It was like he had just taken a chunk out of a monster rather than a boat. Mash reveled in the feeling, trying to understand what exactly the power was. Mash could feel Priscilla’s focus shift to the energy he was getting and wanted to do the same. He held off and forced himself to deal with the now-unprotected pirate captain.
Mash didn’t really know much about pirates, but the large-bellied man before him was not what he was expecting. The man wore a dark coat that left his stomach completely exposed. His belly looked bloated with how perfectly round it was. That wasn’t the odd part. It was his long white beard that ran all the way down to his middle. The man was bald and didn’t even have eyebrows either.
His expression was not one of fear or surprise, but anger. The top of his had turned crimson as he radiated anger. The fact that Mash couldn’t wipe the excited grin from his face probably wasn’t helping. The captain raised a thick arm out, his fingers outstretched as if to catch something. Mana from the ship polled into his arm. Mash expected some kind of blast or beam. It seemed like everyone had a skill that did something like that. Mash didn’t expect the mana to slip through his fingers. It had condensed in his hand into a liquid that seeped between his fingers and fell onto the floor.
[It’s not water magic. What is it?]
Mash sent the message to Priscilla, trying to get her attention. She was focused on the energy he had gotten from eating a chunk of the ship and was slow to answer him.
[It is gravity.]
What? He stared at the mana that ran down his hand like water and wondered how that was gravity. It looked like water to Mash, but gravity magic wasn’t exactly something you could hold. Mash was somewhat curious about the magic but wanted to give the man the chance to surrender first.
“Hey, captain, uh, guy, just give up. Tell me why you’re stealing pillows and blankets, I might be able to help if you need them.”
The pirate chortled, laughing loudly in a very unique manner. The laugh didn’t even sound real. It was like the man was just repeating the same word over and over again in a chant.
HAR! HAR! HAR!
The noise quickly went from amusing to annoying. Thankfully, the captain stopped after a few moments, although his response was quick in coming.
“What’re ye expecting of me, some sob story for yer sorry ass. Nay, I be a pirate. My boys are just looking for the best bedding for when we get the women in that fort there.”
His voice was surprisingly high, reminding Mash of the squealing of a pig. And despite the grotesque answer the man had given, Mash felt relief at hearing it. He didn’t need to try and fix anything and could just fight them. Behind him, he heard Lisa mutter something.
“I’m sorry, I was wrong.”
It was an apology, and an unnecessary and undeserved one. Lisa had just been trying to stop him from attacking people that didn’t deserve it. She was surprisingly optimistic in regard to other people, but that never seemed to extend to herself. He wanted to tell it wasn’t a big deal, and that she had done the right thing, but the pirate didn’t give him the chance.
As the captain finished speaking, he turned his hand over. The water-like mana spilled from his hand, but it dissipated before hitting the ship. Mash could track what the spell was doing, and he felt the space around him vibrate. Then a weight fell onto his back, attempting to make him bow his head. It felt like someone had tied great weights to his limbs, but he could withstand it. He didn’t even need to lessen the effect; he just withstood the meager force of the pirate’s spell.
Mash realized then; just how weak the man was. The pirate felt like he was over level 100, but his power didn’t match his level.
“Man, you’re weak. Are you cursed?”
Mash knew that he probably shouldn’t talk to the man, but his curiosity beat his caution. The pirate’s mocking smile vanished. In its place was a rictus of anger and fury, and Mash could vaguely hear the man snarled. The pirate didn’t seem to take insults well.
“You damned brat! I’ve killed monsters far bigger than ye!”
He shouted the words at the top of his lungs, though, with his high-pitched voice, it sounded more like a shriek.
Mash grinned, thinking about just how true that statement was. That reaction only seemed to infuriate the man more. Mash was just glad that he could just deal with them without worrying about the repercussions.
[May I try?]
The message surprised him, cutting off the magic he had been preparing. Priscilla had literally never asked him that before, so he was inclined to let her do it. Especially, when she sent him the reason.
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[You really think you’re ready?]
Her affirmation came more as a feeling than a reply, but it was enough. Mash took a small step backward. As he did so, one of Priscilla’s bodies separated from him. Except this one looked nothing like a snake. Her body seemed to peel away from his as if he had left an afterimage behind him. However, the obvious differences between the two of them were obvious. For one, Priscilla was a girl.
Priscilla adopted the appearance of a grown woman, one that looked older than him by a few years. She had straight white hair, that had a rainbow sheen across its pristine surface. They had practiced this before, and she was able to make herself a set of clothes as she separated from him. The first time had been really awkward. This time, she wore a one-piece dress, made entirely of black scales, that hung loosely on her slender frame. With her pale white skin and hair, the black dress stood out like a black star in a white night.
She glanced back at him using the body, revealing eyes of swirling rainbow lights that were just as creepy as his own inhuman gaze. The one thing Priscilla did that was odd to him, was change her size. In her human form, Priscilla stood nearly eight feet tall, easily dwarfing him in height.
Mash was curious to see what Priscilla would do. He had given her permission to make whatever forms she wanted, and she had taken that to heart. She had begun exploring a wide variety of forms, some of which were proving harder to control than others. She had tried to become a spider the other day, but an insect was a bit too weird for her to control.
Priscilla turned to face the pirate, who looked completely confused. The man gathered himself and licked his lips as he took in Priscilla’s appearance.
“So now you're giving me a present?”
Priscilla’s humanoid form was beautiful for all that she looked strong. Mash couldn’t really see it though. When she first showed him her human form, Mash realized that Priscilla was closer to him than even his family was. She was basically his sister as far as he was concerned.
Unlike Mash, who tended to banter a little in a fight, Priscilla just fought. She raised one hand; palm open as if to stop the pirate. The captain couldn’t see what she was doing, but Mash could, and he wondered if he should stop her. Mash didn’t care for the pirate, but a lightning bolt in that direction might hit the town. She didn’t do that though.
Priscilla swung her fingers down, and blue sparks danced across her hand for a moment. It was obviously a gesture meant to mimic what the pirate had done earlier. Mash could only track what happened next because of his domain. The pirate captain had no chance. A streak of white light cut through the ship, striking the man like the judgment of the very moon. The light flooded the room, and hot air washed over him. A half second later, the roar of thunder echoed from the room. The sound sent ripples through the ocean’s waves.
The pirate captain somehow survived that, and stumbled forward, his skin and clothes now covered in deep burns. The burns covered the man’s body as though he had been thrown into an open furnace. The smell of burnt hair was gross. Priscilla had literally burned the man’s beard off, along with a good portion of his skin and clothes.
“I’ll kill you!”
The words felt empty coming from a man in his condition. The captain’s whole body flashed white. An instant later, he was behind Priscilla, his sword swinging to cut through her neck. Mash had been watching the man’s mana, but this wasn’t magic. At least, not the kind that used mana.
Priscilla raised her arm to block the swing. Surprisingly enough, the blade cut through her arm with little resistance and sheered through her neck an instant later. Red blood chased the blade. The pirate turned and glared at Mash, a savage grin spreading across his face.
“Get er now, kid? Nobody attacks me fir free on my ship.”
Mash ignored the pirate and sent a message to Priscilla instead.
[You made the same mistake as me.]
That was more of an insult than anything the pirate could. He could feel Priscilla’s shame and embarrassment and nearly laughed at her for it. She had pointed out more than once how his arrogance had cost him, but now she had just done the same thing.
[May I have one more try?]
Mash nodded, creating another of Priscilla’s bodies for her to use. As the new body stepped out, Mash felt the drain on his energy and knew that he probably couldn’t do it more than a few times.
[Last chance, I want to have some energy for the rest of them.]
Priscilla ignored the comment, and he felt her focus on the fight properly this time. She really didn’t like his comment.
“That weren't a summon?”
The captain must’ve assumed that Priscilla was some kind of summoned creature and that killing her body would actually affect Mash. The pirate’s face went a bit pale upon seeing an exact replica of the person he had just ‘killed.’ He took a step backward, his head swinging around as if searching the room for something that could help. None came. Priscilla raised her hand again. The pirate backpedaled to the opposite wall of the ship.
“Now, now, now. Let’s all calm.”
The captain never finished his statement. Two cannons, like the ones Mash had seen outside, appeared at the man’s side. They appeared in a shimmering stream of light like a mirage and were connected to the ship and were pointed directly at Priscilla. They were already charged and fired as soon as they materialized.
Two beams of radiant light spewed from the mouth of the cannons. The lights struck a translucent wall that Priscilla had made by solidifying the air and rippled across the shield. The light wrapped around the shield surrounding Priscilla, but not getting through her shield. Mash wondered how the ship was withstanding the cannons.
Something dark cut through the beams of light. A thin blade of dark energy that felt like light magic to Mash’s senses. The magic felt similar to the cannons. Yet, the attack consumed the light as it split the beams in two. The captain panicked as the blade of darkness swallowed the world around it. The wood of the ship beneath him rose to intercept the blade. The blade slid around the wood, avoiding it entirely and cutting through the man. The captain fell forward, his body split into two pieces by magic. Mash was about to ask Priscilla about what that magic was, but before he got the chance, she attacked again. A wooden snake extended from his hand, and swallowed the bisected man whole, crushing his body between two slabs of wood. Blood gushed from within the snake’s mouth spilling down to stain the ship.