When one thinks of a ship’s interior, they most likely envision tight corridors and narrow spaces.

  This was usually true, for most seafaring crafts had to be constructed with a careful balance of size, buoyancy, and weight in mind. Space efficiency, born of structural necessity, was thus a matter of common sense.

  However, as was most often the case when magic and Chosens were involved, common sense becomes secondary to the need for impractical posturing.

  The frigate that Captain Lauren and his knights were boarding was absurd in size, even for one of its ship class. Nearly two hundred metres in length, a quarter that in width, and a height that dwarfed even town walls twice over, there was far more room to manoeuvre within the open hallways and corridors compared to the biovore corvette, which itself hadn’t been small or claustrophobic either.

  Such was its spacious interior, the frigate's belly even housed extensive machinery and manufacturing spaces for on-board repairs and munition fabrication. Dense internal infrastructures — catwalks, mezzanine floors, intermediate decks — were cramped with bulky forge contraptions powered by arcane engines, used for producing spare parts or magical ammunition.

  It was a vastness that boggled the mind, made only possible by the esoteric, arcane naval engineering of the West.

  Unfortunately, that vastness also made it difficult to advance quickly up the decks without getting pelted by bullets in every direction.

  “Keep moving!” Captain Lauren ordered as he cut down an axe-wielding corsair. “Faster! Our lord is getting too far ahead!”

  Eri had charged into the fray without waiting for them. Though his haste to shed blood was unexpected, perhaps it should not have been surprising. The Young Master's mood had been poor of late.

  Yet Lauren disapproved greatly all the same. He had sought to deter Eri from the boarding action. When that failed, he had at least resolved himself to stay ahead and keep his charge safe.

  Instead, Eri’s sheer speed and violence had once more caught him off guard — the ferocity he currently displayed eclipsing all previous combat encounters — and so Lauren cursed himself for underestimating his charge once again.

  “Move faster! Protect your lord!” Lauren roared. They were currently on the third deck of the frigate. The corsairs were everywhere — upon the higher walkways, flooding in from side corridors, shooting from behind cover. They knew the ship’s internals well and were obviously trained in tactics for repelling boarders.

  Meanwhile, Lauren and his men could not be said to be adept at deck skirmishes. For the moment, their superior Cores gave them leverage — Silver and Gold knights against the pitiful Copper and Bronze pirates — but the equation would rapidly change as they ascended to the higher decks, where greater defenders awaited them.

  More importantly, even though the current corsairs were relatively weak in mana and Artes, their arsenal went a long way in making up the difference.

  “Ambush! To the left!” One of the knights shouted.

  Blistering musket fire came down from a side corridor as Lauren passed by — a surprise attack that Lauren missed in his haste to keep pace with Eri. The bullets pelted painfully against his mana-reinforced skin before one of his knights moved in with a heavy rune-etched shield — a dwarven-inspired design created by Eri and crafted for his household’s armament. The hail of projectiles bounced off the humming magical protection ineffectively.

  Completely undeterred, the corsairs then raised an iron tube over their shoulders and lit a fuse.

  A rocket came screaming their way. The knight barely had enough time to brace before the incendiary missile slammed hard against the arcane barrier.

  Though it left their ears ringing, the explosion failed to hurt them. Eri’s shield designs were solidly crafted. However, the impact slowed them further, and the mana circuits on the dented greatshield gave out with a whimpering hiss, rendering it little more use than a thick slab of metal.

  The shield knight pulled his arm back before violently hurling the smouldering wreck straight down the side corridor. It smashed into the leading pirate, killing him instantly. The bloody impact caused one of the rocket corsairs to recoil, throwing off his aim to the ceiling while he had lit a missile tube in his hand.

  The misfired explosion tore them to pieces and left another hole in the ship. Lauren’s group turned their attention from the corridor and resumed their advance down the enormous hall. Their swords and hammers turned crimson as they hacked and bludgeoned through the pirates’ ranks. Wooden barricades were smashed aside, muskets shattered under hammering blows. Heads were caved in, limbs severed.

  Still, more pirates came, unmoved by their losses. With guns, rockets, or even just hatchets, they charged at the knights with wide eyes and frenzied screams.

  “Damn rats. There are too many of them,” one of the knight lieutenant cursed as she decapitated a charging axe-wielder. “They have little regard for their lives as well.”

  “Fear tactics used by their superiors. Or perhaps combat drugs,” another knight grunted as he brought up a one-handed grenade pistol — another of Eri’s creation — and fired it over his shield. The hand bomb ripped apart a squad of handgunners along the railings of the upper levels. “Either way, I don’t think we have the luxury of taking captives anymore.”

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  “That doesn’t matter!” Lauren snarled. “For the love of the Goddess, move in! You are knights! Guard the Young Master! He is surrounded!”

  Lauren was losing sight of Eri. The youth was in the thick of the slaughter. Red arcs followed his dagger slashes, and ripples of fire bloomed from his flaming fist strikes. Surrounded by so many enemies, a normal man would be overwhelmed or rendered clumsy by the flood of bodies.

  But Eri faced little difficulty. Every move was perfectly executed — killing strokes chaining flawlessly from one devastating strike to the next. So swift and agile he was dodging the corsairs’ blows, it was as if he could predict the future.

  The group around him was slaughtered, yet Eri did not even waste a second after to catch his breath. Lauren watched the teen hurl himself immediately at the leading corsair of a fresh approaching gang. His fist punched so hard it instantly killed the first target, rocking the corpse violently into the rest of the group and sending them prone. Dagger slashes tore their throats out before they could even begin to stand.

  None of the newcomers even had time to fire their pistols or swing their blades before they died. Eri was already moving off to the next gang of pirates.

  “We are supposed to protect him?” one of the knights asked. “He’s clearing out the entire ship on his own. The Young Master does not need us, Captain. Our efforts might as well be entirely decorative for all present purposes here.”

  “If anything, he’s the one protecting us,” another knight snorted. “The way he’s charging like that purposefully draws the most attention to him. He’s doing it to keep the heat off us.”

  “In other words, he’s babysitting us,” the lieutenant sighed. “Even all of our best weapons are given to us by him, and we still can't keep up. We are, I suspect, just slowing him down.”

  “He is not invulnerable,” Lauren snapped. “Hold your tongues and watch over him! I will not have him fall under our protection because we are shameless enough to let our Lord do our work for us!”

  Privately, Lauren lamented that his knights had a point. Shameful as it was to admit…

  He and his knights were just deadweights. There was nothing on this ship thus far that could remotely slow Eri down.

  Just then, as if to rebuke him for his honourless thoughts, a flood of new mana signatures approached.

  “Ruby Core detected! Two of them, plus multiple Gold and Silver Cores!” one of the knights shouted, all previous mirth gone.

  That far exceeded their group's martial capacity to deal with, especially with them stuck in the open.

  “Form up, now!” Lauren barked. “Shield knights, move in to protect Eri, even if you have to take fire!”

  From the upper decks came a force to be reckoned with. This was no mere rabble, unlike the pirates of before. Eight Silver Core corsairs, accompanied by five Gold Cores and two Ruby Cores, rushed down the stairs. Heavily armed with powerful guns and magical armour, the group expertly assumed a firing formation and aimed their weapons forward.

  There was no time. Lauren swore. “Shields! Shields now!”

  The barrage of magic-infused projectiles slammed into Lauren’s group. Some of the knights cursed as the blazing bullets got past the protection and smashed into their armoured plates, throwing them to the ground.

  The group was stuck there, suppressed in the open as the shield bearers desperately tried to guard their fellow knights. The mana fields on them faltered and gave out. One by one, the knights took piercing wounds. Blood spilt across the deck.

  Lauren readied himself for a desperate charge. As a Ruby Core, he was the only one who could face the barrage head-on and disrupt their fire before his knights were all killed.

  Just before he moved, a series of high-pitched missiles screamed through the air. The incendiaries erupted among the pirates’ midsts, scattering them as they scrambled for cover.

  Eri threw aside his spent racks of firework missiles and pulled forth another artillery piece from his spatial pocket. The massive gun-contraption that rolled out was the size of a wagon. Lauren recognised it instantly as Eri mounted it.

  It was the same weapon that killed the Ruby-Core demon hiding in House Elathion’s mines, all those years ago.

  Nine tubes of iron vomited a stream of thunderous bolts into the tide of pirate Chosens. The corsairs screamed as the detonating shots pierced their magical armour and blew through their backs.

  The Gold-Cores instantly turned their guns and magic on Eri. Some even employed mobility Artes to charge at him, overconfident in their ability to withstand incoming fire.

  Their arrogance killed them. The first leading Gold Core corsair fell when Eri’s turret swirled on him and fired too quickly to dodge. The mass volley of explosive rounds cratered his front plate and threw him through a support beam, turning his chest to bloody paste. Another two died instantly when well-aimed shells impacted against their heads, spraying their brains over the ceiling.

  The sheer speed of their deaths sent a sharp recoil amid the pirate group. Gold Core Chosens were not meek or weak existences. Their power was one gained across decades of combat and was universally feared by opponents across most of Thalmyra.

  To see three die in the span of seconds sent a shock even among the knights.

  Eri pulled a lever, ejecting spent magazine tubes as fresh ones slid in like clockwork. He shouted to the knights even as he kept up the suppressive fire. “Get on your feet! I need all of you, now!”

  The knights rose painfully, tossing aside empty healing ampoules as the distraction bought them time to administer temporary relief to their wounds. The pirate likewise regained their senses, taking up their melee arms or resuming their gunfire.

  There was a heartbeat of stillness. The two groups regarded each other with violent eyes. So many powerful Cores thrumming in the same room… Their minds were roused to bloodlust.

  Someone roared and charged. It was the signal to begin. Battle cries dominated the room as mighty Chosens hurled themselves at each other under a hail of bullets and smoke.

  Power gifted to humans, meant for slaying demons… turned upon mankind instead.

  Eri was reminded of a memory. Sometime in the distant past, somewhere upon otherworldly planes… Great beings that could be mistaken as gods once watched on and chuckled as mighty warriors killed each other within his arena of Blood and Fire.

  “No entertainment greater than blood and folly,” Eri murmured as another corsair fell to his war machine. The stench of fresh smoke and blood, the screams of the dying humans, the burning heat of fire and magic… It was all too familiar.

  Eri had not thought he would ever feel this comfortable killing the Living again.