“Stop fidgeting, Obi,” Sergeant Inox snapped despite not looking at the young man in question, his eyes fixed on the binoculars he held. The squad was currently split in two, with the first team headed by the sergeant himself and the other by Corporal Hayashi. With Sergeant Inox was Obi, Tone, Rizka and Oro while the rest was following Hayashi. They were currently at the docks, in disguise as the crewman of a merchant ship, and staking out a slaver’s ship. Hayashi and his team were hidden on another ship, a smaller ship that was ready to ship at any time to intercept the slaver’s ship if it ever managed to leave dock.
“Sorry sir,” Obi replied softly but firmly. All of them were lounging on the deck, but they were all on the edges of their seats. “I hope Noel’s okay.”
Oro hissed at him to keep quiet from the opposite side of the chess board, which the two of them were pretending to play. Well, Oro was the only moving the pieces around. Obi was still confused over the rules.
Noel had been selected as the undercover, to fake capture by the slavers and get brought onto their ship. And the moment she made her signal, the two teams would converge on the slaver’s ship and arrest them.
“She’s tough as nails, more than you, so quit worrying,” Rizka spoke in a hushed tone as she walked past the two of them.
Before Obi could reply, a bang could be heard and from the source of the sound, a continuous stream of fireworks rising up from the deck of the ship into the skies. The sounds of chaos and panic could be heard from the ship as everyone was thrown into disorder by Noel’s signal.
“Go!” Sergeant Inox called out as he blasted off the ship’s hull in a stream of grey smoke, flying straight for the slaver’s ship. The sergeant’s call to action was echoed by the rest of the team who quickly leapt into action, although it was Oro who did the actual work. The head of a gigantic, navy blue snake with long whiskers on its snout and two sharp fins by the side of its mouth that swept backwards burst out of the water beside their ship. It was one of his many summoning familiars. Without hesitation, the team climbed on to the sea snake which promptly turned and swam towards the slaver’s ship with haste.
Oro was standing on the snake’s forehead, with Obi, Tone and Rizka behind him. All three of them leapt off the moment they got near with Oro staying back to provide backup from above. A large eagle soaring above the slaver’s ship screeched loudly when it saw the gigantic snake, which paid it no heed. The equally large bird was Hayashi’s, with him being a practitioner of summoning magic as well, specializing in summoning birds.
Down on the deck, Sergeant Inox was fighting against the captain of the ship, the slaver running the whole show. The sergeant was flying around, avoiding the shots that the captain was shooting from her twin guns. Her face was furious and she was angry beyond reason, not caring that her shots were putting holes in her ship. All she wanted to do was to shoot down Guilheim, who was retaliating in kind as well, sending fists of smoke one after another in her direction.
Hayashi was fighting the First Mate, equally nasty as her captain. She wielded a pair of cutlasses stained red with blood and she was extremely good with it. Every now and then after slashing, she would switch her grip and spin her cutlasses like a saw. The corporal was a good fighter but he was ill-equipped against her as he tried to fend off her offensive with his quarterstaff.
“Hayashi! Let’s swap!” Obi shouted as he inserted into the fight, with Hayashi letting out a relieved grin and nodded.
“Careful, she’s fast,” the corporal called out before leaping in to join the others in beating back the rest of the slaver’s crew.
“Worm, hurry and die!” her frenzied voice screamed as the two cutlasses swung in from opposite sides to shear off Obi’s head as he ducked and leapt back, coming to a halt on one knee with one hand touching the ground. The Rune Knight’s mouth cracked open in a grin, one of nervousness and exhilaration. “Ooh, she’s strong.”
The moment his words left his mouth, the magic energy within Obi began to flare into life. His hair transformed from black to red, and after hurriedly kicking off his shoes, burning red energy exploded from his heels.
“Let’s see who’s faster!” Obi shouted as he took a runner’s starting position, with his butt up in the air and his body angled forward, palms arched so that only his fingers touched the ground. His left feet kicked off from the ground and the Rune Knight disappeared in a blaze of red, the next moment reappearing right in front of the First Mate as he punched with his metal-plated glove. The First Mate was caught off guard, but her reflexes let her put up her cutlasses just in time to block Obi’s punch with the flat side of her swords.
She was pushed back from the force of the punch, an advantage that Obi had to take. With the protection of his gloves, Obi grabbed the reverse side of the cutlasses and pried them open, out of the cross formation that the First Mate had put up to defend, and aimed a kick into her chest, getting a yelp of pain from her as she stumbled backward. While she stepped backwards, the First Mate gave Obi the nastiest glare she could. To which Obi gave back his trademark toothy grin, this time actually taunting the lady instead of just being a nervous tic.
“That’s not the end, lady!” Obi shouted as he pushed forward with his assault.
“He’s noisy as usual,” Oro remarked from above the battlefield, still standing on top of his gigantic serpent while providing support to the team.
“Hmmph!” was the only thing the First Mate replied as she got serious, brandishing her cutlasses like a whirlwind. Even with his enhanced speed, Obi was just barely able to content with her agility, constantly putting up his fists to defend against the incoming attacks or just quickly leaping out of the way. While one looked like a miniature blender, slashing apart anything in the path, the other one was like an acrobat jumping and flipping here and there, using anything at all as a foothold or handhold to avoid getting shredded into pieces.
“Obi!” Oro shouted from above. At the same time he pushed his right arm into the air, a large python materialized at the First Mate’s feet and instantly coiled around her, immobilizing her. The python’s thick scales allowed it to withstand the rapidly spinning slashes of the cutlasses, taking shallow cuts that managed to reach past its scales, but it did the job without fail. The python coiled around the First Mate, holding her in place.
Obi smirked as he kicked off the ground again, leaping towards the First Mate and pulling off a polished and practiced flying roundhouse kick straight to the First Mate’s head, sending her flying back into the wall of the captain’s cabin. The python had let go at the last minute, just before crashing into the wall with its victim and slithered away without a care in the world.
But she wasn’t going down that easily. Obi pressed on as well, crushing the cutlasses with the sheer strength of his punches before pulling back his right arm and smashing it into her chest, knocking the air out of her lungs and effectively knocking her unconscious.
A second crash to the side got Obi’s attention and when he looked, it was the captain of the ship. Instead of just being pinned to the wall, Sergeant Guilhem had sent her flying straight through the wall and into her cabin with his final attack.
“That was amazing, Sergeant.”
“Well, let’s wrap up everything,” Guilhem said as he brushed himself off and began shooting out orders to the crew. It didn’t take them long to round up the slaver’s entire crew, with her and the First Mate being secured with more than one handcuff just in case. Oro got his giant water snake to push the slaver’s ship into position at the docks and the Inox Squad disembarked. Another two squads of ten had been waiting for them, assisting with the release of the captured girls and taking quick statement from them. A paramedics team was checking them for any injuries before letting them return home.
“That assist was on-point, Oro,” Obi said with two thumbs up. “I would have liked to finish the fight one-on-one though.”
“We are here to work, Obi. Not to duel. If numbers can overwhelm, then always do it. There’s no place to be a hero in the Rune Knights,” Oro responded in a reprimanding tone as he walked away.
“Hey, that last phrase sounds familiar! Did you know Major Brackurs too?”
[1534 words]
“Sorry sir,” Obi replied softly but firmly. All of them were lounging on the deck, but they were all on the edges of their seats. “I hope Noel’s okay.”
Oro hissed at him to keep quiet from the opposite side of the chess board, which the two of them were pretending to play. Well, Oro was the only moving the pieces around. Obi was still confused over the rules.
Noel had been selected as the undercover, to fake capture by the slavers and get brought onto their ship. And the moment she made her signal, the two teams would converge on the slaver’s ship and arrest them.
“She’s tough as nails, more than you, so quit worrying,” Rizka spoke in a hushed tone as she walked past the two of them.
Before Obi could reply, a bang could be heard and from the source of the sound, a continuous stream of fireworks rising up from the deck of the ship into the skies. The sounds of chaos and panic could be heard from the ship as everyone was thrown into disorder by Noel’s signal.
“Go!” Sergeant Inox called out as he blasted off the ship’s hull in a stream of grey smoke, flying straight for the slaver’s ship. The sergeant’s call to action was echoed by the rest of the team who quickly leapt into action, although it was Oro who did the actual work. The head of a gigantic, navy blue snake with long whiskers on its snout and two sharp fins by the side of its mouth that swept backwards burst out of the water beside their ship. It was one of his many summoning familiars. Without hesitation, the team climbed on to the sea snake which promptly turned and swam towards the slaver’s ship with haste.
Oro was standing on the snake’s forehead, with Obi, Tone and Rizka behind him. All three of them leapt off the moment they got near with Oro staying back to provide backup from above. A large eagle soaring above the slaver’s ship screeched loudly when it saw the gigantic snake, which paid it no heed. The equally large bird was Hayashi’s, with him being a practitioner of summoning magic as well, specializing in summoning birds.
Down on the deck, Sergeant Inox was fighting against the captain of the ship, the slaver running the whole show. The sergeant was flying around, avoiding the shots that the captain was shooting from her twin guns. Her face was furious and she was angry beyond reason, not caring that her shots were putting holes in her ship. All she wanted to do was to shoot down Guilheim, who was retaliating in kind as well, sending fists of smoke one after another in her direction.
Hayashi was fighting the First Mate, equally nasty as her captain. She wielded a pair of cutlasses stained red with blood and she was extremely good with it. Every now and then after slashing, she would switch her grip and spin her cutlasses like a saw. The corporal was a good fighter but he was ill-equipped against her as he tried to fend off her offensive with his quarterstaff.
“Hayashi! Let’s swap!” Obi shouted as he inserted into the fight, with Hayashi letting out a relieved grin and nodded.
“Careful, she’s fast,” the corporal called out before leaping in to join the others in beating back the rest of the slaver’s crew.
“Worm, hurry and die!” her frenzied voice screamed as the two cutlasses swung in from opposite sides to shear off Obi’s head as he ducked and leapt back, coming to a halt on one knee with one hand touching the ground. The Rune Knight’s mouth cracked open in a grin, one of nervousness and exhilaration. “Ooh, she’s strong.”
The moment his words left his mouth, the magic energy within Obi began to flare into life. His hair transformed from black to red, and after hurriedly kicking off his shoes, burning red energy exploded from his heels.
“Let’s see who’s faster!” Obi shouted as he took a runner’s starting position, with his butt up in the air and his body angled forward, palms arched so that only his fingers touched the ground. His left feet kicked off from the ground and the Rune Knight disappeared in a blaze of red, the next moment reappearing right in front of the First Mate as he punched with his metal-plated glove. The First Mate was caught off guard, but her reflexes let her put up her cutlasses just in time to block Obi’s punch with the flat side of her swords.
She was pushed back from the force of the punch, an advantage that Obi had to take. With the protection of his gloves, Obi grabbed the reverse side of the cutlasses and pried them open, out of the cross formation that the First Mate had put up to defend, and aimed a kick into her chest, getting a yelp of pain from her as she stumbled backward. While she stepped backwards, the First Mate gave Obi the nastiest glare she could. To which Obi gave back his trademark toothy grin, this time actually taunting the lady instead of just being a nervous tic.
“That’s not the end, lady!” Obi shouted as he pushed forward with his assault.
“He’s noisy as usual,” Oro remarked from above the battlefield, still standing on top of his gigantic serpent while providing support to the team.
“Hmmph!” was the only thing the First Mate replied as she got serious, brandishing her cutlasses like a whirlwind. Even with his enhanced speed, Obi was just barely able to content with her agility, constantly putting up his fists to defend against the incoming attacks or just quickly leaping out of the way. While one looked like a miniature blender, slashing apart anything in the path, the other one was like an acrobat jumping and flipping here and there, using anything at all as a foothold or handhold to avoid getting shredded into pieces.
“Obi!” Oro shouted from above. At the same time he pushed his right arm into the air, a large python materialized at the First Mate’s feet and instantly coiled around her, immobilizing her. The python’s thick scales allowed it to withstand the rapidly spinning slashes of the cutlasses, taking shallow cuts that managed to reach past its scales, but it did the job without fail. The python coiled around the First Mate, holding her in place.
Obi smirked as he kicked off the ground again, leaping towards the First Mate and pulling off a polished and practiced flying roundhouse kick straight to the First Mate’s head, sending her flying back into the wall of the captain’s cabin. The python had let go at the last minute, just before crashing into the wall with its victim and slithered away without a care in the world.
But she wasn’t going down that easily. Obi pressed on as well, crushing the cutlasses with the sheer strength of his punches before pulling back his right arm and smashing it into her chest, knocking the air out of her lungs and effectively knocking her unconscious.
A second crash to the side got Obi’s attention and when he looked, it was the captain of the ship. Instead of just being pinned to the wall, Sergeant Guilhem had sent her flying straight through the wall and into her cabin with his final attack.
“That was amazing, Sergeant.”
“Well, let’s wrap up everything,” Guilhem said as he brushed himself off and began shooting out orders to the crew. It didn’t take them long to round up the slaver’s entire crew, with her and the First Mate being secured with more than one handcuff just in case. Oro got his giant water snake to push the slaver’s ship into position at the docks and the Inox Squad disembarked. Another two squads of ten had been waiting for them, assisting with the release of the captured girls and taking quick statement from them. A paramedics team was checking them for any injuries before letting them return home.
“That assist was on-point, Oro,” Obi said with two thumbs up. “I would have liked to finish the fight one-on-one though.”
“We are here to work, Obi. Not to duel. If numbers can overwhelm, then always do it. There’s no place to be a hero in the Rune Knights,” Oro responded in a reprimanding tone as he walked away.
“Hey, that last phrase sounds familiar! Did you know Major Brackurs too?”
[1534 words]
