image [https://imgur.com/a/R8fo68X]The ship was located on the far edge of the alcove, where the water met a piece of rock sticking out of it. There were no racks or beds inside the cave; as all the pirates slept in their boats. Now that they had stolen Elena's Vista, for them it was like scoring an inn: they all fit in it... at least, technically. In practice, the bandit leader -a man known under the nickname Wember- had more or less claimed it for himself and his concubines. He would only let his second in command in from time to time, but that would be it. Wember was a very tall and rugged man, aged around forty, with wild black hair and more than a few scars on his face. Like most seafarers, he had seen his own share of trouble and had even served in the Nycean navy before being dishonorably discharged due to repeated misconduct, but not before stealing a trireme and escaping to Armorica, where he would make a name for himself as one of the most feared and reputed criminals to ever lead a crew.

...and apparently, he wasn't at the Dead Man's Alcove that day.

This was all information the group had harvested from the crew a while ago. Nero looked down carefully; they didn't look like the ones he had read so much about in fiction and history. He had always imagined them wearing uniforms not too dissimilar to Elena's: a sea officer's -probably a corsair- coat with rugged shirts and pants, brown boots, a sword and gun, parrot, eye patch, and very bad teeth.

Nothing further from the truth. While Wember wasn't really around to be seen yet, the guys who were walking around the rocks inside the alcove and rowing the small boats all looked very different: there was a very big guy shirtless with tied, greasy hair, another one had rags and looked like a slave, over the other rock there was one that kinda looked like a Nycean guard... wait, that was a Nycean guard's uniform! Wember's bandits seemed to be a collection of men from all walks of life.

On the other hand, Elena's blue, white and brown outfit gave her an adventurous vibe that those men didn't have. She was the kind of person one would absolutely expect to see at the very tip of the ship's bow, sword in hand, pointing forward and guiding the crew towards the sunset across the endless seas. Thinking about it, Elena looked the part of a pirate far more than those guys they were about to assault did. She also had a captain's hat; Nero had seen it lying around somewhere during the voyage, probably inside Elena's quarters when she opened the door and Nero took a quick peek inside for a moment.

In fact, she even had the attitude of a pirate, what with the hoarse language, predilection for violence and the speech promising loot to her sailors...

"Boy."

Sharmon's single word cut Nero off his train of thought.

"Huh?"

"It is time."

"Right. Gotcha."

"Araven."

"Yeah. Ready."

The blonde extended his arms towards Sharmon, and soon a golden aura started to shine around him.

"On my mark, boy. Three, two, one..."

...go.

Sharmon leapt down, surrounded by Araven's blessing. According to him, it increased speed and it provided a very soft cushion for blows. Its defensive properties were nothing compared to Nero's barriers, but they could come in clutch.

The sorcerer landed on a solid piece of stone, right behind a buccaneer, and immediately smacked him on the back of his head; the man fell on the water immediately and the splashing noise alerted the rest of the pirates.

"What is going on there!?"

"Hey...! Who the hell are you...!"

"It's our turn, boys! It's go time!", shouted Elena, dropping the ropes and sliding down one of them. Araven and Nero nodded at each other and followed her immediately.

"Call Berzen...!", shouted a guy, drawing a sword

"I'll crush these idiots...!", said another guy, grabbing a pretty big war mace.

"Hehe... these morons jumped in the middle of our base.", murmured a fat pirate on the side, aiming at the group with a rifle-like gun.

BANG...!

The fat guy dropped, and his body fell on the water too; he had been shot by a crew member from the ceiling.

"Die, damn it...!", the pirate armed with the mace rushed at Sharmon, who dodged the swing directed at him and counterattacked with a blow straight to the throat, making him choke and kneel. The sorcerer immediately followed up with another hit on the side of his head, prompting him to the water too.

"Everyone, to the ship! You boys cover us...!", shouted Elena, following after Sharmon, who had already leapt forward and was heading straight for the Vista, just some twenty yards ahead.

More and more crew mates started descending from the ropes, covered by the fire of the poised sharpshooters.

"Hey...! They're heading towards the boss! Where the fuck's everyone...!?"

More gunshots and yelling could be heard from the entrance of the cave, and another pirate came running from that direction, sweating profusely.

"We're... we're being raided by sailors! Some fifteen guys are assaulting us directly at the entrance...!"

"What...!?"

"We have to tell the Berze- AAAGH!"

The pirate got hit by a bullet from behind, falling down.

"Shit...! It's a pincer attack...!", said the guy with the blade.

Sharmon had spearheaded the operation with a surprise jump on them, backed up by Elena and covered by Nero and Araven, who in turn were being covered by the shooters from above. At that moment, the signal was given by Ferguson for another group of crew mates to assault the entrance, either keeping reinforcements busy or shooting them from behind if they tried to run away and regroup further into the cave.

The plan had been a success to the point where the pirates had been unable to form a coherent defensive response. Bullets being fired, screaming and the clash of blades could be heard everywhere at the same time, and all over the place pirates were being slaughtered.

Nero didn't have much time to see any of this, however, focused as he was on following the others.

"Look out! It's a three-on-one!", she shouted to the sorcerer from behind him. Fit and athletic as she was, she could not keep up with his pace and was lagging a little bit behind.

Sharmon readied his cane and changed course to immediately engage on the pirate closest to him, since they were not all attacking at the exact same second, and blocked a rather dangerous axe swing before performing an elegant dance-like maneuver, positioning himself behind the bandit and responding with a tremendous blow to the back of his neck, which made a chilling cracking sound.

BANG, BANG...!

Elena had stopped and taken aim, followed by two accurate shots of her blunderbuss. Nero noticed immediately that the weapon had not flared after firing like a normal gunpowder pistol, but rather, it had released an extremely bright white with some shades of light pink and turquoise.

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"An arcana weapon...!?", Nero couldn't believe his eyes.

"Yeah! I can shoot anyone without having to reload...!", she said from ahead of him, raising his gun and shooting some more, "damn it, missed...!"

Missing was a big problem indeed, since the gun sapped her arcana and made her more tired the more she used it.

"We're almost to the ship! Keep going!", said Araven.

The group had almost made it there when an enormous man leapt from the ship and landed right in front of Sharmon and the rest. He was extremely muscular, and was wearing a gladiator-like attire: metal undergarments, brown leather sandals, metal shoulder pads over a naked chest -it only had a leather belt crossing it and tying the shoulder pieces- and wore a rather rusty closed metal full helmet.

His entire body was covered in scars.

"So, you're the ones trying to get to the boss, huh? Can't be allowin' that...", he said from behind the metal cover.

"We are here for the ship, pirate. Get out of my way and I shall spare your life.", said Sharmon.

Click.

"I'm kinda hoping you won't, though.", said Elena, aiming her pistol at him.

"Hee, hee, hee... listen to these two. See all these scars? I didn't get them by surrendering to puny little things like you."

"All they tell me", said Sharmon, reading his cane, "Is that you are easy to hit."

The metal helmet turned towards Elena, then back to Sharmon.

"First, I'll take your life, and then I'll take your girl."

"Yeah, right! In your dreams!", said Nero, who had arrived just a few seconds ago.

Araven took out his staff.

"Do we have cover?", he asked.

"We have. No one's coming to his aid. Get 'im.", said Elena.

"WHAT!? GRRR...! Those useless idiots...! MY NAME IS BERZEN, AND I WILL KILL YOU ALL...!", he roared, and charged ahead.

He was as big and slow an oaf as Sharmon had predicted, and the sorcerer easily avoided his grab. As usual, he flanked the man and hit him on the leg with his cane.

"PUNY LITTLE JESTER! THAT TICKLES!", Sharmon immediately backed down; Berzen had turned and attempted another grab as if the hit had done nothing to him.

"What...?", asked Nero.

However, Elena now had a clear shot.

BANG, BANG, BANG...!

She landed two shots on his back, and one on his right leg.

"DAMN... YOU TOO, BITCH....!"

Berzen turned his back on Sharmon and started charging straight at Elena.

"Damn it, he's impervious...!", she shouted, backing out.

"I'LL BREAK YOUR LEGS SO YOU CAN'T RUN AFTER I MAKE YOU MY PLAY TOY...!!"

"No, you won't...!", shouted Nero, projecting a solid, rectangular barrier in front of him. The enormous oaf rammed through it causing it to shatter, however much like the golem the impact had severely diminished his momentum, giving Elena time to react and jump away; however she could not perform the same acrobatics as Sharmon, and found herself vulnerable for Berzen's relentless second charge, which was surprisingly fast given his size.

Her guard was still open! However, before Berzen could reach her...

"FLASH...!"

A blinding spark of light came out of Araven's palm, hitting Berzen straight into the metal mask.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGHHHHH!!!!!!!!"

Berzen put his fingers inside his helmet, rubbing his eyes.

"Damn, I didn't know you could do that!", Nero was surprised.

"Gotta have a couple of tricks up your sleeve...", smiled Araven.

BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG...!

Elena kept shooting at him, this time at the legs only.

"DAMN YOU... IT HURTS...! MY EYES, MY LEGS...!"

"How the hell is he so resistant...? He ain't wearing anything...!", she panted, visibly tired from the arcana expenditure.

Sharmon rushed past Berzen and towards Araven.

"Lend me your staff. Now."

"Huh...? Okay."

As soon as Araven handed over his weapon, the sorcerer turned and lunged at Berzen, who was flailing around, and jumped very high in the air, slamming his helmet from both sides using both weapons.

CLANG....!!!

Berzen fell on his knees, completely overwhelmed.

"NO... NO...! STOP....!", he was covering his helmet with both hands, trying to protect himself like someone that's being bullied.

Clac, clac, clac.

Sharmon had dropped the staff and was walking towards Berzen carrying only his cane.

"Spare me...! I yield...! I yield...!"

Tap. Tap. Tap.

The sorcerer kept walking, one patient step at a time.

"You can arrest me...! I'll go with you...! I'll even tell you where my boss is...!"

"If there is one thing I detest...", he started quietly.

"Please...! I'm begging you, please...!"

Sharmon's right hand opened as if he was holding a ball slightly bigger than his palm, and soon a loud, sparking dark violet tangle of arcana began to swirl inside of it, like a sinister ball of electricity.

"It is a worthless coward...!", he sentenced, placing his palm on the man's helmet.

"GUHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH.....!!!!!!!!"

The dark electricity was conducted from his hand to Berzen's face, body and attire, causing him to scream so loudly in pain that he was putting his own throat at risk.

His muscles twitched and contorted in horrible ways, and a disgusting smell of charred leather and skin began permeating the air.

"SHARMON...! STOP....!", shouted Nero.

The sorcerer carried on the violet lightning attack for a full two more seconds before finally easing up on the arcana and throwing his body to the side, which dropped on the rocks with a loud slam.

"Be quiet, brat. The spell is non lethal with this amount of arcana."

"I've never even heard of a spell like that...", said Araven, his face the pure image of disbelief.

Sharmon turned his head and stared at the group over his shoulder.

"Of course you have not, boy. You are in the presence of a real sorcerer; this is nothing like the magic for children that they teach at Colleges and Academies."

"What... is it called?"

"I have baptized it Black Lightning.", said the sorcerer.

"You named it, meaning... you came up with it."

"Hm. Anyone who prides themselves in being a sorcerer must have tools by their own design."

"Cap'n! That's the last of 'em, I think. The cave's all cleared.", said a crew mate.

Elena put away her pistol.

"We still gotta board the Vista, and make sure it's clear of pests. And if I see even a scratch on it...", she looked at the unconscious oaf, "I'll shoot him in the knee. In fact, I oughtta shoot him regardless, freakin' piece of sh-"

"That is quite enough. Let us not waste any more time here.", said the sorcerer, adjusting his cane to its usual position.

Elena took a deep breath, and walked with the rest of the group towards the vessel to investigate it. After a quick inspection, the crew noticed that not only it was devoid of pirates, but it also was now loaded with chests full of money.

"Heh... jackpot.", she said.

Nero opened his eyes wide like a pair of plates. He had never seen such a tremendous amount of money.

"Don't be too happy. I'll have to distribute all this among my crew. I'll save the biggest cuts -after mine- for you dears, however."

She winked at them, not saving her charms exclusively for Sharmon for the first time.

Nero could feel his cheeks heating up a little bit, and looked away.

One at a time, the crew boarded the ship -Elena put the treasure under lock to distribute later-, and soon the Vista was sailing slowly out of the cave towards the coast, where it was boarded by the sharp shooters and Ferguson. With everybody accounted for -including the unconscious Berzen, locked away in the one and only cell the ship had-, the group set sail towards Trena under beautiful, clear skies.

It was too bad that the waters, flora and fauna were all dark, plagued, smelly and horrible, though. If it weren't for that... Nero would have honestly had a really good trip aboard the ship.

"That was incredible, guys! And... girl. What a fight; your plan worked perfectly!", said Ferguson, beaming with enthusiasm.

"Do not downplay yourself, Ferguson. You assisted in the process of designing the plan."

"Ah, well I just threw whatever crossed my mind, haha...", he laughed it off, scratching the back of his head.

The sorcerer nodded, an uncommon sign of approval.

"Do you think this will give us points towards our exam? We captured a prisoner willing to provide information.", said Araven.

"Oh, pfft. Definitely. I tell you, I had no idea you guys would be this awesome. I'll write the best report you can imagine."

"Just make sure you don't lie... that could throw everything away.", Nero laughed.

The group spent the following hours in Elena's quarters discussing the state of the ship, the loot they had gotten their hands on and how they would distribute it, details of the fighting, everyone had something to share and everyone wanted to listen.

Everyone, barring Nero.

He was also leaning against a wall inside the quarters, and was staring at Sharmon, who himself was looking out a window, completely uninterested in everything.

Just now, he had walked up to a defenseless man who had surrender and electrocuted him without mercy... his words ran loudly inside his head.

"If there is one thing I detest... it is a worthless coward!"

The sorcerer seemed to notice the boy's stare and turned his head to meet his gaze. His amber look was cold and remorseless.

Nero squinted his own turquoise eyes in silence.

Sharmon... just who the hell are you, really...?