Middle of the ocean: 936, February 5th, Monday, 3:00 PM
Carrying the hopes of the entire world and the sacrifices of his fellow Gladean Knights, the champion was betting it all in his final attack. The immortal god, Specter, rallied his forces to put an end to the last knight on earth and become the supreme ruler of the world.
Cutting down every specter in his path, the champion charged with all his might to avenge the deaths of his fellow knights. Showered in a divine azure light, with the spirit of the goddess holding his weakened body, the champion cut down Specter with one final blow of his bronze sword.
“Ending his reign and restoring peace to the world… The end.” The soft voice of the girl’s mother finished reading the book in her hands, placing it back on the wooden desk beside the bed with great care.
“I don’t like specters… What if they come back, mum?” The young girl asked, resting her head in her mother’s lap.
“That was a long time ago, dear.” She reassured her daughter, stroking her head gently. “You will never have to worry about them, lieutenant.”
“Lieutenant?”
Claire jumped in surprise at a voice calling to her, waking her up from her dream. She found herself sitting in the desk of her room in the ship, still on her way towards the empire. “Tori?” Claire looked at the redhead standing at the door of her room, her mind still disoriented.
“Sorry… where you sleeping?”
“It’s alright,” Claire took a quick breath and shook her head slowly, “what do you need?”
“Um… Scott and I are playing some poker in my room,” Tori played with her fingers while trying to get the words out. “I just thought, y-you know… maybe you want to join?”
Claire sighed, but politely accepted the offer. “Sure, I’ll be there in a moment.”
“Great!” Tori left the room cheerfully.
Claire took time to organize herself before leaving, storing the book she was reading before falling asleep. An old tale her mother used to read to her during her infancy, ‘The Champion’s Legend. Vol.3.’
“Guess I’ll finish it later…”
Walking into Tori’s room, the pair sitting on the floor with a collection of cards lying around welcomed her with bright smiles. They repositioned themselves and opened a space for Claire to sit.
“Thanks.”
“Here are your cards, lieutenant!” Tori passed Claire a new hand.
“Just letting you know, lieutenant.” Scott’s piercing stare looked into Claire’s deadpan eyes, “We are betting our next pay day on this game and I’ve never lost in poker.” He said while pushing the bridge of his glasses, making the lenses shine brightly.
Without a single word and no emotion on her face, Claire stood and began to walk towards the exit of the room.
“Wait, I was joking!” Scott clarified before the lieutenant left the room. “It’s just a friendly game to pass the time... but it’s true that I’ve never lost before.” He claimed with a confident grin on his face.
“You never played before, Scott...” Tori mention with squinted eyes.
“Those glasses of yours…” Claire spoke with a mix of worry and curiosity. “Don’t they hurt your eyes?”
“I close them.”
Tori looked at Scott, her face filled with interest. “Actually, I never asked how you do it.”
Scott smiled, taking pride in the complexity of his own master piece and incomprehensible mind. He pushed the bridge of his glasses, making the lenses glow once more. “It’s a secret.”
Bloodhound enjoyed a peaceful game of poker as well as small meaningless talk, both Scott and Tori tried to involve Claire in their conversations more often. However, her inexperience in group activities shined through as she found herself focusing solely on the game, barely speaking a word outside of it.
“And I win again!” Scott rose his hand in the air, throwing the cards on the floor for all to see.
“You didn’t... Again.” Tori stated between half closed eyes, “do you really not know how to play yet?”
“What was that?” Claire reacted abruptly to a faint sound outside, turning her head towards the door.
“Maybe it was the ship’s crew?” Tori suggested.
Scott remained seated with no reaction, simply focusing on his cards. “Sounds reasonable, now let me show you how to play.”
Unable to let go, the room was filled with silence as Claire focused her attention on the rummaging noise outside. She suddenly stood up and moved towards the door, followed by her team. Leaning in closely, Claire peeked through the door, followed by Tori and then Scott.
“Why are we doing this?” Scott whispered.
With a completely unnecessary kick, Claire breached the semi-open door in a strong blow. “Follow me,” she spoke softly while unholstering her pistols.
Tori rushed to her drawer and picked up her taser gun, a modified and compact pistol with longer range than usual; a small gift from Cerberus, “wait for me!”
Scott slid on the floor and reached under the bed to grab his rifle, a beautifully crafted steel firearm with the three headed dog of Cerberus painted on both sides of its stock. “Good thing I brought this,” he affirmed with relief.
Bloodhound made its way upstairs into the ship’s deck, finding the area completely isolated once they arrive. The wind and the sound of waves lapping against the boat can be heard while outside, with the constant cries of the seagulls flying over the ship.
“Finally made it, huh?” a silvery voice called out to them from the bridge. “Boys, you know what to do.”
A group of uniquely dressed people suddenly rushed from the deck below, surrounding Bloodhound in an instant. Wearing blue stripe shirts, red cloth belts and bandanas in their heads, with each one of them carrying a saber in their hand.
“Pirates!” Scott yelled, “like in the movies!” His overly serious tone contrasting with the words coming out of his mouth.
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“That’s… a little weird, no?” Tori said with her taser gun at the ready.
“I see we’ve intimidated you, Cerberus!” a woman of fair skin and green eyes walked out from the bridge, looking at Bloodhound from above. Dressed in a long blue coat with a white shirt underneath, a wooden parrot on her left shoulder and a black pirate hat with a blue lobster at the front.
“My name is Jane, I mean, Jean!” the woman said, her smug green eyes displaying pride and confidence. “And what you see here, are my crew and my ship.”
“And we are… the blue… Lobsters!” The pirates sung their introduction while moving into formation, creating the shape of a lobster with their bodies. Nodding with pride, Jean jumped into the deck and approached Bloodhound.
“Engage, non-lethal.” Claire calmly and promptly issued her orders.
“Ma’am!”
Bloodhound’s immediate attack surprised the pirates that remained in their lobster formation, with some of them being taken down before they could even draw their weapons. With her back covered, Claire engaged the leader, Jean, on her own.
“Straight to the point, eh?”
Using her pistols for the first attack, Claire tried to end the fight with a quick knock out by striking at the pirate’s head. To the lieutenant’s surprise however, Jean was exceptionally skilled with her cutlass sword and musket rifle. Deflecting the attack with her sword and responding with a quick swing of the musket, which Claire managed to deflect in time with her pistol.
“Tch!”
“Hah, thought we were simple push overs, didn’t you?” Jean said, twirling the sword in her hand. “I’m not the greatest pirate this world has ever seen for nothing, you know.” She claimed with conviction while pointing her blade directly at Claire.
“Not so great if I never heard of you.” Claire responded, unamused by the pirate’s ridiculous claim.
“You just did.”
Jean aimed her musket at Claire’s feet and began to shoot in rapid succession, releasing a loud snapping sound with every shot. She seemed unconcern about the damages it could cost to the ship as she continued her assault, following Claire’s feet as she moved away from every shot.
“How can you...!” Caught off guard by the lack of care towards their transport, Claire scours the floor with her eyes to check on the damage dealt to the ship. What she found however, was a variety of bb pellets rolling on the ship’s deck.
“What!”
“Fell for it!” Jean took the opportunity to rush at a distracted Claire to hit her stomach with the butt of her rifle, continuing her assault with a strong swing to her head.
The strong impact forced Claire to the ground as she held her abdomen, stunned by both attacks. In an attempt to end the fight in one last blow, Jean took her musket and swung it at the lieutenant once more. The impact damaged part of the floor as the butt of the rifle hits the wooden planks while Claire rolled away from the attack, giving herself enough room to stand back up.
“Tough, aren’t we?” Jean claimed smugly.
Shooting at her feet again, Jean rushed towards the lieutenant with musket in hand. She held her weapon from the end of the barrel and twirled her body around in an attempt to gain momentum, stopping herself at the last second to release a stronger blow.
“You won’t get me with the same trick!” Claire roared as she ducked under the pirate’s attack, finding an opening to respond with her own strike. With the advantageous position, she grabbed one of her pistols from the barrel and inflicted a painful blow on Jean’s stomach with the butt of her gun.
“Ugh! ...H-how about this then?” The pirate stumbled over her words as the pain sets in her body. She reached inside her pocket with one hand and responded by throwing a handful of dirt at Claire’s face, who becomes blinded by the sleazy trick.
With her opponent incapable of defending herself, the pirate swung her musket at Claire’s stomach once again. She continued with quick blow to the arm and another towards the leg, but Claire managed to stumble out of harm’s way in time to avoid another strike.
“Hngh, where did you…!” The blinded lieutenant rubbed her face with her fingers, the blood boiling inside of her.
Jean laughed mockingly with her hands on her hips, “what, did you expect me to play fair or something?”
“That’s it.” Opening her eyes, Claire released the safety of her pistols and responded with a barrage of bullets towards the pirate’s feet.
“H-hey, you can’t shoot those here!” Caught off her, Jean’s balance was broken as she danced around trying to protect her feet.
Pushing into the offensive, the lieutenant held the pirate into a chokehold and forcefully wrestled her into the wooden floor. Jean responded with a quick push of her legs that threw Claire away from on top of her, giving her a chance to pick herself back up. However, the lieutenant swept her legs with a swift kick before she could react, bringing the pirate back to the floor.
“Agh, my parrot!” Jean cried, holding her head after hitting the plank floor that caused the fake parrot to fly off.
Claire flipped the pirate around like a pancake before restraining her wrists, ending the fight in Jean’s surrender.
“Ouch… ok, you win.” She muttered.
The rest of the crew quickly followed after seeing their leader restrained, dropping their weapons with their arms raised. Bloodhound apprehended the pirates right after, holding them inside the captain’s cabin for interrogation.
“What did you do with the ship’s crew?” Claire asked, her sharp eyes glaring at Jean.
“I told you; these are my crew and my ship.” Jean laughed mockingly, a glimmer of pain in her voice. “Ouch... you won’t find anyone else here.”
“Yeah!”
“We are the owners of the seas!”
“This is the blue lobsters’ world!” Her crew proclaimed with fiery passion; their bodies stacked on top of each other in a corner at the end of the room.
“S-sorry guys...” With troubled eyes, Tori apologized to the mountain of bodies in front of her. “Can you tell us if we boarded the wrong ship, perhaps?”
“Of course not, we got paid to bring you to the empire.” Jean interjected, “your boss was extremely generous with the payment too.” She claimed, her head high and her eyes burning with pride.
Claire pointed her gun at the smug pirate kneeling on the floor, unsatisfied with her answer. “Ridiculous, why should I believe what you say.”
“Because we are…” the crew began to chant from their little corner, “the blue… Lo--“
Not a fan of musicals, Claire unleashed a sudden rain of bullets at the wall near the crew. The projectiles simply dispersed on impact against the wooden structure of the ship, but their roaring sound is enough to startle the pirates, leaving a pyramid of squirmy bodies.
“G-guys please, she didn’t mean it...” Tori's gentle voice tried to calm the afflicted crew.
“Who paid you to get us onboard?” Scott asked calmly while guarding the door.
“What do you want me to say?” Jean huffed, “I received a letter with money and a request inside and I said OK, I don’t even know this person!” She squawked.
Scott’s phone played a catchy indie rock song right after the pirate’s response, taking everyone’s attention in the room. “Lieutenant, I just received a message from the boss!” Scott announced with his phone in hand.
“How did you get signal here?”
Offering no answer, Scott grinned with sheer confidence. His fingers tapped the bridge of his glasses, lighting up his lenses and hiding his eyes.
“Answer me!” Claire spat.
Handing over his device, the phone showcased a text message from ‘The Boss’ directed at Claire herself. Both Scott and Tori piled up beside her to read the message for themselves.
“Hello, lieutenant, how are the Blue Lobsters treating you? I heard great things about them from a friend of mine so I decided to hire them. Also, their prices are really ship too (get it?).
I hope you are growing accustomed to your team and new role as leader of Bloodhound, take good care of them and they will do the same for you. It’s not every day you get the chance to go on adventures like this with friends either, do try to enjoy yourself from time to time.
Anyway, I won’t waste more of your time. XOXO
-The Boss
“…”
“Is ‘The Boss’, his name?” Tori asked while scratching her head.
After a quick call with terrible signal, Claire confirmed Cerberus’ contract with the blue lobsters through Yeon. She explained the boss’ letter that was sent to the blue lobsters, but seemed to have been completely unaware of the extra request to engage in a quick mock battle against Bloodhound.
“Don’t worry, lieutenant.” Yeon went on, “I’ll make sure he... ffers... I... mak... bleed for...” Her message was cut multiple times due to the terrible signal, but her irritated voice left no one wondering about her barbaric intentions.
“Yes, ma’am...” Claire replied plainly, having no desire to worsen the situation any further.
With the misunderstanding cleared, Bloodhound unrestrained the pirates and continued its peaceful course towards the empire.
END OF CHAPTER