Isabelle stood beside Ryzer the Phoenixborn, prepared to face off against the Red Serpent guard with his two scimitars. This sinister kobold insisted that he knew Isabelle, but she really had no idea who he was or why she should care.

"Do you know who he is?" whispered Ryzer. Isabelle shook her head. "Not a clue."

"Well, it doesn't matter. Just keep focused on him and don't let your guard down."

Ryzer smiled at Isabelle, flashing his pearly whites in a way that made Isabelle feel warm all over, even though she didn't understand why she felt that way.

"Alright," she said. "Focus."

"On what?"

"Being awesome."

Ryzer smiled wider than ever. "Got it."

The kobold drew a long breath and charged at them. Isabelle held her guard up and watched him come.

He swung his scimitar at Isabelle, who ducked down to avoid the blow. It whistled past her ear and hit the railing of the airship, causing sparks to fly everywhere. Isabelle took advantage of this opportunity and jumped back, dodging a second attack.

"Nice dodging, Isabelle," said Ryzer. "Thanks," said Isabelle.

The kobold came at her again, swinging his scimitar and screaming, "Die, Isabelle!"

"Okay, seriously, how do you know me?" asked Isabelle as she expertly dodged him again.

"I'm your best friend," said Ryzer.

"Shut up, Ryzer," said Isabelle. "You're not helping."

The kobold's scimitars cut through the air like knives, but Isabelle was able to dodge every single one of them. She stepped back and circled around him, ready for another attack.

The kobold tried to run at her, but she caught him by surprise and kicked him in the crotch hard enough to send him sprawling to the floor. Ryzer laughed with delight.

[Critical hit]

[10288 damage dealt]

"You're going to pay for that, Isabelle," said the kobold.

"Bullshit," said Isabelle. "I'm not fucking scared of you. You're not a scary kobold at all."

The kobold got back up, shaking his injured groin. "You will be," he said. "Or I'll kill you both."

"Oh yeah? And why would we want that?" said Isabelle.

"Because you're so stupid it makes me sick. And because I hate you."

"Well, fuck you," said Isabelle. "And fuck your mother too." "Fuck you!"

The kobold lunged at her, swinging his scimitar in a wide arc. Isabelle jumped over the attack and kicked out at the kobold, knocking him back toward the railing.

[5672 damage dealt]

"Die!" he screamed.

Isabelle ran at him, kicking the kobold hard in the face. The blow sent him flying backward to land on his back, smashing into the wood hard enough to leave him unconscious.

[8394 damage dealt]

['Red Serpent Guard' is unconscious]

"Oh, shit," said Ryzer. "I didn't even need to land a hit. You took care of him all on your own like the whole thing was a joke. You must be even more powerful than the rumors say."

"Yeah, sorry," said Isabelle. "Guess I got a little carried away."

"Well, what can I say? I mean, it's great that you kicked his ass," said Ryzer. "I just wish that we'd had the opportunity to find out why he thought he knew you."

"Meh," said Isabelle. "I'm sure we'll figure it out at some point."

"Nice job, Isabelle!" said Tahsi Junior as he and Jopher landed on the deck of the Red Serpent airship. "Do I need to use my breath weapon to heal you?"

"Nah, I didn't take any damage," said Isabelle. "Dude was a total idiot when it comes to fighting."

"Hey, you four!" boomed a voice from one of the two other nearby Red Serpent airships. "You're not out of hot water yet! Prepare for us to board the shit out of that vessel you've commandeered!"

"What?!" said Isabelle. "That's not fair!" "Fair shmair!" boomed the voice.

Then came the onslaught of arrow fire. There was an airship on either side of the ship they were on, and arrows were firing from both ends at Isabelle and her party members.

"Everyone, behind me!" shouted Isabelle.

She took the hit from the arrows, shielding everyone with her body.

[-1 hp]

[-2 hp]

[-1 hp]

Isabelle laughed. These archers would probably run out of arrows before she took enough damage for it to matter!

"Don't worry about the damage you're taking, Isabelle!" said Tahsi Junior. "I've got your back with my healing breath weapon!"

Isabelle rolled her eyes, seeing as she didn't feel like she needed his help, but she didn't argue against it.

[-1 hp]

[+3 hp]

[-1 hp]

[+2 hp]

[-2 hp]

[+4 hp]

Isabelle cackled.

"This shit is too easy!" she said. "These fuckers are so weak they'll never hurt us!"

"Oh yea?!" boomed a voice from one of the airships. "Then check this shit out, you fucking bitch!!"

Both airships fired up their cannons.

"Oh, shit!" yelled Isabelle. "Tahsi Junior, get behind me!"

The airships fired the cannonballs at the same time.

[-15 hp]

[+5 hp]

"Holy shit, this is insane!" Isabelle yelled. The deck of the ship quaked.

"We're probably going to have to board another one of those ships," said Ryzer. "I don't think there's much we can do to fight them all on our own."

"No shit," said Isabelle. She sighed as more cannons flew towards them and smashed into the deck of the ship, sending splinters everywhere. She looked up at the sky, where the airships still seemed to be shooting at her.

"There's no way we could beat these guys," Ryzer said.

"You've got to be fucking kidding me," said Isabelle. "I just took out all of the men on this ship almost entirely on my own! There's no fucking way we can't take all these limp-dicked fuckers out!"

"Okay then," said Ryzer. "What?" asked Isabelle.

"I think you may be right," said Ryzer. "And I think we should head to the next airship."

Isabelle looked at him. "What?" she said.

"I think you're probably right," he said again. "I think we might actually be able to handle these guys."

[-20 hp]

[+4 hp]

"Alright, let's go kick some ass," said Isabelle. She jumped into the Phoenixborn's arms, tightening her grip around his body like a vice as he shot into the sky.

"Okay then, glad we could all talk and agree on this as a party," said Tahsi Junior with a sigh as he stopped using his healing breath.

"Players," said Jopher, shaking his head. "Can't live with them, can't have systemic powers without them."

Isabelle clung tightly to Ryzer as he flew through the sky. "Okay, now what?" she asked.

"Now, we take out this ship," said Ryzer as he flew towards the airship to the left. "I see about fifteen warriors at the cannons, and I'm sure they have at least one other Red Serpent guard on that ship."

Isabelle lamented that she couldn't use her mana right now. After all, it would've been so easy to use magic to kill the warriors all at once. Then again, couldn't she just use her breath weapon on them again?

"Shit," said Ryzer. "The warriors have tied cannonballs to their legs so that you can't blow them off the side of the ship, Isabelle. Those clever bastards. What are we supposed to do?"

Isabelle only chuckled. Her int was way too high to think in such a simplistic manner.

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"Fly me up towards them anyway. Just like you did with the archers on the first airship," said Isabelle.

"But Isabelle, they're weighted down!" whined Ryzer.

"Listen to me, you little shit!" spat Isabelle. She smacked Ryzer in the face with the back of her open left palm. "Grow some fucking balls and do what I say."

"O-okay," said Ryzer faintly. Then, he murmured under his breath, "Gods, that was sexy."

Isabelle watched and waited as Ryzer obediently flew her up towards the row of warriors firing cannons off the side of the airship. When she was close enough, she thought, 'Use Gust of Wind.'

[Stamina 74%]

Wind rushed from Isabelle's mouth and battered the warriors. Isabelle watched as the speedy wind picked up and she focused more energy.

[Stamina 42%]

Then, Isabelle watched as one by one the legs of the warriors that were chained to cannonballs snapped like twigs. Blood sprayed in the air as the fifteen warriors shot off the side of the airship and passed out and died terrible, painful, fearful deaths.

[10202 damage dealt]

[39381 damage dealt]

[23948 damage dealt]

[3035 damage dealt]

[2975 damage dealt]

[2855 damage dealt]

[2795 damage dealt]

[2625 damage dealt]

[2483 damage dealt]

[2372 damage dealt]

[2215 damage dealt]

[2214 damage dealt]

[2162 damage dealt]

[2141 damage dealt]

[1792 damage dealt]

"Holy shit," said Ryzer. "That was fucking terrifying."

"It's not over yet," said Isabelle. "Now fly me over to the other airship, stat!"

Ryzer did as he was told.

Isabelle could see that the warriors on this side of the airship had set cannonballs on all of the warriors as well. Dumbasses. Ryzer angled her towards the warriors and Isabelle thought, 'Use Gust of Wind.'

[Stamina 63%]

And she focused her energy.

[Stamina 38%]

One by one, off the warriors' legs popped as they flew off the side of this third airship.

[29348 damage dealt]

[10932 damage dealt]

[7392 damage dealt]

[4465 damage dealt]

[3906 damage dealt]

[3593 damage dealt]

[3491 damage dealt]

[3345 damage dealt]

[3235 damage dealt]

[3097 damage dealt]

[2255 damage dealt]

[2250 damage dealt]

[2190 damage dealt]

[2087 damage dealt]

[1637 damage dealt]

[Combat mode deactivated]

"This is digusting and terrible," said Ryzer. "How are you comfortable causing this much pain to people, Isabelle?"

Isabelle smiled.

"Because I'm going to make a difference to the world," said Isabelle. "Just you watch me."

"I'm...sure you already have," replied the Phoenixborn. "Also, the airships look like they're almost finished."

"Should we go see how Tahsi Junior and Jopher now?" asked Isabelle.

"Yea," said Ryzer. "Why not?"

They landed on the deck of the airship to see their party members standing beside the unconscious body of the kobold guard that Isabelle hadn't recognized from earlier.

"That was fast," said Tahsi Junior. "And horrible. Like, it was really gruesome."

"It's not over yet," said Jopher. He turned to the unconscious kobold in the Red Serpent armor. "We should get rid of him. And then probably get onto one of those other airships, because this one is totally fucked thanks to all that cannon fire."

"No, no, we should interrogate him," said Tahsi Junior. "We need to know what he knows."

"That makes sense," said Jopher. "If we could figure out their plans, we'd be able to stop them."

Isabelle rolled her eyes. "What are you two talking about? Why are you strategizing? What's there to strategize about?"

Tahsi Junior looked at Isabelle like she was an idiot and spoke quietly. "You really don't think this is something worth considering? This might change the fate of the world. We need to take care not to let our emotions cloud our judgement."

"Are you kidding me? You really think this is worth worrying about at the moment?" said Isabelle. "We just killed a whole bunch of people

with dragon breath weapon powers. How does that not merit a little bit of celebration?"

"It matters," said Tahsi Junior. "You can't just kill people. That's wrong."

Jopher nodded. "Yeah, it's important to do right by your fellow man."

Isabelle stared at the two of them in disbelief. "What are you talking about?"

"I think you're being a bit too hasty here," said Jopher. "I mean, we've barely even seen these people, and now they've been blown off the side of an airship and probably disembowled by your awesome power."

"Yea. The point is, that we're capable of doing terrible things to each other, and we shouldn't be proud of that," said Tahsi Junior.

"Is this a fucking church service or something?" said Isabelle with a scowl. "Seriously, why do you two care? Are you two trying to live up to some sort of moral code that I'm not aware of? Is that what you're really doing? Because if so, you are both terrible people. I hope you die horribly, and I hope your children turn on you and kill you. That should be your punishment for not killing me when you had the chance."

Both Tahsi Junior and Jopher stared blankly at Isabelle before they looked at each other and shrugged. They seemed completely lost.

"You remember that I'm only like a few weeks old, right?" asked Tahsi Junior. "I mean, I don't have kids or anything. I don't even know how people have kids. Speaking of which, you wouldn't happen to have any idea how my dad and a dragon managed to make that work, would you? I just can't imagine how exactly someone about your size and a full grwon dragon could--"

"Please just stop talking, Tahsi Junior," said Isabelle. "For the love of god. Please. You're embarrassing me."

Tahsi Junior nodded.

"Okay, fine," said Tahsi Junior. He crossed his arms. "But seriously, I don't get it though."

[Combat mode activated]

"Ah, shit, what now?" groaned Isabelle.

"Well, well, well," croaked the kobold Isabelle had knocked out earlier. He coughed up some blood as he pulled himself to his feet. "You should've killed me when you had the chance, because now that I'm conscious again, I am going to kill the living shit out of you."

"Oh, no," said Isabelle sarcastically. "I'm so scared."

"Don't worry, Isabelle," said Jopher. He grinned widely and reached into his coat pocket.

"What are you doing, Jopher?" asked Tahsi Junior.

"I'm going to kill this kobold and we'll never have to deal with him again," said Jopher. He pulled out a huge glock. This glock was seriously half the halfling's own size.

"No, no," said Isabelle. "Let's talk about this. We can come to some sort of--"

"Shit!" screamed Tahsi Junior. "The kobold's turning into an undead monster!"

"No I'm not!" said the kobold. "I just woke up!"

"Yea, Tahsi Junior," said Isabelle. "I just knocked him out earlier. He's not undead."

"Oh, shit, my bad," said Tahsi Junior. "You're right." "No," said the kobold. "I'm not dead."

"We've already established that, undfortunately," said Isabelle. She looked at the kobold sternly. "Now before you embarass yourself by trying to fight me, how about you tell us why exactly you think you know me, and why you expected me to recognize you?"

"Fine," said the kobold. "Remember when I asked you if the name Avna meant anything to you?"

"No, honestly, I wasn't really paying attention to you then," said Isabelle.

"Gods, you're insufferable," said the kobold. "Well, Avna is me. I'm Avna!"

"So what? Are you just really good at being obnoxious?" asked Isabelle.

"No, no," said the kobold. "Avna is my name. My real name. It's short for Avnakobol, actually, but I guess you didn't know that."

"Oh, great, I know your name now," said Isabelle. "And I know you're an asshole. Why is it relevant, again?"

"Wow," said the kobold. "Just.. wow. Anyway, I was the guard that was in charge of watching you while you were incarcerated back in Thres. You would not imagine the absolute shitstorm I got put through for letting you escape. And I still have no fucking clue how you did it, either. There are people who blamed the dethroning of the Overlord on my fuck ups, you know! Which isn't necessarily the worst, seeing as now I work for the Red Serpent under the watch of the OverQueens, but still. It's the principle of the thing. But anyway, I figured that, since you knew me, you'd probably know me. And you did, of course. I mean, duh. Because I'm Avna, of course."

Isabelle stared blankly at the kobold.

"I'm getting really tired of this," said Isabelle. "Why in the hell would you assume I remembered the random asshole who locked me in a cage as part of their job? Why would I ever commit you to memory?"

The kobold stopped smiling. "You're a very bitter person, Isabelle."

Isabelle rolled her eyes. "Alright, Jopher. Kill this fucking guy. I can't stand him."

"But why?" asked Tahsi Junior. "What does he have to do with anything?"

"He attacked me and Ryzer," said Isabelle. "And he'll do it again as soon as he has the chance." She turned to the halfling. "Go on, Jopher. Use that huge glock of yours and put this bitch's lights out."

"No! Please! Gods, no! I don't want a huge glock in my face!" cried the kobold as Jopher walked over to him and pointed the glock at his face.

"Any last words, fucker?" asked Jopher. "Wait! Wait! Think about what you're--"

The kobold's lamentations were cut short immediately when Jopher fired the glock. Blood and brains flew through the air, spattering over the party.

[Avna is dead]

Isabelle looked down at the body with a sigh. "He deserved it," said Jopher.

"No, he didn't," said Tahsi Junior.

"Yes, he did. He's the one who attacked us!" said Isabelle. "And he would've attacked you personally, Tahsi Junior, if he'd had the chance."

"Okay, okay. I don't really know what he did to you, Isabelle," said Tahsi Junior. "But I saw enough to know that he did something terrible."

"It's alright, Tahsi Junior," said Isabelle. "You're forgiven."

"Thank you," said Tahsi Junior.

"Hey, what about me?" asked Jopher. "What am I forgiven for?"

"Uhh...you're forgiven for blowing his brains out, I guess?" said Isabelle with a shrug.

"Works for me," said Jopher.

Isabelle looked down at Avna's headless body and was gripped by the urge to loot the shit out of him. Maybe his scimitars were powerful! Plus, if she took his Red Serpent armor, maybe she could use it as a disguise down the line at an opportune moment.

[Loot 'Avna'?]

Before Isabelle could think yes, a terrified screech rung through the air.

"What in the fuck was that?" asked Isabelle.

"It sounded like Ryzer," said Tahsi Junior. "More specifically, it sounded like Ryzer got his balls caught in a blender."

"That's who it was," said Isabelle. She looked around for Ryzer. "Wait, where exactly is he?"

"I think he went into this airship's cabin," said Jopher.

The scream rung through the air again.

"Shit," said Isabelle. "Let's go find him and make sure he's okay!"

The looting would have to wait this time. Isabelle and her party ran to the cabin door and ripped it open. And what they saw inside left all three of them with jaws hanging wide open.