“That one?!” Jimbo looked at her like the world’s biggest idiot, “You’re saying you want that ship?”

“Yeah…? It’s a nice boat. What’s your deal?” Normally I would expect unfounded support from his corner. Is he saying that ship’s out of our league? “I want it.”

“Boy, do I have good news for you.” Contrary to his nay-saying, the shit-eating grin was back in full force. “That there’s the Far Shore’s flagship.”

Cira gasped, “Are you saying—” She covered her mouth with a hand in shock.

“That’s right.” He casually tossed another bomb out the window. “That ship’s been under your command since the second week of your coma.”

Now wearing an unabashed smile, Cira got jittery with excitement, “What a pleasant surprise. I can’t wait to look at the cannon. Do you think they’ll shoot it again?”

“Don’t think it can fire up again so fast, but I’m sure they’ll be happy to give you the tour.” The three royal vessels were long gone—the only trace of them which remained was trailing smoke that rose from the clouds, growing thinner by the second as the prevailing mist drowned it out. “I’m sure if you focus on the task at hand, you’ll get to see it much sooner.”

Even thought the Far Shore's ship still loomed in the distance, it had destroyed the royals' morale. Their offense was on it's last legs and they no longer stood with the confidence they did when black and gold blotted out the docks. Now the prevelant color here was crimson.

“Right, my bad.” It’s hard not to get excited. I’ve done nothing but lose, lately. I deserve a nice boat, dammit. “Looks like we’re almost there. How’s your negligible flesh wound doing, by the way?”

Tawny judgmentally glowered her way, but Cira had her eyes on the battle below. The cannons went off every minute or two until they ran out of ammo, but her crew didn’t give Wick’s any time to put up a meaningful defense, shooting from across the small cove and from the tavern’s first floor behind their line. At first the royals tried aiming for Cira and the goons in the upstairs windows, but each man who gave such an order inexplicable fell to the ground in a pool of blood. Eventually the opposition had taken to cover instead.

“I’m a little light-headed, but I’ve been shot worse in my day.” He patted a hand over his chest wound and tossed another bomb into the crowd.

Their attention was drawn by Tawny who was breathing heavily by the window, charging another high-speed fireball. “Come to think of it, have you been trying to activate the Sorcerer’s Cube? It’s been a couple hours.”

“Aw, hell.” Jimbo tried to wipe the sweat from his brow and smacked the goggles into his face. Grumbling, he pulled the cube from his pocket and strained himself trying to make it light up. “Dammit… At least I’m starting to see mana now—I think. That’s a good sign, right?”

“Sure is. You’ll be casting magic in a few days, I’m certain.” Not that it will be very impressive, but progress is progress. Cira watched Tawny nearly collapse on the ground, only to shake herself off and start charging another fireball. Her pained groans were starting to distract Cira.

The sorcerer gently nudged her with the end of her crutch, “Tawny, is it? Stop casting before you hurt yourself. I don’t need my aura to be able to tell you’re about to lose yours.”

“You’re just… a no-good lesser from the outskirts…” Her words came between labored breaths. Lesser… I think Estelle used that word. It must be a common term in these skies for those not ‘blessed’ with mana. “Why should I listen to a whelp like you—”

Tawny’s spiteful words were cut short to the sound of Cira’s crutch splintering as it broke over her head. “Congratulations, little girl. You have officially pissed me off.”

“Y-you bitch!” Jimbo was frozen in shell shock as the girl started conjuring a fireball. He jumped to stop her when Cira shot him a glare that turned him right back into a statue. 'Twas a sorcery only a scornful woman could conjure. “I’ll expose you here and now for the snake you really are!”

The goons hid behind Jimbo as the events unfolded. The fireball grew larger than any Tawny had conjured before and a torrent of wind churned it around, rippling the air in the room as Cira’s irritation grew into full-blown anger. The scowl she wore deepened with each second and the girl somehow wore an arrogant grin.

I really misjudged this one. What a shame. Tawny threw her hand out in the same motion that she let loose her attacks on the royal pirates—but nothing happened. The fireball continued to hover in front of her, even growing in size. “Wh-what’s going on—” Panic crept into her face as something completely unprecedented was happening. She had lost all control over her spell.

“Foolish girl. I intended to give you the benefit of the doubt because Jimbo seems fond of you, but you wasted more mana attacking me than you’ve spent the whole time fending off our invaders.” Without a trace of shame, Cira hopped closer to her on one leg as the girl began to shrink down, “Do you not see all the men that died while you hid in the cave? This is my first day here, but surely you recognize them. Do you truly have the luxury to quibble like a child in this moment?!”

“Wha—” The girl’s face had started to grow pale and sweat poured down her face. “What have you done?!”

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“You see I’m quite lacking in mana at the moment,” One of the rings she wore held a dull glimmer as she commandeered the amateur mage’s spell, “And robbing you of such pitiful sorcery is a trivial matter. Conveniently, you just kept charging the spell so I could hold the pathway open. Since you have proven to be most irresponsible with it, I will be reappropriating your mana.”

Why do people always have to push me? I don’t like being the bad guy. It’s the girl’s own fault for talking like that unsavory witch. Is whelp a common insult up here too?

As the girl sunk into the floor, her fireball grew hotter, yet smaller as Cira condensed it. The wind only accelerated as she began to suck the girl’s aura dry. Jimbo ran up frantically and tried to talk her down, “Hold on, Dreadheart! Just calm down, she doesn’t know any better!”

“That’s no excuse.” Her voice was cold as she continued to rip mana out of the girl. What were you acting all tired for when you have this much? Why weren’t you fighting?! “With this much mana she could have saved many lives before we showed up, or even turned the battle around herself.” Jimbo wore a troubled face as he looked between her and the girl barely holding herself off the ground. I guess I should at least leave her aura intact. I don’t want to set a precedent. Cira moved the fireball outside by way of incinerating part of the wall as it had grown too large to fit out the window.

As it slowly descended, the wind spun around and flared out, forming a twister which caught flame and transformed into a brilliant cyclone. She held it above the dock, but its surface still turned to charcoal as the inferno crept towards the remaining crowd of royal pirates. Some fell to their knees while others started running only to realize they had no escape route.

Just as Cira’s Lamplight Ring could feed off the darkness, other artifacts could power themselves by consuming an element for its mana. This effect could also be achieved by a sorcerer of at least moderate caliber when casting (or controlling) a spell. In this way, Cira’s burning cyclone continued to grow. Before it even reached them, Wick’s men were thrown to the side with only minor burns, but the psychological effect was not to be discounted.

The ring on her finger started to burn as well, glowing like molten metal, and she knew she would need to wrap this up swiftly. Cira made the inferno float out over the edge and start fanning out before spitting masses of fireballs aimlessly outwards, crashing into the hillside and in between groups of frantic pirates. As she watched the ostensibly harmless chaos she wrought ensue, the spell stealing ring on her finger cracked and went dim.

Embers rained from a cloud of thick smoke and Cira cast a cold glare at Tawny who cowered on the ground, just fighting to stay conscious. She shrunk back as Cira got closer, “Yet instead of using your strength to help the crew navigate a crisis, you tried to unleash half of your mana at me. You’re lucky I left you your aura.

“How…” Tawny’s voice was weak as she spoke to Cira from below, “How did you do that? With my mana…?”

Cira ignored the girl and pulled the wooden leg out of her beltloop before leaning back against a table and strapping it to her stump. She gave it a few test steps and it hurt much worse than she imagined. Jimbo winced as she turned to him and noticed something sticking out of his pocket.

“Give me that.” She pulled out a bottle and took a drink before walking to the freshly enlarged window.

“Hey, I need that—” Jimbo started to complain, but Cira quickly cut him off.

“Let’s be done with this.” Then she jumped off the ledge onto the docks below.

It wasn’t a very tall second story, and she managed to roll into it with her good leg. When she got up, she dusted her shoulders off and approached the now cowering royals. They were scattered now, and any semblance of resistance was gone with the wind. At this point her crew nearly outnumbered them—there couldn’t be more than fifty of left.

Meanwhile, the large ship with the golden suns had made its way into the cove and begun their descent through the black smoke that engulfed the cove. A few more swigs of fiery spirits and Cira stashed the bottle away in her pocket, pulling out two pistols and firing them into the air.

As the battle quelled in the wake of her firestorm, the gunfire drew everyone in the hideout’s attention, and she threw the spent guns on the ground. Trying to get used to walking with her new leg, she pulled out another gun and drew her cutlass. These legs are no real substitute. It was expected, but this sure does suck. Each step was like being stabbed and she realized that it would have been wiser to hang onto her crutch for a little while longer.

Oh, I better put this one on. As the Ring of Effulgence slipped onto her finger, her entire body started to glow with the light of emerging mana. The royals all stared at her like she was powering up to turn the slaughter around and she had to hide a grin.

This ring was the best for bluffing—it just gathered light around her. Admittedly, it made her look similar to when Estelle was about to unleash one of her spells directly into Nanri’s pendant, so any fight left in the invaders quickly drifted away.

Now hardly a stone-throw away from the first group of scrambling men with torn black and gold armor, Cira looked at them with contempt. “All of you, stop scurrying around!” She shot one in the foot, throwing the pistol on the ground to draw another from her coat.

“Please spare us!” One burly fellow with brown hair and blood all over his clothes threw himself on the ground, followed by ten or so pirates surrounding him.

Really? Just like that? They killed so many… Would they have stopped if we surrendered? Still, I can’t exactly cull them.

With a frustrated sigh, Cira sheathed her sword and crossed her arms, looking over the royal pirates with even greater contempt. Much to her displeasure, more pirates fell to their knees, some even bowing.

“We swear allegiance to Captain Dreadheart!” The yelping started to pile up among the sparse crowd.

“Please, I-I’ll fight for ya!” Another middle-aged pirate with an eyepatch approached only to throw himself at her feet, “I’ve got a kid back home! Please, you gotta spare me!”

“And what of the men you killed?” Cira’s eyes grazed over the carnage of the last half hour. There was the sound of rain, but it was only blood as it trickled between the boards beneath their feet all along the docks. It brought Cira a little relief to see the dead royals outnumbered her men by a great deal now, but that respite quickly soured. “How many men did you make me kill? I don’t even know the answer to that. Why should I spare you?”

Cira held her pistol to his head and cocked the hammer back when she felt a hand on her shoulder. “Cool it, Captain.” She turned to see Jimbo with a faint glint of concern in his eye, “Somethin’ tells me you don’t really want to execute the guy. We won.”

“… Maybe you’re right.” What am I doing…? How many men have I killed? I should be reducing that number, not adding to it. I bet a lot of them had families too. There are children who won’t see their father for dinner tonight because their lives were stolen… by me.

Cira shuddered as the reality of what she had done started to set in. She slowly lowered her gun and looked down at the man sniveling on his knees. “Your fate doesn’t belong to me.”