Sailing Through Booms

Ciemnosc walked up to the center of his large ship. The armored cars had already been specially incorporated and set on the decks of the small and medium ships. Everyone watched as Ciemnosc stopped and looked directly to the port side, then to the starboard. Addressing everyone with his eyes, he opened his mouth, and the troops around him 'breathed' with their hearts at that moment.

“Today is probably the last time of many here who will be able to have the chance of having another.” Ciemnosc started, his voice loud and speaking through the communication devices of each trooper. “You are here now, and I can see you. Since you’ve chosen me over any other ‘side’ to which I am grateful, then let me be clear.”

“I am, precisely, as they place me to be. I have eaten human flesh, other than animal and Creature flesh. I can’t say for sure if I’m human or not. But I do not only do it for enjoyment. It is within me that… doing so to those who are powerful and my enemies. It helps me grow a little stronger and faster. The origins of this don’t matter, and I’m not trying to scare you off so that your lives ‘can be saved’ and my guilty conscience can go through it as I try to survive on my own.”

“I wouldn’t do that to my troops, no.” Ciemnosc shook his head as soon as he finished speaking. Raising his arms, he faced the bow of his large ship, which was empty, and would end up leading to the deepest waters of the Little Lake. “I know many of you still feel conflicted. After all, I caused quite a big ‘boom’ back at your homes. It was not mine to do anything to it, but so did nobody in that ‘home’ have any ownership over me!”

“Know now, the man you are fighting for and postponed here to die for. He won’t be staying here for long. And when I’m gone, you might not be able to see me for a very long time if you survive and aren’t executed, or worse.” Ciemnosc’s voice went into everybody’s heads. They maintained a neutral and paused expression, looking sternly in Ciemnosc’s large ship's general direction.

“This is the person you will die for, the one who also trained you, but only in what you already had but didn’t know how to exploit. But also the one who ended up failing. My current status isn’t one that is worthy of someone victorious, glorious, or at least a warrior. Me fleeing isn’t anything exciting but humiliating… “ Ciemnosc looked to the middle of the path free of ships; small, medium or large. “And yet I still need my troops’ protection and for them to die for me.”

“That can only be considered a failure.” Ciemnosc looked to the port and starboard sides once again, his body still facing the bow as his face became slightly dark, and with his negligibly pale skin as it appeared much more… striking.

“But you are with me. You have my back, even if I am currently a failure. It is you. The strongest army in the entire world what would be behind me and would lose their lives in my enemy’s hands. That might very well be the rest of the world but us! As I depart this place, you will still be fighting. You will die as the army that became the strongest of the entire world in not even ‘a few years’! And who will not go down until they kill at least ten times your number! Your part! Your pair of hands against ten pairs more!”

“!!” There was an untold, silent, and peaceful surge of intent within all troopers. Hearing their one and only boss, the reason there is so much turmoil in the west out of nowhere and caused the east to grow impossibly bold, he was their leader!

“You are not dying as traitors or homeless, nor as enemies of ‘the east’ but as the strongest there could ever be in this forsaken, broken world reeking of death and decadence!!” His words thundered, reverberating and bouncing in their hearts. “You aren’t just dying for me! You are dying for yourselves, as the… as the most feared army to ever exist!!”

“HUAA!!!” There was finally a response. Ciemnosc lifted his right hand while forming a fist, slowly and steadily as he spoke. And once he finished giving his speech, that was just the moment he also lifted his fist. His people all harshly slammed their hearts with their left hands formed into fists. Simply bellowing out with their mouths wide open, saliva coming out of some of them, felt they were called upon by their leader’s call to raise… against the world!

Step, step, step, step…

“...” Ciemnosc stepped down from the center of his large ship's deck. As he did, the new humble-styled clothes on him became visibly darker and wet, soaked by something sticky, and that rapidly turned viscous. His footsteps were of the most regular kind. He walked into the interior of the ship with ease. But while his movements were accomplished at ease, his shoulders, sides of his body and upper thighs felt immensely heavy.

Getting into his captain’s cabin, Ciemnosc felt the heaviness sweep over him, his blood running down his shins and wrists as it fell on the floor, staining the beautiful obscure brown flooring of the cabin. He began undressing himself, and as he did, grimaces appeared on his face, and his body awkwardly moved to take his clothes out. He was slow, and his eyes faded out constantly. He could only keep looking at the ceiling, like it was the sky. But he was, indeed, able to see the sky from there.

Rustle- thud thud- tap.

His clothes fell onto the flooring, and he felt his body moving and breathing as more blood poured out. It had been hours since he battled, but the blood from his wounds forced his skin open at times, even as it constantly healed itself back.

“Huff, huff…” His new humble-styled clothes, soaked with his blood, were left on the floor as he continued fully undressing and walked towards the bed. Ciemnosc stumbled about on his way to the bed, the soles of his foot becoming blood-spitting-machines at some point as he left blood print from his feet from some point forth.

Thud… ~... ~...

Ciemnosc fell onto the bed; as soon as his pants were at his feet. His body had dashed slightly, throwing his pants somewhere behind his body before hopping forwards as it came off his feet. He moved on top of the bed and blankets, accommodating his body to fully rest on the bed, his head facing the bed’s right side while his belly was against it. Eyes becoming hazy, he saw the light of the captain’s cabin slowly dim, to his wish and thoughts, without using his Spirit Sense, before slowly yet inadvertently falling asleep… or rather, unconscious.

Blood continued to soak the bed. Ciemnosc’s eyelids fell, and his eyes were hidden. More blood continued to fall onto the bedsheets as he lay unconscious, bedridden, and helpless. While the large ship bobbed and waved through the water as armored cars continued to board other ships and were set on their decks.

. . .

…pum… pum pum… pum pum pum… pum pum, pum pum…

“...” Without being surprised nor taken aback, Ciemnosc opened his eyes immediately. Pushing his body against the mattress, a headache that only lasted for a split second tormented his head before continuing to push himself up against the bed and stood up beside it. His eyes were narrowed, trying to wake up. And as Ciemnosc began dressing, he connected to his Covert Space bags with his Spirit Sense and with his palms touching parts of his body as clothes appeared on his body piece after piece.

“...” Silent, he exited the captain’s cabin and went to the deck of the large ship. He heard the firing off of many cannons, but that didn’t cower him. As soon as he met the deep, dark blue night sky, the flashes of many prue energy shells in the distance caught his attention. They were no more than a few tens of kilometers away. Those pure energy shells illuminated a low and small part of the sky as they went off.

“You, report.” Ciemnosc grabbed a sailor, hurrying over to the captain’s deck where people were already seated surrounding it and working on their own assignments. Astounded, the sailor became obedient as soon as he identified Ciemnosc, and said without missing a single detail. “Sir! Some suicidal enemy ships are doing all they can on land to have some of those mobile bombs enter the middle. Our cannons have been dealing with them for the last 20 minutes.”

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

“They carry too many dangerous materials and Powerful Stones set for self-destruction. But as they enter the middle, the array formations connecting every one of our ships slows them a whole lot. They are also very fast, but we can manage. Only 10 minutes before departing, sir. All armored cars are ready, and we have everything checked. Only waiting for your orders, too, sir.”

“... Bring me to the deck.” Ciemnosc looked at the sailor a few seconds more, his dark eyes falling on the normal-looking and ’kinda-cute’ young man. The latter wasn’t feeling nervous, much less threatened by the ‘monster’s’ glare as he nodded and was about to leave, his gaze and steps serene. When Ciemnosc limped towards the sailor, and the sailor immediately backtracked and placed himself under the sir’s right arm. Ciemnosc groaned, “Urg.”

“Sir! Are you alright?” The sailor asked Ciemnosc as he helped him up. Ciemnosc felt his chest abruptly pulsating strongly, and a kind of unknown rage seeped strongly within him as if his body had just noticed a seed of ‘something’ dwelling within.

The sailor was about to ask Ciemnosc, for he remained silent but remembered his words. The sailor kept quiet, and simply helped Ciemnosc over to the captain’s deck. When getting there, everyone watched as a weak Ciemnosc was helped up to stand before the helm, supporting himself forcibly as Ciemnosc held it tightly with his hands.

There was no dried-up blood anywhere. All that blood had been cleaned and healed off before putting clothes on. Only, Ciemnosc’s inner body was still harmed and needed rest. But such a thing would not happen when all of his troops were going to be fighting for him, and the fight seemed to already have started.

“Get things ready then. Alert everyone we are to proceed as soon as preparations are complete.” Ciemnosc spoke with a somber, soft tone to the crew at the captain’s deck. The crew nodded in return and began talking to their communication devices and the array formations, which were original to this large ship, as Ciemnosc studied the surroundings with a different surveillance array formation.

Hundreds of ships, from small to large were all set to the left and right from the middle, where his large ship would move at an insane speed, similar to Rychly Transporting Formation Array. Only not as fast and on the water, meaning a ton of water that would obstruct their way. Unlike wind or air, water was too heavy and wasn’t easily traversed as it is with air. Both have identical advantages and disadvantages, but transiting water has always been more complex than air for the current requirements.

Now that Ciemnosc and his troops have spent so much time and resources on this, it could be used, and at what a great timing at that. Everything was mostly ready. All array formations connecting the troops’ ships were fully functional and tested. Now, all that was needed was to begin preparations so everyone worked and moved together synchronically.

“... Sir, all is ready to go.”

Ciemnosc was watching the debris floating far at the front, all from enemy ships whose design was changed to be smaller but broader, faster yet without cannons and an even worse defense than what they usually had. The enemy ships, however, gained a powerful self-exploding force that would threaten any of the troops’ ships' protective barriers.

Ciemnosc looked at the female sailor, who spoke before and nodded. As soon as they received his confirmation, they began talking to their communications systems again, more intensely and rapidly this time. They could be seen very anxious but not nervous, going through every small and medium ship, then every large ship in command of those before passing on to another and another.

Ciemnosc waited as the ships surrounding him no longer had sailors moving around and inspecting their ships; over and over again, a simple procedure before this incredibly… uncertain battle could be unleashed.

“Get to it. Start the large ship’s array formation!” If Ciemnosc hadn’t gone through so many ‘visions’ back then during the past several months, he would have probably called this array formation with a ‘grand’ prefix. But after knowing the magnitudes of other worlds, even if they weren’t true at last, all that was ‘grand’ to the 11-year-old him was now tiny and incomparable to a ‘small’ thing out there.

Pshift. Pshift. Pshift. Pshift…

With Ciemnosc’s command, the crew around him nodded once more. Following their nods, the ships nearest his large ship began sounding with pure energy and Power Energy working to travel together. Then more and more groups of ships each with its own large ship and derivatives - began activating the principal purpose of their already active array formations.

As if injected with adrenaline, the ships became steep and still without bobbing more than a few centimeters up and down, like chained duck toys on a bathtub, even as someone played harshly and recklessly about. The large ship that Ciemnosc was on, however, was completely different.

“Hold yourselves. You don’t need to do anything else! Leave it to me.” Ciemnosc commanded his crew as he saw sailors all around him tremble and shake along with the large ship, puking and some even fainting directly, only to be helped up by their nearest fellow sailor so they, cultivators, wouldn’t die by choking on their own vomit while unconscious.

The crew immediately began running to sports, seats where one could be held tightly by belt contraptions and not suffer what was to come, which was much more tricky than making a sudden U-turn at max speed. Large ships were already much faster than any other ship. And with the crazy thing about to go off, it wouldn’t be a wonder even if Obsidiafying realm cultivators would be deadly threatened by something like this without protection.

“Secured!” - “Your crew is safe now, sir, awaiting your orders!” - “Ready to go, sir!”

“...” Ciemnosc heard each one of his crew responding to the ready check command in silence, his eyes sweeping to everyone on the deck and interior of the ship. The latter didn’t see Ciemnosc looking at them. But they could somehow feel his eyes on them, and it was possibly the most gentle yet powerful and overbearing gaze they had and would ever feel in their lives.

“Commence,” Ciemnosc ordered, and the ship that was already shaking and vibrating as if it had broken reality started to be bathed in Power Energy coming from everywhere as the ships activated their array formation’s principal feature: sending pure energy below the surface of the water towards Ciemnosc’s large ship, letting it become Power Energy… just like an array formation’s receptor would need… and even more similar to a battle array formation!

Of course, it was not a battle array formation. If it was, Ciemnosc would’ve been flying through the skies and annihilating his enemy’s specific organizational territories one after the other from afar. It had a similitude to it, but that was it, and all it was worth was to boost the large ship he was on so that… it could suddenly go wildly fucking fast out of nowhere.

Ciemnosc and his troops could’ve just sailed as usual towards the deepest waters of the Little Lake, but that would make their large group of ships undoubtedly vulnerable. Not only would they have little to not much maneuver, but they would also be trapping themselves despite being mobile and their speed reduced by a grand margin as they couldn’t go too far into the deepest waters.

So instead of risking that, Ciemnosc had his troops remain at the shore, where a strong defense could be formed. And they could make a long line at the beginning where the large ship was to escape the enemy, yes or yes. Ciemnosc wasn’t capable of tweaking this intricate array formation to help the rest of the ships enter into the ‘line’ where his large ship was to escape from the enemies immediately.

He had far too little experience with these things, and no place to learn them from. All he had was these deadly situations and his people willing to give their lives… It wasn’t enough.

Pshiiiiiiiift!

“Advance!” Even as the large ship vibrated like crazy, out of reality and befuddling one’s mind to frown with disbelief. Ciemnosc stood at the helm and without holding himself anywhere, his arms to the sides of his body and his back bending but only from his injuries, he ordered.

Splash! Splash! Splash!

The ships nearest to his large ship began advancing, each following their own large ship as they sailed forth and starting to make the line thinner and thinner as the large ship Ciemnosc was on continued to vibrate. The sight of hundreds and hundreds of ships, all moving in excellent coordination and forming a slim barricade around both extremities of the ling leading to the deepest waters of the Little Lake was astounding. Even Ciemnosc, who could barely see it with his naked eyesight, felt breathless. But that was only from his side’s part.

On his surveillance systems: hundreds of enemy ships were coming from the north. While hundreds more from the south, and that was just the beginning of the enemy’s movements, just their vanguard.

“Huu- uuu…” Taking a deep breath, Ciemnosc placed his hands at the helm, his dark Power Energy seeping into it as he grimaced. The exerting of his body once more made his wounds bleed yet again. Yet, his skin remained slightly pale as he continued to pour his dark Power Energy into the helm as it spread to the rest of the large ship. And before long, a sort of special mind connection was made between it and Ciemnosc.

“Enemy sighted, fire fire fire!!!” A captain shouted from the communications systems belonging to a large ship. Immediately after, a dozen groups of ships began firing at enemy ships still many kilometers away, trying to stop their activity and kill their leader. When those thoughts kicked in, the crews on those ships immediately began fearlessly charging to the hundreds and hundreds of enemies, quickly becoming thousands of enemy ships before them.

Yet, they didn’t stop. If anything, they even stopped shooting so their speed wouldn’t be affected. Leaving the large ships behind to keep that slim line defending the middle. Medium and small ships went over to stop the enemy… to kill and die!!

“RRGGH… RGAAARGGHH!” On the other hand, as the large ship in the middle simply became a blurry shadow of blackness, Ciemnosc, who was holding the helm began bleeding from the corners of his eyes and his ears. Both from inside and where it was connected to his head. Blood trickled down. But he wore a savage facial expression as he resisted and continued to hold the helm.

PSHIIIIIFT… peeee~~ew~~!!

Suddenly, the large ship became a tiny skiff with an elongated bow like a swordfish and as thin as a regular-sized vehicle on land. All of a pre-black color that seemed to eat away whatever pure energy shells’ reflections showed on the water… Before abruptly zooming in the distance, as the water current it left behind itself turned into an aperture that led hundreds of meters below its trail without any water left… for it had been vaporated all at once!!

…