The Black Ledger sat in his chair, watching Davina Jones fight. His black book rested on his lap, his fingers tracing the spine, his eyes cold, calculating, analytical fixed on the daughter of Davy Jones as she moved through the chaos.
He said to himself, his inner voice quiet but certain.
At first, it looks like a good transformation. Now you will gain an upper advantage against your enemy.
He watched her manifest eyes on her arms, her back, her scalp each one blinking, seeing, feeding information to her brain.
Logically, that is. So perfect that such an ability would work. If engineered in a story, it would probably have no weaknesses.
He tilted his head.
But that is if it was a story. Reality and fairytale are two different things.
He opened his black book to a diagram of the human nervous system the tangled web of nerves that connected the brain to every part of the body.
The human body is mostly seen to be created on a sliver of luck and chance. And the chances of death in any condition of mistake is the same.
He looked up at Davina at the eyes that covered her flesh, at the information flooding into her mind.
The brain can only handle so much information at a time. Right now, she has just doubled no, it's more than doubled. She multiplexed it more than ever. All that thought going to the brain simultaneously will flood it.
He closed his book.
Which means the brain will have to make up for it. It will have to slow down on other functions.
He smiled.
A mistake on her path.
Darlington looked at him with pure curiosity.
The false god sat in the void his invisible perch, his observer's throne and watched the man in the black raincoat. The Black Ledger. Gideon Crowe. A man who spoke of human anatomy as if it were a scripture, who carried a book of flesh and bone and weakness as if it were a weapon.
This kind of man, Darlington thought, resembles a doctor.
He looked at the book which the man held in his hand and read the title.
Human Anatomy.
Seems he's like a pervert for it. Darlington's inner voice was almost amused. Kind of reminds me of how Hyacinth always failed human anatomy.
He thought of his friend the fat, ugly, brilliant idiot who could solve theoretical problems that made professors weep, but could not tell the difference between a femur and a fibula when presented with an actual skeleton.
So smart, yet stupid. Darlington shook his head. He was always good at everything that was theoretically possible. But once it involved anything that had to do with practical or real work... he failed very badly.
He smiled a thin, wistful expression.
That I can pride myself on so greatly. I was much better than him.
Darlington sighed.
He looked down again at the Black Ledger at the man who thought he had found Davina's weakness, who calculated her downfall based on the limits of the human body.
Then he looked at Davina Jones.
Yes, he thought. Under normal circumstances, everything that he says would apply to her.
His eyes narrowed.
But this is like a box that nothing can be viewed in. Yet at the same time... anything is possible to be in it.
He tapped his chin.
Which bastard's theory was that?
He thought for a moment.
I think it was that cat bastard. Or something like that.
He smiled.
That's the situation with her. In this world where the logic of the original world is thrown out... but at the same time, it could exist both at the same time. Both situations could be true at the same time.
He leaned forward.
And honestly... I want to experience more of it.
His eyes gleamed.
I want to see more of what possible she can do.
Darlington's eyes were filled with a glimmering emotion something between greed and hunger.
It was almost as if he felt something unexplained.
So this is the emotion that those gods feel, he thought, while watching everything unfold.
He watched Davina fight watched her dance through the chaos, watched her defy the logic that should have bound her.
This is what it feels like to be entertained.
Davina Jones added more eyes.
They appeared on the back of her hand dark, gleaming, watching. They lined her elbow small, clustered, alive. She was becoming a creature of vision, a network of sight that covered every inch of her body.
She ran at a pirate.
She did not bother about her surroundings.
Two pirates tried to attack her from behind their blades raised, their faces twisted, their intent murderous.
She faked her fall to the ground.
Her body dropped controlled, deliberate, perfect and she used it as an advantage. She stayed low, pressed against the floorboards, her eyes all of them tracking every movement around her.
She launched attacks from the floor.
Her saber cut through the first pirate's legs SHLIK! severing tendons, splitting bone, dropping him to the deck.
Her whip wrapped around the second pirate's ankles pulling, tripping, slamming him face-first into the wood.
She rose.
One pirate remained closer than the others, his blade already swinging, his eyes already wide with the certainty of his kill.
Davina grabbed a broken wooden board from the deck.
She stabbed it directly into his balls.
CRUNCH.
The man's scream was high, piercing, short-lived. He crumpled, his body curling around the board, his hands clutching at the wound, his blood spreading across the deck.
She smiled.
Her tongue came out long, pink, glistening.
And on it was an eyeball.
Embedded into the flesh, blinking, watching, seeing. The eye moved in her mouth, rolling in its socket, tracking the enemies around her.
Darlington watched her every move.
His mind that brilliant, calculating engine analyzed her fighting style, her choices, her instincts.
He concluded within himself.
She's really versatile in battle. He nodded slowly. At least, that's what it looks like.
He ticked off her strengths on his fingers.
Her only advantage is her flexibility. And her ability to use anything to her advantage. And to surprise her opponent before they even gain an understanding of the situation they're in.
He looked at the broken wooden board still protruding from the pirate's groin.
Hence... she went for the floorboard.
He paused.
Though she made a mistake.
His eyes narrowed.
Putting herself in the line of sight of many attackers all at once. The normal, logically sane action to take at this point is a unified strike. Because there won't really be much range of motion for her.
He watched Davina fight watched her dodge, weave, counter and felt something shift in his mind.
Or else...
He smiled.
...she's planning all this in advance.
He leaned back.
Forget a pirate. If this girl was born in my era... she would be a top general.
He shook his head in wonder.
This late kind of person...
He looked at Davina at the eyes on her skin, at the fire in her heart, at the will that refused to break.
She has my every interest.
He smiled.
Davina Jones...
His voice dropped.
...you are too good.
Davina fought on.
Gideon watched.
And Darlington learned