"And what are you folks planning, anyway?"
Grim at the sight of her disturbed approach, the pirates only allowed a hesitant side eye as she stomped closer; a foul mood evidently siezing her mind once again. Seeing that she refused to let it go, the higher-class pirate turned with a huff, bird tweeting threateningly - as intimidating as a cute goldfinch could be - while it settled comfortably in his tricorne hat. "Like I said, we're getting through that gate. If you're not helping us, then the conversation's over," he explained with an uncaring tone.
The daemon rolled her eyes, placing a hand on her hip. "Is it possible to get through?" she questioned coldly.
"If the first mate says he'll do it, he'll do it," he stated without a hint of doubt, unwavering confidence in the strange malak they sailed with.
Velvet narrowed her eyes at the unique outlook upon such an entity, orbs crackling with interest. "You sure put a lot of faith in him. He's a malak, isn't he?"
The lead pirate blinked away the specific label with a shake of his head, "That doesn't matter. He's got the Captain's blessing, and that's enough for us," he seamlessly explained, no scowl at treating the malak like a human being. Velvet hummed under her breath, the subject of a malak's humanity already bouncing around her head in droves; two particular beings causing this rush of hypocrisy that itched under her skin.
Pushing the feeling away, she pulled the conversation to beneficial information. "Couldn't you ignore the narrows and sail around?" she asked blankly, the topic of working with a pirate drilling in a nail of suspicion.
"Not now," he replied with a downcast expression. "We lost both of our compass and several of our crew in an earlier attack."
'Compass?' she wondered to herself in thought, as Number Two hummed behind her silently.
The pirate continued in earnest, his face breaking out into hopeful determination, "But in the end, we're pirates. If someone blocks our way, we can't fall back!" he cried with a resilient raise of his fist; the remaining crew cheering in tandem. As the daemon cast her gaze over the confident pirates that stood steadfast in the wake of their first mate, she couldn't help but wonder about the white-haired man who left with him. It was a fool's errand to join a band of criminals and expect them to behave. But deep inside, something twisted in her gut.
'No, that life is gone now, there is nothing left.' she inwardly berated. 'My journey ends at that man's doorstep, riddled with sins that can have me only in death.' Velvet's uncommon form of conviction permeated her body like a fufilling gas. 'Until then, I will not rest before Artorias lies dead at my feet. For Laphicet.' Looking up at the proud pirate, her face relaxed mildly - still on the edge of frowning - but the true sight of their familial connection soothed her mind. "And that's what makes a pirate, huh?" His toothy smile was infectious by human standards, and she turned on her heel and stalked towards where their group stood in wait. Even now, she could catch the glimmer of disappointment at them being one member less from the samurai's conserved features. Both sides that meshed together inside relented.
Nearing the circle, Rokurou perked up slightly at the battle of planning between herself, and inquired calmly. "So?" he asked, his previous identifiable emotion vanishing like a puff of smoke. "What's the plan?"
"The pirates share our goal. I don't think we have any choice but to band together," she stated with a contemplative look, holding a finger knuckle to her lips. Magilou slid in with an ever expressive face.
"True enough!" she sang, "If forward lies destruction, and backwards lies doom, then sideways is your only option!" she proudly announced with a hand to her chest.
"And yet you don't feel like helping out," Velvet scoffed with a tightened fist.
"I sure don't!"
As the witch pranced off, Rokurou stepped up with suspicion hovering on his lips. "That malak isn't all that he seems, I wonder what he's got up his sleeves..." he murmured.
Once again, Magilou suddenly appeared as if from thin air and skipped up to the young malak child. "We've lost our other option, but the kid's a malak, too. Hey boy, you sense anything?" she asked coyly, speaking like the child was a dog.
Number Two stayed silent.
The witch sprang back after knocking on the boy's head a few times with feigned shock, "My word! Is he broken?" The grin appeared once again as her momentary amusement passed and she settled her gaze upon the daemoness. "Of course! Our other sensory malak has run off, the horror!" she cried, knees buckling in mock despair. "What beasts lie in those depths, waiting to tear us apart without his all-seeing eyes..."
Velvet growled devilishly to mark her steadily declining patience, "We both have ulterior motives. In any case, let's go after them." As she turned to steal a look at the pirates one last time, her eye caught a particular man parading some goods from behind the chatting group. She hummed in thought, until her fingers snapped together and she looked to the mindlessly preparing samurai. "Rokurou," his head turned her way from the sound as he rose an eyebrow. Reaching behind and under the bellowing cape of her tattered cloak, she grasped the hefty bag that hung off her belt; the crinkle of metal revealing it's contents as she threw it in his direction. "Buy us some supplies for the battle ahead, I'll get a headstart," Velvet relayed without room for discussion, immediately stepping off to venture towards the cave system. She wouldn't bother explaining the stolen bag that she had taken from their half-malak, it wasn't as if he was using it.
Shaking the contents, Rokurou's eyes widened slightly, "But Velvet, where'd you get all this-"
She stopped. "It seems exorcists get paid a fair bit after all," she revealed with a grimace at the memory, soon beginning her walk again and reaching the arched vines that procured the way to her goal. "Also, keep Magilou with you!" she quickly yelled, before roughly wrenching her way up the greenery tracing the rock. However, as the delicate grass trailed her fine legs that stalked through the long blades, - and past the planted kunai at its entrance - her lips drew a thin line as she continued; fully aware of the soft patter that trailed behind her and the bob of a single blonde ahoge in the breeze.
~~~
Clink
Clicks of reoccurring metal echoed throughout the seemingly everlasting cave, dim lights of natural phenomena bubbling precariously along the ridged walls and ceilings. Moss - dirtied but thriving - decorated the cove's circulating boundaries, clinging to it as if glued. It was as many as the brittle cobwebs that spanned the corners and expanses of the mountain's inside.
Clink
Every now and again, she would encounter the inhabitants of this drawling system. Battles of surmountable ease, taking place in wide berths of moist nature expanding upon narrow tunnels. Truthfully, despite her typical attitude, Velvet would say that she's good at disguising her emotion. It's what she was taught to do. So, her supposed allies were none the wiser when she went ahead alone, especially when she left riddled corpses - mangled and spliced - in her wake like gory footsteps.
Clink
She had some anger to work out. And, the target of such anger laid deeper within these winding caverns, and if he was unfortunate enough to be caught before she cooled down; he would never have the chance to leave. In addition, the few bodies that remained upon her entrance told her enough of his work; stealth and precision. Somehow, he had also gotten that brutish pirate to help. However, she was nothing like that, and found trouble in getting used to being decorated in the ghastly remains of these bugs. Humans were no problem. But, these spiders were getting on her nerves with their incessant scuttling and sticky crimson.
Scuttle
And so she tried the next thing. But, as the scent of smoke filled her uncaring nostrils and the distinct sharpness of burning flesh slipped through the coiling walls with ease, the consistent assault of meaningless daemons still remained. Even as her blade sang red hot from the constant searing and natural nests she set alight. Bored, Velvet sighed as she breathed in the sharp embers and iron scent that endowed her, fire raging just behind the natural formations as wild as her beating heart. "Rokurou and Magilou are slower than I thought," she mused as she paused, tapping her metallic boots with repetitive clinks upon the rock.
Number Two hesitantly hovered behind her, hints of soot sunken among his noble white while stared blankly onwards.
She bit back a huff as her orbs examined his grimy appearance, and she could barely stop herself from wiping down the young malak subconsciously. The devastation of her plan grew behind the content walls of ancient rock, as the air grew inflamed with death.
Scuttle...
Tracing her slightly daggered teeth with her now uncomfortably abnormal tongue - bloody red and ever so mildly lengthened - she hummed with interest as her senses followed the ever growing sound. Golden orbs, burdened with a hollow weight, scanned the rolling walls as the dim viridescent hue from the natural light formations flickered. The sound grew again. Casually, hazel irises still searched the catered caverns, waiting.
"Velvet!" A voice. Out from the shifting hollow, came the distinct shuffling of a samurai clad in soothing sunset, and a witch embroidered in obnoxious pink. Despite the blazing chaos she had caused, they still comfortably traversed the searing cove; if not for Magilou's constant yelps and cries as a stray flame so much as looking her way.
Her eyes roved no longer, and it lunged.
Smack!
The great tarantula pounced from its nest entrance that was formed within the walls, glaring out from the blackened gap of darkness. Soon after, its limp carcass crashed against the jagged stone violently; the daemoness having backhanded the stealthy beast into the wall with a crunch. Abruptly, the venturing duo halted at the sight, until the writhing spider erupted with a plume of ivory as the woman's boot slammed right down on it. "Took you long enough," she coldly stated with a narrow of her eyes.
The samurai placed a palm on his head with a relaxing sigh, feeling a mild headache burn in his skull for the first time since his transformation. "We just had a whole crew of pirates to calm down, after a cave that their first mate entered, suddenly began smoking," he explained with a cross of his arms, as the witch began flapping about angrily.
"You really are a fiend! Do you know how many times I got burned?!" she cried in desperate exasperation.
Shing!
"No, and I don't care to know," the ravenette groaned tiredly, as her still sizzling wristblade thrust out with a cry of steel. Gradually, the oxygen in the air shied away from the blazing surface, while a fire arte began manifesting along its clean edge. Beginning her march to continue through the horrid depths, she didn't look as the blade skirted the hanging moss and webs that clawed out from the tarantula's exit hole. And, as the painful screeches of daemons came from the opening, the other two looked on in surprise as another nest was torched from the unfeeling woman.
"I gotta say, that is pretty smart," Rokurou murmured with a rub of his chin, until the gremlin clung to his robes and attempted to thrash the material around.
"Oh yes, if her meticulous plan is to burn us alive! The betrayal of a lifetime, I swear it!" Magilou obnoxiously yelled out, before another ember licked her skin. Her yelp echoed around the cave uncaringly, with the ravenette letting another sigh trail out incredulously.
Eventually, the narrow winding caverns began to expand into open expanses and natural thriving chambers. And so, the searing metal she carried could rest for the moment, and the blazes wrought by her anger stilled when they came upon an area those awful beasts failed to inhabit. Stalking through the blades of plants relentlessly, the group soon came upon a grand chamber of rock and nature. Even before the clashes of combat resounded out, her limb knew immediately the presence that resided within. After only brief seperation, the criminals set their eyes upon the mysterious malak once again.
An abnormally sized scorpion screeched savagely, until it charged towards the malak resiliently; stinger poised for impalement. However, its lashing attack was immediately thwarted when its tail was halted, then torn from the body in a feral rip thanks to the malak's strength, leading a plunging fist to smash its skull against earth, rendering it immobile. In the beast's dying breaths, it squealed quietly as its amethyst blood pooled, and it's bloodshot eyes filled with crackling yellow as a familiar sight appeared at its side.
A flourish of waving white, arcing with leftover sparks of his signature sign. A grim palette of crimson and violet dousing his compact uniform as his breath came out mildly laboured. Teal met gold, and a flash of tension struck the air again like lightning; the half-malak did not say a word to them as he relayed his information. Even through the rocky relations, the group stepped onward nonetheless, the rhythmic crunch of the long sweeping grass signalling their approach to the pair.
Upon the sound catching his ears, the pirate malak did not turn, his shadowed eyes of cerulean casting through his shifting bangs; almost as if he was analysing their prowess mentally. "I wondered what was the cause of that burning. So, you've decided to trust a pirate?" he asserted with a stern tone of judgement.
Velvet drew her glare way from the subject of her attitude, and settled a stifling gaze on the back of the Reaper. "Not for a second," she grittily stated with folded arms. "But if you're willing to lend us your crew and use of your ship until we reach the capital, we'll help you."
The malak turned as she finished her words, mulling over the statement in his stern expression. He made no reaction in the processing of her request, "...I'll agree to those terms," he answered firmly. "But there's something I should tell you first." As his orange tinted strands swayed in the steady airy dew that permeated the surroundings, his hand dug into his pocket to grasp an object of importance. A golden coin, gleaming and carved with two detailed insignia flicked from his hand; the ever rotating view displaying their artistic engravings as the spun cleanly. Heads, the side of beautiful, close-eyed woman with long hair. Tails, the deathly appearance of a ghastly skull accented with a scythe. "I bring ill fortune those around me. The 'Reaper's Curse'," he revealed lowly, as his ally rose an eyebrow in surprise. "I could flip this coin a thousand times and still land on tails. Trying to get through the fortress cost the lives of five good sailors." The pirate malak stared deeply at the glinting skull, soulless eyes boring deep into his pale blue.
Velvet looked on without a hint of care in the world, an impatient tapping beginning to rap against her bicep again.
"If you join up with me, I can't guarantee your safety," he firmly warned with a hint of sorrow; the curse weighing heavily on his mind.
The daemon's repetitive tapping ceased as the malak turned his sight up in search of a definite answer. "Why would you go out of your way to warn us?" she questioned harshly, still wary of the mysterious man who made up this pirate.
"Even daemons don't want to meet an unfair death, right?" To prove his point, the malak flung the coin through the air towards the girl to catch. Velvet easily felt the metal sink into her palm as she raised it, a pang of surprise running through her face that died into understanding. "If you still want to come with me, just know the risks."
The woman held her hand closed, the dainty feeling of the gold in her grip not giving her enough to reason to waste a look; as she threw the coin back to its respectful owner without a glance. "Works for me. I land on tails, I'll flip it to heads on my own," she confidently asserted with a stern gaze. The pirate glanced down at the metal in his palm, as his orbs widened in shock. Staring back at him, was the side of that same beautiful woman he so rarely saw. A smirk flashed over his features for a moment, welcoming the entrance of a new part in this pattern he was forced into.
"Your name?"
"Velvet. This is Number Two," she shook her head in the child's direction, as he simply hummed in confirmation. The pirate's stare lingered on the malak who lay in unending silence, soul wracked with anonymity.
"I'm Rokurou. A pleasure."
The pirate malak's stare flickered between the three. "Eizen," he revealed.
"And we'll want our half-malak back," the unlikely voice reverberated from the front. Velvet didn't flinch at the confused look she was eyed with, too busy glaring through it and to the one who stayed seperate from their discussion. Silently watching from shadow of the sidelines.
Finally, the half-malak that hovered ever so far from the group sighed and stepped close, an almost dry smile spattered with coincidental humour carried along with him as he scratched at the beauty mark laying under his left eye. "I'll admit, not having you all at my back wasn't as comforting in a fight," Sarid hesitantly said as he drew his hand from his pocket, and a serious look overcame his ironic grin. "From what our friend here has been telling me, we've got a long and hard battle coming up," the man's cerulean sight shot up to Velvet's. However, they no longer carried that slow burning disappointment and irritation. "No room for infighting and personal issues, we leave them on the ship," he requested with an open hand. Her eyes sprung to the gloved hand that was splayed out before her.
The rest of the group waited silently for the ravenette's answer, still largely at a loss for what had erupted between them that night. Defiantly, she made no move to accept the handshake. "I don't care for your personal issues with me. You should be the one asking yourself that," she coldly corrected with a hand on her hip. Due to her snarky response, Rokurou feared that tensions would arise once again. But, the half-malak's waiting arm sank slowly, and an apprised lift came upon the corners of his mouth.
"You're right, this was my choice in the first place." As the thickness of the atmosphere swiftly lessened, it was evident that a sadness still lay upon the rolling sea of his sight; anger only directed at himself and his foolish projection at changing one who had never been meant to. Disdain still remained for who she was, but an underlying respect kept the unreliable foundation from crumbling.
Eizen's cough interrupted the interaction, and he firmly shook his head backwards for the group to follow in his steps.
"You've got a plan of attack, I'm sure. Let's here it," Velvet asked as they trekked along the winding caverns now burdened with sweeter flora and dryer rock, heading in the direction of the Fortress.
"To put it bluntly, Vortigen is impregnable. It won't fall from an attack whether by sea or by land," the pirate simply explained with narrowed brows.
"So, no plan?" Rokurou deadpanned at the side with disbelief.
Velvet suddenly gripped her chin in thought as a particular idea came across her mind. "Wait, what about both at once?"
"Exactly," Eizen nodded with a mildly impressed look.
"Their main power comes from the Navy, pull that away, and the guards have to get their hands dirty," Sarid added on from the side; the group still continuing to traverse the cave as they talked.
Eizen's hand jutted out as he began to explain the plan in detail, "First, we send in the Van Eltia to draw their fleet out from the narrows. Then we slip inside, and open the sea gate ourselves. The Van Eltia will then break away and rush back to the channel. We'll climb aboard and push through."
The samurai still held a look of doubt that bobbed along with his steps, "One slip and we're all as good as dead," he stated with a mind full of worry.
"Then don't slip and we're not dead," Velvet dryly remarked with a sharp look, his complaining not riding well with her mood.
"Walking with the Reaper, huh?"
The half-malak butted in with a clean smirk alive on his face, patting Rokurou on the shoulder sarcastically. "Speak for yourselves," he began with a spin of his blade, "I've got an escape plan in case it goes awry," he explained with a nod.
"Good thing I kicked that off the edge," the daemoness snidely lied without looking. Realisation dawning, the half-malak's smile vanished immediately, and his palm rested upon his forehead when processing the petty action. Fairly simple way to make sure he doesn't run.
"And you said that you didn't have any issues with me..." he regretfully groaned, kicking up his pace to catch the group that sped off ahead. Until, something racked against the inside of his head, and his mind went blank.
Crack!
Painful shouts rang out among the depths; the darkness chained by winding caverns wreathed in the snapping of bones and the grilling of flesh. Burning. Everlasting, the caverns expanded upon the loss of their rigorous inhabitants of daemon kind; all caught in a blaze of the daemon's lone anger. So similar, yet so different.
Smash!
The cavern shook, seemingly coming apart at the seams as a battle raged within its coiling stone. Deep within the toiling madness of smog and fire, was the seeping licks of malevolence raging against the world. The Pirate, alone and injured, falls from her blade. As will all.
A crying fist, soaring in a final tremendous blaze, simply halted as if striking an invisible barrier. The blackened arm, tendrils of miasma coalescing along its manic cells, dug into the held fist like pincers. It bulged, and growled. Pulsed and snapped. The Claw of Calamity, taking another in a haze of gore and hatred. As will all.
Devoured, to be used against the Saviour of the World. As will all.
As will all, fall to the woman with eyes of fire. All hail, the Lord of Calamity.
Sarid crashed against the wall in a rough heap, mind pounding with a mayhem of blitzing thoughts. The vision all too close for comfort, and his body trembled with unadulterated discomfort. A reminder of his goal. Even in a world so far, she would never leave him alone.
Because she was already here.
"Get up, what's wrong with you?" A familiar face seethed quietly, crouched close to the man who held his head that spiked with sharpened pain, gradually falling away despite the closeness of such a daemon. Gripping his arm harshly, she wrenched him up onto his feet without a hint of care. Velvet growled again, as a major cause in her rising ferocity and rage revealed itself. The weakness of humanity, burdened by potential. She hated the reflection that flashed in his cerulean orbs. "This is what I'm talking about, half-malak. I was willing to put up with your humanity while you remained useful, but this is becoming too common," she snarled with a glare. "After our attack on this gate, you will seperate from our group once we reach the capital."
Sarid made no visible reaction, as his inner plan remained the same. She scoffed and released the painful grip that seized his wrist.
"Hurry up. They're waiting for us... human."
As her trailing onyx hair whipped the air, swaying in pace with her stomping back down the tunnel, the half-malak grimaced once again. He raised his weapon that had laid undisturbed in his hand, and moved his gaze towards the disappearing figure that made no attempt to check on him. Sarid's grip on his weapon tightened shakily.