"Anderson, take the others and pursue the remaining ships."
Silas shouted to his first mate, then his whole body was lifted by a powerful current of air, flying alone toward the "Black Death."
Wind roared past his ears as the sailing warship rapidly grew larger in his view. He could clearly make out the terrified expressions of the pirates on deck.
"Boom!"
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
The pirates fought desperately to stop him, spears and cannon fire blasting toward him without pause, but every projectile lost its effect the moment it neared him, seized and turned back upon whoever had fired it.
A sudden rain of blood erupted across the deck of the "Black Death."
By the time Silas landed, the deck was already a scene of carnage.
I wonder where the "Vice Admiral of Ailment" is hiding, he thought pensively, as the shadow beneath him crept upward, rapidly forming into a deep, black, fathomless greatsword in his hand.
"Thud, thud, thud!"
A flurry of hurried footsteps sounded from within the cabin, and several pirates rushed up.
Through Silas's perception, their spirits gave off the radiance of Beyonder traits, clearly marking them as Beyonders, the strongest of them having already reached Sequence 6.
The instant they laid eyes on Silas, their faces twisted faintly with terror.
"Together! Buy the captain some time!"
As if trying to drive away his own fear, the burly man in the lead roared, hefting a massive sword and charging at Silas.
He was none other than the first mate of the "Black Death," Sergei Belikov. Behind him came the second mate, third mate, and boatswain.
The third mate, the "Smooth Talker" Misol Kim, pulled several coins from inside his coat, intending to throw them at the Blood Reverend across from him, a "bribe" meant to weaken his opponent's strength.
Several of the other Beyonder crew members were likewise in motion, some preparing to attack, others to assist.
But before any of their abilities could take effect, they saw Silas across from them swing the deep black greatsword in his hand.
That greatsword was utterly black, as if it had absorbed all light, and its surface was wrapped in a terrifying current of air.
Violent wind tore at the atmosphere, letting out a roar like an explosion, sharpening the blade's edge even further.
Misol Kim watched, wide-eyed, as the coins he'd thrown were shredded to dust by the storm. The first mate, for all his formidable physique, lasted only an instant longer than the coins before he too was split in half and turned to dust.
Damn it.
The thought had barely surfaced in his mind when the greatsword appeared before him, its fathomless black filling his vision, obliterating all his consciousness.
Looking down from above, after Silas's single sword strike, the entire superstructure of the "Black Death" was utterly destroyed.
Like a paper house caught up in a storm, in an instant planks scattered in every direction, debris flew, and terrified pirates were flung into the air, shredded into a mist of blood before they even had time to scream.
"Oh, there you are."
Wreckage, debris, shredded flesh, and blood fell like rain. Silas found Trissy inside a room whose roof had been torn open.
Her appearance matched the portrait on the wanted poster exactly: long black curly hair, deep blue eyes, and a beauty so exquisite it left one dazed.
"My lord Blood Reverend, I don't know what I might have done wrong to offend you."
Trissy had been caught in the storm's fringes, her clothes torn, several harrowing crimson wounds visible on her pale skin.
She looked at Silas, her frail expression utterly pitiable. "Is there truly no way we could settle this through talk?"
There seemed to be a faint magic woven into her words, one that made it hard not to feel a stirring of tenderness toward her.
The Witch's "Instigation"!
But Silas only looked at her coldly, showing not the slightest sign of being tempted.
"Shff!"
The pitch-black shadow spread rapidly, engulfing the entirety of the Black Death.
"Aaaaah!"
Cries of despair and agony rose one after another, the remaining crew who hadn't died beneath Silas's blade of spirit and flesh.
Swallowed by the shadow, in that endless darkness the darkest sins buried deepest in their hearts were drawn out, magnified, and came to dominate their consciousness, guiding them down into an abyss of corruption.
Trissy too was wrapped in the darkness, struggling amid the agony of corruption.
The voices of the other pirates soon fell quiet.
In their past experiences at sea, most of them had already committed irredeemable sins, their spiritual roots thoroughly filthy. It took only the slightest guidance for them to fall completely, becoming part of Silas's shadow.
"Sizzle..."
The shadow spread across the entire ship slowly drew back inward, and Silas looked ahead with a hint of surprise.
He found that Trissy was still conscious, that she had not been absorbed into his shadow.
Though her hair had grown coarse and thick and her eyes were filled with a wild frenzy, only a single step away from utter madness, she had somehow endured his corruption ability!
What was this? A member of the Demoness Sect, yet still holding onto some shred of goodness?
How amusing indeed.
Silas let out a soft, cold laugh and stepped forward.
The potion in his body seethed, urging him, tempting him to keep using his ability, to utterly destroy Trissy and drag her down into the abyss of corruption. Without thinking, he opened his palm toward her.
"Don't hurt her!"
Someone came stumbling forward from a distance, throwing herself in front of the suffering Trissy.
It was a blonde maid, quite pretty. Though her face was filled with fear, she still shielded Trissy behind her.
Silas frowned as he looked at her, and something suddenly stirred in his heart.
Something's wrong. My state just now was strange.
He snapped to alertness, realizing he had nearly strayed onto the wrong path of performance again, letting himself use his corruption ability without restraint.
Once he'd worked this out clearly, Silas took a deep breath, as if he could feel the potion inside him being further digested.
Still, even if he couldn't make Trissy fall completely, he had other ways to deal with her.
"Go ahead."
Silas said to the empty air.
And so, red-haired, golden-eyed Ma'am M quietly appeared. She approached Trissy with light, brisk steps, then drove her finger straight into the woman's head!
"Ahh..."
Trissy's eyes rolled back white, unconscious murmurs spilling from her mouth.
The sight terrified the blonde maid, who couldn't see M at all and could only hold Trissy's convulsing body helplessly, crying out in fear.
"There, there, it'll be over soon."
M soothed her in a voice of boundless gentleness, her finger stirring through Trissy's brain with a wet, squelching sound, digging through her deepest memories.
Suddenly, M's calm, gentle face froze.
"What's wrong?"
Silas asked at once upon seeing this.
M turned to him swiftly.
"Watch out!"
She said, "Trissy's mother is a Sequence 3 Unaging!"
"Crack."
A faint cracking sound rang out.
On the floor behind Trissy, a small round mirror had split apart from its center, crimson blood welling up and gushing out through the crack, quickly spreading and flooding across the entire floor.
That blood soon formed itself into a strange symbol.