The battle was on. The arena's glyphs shimmered. Thunder cracked in the skyless air above. Hammer head let out a war cry that was a buff, his veins bulged, he charged across the dueling ring like a cannonball of pure muscle. "Ash of the Crimson Typhoon!" he bellowed. "Let's see if you can still laugh with your head sawed in half!"
The teeth on the saw blade extended and ran along the length of the blade making the air shriek. I didn't flinch. Instead, I inhaled softly. I circulated sacred breath through my limbs like a silver tide. I could hear the whistle and the Vrrrrrr of the saw fish snout blade.
Then—"Cloud step." A soft, swirling feather sigil bloomed beneath My heel and burst in a gust of sky wind. I vanished. Hammer Head's Swipe with the qi powered Saw blade struck only air—cracking the stone behind where I had just stood. I reappeared ten paces away, hovering slightly, as if gravity forgot me. My laugh rang out, light and maddening. "You swing like a drunken sea cow. No finesse." Felicity laughed a soft girlish giggle at this rib I had made. Hammer head snarled, charging again.
I blurred sideways, rebounding off the air mid-dash, somersaulting lightly over Hammer head's right shoulder and slash. "Hmm… There it is," I said calmly, glancing down.
The blind spot. Due to his mutated shark-like physiology, Hammer head's eyes were perched on either side of his widened cranium—granting a huge field of view, but leaving an obvious dead zone directly in front of and behind him. I tested it again with another cloud step—vanishing behind him, clapping once.
Hammer head twisted wildly—too late. I yawned. "Do you want me to tell you your fatal flaw, or do you want to discover it when you're kissing sand?" From the edge of the arena, Snake Man stood with arms crossed, not interfering. His serpents swayed on his limbs like waiting arrows. "Hmmm..." he murmured, eyes narrowed. "Feather sigils. levitational displacement. That cloud stance style is old... but clever." Rukka spoke softly behind him. "Should we engage, Master?" "Not yet," Snake Man whispered. "Let the boy dance. Let us learn about him." "Besides there are no rules that say we must engage or play along to the whims of a dead Pirate King."
Back at the duel, Hammer head roared with fury now, sweat flying, he had sheathed the Saw fish blade and had resorted to his fists and brute strength, just like his third wife. He smashed the ground with both fists.
"I'LL TURN YOU INTO FISH FLAKES, PRETTY BOY!"
I dodged another haymaker, letting wind ripple across my face from his swing, I circulated the Sacred Breath and Cloud Step in tandem, arms and ankles blurring my outline refined into silver streamlines. Simultaneously I let my intent flow into the mind flame talisman sending out an after-image double.
Hammer head swiped at my slow after image decoy. I chuckled as I picked up a large rock the size of a big man's fist and jammed it into Hammer heads gapping mouth mid taunt! Hammer head stumbled back, choking on the rock! He tried to get it out, force it- but it was jammed in. Summoning his qi to his Jaws Hammerhead bit down with all his shark might.
KRA-KOOM!
The large stone in his mouth burst into rock dust and flying shards. "Tell you what," I said, while using the feather glyph sigil and my raptor feather flight essence to hover mid-air "I'll end this in one move."
Hammer Head froze. "One wut?!" his eyes narrowing down on me. I held up a single finger. "One move. You ready?" Hammer head's roar of outrage became a charge, his huge frame barreling forward like a seaborne rhino. My sigils pulsed. Ropes of purple qi lightening crackled around me illuminating the arena in purple glow.
The world shrank down to the bead of violet light forming at the center of my joined hands. Purple qi crackled and swirled, but this time I didn't shape it into a palm strike or blade arc.
Then a flash of insight from the spiral tyrant core! something new. I split the energy curving and twisting it into a three-pronged spiral Javelin of violet fire. "A qi Javelin" I thought to myself
It was an qi-formed spirit trident granted to me by the spiral tyrant core!"
"TYRANT PEIRCER" I shouted and let it fly. The trident shot forward, faster than a thought—no arc, no hesitation. A thunderclap ripped across the battlefield as it launched. The projectile left a rippling Spiral-trail in the air behind it—a ghostly spiral in its wake like a comet's tail of fading memory.
Hammer head had just enough time to blink before the spirit trident found him
KRACKTHOOM!
The Spiral tyrant javelin struck dead center in the chest—just below his collarbone. The explosion wasn't physical—a ghostly shockwave of past pain and memory ruptured from the impact point, slamming Hammer head with echoes of every strike he had ever taken. He roared, knees buckling as the weight of his own past battles assaulted his nervous system—phantom hits, phantom breaks, phantom bruises all blooming at once. He coughed blood—eyes rolling. And then fell.
Hard. Around the battleground, silence fell like fog. Even Snake Man blinked. "That… was no ordinary technique," he murmured.
I floated gently down to the stone, landing with a soft crunch of gravel. I flexed my crystal encrusted taloned hand, the remnants of purple light winking out between my talon tips. Felicity came running over to me with a hug "O-HOHOHOH that was incredible, you are so freaking hot I just wanna eat you up" Felicity started teething and love nipping my crystal covered collar bones, I started to blush slightly, and this made the blood goo girl squeal in delight even more.
Snake Man smiled, "Well then," he hissed. "This one is interesting." Faeluxe stood high on a jagged viewing ledge, the wind catching the edges of her enchanted battle ribbon. Her eyes, sharp and emotionless, traced the circular arena far below—where Hammer Head's body still steamed with lingering Animus.
She clicked her tongue. "The boy's flashy," she muttered, "but his theatrics won't win a crown." Her wings buzzed once as she turned. She didn't care about the boy. Or the Delta heir. She only cared about the throne.
WHOOSH.
In a flash of violet speed, she darted along an upper path, toward the next challenge—leaving behind only a fading ribbon wisp. Felicity walked forward, brushing windblown hair from her face. Her body shimmered faintly—sun god qi still radiating from her evolution. She turned to look up at me. A wicked smile played at the corners of her lips. "Now it's my turn," she purred. Her voice coiled with that syrupy, dangerous tone I was starting to recognize all too well—equal parts bloodlust and joy.
I narrowed my eyes, descending from my hover to the cracked stone beside her. "What are you doing?" I asked. Felicity didn't even look at me. Her attention was already drifting toward the tall, wiry man standing calmly at the far edge of the battlefield—Snake Man, still silent, still unmoving. She stretched one arm across her chest, then the other. Her body hummed as she cracked her neck. "You've had your fun now let me play with the serpent," she said, fangs half-bared.
The purple veins along her arms pulsed with Blood Phageal energy, her new evolutionary form itching to taste battle. I stepped in front of her. "He's dangerous, Felicity. Those serpents—" She leaned close, eyes glittering. "So am I."
Without waiting for permission, she vanished in a burst of blood vapor and sun flare. Snake Man's eyes slid sideways as Felicity reappeared in a crimson pulse just ten meters away, crouched low, one hand pressed against the stone. A line of red qi hissed from her fingertips into the floor.
"Ah," Snake Man said, almost with respect.
"A parasite born of blood and radiance. You've molted recently." His five serpents slithered around his limbs—hissing, clicking. "Let's see how well you bite." Snake Man lowered into a crouch, bare feet gripping the stone. The five serpents coiled tighter along his limbs—each a different hue: emerald, obsidian, pearl-white, rust-red, and storm-blue. Their tongues flicked, sensing the thirst in the air. Felicity rose from her crouch, her body still faintly steaming from her Blood Phage awakening.
Behind her, tendrils of sun fire plasma and blood mist danced like wings. Her smile was wide and hungry. Snake Man: "Five strikes. Five poisons. Let's see how much your blood can take before your body fails." He stretched out impossibly far, arms lengthening out like liquid muscle, serpents slithering along his limbs toward her.
Felicity vanished with a snap of light.
BOOM!
She reappeared behind him—claws outstretched, aiming for his spine! But Snake Man twisted with boneless fluidity, his entire upper torso rotating 180 degrees—the rust-red serpent lashing at her face like a whip. Felicity ducked under the strike, slicing with her claws—only to feel a sting in her shoulder. The obsidian serpent had looped around her blindside and bit her. Black ichor surged into her bloodstream.
Snake Man: "Oblivion toxin. You have a single minute of life left, soon you'll feel nothing but regret." Felicity winced—but only for a second. She grabbed the serpent's neck and bit it back. Her own putrification marrow venom surged into the snake's body, infecting it, riding its nerves like roots. Felicity: "I'm not like the others you've fought. I evolve faster than you can poison."
The snake shuddered, and with a hiss of pain as it began to rot and dissolve! Felicity's blood infection melting its structure from the inside out. Snake Man's eyes flared.
He leapt back, summoning his remaining four serpents to hover mid-air—each forming a sigil around him like a spinning chakram wheel. Snake Man hissed "The Broken Serpent Form. I'll show you a real technique."
WHAP-WHAP-WHAP!
His limbs moved in a blurred, ritualistic dance—his four serpents striking in a star-shaped pattern, creating a geometric cage of fangs and toxins around Felicity. Felicity spun like a whirling dervish, her body cloaked in solar plasma qi and blood anima. She flowed through the pattern, every step dragging a trail of infected qi spores that lashed out when struck. One serpent hit her square in the ribs—the storm-blue one—and electric arcs burst from her chest.
Felicity screamed, but—
Then she smiled through her teeth."Thanks for the jumpstart." Her centipede juggernaut core pulsed—absorbing into its earth qi, converting it into thermal burst. Her hair lifted, her back arched, and the veins in her arms swelled with radiant blood light. "I've figured it out," she whispered. "Which of your four poisons I'll keep." She didn't dodge this time—she let the serpents bite. But with each bite, she pumped back a retaliatory infection—each serpent withering and shrieking, dissolving from her custom strain of antigen animus. Snake Man stuttered "Im-Im-Impossible—what kind of bind?!? are you?!"
"One that eats poison for breakfast."
With her final lunge, she bit into Snake Man's neck—not deep enough to kill, but deep enough to inject. Snake Man's eyes widened. He could feel it—Something growing inside him. A seed of her. A warning. She kicked off his chest and landed lightly beside me. "He'll live," she said, licking blood from her finger. "For now."
Snake Man stumbled backward, clutching his throat. His skin had gone clammy; veins darkened with an unfamiliar pulse—her blood still threading through him. His serpents lay around him—dissolving twitching scraps of qi. Snake Man spoke in a hoarse voice "Rukka… to me." From the jungle shadow, Rukka stepped out—his lithe form already mid-bow, worry etched into every movement.
At his side, the towering second officer Sacilia stood, arms crossed, lips tight. Rukka: "Master—you're hurt—" Snake Man: "No. Not hurt. Marked. That girl… is something other." He turned his back to the battlefield, but his eyes burned with cold, calculating hate. "She won't see it coming… when I shed my skin."
With that, they slithered off into the tree line—wounded pride curling like smoke behind them. Boots slammed stone and steel. Riggs was in the lead, eyes fixed on the shimmering map crystal in his palm. The qi-infused parchment floated in midair like a ghostly sea chart, rippling with glowing blue paths. A red flickering dot marked Faeluxe's movement—quick, erratic, climbing.
"She's trying to reach a Soul Pearl," Riggs growled. "But with this shortcut we'll cut her off at the spiraled throat tower. Follow me!"
He barked quick directional changes. Me, Oria and Felicity flowed behind him like red silk in motion, tongue flicking over her teeth as her blood senses surged. I glanced back once—was the mimic…grinning? No time to worry about that for now. At the peak of the spiraled tower, open to the sky and carved from sea stone and bone coral, Faeluxe stood with her blade raised toward the treasure: a crystalline soul pearl, nested in the outstretched tongue of a dragon-shaped pedestal.
Oria stepped from the misted archway at the far end. The winds rippled her pale cloak. She held her spear low and calm, the blood of kings glowing faintly in her veins. Faeluxe spun midair, standing atop a floating blade-shaped platform of qi. "You?" she laughed. "Did the little royal lamb lose her shepherd?" Oria didn't flinch. "You don't deserve what you're reaching for." "Oh?" Faeluxe leapt from the blade, vanishing into wind. "And you do?"
Combat ignited.
Faeluxe's blade arcs carved whips through the air—each swing fired compressed shockwaves that split the mist and stone. She bounced across the vertical platforms like a duelist dancing through a thunderstorm. Oria raised her spear, dragged her heel, and planted her stance in dragon form style. Qi thundered. Her spear shimmered, and jets of water pressure burst from its edge like coiled wyrm currents. The pulses cracked the floating blades, disrupting Faeluxe's rhythm. They clashed, once, twice—blades screaming. "You don't lead by blood," Faeluxe hissed, slashing in from above. "You lead by conquest." "I'm not here to lead," Oria answered, eyes glowing. "I'm here to win."
Oria performed a short-qi feint followed by a full-body twist spear strike. A burst of qi cracked Faeluxe's guard, sending her pinwheeling backward. She landed in a crouch—laughing—but didn't see the shadow open behind her. The mimic chest's lid creaked open on its own. The soul-forged metal teeth glistened with slime. A long, low chuckle rumbled from its belly—a soul furnace laugh, ancient and cruel. Oria blinked. "Wait—Faeluxe, behind you!"
Faeluxe tilted her head, "Ha! You think I'm going to fall for that old trick!?"
Then the chest lurched forward, mouth yawning wider than it should've been.
"I was born at night! Spat Faeluxe, before she cocked her hip, " But not last night!"
CHOMP.
The mimic jaws came down in one fell swoop, and with a chomp she was gone. Gone. The mimic swallowed her whole. It burped, a wisp of pink flame curling from its lips.
The tower fell silent. Captain Riggs finally caught up and doubled over. "I told you we shouldn't have brought it," he panted. "That thing's wrong." The mimic purred. Felicity narrowed her eyes. Her body went still. She could hear it now—something old, huge, and chained inside the mimic's gut… breathing. A soul awakening. The chamber was vast and quiet—no enemies, no traps.
Only a floating obsidian disc at the center, surrounded by seven pedestals of varying height. Each pedestal held a glass sphere, swirling with a different elemental chi: fire, water, lightning, wind, earth, light, and shadow. A single inscription glowed across the floor in ancient pirate script:
"Only those who wield the world in balance may claim the crown."
Captain Riggs scratched his jaw. "Seven orbs. Seven aspects. One disk. Looks like a balancing act." Oria frowned. "A test of harmony. We each take one?" I stepped onto the disc, and it began tilting under my weight—delicately, like a ship in calm surf. "I see," I murmured. "It reacts to placement. Felicity—earth. Oria, your light. Riggs, you're water." They each chose orbs and placed them one by one. The floor groaned with spiritual tension. Too much fire and the disc tilted violently; too much shadow and it dimmed. But when the final orb was placed—a perfect level.
FWOOM.
The wall behind the disc dissolved into mist. Beyond it: the throne room. The party stepped forward—expecting treasure, expecting the final trial. What they found made them stop dead and scream in unison. In the center of the throne room, laid atop an altar of corroded gold and coral, was a clear crystal coffin. Inside, perfectly preserved, was the massive, armored corpse of the Delta Pirate King—a legend of the seas and Orias's great-great-great-grandfather.
His beard was braided with shark teeth. His hands were crossed over a blade larger than a man. His eyes closed… for now. "Sweet Leviathan's jawbone," Riggs whispered. Felicity was frozen. "That's the real… that's the real Delta Pirate king." Then came the sound—a wet, gurgling belch. All heads turned.
The mimic chest, which had been happily licking the floor nearby, gave one final, seismic BURP.
VOOOOM.
A green flame spiraled from its mouth, twisting and coalescing in the air like a haunted star. The party backed away, weapons half-drawn—except Oria, who stepped forward, eyes wide. The flame spoke—a deep, rumbling voice tinged with salt and madness: "YARR… Finally awakened from a century of slumber, are we?" Laughter rolled across the chamber—cryptic, spectral, and far too pleased. The flame hovered over the coffin, then spiraled downward, seeping into the corpse's mouth.
The coffin glowed, runes activating across its frame. The body inside twitched. I glanced at Oria. "You ready for this?" Oria's hands trembled. But her voice was steel.
"I was born for this."