Capítulo 38: Chapter 6: Pirate's, parties, and princesses.
[Unknown POV]
The surroundings were shrouded in darkness as they observed the festivities of the celebration through a mirror.
"Is everything in place?" a cloaked figure whispered, his voice carrying throughout the room.
"Aye. It 'twas easy as pie to stage our agents amongst those at the party. My crew is ready and thirsting for blood." A gruff voice replied as several other hooded figures nodded.
"And what of Captain Rosk? Have heard of what happened to him and his crew?" A voice chipped in and a couple of the figures glanced at each other.
"One of his crew washed ashore last week spewing some nonsense about a four-armed demon spitting fire and wielding the anchor of a ship. Its safe to assume that they ran afoul of a sea demon of some sort." One of the figures stated, the others nodding in agreement.
"And the undead?" the figure pressed further, causing the figures to shift nervously.
"Aye, they are ready, but I can't guarantee my boys will hang around once those . . . things, enter the fray." One of the figures hesitantly states, receiving nods of agreement from his compatriots.
"Doesn't matter, they are just there to soften the defenses." Another figure chipped in, getting murmurs of agreement from around the room.
The hooded figures departed, each with their own part to play in their scheme.
[Tavish POV]
Y'know, I could have sworn that the throne room was somewhere in this direction.
I found myself in what could only be described as a water garden.
When you hear the term "water garden", you'd typically think; "Oh! A garden that contains plants that grow in water, right?"
Nope!
The entire garden is made out of water.
And goddamn, is it sparkly.
Entities made completely of water, swam and leaped throughout parts of the garden often creating rainbows with their movements.
And it was fucking distracting!
I kept finding myself settling down to watch everything going on, and having to remind myself of what I was trying to do moments ago.
I lost track of the exit a few . . . minutes ago and I thought it would be in bad taste to smash my way out of here. I even thought of taking control of the water itself, but I didn't want to risk breaking whatever magic was maintaining it.
Turning once more in an attempt to spot the door, I decided to attempt an alternate route.
Gently nudging my spatial energies, I tried creating a portal to outside the room and fell through to inky blackness.
[Valisha POV]
I almost activated the traps on the interloper that intruded into my garden.
Almost.
But the treasure chest under his arm stayed my hand.
I imagine he was trying to find my father to give his gift judging by how out of place he was.
But the look of wonder that kept setting in and distracting him was amusing to observe.
Subtly manipulating the magics that made up the garden, I toyed with his distractible nature for a good hour.
It was only when his fascination switched to irritation, did I contemplate showing the path out.
At first, he was just trying to find his way through, but after a while, I could tell by the flexing of his claws that he was ready to tear the place apart to leave. I was about to show the path out when he jumped through the portal he created.
Speaking of which, I couldn't quite make out his species.
I think he was the Ouroboros that my father had invited, but I wasn't sure given that I had never seen one before.
Ah well. He should turn up eventually.
I do hope I didn't scare him away after all.
[Tavish POV]
Glancing up, I started taking in the threads of energy that make up the realm I fell into.
[Welcome to The Wandering Way!]
[This is a realm that exists as a sub-pocket of reality.]
Glancing around, I could see the faint outlines of the room I was just in, as well as the next room over, and the room over from that.
Little flairs of energy traveled through the various rooms in what I could only assume as entities of some sort.
This place I now found myself in was almost like a 3D diagram of the world around me with various entities existing within these rooms.
Standing up, I gingerly made my way through the threads that made this world, before tripping and falling through to the next floor.
After much trial and error, I finally figured out how to maneuver my way through and around structures to the point that it was actually beneficial to using this place.
I finally made my way to just outside of the throne room. Thought about just popping into the throne room itself, but that might be too much of a faux pass, judging by the powerful presences within the room.
Which reminds me . . .
Glancing back at the water garden, I spotted a powerful presence leaving the room and make its way down the stairs, before eventually knocking and entering into the throne room and taking a seat next to an equally powerful source of energy.
So . . . someone was purposefully messing with me in that garden.
. . .
I'm not sure how I feel about that . . .
Sure, I've had gods and higher beings fuck with me before, but dragons . . .
. . . .
Note to self, revisit these emotions later . . .
A flicker of color flashed on my peripherals drawing my attention off into the distance.
Outlines of the surrounding world extended out to the horizon, where a dark mass of energy resided.
I could make out the faint outline of a massive ship before it vanished from my senses.
Was that my imagination?
Guess it didn't matter too much.
Attempting to exit this dimension was the next thing to focus on.
Theoretically, If I repeated the same action as before I could escape right?
Reaching out, I try to create an opening from this dimension to just outside of the throne room, and step through.
*Sploosh*
And promptly fall face first off the dock.
Swimming to the surface, I spit out a mouthful of sea water.
Dimension hopping, it appears, is not as simple as it seems.
You know what . . . the water dragon can wait.
I need to figure this shit out.
[Time Skip]
[Vammor POV]
I sigh and rub my eyes as my second eldest daughter recounted her encounter with the enigmatic Ouroboros.
Leaning back on my throne, I snap my fingers and a servant brings out a crystal sphere I use occasionally to survey my domain.
While locating the dragon amongst the festivities would be a somewhat troublesome task, I didn't want to let him wander about willy nilly if he was lost.
And all the excitement was a perfect recipe for a frustrated dragon to go on a rampage if irritated enough.
Valisha sat very prim to my right, while her sister, Selena lounged in the chair to my left.
Selina had come back from her own personal adventures across the sea to celebrate my birthday, but I have no doubt she would leave again within the month.
Which was unfortunate, because I really wanted her to accept the position of heir. But that appeared not to be in my daughter's cards at the moment.
She was too wild to even consider for the position, seeing how she spent half her time as a pirate and the other half as a mercenary of some function.
I could probably even declare Valisha my heir and Selina wouldn't be slightly concerned.
The sphere in front of me starts displaying an image of the town in front of us, but it was flickering between different locations in an odd manner.
As if it could detect who I was searching for, but it kept coming back with no indication of the presence of the ouroboros.
The image finally settled on the dragon faceplanting in a clearing, before standing up and brushing himself off.
Selina snorts at the sight before commenting; "This is the supposed dragon that caused such a ruckus at the last meet?"
Valisha sighed at her sister's blasé response before replying; "Selina, he killed the heir of the blood dragon clan at that meet."
"So? That guy was a pansy ass bitch in the first place. No one wanted to mess with him because of the "hostages" he kept." Selina sneered, watching the dragon glance around, before opening another rift and hopping back in.
"Language, Selina." I sighed as I tried to locate him again. This time, he landed in a crouch, just outside of a food booth serving kebabs of some variation.
The dragon loaded up on the kebabs and paid the owner, before quickly scarfing down the food.
"Regardless, it appears his ability consumes a significant chuck of energy." Valisha commented, as we lost sight of him once more as he jumps into another portal, the image fuzzing out as the device searches for him again.
"Nah, I'd totally do that too if I discovered the ability to teleport like that. I'd be able steal so much shit." Selina interjected, grinning like a Cheshire cat.
A portal opened above the orb and a clawed hand poked through snatching it up.
"Yoink!" Tavish's voice echoed out from the portal, before he landed gracefully through another portal further away.
[Tavish POV]
The Wandering way, was a tad weird, but certainly useful. It apparently required me to open all my eyes to perceive the extra layers of depth and dimensional perception required to navigate it.
Everything interacted with it in some form or another, especially magic. So when I saw some threads reaching out trying to latch onto me, I got curious.
Leading them on a bit of a merry chase, I finally traced the origin to the castle.
Specifically, what I initially thought was the throne room.
So I simply reached out and grabbed it in order to examine what was hunting me so voraciously.
I found the object to be an orb of some sort, but I couldn't really interact with it too well.
Any mana I charged it with just caused it to light up like a pretty Christmas light.
On a whim, I took a sniff of it, and could detect the faint smell of iron.
Blood.
If I had to hazard a guess, this was blood tied to someone.
A polite cough from off to my left, caused me to switch my attention the rather regal looking dragon sitting on the throne.
"While my observation orb might be fascinating, could I trouble you to return it?" The dragon king requested politely.
Shrugging my shoulders, I casually drop the orb into his outstretched hand.
"Pretty fancy gadget you have there. If I may be so bold, what's the range?" I ask curiously causing the dragon to chuckle.
"Just the extent of my domain. Any further and other being start raising issues with being monitored." He commented airily.
"Mmm, I've been meaning to ask, but how much does your territory cover exactly? Because a title like "The Water Dragon King" doesn't exactly define that sort of thing." I questioned, causing him to grimace.
"I suppose not. Very well, I am a ruler of a conglomeration of various species that make up roughly 59% of the entities that make up the ocean." A shadow of authority entering his voice as he stood up to his full height.
"This includes several oriental dragons that stand under Tailong, hence our alliance, and united front we present in front of the other dragons." His voice gaining weight as he continued to speak normally.
It's pretty impressive honestly. Before, he felt like a playful elderly man. But now, I could catch a glimpse of the restrained power of one who calls himself a king amongst dragons.
How much power he could tap into, I couldn't say, but what I could sense was akin to a raging ocean.
At least, in its current state.
I imagine that when he chill's the fuck out, it mellows out to a pretty calm ocean.
It has become a hobby of mine to analyze the various energies emitted by the entities I interact with.
This was entertaining in its own regard, as I could associate various fragments with sights, sounds, smells, flavors and a multitude of other sources as I observed each one.
My internal monolog was interrupted by something poking me in the side of the head.
The redhaired dragon had gotten down from her throne, and was poking my horns curiously.
Glancing out the window past them at the sun outside, I could see that it had shifted significantly.
"Ah! My apologies, it appears that I've been spacing out more since my evolution. Could you please stop poking my head?" I requested, causing the dragon to grin up at me.
"Finally, back down to earth, are you?" she smirked, as she gave me a quick once over with her eyes.
The water dragon king coughed bringing my attention back to him; "Yes well, we weren't quite sure what to do when you zoned out there Mr . . ." He asked leadingly, making me realize that I kinda barged in without introducing myself.
"My apologies. The name is Tavish Byrne, head of the Ouroboros faction, what little there is anyway." I reply, causing him to nod once.
"And I am King Vammor, leader of the Water dragon faction. These two are my daughters, Selina, and Valisha." He introduced the blue haired and the redheaded dragons respectively.
Valisha nodded regally while her sister, continued to examine me closely.
This party was supposed to go on for another week, so I couldn't tell if this would bode for good or ill.
[Time Skip]
In the following days, I found out the true purpose of the party.
It turned out to be a excuse for Vammor to expand his political connections and attempt to bring other dragons under his reign.
Valisha was also focused on consolidating power, while Selina was just not. To find that I was not the first dragon to just go "fuck the system" and become a seafaring adventurer, was relatively gratifying and I was more than happy to extend a hand of alliance with her.
Other parties approached me with mixed results.
A representative of the Demonic dragons was introduced to me via Selina, with both of us walking away fairly amicable towards each other. Baz was good people, and shared a drink on more than one occasion as I got to find out more about these demonic dragons.
Apparently, I had a bit of a bad read on them from our initial encounter, thinking they had become demons for a quick power boost.
In reality, a dragon acquired demonic traits and powers after killing a demon and harvesting their power.
Dragons apart of the faction came from all walks of life really, but it's the act of killing a high tier demon that marks them, and sets them apart from their brethren.
Selina was even technically apart of the demonic dragon's faction thanks to killing a particularly feisty demon that was harassing travelers along one of the coasts north of here.
A contingent of blood dragons had attempted to demand compensation for my actions at the last dragon meet, but it was abruptly shut down upon realizing, I might perform a repeat performance if they pushed too hard.
Other than that, I enjoyed hanging around with my new pals.
It made the stuffy parts of the event more enjoyable.
Many meetings were conducted in the shadows of the festivities, along with several balls and parties to flaunt wealth and status.
I would have left after the first week if I still wasn't trying to come to a decision regarding the dragons as a whole.
Overall, it was more akin to dealing with a den of snakes than the proud creatures I grew up envisioning. The majority of the various factions weren't worth dealing with outside of a few individuals.
Baz was an unexpected find in that regard, as I was able to acquire more info regarding ouroboros.
Apparently, some several thousand years ago, one of them became a rather notorious pirate, and had claimed an Island for his very own.
It was rumored that the ouroboros had vanished from "Evertooth Island" one day, leaving behind his vast hordes of treasure.
Since then, many treasure hunters had gone and came back empty handed from the island, failing to find evidence of such treasure, or even of the legendary pirates existence.
And that was enough to sell me on making it my next stop.
But first, I had to finish this damn ball.
It was dreadfully boring, and Selina and Baz weren't even around to distract me, given that they had left to places unknown.
I'm seventy-five percent sure that those two are hooking up. Why they were hiding it was beyond me though, and quite frankly, I didn't care.
Probably would result in some over-dramatization, a big fight, and some extra emotional crap that I deemed boring.
Too many dragons were here dressed as nobility, to a point where I questioned their ability to fight and actually defend themselves as they smarmed their way around the various cliques and social circles that had developed during the event.
I was mere moments away from leaving to find a pub with a better atmosphere when I smelled something familiar.
Smoke. . .
. . . And blood!
Cocking an ear, I could make out faint screams and the sound of fighting, and glanced over towards Vammor to see if he had taken notice yet.
Thankfully, it seemed that he had taken notice that something was wrong and was consulting with Valisha in hushed whispers.
The window near me shattered as figures busted through and I reacted instinctively.
Conjuring my bolter, I blew a hole in the first figure, and caved in the skull of the second with a well-timed swipe of my fist.
A male dragon off to my right shrieked in terror leaving me to look at him in bewilderment. He's acting like he's never seen blood before . . .
Whatever, I'll get to the bottom of that disgraceful behavior later.
Walking over to the window and looking around, I could see parts of the city on fire, illuminated by the backdrop of the setting sun.
But the light of the sunset seemed to be getting sucked up by something approaching on the horizon. It looked like a massive ship, but I couldn't quite make it out yet.
Rocks tumbling overhead brought me back to the matter at hand of the supposed invaders. Glancing up, I could just make out more figures repelling down from above.
Who the fuck came up with this plan?
I could understand raiding the city. Lot of loot to be had down there for any enterprising raider. I could even understand attacking the palace for a secret treasure room. But this mission impossible shit?
If I didn't know better, I would have thought another gamer came up with that . . . .
. . . wait.
God fucking dammit Iris . . .
[New Quest discovered!]
Far from home!
The world of Re:monster would be incomplete without Transmigrators of some variety.
Objective 1: find the Transmigrator!
Objective 2: decide what to do with them
Objective 3: Profit!
Rewards: ?
Fuck this noise.
Reaching out and grasping the air, a portion of the wall overhead ripped itself from the foundation, and splattered the invaders against the stone, causing blood and gore to rain from above.
Glancing down, I quickly take stock of who is invading by examining the corpse of the second guy I killed.
The rags he was wearing led me to believe he was a sailor of some variety. Were we getting attacked by pirates again?
Reaching down and hefting the falchion the guy had at his waist, I turn to observe the rest of the room.
Many of the guests were departing rather hurriedly, while others had pissed themselves in fear.
Taking a closer look at some, I quickly revised my assumption of everyone attending being a dragon of some variation.
Some of the guests were nobles from several of the surrounding kingdoms, but the general vibe I got from those that I did identify as dragons, was disinterest.
I suppose I got that, but on the other hand . . .
My sharp teeth exposed themselves in a grin.
Pirates always had sweet loot.
Leaping out the window, my wings rip out of the stupid suit I was wearing and catch the wind and with a powerful flap, I flew towards the city.
Opening all my eyes to observe all of the energies down below, I decide to initiate an experiment.
Opening a portal to one of the sources I traced to be a pirate, I fire my bolter through the opening, blowing the buccaneer's head off.
My grin grew wider, and hundreds of portals opened up around me, and I engrossed myself in the delights of my personal shooting range.
The streets below became a blood bath as my bolter's roar echoed through the night.
A cannon shot from off in the distance distracted me temporarily from my rampage and a cannon ball surprised me by slamming into the side of my head and bouncing off.
Glancing down curiously, I can see a handful of ships further out in the bay. The cannons of one of the ships lit up with magical circles before a massive boom rang out, and the cannon shots, accelerated upwards into the sky to hit me.
Dodging the cannon shots proved entertaining, as they zipped around and attempted to hit me again. Similar to a bludger, something appears to be animating them to be quite the deadly projectiles.
Catching one as it flew by, and restraining it under my arm, I could make out the runes inscribed across its surface.
It was actually very fascinating examining these particular cannon balls. If I was reading these runes right, it looked as if they could be infused with various bits and bobs of magic to create certain effects.
Forcing mana into the cannon ball, the metal ball takes on a purplish black energy as I force End energy into it. I rear back and huck the cannon ball back at its origin.
The cannon ball impacted the ship and blew through one side and out the other, disappearing into the depths of the harbor.
Huh . . .
Not quite as effective as I was expecting . . .
You know, I need some of those orbs like Zenyatta has. Just a bunch of floating orbs that I can infuse with energy and huck into people's heads.
It would be easier than making cannon balls and carrying them around for the same purpose.
On the flip side, throwing cannon balls was really fun. Initially, I assumed that it was more practical to use an actual cannon. But I obviously did not factor in having the strength of a dragon when making that initial assessment.
If I was more interested in hanging out with dragons, I could turn it into a sport like extreme dodge ball or something along those lines.
Anyway! As fun as it is to imagine dragon dodgeball, I needed to clean this up before leaving.
It didn't sit quite right with me to leave this mess for Baz or Selina to clean up.
But, that didn't mean I couldn't test out a few things first . . .
Reaching into my item box, I pull out Kazikli Bey, give it a quick glance over, and bite into it.
Tasting faintly of blood and surprisingly, chicken, I crunch down the spear and a notification popped into my vision.
New abilities gained!
[Thousand thorns] (1/100)
Where one may pierce, a thousand more will follow. Enables you to use the original ability of Kazikli Bey.
[Conceptualization: Spear]
You can embody the essence of a spear, enhancing your power to pierce into its target, and mold the concept of "spear" to your will.
Holding out my hand, a large spear conjures itself above my palm.
Flicking my fingers at my target, the spear shot away, ripping a massive hole in the side of the ship.
Grinning at its versatility, hundreds of spears made of end energy conjure around me.
I was about to unleash it on the ships below, when that ominous feeling from before came back in full force causing me to freeze.
Searching for its source, colossal ship emerges from the fog. Its tattered sails were at full mast as it sailed closer towards the harbor.
The presence screamed challenger as I was drawn towards the ship like a moth towards a flame.
I could see the men crewing the ship, their sickly pale disposition revealing the truths of who they were.
Their rotted gums revealed themselves as they grinned up at me as the undead set about their assigned tasks.
A new figure revealed itself as it stepped away from the wheel, allowing my eyes to lock onto him.
[Lich Captain Morgan]
Lvl – Demigod
Thoughts – hatred, curiosity, excitement
Landing on the deck in front of the captain, we enter a staring contest as we observe each other for the first time.
Finally, he spoke; "Its been many moons since one of the living dared to walk so brazenly across my decks." He rasped, the dead air whispering across the deck.
"Its been a while since I sensed someone who might present a challenge. I believe the last thing to do that was a wyvern from my previous evolution." I commented, as the undead being grinned.
"Believe me, I was thinking the same thing." He stated slowly drawing a purple blade from his waist.
Looking over the pirate, I realized why he struck so much of a familiarity with me.
This guy was dressed up like Jack Sparrow!
"Dude, I realize you're in another world and all, but you need to mix in your own spin on things. I mean, I also like Jack Sparrow, but you need to give it your own flavor." I replied, getting a seriously startled reaction.
"W-what?! W-what are y-you talking about." He stuttered and I grinned at his flustered demeanor.
Lunging across the deck, I slashed with my claws, which he blocked with his sword.
"Hah! I knew it! So just for the sake of the fight, you put your phylactery elsewhere, correct?" I questioned as he dodged out of my range.
"How do you know about my phylactery?! That's a secret that not even my closest allies would know?!" He answered back, panic setting into his voice.
"Dude, you're a lich. Of course, you have a phylactery. I mean I ran around as one for long enough to know that fact." I scoffed at the ridiculousness of the comment.
"When you were a lich?! Who the hell are you?!" The lich captain snarled back, causing me to grin slightly.
"I'm currently Captain Tavish Byrne of The Endless. The Ouroboros of End and Origin. As for who I might have been . . . well, if you fight well enough, I might tell you." I replied playfully, causing him to grit his teeth.
"Very well creature! I am Captain Morgan of the Black Pearl. The Most feared reaper of the high seas!" the lich fired back his sword glowing an ominous purple.
He suddenly lashed out quick as a whip and left a scratch across my forearm, causing the surrounding area to turn black and rot.
Tearing my arm off, I let it regrow as I swiftly analyzed my opponent.
Necrotic energies . . .
A body or two ago, and I would have the appropriate resistances to deal with it.
But I don't . . . so I would have to find a work around.
Coating my arms in origin energy, I block his next strike with my scales.
The Necrotic energies try to find purchase once more only to be rebuffed by the origin mana.
Origin, as far as I could figure, was the purest essence of life energy. The origin, for lack of a better term.
The mana itself flowing through my body chased away fatigue and exhaustion, but any excess was immediately absorbed into the ship beneath my feet.
Closest I could figure, the ship itself possessed the property of life drain, and it would be absolutely disastrous if it reached shore.
"Why are you assisting the pirates on this venture?" I ask curiously, trying to put two and two together.
"Hah! The amount of power I can gain from harvesting so many souls would push me beyond the boundaries of my evolution. I could become a true god of death. And the magical artifacts and treasure being traded back and forth would set me up as a ruler of my own kingdom! Your presence became an unexpected, yet welcome surprise." The lich cackled, being far more enlightening than I was expecting him to be.
"Well way to make me feel like a dick for being obscure and mysterious." I grumble, slashing my tail into his side throwing him back.
"Can I ask a question then?" The lich questioned, causing me to raise an eyebrow and motion for him to continue.
"How many races have you been?" he asked, firing a pistol, forcing me to dodge out of the way.
"I think this is my third or fourth race. Mostly human variants, but technically I have a werewolf one around somewhere." I muse aloud, causing him to freeze and look at me questionably.
"That implies that other races can be acquired. . ." The lich mused, barley dodging out of the way as I pull the Endless's anchor out of its subspace and slam it into where he was standing.
"Well, you can be anything if you try hard enough." I supply encouragingly, causing him to give me a flat look.
"That's a fucking joke and you know it." He stated flatly and I shrug.
"Well fuck you too then." I reply, ducking under a barrage of puckle gun fire from near the wheel.
"Are your minions participating in this scuffle as well then?" I ask, summoning a spear and throwing it through the offending gunner.
"Aye. The undead here are hive minded, so it would be weird if I didn't use everything I had to defend myself." The lich captain confessed, as the other sailors ditched their tasks hypnotically and drew weapons and moved to engage.
Swearing, I flipped around a skeleton and springboarded off the shoulders of a rather large crewman, ripping his arms off with the force.
Kicking up a spar of wood, I slammed my fist into it and sent it through several undead skulls before I turn and rip the puckle gun from its mounting.
Forcing origin mana into the mounted weapon, I spray a wall of lead at the approaching pirates.
Running out of ammo fairly quickly, I toss the gun into the crowd knocking over several, before I slam my foot into the deck sending shockwaves through the ship.
[Dance of the Dragon]
Fire races down my arms as clouds fill the skies. My fist swings forth bringing about a mass of fire, and thunder reverberates though the surrounding air.
The flames melted through the undead as the origin mana infused with the flame, pure life force burning a path towards the lich captain.
Morgan slashed his blade extinguishing most of the flames across his deck, before with a gesture of his hand, the bones of the dead crew coalesced into a series of giant skeletal plates that formed into a giant figure that towered far over the ship itself.
The dead all around us were slowly drawn into the undead monster as it built itself stronger with the additional mass.
A giant fist came down upon where I was standing, only to be met by a strike of lightning as my foot lashed out and blew the fist away.
Quickly reforming, the lich launched a barrage of attacks that I just barley fended off.
This was the first time I was forced to use "dance of the dragon" in combat, but let it not be said that it wasn't exhilarating!
Well, if we're pulling out all the stops . . .
. . . LET'S GIVE THE FUCKER WHAT HE WANTS!
[Dragon Rage]
[Ouroboros Form]
[Vammor POV]
Their was not a lot I could do when Tavish hopped out the window.
He wasn't exactly my priority when I was having to deal with frantic nobles. I intermixed nobles among the assembled dragons to quietly forge new bonds and illustrate similarities between the two races.
However, I apparently was dealing with some of the most cowardly humans to grace their various countries.
Valisha and myself were attempting to deter them from simply boarding their ships and leaving, thanks to a much darker presence on the horizon.
Over the last century, the Black Pearl had made a name for itself as a ship of lost souls that consumed anything in its path.
It truly became an unstoppable after its captain managed to absorb the life force of a greater demon.
It would be disastrous if the royals in attendance, and all of their entourage, left the shore and fed themselves to that ever-growing beast.
And that was not nearly as big as the Black pearl reaching shore and consuming the citizenry already dealing with the pirate assault.
But many of the screams from below had died out, as fires started to fade, indicating a shift in the battle below.
A flicker of movement from the ship and a sudden explosion of power displayed a massive showdown as a massive demonic figure made of bone faced off against the ouroboros.
The body of Tavish coiled around the abomination, his fangs ripping into the neck of the colossal figure as it roared in rage, attempting to pry the serpentine body off of him.
Finally succeeding at prying off the massive body, the bone giant threw Tavish off into the bay, his body crumpling against the rocks as he roared in pain.
The giant formed and threw a spear that was deftly dodged, before Tavish took off once more.
Whipping around the giants legs, his tail impacted right between them with a mighty thwack, launching the giant skyward.
Massive bone wings formed as Tavish chased him higher and higher into the sky vanishing periodically against the clouds.
Shockwaves of power thundered across the sky as the two titans clashed, neither quite gaining the upper hand.
The reverberations got to a point where the windows themselves shattered as the two continued duking out in the skies above neither giving quarter.
When stones from the damaged walls fell and I chanced a glace up, the sight took my breath away.
The purple life drain energy wreathing the clouds up above was intermixing with the golden origin energies as the two powers fought back and forth, illustrating not a battle between mortals . . .
. . . but of gods . . .
I sensed Valisha's presence by my side as she moved up to observe the cataclysmic fight happening overhead.
"Father, I imagine we will have some trouble inviting other dignitaries again if we invite Captain Byrne." She commented dryly, giving up on convincing nobles to stay.
"Don't be too worried, I think he was getting quite bored of all the pomp and circumstance. He had more fun drinking in the town, eating, and mingling with the locals, than he did associating with nobles." I muse, thinking back to several instances in the past week alone.
He got in a bar fight with some orks, challenged a walrus beast man to an eating contest, drank three times his weight in beer, set up a booth and sold something called "sandwiches" for several hours, fell asleep in the hay cart of a local farmer, and rounded out the evening by sharing several rounds of drinks with the very orks he got in a fight with.
And that was just one day of activities.
His wild spirit was constantly seeking new experiences as he wandered about getting into whatever mischief may find him.
A second roar, as shortly accompanied by a third as I spotted Selina and Baz leaving the castle to join in the fight.
Baz rended into the side of the skeleton and Selina impacted the arm, attempting to rip it off as half of Tavish's body formed into a massive upper body of his own.
His tail throttled the giant armored figure as his four arms rained blow after blow, shattering any bone that tried to reform against his assault.
"The fight shall be concluding soon with the addition of Baz and Selina." Valisha added, before glancing at me.
"What has happened to us as a species to make so many lose their fighting spirit?" She asked abruptly, causing me to look at her in shock.
"We used to instill a fear that no mortal, would dare propagate any such attack . . ." Her voice raised, her nails sharpening, some of the other drakes edging away.
"Yet here we are, doing nothing, as a whelp is displaying proper fury beyond what many other dragons are capable of, taking the fight to an enemy that supposedly surpassed most of the nations of the humans." The water of the storm raging outside freezing in the air, as rage became palpable in her tone.
"It may be time, for a bit rage of our own instead of this diplomacy crap." She roared leaping out of the window to join the carnage outside.
I sigh and I rub my forehead as several more dragons leap out after her.
Well, it has been some time since I stretched my wings . . .
[Time Skip]
[Tavish's POV]
I lean back against the mast of the Endless as I check my compass.
The skull of the lich hangs from a lantern mount nearby as he glares at me.
Quest Complete!
[Far From Home]
Rewards: One Class from a previous body unlocked, 5 x Gacha tokens (Common), 1 x Death loot crate.
[Technomancy Unlocked!]
Most of my tools for scientific analysis were stored within my Technomancer body which I needed to finally bridge the gap between mana, and computers.
The gem that I used to make my mana computer was fused into my cyberdeck, translating the mana into energy signals that the rest of my cybernetics could understand, while the cyberdeck recorded, and charted the data for later use.
The only odd part about grabbing the technomancy class, was that since I was a dragon, their were significant chunks of my body that my nanomachines were having to remap and analyze to ensure proper operation of my cybernetics.
Most of my cybernetics were designed with a human physiology in mind, and I wasn't too sure if that would translate well to dragon physiology.
So far, I was able to discover that the biological processes of a dragon were significantly more efficient then that of a standard human.
And I'm sure that won't be the last thing I discover over the course of this trip.
I've set a course for Evertooth Island after I defeated Captain Morgan.
Since his head wasn't destroyed, I decided to keep at as a keepsake while he slowly attempted to regenerate from the remains.
If we had destroyed him completely, he would just regenerate at where ever he stashed his phylactery. But since his head was still here, that would be the point of origin for regeneration.
I'd probably set him loose at some point, but he was going to serve as my guide for a bit while I fished out various bits of information from him.
Either way, with the technomancy I had on hand, I had a plethora of extra stuff to preoccupy my time with.
Designing cybernetics for a dragon proved to be a fascinating pastime as contemplated on ways to improve my body.
The nanomachines had already incorporated the metal gauntlets that coated my arms into my magic augments that I was tinkering with before, upgrading their efficiency, and making them less glitchy overall.
Activating and deactivating my augments a few times I think back to the aftermath of the battle.
While I was pleasantly surprised by Baz and Selina jumping in to help out, it was Valisha's participation that surprised me the most.
Her Fury descended on the pirates like a meteor, as she borrowed the water from the storm that I conjured.
The water then sought out pirates and forced itself into their bodies, making them explode like gory party balloons.
Honestly, I was impressed with her creativity as she then used the liquid mass acquired from those pirates, to seek out more pirates to repeat the process.
She then forced the skeleton giant into a tug of war as it tried to scavenge materials from the dead to sustain itself.
She wrenched and almost completely cut off the flood of fresh material as Selina, Baz, and I, beat the ever-loving shit out of the creature.
And even with that, it was a fight for survival.
Morgan was a conniving bastard, and knew how to keep us on the backfoot while engaging in his power struggle with Valisha.
Quite frankly, the only reason I kept him, was because I wanted to have Iris confirm if this was a gamer transmigrator or not.
The fact that Iris had basically left to confirm meant that she had enough evidence to at the very least check.
If nothing else, I could turn him into necromancy materials.
The Death loot crate contained some interesting items as well that would probably expand upon my necromancy class when I have access once more.
[Servants of the End] (Rare)
A grimoire containing the pact rites needed to bind the servants of death to your will.
[Scythe Conceptualization] (Rare)
A skill book containing the skill "Scythe Conceptualization"
[Chain Conceptualization] (Rare)
A skill book containing the skill "Chain Conceptualization"
[Bone Mineralization] (Epic)
The skill to reinforce your bones with certain minerals.
[Brick of Pain] (Common)
A weapon from a bygone era, designed to teach children the art of trapmaking and guerilla tactics.
The last item, I pulled from a bag of many like it, and held up to the light as it gleamed red in the sun.
"Yeah I was a bit surprised too when I found a bag of Lego bricks in this world." Morgan snorted as I stared in befuddlement at the brick I held in my hand.
"Surprised doesn't even begin to cut it, it's a common item known as "The Brick of Pain"." I muse causing the skull to roll its eyes.
"Where did you acquire such a ridiculous name for a damn Lego?" Morgan mocked, as I lazily turned an eye on the skull.
"That is the name it acquired in this world dummy. Unlike home, they don't exactly have Lego star wars or harry potter to stimulate a child's creativity. It's a heck of a lot more dangerous world than more modern children." I reply only for Morgan to scoff.
"Yes well, that doesn't stop the filthy humans from breeding like rabbits." He sneered, causing me to shake my head at him.
"And people in our old world had to do the exact same thing when children rarely made it to adulthood. And besides, we used to be human too, so stop being so pretentious." I reply in an exasperated tone.
"That still doesn't stop humans from being a bunch of fucking cockroaches!" the skull raged, pure venom in his tone.
I am aware of how I sometimes distanced myself from my humanity, but it usually was in more of a reflective sort of way.
This guy was going full on elitist with his thinking, which honestly befuddled me a bit.
I mean, while I fucked around as other creatures all the time, I was cognizant of the fact that at a single point, I may have been human.
Thus, most of my concepts and ideas that drive me forward are inherently human. I could not abandon choices that intrinsically make sense to what was, at the bare minimum, a human thought process.
Our debate on ethics ended up ranging long throughout the day as the Endless continued to sail towards its destination.
[Omake: Krieg's, and Kleptomania]
[The Emperor's POV]
When Tavish left to return the Kriegsman, I expected him to be met with a bayonet charge.
I did not expect him to hire them for a "public works" project.
He designated a area near the base of a mountain where extra entrenching tunnels, and fortifications, were required to ward off an "impending" enemy assault.
At first, I thought he was being serious and was attempting to give the beleaguered humans a fighting chance against this supposed threat.
It wasn't until we hit a ceramite wall that I suspected his ulterior motives.
Thinking back, I really should have taken note of how close we were to the fortress monastery of the Blood Angels.
Sanguinius . . .
He was one of my favorites when it came to my primarchs. One of the few to truly share my vision for humanities future.
Something . . . faded, from the Imperium when Horus struck him down.
Whether it was just myself, or for everyone, things no longer seemed as bright, as hopeful, as they did before.
As if a light of hope were extinguished.
It did my heart good to see that his chapter was still relatively alive and well after all this time . . .
*KABOOOOOM*
I was shook out of my trip down memory lane at the massive explosion, only to discover Tavish and Trayzn bolting through the dust covered opening.
Once the dust had settled, I could see the two scrambling around the inside of a vault filled wall to wall with various artifacts from across the universe.
Stepping over the lip of the opening with slight distain, I comment; "Is their a particular reason you two decided to rob a space marine monastery?"
-"Lot of cool shit that I couldn't get my hands on normally. Plus, they kinda stole it first."- Trayzn commented, as he slid several artifacts into his bag.
"Yeah, I figure that they needed a bit of galactic karma for all the stuff they "borrowed" from other chapters." Tavish agreed amiably as he shoved a extremely ornate set of terminator armor into a seemingly bottomless bag.
I went to reprimand the two thieves when something caught my eye.
The Spear of Telesto.
A spear that I had gifted Sanguinius when he swore fealty to me.
Gently reaching down, I picked it up off its rack, its tear shaped head gleaming in the dim light.
"There you go! I knew we'd find something you'd like!" Tavish yelled encouragingly as I stood indecisively.
On one hand, this belonged to the Blood Angels, but on the other, it was one of the last reminders of my long dead son.
[Time Skip]
[3rd Person POV]
The squadron of space marines marched towards the artifact vault.
After safe guarding the Spear of Telesto and many other artifacts recovered on their last crusade, the time had come to transfer them back to Baal.
The two sentry marines saw us approaching and started performing the unsealing rituals for the vault.
As the last of the canticles were spoken, the vault ground open to reveal a red haired man, a necron, and a human that towered taller than most space marines.
-"Shit! We've been rumbled! Every man for themselves!"-, the necron yelled before teleporting out.
"Fuck you Trayzn! You were supposed to give us a heads up when they were coming!" the redhead screamed, dodging a proactive blood angel that tried to tackle him to the ground.
"Sweet souvenir!" the redhead exclaimed yoinking the massive combat knife hanging at the marine's waist.
"Make sure to leave the note!" the redhead shot over his shoulder as he swan dived into a portal that opened up in his path.
The massive humanoid started, before pulling a sheet of parchment, scribbling a lightning quick note on it before throwing it on the stand that once held the spear. He then vanished in his own crack of thunder that blew back the marines that quickly surrounded him.
When the dust settled, horror slowly set in as the marines realized that they were the targets of a heist.
And the last perpetrator just got away.
In place of the artifacts they had acquired, was a single sheet of paper, heavily charged with psyker energies.
The paper itself writhed as the writing gleamed gold with power, its message revealing itself once more to the horrified crowed that had gathered.
I.O.U.
-The Emperor-
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