Chapter 6
Eleanor Deveena
A searing pain overwhelmed Eleanor as EE-Thirty overclocked her arm forward. The mage girl felt like her arm was nearly pulled out of its socket. The elf had a ton of power packed in that bony body of hers.
Patting her robe down, Eleanor made a slightly disgruntled face as she realized her robes were soaked from the waist down. With a quick slap to her own face, Eleanor pulled herself out of her stupor and pulled out her wand. “With enough concentration I should be able to form a mana-dispersing spell around us. I just need a bit of time to focus.” She refused to look at EE-Thirty, still disgruntled over how the elf treated her.
“Make it quick,” EE-Thirty said coldly as she pulled out a radar which showed a massive red dot right below them, “We have something big right below us.”
The ship shook, sending a couple of crates crashing into the door. “Agh! I hate ships!” Veronica screamed, “I feel so queasy…”
Veronica feet tilted downward, about to fall, but felt two lumps push against her own measly chest. Seeing Eleanor holding her up from the front, a slight blush crept up her cheeks but quickly chased it away. Ignoring the queasiness bubbling up in her throat and stomach, she told Eleanor to focus on the shield spell.
“Any idea what’s below?” Veronica prepared her own wand, alert against any sirens that might jump into the room. EE-Thirty looked at her radar again.
“I am not s-” something humanoid jumped through the already-shattered window. Its skin was a pale grey, with barely-visible scales covering its body.
It hurled headfirst towards Eleanor; its claws brandished to slice through her throat, as if it knew instinctively she was the most troublesome.
An instant later, its arm was pulled downward and twisted nearly out of its socket as a bored EE-Thirty brandished her glowing steel-blue gauntlets around the siren.
It shrieked as it spewed out half-formed words from its malicious frown, “nOt Go CAvUrrrnszzzz. DeaaTH WAiTSSssss.” EE-Thirty smashed its head in. A tiny droplet of red landed on Eleanor’s cheek.
“Ah?!” Eleanor cried, her concentration broken. Her spell formation resulted in half a finished circle. Veronica quickly gathered mana to stabilize the circle.
“Finish it!” Veronica hurried.
Several sirens jumped through the windows, their claws slashing EE-Thirty’s gauntlets and Veronica’s mana shield. Sweat dripped down Eleanor’s cheek as the rain roared against her ears.
There must’ve been hundreds of these sirens. Eleanor wanted to think about Elsie, about her professor, and even Michael, but she had to focus on the spell. Without it, they’d never escape the sirens’ clutches.
She poured every bit of mana she could muster into the spell-circle, widening it further and further until it was about to burst like a water balloon.
The sirens emerged from the fog in dozens. EE-Thirty used her gauntlets as a close quarters fighter. Her thin graceful appearance was a stark contrast to how much power those malnourished muscles had.
Veronica on the other hand used her wand to summon wind magic, sending deadly blades of air to tear through the sirens.
None of the sirens tried to attack the duo, however. They were all focused on the largest threat - Eleanor. It was like they instinctively knew she was the most troublesome.
But Veronica, with her ironclad will and desire to protect her soulmate, and EE-Thirty, with her fearless demeanor, were the perfect bodyguards for Eleanor.
Eleanor’s eyes opened wide, revealing glowing yellow eyes infused. Her hands flew up in the air, pushing the massive spell-circle in the air.
It grew bright like the sun, overriding the darkening fog before dispersing into a million tiny fragments of dispersed mana.
In a near-instant, the fog scattered. Every siren in hiding was revealed in broad daylight.
Eleanor’s gaze searched around the ship and although she noticed dozens of sirens, she couldn’t catch a glimpse of her classmates, her professor, or the other elves. For a moment, the worst case scenario reared its ugly head in her brain.
Sirens were notorious for eating flesh. Humans and elves were especially tasty to them and since both species were on this ship, it was an all-you-can-eat-buffet. What if, during the fog, the sirens got to her friends?
What if they got to her best friend Elsie?
She couldn’t stand the thought of losing her. Elsie just….got her. They understood each other. Closer than blood sisters.
“Snap out of it, Eleanor!” A violent sway shook her out of her dark unreality as a girl with black and snow white hair instantly materialized in her vision. Did...did she blank out?
“If you’re worried about your people, don’t be. My cortège are currently with them in the lowest level of the Vadstena,” EE-Thirty remarked lightly as she smashed the brains of a siren with her gauntlets. Eleanor flinched a little. “Our elven psychometry allows me to see through their eyes. Your friends are fine.”
That was the elf’s way of saying, Get to work.
So she gave Veronica’s shoulder a gentle squeeze and smiled. “I’m alright. Let’s push back these freaks.”
Veronica smiled in return and readied her wand next to Eleanor’s, gathering mana. Their wands sparked with arc lightning.
This team-up with Veronica felt natural. It was like Eleanor could feel Veronica’s next move and vice versa; like they were reading each other’s minds and responding in kind. They were like parallel flowing water. They fit too perfectly together.
That sense of belonging scared Eleanor. Her mana melded extremely well with Veronica.
Mana Melding is, in short, the fusion of mana between two casters. Those who do it without forming a close personal connection are liable to having the mana explode in their mana circuits, causing lethal injuries.
That’s why Melding partners, such as Eleanor and Elsie, take years to practice with each other. However, when Veronica instigated it, their melding was instant and practically instinctual.
The duo raised their wands upwards to the clear sky. Mana gathered as an electrical mini-star. Its tendrils of lightning grew more ferocious with each passing second.
Sirens stopped and gawked at the beautiful sight above them before fleeing the edges of the ship in an attempt to escape into the water.
That was a lethal mistake.
Many of the freaks had already jumped off the Vadstena to escape the ball of electric death. Veronica and Eleanor smirked at each other and flung the star into the ocean. The discharge boiled the water below.
The ocean became a graveyard as it burned the sirens. Their high-pitched child-like screams sent a shiver down the redhead mage’s spine.
As she peered over the ship’s edges, Eleanor saw some still-living sirens clawing at the edges of the Vadstena, trying to escape the grim reaper that possessed the ocean to no avail.
The remaining sirens on the ship were quickly dispatched by EE-Thirty’s close quarter combat skills.
That mana-melding skill drained Veronica and Eleanor of their stamina. Their knees buckled under their own weight as the two girls collapsed on the floor, wheezing. Still, with smiles on their faces, they knew they had won.
Eleanor was so joyful she was about to shower Veronica in a massive hug before a large hum emanated from below the ship. The elf looked over her radar, still seeing the massive red dot below the ship. Her radar confirmed it still lived.
The Vadstena shook violently, nearly toppling over. Falling into the ocean now would prove certain death as it still sizzled with heat and arc energy. So whatever was lurking in the deep must’ve been powerful. Powerful and pissed.
Another shockwave tilted the Vadstena. Veronica lost her footing and slid straight across the floor. Her eyes widened as the watery death drew closer.
But then her whole body shook as something latched onto her left arm. Shaken up, she looked up at her savior and saw her soulmate, Eleanor, holding on to her arm as she steadied herself against a pole.
“Eleanor!” Veronica cried out in relief, “Thank the spirits!”
“Don’t thank...me...yet!” Eleanor screamed as she felt the ligaments in her arm tearing. It felt like a slow burn that slowly increased from her tricep to her forearm. The veins in her muscles popped as she overexerted herself trying to pull a fully-grown lady up with just one arm. “Hnnnnng!”
If she faltered here, Veronica would fall to her death into the lightning-charred ocean. One by one, she felt her fingers loosening their grip.
The Vadstena tilted even further, making it nigh-impossible to hold on.
Her fingers plucked loose as gravity dragged Veronica into the deep. Eleanor’s eyes widened in horror as she watched Veronica fall from her grip. Time slowed for the redhead mage as she gazed in agony at her friend falling to her death.
“Huh?” She gasped dumbly. She blinked multiple times, as if rejecting the reality in front of her.
A wall of ice, just enough to hold two people, protruded from the ship’s floor, catching Veronica’s fall.
As if her strength left her body, Eleanor fell shamelessly on the ice, landing next to Veronica. The impact left her head ringing for a bit. Vertigo made her feel sick but quickly regained her bearings by pressing her nails against her palm, banishing the sickness.
Smiling, she looked over at the giggling Veronica, who suddenly started laughing after her near-death experience.
The mage looked up and noticed a dangling EE-Thirty holding herself against the floor of the ship by breaking through its tiles with her gauntlet. On her free hand was manifested blue mana. “Ah,” Eleanor realized. EE-Thirty summoned that ice wall.
She then watched EE-Thirty’s normally-stoic eyes dilate in fear. Eleanor laughed. What is she suddenly scared about? The high from adrenaline still rang in her ears. Her mind was unable to piece together what EE-Thirty was staring at in abject horror.
At the corner of her eye, Eleanor glimpsed a mountainous single black claw, similar to a crab’s leg, tear through the ship itself.
The friction between that monstrous pincer and the huge Vadstena ship flung Eleanor and Veronica into the sky.
Everything went black.
I wonder if all characters will get pictures one day?
I do have one of Veronica. It's my profile pic.
Thanks for the chapter!
And hell, the art is beautiful!
Thank you! Was wondering if anyone would notice the change in Chapter 6. I was going to originally post this as its own chapter but I kinda wanted to make it a bit of an easter egg.
Anyways, YorinFlo's a fantastic artist. Super quick work with the illustration, seriously.
Showed this first to a friend. Their reaction was basically "boobs". lol.
Thanks for the chapter
Bet in hindsight they will realize that the sirens were not inherently malicious to them and just wanted to stop them from going to the caverns (even if they had to die). Certainly could have done it more peacefully but I guess this is the best that can be expected from flesh-eating things.
Do you have a tentative schedule for uploads?
Not so much a schedule but more of a habit I'm trying to develop - always have an extra chapter written. So when I upload Chapter 6, that means I have chapter 7 done.