Rusa leapt over the railing and went soaring towards the tentacle. She drew her sword once more and stabbed it deep into the side, just beneath the boney blade. Fortunately, it buried all the way up to the hilt or she would have had to rapidly perform some new calculations. With a slight tug, though mostly gravity, the girl slid down the spire of flesh, ripping through it with the blade of her own.
Eventually, they got to an angle where it would no longer be feasible. That, or she would keep going, rip through the bottom, and be sent plunging into the water; a fate she’d rather avoid. So instead, she pulled out her sword and set her feet down on the tentacle, testing its firmness and redoing some calculations. Rusa then sprinted forward, rushing along the curl of the tentacle. After having confidence in the material, she dug her sword’s edge back into the flesh, doing as much damage as possible.
When she’d cleared the other side of the ship, the princess let her momentum carry her as far as possible back up the curl until she could go no higher. Then, she performed one final stab, just a quick jab to provide a handhold. From there, she pushed off hard, twisting her body and stretching back towards the ship, remembering to not leave her blade embedded.
It looked like she wasn’t going to make it, just shy of the railing. But then a hand swooped down, clasping the girl’s wrist. Nachi tugged, wrenching Rusa up over the side and the two fell back onto the deck, the princess collapsing onto her savior.
The Fiend already had commands loaded to get back to her feet, but had to insert a surprise line when she saw Nachi’s lips start to move and anticipated what was coming—not wanting to be rude.
“Y’know, Rusa. If it wasn’t for this crazy situation, and the fact that it was your wedding night, I think I’d ask you out for a drink after this.”
The girl’s brain prepared a few responses, but she quite literally didn’t have time due to the pause. She had to confirm the effects of her attack before anything else or it would throw off her entire schedule. Once Rusa had scrambled back to her feet, she watched the Squordfish finally process the attack it had just received.
No longer a threat, the tentacle wrenched open in pain and then withered back down into the water. But before it was out of sight entirely, Drim suddenly appeared on the blade for just a moment, a green portal opening and vines coming out. He then vanished before the sword completely submerged.
Clearly, Phon was teleporting him now to further their side of the plan. When Rusa went back to evaluating their situation, she saw him pop up a few more times on other tentacles, repeating his actions. Before she could even wrap up her next plan of defense, Drim suddenly appeared on the deck of the ship.
He didn’t say anything at first, possibly not capable of it since he was wearing a mask made of some kind of leaves. Rusa immediately assumed that it must have been to alleviate the allergy symptoms—proven correct when Drim rushed over to the still-collapsed Mallea and adorned her with a second mask.
“I’m good to go,” he then informed the two other women as he walked to the back of the ship and let his hand glow on the rear railing. “The only hitch is that we need to get the tentacles as close together as possible, or the monster might break free before the snag. I’ll be draining it at the same time so it struggles to fight back.”
“Well, I have an idea how,” Rusa volunteered herself for something stupid, the exact details she’d hold off on mentioning. “But we’d need someone else to pilot the ship.”
“I can do it,” Mallea dragged herself back upright, her breathing steadily getting smoother.
“Alright then,” the princess readied herself mentally, already giving new orders to Tize. She got a bit of surprised feedback from the translucent partner, but Rusa reassured him that she was willing. “Drim, go ahead and start draining. Nachi, go back to firing random shots to keep its attention until we’re in position. And Mallea, get us directly overhead.”
They all nodded in agreement, Drim in particular willing to allay leadership to her given the circumstances—an odd bit of roll reversal. As they flew closer towards the beast, it remained wary and went on the defensive, just trying to keep itself safe from the cannon fire. It only tried to attack once more when it was met in kind.
With the monster directly below them, Rusa dove off the ship. She angled her sword beneath her body, aiming directly at the beast's face. It was impossible for the monster to not notice, since she was directly in its line of site.
And the Squordfish was forced to retaliate, doing so as the courageous bride had expected. Each of its tentacles started flying in her direction, attempting to catch or kill her, or at the very least, knock her out of the way and protect its vital spots. Then tips of all ten blades converged, like a spiky door closing right beneath her.
But the monster was too slow, and Rusa slipped through the cracks before the swords could collide. She kept her trajectory, needing the monster’s flesh to cushion her fall, but aimed slightly away from its face now, not wanting to permanently maim the beast, if that was even possible.
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A few feet before impact, Drim suddenly appeared in her view. He was swinging on a vine, having jumped off one of the tentacles himself and was swooping in to catch her—arm stretched and ready. All she had to do was reach out and take his hand.
But the next thing she knew, she was back on the deck of the ship, landing with a hard thud that rattled her to her core. Drim also appeared and kept his momentum, slamming into the railing and slumping to the floor.
“No way in hell was I about to let that majestic moment happen,” Phon rattled off the moment she teleported onto the ship. “And what are you waiting for, butler?!” she boisterously waggled her finger towards Mallea and then aimed it towards the stars. “Let’s fly!”
The pilot did as instructed. She pulled back as hard as she could on the vertical controls and pushed the thrust to its maximum power. The ship craned towards the night sky and began flying straight ahead.
Vines then appeared out of the rear of the ship, and those that had been planted on the tentacles earlier sprouted to life. The plants grew towards each other and weaved into a wide net that had already caught its prey. They quickly snagged on the weight of the Squordfish. But while the ship may have not had the best defenses, its power and output couldn’t be matched.
Panic filled the monster's eyes as its tentacles were raised high, and it almost looked like it was whimpering when it started being lifted out of the water. But they didn’t go much higher, not wanting to suffocate the pitiful creature if it was taken out of its element.
And they didn’t just leave it dangling, at least not at that spot. The ship flew a few lages away, just far enough to stay out of sight of the islanders so that they could get some sleep at night.
And speaking of, once they were out of view and confident that the Squordfish wouldn’t be able to wrangle itself free, Phon moved almost all of them back to Archlave so that they could get a good night’s rest, not easily able to fall asleep with the massive monster beneath them. Mallea volunteered to stay behind to keep an eye on the creature, promising to raise the ship higher into the air if it tried anything, though Drim drained more of its life to keep it weak.
Finally returned to the castle, Tize at last separated from Rusa, not allowing himself to do so until she had a change of clothes. After getting dressed, she gave him a hug for helping accomplish her goal, and the man couldn’t help but return to his quarters with a slight blush in his cheeks.
That night, Rusa voluntarily climbed into her bed for the first time in her endless lives, letting the exhaustion of the day wash over her. At least until midnight, when another flame burst forth on her back and she woke up with renewed vigor, another day closer to the end of her life.
◆◆◆
“Are you sure it’s fine for you to leave Archlave so soon?” Kada asked Rusa aboard the ship the next morning. They were in the middle of flying back to the mainland, having to keep it slow for two reasons. First, to not kill the monster that was still dangling and looked like it hadn’t gotten a wink of sleep. And second, to not kill themselves.
Unfortunately, the barrier was beyond repair, at least until it could feel Nathym’s loving touch. So they couldn’t go too fast, not much more than the common speedboat, or they’d be blasted off the side. Drim even had them all wearing vine tethers to the railing as a precaution, for those who wanted to remain up on the deck.
“Yes, I think it’s for the best,” Rusa returned a faint, somber smile. “I was planning to stick around if they needed me. But thanks to Phon’s digging and Victori making the assassins more loose lipped, we were able to find those among the court who had betrayed us. Though, we still don’t know who provided them with the Squordfish and the tech needed to control it, along with funding their operations to assassinate us. But that will require digging on my own time, and I’d be better at that back in my room.”
“That and… apparently there’s a rumor spreading among the citizenry now that I’m a goddess of light. Guess they saw me in that dress plunging towards the monster. So it’s probably best that I get far away until that rumor dies down.”
The group flew their hobbled ship, which the Archlave citizens had dubbed ‘The Salvation’ to a certain private beach they knew of, along with the angry cargo they were carrying. It wasn’t so private as to be abandoned, but they assuredly had the whole place to themselves when those bathing in the sun saw them coming. Fleeing in terror probably wasn’t what they were expecting for a relaxing day at the beach.
While most of them jumped down to the sand, the ship was left floating, not yet releasing the Squordfish from its restraints. They were waiting on someone’s arrival who was bringing the necessary items to ensure the monster’s cooperation. And Valen didn’t keep them waiting long, driving up in one of their company cars that was kept stashed at their closest safehouse—of which Valen had portals to all of them.
The woman was covered in bandages, still recovering from the inhumane experiments Ahvra had put her through. But she didn’t show the pain at all, giddy to hear about the whole trip that had happened, already asking endless questions.
Drim wholly ignored her, though, and grabbed most of the items she’d brought with her. The only thing he didn’t take was a repair kit for the ship which would be passed off to Mallea. Ideally, they could take The Salvation back for Nathym to repair himself, but the vessel was simply too big to pass through one of Valen’s portals—not unless Phon wanted to give up her body-weight in blood several times over.
Their leader asked everyone to stick around for a few minutes longer, just in case the monster decided to be uncooperative—unlikely, but still as a precaution. And then they were free to let Valen send them home or wherever they wished to go.
Drim climbed up to the monster's face and looked straight into its eyes. From a distance, they’d look completely black like a typical squid. But up close, they were a hypnotizing midnight blue, like gazing into the abyss at the bottom of the sea. The boy then injected the monster with a familiar vial and then stuck an antenna just above its eyes. The device was a retooling of the same one that Phon used to let others see into her mind.
After jumping back down onto the beach, Drim asked the creature, “You can understand me, can’t you?”