"Duck!" Sho Kai shouted at the Lieutenant. He didn't waste a second to comply and laid flat on the floor, both of them did.
In the next moment, lead rained from the night. Countless bullets splashed around the dark boat, some even hitting it on the edges.
The barrage continued, when one group was done emptying their ammo, another row of marksmen replaced them.
"What the fuck is happening!" Scarn had finally recovered from his stupor after suffering brain damage from the first contact with the green light. Mostly at least.
Yet as soon as he woke, his world was filled with a bombardment of bullets. Despair contorted his face.
On the other hand, Sho Kai seemed to be smiling for some reason. Scarn looked at his grin from the gap between the two cannons and had just one thought.
'Is this kid retarded'
Why would a sane person smile in a situation like this?
Sho Kai realized what Scarn must've been thinking, and looked at him before speaking.
"I figured it out!" he said happily.
"Figured out what?!" Scarn replied with growing concern.
"The way to overcome Terror!" Sho Kai replied with growing enthusiasm.
"Oh," Scarn's tone softened, "And how is that?"
"Isn't it simple?" Sho Kai smiled brilliantly, showing all his perfect teeth. "You overcome Terror with Courage!"
"..."
After a moment of not reacting, Scarn took a deep breath in.
He tried to control himself and spoke with false calmness, "See Ray, I know the situation is pure insanity, but you need to wake up to reality."
His voice cracked a little, "Now's not the time to be making wordplays and cracking jokes, we are lying flat on a boat while getting bombarded with rifles."
Sho Kai shrugged his shoulders, "I'm serious! We were mistaken by trying to run away from his attacks, what we must do actually is to face him head on!"
"..."
'So he really is retarded.'
"Trust me on this. I'm not insane. I won't lose my mind, not until the blood of my comrades is paid back with interest."
Scarn's gaze sharpened, he looked silently at his junior for a moment before speaking again. "Alright." His tone this time was sincere.
Sho Kai smiled, "Now listen to every word I say carefully, and adhere to it with utmost accuracy."
Scarn nodded, not questioning his junior for a moment, nor did he dispute the show of authority.
The times were desperate.
"First, slide back a little and grab the black cloth cover that's at the front of our ship."
Scarn gave a quick nod and got to work. He turned around and pushed onto the cannon's base with his foot, all while laying flat to the floor.
The bullet rain was still on going, occasionally chipping a piece or two from the small black ship.
While Scarn retrieved the cloth cover, Sho Kai did not rest. He hurried up and reloaded the cannons to the best of his ability while sleeping on the deck.
Their ship was still moving forward steadily, getting closer and closer to the pirate vessel.
In just a few moments, Scarn returned with the black cloth cover and Sho Kai was done with reloading the cannons.
A bullet struck the cannon barrel and bounced off.
'Close one' Sho Kai thought, 'Well not like I have to worry, but still.'
In the next moment, he suddenly stood half way up and looked back.
The beam of emerald right was moments away from making contact with the ship.
But looking at it did not evoke fear in Sho Kai's eyes, instead he smiled.
'Exactly as expected.'
Suddenly he turned around, and wrapped the black cloth cover over his own and Scarn's body.
Both of them huddled together in the space between the two cannons. Each faced a different cannon.
As the green light ray was approaching, Sho Kai made some last minute comments. "You haven't forgotten the final part of the plan have you?"
"Ofcourse not!" Scarn replied, while looking at the barrel filled with rum bottles tied to the deck before their departure.
"Good, now hold onto the base of the Cannons tight." Sho Kai ordered.
Scarn followed his words without a reply.
But Sho Kai himself did not follow his own words; instead he was looking at the approaching beam of emerald light.
"I have to time this just right!" He said to himself, his eyes narrowed in focus.
He knew the pirates couldn't actually see where the dark ship was. They merely assumed the position. Now this assumption wasn't a baseless one. The dark ship had clearly been diverted to go forward instead of backwards the last time it came in contact with the green light. So a general assumption of its location can be made, but it still wasn't super accurate, so when they fired their rifles, they could mostly only strike nearby the ship and rarely ever graze it.
Similarly, the emerald beam of light had to start circulating again to find the dark ship's exact location. And as the pirate captain knew about the general direction the dark ship diverted to, it was even easier to locate it.
So the beam of light was inevitably going to fall back on the dark ship, no matter what.
So Sho Kai had waited for it to come, and now it was near.
Immediately the rain of bullets stopped for the first time in 2 minutes.
The beam of light was a moment away from coming in contact with the dark ship.
But before it could, Sho Kai took out the ignition stick from his cover and inserted it into the left cannon.
He immediately took it back and covered himself entirely with the black cloth brought by Scarn while holding onto the base of the cannon for support. But instead of sitting, he slept with the side of his face laying on the deck.
In the next moment, two things happened at once.
The viridescent light fell upon the dark ship, and at the same time the cannon erupted.
But instead of going backwards, the recoil was again inverted. And the dark ship was propelled forward. It accelerated towards the pirate ship, reaching a noticeably close distance.
All the pirates on the deck of their burning ship immediately noticed. Their eyes glowing with a dangerous glint.
Everything happened similar to the last crossover with the emerald light.
But this time, there was one integral change.
Suddenly the black cloth covering the two marines came off.
"Now!" Sho Kai screamed. Scarn immediately got up and ran towards the barrel filled with bottles of rum.
The two humans weren't affected by the light at all!
Unlike last time the two were in perfect condition, both mind and body.
"In the next minute, we will know if we could win or not!"
Scarn ran to the wine barrel and tore off the ropes tying it down. Next he unwrapped the red cloth covering it and threw it at his junior.
Sho Kai caught it expectantly. Nervousness and a sense of hurry clearly showing on his face. He tapped his foot non stop in anxiety as his eyes continuously altered between Scarn and the pirate ship.
Scarn was just about to take the lid off the barrel when suddenly Sho Kai noticed a blurry image of a man who was aiming a gun perfectly at their ship.
Sho Kai's eyes widened, 'No! How could he notice us so soon!' The dark ship was still quite far away from the pirate ship to be entirely visible, so Sho Kai had reasonably assumed they at least had half a minute more to realize the finale of their plan.
But in this world, reason and logic can be deceptive.
There were people who could out-power an elephant, run faster than a cheetah, or even have eyesight that would make an eagle seem blind.
"Duck!" Sho Kai screamed, and Scarn immediately listened.
But it was too late either way. The burly man's gun erupted and a bullet careened right into the side of Scarn's head.
…