CHAPTER – 19

WORLD’S STRONGEST (2)

 

PLANK PIRATE CAPTAIN

Present….

.

“You are saying I lost…” Plank could barely speak coherently. The tragedy of everything including his freedom taken away from him as a pirate still possessed his heart.

 

“Yes, it will all be over, once you are gone too.” Alicia was currently floating above everyone without even lifting her finger. And with a single magic froze all the pirates surrounding her ship with the ultimate ice spell.

 

Only Plank remained because his level was a bit high and because of the strong magic defense of his gear he avoided becoming frozen.

 

Plank looks around himself only to find his pirate fleet covered in a thick blanket of ice. His pirate comrades were slowly being engulfed in swirling black webs and disappeared.

 

For the last time, he tries to contact the people on his submarine to launch a cannon but all attempts failed in doing so.

 

Most probably they too became victims of the deadly ice. Only he was the last one to survive.

 

Only after gaining such dangerous weapons, Plank had started considering himself powerful, and when people started to fear him. But yet again a power had shown up that far surpassed his imagination.

 

“You all are the same. I lost everything, over and over. So, I have only got two options but that’s stupidity in itself.” Plank’s face seemed crestfallen at how he was again left alone in this fight.

 

“No, you have but got only one chance. That is take me down or you can at least die trying. You lost the second option to run when you first refused my request for you to leave. Though as pirates you have till yet proven to be a disappointment only.” Alicia’s voice carried no sympathy for the Pirates.

 

“I really hate people like you who possess unbelievable power. There is nothing like good or bad in this world. Everything is decided by who is strong. And that’s why the world revolves around the strongest.” Plank laughed at the unfairness of this world which always chased after him like a shadow. Continuously being reminded that he was not the one at the top of all.

 

Plank’s eyes burned every time he remembered the pain inflicted on him. Forcing his palm on his right eye. As if amused by himself he laughs voraciously. “Do you think if I kill you then I would be able to come closer to the World’s Strongest?”

 

“… And who would that be?” Alicia was a bit confused with the Pirate talking out of line. Usually, she would have taken an interest but Alicia did not want to waste time on things that did not involve her and continue immediately on her journey.

 

Plank was certain that with the gear still on him he had the speed that would surprise the girl mage, Alicia. Since Alicia was standing their weaponless Plank using his common sense made a false assumption that she kept her distance because she would lose in a close combat fight.

 

All he needed to do was outmatch and take her out.

 

Since the pirate island destruction. Plank’s home, being wiped out in front of his eyes he became overly obsessed to become strong to take revenge on the World’s Strongest again. It turned him into a mad man and he lost the only instinct that had kept him alive until now ⸻fearing those who are stronger than him.

 

That was an instinct that he had to get rid of to challenge the strongest but it only ended up making his life more miserable. The price he now was thus paid heavily with the inability to understand the difference in power in the current battle.

 

 “Even without the submarine and canons at my disposal. I have this flying gear and you won’t be able to match my speed.”

 

Alicia looked unfazed despite the threat the Pirate posed. Plank became even more confused.

 

“Either you are that confident that you can run away from me or you are just a fool.” Plank made a second taunt to get his enemy nervous.

“No one is going anywhere. Not me. And neither you.” Alicia had a strange ecstasy on her face as if she wanted to say that for a long time and pointed her finger down.

Still looking down at him and gesturing that she would not move and that she was going to sink him in the sea.

 

“I do really hate strong people like you… This time I won’t hold back.“ Shouting at the top of his voice Plank readies his sword.

 

The jet belt around his waist propels him toward his enemy. Gaining incredible speed in a blink of an eye he had to concentrate to keep his body straight.

 

‘I will bet it all on now…. I will extend my hand and grab my own freedom with my own power. This time I can do this.’ Plank thought while readying his magic spell that he had mastered by now.

 

“The black water that summons the shadow from the sea… listen to my voice…”

 

As if following Plank’s voice countless globules of water rise up from the ocean’s surface and surrounds Alicia on all sides. Their color turns black while Alicia curiously watches them. Still waiting to see what can happen.

 

Plank seemed happy by such a reaction hoping his spell had finally caught the girl by surprise. In his false optimism, he finishes the spell.

“Explode.”

“Explode.”

BOOOOM….

 

“Explode.”

BOOOM.BOOM…

 

“Explode.”

Huge explosions almost immediately cover the area around Alicia. The rising black smoke engulfed the air. Too thick even for the sea winds to push them.

 

“There’s no way anyone cannot lose half their body parts out of this… But I won’t stop here like the last time. I won’t give you a chance and earn my victory with this.”

 

Plank plunges into the dust with his sword in a flash as if he already knew his way around and where exactly Alicia was.

 

The moment he felt he crossed his sword against something he believed he had cut Alicia herself.

 

 Coming out of the cloud smoke he had a faint expression of arrogance on his face.

 

But for surety, he wanted to see the blood on his sword.

 

“Aaargh….What’s this?” Plank shrieks in fury.

 

His sword was entangled in a black string much similar to a spider’s web.

 

And exactly when the smoke dispersed he saw the mage girl, Alicia standing intact. Her body is surrounded by a compound circle of webs. A thread reached out from her pinky finger.

 

It was only then that Plank's eyes had traced the other end of the web and he had seen his sword and the entanglement of webs around his body that gleamed under sunlight like a sharp blade. Tight grabbing him at one place and so light to go unnoticed.

 

That was the moment Plank felt ghosted by the sudden sense of death. Finally, his lost fear was back and he understood how naïve he was to engage in a fight to make a false show of strength. Rather he should have prioritized the safety and retreat of his men.

 

The Pirate captain’s ears go numb, his eyes start hallucinating. He finally saw the delighted face of his nemesis.

 

“I guess some of them had that pirate originality after all. But they have no sense of aesthetic and for those loud explosions, this should do.”

 

Despite Alicia saying these words, Plank could not hear them. But only watch Alicia pull back her finger.

 

A thought struck him as he realized these were going to be the last moments of why he always felt so odd and raged. The only reason that truly kept him from developing was that he could not bear to watch himself lose. He so badly wanted to win. And after this last fight, he had zero chances remaining.

 

Alicia pulls her finger and the string cuts. It tightens on its own and deflates the pirate’s body. Only a feeble scream leaves, till the pirate’s body bursts into a cluster of flesh and falls to further redden the sea.

***

 

ALICIA ASCALON ASHBORN

“Finally, it’s over and now it means that we can continue with our journey.” I took a deep sigh realizing how much I had exerted myself to freeze all the water since I did not want to go inside the ocean to crack up the submarine.

 

I was overjoyed with the fact I got to fight a bunch of pirates at sea even though it was not that thrilling for me.

 

I look around myself to decide what to do next. Only to come to the conclusion that I should put away all the pirate ships in my dimensional storage for future prospects. Since they are now lying around no one would mind.

 

As for the frozen submarine after all the bodies of pirates were consumed by [GLUTTONY] skill. I had similar plans except I would later investigate it how it works.

 

If this ship was really made by one of my classmates. I wonder what it makes for them ⸻a careless mistake or an intended foe.

 

For heading back to the ship from which now I could hear some cheers. All of them looked overjoyed after being saved, but I had little thought about getting popular there. After all, it was all for Caige and Maia’s next safe travel when they would come to the human continent.

 

I did not need to do anything further after achieving that objective. So, I think it would be best to distract the crowd and teleport among them.

 

Remembering that the ship was heavily damaged in the previous canon fire, it would only delay our arrival to the Human Continent. While my magic cannot fix broken things.

 

And I can’t go back before melting the ice. If I don’t melt this ice quickly a chain reaction can happen that might bring a tsunami and flood the coastline of the continent. After all, I don’t want to be blamed for countless deaths and bringing a calamity.

 

“But that would be such a pain.”

 

But then that really sounds like something a genius evil mage would say.

 

I remembered Hana got a new ability after our souls bounded. Most probably her skill evolved and its reach even grew bigger with my magic being involved. Deciding to establish a telepathic connection with Hana, I thought it was the best time to let out the secret and see its effect with my own eyes.

 

Even I was unsure about this new skill Hana had learned.

 

***

 

SHIP

‘Hana can you hear me.’

 

“Yes, Master. Loud and clear.” Hana responded eagerly as if she was just then waiting for a command.

 

‘I want you to fix the time of the ship and sea back to how it was and don’t let others know about it.’ Hana heard the orders from Alicia on the other side of the carrier ship.

 

Although it sounded a bit ambiguous fixing the time of the ship, Hana could have been the only one who understood what job she had to perform.

 

“Yes, Master.” Hana was alarmingly loud that it caught Regis’s attention and her intuition picked up on what was happening.

 

“Was it Alicia? Where is she? All the pirate ships suddenly got eaten by black spinning strings. What’s happening?” Regis as usual was restless since Alicia left without a word about what she was going to do. And the next thing she knew the whole sea as far as her eyes could catch was contained in ice.

 

Hana was so focused on her job now that she glances at Regis and then shifts her gaze to the smashed right of the ship and the toppled mast. The fire had been put out by the sailors. But there was no way they could have fixed it without new wood and a couple of day and night work.

 

The people were still in awe of the person they now referred to as the “White Queen.” Her power defeated a full squadron of pirates and then even froze the sea. Something like that was never heard of before.

 

“[ABSOLUTE RESTORATION]” Just like Alicia, Hana did not need to use an incantation to cast her spell or activate her skill. She also had the support of Al, because of which she could share a small power of the “All Seeing Eyes of the Gods.” The unique skill that Alicia possessed.

 

A faint golden light appears around the place where Hana’s new heart was attached, more specifically it was a small detached part of Alicia’s soul that encircled her own disintegrated soul realm.

 

“Hana what are you doing?” Regis takes a step back since she realized Hana was about to do something which she had no idea of.

 

Hana’s eyes were intimidating as they glow with a golden hue.  Regis felt she recognized that power since she had already seen it on display firsthand.

 

And then the strong magic wave radiating from Hana suddenly subsides.

.

“This is unbelievable…”

 

“How can this happen?”

 

“Is this too the power of the White Queen?”

 

“It must be her… even the ice on the sea has suddenly disappeared.”

 

“Did the ship’s missing part really come back on its own?”

 

“Even the mast is back to how it used to be. What kind of godly power is it?”

 

“It must have been a blessing of the White Queen, otherwise there’s no explanation.”

 

“Look she has disappeared. After saving us all.”

 

“Does that mean we are out of danger…”

 

“We are finally saved from the agony of pirates. My trade can finally grow back to normal.”

 

“Not only yours but this will open new doors and trade routes between the demon continent and the human continent.”

 

Simply said, Alicia’s actions, were a bit too much for the people to handle. So, the story of the first princess Arya Stark made around her origin was easily bought by the people and they were now celebrating merry.

 

It almost felt as if the time of the ship had reverted back to how it was before the pirates attacked.

 

⸻Or, in truth it was exactly what had happened.

 

“Hana did you really restore the ship and the sea.” Regis, the only person who knew of the truth gulped. More than being overjoyed of the thought of resuming her journey, she felt a bit uneasy.

 

She was crushed by the reality that she could not do anything in the situation to protect the people around her. Even if her own skills were not right for the situation, watching idly or making excuses was not in her nature.

 

“Yes. It’s the new power bestowed to me by Master.” Hana smiles as any ordinary girl would.

 

However, it was she who suddenly altered all sense of reality.

***