The lantern swung gently on its hook, casting warm golden circles over the walls. The only sound was the hush of waves and the creak of the hull. I had returned to my private quarters, did a little inventory tracking, then laid in the hammock letting the noise of the waves carry me off to sleep. Then—a slurp.
The mimic chest shuddered. Its tongue slowly rolled out like a red carpet of slime. From its yawning mouth, two figures spilled out: one regal and fluid, the other curled up, coated in clear ooze and trembling. Felicity landed first, rising with grace and smug satisfaction, her form shedding the last of the mimic's digestive light. Behind her, still damp with ichor and wetness, Faeluxe collapsed, coughing and gasping.
She trembled as she tried to stand, her wings fluttering once—then folding around her protectively. I stirred in my hammock across the room, shirtless, arm draped across my face from sleep. One eye cracked open. "Did something just get eaten or spat back out?" Felicity turned, glowing slightly from her exertion. "Both."
I sat upright now my eyes locked onto the bedraggled, mucus-covered fae curled on the floor. "Wait. Is that… Faeluxe?"
Faeluxe's voice was hoarse. "I… I didn't agree to this." Felicity crouched behind her, tracing a finger along the curve of Faeluxe's spine parting the ooze, just to make her shiver. Felicity cocked an eyebrow, "Is your memory poor, are you getting cold feet all ready? You agreed to be mine. That includes this." I raised an eyebrow. "Felicity… what did you do?" Felicity's smile was sweet poison. "I saved her. Planted a seed of loyalty. Claimed her.
She gave me the ever-pure ribbon and in return, I gave her back to you. She belongs to us now." I blinked. Faeluxe pulled herself up, her voice still thin but defiant: "I'm not yours." Felicity touched her neck. Faeluxe's body jerked, her chi flaring and then collapsing in a shimmer of blood light. "You are. Try and lie again and it'll itch." I rubbed the bridge of my nose. "So let me get this straight. We've got a soul-eating mimic chest in the corner, a half-feral parasite girl claiming people in my bedroom, and now a magic ribbon-wielding blade master fairy as a pet?" Felicity grinned, flashing a fang. "You forgot: we're on our way back to the Beast Vein Continent."
I let out a low groan and swung out of the hammock.
"I need tea."
The mimic belched again, casually. Faeluxe shivered violently and muttered under her breath: "...I was this close to the throne." Felicity patted her head like a favored lapdog then sat down in the middle of Faeluxes back! "HMRPH!" Faeluxe huffed and grunted. "You make for a better one" Felicity said grinning. I sat the iron kettle over the tiny hearth brazier in other corner of the cabin, steam beginning to rise.
I glanced over my shoulder at Faeluxe, who now sat quietly on a cushion, arms crossed and wings slightly wilted. The ever-pure ribbon still shimmered faintly around her arm—its effects stabilizing her qi, calming her after the mimic's nightmare. Felicity perched beside her, lazily draped over the arm of a carved chair like a cat who had just eaten a canary and claimed the perch. I poured myself a cup and took a thoughtful sip, eyes narrowed.
Then—
A sudden jolt of realization. "Wait a second—Faeluxe, you're a Pirate Lord." Faeluxe looked up cautiously. "…Yes. What of it?" I leaned in, tone sharpening with curiosity and low-key excitement. "You've got a ship." Faeluxe's eyes flicked to Felicity, unsure whether to answer. But Felicity gave a dismissive wave. "Answer him, ribbon girl."
"Yes. I command the Star bite. An enchanted cloud-clipper, gilded hull, phoenix-wood sails. She's mine." I set the cup down. "You mean was yours." Felicity grinned wide. "Smart boy."
Faeluxe bristled. "I am still a Pirate Lord! You can't just—!"
I raised a hand, calmly but firmly. "I don't want to take it from you. I want to use it. If you're with us now, and you want to stay useful, having a second vessel could change everything. We can scout, flank, transport without splitting our main strength." I let the idea settle, my mind racing through tactical implications: trade, escape routes, ambush potential.
"Besides," I added, stepping close enough to look her in the eye, "I might not want the Ribbon. Having a blade master who can't be debuffed? That's extremely advantageous to me. So keep it on." Faeluxe blinked—this part clearly unexpected. Her voice lost some of its edge. "You… trust me?" I smirked. "No. But I trust Felicity's hold over you."
Felicity purred. "Good boy."
Faeluxe's shoulders slumped just slightly. "Then… what now?" I poured a second cup of tea, slid it across the table to her. "Now? We figure out how to summon your ship to rendezvous. We're headed to the Beast Continent. Dangerous waters. I could use a second blade. And a backup plan." Faeluxe picked up the cup, stared at the steam rising. "You're not what I expected from a pirate."
I smiled with a tired shrug. "I'm not a pirate. I'm worse. I'm a cultivator with ambitions." The mimic chest chuckled softly in the corner, a low spectral gurgle. Felicity chimed in, "Then let's raise our black sails. One new crew at a time." The Crimson Typhoon sailed silent and sleek under the pale shimmer of moonlight, its sails trimmed for sea gliding. Below deck, the crew slumbered, some drinking quietly, others sharpening blades under swinging lanterns.
Then the bell rang.
"ALARM! SHIPS ON THE STARBOARD HORIZON!"
The crow's nest screamed again, and Captain Riggs burst from his quarters, already buckling on his coat! I shot up from my meditation mat in my cabin, eyes glowing faintly with animus. Felicity rose beside me like a ripple of blood. Faeluxe gently stirred from her sleep in the Hammock.
The three of us bursted up from the deck when- Then we saw it: Two ships emerged from the fog like sea-phantoms—monstrous in scale, their hulls jagged and glowing with poison qi. The Hammer Hand – a grotesque ironclad monstrosity, shaped like a clenched fist, with massive ramming spikes on the prow and wildfires burning from its decks. The Salt Viper – long, low, and serpentine, its sails stitched with serpent scale patterns. Its keel glowed green as Snake Man channeled his sorcery.
"It's them," Riggs hissed. "Snake Man and Hammerhead…" I narrowed my eyes. "They've come back to die." Suddenly—Snake Man stood at the prow of the Salt Viper, arms outstretched, sleeves flaring like fangs. His qi guided by his intent surged into the sea in tight concentric spirals. The water beneath their ships began to spin—slowly at first, then faster, violently faster. "He's creating a Maelstrom," Riggs shouted. "He's pulling us into his trap!" The sea screamed as it began to spiral into a whirlpool, dragging every ship within its radius into a violent, inescapable gyre.
The Crimson Typhoon, and the enemy vessels were all sucked into the vortex like coins down a drain. As the ships spun in wide, dangerous circles: Cannon fire ripped through the storm—booming eruptions flashing across the waves. The Hammer Hand fired heated spike-cannon shots that exploded on impact, lighting deck planks on fire. Snake Man conjured serpent-shaped water blasts, whipping from the whirlpool walls like vipers leaping from the deep. Captain Riggs took the helm personally, teeth bared. "I'll steer us through this gods-damned storm if it kills me!"
"Ash!" Felicity shouted, holding onto the rigging, hair blowing in the chaos. "They're coming for you!" I stepped to the bow, my aura already flaring. "Then let them come." On the Hammer hand Hammer head bellowed out over the Malstrom, "NO ROCKS THIS TIME, PRETTY BOY!" I stood on the prow of the Crimson Typhoon, the stars above spinning dizzyingly around the growing vortex. I exhaled once. Sharp. Steady. My spirit flickered with clarity. "Faeluxe." She landed beside me, wind coiling around her like blades of air. "You called, Master?" "Fly to the Hammer Hand and cut down Hammerhead. Bring him back alive. I want him to understand who owns the sea now."
Her eyes lit up with cruel delight. She bowed mid-air, the ever-pure ribbon fluttering on her bicep like a banner of war. "With pleasure." And with that, she launched, soaring toward the metal fortress with a flickering afterimage trail of airborne blade illusions behind her. I turned, stepping up onto the railing of the ship. Below me, the Salt Viper glowed sickly green, its hull coiled like a serpent poised to strike.
"It's time I stopped falling behind…I inhaled. Deep. I visualized the feather glyph sigil from my cloud step technique—but not on the soles of my feet this time. I imagined the Feather glyphs attached to my ankles; I stylized the new cloud sigil in my mind attaching the feather sigil to a racing foot. The Feathers of flight essence along my shoulder and arms stirred, resonating. Then—I stepped forward. Glyphs shimmered attached to the inside outside of my ankles, like soft bursts of white wind-light.
Each step was a weightless bounce across the sky. With Felicity's clawed hand in mine, she grinned wide and unfurled her bone-silk wings, rocketing the two of us through the rainstorm toward the enemy deck. Aboard the Salt Viper We landed with impact—my feet cracking the deck timbers, Felicity's wingbeats fanning out blood mist in both directions. Awaiting us were two enemies: Sacilia, a half-mermaid sea-warlockess, with eels coiled around her arms and teeth filed to points. She controlled water leeches and mist illusions.
Rukka, Snake Man's youngest apprentice, a blade-dancer with serpent tattoos that moved along his skin—each marking a venom technique. "Foolish move," Rukka sneered. "We've studied your techniques, Ash. You're predictable." "That so?" I cracked my neck, "Then why are you trembling?" Felicity licked her lips. "I call dibs on the eel girl." Sacilia shrieked, lunging with chains of brine-mist—but Felicity slammed into her, blood tendrils erupting from her spine and wrapping around the deck like roots in search of prey.
I faced Rukka. "You're the one who called Felicity a parasite, right?" "You going to cry about it?" "Nah." My hand clenched. "But she might take your spine." I used the air-walk to weave through Rukka's venom strikes mid-air, launching projectile punches of spirit tethers to anchor Rukka in place! Rukka attempted to counter with his Serpent Style—coiling, whipping, unpredictability—but I countered back with Crimson Organa Sutra, manipulating internal blood flow to resist venom.
Meanwhile, Felicity and Sacilia's battle was a whirl of shrieks, blood chains, and drowning illusions. Felicity's Blood Phage subclass let her drink Sacilia's qi mid-combat—feeding mid-fight! I shattered Rukka's poison fangs with a sky fall heel drop, then slammed him unconscious into the deck with his own tail whip. Felicity peeled Sacilia's eel skin armor off like a sash and left her webbed in gore. "I really like seafood" Felicity said as she consumed Sacilia skin!