(Jason's POV)
I watched the men grappling down into the room and begin to line up in formation. A simple Phalanx maneuver, the strongest of them made up the front line while their mages held the farthest position. Smart, if you don't have an Aerial combatant to deal with, this maneuver may have worked. I have the upper hand here. With Esqueezeme on my right and Musaki on my left, we formed a reverse arrow head. This would funnel them into a kill box. Simple and you only needed a few to pull this off. A man in white robes with black trim stood behind his men, another man at his side seemed to want to be anywhere but here. The man in white was looking at Musaki with absolute fury and disgust. "Hand over the relic. All relics of your heathen gods must be destroyed. Heretics must be cleansed of their heathenistic ways. " His demand was irritating. Nobody commands me, and Did he just call me a heathen?
"I'm going to enjoy ripping out your tongue." I spoke softly, I could have been commenting on the lovely weather. The man snarled back in response.
"Wait, Captain Darksky is that you?" I flicked my gaze quickly to the guard beside the soon to be tongueless, then back at the Frontline of his men. "What are you doing here Percy?" My voice was surprisingly calm, yet my temper was boiling. I wanted blood for what they did to those innocent monks. The boy blushed and glanced at the man he was next to. I watched the man cuff Percy hard in the right cheek. Percy cried out in pain as the man glared back at me. I had my answer. I glanced at Esqueezeme then back to the boy and then to the archers. She would understand my orders. Best not to point out that I want the boy alive.
I glanced at Musaki next then the four mages hiding behind the three archers and six tanks on the Frontline. She smiled in answer. I would take the Frontline and Musaki would handle the four mages at the back. Esqueezeme would capture Percy and the archers were her's to take out.
"Face the cleansing with hope that you are made clean by The People of Gaia." The man yelled at us and raised his left hand, signaling to his men to begin. The Frontline charged forward. "Yeah, no." I dove down and swept my sword down in a wide arc. The dumbest two died before they could dodge it. They writhed in agony as the flames consumed their corpses. I twisted as a barrage of arrows came at me. My infernal barrier turned them to ashes. I glanced at the three archers and raised a brow. "Nice try." They stared at me in horror, I could literally see their will to fight fade in the face of someone they can't beat. I didn't even bother to end them myself. I could hear Esqueezeme as she opened fire on them from behind me. I flew up as the bullets neared me creating the perfect distraction for her as they met their mark. They screamed as the bullets seared into their flesh. I turned my attention back to the remaining four tanks. I lowered myself down to their level. They attacked me all at once. I laughed and used my sword as a shield both blocking and melting their own weapons. They leapt away as the realization that the fact that I was stronger than they assumed finally dawned on them. I watched them turn to ask their mages for aid, but Musaki had their full attention. One of them was turned into a man-cicle and the other three were trying to evade her as she threw the chakrams at them with incredible speed and precision. "Hey don't look away from your opponent." I shot forward my wings kept me about a foot above the floor as I swung my sword in a wide horizontal slash designed to cleave them in two. Only one of them dodged my swing. He was panting now from the heat surrounding me. "What's wrong, can't take the heat?" I chuckled at my own joke. The man glared at me as he panted for air. I kept up the assault, my swings got faster as he blocked. My sword did damage to the blade, melting it a little with each swing that connected. In no time at all my sword sliced clean through the blade. Then before he had a chance to run from me I thrust my sword through his chest. I looked directly at their leader who stood frozen in fear near the far wall. I held his gaze as I ripped my sword up through the dead man's chest and head splitting him in half. Musaki was giggling now. She had the mages cloistered together trying to fight off the freezing affect of her new weapon. The ice creeped up their feet engulfing them. A torturously slow progression. It took mer minutes for them to be completely frozen in ice. "Look Captain, I made art." She held both chakrams in one hand as she blew a kiss at the new sculptures. They shattered into millions of tiny bloody pieces. She had a sadistic smile on her face.
With his men dead except for my new prisoner, I turned to face their leader. "You owe me a tongue." The man shivered visibly. I gave him a menacing smile and held my hand out to Musaki as I landed in front of him. I felt my wings dissolve with my sword. She placed a throwing knife in my open palm. The smooth surface of the steel blade glinted in the light that spilled from the hole in the ceiling. "You- You will regret this, Heretic." His voice shook making his threat invalid. I laughed. Esqueezeme pried open his mouth and Musaki pulled his tongue out as far as she could, not caring if he cried out in pain. I sliced the offending organ right out of his head and held it up for him to see then tossed it to Musaki. She would make sure that it gets sent to his people as a warning. Using Musaki's knife I started removing his head. His screams filled the room until I cut through his jugular. I handed the head to Musaki. "Have Percy tell you where to deliver the gift." Musaki nodded and smiled at the head she now held. Her childish laughter filled the room and I watched Percy as he shook with fear, watching my First Mate dance around the room with the head in her arms.
Thanks to Musaki's new path in the maze, we made it back to the temple's main lobby. Hellfire was literally guarding the door as we came out. I shoved Percy towards him. "Put him in the brig, I'll personally interrogate the boy. How many." Hellfire caught the kid and slung him over his shoulder like a ruck sack.
"Two dead, twenty injured. The head monk is under intensive care. The doctors say we got here in time."
I nodded. "Have Newind make a donation to the monks to help them with food until they can provide for themselves." I didn't let the relief I felt for the monk show on my face. I had to keep up appearances with my men. "Inform Medical, I'm on my way to check on the patients."
"Sir." Hellfire saluted me then left to carryout my commands. I now had a second to digest the information I gained in that maze. "The People of Gaia, sounds dumb. Musaki."
She was in front of me as soon as I said her name. "I want you to send a letter with the gift."
"Yes, Captain."
(Unknown POV)
Somewhere in Ivalice
"Sir, we received a gift from Spira."
"It's probably from Mr. White. Bring it to me." I sat up behind my desk. He was supposed to be bringing me the relics as he finds them, but I don't mind this change in plan. A lovely black box wrapped with a red silk ribbon and a card was set in front of me. The card was white with a black Phoenix printed on it's front. I picked up the card first.
'People of Gaia'
'Apologies for the late introductions. I humbly present you with this gift in the hopes you are well.'
The writing was smooth and flowing with elegance. I set the card aside and lifted the lid on the box. "Oh my nonexistent God!" I jumped up and backed away from the gift. My mind went blank as horror and fear seeped into it's depths. Sitting in a glass box, frozen solid was Mr. White's Head. Laid beside His head was his tongue also frozen. The shear terror on on his face forever immortalized in ice. A note was inside the glass box, placed to look like a plaque that explained what was in the display. The bold words were written in blood.
'I am no Heathen, nor am I a Heretic. I am Captain Jason Darksky of the Phoenix Pirates, do not fear the Gods, you should fear me.'