金瓶梅第2部

The human, Krysaos... he stole the Heart of the Ocean away from the temple.

Mina's previous caretaker, Atlantea had no say.

The fates had spoken.

Krysaos drew the sword.

Since then, Mina had spent her time locked away in her cabin... staring through a dingy porthole at the open waters.

She would emerge a few times to refresh herself with a swim... to collect trinkets from the depths... and for Sir Tycon's cooking.

But even though she could do all the things a free woman could do... she was a slave to a duty she had no interest in fulfilling.

She was a sword... created by the Lake Goddess to be wielded against her summoner's enemies.

Krysaos' enemies...

She'd been avoiding that man. There was no helping it. She wanted nothing to do with him.

If she could, she'd unsummon herself and lay dormant until Krysaos died of old age. She hoped that, in another epoch... in another age, she'd be passed onto a Chosen One far more deserving...

Mina placed her hand on her chest as the mana within swelled, near bursting...

The Heart of the Ocean had been drawn.

Through the thin floorboards above her, she heard yelling and screaming... the clanging of swords and the twangs of crossbows.

The Coral Boys were fighting.

Hades... Mister Ishmael... Sir Tycon were certainly fighting, as well.

But for a coward like Krysaos? Why would he draw a weapon?

Mina's thoughts raced wildly through her mind...

Was Krysaos directing his loyal crew into battle?

No... That was what a good, brave man would do.

Mina winced, curling up her body... The call to battle came again-- stronger than before.

Fight.

Seek out honorable combat.

Kill all who threaten those you love.

Mina could sense the whispers of the Lake Goddess... bidding her to fulfill her duties.

Free the good peoples of the Realm from tyranny.

Ensure their freedom.

Mina grit her teeth and shook her head, trying to resist the voice in her heart.

Freedom was the Lake Goddess' most desperate wish. She, herself, was trapped beneath waters not even gods dared to swim... placed there by the unjust games of her divine peers.

Like her... Mina, too, was trapped. She was a slave, contracted to a man she did not wish to serve.

Her mana surged once more, nearing her peak. Her chest grew tight. Her mana was circulating rapidly. Purple light spilled from her eyes, illuminating her cabin, reflecting off of the glinting shells and fragments of glass...

To defend her charge... to do battle against his enemies... that was the calling inscribed upon her soul.

Try as she might, Mina could not reject it completely.

She clenched her fists, forcibly reigning in her power. The light dimmed, the painful throbbing in her chest weakened and slowed... and she breathed a sigh of relief.

"Seven hecks, what is going on, up there?"

...

Flipping her fins, Mina levitated up the stairs to the top deck.

The crew of the Neptune's Revenge was embroiled in a bloody battle, the Coral Boys frantically reloading their crossbows as they fired upon an adjacent ship.

She hadn't felt the other ship's presence-- but there it was. They probably had another Sea Witch veiling them from her senses.

It seemed that her allies had the advantage. Ropes and grappling hooks had latched onto the other ship, where a majority of both crews were fighting in a hazardous melee.

First, she saw Lord Hades.

The grey-skinned, hooded orc towered above the human sailors and the Coral Boys, both. He cackled menacingly as he swung his massive warscythe, cleaving through a sailor's gambeson, cutting them from the neck to halfway into his torso. Reaching his hand forward, green tendrils of energy seeped from the dying human's open mouth and were gathered in the orc's grasp.

Hades was a good person... pure of heart. His words were rough, but he spoke as he acted, freely and without deceit.

Then she saw the handsome, green-haired Sir Tycon and his shadow, Ishmael. They fought side by side, one arm casually resting behind each of their backs.

Tycon gracefully deflected a pirate's cutlass before redirecting his blade to slice open their neck. It was beautiful... and lacked excess movement and frivolity.

He, too, was a good person. Calm. Even-tempered. Always seeking order and efficiency. Like Hades, he disdained lies. He cut down his opponents quickly and quietly... as if he were culling the weak from a school of farmed fish.

Then... Mina laid her eyes upon... him.

Krysaos.

The man that was her rotten destiny.

He was there... on the front lines, no less mired by enemies than his companions.

But... why?

Why would he risk himself, fighting at the front with his crew?

Wasn't he supposed to be a coward that hid behind his men?

Wasn't he supposed to have lied, cheated, and stolen his way to become Captain of the Neptune's Revenge?

Mina clenched her teeth in worry as she saw a pirate dash to the side of Tycon's injured arm.

The Lieutenant ducked down as if he had eyes on the side of his head-- barely dodging the swing of a sword. Whirling his body around, he cut into the back of his attacker's ankle and rammed into them with his shoulder.

As Sir Tycon stabbed his sword through their throat, a larger human had leapt forward, a heavy wooden maul high above their head. Ishmael lunged to intercept, his own shadowy sword cutting through the front of the pirate's neck, before striking his elbow against their chest to repel them.

...It left Tycon's back open to attack from another pirate-- one aiming down the sights of a crossbow.

Mina felt the call for battle again... but... she fought to resist it.

This wasn't her fight.

Krysaos did not deserve her power... nor did his crew. He was akin to Atlantea... not a wielder, but a caretaker of the Heart of the Ocean.

"Ain't NOBODY f*cks with my crew, BOYO!!!!" Krysaos yelled.

Frantically charging through the melee, he lunged forward with the Heart of the Ocean in hand, stabbing at the aiming pirate's chest. The pirate deflected the crazed attack with his wooden crossbow, then smashed the stock of it against Krysaos' perfect teeth.

Mina's heart twisted with vindictive glee, seeing the man she disliked get what he deserved. Then, the dark feeling of guilt washed over her.

Deserved of her or not, she was a worse person for wishing harm upon any sentient being.

Krysaos managed to succeed, running the Heart of the Ocean through the pirate's chest... but a crossbow bolt had pierced through his coat just below his right breast.

The injury wasn't a fatal one... but he couldn't fight any longer. If the bolt pierced a lung, he might have difficulty breathing.

...He could even die.

It... was what Mina wanted... She was sure of it. But her heart pounded... and tears threatened to spill from her eyes, watching it happen.

She had done nothing to stop it.

Tycon and Ishmael fought their way to Krysaos' side-- most definitely to take their Captain to safety.

"Brother-Captain," The man said... "is that the best you can do?"

Of course, it was.

A coward doesn't belong in the front lines. A person doesn't change because of a single choice-- a single instance in a life led in vice and infamy.

Krysaos might have charged with his men... trying to be a better man, but he paid the price for it.

His injury was a sign from the fates... that he had to concede... that he didn't belong there.

...It was the same as Krysaos drawing the Heart of the Ocean. The fates were telling her that she did not belong in this sun and age. It was a bad dream... and one she wanted to sleep through...

Krysaos sat on the deck, sweat on his brow, his chest heaving... his whole body writhing in pain. Blood from the bolt in his coat soaked through the cloth.

'Give up, Krysaos,' Mina pleaded in her heart. 'You are not my Chosen One.'

"F*ck. That," Krysaos seethed. He grabbed the crossbow bolt and used the Heart of the Ocean to cut off its back end.

No.

Stop that.

Give up, Krysaos.

You can't do this!

The man stood up and puffed out his chest. Tears of pain pooled at the corner of his reddened eyes. Blood trailed down his lips as he gnashed his teeth.

"Don't F*CK WITH ME, Nemayan scum!!" He shouted, "My name is KRYSAOS, Captain of the Neptune's Revenge!! And I refuse to F*CKING DIE!! Not before the motherf*cking sea god LIES DEAD AT MY F*CKING FEET!!!"

Mina felt her heart pound in her chest... and her will to fight surging, once again.

Those... crass, terrible, heretical words... they were not the ramblings of a coward.

There Krysaos stood... surrounded by enemies that wished him death... and allies that looked to him for guidance.

There he fought... even with such a grievous injury.

There on the battlefield... nothing could hide his true nature.

Mina was wrong.

Krysaos was no coward.