Em’ah slipped through the grimy back alleys of the port town in the guise of a malnourished adolescent male. It was hard taking a form so small but she found over her years that slaves tended to only trust those worse off than them.Her destination was a storage warehouse and sleeping quarters for dock slaves. She wasn’t going to bother with the ship slaves, since most of those were hardened criminals. She still couldn’t believe how idiotic those freed slaves on the island had been. There was no way they didn’t know what they unleashed. But years of pent-up anger and frustration had clouded their common sense.Slavery as a concept didn’t bother her all that much. It was a universal constant with some form of slavery existing in almost every world within the System. Boss was an idealist, even if he didn’t realize it. This plan of his would likely backfire on all of them but she was carrying it out anyway.Normally she would have just slipped away at the next port and disappeared but th

The first shots came from our pursuer, ranging shots to increase accuracy. It wouldn’t have been an issue except one of the shots managed to land, disrupting our cloak and ruining our approach. The damage was minimal since it was an inert round but still, the shield flickered to life shortly after, Khikall doing his best to run all of the systems at once.It didn’t take long for our quarry to notice us after that and now we were stuck between two ships firing on us. Khikall did his best to avoid the shots and return fire. It wouldn’t have been possible at all without the ship having so many features, like the targeting reticle.I covered my eyes as the top side cannon sent out blinding beams of mana at our target. Unlike a laser, these beams of destructive energy were easy to see with the naked eye. The enemy shield wavered from the impact. They must have realized escape wasn’t an option anymore and turned to fire a broadside at us. Moments before I saw the flash of cannon fire, the R

I realized as I was about to rejoin the battle that something had changed. It took me a moment to figure out what it was. The pirates had stopped fighting amongst themselves and the survivors were all looking toward me and my crew.Even Barcos and Sarvis had broken off their conflict, neither man looking tired at all from the prolonged fight. But they weren’t staring at us, they were staring past us. I risked a look over my shoulder and saw we were barreling toward Sarvis’s ship.“Oh, fuck!”My words seemed to be the match as the pirates boiled into a frenzy of motion, some went for the hatch, others activated their flight skills, and the rest rushed us as if we had any control in this situation.I felt Barcos clap his hand on my shoulder before speaking, “might wanna hold on, Captain, The next bit could be a little rough.”I barely had time to nod before the null beam fired. The enemy ship’s shield popped like an overinflated balloon only moments before the ravening blast of mana tor

Sarvis limped past a line of bloody and broken men as they kneeled on the deck. He didn’t follow the policy not to show weakness to subordinates. For him, it was more important to show that he would push through the pain.He growled deeply as he walked, making those closest to him flinch, but otherwise remain kneeling.Good, if they had moved he would have cut them down for he needed no cowards on his ships. This little display was as much a test as it was a recruitment. The people before him were a mix of the captured crews and the survivors of his main ship. Already he had killed his second in command for incompetence, his cold dead body now more useful feeding the denizens of the ocean than being a pirate.His flagship was a mess. Half of the enchantments no longer functioned. The ones that did were having issues keeping them aloft and moving forward. He would sooner give his own life than abandon one of his fleet of ships so he limped it along and they joined in the bombardment of

Admiral Levins surveyed the destruction with disconnected apathy. When his fleet of five had arrived, they found the city under siege from slaves and commoners alike. He had immediately ordered all ships to fire upon the town, not sparing a single thought of innocent casualties.He did have to court marshall one of his captains when they refused his order but the orders were eventually carried out. The once prosperous port city was a burned-out husk. And he held a scarf over his face so as not to inhale the stench and insanity that had permeated the entire town.His guards shoved corpses out of the way as he moved down the main avenue. Despite all the destruction, some rebels and their sympathizers had survived. He was here to pass judgment on them so he could move on to the next location. He had also heard rumors of one of the pirate kings' forces moving through the area and hoped for a confrontation.Although that seemed slim with Prince Lameen ordering him around the area like a tr