The duel between Hildos and Sevrian wasn’t as fierce as Ehrir pictured it in his mind, but still… It was a real struggle between sorcerers much more powerful than everyone around them. Both mages were trying to not damage the galley too much, so they used specific, focused attacks against each other. “At least this is good”, Ehrir thought. He couldn’t even begin to imagine the level of harm the two men would do if they unleashed their powers without restraint. Probably not even a strand of ash would remain from the two ships and the people on them.

Such thoughts crossed the Undone One’s mind as he, Nalia and Varhel were rushing towards the deck. “Rushing” wasn’t exactly the right word, though, as maneuvering across the burnt parts of the deckhouse and transporting Nalia in her chair couldn’t happen very quickly. And still they got there on time. And every pirate or mate in their way was being was killed with ease.

Soon the three of them got near the epicenter of the mages’ duel. The two sorcerers didn’t notice the trio of disciples at first – they were engulfed by sparks, colorful shields and flames that changed direction and color with incomprehensible speed and every bit of their attention was focused on the enemy. Their mighty blows nullified each other, but Hildos clearly had an advantage. He looked fresh and there wasn’t even a drop of blood on him. A wide smile still hanged on his face, in fact.

The old man, on the other hand, had a few bruises and cuts on. Those wounds were small and unimportant. But upon his right arms was a burned area of blackened flesh that looked disturbing. This wound was slowing him significantly and giving him great amounts of pain.

“The master can’t fight like this!” shouted Varhel as he took down another pirate with a small ray of flames. “We have to help him!”

“Ha-ha! Help? You’ll just watch as I kill this old man. If you dare to intervene, then you’ll definitely live shorter”, Hildos’ voice boomed from the cloud of rays and flames that engulfed him and Sevrian. “I’ll deal with you later… For now just stand here and be quiet, okay?”

”Younglings!” Sevrian’s voice sounded next. “Don’t go nearer! I can take care of this myself.”

The old man’s words, along with Hildos’, left the three of them stunned, but that didn’t last long.

“How are we gonna get rid of him?” Nalia asked. She was still using Conquering without stopping after Remto’s defeat. All across the ship pirates were falling down because of her magic, some of them unconscious and some – dead. “This prick over there isn’t just somebody we can kill alone. And he’s fast, too. If we poke in we’ll probably just destroy the master’s concentration.”

“There must be a way.” Varhel remarked with confidence. “You two think about it while I thin out the enemies’ numbers.”

After these words the young man started running towards the part of the deck where the fight between pirates and sailors was still intense. Most of the important figures amongst the enemies were already slain, but more than half the seamen had fallen and the rest were still actively resisting. Varhel’s appearance meant certain death for the foes.

While defending himself against the few attackers that got near him, Ehrir deeply thought about a way to help the old man. After all, he was their only hope to win against someone as destructive as Hildos.

The environment gave him enough chances to think thoroughly – there weren’t many pirates around and the storm had begun to calm down. The ship wasn’t shaking uncontrollably as before. And besides, he was the most passive of Sevrian’s three disciples right now, as he didn’t engage in direct combat as Varhel did or stopped enemies from afar like Nalia.

One thing was clear in his mind from the start – he had to find a way to move the duel to the pirates’ frigate. That way Hildos would be even more restricted when it came to massive attacks and the old man could just use all he had. But how could he made the two move?

The answer to this question came quick. It was simple. It was so damn simple! Why hadn’t they done that already?

“Nalia!” He yelled and took the young woman’s attention. “We need to cause damage to the enemies’ ship! It’s undefended now, so it should be easy.” He then quickly explained his plan in more detail to her.

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“Are you sure that this is going to work?” asked she after hearing Ehrir’s idea. “It may not be enough for him to go back to his vessel.”

“It should be. If I can guess one thing from the all the stuff I heard from this man… It is that he really cares for ships, although it sounds stupid when it’s put in this way. Trust me on this… It will work!” The Undone One’s words sounded confident, but inside he was unsure. Still, this strategy of his was the best possible way to resolve the situation for now.

“Then we’ll do it.” Nalia nodded. “I can’t think of a better plan myself. My own idea isn’t far from yours when it comes to the basic concept. So I agree. But you should attract my brother’s attention first.”

“I’ll do it”, said Ehrir as he stormed off to Varhel’s location near the galley’s bow.

The first stage of his plan was to use Nalia’s brother and get him to heavily damage the enemies’ vessel. It was pretty straightforward and getting close to the young man was the most difficult task in it. It took a lot of effort to go through the battle-stained deck while pirate after pirate was coming for him. Soon he was covered in few fresh bloody scratches and other insignificant wounds, but finally reached Varhel’s position.

The disciple of Sevrian was killing wave after wave of enemies, leaving behind charred corpses and streams of blood. However, he instantly noticed Ehrir once the Undone One yelled his name.

“What’s happening? Have you thought up of anything yet?” He asked after dispatching several pirates.

“Yeah… You’ll have to do the most important part.”

“Well, I’m listening. Just tell me what needs to be done.”

Ehrir took a deep breath and started telling his idea to the young man. Varhel was continuing to fight as he listened. At the end he just said that he’ll do as asked.

Soon his arms were already replaced by the familiar pair of jet black wings and the young man flew off. He did a graceful rotation around the galley before storming the frigate with his magic.

Turning the enemy ship into a pile of sinking wood and ash wasn’t hard now. Soon the mast were in flames and the deck was ravaged by rays of energy and small lightnings. If Varhel was going to continue doing this with the same intensity and might the ship was definitely going to sink.

“What do you think you’re doing, boy? It’s rude to destroy my beloved “Purple Crown” just like that. Wasn’t the death of Remto enough for you three? He was a capable man, you know… It is not nice to lose him.” Hildos’ voice was angry and had an unpleasant tone to it, but he didn’t show a sign of abandoning his current duel.

Varhel didn’t answer, just continued ravaging. It took him barely few seconds to engulf more than quarter of the frigate’s deck with fire.

“What a damned tiresome bunch of little buggers you are… Well, I guess I have no choice but to deal with you right now if I don’t have to swim all the way to my base. Sorry, old man, but you must excuse me for a moment.” The anger is Hildos’ tone was well controlled, but the bright purple flames that started surging from his flesh weren’t. They went straight for Sevrian. Although they bounced off from the old man’s shield, they created a ring of fire around him. Hildos smiled at this sight. Then he turned around and jumped straight towards his own ship. He went at a height of about fifteen feet before landing heavily. Such physical capabilities were more than inhuman.

By the time Hildos landed back on the frigate, Ehrir had gotten to the old man. Sevrian was leaving the circle of fire, protected by a strange spherical shield covering his entire body. When he saw Ehrir relief was written all over his face.

“So you’ve managed to survive, young man. Good for you. But I have to get to Hildos or otherwise he’ll definitely kill Varhel. Why the hell had that rookie taken away his attention at the first place?” said the old man as he lifted the defense and water started gushing out from his palms, extinguishing the flames nearby.

Ehrir hurried and started explaining the meaning behind Varhel’s doings to the old man. Sevrian just listened without saying a word. After the Undone One finished up talking he only shook his head and turned around.

“You three will get yourselves killed doing such things without thinking it through”, he said with a serious tone. But there was a slight smile on his face. “But this idea might work out, although I’m not too sure in my own power to be judging it right now. Well, time will tell. Leave the rest of this to me.”

After these words the old man hopped onto the handrails and jumped. Although he couldn’t rise to even half the height of Hildos’ leap, it was still breath-taking. Ehrir hoped that he had enough power in him to actually have an advantage against the pirate captain.

That didn’t mean that he and the other two disciples wouldn’t help him win, though.

The next stage of Ehrir’s plan wasn’t as simple as the first one. It involved different attacks from all three disciples to help weaken and distract Hildos and ensure Sevrian’s triumph. Ehrir crouched and started creating steel spears from the planks beneath his feet. He had to have at least two dozens of these, although he wouldn’t be the one throwing them.

According to his original idea, Varhel had to make Hildos get used to the same kind of repetitive attacks before damaging him. Well, it sounded easy in his mind. But when it came to the practical part…

Maybe it wouldn’t be that easy after all.