Tristan stepped into the dining room, his eyes flitting around the room, analyzing the grim situation.

The room looked as if several bombs had gone off in it. Blood and gore drenched the room. Bodies and body parts were everywhere. Chunks of the floor, walls, and ceiling were missing, revealing the metallic skin of the airship underneath. Along the back wall, underneath the window, were the beaten hostages watched over by ten pirates with their decks out.

The number of hostages had dropped dramatically. So much so that it made Tristan’s anger peak. His narrowed eyes turned to the woman standing in front of him, smiling at him. Her hand gripped Eila’s hair, who was slumped by her leg.

Eila. She looked unconscious, her eyes closed. She’d put her on equipment at some point, standard Novice-rank leather gear.

Tristan was wrong. His anger hadn’t peaked, but it did now. He looked at the captain, whose smile widened.

She was short and well-muscled, the now familiar pirate bandana tied tight around her forehead, a tangle of black locs tumbling out the back. She was dark-skinned with an easy smile and a high nose set between two, intelligent gray eyes. She wore the same black uniform as the other pirates, but she had on a long, blue-and-gray jacket that was split at the back into two tails. Rings adorned her fingers, as did a cloud pendant around her neck.

Her deck swirled around her. Twenty cards sleeved, white-and-gray like her jacket, with the sky wyrm visage on the back. She had no [Burst Deck], which meant she was either only an Expert or a Master who hadn’t gotten a [Burst Card] yet.

He breathed out. The situation was worse than he’d imagined. He commanded Funguy, who he’d left on the floor above, to get into position. Then, he spoke.

“I’m here,” he said. “Let Eila go.”

“No, I don’t think I will,” the pirate—Captain Dennier—said. She jerked Eila’s head around like a doll, and Tristan stepped forward, snarling. “This girl caused me a lot of trouble. As did you. But that all ends now. Dismiss your deck and face your death, or we’ll be adding one more body to the mess.”

“How do I know she’s even still alive?” Tristan said, forcing himself to calm down.

Dennier shrugged. “You’ll have to take my word for it.”

“Not good enough. Heal her. I want to talk to her.”

Dennier barked, a short, dismissive laugh. She gestured with her free arm at the room. “Look at the position you’re in, boy. Who are you to make any demands?”

Tristan took a deep breath and hoped he wasn’t about to do something monumentally stupid. Funguy, he mentally thought. Break it.

He saw through their connection a blurry image of the Lancer nodding in the crystal room before thrust with his lance at one of the [Engine Crystals].

The whole airship suddenly shuddered. A groaning noise echoed through the hull, and the ship jerked as if it hit a bump in the air. Alarmed cries rose from both the hostages and the pirates watching them, while Dennier just stared at Tristan with a shocked expression.

“You mad bastard,” she growled. “You left behind a Summon?”

Tristan breathed out a shaky breath. He was reasonably certain destroying just one of the [Engine Crystals] wouldn’t disable the ship’s flying capacity. Still, his palms were clammy and his heart beat uncontrollably fast.

“That’s right,” he said. “You want to heal her now?”

Dennier stared at him for a moment before snorting. “Why don’t I just wait out your Summon’s duration? It’ll expire, and then you’ll have nothing.”

“I’ll have him destroy all four before he does. And don’t try to send any of your pirates up there.”

“You’re really willing to kill all of us?” she asked, her voice curious.

“We were all dead the moment you boarded anyway,” Tristan said. “At least this way, I’ll take you out with me. Now heal her, or I’ll have my Summon destroy another one. I don’t know shit about airships, but I can’t imagine having only two [Engine Crystals] is good.”

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

She snorted again, but she pulled a card from her deck and cast it dismissively at Eila. A glow of gray light infused her. An [Enforce: Repair] card, which confirmed Tristan’s suspicion that she was an Order user. Likely an Air and Order build, judging by her sleeve colors, though he knew that couldn’t be entirely trusted.

A moment later, Eila came to. She stirred and opened her eyes, the cuts and scrapes on her body healing. She raised her head, her wide eyes drinking in the situation. She landed on Tristan and gasped.

Tristan commanded Funguy to quickly move over to the next position and checked that Polter was ready. Then, he smiled down at Eila. Tears filled her eyes.

“Hey,” he said to her. “I’m never drinking again.”

She gave a half-laugh, half-choked sob.

“All right,” Dennier snapped. “Dismiss your deck. Now.” She pulled out a card and stared intensely at Tristan.

Tristan nodded. This is it. He breathed in slowly.

Every muscle in his body tensed. He needed to be fast, faster than he’d ever been thus far. The world seemed to tighten in focus around him, like it had in the moments before he finished off the [Mycelium Lancer].

Dennier’s eyes narrowed. Tristan breathed out.

Do it,

he thought to Funguy and Polter.

The next few seconds was a blur of frantic activity.

The ceiling above Dennier suddenly crumpled. Her head jerked up as Funguy, boosted by Tristan’s last use of {Mycelium Might}, broke through the already weakened ceiling with his [Empowered Lance] skill. The Summon—now doubled in size and brimming with Earth energy—fell towards Dennier, glowing weapon thrust out right at her head.

Right as Funguy broke through, Polter phased up underneath Dennier. He’d sent the Summon to move through the floors and loop around until it was positioned on the floor beneath the captain. Now, it popped its head up to cast [Chilling Breath] on the captain.

Through it all, Tristan burst into motion. He flung a [Predator’s Mark] at Dennier’s head, followed by a [Midnight Javelin].

Time seemed to freeze. Tristan saw the three different attacks—Funguy from above, him straight on, Polter from below—arc towards the captain. He saw Eila straining to get away from Dennier’s grip, saw the pirates behind the captain turn around at the commotion, saw the hostages eyes widen in hope.

Saw Dennier’s mouth spread wide in a feral grin.

Time resumed.

A card on her deck triggered on its own, forming a massive shield of wind around the captain that buffeted Funguy, sending him crashing away onto the floor. Likely {Second Wind}, an Expert Perk that automatically cast the strongest Air Support shield card when fatal damage was about to be taken.

The wind sent Tristan’s cards flying away as well, the [Midnight Javelin] shattering apart the pushed aside table it landed against.

Polter’s [Chilling Breath] landed, causing Dennier’s cards to glow black with a skull symbol on them as she swung her arm and cast the card in her hand at Eila’s head.

The [Fear]

caused her card to disappear and cast in the middle of the dining room. A cloud formed, shooting out thick blades of wind in all directions. Some of the blades struck the hostages, causing them to cry out, but it also struck the pirates as well.

In the moment of distraction, Tristan sent out [Shadow Step]. He appeared in front of Dennier and hand-casted a prepared [Nightmare Cleave] right at her torso. Her shield blocked it, but the force of the Attack sent her flying backwards, her hand ripping out strands of Eila’s hair.

“Help the other hostages!” he shouted to Eila, who got to her feet. “Get an employee shortcomm ready!”

He didn’t wait to see her response. He commanded Polter to use [Ectoplasm] on the snarling Dennier standing up and Funguy to engage the other pirates. Both Summons raced off to do so as he used his second charge of [Shadow Step] up into the air and cast [Monstrous Descent].

The card meteored down to the ground and exploded; the very edge of the explosion caught a group of four pirates in front of the hostages, [Fearing] them and knocking them towards the captives. As Tristan fell down to the ground, he twisted and cast [Devourer’s Shriek] at another group of four pirates, locking them from their decks. The cone of sound unfortunately hit some of the hostages, but he didn’t have time to worry about that now.

He landed; a shrill, slowed sound made him drop flat to the ground immediately.

A massive rush of wind screamed over his head. It continued all the way down the dining room and smashed into the wall of the lounge far down, breaking it down to the metal hull. He looked up, heart racing, and saw Dennier bearing down on him, a scowl on her face. Her cards had the squiggly lines symbol of [Slow], meaning Polter’s skill had gone off. But the shade itself was dissipating behind the approaching captain, its body blasted half off.

Beside the disappearing shade was Funguy, whose boosted strength made him capable of fending off two pirates at a time. The group of four pirates who’d he hit with [Monstrous Descent] were currently getting pummelled by some of the hostages, who’d stood up at Tristan’s offensive. Eila was to his right, running towards the stunned pirates with her deck out.

Dennier twisted mid-stride towards the hostages and snarled, grabbing a card.

Tristan pulled his second cast of [Shadow Step] and threw it at Dennier. Before the transfer happened, he cast [Predator’s Mark] at the large window along the back wall, the snarling wolf’s head forming on a section of already cracked glass.

He teleported in front of Dennier and tackled her to the ground. She grunted, her cast going awry. A gust of wind in the shape of some winged bird flew out and hit the window, cracking it further.

Tristan slammed his left arm down on Dennier’s neck, the Armor there flashing red. With his right, he cast [Midnight Javelin] at the tagged window. The Attack hit, and a section of the window burst apart, showering the hostages there in a spray of glass.

Dennier spat in his face and pulled a card.

Tristan grabbed the lapel of her coat and threw his second charge of [Shadow Step] out the window, pulling him and the pirate captain outside into the open air.