Chris arrived too late. He watched in horror as his first officer and several others were absorbed by the hourglass. "Captain!" Murilo called his attention, showing the mana charges that they have.
"Let him have it!" Chris shouted as he pointed to the intruder.
Murillo and the remaining security personnel threw the charges at the intruder, hoping it would contain or at least neutralize their adversary. The intruder, with only a wave of a hand, caused the mana charges to stop mid-flight as if invisible strings had suspended them.
"What the…?" Murillo uttered in surprise and fear. They watched helplessly as, with a flick of a wrist, the intruder sent the mana charges back at Chris and his group. Bluish explosions rocked the deck of the Twilight. One of the charges exploded near Chris's feet, and it blew him halfway across the deck, wood splinters and pieces of metal raining in all directions. He landed with a loud thud, and the sound of his leg snapping in two echoed into the night. "GAAHH!!" he yelled in pain. He looked down at his twisted legs.
The crewmembers all lay still, sprawled along the deck. The intruder siphoned the crewmembers into his hourglass. Murillo tried to crawl away when she saw the fate of her crew. The intruder went after the chief, walking menacingly after the woman, and he then circled her like a predator toying with its prey.
Murillo turned to face the intruder. "I will exist long enough to see you grovel!" she declared, her expression exhibiting nothing but defiance at her impending doom.
"Not if you are destroyed first!" The intruder answered back with a wicked grin. He activates the hourglass once more, and Murillo dissipated into mist and turned to sand once inside the evil artifact.
The intruder stood at the center of the deck, the corrupted hourglass raised high, its sands swirling violently like a storm trapped in glass. A low, guttural whisper escaped his lips, weaving through the cold night air like a sinister chant. The very atmosphere thickened, shadows stretching and twisting unnaturally as the hourglass pulsed with dark energy.
One by one, the crew members—loyal souls bound to the Twilight—felt an unbearable pull deep within their chests. Their forms began to waver, edges blurring as if reality itself was unraveling. Panic flashed in their eyes, but escape was impossible. The hourglass's power reached out with invisible tendrils, wrapping around them like spectral chains.
A horrifying silence fell before the chaos erupted. The crew's forms dissolved into swirling mist, sucked mercilessly into the vortex emanating from the hourglass. Their screams, ethereal and desperate, echoed briefly before fading into nothingness, replaced by the sickening sound of grains of sand cascading into the cursed glass.
The deck trembled beneath the weight of the vanishing souls, the air heavy with dread. The intruder's eyes gleamed with cold triumph as the last of the crew was consumed, leaving behind only emptiness and the haunting promise of oblivion.
"NO!" Cecilia screamed in despair upon witnessing the fate of the last remnants of Twilight's crew. She charged at the spectral intruder, trying to wrestle away the hourglass. "Let them go, release them…NOW!" She screamed at the intruder.
With a hard swing of the intruder's arm, Cecilia was sent flying, landing on the deck hard. "Ahhhh!" she groaned from the pain.
"Cecilia!" Chris yelled out her name upon seeing her get hurt.
The specter whipped its head towards Chris, then turned to Cecilia. It hurried towards the human and extended its hands as if to snatch the human away. Before it could reach her, though, Chris tackled the specter to push it away from Cecilia. The hourglass released a shockwave of energy that knocked Chris back.
The intruder stood up and looked at the hourglass filled to the brim with simmering sand and smiled. He then raised his head and glanced at the highest point of the ship, deck zero.
"So that is what you're after, the book of life and death!" The intruder turned in the direction of the voice and saw Chris, limping and twisting. His body was mending itself, returning to its once pristine condition. "I'm afraid I am greedy, and that is one book you can never read." The intruder grinned at Chris's remarks, and Chris himself snickered at the opponent he now faced.
Chris's eyes narrowed, the chill mist swirling around the deck. "You think that hourglass makes you special? I've seen better toys in a child's nursery."
The specter smirked, the sands inside the hourglass glowing ominously. "Careful, Captain. This 'toy' controls time itself. Bet you don't have that in your bag of tricks."
The specter lunged first, his movements swift and precise, honed by mastering the hourglass's unnatural powers. He swung the hourglass like a weapon, releasing bursts of temporal energy that distorted the very fabric of time around Chris. The air shimmered, and for a moment, Chris's perception warped—seconds stretched into eternities, and then snapped back with jarring force.
Chris staggered but recovered quickly. His hands rose, fingers weaving intricate patterns as spiritual telekinesis surged through him. Objects around the deck—chains, lanterns, even splinters of wood—lifted and twisted in the air, forming a swirling barrier that deflected the intruder's next assault. The chains lashed out, striking the specter with the force of a tempest, but its reflexes were sharp; he twisted away, the hourglass's glow flaring as he absorbed the blows with a surge of dark energy.
Chris's eyes glowed faintly as he conjured illusions—phantoms that mirrored his form, each one indistinguishable from the original. They moved in perfect harmony, striking and retreating, confusing the intruder's senses. It swung at shadows, his frustration mounting as the real Chris slipped through his defenses.
But the intruder was no novice. With a whispered incantation, the hourglass unleashed a wave of crushing force, shattering the illusions and sending Chris sprawling. The sands within the hourglass glowed brighter, and its strength seemed to swell, fueled by the artifact.
Chris gritted his teeth, pain flashing across his face, but his healing abilities kept him on his feet. A warm glow emanated from his palms, knitting torn flesh and soothing bruised muscles with rapid precision. He rose, eyes burning with renewed determination.