Lightning forked across the clouds. The Hammer Hand, a brute of a warship in shape of a fist, tilted slightly inside Snake Man's growing maelstrom. Crewmen scrambled to maintain balance, chains rattling and wet gunpowder failing. And above it all—like a shard of moonlight—Faeluxe descended. She hovered mid-air, legs crossed, upside down. "Hiya, Hammer head." she purred. "Pixie," Hammerhead snarled, stepping out onto the deck. "What is the meaning of this!?" Faeluxe twirled in air, leaving shimmering arcs of wind pressure. Her ribbon fluttered around her like a living spirit ward.
"You tried once to defeat Ash already tuna breath. Now I've got orders to drag your sorry barnacle-behind back to Ash. Preferably not too broken… but I make no promises." Hammer head charged forward like a living warship, his heavy frame pulverizing planks as he slammed down with his tide-breaker fists! His blows triggered shockwave pulses, strong enough to flip cannons. But Faeluxe? She was everywhere. Zipping sideways with bursts of air so sharp they carved deck lines into the wood! Landing pinpoint strikes on his neck and ribs, just out of his arm's reach. Creating afterimages of herself that misdirected Hammer head's already weak peripheral vision.
"What's wrong?" she taunted. "Your big meat face got a blind spot? Or do you just miss being relevant?" Hammerhead roared and launched himself skyward, attempting a massive belly slam. Faeluxe didn't dodge. She rose to meet him—
—then twisted in midair, ribbon-lashing him in the jaw, flipping him end over end into his own mast.
K-KRACK!
"Oops," she smirked. "That was your mast, right?" Hammer head was dazed and furious, he tried to rise. Faeluxe clapped her hands. A cyclone spiral formed above him—qi-infused, threaded with sharp air threads. She flipped vertically downward, diving from the sky with the cyclone, both feet extended—
"THIS IS FOR BEING UGLY IN MY GENERAL DIRECTION!"
CRACK-KABOOM!
She drove him through the deck! Timbers exploded outward! The storm itself dipped slightly from the impact shockwave! Below Faeluxe crouched on his chest. Hammerhead wheezed, blood pouring from his mouth. "Let's go, big guy. You and I have a date—with humiliation." She yanked a cord from her sleeve, wrapped it around his neck like a leash, and dragged him skyward, flying him across the maelstrom like a balloon losing air. Thunder crashed. The wheel spun wildly in Snake Man's grip, ropes snapping around him. The storm he'd summoned churned violently—yet a creeping chill settled across his scales.
His golden serpent eyes narrowed. "Sacilia's silence. Rukka's breath—gone cold." He hissed, mouth curling in anger. He could feel their bonds snap like overstretched threads. His apprentices—defeated. "He's coming," Snake Man growled, voice like a blade dragging through gravel. "That little spirit-rat and his blood witch… they're coming for me." With deliberate grace, Snake Man drew the Thirteen Bends Scroll from a lacquered bone case. The serpent-coiling parchment unfolded itself, slithering midair. Faint hisses echoed as each of the ancient martial glyphs awakened.
Snake Man exhaled deeply. His forked tongue flicked.
"Ash, you worm... I'll coil around your heart and squeeze until you hear your own ribs beg." Rain poured in diagonal sheets. I proceeded forward in a low crouch, Cloud Step and newly mastered Air Walk balancing my form perfectly even atop slick, swaying boards. Felicity unfurled her wings beside me, blood mist sizzling across her talons.
My eyes gleamed, intuition spiking, "He knows we're here." Felicity smirked. "Let's not keep him then waiting." Together, we approached the stairwell to the bridge.
With each step, the air thickened—serpent chi coiling in layers, dense and oily. The final confrontation of the raid was about to begin.
The air is tense with humid serpent chi. Wind howls through shattered glass. Rain patters on lacquered bone. A throne of coiled chains sits at the center. Snake Man doesn't rise when me and Felicity step through the dripping threshold—he watched us with still, predator eyes. "You made it," he murmured, voice low and dry, "I suppose you mean to kill me now—slaughter me like a fish and string me over your ship's bow?"
I didn't answer at first. I stepped forward, calm but unwavering, until I stood just inside the coiled ring of qi that surrounded Snake Man like a nest. Then, I smiled. "No," I said. "I didn't come to kill you."
I paused. "I came to claim you." Snake Man blinked once. Slowly. "Claim—?" But he never finished the thought. Felicity's presence bloomed behind me, red mist streaming from her fingertips like velvet smoke. Her smile was terrible—predatory. Her eyes flared with liquid crimson as she reached inward. "My seed never left you," she whispered. "From the moment I tasted your blood back in the inheritance... I took root." Snake Man shuddered. His breath caught as the truth coursed through his body.
The parasite seed—the foreign god-slick presence he'd thought was a fluke or fever dream—now unfurled inside him like a thousand blooming tendrils. "No—wait—" he tried to rise, but his legs failed. His arms locked. His serpent qi obeyed her now. Felicity leaned close, lips by his ear. "You're mine now, Snake." She bit his neck—lightly, affectionately—and withdrew. Snake Man, panting, slumped forward, his will suppressed beneath a pressure he could no longer fight. I stepped up beside him.
"Welcome to the crew." We returned with Snake Man between us hauling him through the Air back to the Crimson Typhoon. We landed. Snake Man burst out between us walking to a lone space by himself, trying to come to terms with his new slave status. Just then, Faeluxe landed in front of us in a showy spiral, dropping Hammerhead on the deck like a sack of rotten fish. Faeluxe spoke, "One Lord, freshly kneecapped and humbled. Would you like him gift-wrapped as well?"
I crossed my arms, nodding once. "Good girl." Captain Riggs looked between the prisoners and raised an eyebrow. "So... I take it the war's over?" I cracked my neck and nodded. "No. The wars just begun. But now... we've got commanders." Hammer head groaned on the steel floor, massive body twitching in a pile of broken weapons and soaked ropes. His jaw was still swollen from Faeluxe's last blow—half of it hung loose, slowly stitching back together as his healing factor kicked in. I stood over him, arms crossed. my voice was cold, clipped: "Do it now, before he wakes." Felicity stepped forward, red ichor slicking her hands like gloves. Her grin curled with mischief, but her eyes burned with precision.
"Mmh. Big boy like this? He'll make a juicy root system." She crouched beside Hammer head's twitching form and pressed two fingers to his sternum. From her fingertip bloomed a single blood thorn—needle-thin, glistening crimson, and alive. It pierced into his chest with a wet squelch and immediately vanished beneath his skin. Hammer Head twitched violently. "Gggh… wh—" Felicity's palm pressed gently against his chest. "Shhh," she whispered. "Don't fight it. It's already in you."
A rush of qi danced through her arm as the seed took. Hammer Head's monstrous resistance slammed against her parasite will—and collapsed. His own animus bent, his blood pathways softened, and the foreign root burrowed toward his spirit well. He whimpered once. Then went still. Felicity exhaled, standing. "Done." I looked down at the sleeping giant—his jaw clenching just slightly. "Three pirate lords, now bound." Felicity wiped her fingers on her hip.