Talia stands on the ship's deck, watching the island as they draw in close. Behind her, Luka stands at the ready staring at the cloaks, standing at attention awaiting orders. Xia sits on the roof of the cabin, watching below as an ill sickness comes over her as she watches them. As the ship docks and the plank extends, Talia smiles, her bloodlust rising, with Luka ordering the cloaks off the ship.

“Finally, a good hunt. I’ve been waiting for a moment like this,” Luka says.

“We waited for a week before some fish took the bait. Unfortunately, it’s not the fish that we wanted. Seems it's just the Pawns that escaped from us last time.” Talia says.

“Are we sure about that?” Luka asks.

Xia takes off and then lands in front of the pair. “I’m sure it's them. Glyn’s Pawns likely came looking for their King, but he’s nowhere to be found.”

“Useful little bloodhound. But it’d be more impressive if you found the King Piece we were seeking.” Luka says.

“Sadly, I can’t just snap my fingers and find him.”

Talia draws her sword, putting it to Xia Bai’s neck. “Watch your tone, Dragonoid. One slip and I’ll remove your head from your body in a single stroke. Now follow your orders and act as our hound in this hunt, understand?”

Xia Bai pauses and nods. “Yes. I’ll follow your orders for now.”

Luka smirks. “For now? Don’t you mean from here on? There’s no stopping what is to happen next. The Great One will revive and then take this land and all lands as our own.”

“Whatever. Let’s just get this over with.”

“Alright. Cloaks line up, it's time to hunt!” Luka yells at the top of his lungs.

His voice echoes through the area and the cloaked figures snap into action. They rush forward, disembarking the ship and rushing onto the island. Talia and Luka follow after them, with Xia Bai standing behind, glaring at the gathered group. The Cloaks all line up in unison side by side, awaiting orders as Luka smiles deviously.

“Okay, my minions. Here’s the plan. You guys go into this here jungle forest and hunt down those Pawns for us. Once you spot them, start the fight and we’ll come running. We’ll kill them all, one after another!”

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

“While you're indulging in your sadism, I’ll be cutting off their escape. Xia Bai, you’ll be leading me to their ship so we can bring it down. Understood?”

Xia Bai nods, resigning herself to her fate. “Understood.”

“Good. Now take to the sky and start searching. It couldn’t be too far and once we have it, we can get her down and set up base camp.” Talia eagerly says.

“Right, you do that.” Luka orders. “Hunt them down and burn them out of their hideaways. That means we have full rights to smash anything and everything in our path!” Luka laughs. “We’ll burn this island to the ground and draw out our prey.”

“Crazy maniac,” Xia says.

As they walk onto the island, Xia Bai looks towards the center of the island. A burst of flames erupts from the center of the island as the group watches on.

“Didn’t know this place had a volcano,” Talia says.

“Well, that’ll make burning this place down easier.”

Xia Bai spreads her wings. “I’ll go check it out.” She takes off into the sky, leaving the others behind.

“Well, while she’s doing that. Why don’t we get to work? Go forth and….” Luka orders the cloaks but a figure flies down from above and smashes into him.

Tan flies as fast as she can and forces Luka towards the water. Before anyone can react, she flies off into the sky. Before Luka can say anything, Ivar reaches out of the water and pulls on Luka, dragging him under the waves and leaving Talia with the cloaks.

“I see, so they turned our trap against us. Minions….”

As she speaks, a wall of light appears, trapping the cloaks within. She draws her blade to strike the wall Otso comes in from underground, dragging her into a cavern. She crashes to the ground as he draws a pair of swords staring down at her.

“So, you’re the bug.” She says.

Otso takes a breath. “Yeah, I’m the bug!”

“Good. Then you don’t mind if I squash you and then go hunt down the rest of your friends!”

Otso laughs. “Fine, then come on and bring it. I’ll take you on!” He thrusts his sword into the ground and disappears, digging into the earth.

“I don’t see what you can do running away from me?”

Otso emerges from the walls and strikes at Talia before digging into the opposite wall and disappearing. Talia smirks and draws her sword.

“Alright then, let’s play a game, little bug! Show me what you can do and I’ll show you what I can do before you die!”

Elsewhere on the island, Miller holds his sword towards the sky, channeling flames through the blade into the sky. As he spots a figure in the sky, he sheathes his blade and stares upwards as Xia Bai appears and lands on the ground in front of him. The two stare at each other and Miller draws his blade, pointing it towards her. She grabs the hilt of her sword and glares at Miller as she watches his movements.

“Why are you doing this? You know this is over you, and the others can’t do much of anything to fight these guys with Glyn. What do you think you can do without them?”

Miller tightens his grip. “I’m not thinking about that right now. Right now, I’m trusting my allies to do their part while I do mine.”

“And what’s your part?”

“To bring you down. I’ll end this fight and we’ll take out all of you before going for your boss!”

She laughs. “Let’s see you do it, then. Let’s see if you’ve gotten any better since the last time we fought.”

“I’ll show you how much stronger I am than the last time we fought. And I’ll bring you down here and now!”