"Did you really?! You defeated Janpelan of Salamandera?! You overpowered a Holy Warrior with a single blow?!" Sheida exclaimed to his narrator, the wandering knight Ser Mavros of Havenfalls, listening to the tale of his encounter with fascination.

"That's right," he nodded. "But as I told you before, I only wanted to subdue him so that I could talk to him. It seemed like we were finally going to have a conversation when someone cast a sleep spell on me from behind... I never got to see her, but I'm sure it was a girl who had been nearby," he confirmed, briefly averting his gaze as he recalled her voice. "Then, I woke up chained in one of these dungeons. Ser Janpelan had brought me there to interrogate me. Everything was going well, but then he said he had to go do something and that he would return later to continue with the questions. He ordered me to be locked up in these cells while he took care of it. That's how I ended up here."

"Well..." Sheida took a few seconds to digest the whole story. "You're lucky that the commander of this city's detachment is Janpelan. The old man is strict and always in a bad mood, but he's fair," he affirmed. He had gotten to know him well during the time he had been living in that city, and except for his current detention, he never had any problems with him. "Any other person wouldn't have bothered waking you up for interrogation. They would have just taken advantage of the situation and cut your throat, thinking you were a Abiyr in that armor," Sheida said. "As you noticed, the Elvireans are very paranoid about the Abiyrs. They fear them more than anything else; they still remember them as relentless demons that fought and annihilated entire legions of their armies."

"What? Abiyrs fought against the armies of Elvira?" Mavros raised his eyebrows.

"Yes, didn't you see that monument that was where you fought? The one that Janpelan accidentally damaged," he asked. "Well, it represents a duel that Santario Monteros, now Lord of his Holy House, had here with Junini, one of the most powerful Abiyrs. According to several survivors of that battle, Monteros barely managed to escape with his life."

Right... that monument that I was admiring before Ser Janpelan and his men attacked me, Mavros remembered. That knight who had armor and a sword similar to mine...

The conversation paused briefly.

"By the way... you just told me that a girl put you to sleep with a spell while you had Janpelan cornered, didn't you?" Sheida curved his lips upwards in an amused gesture. "There's no doubt, I know who it is..."

"Do you know?" The wandering knight observed him expectantly, eagerly awaiting the answer. "Please tell me."

"Luciara of Salamandera, the only daughter of Ser Janpelan," Sheida revealed with a playful smile.

"Inan?! His daughter?!" Mavros exclaimed, incredulous.

Sheida nodded his head up and down a couple of times in confirmation.

"She's an aspiring sorceress. She has become quite famous in the city for the disruptions she causes while practicing her spells. It seems like she wants to become a holy warrior just like Janpelan, but he opposes it and they always fight..." Sheida averted his gaze, raising his head as if the ceiling was a starry sky that he traveled with his dreamy eyes. "And also... because she is the most beautiful girl in this province... and to me, in all of Najta."

"His daughter a sorceress? The most beautiful girl in this province?" Mavros touched his chin with his left hand, reflecting aloud on such a profile. Sheida is right! That's why Ser Janpelan reacted like that when I tried to inquire about her identity!... It's what one would expect from a father concerned about his daughter... he thought. He was beginning to understand the reason for his erratic reaction during their last exchange in the interrogation room. "Who would have thought that Ser Janpelan would have a daughter like that... She must truly have talent in sorcery to be able to put me to sleep. I would like to meet her... if he allows me, of course," Mavros commented. He looked at Sheida with mischievous eyes. "Did you say... that you think she's the most beautiful girl in all of Najta?... So, she has enchanted your heart..."

"W-Well..." Sheida lowered his face and ran his right hand through his neck, blushing and feeling his muscles numb with embarrassment. "I..."

"Hm?!"

Suddenly, Mavros jumped to his feet and turned his back to Sheida. He tensed up and turned his neck from side to side, alert and on edge.

"Uh?..." Sheida was disoriented by this change in attitude that completely disrupted the conversation. "What's happening, Mavros?"

My nefeshic sense detects something! he interpreted, receiving ethereal readings. Less than two miles to the east!

Less than ten seconds passed when he realized something else that made his eyes widen with unease.

Ser Janpelan?!

***

"Hehehe…"

With their irritating laughter, a pack of hyenas cornered Luciara against the wall, seeing her as an easy prey. The tips of Luciara's right hand fingers clung tightly to the walls. Shivers manifested as droplets of ice running down her skin. Her eyes kept moving from one of her assailants to the next as her heartbeat grew more intense. Three or four more pirates joined the initial six, further diminishing her chances of escape.

"Huh?"

The gang leader detected something in the girl's left hand that alarmed him: a crystal-tipped staff.

"I see! So, you study nefeshic arts like our captain!" In a swift motion, he brought the tip of his saber inches away from her neck, which Luciara observed like the fangs of a venomous snake. "No sudden moves."

On a nearby stone pier, Baharen Ibad, their captain, confronted the unsuspecting Holy Warrior, Ser Janpelan of Salamandera. Janpelan looked on in dismay at the water drenching his body, completely extinguishing the once raging flames.

A malicious smile stretched across Baharen's lips as he savored Janpelan's astonishment.

"It seems you're frightened because your pyromantic arts have lost their effect," he said. "But the loss of your flames is the least of your worries, Ser Janpelan of Salamandera."

"Damn you!"

Janpelan was about to rush forward to strike him with his mace, but just as he took his first steps…

"Huh?!"

He felt a great pressure that hindered his movements and made him come to a stop.

What... What's happening to me?

"HAAAA!"

Taking advantage of his immobilization, Baharen leaped forward to attack him with a slash, but Janpelan managed to intercept it with some difficulty. The pirate captain was forced to retreat with a backward somersault. However, the Holy Warrior was pushed back a couple of steps by the force of the blow he received.

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I barely intercepted it. A little more and... Janpelan's skin tingled at the thought of what would have happened if the cut had reached his neck. What's happening to my body? It's becoming incredibly difficult to move... Why has it suddenly become so heavy?

He examined himself, searching for answers.

"AH?!"

Answers that he didn't take long to find.

The water that covered him, which had been flowing down to the ground, rose up and crawled over his armor, concentrating around his back, shoulders, and neck. The drops and threads combined to form the silhouette of a frail figure. The "figure" clung tightly to his victim's shoulders and neck in a suffocating embrace.

"For eons, sailors of my homeland feared the legend of the wrathful and merciless god of the seas: Protereus," Baharen narrated to Janpelan. "Occasionally, he claimed his tribute by destroying vessels in storms and voracious whirlpools. A fortunate few managed to survive the devastation amidst the wreckage of the shipwreck. But Protereus did not spare them; emerging from the sea in the form of a decrepit old man, he mounted their backs and carried them away to his domain forever. The abominable Zujae nim rhabla, the Elder of the Seas."

He paused briefly, approaching Janpelan with calm steps. He extended his right arm to the side, proudly displaying his cutlass.

"My cutlass is the embodiment of the will of the god of the seas. With it, I have invoked the Zujae nim rhabla to deliver your divine punishment," he said.

The corsairs surrounded Luciara, deliberating the fate that awaited her in their hands.

"What should we do with her, Taraked?" several of them asked their leader. Taraked: the captain's right-hand man.

"That attire, her staff... this woman must be the daughter of some powerful noble," deduced another, smiling sinisterly. "We could kidnap her and demand a ransom."

"That's exactly what I was thinking, Amir" Taraked approved his suggestion. "Let's show her to the captain."

Captain Baharen swung his cutlass forward, aiming its blade once again at his rival's jugular.

"You will sink to the depths of the sea, disappearing eternally into its depths," he proclaimed to Ser Janpelan, continuing his previous speech. "But first..., my cutlass will make you taste death…"

Something he spotted halted him just as he was about to strike.

"Eh?!"

Something that his men, too distracted with their hostage, hadn't noticed yet.

"You're coming with us, woman," Luciara was informed by the leader of her assailants. They approached her with the intention of touching her arms to pull her and subdue her.

You better not touch me, beasts! she threatened inwardly, her eyes fierce like those of a rattlesnake.

But just as they were about to touch her, and she was about to reveal her hidden weapon...

"Ah?!"

They were alerted by the same thing that had distracted their captain on the pier. The rest of the pirates guarding their entrance turned toward its origin.

"AAAAAH!" With war cries, squads of city soldiers charged against them.

Clashes of swords and spears echoed through the air. The battle erupted as the raiders fought to protect their loot.

"Damn it!" Taraked exclaimed. He moved his saber away from Luciara, dismayed by how the soldiers were starting to overwhelm his comrades due to their numerical superiority. "We must support them!" He turned to one of his companions. "Amir! Stay here and make sure she doesn't escape!" he ordered. He turned to the others. "The rest of you, follow me!"

They quickly obeyed and accompanied him to the combat zone. For a moment, it seemed that their intervention had once again tipped the scales in their favor, but…

"AAAAAH!"

From the opposite side of the harbor, other groups of defenders appeared, advancing in their direction, ready to finish surrounding them. They were the soldiers Janpelan took to the bank and left behind after they were stunned by the smoke bombs.

"This doesn't look good... At this rate, they'll defeat us..." Amir muttered absentmindedly, anxiously contemplating the discouraging development of the confrontation. Some of their comrades were injured and lost their sacks.

This is my chance!

The guard had made the grave mistake of turning his back on his hostage in those moments. Luciara's right hand opened and was enveloped in yellow flames. Her arm flexed.

Pyromantic art: Burning Strike!

"Ouch!"

The pirate squealed and jerked in surprise as he felt a strong burning sensation on his buttocks, where Luciara viciously struck him.

"Take that!"

Taking advantage of his daze, she slammed the tip of her staff into his head. The pirate fell, unconscious and unaware.

I'll do my part too!

Hopeful, Luciara decided to join the action. Immediately, she found the bound messenger soldier, ignored by friends and foes in the confusion.

"Just wait a moment, I'll free you."

She covered her right index finger in flames. With them, she carefully burned and cut the ropes that immobilized him.

"Damnation..." Captain Baharen muttered, never taking his eyes off the battle. He was starting to worry about the loot, but above all, about his men on the verge of defeat.

"ORAAH!"

With great discomfort due to the oppression weighing him down, Janpelan attempted to sweep Baharen with his mace, but the captain easily dodged it with a leap.

"Faricums! Retreat! Get back to the Jinnad!"

Even amidst the heat of the battle, his thunderous command echoed in the ears of all his comrades. They turned around and fled at full speed, crossing the pier with their wounded and the bags they managed to keep in their possession.

Damn it!... I can't do anything to them!

No matter how hard Janpelan tried to stop them, his slow movements with the mace were harmless and evaded by all the pirates as they passed him by. One by one, they boarded their ship.

"Ready."

Luciara undid the messenger's final restraint, finally freeing him.

"Thank you so much!" he thanked with relief, getting to his feet. He glanced for a moment at the soldiers chasing the pirates during their escape. "You shouldn't be here, Lady Luciara," the messenger said, turning to her. "But come and help us save your father! Ser Janpe is in grave danger!"

The first soldiers were just meters away from setting foot on the pier. Captain Baharen raised his cutlass, pointing it towards the sky.

"Protereus!"

The sea responded to the call. Just as the soldiers were about to cross the threshold, they crashed into a towering wall of water that rose up in front of them. Soon, more walls followed, blocking access to the rest of the structure.

"Damn it!"

"We can't get through!"

No matter how hard they tried to pass through and break it, the soldiers couldn't breach the impregnable barrier. Time and time again, they were knocked to the ground or their attacks were repelled. Their morale plummeted once again.

As I feared... Something like this wouldn't be enough, Luciara reflected, her fears revived as she witnessed the magnitude of the pirate captain's magic. If before she saw herself with minuscule, but existing, possibilities, now she was completely incapable of changing the course of events. Neither I nor anyone here is a match for someone with such mastery of nefesh... There's only one individual who could equal him.

Her brow furrowed.

I'll take the risk, she nodded. "I'll be right back! I'll seek help!"

She swiftly left the port. She had no reservations left; she was about to make a bold gamble.