Tolas attempted a horizontal cut against Lowell, but the pirate easily deflected it. He launched a counter-attack so swiftly that the young man barely had time to avoid the rapier's tip, which passed within inches of one of his ears.

Then, as if appearing out of nowhere, Zedek swung his saber over Lowell's shoulder, straight towards Tolas's head. Raphaëlle managed to parry for her friend, and Tolas attempted to attack again, but Lowell intercepted his arm before he could complete his motion. He thrust towards the bosco's chest, now almost face-to-face.

The latter swiftly sidestepped to evade, unaware that Lowell wasn't aiming for him. Raphaëlle didn't see the rapier's tip coming, her friend's body blocking her view, and she was lightly pierced in the upper shoulder. Eyes widened in sudden pain, she recoiled as quickly as possible.

Lowell, still holding onto Tolas's arm, pulled him closer and delivered a violent headbutt directly to his nose, disorienting the young man. The masked pirate continued his movement until his body was bent forward, as if saluting the bosco.

Zedek's leg swung over Lowell's bent body, and he delivered a kick directly to Tolas's stomach, lifting him off the ground and colliding with Raphaëlle behind him.

She managed to maintain her balance when Tolas collided with her and they both staggered backward. Lowell didn't give them time to breathe and suddenly unleashed a flurry of thrusts towards them.

The two mariners managed to parry most of the blows, but Lowell seemed absolutely unstoppable. As his assault continued, Tolas and Raphaëlle began accumulating small cuts all over their bodies, barely able than to defend themselves.

Whenever one of them tried to counterattack, it was Zedek who attacked them, hidden behind Lowell's slender figure. He took advantage of the length of his limbs to keep them under pressure while remaining out of reach.

Despite the length of the exchange, Raphaëlle noticed that Tolas didn't seem to weaken. He even seemed to gain speed. The only thing causing him to falter was Zedek's random assaults, which forced Tolas to parry with all his strength, giving Lowell the opportunity to cut him several times, but always superficially.

Sweat dripped from Raphaëlle's forehead as she once again raised her small dagger, barely deflecting Lowell's rapier. Time seemed to slow down to a grueling crawl as her arm was growing heavier by the second.

Tolas sometimes tried to step in front of her to offer her some respite, but after a few seconds, invariably, a blow from Zedek sent the bosun back to her side, and they were once again under Lowell's onslaught.

Although the pirates could have easily struck them down long ago, they seemed more on the defensive than the reverse, and their only remarkable moves occurred when Zedek sent Tolas flying backward. Suddenly, Raphaëlle had an epiphany.

Zedek's attacks were far from random. He used them to protect Lowell while the latter caught his breath. And since Scornwallis had forbidden them from killing them, they had to work even harder to incapacitate them. Not to mention the fact that the pale pirate was now missing an arm.

Raphaëlle realized she could use Scornwallis's whim to her advantage.

Waiting for a suitable moment, the young woman parried one of Lowell's blows with a wide gesture that left her right flank completely exposed. The masked pirate didn't miss the opportunity and he attacked, but instead of stepping back when she was touched by the rapier's tip, Raphaëlle took a step forward, intentionally impaling herself a bit more than necessary. She let out a loud cry of pain, dramatically dropping her dagger as close to Lowell as possible and she fell to her knees before collapsing to the ground.

Immediately, the three men froze, and Tolas's heart stopped. Yet before he could say anything, it was Lowell who began to scream:

"No!!!"

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A heavy silence settled in within seconds. Then they heard the heavy sound of something being dropped to the ground from behind them. Lowell and Zedek turned around, completely drenched in sweat.

Scornwallis was standing, his back turned, the mutilated bodies of the two Ermythians barely alive in front of him. Slowly, his head began to turn while the rest of his body remained still. Tolas opened his eyes wide in horror at the sight of Scornwallis's expression. His face was a mask of hatred, his veins pulsating on his face like earthworms, his blue eyes completely bloodshot.

"Lowell…" he growled in a coarse otherworldly voice.

The masked pirate seemed to freeze in place as Zedek's eyes darted around frantically. Tolas, also captivated by Scornwallis's magnetic presence, noticed from the corner of his eye that something was moving at his feet. By the time he lowered his head, Raphaëlle had already leaped for her dagger, right behind Lowell, who was now facing away from her.

Quick as lightning, the masked pirate turned around and instinctively thrust downward, grazing Raphaëlle's thigh as she was getting up. But this didn't stop her momentum, and, gripping her weapon firmly, she raised her arm with all her might and plunged her dagger into Lowell's left eye.

The edges of the mask around his eyes prevented the blade from sinking fully into the pirate's eye socket, but he let out a guttural scream of pain.

Tolas, jubilating, didn't wait a second longer and took advantage of the confusion to diagonally slash Zedek's exposed torso. The pale pirate still managed to mitigate the damage by stepping back, but the young sailor, even faster than before, managed to nick him on the leg. Zedek lost his balance, pain overwhelming him, and he fell to one knee, refusing to release the only sword he still held in his valid hand.

Meanwhile, Lowell was staggering on the deck, progressively losing blood as he wildly swung his rapier. It eventually slipped from his grasp and rolled towards the bow of the Kemper.

After several futile struggles, the pirate finally crawled towards Scornwallis, stumbling several times on the rugged deck. He began to fall backward, but his captain caught him in midair, supporting him in his arms. The masked pirate weakly raised his hand and tried unsuccessfully to grasp Raphaëlle's dagger handle before his arm fell limp.

"You… you saw, Captain…?" he managed to weakly stammer. "I… I didn't kill her… she's alive… unharmed…"

Scornwallis's blue eyes lowered to observe Lowell's still functional eye. The latter gathered his last remaining strength to try to touch his captain's face, but Scornwallis seized the handle of the dagger and, with a sharp twist, turned it in Lowell's eye socket, thus finishing off the pirate and shattering his mask in the process.

The captain dropped his subordinate's body unceremoniously, still holding Raphaëlle's dagger in his hands. He analyzed it for a few seconds before turning his attention back to Zedek, still kneeling before Tolas.

"Fractured right arm, a five-centimeter gash from the knee to the groin, and another three-centimeter one from the left clavicle to the right anterior superior iliac spine." he remarked in seconds. "Tsk, already useless?"

Zedek dropped his weapon, his body seeming to collapse completely before he started trembling. He lifted his head, his face contorted with fear.

"No, Captain! I can still be useful to you! Give me a chance!" he shouted with the little strength he had left.

"True," Scornwallis replied, "your tribe still holds many secrets..."

Then something shot past Raphaëlle's face at lightning speed, shining brightly, and sent Zedek's body flying backward. Tolas had barely managed to follow the object's trajectory with his eyes, but he still found it hard to believe what he had just seen.

The wolf blinked incredulously at the captain's now-empty hand. She turned to Zedek's body, now lying on his back. Her dagger was buried hilt-deep in the pale pirate's chest.

"His tolerance threshold was definitely way above average." Scornwallis continued as if nothing had happened. "I hope his brain will tell me more."

Tolas yanked the dagger from Zedek's corpse and approached his friend, offering her the weapon while keeping Scornwallis in view. The young woman, still on edge, took the dagger with a trembling hand. She was exhausted, physically and mentally, and yet they would have to face their most dangerous opponent. Just remembering the speed at which the pirate had thrown the dagger made her stomach drop.

"You're better than I imagined," Scornwallis said thoughtfully. "The kid, I was still expecting, but the little pissant... that surprises me."

He sniffed the air towards Raphaëlle and raised an eyebrow.

"You're nothing special, but you managed to take out several of my men, including two of my most resilient subjects... and I definitely feel like I've seen you somewhere before..."

The inhuman expression that briefly crossed his face chilled the blood of the two sailors. Every fiber of Raphaëlle's body screamed that she was in danger. Instinctively, Tolas had positioned himself in front of her to protect her.

Scornwallis removed his frock coat, baring his chest, and took a deep breath, his eyes fixed on his two new targets. It was as if the air around him had begun to vibrate.

"I need to know more."