Amethyst held her breath as the other ship drew closer, having little hope of outrunning the much faster battleship and severely outgunned, they had few options. Either negotiate or overrun them; if they can’t talk the other ship down, they will have no choice but to try to take command of it, and quickly at that.

“Nervous?” Wolf asked, standing beside her, clearly struggling to keep his own composure as he dug his fingers into the railing before them. 

Given her limited knowledge about sailing and what supplies they had on board it was decided that he would be the acting “captain” for negotiations. That was decided by Eryl, given how likely it was that any heroes would recognize her or Himari. 

Amethyst let out the breath she had been holding, activating the color enchantments on her armor causing it to shimmer as it shifted from the deep black to a brown copper color; neither Eryl nor Himari thought the other crew would recognize her as long as she did not display her magic but, there’s still no need to tempt fate. After all, not many young girls run around in “blackened armor”, as Himari had described it from the reports she had seen about the twins in Algamir. 

She rested her hand on the hilt of her sword that hung from her hip, the feeling of wearing her sword somewhat alien to her now but still helping to calm her nerves as she shook her head. “Not at all.” She lied, giving him a reassuring smile. The truth was she wished they had more time to come up with a better plan, or calm Hecatolite down… not that we have many options anyway. She thought looking back to the approaching ship, thankfully they did not open fire the moment they were within range, meaning there was a chance.

Apparently, according to Wolf and several other crew members, the Algamir navy had always been a pain to deal with, not to say they were unreasonable. If they had no need to suspect your ship they would make contact, call a meeting with the captain which normally ended with the captain… donating a portion of the ship's supplies. More than once however, they have searched the ship though that normally just ended in larger donations before everyone went on their way; hopefully we can avoid them searching the ship, this time.

She couldn’t help but worry about Wolf, her job was to act as his bodyguard; it was not uncommon for captains to hire adventurers to fend off pirates and the like while traveling but Wolf… it had taken no small amount of convincing for him to realize that he was really their only hope of avoiding a fight. No one else on the crew could take his place for the simple fact that Hecatolite had been practically glued to the man since they got aboard, meaning he had the best chance of keeping his composure when faced with the magical pressure of the Heros that could now be felt coming from the other ship. That and he was the only person on the ship Eryl had any amount of trust in to not simply turn the four of them over to Algamir the moment he got a chance, though that was mainly out of fear of Hecatolite.

“It will be fine Wolf.” She placed a hand on his shoulder, a comical sight given he was nearly a foot taller than her. “Just stick to the plan and we will be on our way in no time.”

“Sure, the plan… just… lie to heroes… and likely a priest or two… gods what did I do to deserve this.” He lamented again cursing his horrible luck, at this point he seriously wondered if he would have been better off just getting caught in Algamir, at least then his death might have been quick.

Soon after the naval ship began circling their own, the difference in fire power was obvious as dozens of cannon ports opened, a clear threat as the other crew began shouting orders across the open sea. “Shall we?” Amethyst seemed calm as she started lowering the small dingy that would charter the two of them over.

---

“Nice of you to join us, Captain.” A dark-skinned man with long knotted snake-like hair greeted them as they stepped onto the enemy ship. 

Great, another one. Wolf swallowed hard as he looked up to the smiling man. The man’s golden teeth glimmered as he waved down to him. Thankfully Eryl had been correct that the “Heroes” presence paled in comparison to Hecatolite though, that may have been the “bubble effect” she had spoken about. Standing beside Amethyst likely spared him the full brunt of the heroes’ aura as it deflected off her own even if she did suppress it a considerable amount, the thick mana that still hung in the air around her acting as a buffer… “Of course, though I must say I am surprised to see another ship from home this far out.” He forced his fear down, knowing that regardless of how he felt he had to do something. Sure, Amethyst would probably be fine even if a fight broke out but… I did not sail all the way out here to die. “And how may my little ship be of assistance to the great nation today?”

The dark-skinned man waved a hand nonchalantly in the air, “Straight to the point I see,” he snapped his fingers and the crew around them quickly moved to set up a table and two chairs. Motioning for Wolf to sit before the man made his way to them, taking the seat across from him. Another man taking position behind him much the same way Amethyst had for Wolf. Though the other man was constantly motioning to the crew around them.

“Well then, I am Jacks and this is my second mate, Baris.” The other man saluted the two.

“I am Captain Wolf, of the Copper Tusk, and this is my bodyguard, Amy.” Amethyst nodded to the two men who eyed her as if just noticing she was there. Jacks’ eyes went wide as his eyes as he looked her over.

The man's gaze made Amethyst's skin crawl, something about this Jacks felt wrong to her. The other man, Baris, seemed strong but Jacks… something about him bothered her to her very core. “Well now, would you look at that? Quite impressive.” Jacks made no attempt to hide his grin as their eyes met. “I have to ask, Wolf, how did you come across such a lovely guard?”

Thankfully Baris seemed used to these antics, clearing his throat to spare the two before speaking up himself. “Captain, we have business to attend.” He said bluntly, setting a piece of paper down on the table causing Jacks to scoff.

“Fine, let's get this out of the way first.” He winked at Amethyst before saying, “So, where are you going? What’s your cargo? Crew?” He fired off the questions in quick succession as if bored before rolling his eyes, “What’s the point, of all these questions we are just going to search their ship anyway.” He tossed the paper aside, “Just send the priest over to check everyone out when you do. Besides, I am much more interested in your story, Amy; how’s a girl like you end up all the way out here?”

Wolf tensed; they knew it was a perfect tactic to get the opposing captain as a hostage while they raided the ship but still. If they found Eryl, Himari, or gods forbid Hecatolite… 

All the hairs on the back of Wolf’s neck stood as if just thinking about Hecatolite could have summoned her. Suddenly the entire table tensed, even the heroes looking around quickly as Amethyst tried to distract them.

“Work.” Amethyst answered quickly, turning her head to look back to their ship. “I am an adventurer you see, and I couldn’t pass up the chance to set out on the open sea.” She narrowed her eyes as she caught the faintest glimpse of Hecatolite sitting on the top of the mast, her tail wrapped around the beam as she pointed IRIS at them.

---

---

Hecatolite was confused. It was clear her sister had a plan given she and Wolf went to the other ship but what the plan was… what’s taking her so long, it’s just two heroes, she should have no problem taking that ship over. And why did she take the dog man? She scanned the deck of the other ship, easily spotting her sister talking to the man with dreadlocks. She couldn’t help but chuckle as even from here, she could see Amethyst shift uncomfortably. 

She clicked her tongue realizing that no matter how much power she pushed into her ears it didn’t make it possible to hear the conversation. Which was strange given that flooding her eyes with aether made everything seem crisper, making it possible to see the uncomfortable look on Amethyst's face as she seemed to deflect the man's questions. 

“I should learn how to read lips.” She muttered lifting IRIS and taking careful aim at the man who apparently had golden teeth. Snugging the rifle into her shoulder, cringing as the man winked at her sister, “Well I should just put us all out of his misery, shouldn’t I?”

Hecatolite, I would like to point out that Amethyst is in fact trying to negotiate with the Heroes. Inutil chimed in her mind, not risking appearing before Hecatolite who grumbled. 

She grumbled, her finger caressing the trigger. In truth she was not sure IRIS could kill a hero even loaded with bullets… she glanced at Amethyst, freezing as their eyes met. Fine, we will do it your way. She thought, lowering her rifle only to jump as she felt a strange sense of relief wash over her. 

She pondered that for a moment as she watched a group of men making their way towards her ship, I’ll just have to wait for negotiations to fail. She smiled, lifting her rifle back up, even if they didn’t, she wasn’t going to leave Amethyst on the enemy ship without at least watching over her.

Hecatolite did not have to wait long either, though she did regret not watching the men who landed on her ship more closely as before she knew it, they were climbing back onto the other ship with one of her crew members in tow. 

“That… that can’t be good.” She said out loud, aiming at the man. She couldn’t quite remember who he was… “No matter, traitors and all.” She couldn’t help but smirk, surely Amethyst can't blame her if that man betrayed their crew… right?"

---

---

Amethyst grit her teeth as the “hero” Jacks continued his painful attempts at flirting. It was clear to her that he was not used to being told no, clearly confused why she wasn’t throwing herself at him after all, as he said several times, “he was a hero”. 

That all changed the moment the small group sent to their ship reappeared with an extra man. “Hero Jacks, Hero Baris, we have alarming news from the other ship.” a man in priest robes called out as the man from her ship pointed an accusatory finger at her.

“She…” the man’s words were cut short by the sound of splintering wood, drawing Amethyst's eyes down to the fist sized hole in the deck of the ship between herself and the man who took a staggering step forward. His body went slack as he fell atop the newly formed hole with a thud as another sound cut through the silence a split second later. The unmistakable sound of IRIS being fired… again. 

The next person to fall was the priest who immediately attempted to cast a barrier spell though Amethyst realized that unlike Baris, who took cover, Jacks started laughing and clapping.

Another shot rang out as, yet another member of their crew moved towards Amethyst and Wolf. “I wouldn’t do that.” Amethyst pointed at a man who held a flaming hand out towards her only for the man’s head to snap to the side as the fire sizzled out.

“I see, so they only shoot people who make hostile movements.” Jacks rubbed his chin as he looked to the Copper Tusk, unaffected by the flurry of movement around him. He lifted his hand towards their ship, “Quite the dangerous little…” he froze as Amethyst appeared beside him, pulling his hand to the side letting out a violent gust of wind that felt more like a cannon going off beside her.

“I will only ask you once to reconsider,” she let his hand go as he quirked an eyebrow.

“Teleportation,” he nodded, “And here I thought you really were just a cute face.” He smiled as mana swirled around them, Wolf letting out a surprised yell pulling her attention back as he pointed behind her.

She couldn’t help but risk a glance over her shoulder to see a massive wall of water rising from the sea to separate the two ships. “Of course.” She growled looking at Baris who crouched behind the table, his face strained as he concentrated on holding that much water aloft. 

“Now, what was that about reconsidering?” Jacks held out a hand to grab hers, laughing as she vanished. “Come now Amy, you can’t be thinking you’re going to fight my entire crew alone, are you?”

---

---

“That’s not fair!” Hecatolite yelled, scanning the massive wall of water that appeared between her and her targets. One moment she was watching Amethyst stop the dreadlock man from casting a spell, then suddenly water... Lots of water… “Inutil how thick is that wall?” she asked firing IRIS blindly into the wall. 

With a thunderclap Inutil answered, “it’s only a few inches thick; however, the upward current holding it in the air will make it hard to penetrate.”

Hecatolite let out a low growl, she could still feel blood lust from the other side of the wall, but she couldn’t pinpoint it… “And she only has dog man over there to help her… damn it.” she jumped down from the mast and started yelling at her crew members. “What the hell are you all doing! Fire the cannons or something!” 

“The cannons won’t do much good against that.” Eryl called back coming onto the deck, apparently giving up on hiding once she heard the commotion.

Hecatolite clicked her tongue, “Well then, Ms. always right, what do you say we do?” 

Eryl took a deep breath knowing Hecatolite was mocking her, not that it mattered what she said in this moment as she could see the clearly pulsing lines forming on Hecatolites’ body as they danced across her exposed skin. Hecatolite had taken to wearing clothes once they got onto the ship, though there had been a lot of problems given her size and number of limbs, leaving her wearing little more than an oversized shirt that acted more like a dress on the tiny woman; the Moment of her tail often causing the knee length “dress” to flash bystanders the underwear Amethyst had thankfully convinced her to wear. 

The snow-white skin of Hecatolite’s legs flaring to life as inky black lines webbed their way down to her feet. “Well?” she growled glaring at Eryl, clearly waiting for her to answer before releasing the building pressure inside of her.

“…” Eryl didn’t even get a sound out. The moment she opened her mouth to speak, Hecatolite vanished in an impressive spray of wood as she opened a new basketball sized hole in the deck. Only for obsidian shards to rain down a moment later as she deflected off a terminal high in the sky above the ship. “I would advise going to the enemy ship and disabling the water mage so we can support Amethyst...” Eryl sighed, her ears drooping as she turned to her crew behind her. “Well then. Prepare to board the enemy ship.”

“Should we load the cannons?” A man asked only for Eryl to shake her head. 

“Why waste the time, with both of them over there, there isn’t much point now. Anything the twins don’t kill isn’t going to want to fight by the time they are done.”

---

---

Hecatolite soared over the wall of water, a flashing terminal appearing beside her as it complained about her misuse of the skill only to be cut short as she twisted in the air, planting her feet against the terminal using it as a platform to halt her advance. A quick scan of the ship revealed Amethyst… “Is she struggling against them?”

To say Amethyst was struggling would be… over dramatic. Sure, she wasn’t exactly making great progress, but she wasn’t exactly being pushed back either. She was however quickly learning the difference in fighting bandits and soldiers, even hastily trained ones. 

Her main struggle now was the fact that the other sailors seem to have “formed” ranks, small groups of three or four people who harried her every time she appeared, not giving her enough time to get anything more than light slashes on her targets before being forced to retreat again. Her biggest problem seemed to be the man with dreadlocks who sat calmly next to the concentrating man in a uniform, a glimmering cyclone around the two of them as he watched with a bored expression. It seemed whatever he was doing kept Amethyst from getting close to him; the wind around them seemed to chip away at the wooden deck around them, carving grooves in the wood around them. Hecatolite fired a test shot at the man only for the mana infused bullet to veer off, sparking in the wind as it was tossed aside. 

Well, that was weird. She thought, firing the final bullet at him again only for it to be thrown aside without little more than an annoyed glare from the man.

“Are you not going to help her?” Inutil asked as she sat on the terminal scanning the ship, taking a moment to reload IRIS; her lack of practice with the rifle showing as she carefully poked the spent casings from the revolving cylinder. 

Hecatolite shrugged, she had been worried about Amethyst because she couldn’t watch over her. But now that she could see her and provide support, “Practice…. Oops.” She swore as a bullet slipped and tumbled down to the ship below. “Those are expensive.” She grumbled, pulling another bullet from her bag. 

She took a moment to settle herself, looking away from Amethyst for a moment to see Wolf cowering under a table. “Hey Dog man! What are you doing!” She yelled, causing him to yelp in shock as the fighting seemed to stop. Everyone looked up at her as she stood above the battlefield. “Why aren’t you helping her!? You’re a man aren’t you?”

“What in all the hells do you expect me to do!?” He screamed as one of the sailors charged him only for the man to fall limp as Hecatolite shot him.

“I don’t know, you got water magic, don’t you?” She fired another shot to cover him as another man charged the cowering man. “What about that weird green magic?”

“I’m a damned necromancer!” Wolf snapped, the stress of the situation finally getting to him as he pointed up at her. 

“Necromancer… that’s what the weird green magic is huh?” She seemed to ponder that for a moment, letting the next guy get uncomfortably close to Wolf who, in a true burst of confidence, only screamed a little bit before the man's head snapped to the side, falling limp at his feet. “There you go plague doctor!” She called out giving him a thumbs up before going back to watching Amethyst who was still making her way around the ship.

“Hmm, kind of flat footed, isn’t she?” Hecatolite pondered watching Amethyst appear beside another soldier, slashing at him before his companions could react. She did not comment on how Amethyst seemed to be aiming to “disable” instead of kill.

Her thoughts were cut short as a gust of the strange glimmering wind slammed into the bottom of the terminal she was sitting on, her danger sense giving her only a moment's warning to curl into a ball to shield herself.

“What the fuck was that?” She hissed peaking over the side to see the man with dreadlocks holding a handout towards her. “That seems a lot stronger than Ethans wind slash.” She looked at the bottom of the terminal, unsurprised to see it unharmed. 

“Please note that the Hero has significantly more mana than Ethan.” The terminal flashed yellow as another wind slash slammed into it. “Also, it would appear that this spell is being reinforced with earth magic.” The wind stopped, giving her enough time to look out and fire the remaining three shots towards the hero. “Well, that’s not working.” She grumbled wishing she had at least one of her good bullets left.

She shoved her hand into her bag and pulled out her cane, if I had a bomb ring or two maybe I could blow him up. She thought while rolling the metal rod in her hand. She had intended to let Amethyst take care of the heroes but with the strange wind surrounding them Hecatolite now understood why Amethyst couldn’t get close to the heroes. And with the man's limited attacks, he couldn’t pressure her any further, leaving the two in a stalemate. Sure, the hero would eventually run out of mana and Amethyst would be able to take care of him but…

Her danger sense kicked in causing her to take cover again only for the alarm bells to continue despite her cover. “wha…” she looked up at the sky to see dozens of tiny glimmering pieces of metal floating above her. “Oh… well that’s not great.” She dove off the terminal just as the cyclone descended, the metal ribbons shredding everything the came in contact with like sandpaper.

“Hecatolite!” Amethyst screamed as she fell from the sky trailing black blood through the air, slamming into the deck of the ship, crashing through to the lower deck as the glimmering wind continued to slam into her.

“That was the Hecatolite Robert was so scared of?” Jacks laughed as the wind finally died down, though the barrier he had erected still swirled around him. “Doesn’t seem that…” the entire ship rocked as a scream tore through the air. 

Amethyst deflected a sword slash as she made her way to the hole only to find a pool of aether where her sister had landed. She scanned the hole to see a woman sitting beside the crater, her face twisted in horror as she looked off into the darkness of the ship. A sickening crunch told Amethyst all she needed to know before she called out, “Lay down your weapons we will not hurt you!” though at this point she doubted anyone would listen.