone above rank 8–He mostly just sensed Commander off in the distance and maybe thought I could be paratized.'
Seeing that he was outmatched, he didn't try to move. But even if he did, he couldn't, as the nerves in his body were cut down and burned.
"Well, there goes my usefulness." He muttered to himself as he realized his lack of ability.
Ryuzo, looking down at his prisoner, made sure the attacker was now immobilized. He then looked away and stared at the setting moon. His short hair flowing in the soft breeze; clearly not caring that he was ignored. He couldn't help but smile before he remembered that carnage that war brought.
"I don't know, but this pain feels different. It feels more empty and hollow. No one here is even fighting for purpose nor for survival. We'll all be sick of this war, aren't we?"
He said as he looked behind himself to Zhou, giving him a side eye before he continued, "You know it's just better to speak yes. I could just kill you if I wanted too."
Zhou interrupted, "But you won't. I know that you're a good man in this worthless violence. A stubborn one too. You don't enjoy killing and wish to save. And even if I did die, wouldn't dying be better than to live in a world where such death misery takes place?"
Ryuzo simply smiled curtly before turning back. He jumped away, most likely off to combat. Leaving Zhou to himself, who simply stayed put there in chains. Not even trying to get out as he watched the battle field.
At this moment, Hans waved his hand as a wave of blinding sunlight appeared and lit up the sky. While at the next second, a large tide wave of water rose up and swallowed it whole; before a dragon composed of pure water ran and tired to consume the blond who seemed to weave away from reality only to appear above the wave and shoot and blinding sun which created a hole in the large before it filled and tentacles made of water came to grab him as he shark flew out to eat him.
Suddenly, he changed places as Ryuzo now held him in his right while he had his sword out. Its blade now seemed to be pure blazing black fire. Something that seemed more like a shadow than shadow and flame-like than actual fire. Even though this weapon was like this, It still lightly lit up the area where they stood as the water calmed down. Giving a faint purplish light that barely did anything.
As they stood, somewhere far under the sea, a man held his chest as a large strike nearly cut him in half. Blood damped his blue pirate coat as he heaved out heavily before making a sneer. It was by the mercy of God that he was breathing. Both figurative and literally.
He breathed heavily as he held his chest. He looked up and felt a hand on his shoulder. Turning around, he saw a puppet version of what looked like Commander Drezner.
"Return back to the fleet and get Cornwall to replace you."
"Ah-yes sir." He said before he turned into a jet of water and rapidly moved away north while the puppet stood there and looked up.
The wooden puppet looked at Ryuzo while Ryuzo looked back. The latter with a serious expression while the former carried a smirk of confidence.
"Yo, I'm still here." Hans said as he stared up at Ryuzo.
"Oh sorry." The middle aged man said as he placed the younger man down on the floor before the former was suddenly sent flying as he was attacked by the puppet.
Hans looked back as he felt the sonic boom hit him a moment later before quickly composing himself and attacking a wizard from the enemy side that was approaching with a large ball of blinding sunlight.
Ryuzo flew through the air from the force of the blow before he allowed himself to flip in the air. As he did so, it seemed like the waves of the ocean and the wind of the air stopped, as if time had slowed down.
As Ryuzo's feet were about to touch the salty water of the Pacific, a large platform composed of pure blackened fire suddenly appeared beneath his feet; allowing him to stand above the water and enter into a fighting stance.
Ryuzo slashed at the incoming marionette with a diagonal upward cut from right to left before having to block a brutal hook kick to his right temple with his right hand. After doing this, he side-stepped backwards and slashed diagonally upwards to the puppet at its right side, delivering massive damage to it.
As the two pieces of the wooden puppet fell, time seemed to resume as the water's waves and flow of wind came back; allowing Ryuzo to feel the air as his hair went with the breeze.
As he stood there, a large blinding sun suddenly appeared in his vision.
Seeing this, he ran back to the ship, creating a road composed of fire to allow to walk across the vast ocean.