I rushed after Garlan, multiple [First Step] spells instantly teleporting me right beside him. I kicked his legs and forced him to collapse on the ice as a spear concealed within the sea of darkness rushed past us, taking two of the crew members in its wake. 

“Fuck!” Garlan almost rolled down the plank, and I held him before he could disappear into the blues beyond. “The hell was that?!”

“Ducan,” I said and pulled my bread lad up. Never could have I ever imagined saving a mortal from their death, but here I was, contradicting myself for the first time. Something told me it wouldn’t be the last, but I was too busy pulling Garlan to heed my impinging thoughts.

The two crew members rotted instantly, their screams attracting the attention of others marginally. But they were trained men, and little did the rotting men stop them from climbing over the hull of the other ship. It didn’t long for the terrible stench of the dead to reach the wind mages of our boat, and I saw their faces turn green with queasiness. Planks started rumbling as the cog went out of balance, but most of the crew members had made it across safely when the corner ice planks dropped to the troubled waters below.

“That fucking monster?!” Garlan shouted, and we ran across the plank. His cutlass bore down on the man after my [Freeze], and a human head tumbled down to the deck instantly.

“Yes,” I said, already scanning the vessel for the sign of my rotten creation.

“Mug those asshats!” the woman with the eyepatch, Reav, shouted, kicking a heavy barrel across the main deck. She was humongous, as much as Garlan, but without all my bread lad’s meat. 

Her voice had hardly stopped echoing when a sharp black blade that wasn’t metal cut my right arm instantly, and blood gushed out profusely, tainting the floorboard. 

“Rudolf!” Garlan shouted, already rushing toward me after swiping the blood off his rusty cutlass, but the silhouette before me sent him flying to the other end of the cog. More howls, more blood, more metal clanks, more groans, yet I saw only the hazy black creature before me.

“AWAR,” the black-robed silhouette shouted, its voice too shrill for a mortal. “BASTARD! YOUR SCENT KILLS ME EVERY DAMN DAY,” it called my name.

That freaking hurt!

I bit my lips and picked up my detached arm that resembled a fountain of blood if held erect. The pain was unbearable, but I would never show my mortal weaknesses in front of others, even if it meant bottling up the screams within me. 

Garlan got up, blood seeping out of his cracked forehead, and he waved at me, indicating that he was up for more thrashing. I had no clue why that made me feel better. Camaraderie? Or was it guilt at having made such a horrendous being?

“Long time, Prince Othel,” I attached my arm and cast [Heal] instantly. Everyone was occupied to glance in our direction, so they didn’t get to see the demon that was the product of my first experimental failure. Well, I was forced to experiment, but the results never asked why I conducted the experiments in the first place. “I go by the name Rudolf here.”

“DUCAN,” it snickered and pulled off the cowl, glancing at me with its gleaming red eyes, too many to count, that skittered around his face. And his body underneath the cloak.“ARE YOU STILL THE INFAMOUS UNDEAD?”

A man crashed against him, and he rotted instantly, even the bones crumbling to dust when the darkness stretched from the creature before me, engulfing whatever little life force the mortal had.

“I am just a butler for now,” I smiled. “Gave up on the stained life a long time ago, Ducan. Though, it’s good to see you. You came to fight?”

“NOO!” it screeched, barring the fangs inside the newly formed mouth owing to coagulation of the numerous red eyes on its face. “I WILL KILL YOU FOR MAKING ME THIS WAY! HOW LONG HAD I WAITED TO GET SUMMONED!”

Rage, and it was bad because I had no time to draw a summoning circle and seal this monster away. It shifted, the winds of the blues taking away its robe, as four more black projections appeared on its back, almost resembling the legs of a humongous spider. The battle had almost concluded with one-sided slaughter, but the other side had just begun. And I knew this monster’s mage was the messenger. Call it bread feeling. Men and women shifted away from us, watching the horrendous being in outright revulsion.

“The Carcass!” Lykan shouted from the rump as he pulled his sword out of the captain’s neck, splashing blood on himself. “Fucking Carcass! How the hell is it here?!”

“Cap!” Nuva shouted, nimbly jumping over the bodies on the stairs to the afterdeck and slashing the man who was about to cut Lykan’s only hand.

“Hold him back, Nuva!” Garlan shouted, trashing a couple of men across their faces as he rushed across the floorboard, his cutlass cutting down more archers on his path.

“Now then,” I glanced at the silhouette before me. Its eyes had grown a shade darker, and black fumes exuded from its body. “Where were we?”

“DIE!”

The thick black mass of arms with reddish eyes rushed toward me. I caught two of them with my bare hands before they could pierce my body. It anchored itself with the rest of the two legs, and I landed a punch laden with [Cardina Garch] across its face. It did little good, and the mass of darkness sucked my arm inside.

Indeed, even [Black Abyss] from my creation didn’t surprise me.

[Explosion] rained inside the [Black Abyss] that disappeared within, but it didn’t fail to recoil the demon a couple of steps. 

The thumping sizeable black mass of darkness with skittering red eyes loomed before me, concealing the body within. If it still had one. I had just revived Prince Othello on the orders of the Escarthes royal family, but this was his own making. Excess life force mutated undead, and this was a result of his uncontrollable thirst for life force.

That’s how dangerous addictions can get. So, you better learn from me to control your urges before becoming a hapless demon.

Darkness cloaked around me, the contorting legs piercing my back without warning. I cast [Holy light], the recoil damage forcing me to cough more blood when compared to the black dredge of the demon.

“ARGH!” It recoiled, and I used my legs to manipulate the blood on the ground, trying to draw an incantation circle. 

It rained dark projectiles on me, the same shady one that had rotted two men in its wake. I jumped to the gunwale behind me, and it almost struck my legs. 

The crew members around us took steps back, their horror bourgeoning when the darkness morphed to something akin to a large boulder with innumerable limbs and eyes. 

I made use of the opening to continue my incantation circle. My own language shortened all the necessary ritualistic words, yet I hadn’t managed to earn enough time. The black skittering masses of demonized bodies detached from its body and rushed in all the directions of the main deck.

“Ward those freaky demons!” Lykan shouted, rushing down the stairs to strike the first one with his sword. That was enough to raise the morale of the troops, and Reav followed with the shouts, taking down two demonized bodies.

“Follow Curino to death!” she shouted, raising the disappearing blob of darkness. Little did the men know that it was my [Holy Light] doing the job, but I needed their morale to seal this monster. Even if it meant the spell did more harm to me. I had absolute control over the amount of life force I absorbed from the world, but when my [Undead] spell did the healing, it worked more efficiently than [Black Abyss]. Only that it was terrible for me.

“Ay!” the crewmen shouted, and I was whipped off my feet amid my distracted state. I flipped to the main deck, still keeping my fingers busy with the incantation words and my mind with the demonized creatures rushing toward the crew members. I didn’t have the inclination to save them, but well, my lady’s graduation depended on this mission. 

Letitia jumped over to the deck, casting [Frost Shield] around the demon. It didn’t aid much because the materialized mana crumbled to dust instantly.

“Garlan!” she shouted, freezing the black extensions rushing toward her. “How dare you abandon my mongrel?!”

Garlan grinned from the rump. That was the first time my lady had addressed him by his name, so I suppose he felt a sense of satisfaction at being acknowledged. She ducked as Garlan’s [Bubble] deflected the frozen projectile away from her face. “Took you long enough, Letitia!” he shouted and hopped down the stairs.

“Couldn’t you ask for help, bastard?!” she glared at me as sickled of ice loomed right in front of me. They rushed toward every black limb that was eager to stop my summoning circle. 

“I have never asked for help, my lady,” I said, slashing my arm to pool more blood on the floorboard.

“Then you better learn to ask, mongrel,” she said and cast [Frost shield] around me as the incantation circle started to glow in hazy blackish colors. 

Garlan reached me soon, his blood-soaked cutlass looming off the thick black limbs. 

“I’m done,” I got up and powdered the polygonal ice around me. Unlike mortals, I could move around sustaining the incantation circle and still multicast. I was overpowered for many reasons, and this was the most prominent one. I could leave my summoned creatures in every other place, and they would do the rest of my biddings as I reveled in the novel taste of bread.

With one [First Step], I was right behind Ducan. I elbowed it hard across with [Cardina garch], and it stumbled to the incantation circle, piercing my arm in the small time gap. I cast [Holy light] on my arm and felt queasy all over my body as if someone had whacked my bones. The light from the summoning circle dimmed considerably, but it was enough for the humongous monster to get trapped within.

“I’ll see you again, Ducan,” I said as it shrieked, the blinding light from the circle encasing its dark tentacles before it disappeared into nothingness. 

I earned more astound stares than I had anticipated, but my lady walked over and smacked my stomach hard. “That thing would have killed you!”

“It would die trying, my lady, despite being immortal itself,” I grinned, and my lady rolled her eyes.

She turned to the Prince who was standing at the mizzlemast, glacing at the bloodshed around the boat and then at the skies. Portgulls were fast, and a couple of them meant a heard would be on us soon.

“Yes, lady Letitia,” Lykan said with a smile, even though my lady hadn’t spoken a single word. “Everything that happened here should be buried here with these bodies. May the waves of the ocean wash away the blood and give them lives anew, away from the shore.”

“Away from the shore,” everyone murmured in unison, and silence descended on the deck.

“They fought for their cause,” Lykan said, “like us. But they ought to die since their cause is different and one that violates ours. Bring him out!”

The door to the captain’s deck burst open, and Reav pulled out a man, his face marred with tears and snots. He was as young as me but much less courageous. He genuflected before everyone as soon as Reav dropped him on the floorboard. But a sword descended on his neck immediately before he could voice out a single syllable. The darkened deck seeped more blood, making little difference to it, but the underdeck would need more work than it appeared. 

“Essence Gourge, my lady,” I said, wiping the blood off my lady’s face with my sleeves. 

“Huh?” My lady raised her eyebrows, leaning against the gunwale for support.