“Flouting the rules of the Imperial Mages Guild is one thing, but you practice blood magic too?” Irduth sounded almost hurt.
Six’s anger blossomed like a forest fire and he pushed Irduth back.
“Rebuke Of Ky-”
“Just fucking try it!,” Six bellowed, breaking Irduth’s focus and cancelling his spell causing the priest’s scowl to twitch from the pain of the miscast instead.
Six calmed down, breathing deep and centering himself before continuing. “I don’t see why that matters, breaking the rules is breaking the rules. What kind of magic I practice shouldn’t matter.”
Kali Kik hissed and slapped her tail upon the deck. “Six, you insult us and you endanger those around you. Blood magic is a known danger.”
Six held up placating hands. “Thank you and I am aware of the danger.” He smiled. “Besides, I just saved us with blood magic and I’m fine. Honestly, it kinda feels good.”
That didn’t stop everyone from voicing their displeasure, everyone except Copperback who seemed absolutely tickled at the idea of knowing a bloodmage.
In the end it didn’t matter. Six would only promise his caution but not his abstinence. Perhaps if he didn’t desperately need power he wouldn’t touch it, but he knew life would one day put such demands on him.
Fate demanded the eventualities life brought.
So, Six ignored Irduth’s continued whinging, instead electing to check out the loot.
He pulled out Kotagan’s Encyclopedia of Esoterism and identified the loot he took.
- Giant Sea Strider Chitin -
Rank: Enhanced
Rarity: Rare
Weight - 12 KG
Durability 1500/500
Traits: Material, Reagent
- Giant Sea Strider Mandibles -
Rank: Enhanced
Rarity: Rare
Weight - 10.4 KG
Durability 1500/500
Traits: Material, Reagent
- Mana Core -
Rank: Enhanced
Rarity: Unusual
Defense - 100
Weight - 0.025 KG
Durability 1599/1600
Traits: Crystalized Mana, Material, Reagent, Catalyst.
The sea strider bits were labeled as materials and reagents but Six was sure he could use the mandibles as weapons. The enhanced core was nice and he added that to his personal stock.
He checked his prompts to see he gained two levels in inspect and to his surprise, a level in mindfulness.
Five days ago they had sailed out of Olisrosa down south east, taking the rivers out to the coast, they would almost have to circumnavigate over half the continent to arrive in the north, so it meant alot of coastal sailing. Six had made multiple air golems that could produce wind for the sails, the crew on shifts for control of the golems. The golems were simple things, made with air and formed into shifting balls of wind. With these their overall travel time should be cut down by almost half, from six weeks to just over three.
A week and a half was still a long time to be together and while Six wasn’t exactly a social kinda guy being around people in a confined space let you get to know them.
Six learned about some of their stories.
Narhurin was a bastard son, born to a tsunken aelf mother. He grew up in his fathers estate and studied combat, he was intended to be an additional bodyguard to his older brother, the rightful heir. Their father and his brother became Count.
With that promotion came her.
Suldae Morel. A tsunken aelf sent from Zleen to be his brother’s personal shadow.
The love that blossomed between them was restrictive and chaste, secret. They never progressed far. When his brother discovered their mutual interest, he flew into a rage but didn’t kill Narhurin, as was his right as a noble, but instead had him exiled to obscurity.
Nar loved her, and when the betrayal of the tsunken aelves occurred, he knew she was the one who had killed his brother.
Dark, but the man in black dragon full plate was smiling nonetheless.
Indigo was a rich kid from a rich martial family. Basically a private military trust fund kid. He was in the group because his parents wanted him to have a safe deployment, so he got placed with the “undesirables,” as he called them.
Copperback’s tale involved a small town auction that landed them another small wrecked boat that Jeffums fixed up, they sailed away a boat richer. Some salvaging of the cargo of a merchant they were transporting when he died with no heirs. Some fighting pirates and culling koatl. With the profits they earned from the small victories they got a small loan and that got them the big boat.
It was nice to see friends on the come up.
The next day they encountered a small fleet of three ships attempting to take Amos’s new ship. With the use of the air golems they could easily outrun them but both Keegan and Amos asked Six to fight the scum. The less pirates on the waters the better, they said.
Six had to agree.
He quickly dictated the plan which was for everyone to fight like they usually do, but he had Amos and the other air golem operators break their balls of wind off from pushing the Dancing Racer and instead had them move to the second and third pirate ships in the small fleet to slow them down, They wanted to stagger the approach of these ships as much as they could
The first one came within range and everyone unloaded on it. However, these pirates were prepared, lifting shields and increasing in speed.
Keegan was firing a longbow and every released arrow was met with a distinct short scream.
Six felt he might be able to scuttle the lead ship with a well placed mana spear but they would lose all potential of recovering anything. Also, there was a selfish side of himself that wanted to test himself in battle with intelligent combatants again. It had been too long.
He analyzed as many pirates as they approached.
Ian Gobbs
Human
Level 4
Ruvush
The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
Orc
Level 3
Peter Tuile
Human
Level 1
The pirates were a mixture of people. They wore simple clothes and little armor, with basic weapons and shields. Most were level 3 or under, just like Copperback’s crew, but a few were a bit higher.
They took some return fire while Six hung back. Applying vital surges with his earliest enchantment creations, using the last bit of their power on healing the officers and the crew. That didn’t stop Six taking an opportunity every now and then to take a snipe with Lump, picking off the odd pirate or two.
The first ship began their boarding operation tossing out grapples and pulling the Dancing Racer in so they could transfer between ships. It wasn’t that easy as the pirates were met by the officers and crew of Amos. They surged against each other, the press of people becoming like a fluid as they compressed, each change in intention causing ripples to undulate throughout the mass of bodies.
Six felt his heart pound in his chest, his fingers began to tingle. The anticipation wound him up like a rope under tension. His body strained at the leash of his mind, wanting to push itself. He began to smile a bit.
The battle was well underway when the second ship reached them and began to toss their boarding grapples onto the Dancing Racer. Lashing themselves right where Six wanted them.
It is time.
Six laid down his buff complex
Zephyrs Embrace!
Strone Skin!
Strength of the Oak!
Vital Surge!
Each buff washed over him with pleasing feelings of power and his body hummed with a newfound power.
He centered himself and retreated to his mind, leaving the battle for but a moment. For just an instant of time Six visualized the coming storm.
Then he leapt over the railings, across the gulf, and towards the enemy ship, his massive bound far more than any normal man’s. He sailed far but not yet enough, he bridged the remaining gap with a single puff of cloud, however by then the pirate archers were reacting and a sloppy volley launched up from the deck of the overcrowded pirate ship.
Six flared his Breastplate of Spiral Fury, an invisible force fell upon everything in the near vicinity, accelerating all incoming projectiles away from him. But it wasn’t enough, more projectiles yet came so he blasted a Force Wave to send the rest fishtailing away. The bubble of force expanding outwards, glittering reality imperfections rolling out into nothingness.
Then, he landed and for a moment everything went quiet as the poorly equipped pirates realized that a magical armored killing machine was amongst them.
“You done fucked up.”
Six revved his saw and swung. The blood flowed.
Left and right his saw bit, cutting through pirates. It screamed and ripped as he performed a Double Strike and unleashed two tearing arcs around himself, the pirates unable to do anything other than be torn to shreds.
Lump reached out and pulled the blood towards itself, collecting the lost blood as Six simultaneously unloaded blood dart after blood dart into the massed crewmen.
They broke, trying to flee to the edges of their ship, for some reason this angered Six who bellowed his frustration at those who made this task harder than it already needed to be.
“HAAAAAAaaaaa!”
Six felt the pressure rise as he saw the true challenge approach, the pirate Captain was running along the top deck.
A grinning drunk with a long sword and daggers he seemed to gain in speed as he spun towards Six, his bare feet landing in perfect precision, just where they needed to be for this dance. He was beautiful and wore soft clean clothes under his fine leather armor.
Six tossed a couple of Ember Strikes but the dude just cut them in half.
Kercio
Human
Level 11
Kercio tossed a dagger as he closed the last little bit of distance but it pinged off Six’s better made armor, the armored enchanter didn’t even feel it.
Six responded by bringing his saw down in a primal overhead swing. The Captain cut in with his longsword and dagger, aiming his blades to get caught up in the chainsaw teeth and he caught the weapon, he used that grip to attempt a disarm but a light rev and the saw’s chain flew around the bar forcing the Captain’s hands wide.
The sudden and abrupt movement put Kercio off balance. It was only a moment of recovery but a moment that SIx took advantage of, sneaking a boot in and kicking the man in the stomach sending the pirate sprawling across the deck.
Six followed after and the Captain barely managed to fend him off with his blade.
No matter, Six flared the chain speed and it pulled, dragging the longsword and the man towards Six.
The slippery Captain adapted quickly and went with the pull, allowing it to draw him closer and went to slide under Six.
Six waited until the man was directly beneath him and countered with a Force Wave. Kercio bounced off the deck with the full force of the blast. The wind pressed out of him, the captain gasped in pain midair.
Six brought him down with a stomp that produced a satisfying crunch as the man’s ribs cracked. Kercio screamed and tried to escape the armored boot that pinned him but Six let loose with a volley of blood darts at the man’s face. The darts exploding in glass like shatters of pink mist, each impact shaking the man’s head. He screamed, incapacitated in pain, and when the mist cleared the pulpy mess that once was his face only gurgled.
Six aimed his next strike carefully and activated a maneuver.
Precise Strike.
His boot came down and the pirate's head exploded into a circle of red gore and white flecks of skull.
Six chased down the pirates remaining on the deck of the ship, cutting them down with brutal sweeps of his chainsaw.
He was experimenting, playing with how the saw felt and learning what it felt like to load it up on flesh. How it felt swinging into a step and hitting someone.
It cut flesh like butter.
Six only had a few more to end when his feet left the ground as the ship underneath bucked. He fell hard to the swaying deck but quickly rolled to his feet, his armor clanking with the swift movements. He quickly understood what happened, the third pirate ship had rammed the second and already boarding grapples were latched on. Then came even more pirates.
Six chugged two potions Indigo had given him and reset his buff stack. Lump had been absorbing the blood of the slain this entire time and was full.
He could see the trepidation in the steps of the fresh pirates as they approached. The motley band should feel fear as Six felt none analyzing them, finding more similarly leveled fodder.
Aken
Human
Level 3
Palok
Halfling
Level 2
Roto Tuntun
Vrill
Level 4
Strong people no doubt, not to take lightly, but their role here was clear. Fodder. Just desperate weaklings sent to tire him. There was no reason for him to entertain them.
Six leapt above them all, aimed at the third ship. Those who mattered would be there, and sure enough.
There was a grizzled man and a woman with a wooden wand mid cast.
She finished her incantation and a pillar of wind was conjured and blasted at Six.
He saw it coming and smiled. He lifted his gauntlets and they shone white. He chopped the pillar of air in half with his nullifying gauntlets as they emanated a white glow, spending 4 of 29 charges. Both of his targets looked taken aback as he broke her magic but Six still needed one more jump to put him next to them.
He pushed off and spawned a cloud, leaping towards them. He could see the mage begin to cast something again but Six interrupted her with a blood dart from Lump.
The shard of crystalized blood slammed into her shin and she let out a yelp, leaping back but not before the grizzled man pulled out a dark grey longsword and a large round steel banded shield from nowhere then interposed himself between her and Six. Shoulda had that out to begin with. No matter.
Six landed on the third ship and knew that this pair were the leaders of this operation
Ramajon Tona
Human
Level 12
Amlin Rask
Human
Level 11
Excellent, a challenge.
He needed to negate the numbers disadvantage and that meant killing that woman immediately.
The man peeked over the lip of his shield and Six immediately sent him back behind with a blood dart that pinged harmlessly off the man’s shield.
Six could hear the woman begin to chant something and knew there was no time to think, only kill.
Six threw himself forward, chainsaw whirring and tried to cut through the man but Ramajon batted the screaming saw aside with his blade and shield bashed Six back into the pirate fodder that had now returned back. Their captain’s success at dealing with Six’s chainsaw emboldening them, that was wrong.
As the lower leveled pirates shuffled closer Six exploded with a leap and sliced a wide arc between them, cutting a dozen in twain. Landing with a ripping sweep of the saw he bisected another four, the torsos flipping away from their legs and blood bursting into clouds of red.
“HAAAAaaaaa!” Six bellowed his rage onto the battlefield. He pointed at the fodder that remained. “The peanuts shall sit the fuck DOWN!”
The pirates hesitated in approaching and Six turned to the completion of a moderate spell.
From behind Ramajon, Amlin Rask the windmage yelled out her fury and from her hands came tens of windblades. She shouted, “Flowering Wind Blossom!”
Six’s gauntlets glowed white and he felt his control fall over the spell which he curved to send at the grizzled man Ramajon.
Ramajon flinched in preparation of taking the windblades but relaxed as Amlin conjured three waves of wind that soaked the blades.
Ramajon took that as his opportunity to pressure Six with shield and sword. He waded forth, thrusting and cutting at the enchanter, putting Six on the back foot and he dealt with maneuvers and pure skill.
Six could almost stand against the more experienced warrior but then Amlin began to slip in the periodic wind blade.
Six felt himself begin to struggle to defend himself and knew he had to change the game.
So he let himself be hit off balance by one of the Captain’s shield bashes and fell with it, in line with the woman. Then, launched himself with the slypheon greaves right at her.
As Six flew at her she tried once again to push him away with a blast of air but once again he cut through it with a nullifying swipe.
It was but the slightest graze of his saw and he removed her leg in a bloody spray of red. She screamed and collapsed to the ground, grasping at the blood spewing stump.
Six rolled and came up to fend off the increased assault of the grizzled Ramajon.
Six fired off a few blood darts from Lump but the man hid behind his shield and traded with Six despite the harassment fire. Six threw out a fending slash that the man deflected easily and then he lunged forward, stabbing.
For a moment it seemed like Six was about to receive a terrible blow but Ramajon’s eyes met Six’s and they were cast in confusion as a humanoid form materialized behind the man.
Aclo appeared, dual daggers slamming down firmly into the man’s neck. The Captain let out a pained grunt before Aclo tore his blades out with a decapitating flourishing pirouette, the head of the man rolled and the burly body collapsed.
Aclo looked at Six with a little bit of scorn. “Looks like you needed some help.”
Six felt like he had it but it would have been close and Aclo made an iffy thing into a sure thing. He gave Aclo a nod. “Thank you, I appreciate it.”
The woman screamed and clawed at her bleeding stump before reaching with a trembling hand into her bandolier and withdrawing a vial of some sort. She tried to drink it but Aclo walked up, pulled it from her hands and casually cut her throat.
Six watched impassively as the woman’s strength left her body and she began to hyperventilate and shiver, she gasped and grasped weakly at the air.
Then she deflated and became motionless, a static corpse.
Six stood there, looking at it. There was a low buzz in his mind, a feeling more than anything. Six had tried to avoid this part of himself, the part that sought destruction of disease. It was too… inhumane. He instinctually held on to the old ways. Despite that, those set of behaviours, of pacified socialization, they had eroded so quickly.
They had been so… illusory.
That realization brought a feeling of dread, a feeling of impending doom.
A feeling that everything was working as intended.