Chapter 45: Witch Hunter

WHANG! was the sound Remora's fist made as she struck the steel wall of the gunship's forward battery. The distant screams of the wounded and dying were faint this far from shore, leaving the lapping of the chill waves against the hull the dominant chorus. Thin strands of black rose from the smokestacks, bare shadows of their former output. The ship was eerily quiet and still.

Remora grabbed a brass communication tube, crimping the metal as she yelled to the pirate on the other end, "What do you mean the furnace is dead!?"

"As in it's out, cap'n!" came the reply. "One minute it were roarin' like lions! Next it's cold as a corpse! Ain't even got sparks! No idea why!"

Remora glanced back to the shore, scowling darkly beneath her mask. She knew exactly what was responsible for her warship's sudden loss of power–specifically, who. Whatever spell Lara used devoured every flame for miles like a starving dog gorging itself on scraps. Even the temperature of the air dropped from it. The gunship had not been spared by its distance from the battlefield.

"Order's, cap'n!" asked the pirate. "What do we do?"

A jolt of electricity ran into the pipe from Remora, eliciting a loud yelp on the other end. "What in the nine rings do you think!? Get the furnace back up now! I need those guns!"

"But it takes an hour to get full pressure!"

"Then you better find a way to do it in minutes!" snapped Remora. "Or I'll be stoking it with your greasy carcass!"

She struck the wall again, her jaw clenching and unclenching with each breath. The furnace was the heart of the ship, turning water into life-giving steam. Everything from the propellers to the guns and rudder depended on it. Without that heart pumping steam through its metal veins, the ship was no better than a floating pile of scrap for birds to perch on. Remora could attempt to power it with her own magic, but she never intended the ship to run on sorcery. Its construction would not hold up to her power. She could animate it for four, maybe five minutes, and then the ship would come apart at the seams.

Remora ground her teeth. She was mentally kicking herself for not anticipating this. She knew Lara's magic exploited fire, and she knew Lara could consume it to bolster her strength. She just never anticipated the brat being able to do it on such a vast scale. She would have reworked the ship's entire power system had she known.

She looked out the corner of her eye at the Master. The warlock had not moved from his spot at the prow through the spectacle of Lara's transformation. He was inscrutable as stone, and it only served to irritate Remora further.

"You knew!" barked Remora. The Master turned his head slightly, one glowing blue eye meeting hers. "You knew she could do this! You knew what she was hiding! That's what you found in the east!"

"And?" said the Master, his tone impassive.

An arc of electricity jumped off Remora's mask to the ship. "Did it never occur to you that maybe–just maybe–I could've used that information before today?!"

"What of it?" said the Master. His tone made it clear he was not asking for a reply. He was challenging her–no, daring her to defy him again so he could remind her of the consequences for such things. Shadow crept over his hands like fire, wisps licking at the air.

Remora growled quietly but held her tongue. She preferred to keep it attached.

"That's what I thought." The Master turned his attention back to the wharf. "See to your ship. Once it is operational you may resume the bombardment. But remember, Lara Anclagon is no longer your concern, no matter what changes she reveals. Take one step from this vessel, or make one move against her, and it will be your last. Am I clear?"

Remora's hands shook with anger and frustration, but she forced herself to bow to him. "Yes, my Master." With that she turned, her cloak flourishing as she stomped off. She grabbed a door and flung it open, the metal banging loudly as she jumped inside before slamming it shut behind her.

"Patience, Remora," the Master said quietly. "Patience. We're not even to the main event."


"Well, well…"

The raven did not need to look or hear to know the Hive Queen had joined him. He spared her a glance as she came to stand at his side. She was in her child form, flecks of red staining the fabric of her dress and the corners of her mouth. The raven knew exactly what she had been doing. He could smell it on her. He was well aware of the nyctophiles' dietary requirements, holding neither approval nor contempt for it. To him it was no different than a wolf hunting deer to feed itself. Still, he found the method by which this creature took her meals…unappealing.

"And here I thought I'd get a private show," said the Hive Queen, black tongue licking her lips clean as she looked the raven over. "It's been a while."

The raven gave her a nod of acknowledgement. "Empress. What brings you here?"

The Hive Queen sat down. "Don't play dumb with me. You know exactly why I'm here." She licked a spot of red off her finger and grinned. "I don't put lunch on hold for just anyone."

"Verily, the only thing greater than thy hunger for flesh is thy thirst for combat, o' Child of Night."

Both Hive Queen and raven turned to see a tiny green shoot poke up between the roof tiles. The plant matured hastily, sprouting months' worth of growth in seconds. Leaves grew and withered in rapid cycles as vines and branches twisted together to form a body, then sprouted a head and four legs. Triangular ears grew as a tapered snout emerged from the head. A bushy tail of pine needles grew from the back. In seconds a fox made of plants had formed, its eyes filled with the green light of fireflies.

The Hive Queen's grin fell. "There's someone I don't see every day. For many reasons."

The raven bowed to the fox, his four eyes blinking slowly. "It has been a very long time, Kodama."

The fox bowed his head in return. "Indeed, old friend. It does mine eyes good to see thy silence hast not heralded thy departure from this realm."

The Hive Queen rolled her eyes. "You still talk in that ridiculous tongue?"

"And thou still keeps such juvenile forms," replied Kodama as he sat beside the raven. "And slatternly behaviors with thy food, I see."

"At least I have a form," replied the Hive Queen. "What happened to yours, again? Oh wait, I almost forgot…you never had one."

Kodama narrowed his eyes. "Did thou inherit thy sharp tongue from thine ancestors, as with the rest of thy being?"

The Hive Queen's pupils narrowed as black tendrils snaked out from under her dress. The colors of her eyes began to invert. "How about I send you to meet them?"

Kodama's eyes glowed brighter as he grew larger. "Thy words are far sharper than thy weapons, fledgling. Engage me at your own peril!"

The raven let off a shower of embers, catching the two beings' attention. "You know our laws. Fighting between us is absolutely forbidden. Desist…" The glow from his eyes intensified. "Or I will intervene."

Kodama stopped his growth and then gradually returned to his former size. "Duly noted."

"You?" snorted the Hive Queen. "You're not even a fraction of yourself right now! What could you possibly do to stop us?"

The raven locked all four of his eyes with her. "Dare to find out?"

The Hive Queen and raven stared at each other. The tension in the air was palpable, like watching a mouse toy with the trigger of a trap. Even Kodama was on edge, watching the pair closely.

Then the Hive Queen gave a snort and looked away, the tendrils retreating beneath her dress as her eyes returned to normal. "You're no fun."

"Your concept of 'fun' is not one to indulge heedlessly," said the raven. "It is much like your temper–bodies are left in its wake."

"Something she and I have in common," snickered the Hive Queen, nodding towards Lara. "Although, she didn't leave any bodies last time."

The raven stiffened, glaring daggers at the Hive Queen. "Watch your words."

"Thou speakest of Lao-Xan, I presume?" stated Kodama.

"As if it could be anything else," said the Hive Queen. "It's the reason she's here in the first–."

The raven's form grew hot, causing the clay tiles beneath his feet to smoke and crack. Black ring and slit pupils appeared in his four eyes.

The Hive Queen smirked. "Oops! Seems I've upset his majesty." She turned her attention back to the marina. "Well, given what's happening down there, I'd say the odds are pretty good Lara will give an encore performance."

The raven looked down at Lara and then over to Melody. He sincerely hoped the Hive Queen would be proven wrong.


In the seven years since the wall came down, Melody used her enchanted locket to discover as many of the ocean's wonders as she could. The world beneath the waves had not disappointed. Underwater chasms light would never reach, filled with creatures that had never seen the sun. Great beasts unknown even to mythology. Powerful acts of magic, and not just from the trident. Tremendous storms that could swallow whole fleets. All of this was within Atlantica and its surrounding waters. And, as she discovered over the past two seasons, the land was not sparse on marvels of its own. There were forests filled with trees as tall as castles. Canyons cut through mountains by eons of snow and water, deep and wide enough to hold entire cities. Lakes as bottomless as the ocean itself. Animals and beasts of all shape and size that roamed from shores to snow-capped peaks.

None of it–not the sea, the land, or her wildest dreams–could have prepared Melody for this day, or what now stood before her. Lara did not look similar to the demon. Lara looked exactly like the demon. From the teeth of her faceplate, to the wings on her back, the claws on her feet, the black plating on her body, and the dark blade adorning her tail, she was a perfect replica of it. It was as though the demon stepped from her mind and into reality.

Lara turned aside and threw several punches in the air. At least, Melody thought they were punches. They were so fast her arms seemed to blur to nothing. Then Lara lifted her left leg and did the same thing, shooting three blindingly fast kicks into empty air before spinning and slicing across with her tail. Melody could hear it cut the air with its tip.

"Still got it," said Lara, flexing her clawed hands.

Melody pressed a hand against her head as it started to spin. She felt faint and nauseous. Thoughts, feelings, and ideas swarmed her like insects flitting around a lantern on a moonless night. Every question birthed new questions perpetually with no answers to any of it. This was all overwhelming. She needed time to think. Time to process. She did not know what to make of it all, much less where to start. She was not even sure what she felt towards Lara right now. Fear? Anger? Confusion? Hope? Betrayal? Understanding? She had no idea.

She was so consumed by her own thoughts that her grip on Lara's sword loosened. It slipped from her grasp, clattering loudly on the dock. She and Aquata flinched at the noise.

Lara turned to face them. The hair on Melody's neck stood up, a chill sweeping through her despite the heat coming from Lara. The woman's eyes always seemed to have a luminescent quality to their color before. Now there was true light in them. They were ferocious eyes. Melody wanted to grab the sword so she had something to protect herself, but fear kept her frozen. Lara was dangerous now; of that she had no doubt. Just being near her was like swimming next to a tiger shark. One wrong move might trigger an attack. For all she knew, Lara would summon the sword right out of her hands and turn it on her.

Aquata quickly grabbed the sword in her stead, holding her niece close as she pointed the blade at Lara. It rattled in Aquata's trembling hands, betraying her fear.

Lara opened her mouth to speak. The jaws of her faceplate split, revealing no lips, teeth, or tongue behind it. Just that orange glowing heat caged behind the jet-black dagger teeth. "I get why–."

"You!"

In her shock at Lara's transformation, Melody forgot all about Morgana, Undertow, and the clockmen holding her mother and aunts captive. The shark-man was still frozen solid, lying on his back on the wharf. Morgana stood atop her frozen tower, looking very irritated if anything. Frost covered her skin in patches, and there was an unearthly green glow to her body. She clearly wanted to speak but could not find the right words, instead making angry growling noises through clenched teeth. Her tentacles twitched about like the tails of six agitated cats.

Lara turned to face Morgana. She said nothing, allowing a quiet hiss to slip through the teeth of her faceplate.

"You're a tougher shell to crack than I thought!" Morgana shouted down, arms stiff at her sides. "That was a neat trick, but it's not going to save you!"

Her eyes swiveled over to Undertow's frozen body. An ice spear formed in her hand and she threw it at him. The spear nicked the side of his body, sending cracks through the ice covering him. "Get up, you mangy shark! You survived twelve years in the Southern Sea! A bit of ice isn't enough to kill you!"

The ice encasing Undertow abruptly shattered. He snapped to his feet with a bellow, brushing chunks of ice off his body. He scowled at Lara for a moment, and then turned to face Morgana.

"Watch your aim!" he shouted, shaking a fist at her. "I was almost a fish-kebab!"

"And she's supposed to be dead!" replied Morgana. "So it's almost what you deserve! Now do your job, and make sure she stays down this time!"

"Oh, I plan to!" Undertow rotated his jaw and shoulders as he turned back to Lara, making them pop loudly. "Okay, shrimp! No more playing around!"

Lara narrowed her eyes at him, tail swaying lazily behind her as her wings folded loosely.

"I don't know how you survived that!" continued Undertow as he advanced on her. "Or what all that is supposed to be! Doesn't matter! Wings, fins, or feet, I'm still bigger, tougher, and stronger than you! This time I'll bite you clean in half!"

To prove his point, Undertow lunged down and bit into the top of one of the wharf's pylons. His jaws snapped shut, biting clean through the wood. He then spat it out and grabbed the remaining pylon by the sides, pulling hard. His muscles bulged with exertion, and then he gave a holler as he yanked sharply. The pylon split down the middle clear through the sea ice. Undertow twisted one of the halves sharply, ripping it free and hauling it out of the water.

"That's just a taste of what I'll do to you!" shouted Undertow, draping the giant slab of barnacle and mussel-encrusted wood across his shoulder with a smirk.

Lara folded her arms, blinking slowly.

Undertow's smirk faltered slightly. He took the wood off his shoulder and, grasping it tightly in both hands, broke it across his knee. The wood snapped cleanly into two pieces, which he then tossed aside as he approached Lara again. "I'm not some slapdash experiment Ursula stuck together from scraps! I'm purpose built for crushing you! Everything about me–my bones, my muscles, my teeth, even my skin–was crafted for turning you into a pulp! I am twice…no, ten…no, twenty times more powerful than you ever were! Next to me, you're puny!"

Lara continued to stare silently at him.

Undertow's smirk faded to a snarl. "You are nothing compared to me! You hear me!? Nothing!"


Ariel was not sure what it said about her life that having her daughter's guardian, not to mention mutual close friend, suddenly sprout wings and a tail was barely in the top ten strangest things she had seen. Which was not to say Ariel was any less stunned by Lara's transformation. Not even five minutes ago Lara was bleeding out in Melody's arms. Now she was…she was not sure what, but Ariel could not help thinking Lara was not human. Not entirely, at least. But what manner of demihuman had wings and a tail, much less the ability to change their form like that? The only demihumans she knew of were those in the sea. Were there demihumans on the land as well?

And why did that form seem so familiar? Ariel could not help thinking she had seen it before. No, not the form…the feeling. This sensation coming from Lara was not alien to Ariel. She felt this presence before, but far stronger and more potent. But where? And who from?

"Ariel…?" She glanced out the corner of her eye to Adella. The poor woman was quivering head to toe, beads of sweat mingling with terrified tears as she stared at Lara. "What…what is that? What happened to Lara?"

Ariel swallowed nervously. "I don't know."

Undertow stepped in front of Lara, clearly agitated as she stared up at him. "Come on, you bite-size sea pig!" he growled, leaning down to her face. "Say something!"

"Ha! Oh, I get it now!" called Morgana from her tower, smugness plastered across her features. "Undertow, it's a bluff!"

Undertow looked back to her. "A bluff?"

"She's playing you!" said Morgana, folding her arms confidently. "All that fire and smoke was to scare us! She wants us to think she's become stronger, but truth is she's all burned out! She's got nothing left! That form's nothing but a façade!"

"Are you sure?" asked Undertow.

"Of course I'm sure!" snapped Morgana. "Why do you think she hasn't attacked you, or tried to run!? I'll tell you why! It's because she's hiding her injuries! Do you really think she could bounce back from the thrashing you gave her? Even if she did, she'd have no power left! That black stuff is probably the only thing holding her together! Now quit stalling and kill her already!"

Undertow turned back to Lara. He cracked his knuckles as he grinned down at her. "I thought there was something off about all that fire! You were stalling! Hoping I'd get scared and swim off, weren't you?"

Melody and Aquata shrunk back as Undertow circled around Lara. The boards of the wharf groaned to support his bulk. He was even more intimidating up close. He was almost three times Lara's height and many times heavier. But even so close, Lara showed not the slightest sign of intimidation. Her swaying tail settled on the dock as though it chose the spot for a nap.

Undertow's eye twitched, irked by Lara's lackluster response. "Well, too bad!" he snapped, stopping behind her. "You can't fool me! I won't fall for it! It doesn't matter what form you take! Beneath that black stuff, you're still just a scared, pathetic, weak little brine shrimp who couldn't hit hard enough to–!"

BANG!

Ariel did not see the strike. Neither did Melody, Morgana, or anyone else. They only heard the impact. It sounded like a gunshot as Lara whipped around and buried her right fist into Undertow's stomach faster than he could register. His armor's breastplate was impaled on Lara's tail, somehow ripped off him in the split instant she used to attack. Undertow doubled over, wet gagging noises and drool escaping his mouth as his eyes bulged. He grasped Lara's arm, legs shaking as he struggled to remain standing.

"Hard enough for you?" asked Lara. She withdrew her fist, revealing the deep impression she left in his abdomen. Undertow clutched his stomach as he fell to his knees. He coughed heavily, red-tinged spittle flying out.

"Holy shellfish…" uttered Andrina in pure awe. Lara pulled the breastplate off her tail and began to crumple it like a piece of paper.

"Yeah…what she said," added Alana.

Morgana rolled her eyes. "Ha ha, very funny Undertow. Make her think she did you in with one hit. Hilarious. Enough playing around. Get up and kill her."

Undertow tried to get back up, only to almost fall over as he did.

"I said get up," Morgana added curtly. "What are you doing? You don't expect me to believe that actually hurt you?"

Undertow's reply was a wet hack between haggard breaths.

"As I was saying…" Lara walked past Undertow, approaching Melody and Aquata. She stopped when they shrunk behind the pylon. "I get why you're scared of me. I'm not exactly cuddly in this form. Or delicate, as he found out."

"Get up, Undertow!" Morgana shouted angrily at her downed minion. "Stop stalling and kill her! She's right behind you! Punch her! Bite her! Hit her with your tail! Do something!"

Undertow managed to get to his feet and turn to Lara, but he immediately fell over from his shaking legs and a violent coughing fit.

"But I promise you don't need to be," continued Lara. "I'm still your guardian, Mel. And your friend. I'll protect you all, I swear." She gave her wings a flap as she went back to Undertow. "Keep hold of that sword and stay hidden. I'll get your family back after I deal with him. Once they're free, you all need to run for that wall fast as you can. Don't look back. Don't try to help me. Just run and find cover."

Undertow looked up as Lara stopped before him. Even on hands and knees, she was just barely taller than him. Yet she looked at him in such a way it made him feel diminutive. He glared at her, but he was still too pained from her blow to do much besides clutch his wound.

"I'll give you this, Undertow," said Lara. "You are stronger than I was in Glowerhaven. Four times stronger, give or take. But twenty? Don't kid yourself."

Undertow snarled and suddenly lunged at Lara, mouth open wide to bite. Lara threw an arm up in front of herself. Undertow engulfed her arm completely, biting hard at her shoulder to tear it off.

Nothing happened. Veins bulged on Undertow's face as his jaws clamped down with all the force he could muster, but Lara would not budge. His metal teeth were blunting against her armor, his jaw aching with exertion. Her black plating was harder than anything he bit before. There was absolutely no give to it. No sense he was deforming it in the slightest.

His fury turned to panic as Lara seized his tongue, clawed fingers digging in. Undertow tried to pull free, but Lara held him in place. Then her tail whipped around and smacked the underside of his jaw. There was a sharp crack and he howled around her arm. Lara kept hold of his tongue, yanking him back and then shoving the balled-up armor down his throat before letting go. Undertow staggered back, clutching at his throat.

Lara cupped a wing to her ear. "What's that? How strong am I, you ask?" she said, shark saliva evaporating off her arm as Undertow coughed out the metal ball. "Truth is, I've got no idea. I can count the number of times I've gone this far on one hand."

Her right hand ignited, flames burning up to her shoulder. "But I know this–you aren't a threat to me anymore. You're not even a decent warmup. You're just an overgrown guppy with fancy dentures and a size complex who's punching way above his league."

Undertow let out a hoarse yell as he leapt to his feet. He pulled his fist back, body twisting around for leverage, and then unleashed a deadly straight punch at Lara's face. Instead of dodging Lara literally took it head on. Undertow's fist collided with her forehead. It would have crushed any normal person.

But Lara was not crushed. She did not kneel, or fall, or stumble, or retreat. She held her ground against his blow, clawed feet scratching into the creaking boards as she skidded a few inches back. The flames on her right arm diminished as the black armor began to glow orange.

A/N: "When Legends Rise" by Godsmack

"Since I'm not getting through to you," growled Lara as she reached up with her left hand and grabbed Undertow's wrist. "Lemme put it this way…"

Undertow's eyes went wide as he realized how impotent his punch was, and that he could not get his hand free of Lara's grip. That, and the glare she was giving him as a thin trickle of blood ran down her face. The blood ignited, burning for a second before disappearing.

"You done goofed," said Lara. Then, with a loud yell, she drew her right fist back and punched straight at his center. Her fist connected hard with his chest and then…

BOOM! An explosion erupted from Lara's fist. A visible shockwave ripped through the air as Undertow went flying above Ariel, her sisters, and the clockmen straight at Morgana. The witch gave a startled yelp and ducked, narrowly avoiding Undertow as he flew past the top of her spire. He arced out over the ice and then smashed through it, sending a spray of chilled water into the air.


Morgana stared slack-jawed at the hole where Undertow fell. This was utterly ludicrous! This was not supposed to be happening! In his original form, Undertow outweighed even the largest great white. He was capable of sinking ships if he bit the right places. This new form Ursula created for him amplified his natural strength even further. What was the term she used? Compressive magnification? Whatever it was, the results were indisputable. He could toss cannons and anchors like pebbles. Shrug off the blows of titan squid and seaclops. Break people with one finger–literally one finger! The armor and metal teeth Remora added only increased his lethality. He was the perfect weapon for killing that little mage, especially once her voice and body were crippled.

And yet that…that thing Lara became laid him out faster than Morgana could see, and then sent him flying with a punch. One measly punch and she had him on his knees. One more and she launched him like a catapult. Was he even still alive after that?

A flapping noise made Morgana spin around to see Lara staring up at her, stretching her wings out as she rotated her shoulders. The air around Lara's body shimmered as she shook her right arm, smoke rising off it.

A feeling crept into Morgana's stomach. It was a queasy gnawing feeling, as though a school of mackerel was flailing in her belly. However, that sensation was shadowed by Morgana's anger at feeling such things at all. This was one tiny human. A strong human. A magical human. A bizarre human. But a human, nonetheless. A worthless, mortal, air-sucking, land-walking human. Yet she scared her. Lara Anclagon, this nobody from who-knows-where with a knack for fire and swordplay, was making Morgana the sea witch feel fear.

And she hated her for it.

"Clockmen!" Morgana shouted. The machines stirred at her call, standing at attention. "You three, shoot her!"

The clockmen holding Ariel and her sisters backed up a few steps. Three others stepped forward, aiming their chain gun arms at Lara. The weapons clicked as the barrels began turning, spooling bullets into their feeder belts.

Lara suddenly stepped forward, mouth opening wide as she let out a sound halfway between a human yell and a beast's roar. Her breath distorted the air with its heat as it washed down the wharf. Even from this far Morgana could feel the heat and magic coming off her. All across the marina the mutants stopped what they were doing, stiff at attention like prey hearing the call of a predator. The clockmen began to shake and tremble, their glowing eyes flickering as their barrels slowed.

Lara crouched, her hands glowing hot. Concussive blasts erupted from her feet, rocketing her forward. She went for the middle of the three clockmen, thrusting her hand straight through its chest. Her hand emerged out the other side clutching the machine's crystal heart. Then she spun in place, her tail slashing through the two flanking clockmen with ease. They did not so much break as shatter from the strikes, dozens of metal pieces flying out over the ice.

Morgana blinked rapidly. She fully expected to see Lara's mangled corpse sprawled on the wharf within the next five seconds. So why was Lara standing over the remains of three clockmen without a single shot being fired? How was she so fast? She was barely able to follow Lara's movements. And how could she rip through that metal with her bare hands? None of it made sense!

"Leave and you live."

The threatening tone in Lara's voice threw Morgana off. "Pardon?"

"Leave and you live," repeated Lara as the "dead" clockman fell off her arm. "That was your warning. And if you'd done what I said, that would've been the end of it. But no. You did the same thing as every other witch, warlock, pirate, bandit, and whatever else I've fought. You ignored my warning and tried to kill me. It was your one chance, and you threw it away."

Lara held the clockman core up, the crystal glowing with an evil green light. "It doesn't matter what you do now. I gave you a way out, and you turned it down. Your life's forfeit. There's nothing you can do to get out of this alive. So when you think about begging for mercy–and you will–I want you to remember one thing…"

Her hand began to heat up, the black armor turning red and then orange. The crystal quickly cracked, and then it began to melt. The glassy facets turned orange and then yellow, dripping out of Lara's hand like honey. It hissed as it dripped onto the dock, the crackling sound of hardening crystal and burning wood resonating in Morgana's ears.

"You brought this on yourself." Lara opened her hand, molten crystal sliding off her palm as she growled. "Oh, and Ariel…"

A shiver went through Ariel as Lara looked at her. "Get ready to run."

For a brief moment, Morgana lost her composure. "Don't you move! One twitch and I'll kill them!"

Lara drew her wings and arms across, fire springing up on them instantly. Then she flung them wide with a crack and a flash. A shockwave burst forth. It hit the clockmen and knocked them backwards. Ariel and her sisters were bowled over along with their captors like dominoes. Several of the clockmen fell off the wharf, breaking through the ice and sinking. Morgana's ice tower shuddered against the wind as several of the surrounding spires cracked or broke. She was blinded as ash, dust, and frost blew into her face.

"Kill her!" barked Morgana as she rubbed her eyes furiously. "Kill that witch first, and then all of them!"

Ariel lost track of Lara when she moved. One moment the winged woman was standing on the wharf, smoke drifting off her limbs as they cooled. The next she reappeared in front of Ariel, standing over her with one hand drawn back and pointed like a blade. Ariel drew an alarmed gasp as Lara thrust her hand straight at her face…

And speared through the head of the clockman holding her. The metal gave way to her hand like butter to a hot knife. Then Lara lunged forward with gaping mouth and bit into the clawed hand holding Ariel's neck, tearing it off with ease. Meanwhile Lara's tail lashed out and speared through the side of the clockman restraining Arista, shattering its core. The machine went limp and released her. Lara grabbed Ariel's arm and flung her towards the shore. Ariel flew and then tumbled across the dock, dizzy and slightly bruised when she stopped.

"Run!" shouted Lara as her tail wrapped Arista and literally tossed her into Ariel, the two falling down. "Get to Melody!"

Lara was into the rest of the clockmen before Ariel and Arista were on their feet. Her hands found the arms of the one holding Alana and ripped them from its body like pulling a pair of weeds. Her left wing then scooped Alana and threw her after Ariel. The clockmen restraining Attina, Andrina, and Adella abandoned their charges and moved to attack, but Lara got to them first. Her hands penetrated the chests of the first two and seized their cores, crushing them to shards. They went limp, eyes darkening as they lost the souls powering them. She then pounced at the third one, her mouth opening wide as she bit down on its neck, teeth penetrating metal with ease. Fire emanated from her mouth, reaching down into its chest and melting its core. The clockman sagged as molten metal and crystal leaked out of it. Lara spun and threw the three "dead" clockmen off the wharf before turning on the rest of them, which were now back on their feet. Lara drew her right wing across as it ignited and then swung it out, sending a fierce hot wind rolling down the wharf. The clockman were blown down again.

The princesses were just getting to their feet when Lara turned and shouted. "Get going! They won't stay down long!"

The mermaids needed no encouragement to flee. Ariel grabbed Arista's left arm and started running, pulling her sister along. Attina was of similar mind, taking Arista's other arm so they were practically carrying the heavily pregnant woman between them, adrenaline and fear giving them a profound burst of strength. Adella, Alana, and Andrina were right behind them, stumbling and scrambling fast as they could.

"Mom!" Melody stepped out from behind the pylon, waving her arms overhead. "Over here!"

A gunshot snapped off, causing everyone to flinch. Melody heard and felt the bullet whip by her head. Aquata quickly grabbed her dress and yanked her back into cover. They peered out and saw the majority of the clockmen were already back on their feet, lifting their weapons. The disarmed clockman that formerly restrained Alana ran straight at Lara, popping its mouth open to reveal a nozzle. Fire spewed forth, dousing Lara from head to toe in red-orange flames that stunk of combustible chemicals. Four more joined it, spitting the same fire onto her. Lara stood unaffected and unimpressed in the flames, no more perturbed than if someone were flicking pieces of sand at her.

"You're joking, right? Fighting me with fire?" said Lara as her eyes and hair glowed. The fire began gathering into her hand, forming a compressed fireball. "Big mistake."

She clutched the fireball and the flames grew over her forearm. She drew her hand back and then swung out in a chopping motion. An arc of fire flew off her hand, cutting through the clockmen and the row behind them before it exploded. More clockmen were torn to pieces by the blast. The fires of the blast swarmed through the air and then spiraled towards Lara, swirling into her mouth as she breathed in. Within seconds she absorbed the entirety of it. Her hair and eyes glowed brighter briefly as the fire became her strength and magic, giving Lara a tingling sensation.

"Aah!" came a pained cry from behind her, followed by, "Adella!"

Lara spun back to see Adella fall to the wharf, clutching her right thigh. A piece of shrapnel was embedded in her leg, blood seeping into her skirt as she clutched the wound. Alana and Andrina had doubled back, trying to pick their sister up.

Morgana got the grit out of her eyes in time to see Adella collapse. "Shoot them!" she yelled, pointing at the downed princess. "Shoot them now!"

The clockmen moved as one. The swords and bladed weapons quickly stepped back to allow the gunners to take lead. They formed two parallel rows, one kneeling so the others could stand over them. The clicks of their barrels filled the air as they prepared to fire.

Utter terror filled Melody and Lara's veins as they saw the line of crank guns pointed straight at them. They remembered all too clearly what one of those guns did to the Glowerhaven ballroom. Now dozens were ready to open fire. And Alana, Adella, and Andrina were completely exposed to them. They would never get Adella to cover in time, and they knew it. It showed in the horrified expression on their faces as the guns began to turn.

Suddenly Lara flickered out of existence and then appeared in front of the trio. She spread her wings wide as she crossed her hands in front of her face. At the same time, Lara's sword began to glow orange and vibrate in Aquata's hands.

"Fire!" shouted Morgana.

A buzzing incessant thunder filled the air as the guns went off, flashes of powder flying from muzzles as a savage barrage was unleashed. Melody and her family huddled behind the pylon for safety, but the bullets never reached them. They struck some invisible barrier in the air, sending them bouncing off in all directions. The air filled with the scream of ricochets, Morgana's laughter floating above it all.

"No!" screamed Melody as Lara and her aunts were lost in a cloud of gun smoke.

"Muah-ha ha ha ha!" Morgana cackled from atop her ice tower. "That's it! Keep firing! Turn those fish and their pet freak into sponges!"

The clockmen kept firing until the roar of bullets finally petered off. A thick cloud of smoke lingered where Lara and the princesses had been, heavy as winter's coldest fog.

"Well, that's inconvenient," said Morgana as she saw Melody was still alive. "But no matter! At least that fire-breathing freak is dead! Stupid kid, throwing away her life for a bunch of mermaids! Did she really think she could survive that?"

"I didn't think I could…" The smoke cleared with a swing of Lara's wings, revealing her standing unscathed. Alana, Adella, and Andrina huddled behind her, trembling but intact. "I knew I could."

Morgana's eyes almost jumped out of their sockets. "Whaaaaaat!?"

"Lara!" exclaimed Melody and Ariel in relief.

"Alana! Andrina! Get Adella out of here!" said Lara, her brow furrowed sternly. "Then get as close to the wall as you can and bind Adella's leg! Don't pull out that shrapnel! If it hit an artery she'll bleed to death!"

Alana and Andrina quickly slung Adella between them, carrying their wounded sister to cover. Ariel and the others quickly followed after them, but Melody stopped for a moment. "Lara–!"

"Go!" interrupted Lara. "If you stay, you'll just be in the way! I got this!"

Melody wanted to respond, but she knew Lara was right. This situation was beyond her. If she tried to help she would only create problems for Lara–or worse, get herself killed. Maybe even both of them. She was going to have to trust in Lara again, difficult as that was right now. She gave a short nod and then turned, running after her family.

The clockmen stared as they left, much to Morgana's irritation. "Don't just stand there! Shoot them again!"

The clockmens' barrels began spinning once more, the gunfire resuming quickly. Lara crossed her arms in front of her face as the bullets hit her, using her wings to cover the princesses' path. Instead of piercing flesh and bone the bullets bounced off or shattered, unable to pierce her armor or wings.

"Keep firing! Keep firing!" Morgana yelled. "Fire until she's dead!"

The gunfire abruptly ended with the "click-click-click" of empty barrels. The clockmen looked at their guns, as though not understanding why they were out.

"Fire isn't the only thing that doesn't work on me," said Lara as she lowered her arms. "You'll need much larger guns than that to knock me down. And if I was a betting girl, which I'm known to be on occasion…" Lara reached down and grabbed the leg of a broken clockman, peeling the outer plating off like a banana skin. "Yup. You traded out the leg cannons for extra ammo. Tsk-tsk."

Morgana growled darkly. "Fine! If guns won't work, cut her to pieces! Charge!"

The clockmen ran at Lara like a swarm of ants, eyes aglow as they brandished their weapons. She pulled in her wings as the lead clockman reached her. She did not bother blocking the machine's sword as it chopped at her shoulder. The blade bounced back with a loud pang sound before Lara thrust an open burning palm against its chest. There was an explosion and the clockmen went shooting straight back, plowing through its brethren before embedding in Morgana's ice. Her tower shook, sending a crack racing up it. Sea water began leaking out the crack before it froze over.

Lara narrowed her eyes. "That's interesting…"

She was interrupted as another clockmen slashed at her head. Lara leaned to the side so the sword struck her armor, and then her tail snaked around and smacked the clockman. It went flying into the air as it broke apart. She then spun, sweeping the leg from another clockman before burying an explosive punch into its chest. The blast tore the clockman apart and then smashed into the clockmen behind it, blowing a line through them. She lowered her fist as a clockman with double-headed axes for hands leapt at her, swinging down. Lara raised her forearm, the axes striking her armor. The metal shattered, and then so did the rest of the clockman and the one behind it when Lara planted a blasting kick into its chest.

"Just kill her already!" screamed Morgana, throwing her hands forward. The clockmen ran at her with new effort, weapons brandished as they made the wharf tremble.

Lara darted back as multiple weapons slammed down where she had been, using her wings to put space between her and the coming metal mob. She had no objections to tearing into the automaton horde bare-handed, but with Melody and her family still on the wharf and mutants rampaging across the others –not to mention "Poseidon" and Ursula's ongoing fight and that gunship sitting out at sea – she needed to clear them out fast.

Fortunately, the wharf provided an opportunity to do just that. She set her feet wide, clawed toes digging into the wharf. "That's it. Come on. Straight at me, all of you."

Morgana glared down at Lara from on high as an ice javelin formed in her hand. What was that witch doing now? The clockmen were going to be on her in another few seconds. Soon the wharf would be filled side to side with–.

Her eyes went wide as she saw Lara spread her wings wide, fire crawling across their edges. "No! Get back! It's a trap!" She threw her ice javelin hard as she could, hoping to pierce Lara's head. It flew faster than an arrow, but it flew too late.

Lara shot forward, the javelin missing her as she stretched her wings out far as they could go. They spanned almost the entire wharf as she tore through the clockmen. They were mowed down like grass to a scythe, their bodies strewn over the dock in her wake. She continued to cut through them till she reached the last clockman and shoved a hand into its chest as her other hand seized its gun arm and squeezed. The barrels crimped down before it could fire, and then peeled back with a loud bang as the ignited powder sought an escape. Behind Lara the few surviving halves of the clockmen struggled to pull themselves along, their cores and weapons too damaged to render them a threat.

Lara flapped her wings, flinging off metal shards. "That actually went better than I thought."

An ice javelin came flying at Lara's face. She quickly stepped aside, the javelin missing her. It struck the wharf and blasted apart, freezing a small radius solid. Lara looked up at Morgana. The witch looked even angrier than before, but also undeniably unnerved. It was not just hatred making her shake now.

"Your tin soldiers are gone, Morgana," said Lara, holding up the impaled clockman to her. "Just you and me now."

"How!?" demanded Morgana. "How are they broken!? They're metal! They had guns! Swords! They were perfect! They should've torn you apart!"

"You mean like this?" said Lara. With that she thrust her other hand into the clockman's chest and started to pull, yelling as she did. The clockman stabbed its sword arm at her chest, but even point-blank it could not penetrate her armor. Then it went limp as it split down the middle like a rag doll savaged by dogs.

"These aren't enough to stop me. Not anymore," said Lara as she threw the halved clockman aside. "And neither are you."

Morgana howled at the top of her lungs, flailing her tentacles about. This was not supposed to be happening! None of this was according to the plan! Without her voice and poison coursing through her body, Lara was supposed to die at Undertow's hands, leaving Melody and the princesses for Morgana to dispatch at her leisure. Not only had Undertow failed, but now every single clockmen they brought with was either obliterated or too damaged to fight.

Green light covered Morgana from head to tentacle as rage blossomed within her. Aurora light gathered in her hands, swirling and shining as it formed a large ball of concentrated ice magic. Frost and spikes grew out over her ice tower as her magic swelled.

"You wretch!" she hollered as she hurled the ball at Lara.

Lara saw the ball coming. She easily could have dodged it, but instead she thrust her hands forward and caught the ball as her hands ignited. The ice magic pushed against her, fighting to overwhelm her own fire. Lara held her ground, grunting as she fought to hold it back.

"Ha!" sneered Morgana. "Not talking tough now, are you?"

Lara continued to push back against the magic ball, straining to keep it from overwhelming her. "No way! This magic…I don't think…!"

Morgana laughed loudly. "What's wrong, kiddie? Running out of juice! Maybe you just need to try harder!"

She thrust her hands forward, sending a stream of light at the ball. It swelled in size, pushing Lara backwards. The winged mage pushed harder, feet digging into the wharf.

Morgana gave her signature laugh as she watched Lara struggle. "What do you think of that, human!?"

"What…I think," said Lara as she redoubled her efforts. "Is I'm not…going…"

Suddenly Lara stopped pushing against the ice ball. She stood completely relaxed, clutching the ball of ice magic as though it were a melon. "To even break a sweat against you."

Morgana choked on her own laugh. "*cough cough* What!?"

Lara tossed the ball back and forth between her hands. "To be fair, it's not a bad try." She then gave the ball a spin and balanced it on one finger. "But you're gonna have to do a lot better to freeze me."

Lara tossed the ball off the wharf. It hit the ice and exploded, sending spires of ice shooting up as it refroze all the ocean within a hundred-foot radius. The side of a sinking schooner was impaled like an olive on a stick.

"Here, take another shot," said Lara, dropping into a crouch as though expecting a throw. "Really give it your all this time!"

Veins bulged on Morgana's forehead. "Don't you condescend me, you pompous mammal! Seahaven or not, you're still in the sea, which means you're in my territory!"

Morgana threw her hands up and then smacked them down on her tower. Two long sinuating eels made of ice shot out of the water, growing longer as they raced up and then down towards Lara. Their mouths opened wide, revealing razor sharp teeth. At the same time the ice under Lara fractured as a forest of deadly spikes erupted from the sea.

Lara darted back as the spikes destroyed where she had been standing, the ice eels smashing against them. Their heads quickly reformed as they chased after Lara, the spikes following close behind. The wharf was shredded as Lara continued to retreat, using her wings to propel herself along as she taunted Morgana.

"Nope!" she said as she avoided an icy bite. A spike came up behind her, but Lara quickly danced around it. "Not even close!" Two eel heads came at her from both sides. Lara leaned back, balancing on her tail as the heads smashed together above her. "Are you even trying?"

"I! Will! Kill! You!" shouted Morgana.


Melody and her family were almost to the end of the wharf when they heard the crashing sound of splintering wood. They turned back to see Lara coming towards them as row after row of giant ice spikes tore the wharf apart, led by a pair of giant eels made of ice. For a moment they all stopped running, petrified by the sight.

Lara just so happened to backflip away from an ice spike, giving her a glance at the fear-struck mer-family. "What are you doing!? Keep going!"

Ariel snapped out of it, grabbing Melody's hand as she turned. "Come on!" She yanked Melody along as the others quickly followed. Lara used her wings to shoot away from the oncoming ice, landing close to the princesses.

"You'd think they'd know when to run away by now!" she muttered.

The ice eels leveled out over the wharf, charging at Lara as the avalanche of spikes followed in their wake. Lara flexed her fingers before clenching them tight. "Guess I need to get a little serious."

Lines of furnace light appeared on her armor, creeping their way towards her neck as she drew in a deep breath. The lines converged on her mouth as she reached maximum inhalation and then held her breath, pouring heat and magic into it. She had to wait. If she released now it would only hold the ice back. She needed to obliterate it so Melody and the others could escape.

"You're mine!" shouted Morgana. The ice eels surged forward, mouths opening wide as they closed in.

Lara set her feet wide as her chest puffed out, and then she leaned forward as her mouth opened abnormally wide.

"BWAAAAAAAAAH!" A torrential jet of fire and heat spewed forth from Lara's mouth. It swept down the wharf like a flood and collided with the ice. It shattered and evaporated as the fire overwhelmed it. The flames roared down the wharf towards Morgana's tower. The witch's momentary disbelief was quickly overridden as she flung her hands up. A wall of ice appeared between her and the fire. The flames slammed into it like a physical wave, cracking the ice as clouds of steam flared out. Morgana strained to keep her wall intact against the attack. The heat was so intense she could feel her skin drying out.

All the princesses looked back when they heard Lara's roar and felt the heat on their backs. Their jaws collectively dropped in awe as they saw the deluge of flames Lara was producing.

Lara kept up the flames until she could exhale no longer, closing her mouth. The flames abated to reveal the ice eels and spikes had been completely destroyed. What remained of the wharf was charred and burning, black smoldering pieces collapsing into the sea. The surrounding ice had been cracked and melted, now a sea of ice floes rather than a solid frozen sheet.

Morgana was on the verge of an aneurysm as she beat her tentacles against the tower. "For once in my life could things just go my way!?"

"And miss the look on your face?" called back Lara. "Not a chance!"

Morgana was panting she was so angry. "Just you wait! When I get my tentacles on you, I'm going to freeze every last bit of you till even your thoughts can't move!"

Lara scratched the top of her head with her tail. "Even my thoughts can't move? How's that supposed to work? You need to work on your death threats…or did Ursula get the better ones like everything else?"

"Aaaaaaaaaah!"screamed Morgana, yanking at her own hair. Ice spikes covered the face of her tower and then launched at Lara as a deadly storm of shards.

"Another thing you should know about me," said Lara as she ran for the end of the burned wharf. She reached the edge then leapt towards the incoming hail of ice and spun hard, spreading her wings out. She met the ice shards head on, drilling through them with ease. She then leveled out and angled up as she beat her wings, climbing into the air.

Morgana's eyes widened as Lara ascended. "What the…you can fly!?"


Ursula spun around from taking a swing at Triton, her eyes widening as she caught sight of Lara. "She can fly!?"

A giant hand of water reached up and struck Ursula in the side, knocking her over. Triton turned away for a moment, the trident glowing bright as he saw Lara for himself. "She can fly!"


Remora clenched her hands tightly. "She can fly!?"

The Master's brow raised slightly. "She can fly."


Ariel and her sisters let out a collective gasp as they pointed and said, "She can fly!"

Melody could only stare, the image of Lara rising through the air reflected in her eyes. "You can fly…"

Lara came to a stop high in the air, beating her wings so that she semi-hovered. She closed and opened her hands, fire covering them and then growing up over her forearms. Flames ran down her tail and along the edges of her wings. Her eyes glowed brightly as she looked down at Morgana.

This feeling was incredible. She could feel power flowing through every fiber of her being. The raw strength of this form was intoxicating, and she felt she was barely tapping into its abilities. She was not even making an effort to outpace Morgana so far. She could have ended this right from the start, but she did not want that. Morgana caused so much suffering for Melody, her family, and the countless people Maelstrom harmed. Lara was not about to let her off easy. She was going to make sure Morgana regretted not leaving when she could. And Lara knew she was going to enjoy doing it, too.

She flapped her wings hard, diving towards Morgana. The witch quickly swung her hands up. Four new ice eels emerged from the sea, rushing towards Lara. She aimed into the mouth of the first one and thrust her hands forward as she hit it head on, shattering it apart. She then dove out of the crumbing remains and evaded the second, a fireball growing in her left hand as she angled for the third. She flung the fireball at it, the explosion blowing the construct in half. It went still as the magic left it, falling onto the frozen sea as chunks of ice. The second eel turned around and chased after Lara, trying to catch her in a pincer movement with the fourth. Lara saw them coming, waiting till the last possible moment before folding her wings and dropping down. The two eels smashed together, heads falling apart as cracks went racing down their crumbling bodies. Morgana flicked a tentacle, summoning up a giant ice spike from the sea, but Lara evaded it with ease as she aimed for the middle of Morgana's ice tower. She dove into the tangle of ice spires, weaving through them with dizzying agility before reaching the tower. She spun in midair and then kicked the tower, slamming the blade of her shin against it. The tower cracked through, the entire structure trembling. Water leaked out of the cracks, chilling like wax as it ran down the sides.

"What game are you playing, brat!?" yelled Morgana as she sent her magic down to freeze the cracks and attack. Lara flew straight up as spikes emerged from the tower to impale her. She cleared the spires in seconds, evading two orbs of freezing magic Morgana threw at her.

"The sea might be your territory," said Lara as she circled around the tower. "But the sky is mine! You're out of your depth up here…get it? Out of your depth! Because you're from the sea, and you're up here, so…you know."

Down below, Aquata and Andrina groaned. "She's making puns now!?"

Morgana screamed as loud as she could, a green magic aura enveloping her. For a moment the entire marina trembled as the sea re-froze. Spires erupted through the ice around Morgana, forming an even thicker tangle of sharpened ice than before. A dozen of her eel creations rose up behind her, flanking the tower like tame guard beasts.

"That's it!" she hollered, frost growing over her skin. "Melody can wait! First I'm going to shatter you into ten thousand tiny pieces!"

Lara clenched her fists, fire encasing her hands. "You'll die trying."

With that Morgana flung her hands at Lara, sending the eels and a barrage of sharpened ice tendrils after her.


Eric had never ridden so fast in his life. His heart pounded like his horse's hooves against the cobblestones of the town roads. His mouth was dry and his eyes leaked tears from the wind. The smoke in the air burned his throat and lungs, but he ignored it.

Seahaven was in chaos. Soldiers and civilians were scrambling to pull survivors from the wreckage the shelling created. Carts, horses, oxen, wagons, and even the backs of fellow citizens were being used to rush people to the hospitals. The dead were covered with anything they could find. Voices were screaming and shouting everywhere as people tried to find each other or coordinate some manner of rescue effort in the confusion.

"Over here! There's voices underneath the roof!"

"Help! This man is bleeding!"

"Her leg's caught! Get something to lever the debris loose!"

"Watch out! It's coming down!"

Eric's horse skidded and reared as a charred building gave way, collapsing into the street. His legs clung tightly to the horse's chest, hands gripping the reins as the horse planted down. The horse neighed in panic as Eric tried to keep it still, and then drove it forward over the rubble. They turned around a corner and–.

He pulled the horse to a dead stop. A wall of ice hundreds of feet high blocked his path. He could see silhouettes of the marina and people on the other side, as though looking through hazy blue glass. Far in the distance was the giant Ursula engaged in combat with Triton. He saw nothing of Ariel or Melody.

Eric jumped off his horse. "Ariel! Melody!" He ran up to the wall, placing his hands on it as he craned his neck back. The top was tall enough to rival the palace. He quickly looked around and found a pair of fishing gaffs, blown out from a crumbling fish market in the attack. Eric grabbed the gaffs and broke the handles across his knee, shortening them to make a pair of crude climbing axes. He ran back to the wall and swung one of the gaffs to bury it, but the hook bounced off without a scratch on the ice. Eric tried again, and this time the hook bent in completely. Eric tossed the ruined gaff aside and wailed on the wall with the remaining one. "Someone! Anyone! Answer me!"

"Wait, sire!" called the captain of the cavalry as he chased after Eric. Two full companies of mounted guards followed behind, bristling with weapons. And those were just the companies that mounted fast enough to keep up with Eric. Even more would be coming soon.

The captain jumped down from his horse and grabbed Eric, pulling him away from the wall. "You must calm down, your majesty!"

"Ariel and Melody are over there!" shouted Eric as he fought to get free.

"You're no good to them dead!" said the captain. "Or flailing about in a panic! We'll find a way in! Just give us–!"

A loud series of explosions sounded off from the marina. A boom and a flash shook the ice wall. Eric shielded his face as flecks of ice fell on him, then looked up to see more flashes of light over the top. He peered through the ice, trying to identify what was causing the lights. He could see something out in the water. A tall whitish structure with a green light at the top, and something dark flying through the air around it.

"Oh no! It's happening again!" screamed a frightened young soldier.

"Belay that!" snapped the captain. "You'll start a panic with that sort of talk!"

"Oi! Oi, sire! Over here!"

Eric whipped around to see a young blonde man waving his arms wildly overhead. He had dried blood on his face, and he was covered in ash and dust, but appeared otherwise intact. Behind him were people tending to the wounded as they searched through a collapsed tavern.

"You're looking for the queen and princess, right?" called the man.

Eric immediately ran to the man, seizing him by the shoulders. "You've seen them!?"

"Aye, sire!" said the man. "'Bout half an hour ago! Their highnesses came down wit' the mer-princesses n' Miss Anclagon! Overheard 'em saying they were 'ere t' meet King Triton!"

Eric's grip tightened. "Lara's still with them?"

The man flinched with how tightly Eric gripped him. "Yes, sire! Last I saw!"

"Get these people to safety!" shouted Eric, practically shoving the man back as he turned to the soldiers. "I want climbing axes, ropes, and crossbows brought down on the double! You six, split up and find the ends of this wall! See if you can get around! The rest of you start chipping at that ice! And send someone for the artillery brought down! If we can't break our way in or go over or around, we'll blast it! We need to get through yesterday!"

"Yes sir!" replied the guards in unison as they saluted.

Eric stared up at the ice wall as the guards dispersed. Lara was on the other side of this wall. Lara was with his family in the middle of that warzone. He placed a hand on his sword, acutely aware of the folded piece of paper tucked in his belt next to it. At one time the young man's words would only have given him comfort. Now, there was a foreboding dread as well. Lara gave him her word she would keep the royal family safe. Now he wondered if that word could be trusted.


Crang! Crang! Crang! Crang!

Andrina repeatedly stabbed at the ice wall with the fishing spear. The spear glanced off every time, leaving not the slightest mark on the ice.

Andrina began jabbing furiously at the ice. "Come on! Come on!" she shouted, desperation turning her stabs wild.

"Andrina, stop!" said Attina, grabbing the back of the spear. "It's no use! The trident made this ice! It's the only thing that can break it!"

Andrina wrenched the spear from Attina and attacked the wall again. "We can't just stand here! We have to do something!"

"We need to escape!" said Alana, tossing aside a now mangled nail. "We're sitting ducks here!"

"What is a duck!?" yelled Arista.

"I don't know! It's a phrase humans use! Means we're easy targets!"

"I say we run for the edges and try to get around!" said Andrina.

"And risk running into those monsters!?" exclaimed Attina. "I'll take my chances waiting here!"

Aquata was pressing Lara's sword against the wall, trying to make the blade respond to her. "Claymore, burn…heat up…warm…catch fire…melt…do something!" She gave it a hard shake and then lowered it with a disappointed sigh. "It's no good! I can't get it to work!"

"Whatever we do, please do it fast!" breathed Adella through clenched teeth as Ariel carefully tied a strip of her torn dress around her sister's bleeding leg wound. "This really, really hurts! Yow!"

"Sorry!" said Ariel as she started tying off. "There! It's not pretty, but it's the best I can do!"

"No offense, Ariel," said Adella as she evaluated her sister's handiwork. "But don't ever become a nurse."

Melody was not paying attention to what the others were saying, much less doing. She was rooted to the spot, watching as Lara and Morgana faced off against each other in the air. Lara evaded a spear of ice before breathing a jet of fire back at Morgana. The witch called forth a barrier of ice from the side of her tower, blocking the flames just in time. More of the ice spires around her crumbled away, unable to withstand the heat. Lara bobbed and weaved her way towards Morgana, only to pull out at the last minute as a shower of ice shards came flying out of the tower.

It was hard to believe that was Lara out there, much less that she could fly. Melody assumed she could when the wings appeared, but to see it in action was hard to describe in their situation. Birds were graceless compared to Lara. She was effortless, yet her speed and agility were remarkable. She twisted and turned in such tight maneuvers, rapidly changing direction with a speed that would put falcons and swallows to shame. She moved like a mermaid in the air. Yes, that was it. A mermaid of the sky. Were it not for the warfare enveloping the marina, it would have been breathtaking.

She sucked in a sharp breath as Lara narrowly avoided another ice eel. Lara slipped past it and barrel rolled, her tail whipping around and severing the thing in half.

A cool hand touched her shoulder. Melody startled, whipping around to find her mother. Ariel looked just as alarmed by her reaction.

"Mom! You scared me!"

"I scared you? You scared me!" said Ariel. She looked out to the battle raging over the water, her breath hitching as Lara barrel rolled through a salvo of ice shards. "So…Lara has wings."

"Yeah…" said Melody.

"And a tail…" continued Ariel. "And she can fly."

"Y-yeah…" Melody said again.

They flinched together as Lara flung a pair of fireballs at Morgana's tower. The fires struck the side and exploded, tearing chunks out of it. A gentle wave of heat washed over them as the sound of the explosion reached their ears.

Ariel gave a big sigh, running a hand through her hair. "And she can breathe fire…throw it, too."

Melody chewed the inside of her cheek for a moment. "Yeah…"

Ariel looked to Melody and swallowed. "But…hey, it's still Lara! She'll pull through for us like always…right?"

Melody bit her lip. Even with Lara beating Undertow and now holding her own against Morgana, the thought occurred to her that Lara may not win this battle. This was Morgana they were dealing with, not to mention Ursula. Those two were not known for playing by the rules, if Lara's near-death experience with Undertow was any clue. If anything, they probably still had something stored away to give them an unfair advantage.

"You really think so?" asked Melody.

An ice javelin slipped past Lara, arcing towards Ariel and Melody. Lara spotted it and flipped over, thrusting her hand towards it. A jet of fire shot forth and struck the javelin, evaporating it instantly.

For a brief moment, Lara's eyes met Ariel and Melody's. "Get back to the wall!" shouted Lara. Then she turned and flew towards Morgana, drawing the witch's attacks away from the pair.

Ariel pulled Melody close. "Yes…yes, I do."


Lara darted low, evading another ice eel. It chased after her as Lara flew towards a wharf overrun with mutants chasing after humans. She breathed in and then released a torrent of fire as she passed over, strafing the mutants. They screamed and howled as they burned, black forms writhing within the flames. The fire formed a burning wall, cutting the mutants off from the people.

Suddenly Morgana's eel crashed into the wharf, ripping through the wood and mutants as it pursued Lara. She quickly flapped her wings and dodged aside, flying a wide arc as it chased her again.

"Hey, they're on your side!" shouted Lara. "Ever heard of friendly fire?"

"I will kill as many as I have to as long as you and Melody are two of them!" snarled Morgana. As though to prove her words she flung a hand up and summoned a salvo of enormous ice spikes from below the wharf. They pierced through the remainder of the mutants, sending them flying in all directions. Lara easily evaded the spikes but frowned as she saw the dead and wounded mutants falling into the sea.

"Reason thirty-four I hate witches!" Lara banked towards Morgana, evading another ice eel's teeth. She pumped her wings and slashed through its body with her claws, cutting it in half.

A scream from one of the wharves drew Lara's attention. A viperfish mutant had its teeth in the arm of a man and was dragging him towards the water. Lara pumped her wings hard and shot down at the wharf. "Hey ugly!"

The viperfish looked up, dropping the man as it saw Lara. She yelled and dove down like an arrow, striking the top of its head with her fist, smashing it into the wharf. The wood buckled and splintered under the force as the mutant went crashing through to the ice below. Lara rose and looked down at the wounded and petrified man. He stared up at her, eyes wide with fright.

"You should run," she said flatly.

The man gaped at her for a moment, and then nodded vigorously as he scrambled to his feet and took off.

Lara turned around to face the horde of mutants. They stared at her, hissing, spitting, and snarling, but making no attempts to approach. They were like a pack of wolves that had cornered an angry polar bear. She growled low in her throat and then stepped towards them, letting loose a menacing hiss. The mutants flinched back from her. The tip of Lara's tail ignited and she swung it across the wharf. Fire spread out in a line behind her, forming a barrier separating them from shore.

One of the mutants took a step back.

"No," Lara said as the glowing lines appeared on her body again. "There's no escape."

The mutants suddenly turned and ran. Lara threw her arms wide and then brought her hands together in front of her, palms facing the mutants. Fire spiraled into her hands, forming a fireball that quickly grew as big as Lara. Then it exploded, sending a burst of roiling fire down the wharf. The mutants bellowed and screamed as they were burned away, reduced to ash in seconds as the fire scorched through them.

Morgana smirked atop her tower. "Fool!" She turned towards Melody and the others. "You shouldn't have done that!"

She swung her hand. A trio of her giant eels sprung from the base of the tower, racing towards the princesses. Their heads shifted and became narrowed, and suddenly they moved even faster.

Melody clung onto Ariel as the eels gained on them. "Lara!"

Lara's eyes widened and then narrowed as they began to glow brightly. An orange aura enveloped her body as she took off. "No you don't!"


Melody and Ariel clung to each other as they saw the eels coming towards them. Frozen mouths opened to reveal deadly teeth, ready to rip them apart. There would be no evading them. There was nothing that would give them cover from this.

A distant whistling sound rapidly grew, and then an orange and black blur streaked through the eels. They hung in the air for a moment, and then they shattered like windows hit with cannonballs. The blur slowed and looped back towards the shore, revealing it was Lara.

"She…she saved us!" said Melody.

"As though I'd do anything else!" shouted down Lara. She looked towards Morgana, brow furrowing angrily, then reached up and pulled her goggles down over her eyes.

"Now I'm mad!" said Lara as she flew towards the witch's tower. The aura around her faded as her speed quickly climbed. Morgana summoned another eel to attack, but Lara did not even try to avoid it. The eel failed to slow her at all as she flew through it, shattering the ice.

Morgana's eyes widened. She summoned two more eels and sent them after Lara. Again she did not dodge, flying through them without slowing. She was closing fast on Morgana. Morgana swung her hands up, calling forth a single sharp spire from the ocean. It erupted straight at Lara, but she flew past before it could reach her. Morgana began forming a ball of ice magic in her hands. The ball glowed brightly as Morgana forced as much magic as she could into the ball, and then she shot it straight at Lara. Again Lara did not dodge. The ball struck her square in the face, leaving only a thin veneer of frost that quickly evaporated.

"Mor–ga–na!" bellowed Lara as she approached, drawing her left hand back.

Panic gripped Morgana. She summoned up a dome of ice around her tower, spikes growing on the outer face towards Lara. "Get away from me!" she shouted as she sent the spikes flying. Lara tucked her wings and rolled, deflecting the ice off her. Just before reaching Morgana she flung her wings wide, light filling her eyes as she yelled and punched the wall. It shattered instantly, throwing ice fragments in all directions.

For a single moment, time slowed for Morgana. She saw Lara suspended in midair, flying through the remains of her ice shield. Those burning eyes matched the fire within her mouth and the heat dwelling in her fist. Eyes that were terrifying even behind her goggles. To look into them was like holding the gaze of some primordial monstrosity of ages long gone. Lara suddenly seemed enormous, as though Morgana was little more than a tiny sand flea before her. That Lara could reach down with one finger and crush her flat. Her instincts were screaming for her to swim, crawl, run, or do whatever she must to get as far away from Lara as possible.

Lara roared as she struck. Her fist hit Morgana square in the face. Morgana flew back and bounced off the inside of her dome, now a cage rather than a shield. Lara was on her before Morgana could do anything. She seized Morgana's hair and lifted her up. She planted a hard punch in the witch's gut. Morgana doubled over, saliva flying from her lips. Before she could get any defense up Lara yanked her upright and slammed her forehead against Morgana's face twice. The second time Lara released Morgana, causing her to be thrown against the ice. Morgana bounced back straight into Lara's tail, which whipped her in the neck. Morgana flipped backwards in the air before landing flat on her stomach. Lara's tail then seized her middle and began flinging Morgana back and forth like a rag doll, smashing her against the ice. Lara flung her a dozen times before she spun and threw Morgana straight up. The witch tumbled into the air as Lara crouched, wings spread wide as she leapt. Somehow Morgana had enough of her senses to jerk her head aside as Lara tried to punch her, avoiding the hit. But then Lara spun and buried her knee in Morgana's chest, propelling her even higher into the air. Lara beat her wings and flew past Morgana, stopping above her. She kicked back with her feet, explosions erupting from her heels as she beat her wings hard. She tackled Morgana square in the back, propelling them down faster and faster for Morgana's tower, and then they slammed into it like a meteor. The tower shattered as though it were stuffed with gunpowder, throwing ice and water everywhere as Lara and Morgana plunged through it into the sea. Then a tall spray of water shot up into the air as the ice spires began collapsing. There was a collective crash as the structure fell, throwing up a large wave of water.

A silence hung in the air for a moment as the water settled. Then there was a splash as Lara flew out of the water, holding Morgana by the neck in one hand. The witch was still struggling against Lara, black blood leaking from her lip and nose.

"I thought as much," said Lara as she held Morgana up, her wings pumping to keep them in the air. "You're no ice witch."

She glanced down, seeing Morgana's tentacles straining to reach the water. Lara flew slightly higher, ensuring the water was well out of her reach. "What you use isn't ice magic. It's freezing magic. You can sap the heat out of anything you touch, and you can freeze water into any form you want. But you can't make ice out of nothing. Your tower wasn't just for show. You were using it to stay connected to the sea. So as long as I keep you out of the ocean, you can't make anything."

Morgana grunted, opening one eye at Lara. "Maybe…" One of her tentacles began to glow green behind her back. "But I can still freeze you!" Her tentacle whipped around and grabbed Lara's head, squeezing down as she began to freeze it.

At least, she tried to. She was squeezing and freezing Lara hard as she could, but nothing was happening. Her head should have been a solid block of ice by now, yet it felt warm as life under her tentacle. If anything, it was getting warmer.

"Which brings me to the next reason you're screwed…" said Lara, her voice muffled by the tentacle.

Morgana's eyes widened, and then she squeezed even harder. What was going on? She could freeze a ship solid with the magic she was forcing into Lara. And her tentacles were strong enough to crush a man's ribcage. Yet it was not affecting Lara in the least.

Suddenly Lara's skin turned burning hot. Morgana yelled as she let go, her tentacle smoking from multiple burns.

"Your magic is your only strength," said Lara. "Without it, you don't have any ability to fight me. To put it bluntly…you're weak."

Morgana clenched her hand and punched Lara's face. Instead of hurting Lara, Morgana felt shooting pain run through her entire arm. She had never punched anyone or anything in her life, and now she realized how much it hurt. She punched again, only for Lara to catch her fist in her palm. She squeezed, causing Morgana to scream out as her bones began to bend.

"How…?" wheezed out Morgana. "What…what are you?"

"What I am is Melody's guardian," said Lara. "Before that, I was a barmaid. Before that, I was a bodyguard. And before that, my job was finding and eliminating mages just like you."

Morgana's bloodshot eyes widened. "You…you're a witch hunter!?"

"Bingo." Lara pulled her goggles up as she drew Morgana's face close, growling as she glared into her eyes. "Like I told your flunky, since I'm not getting through to you, lemme put it in words you can understand: I'm your worst nightmare."

Lara then turned her attention towards Triton and Ursula, who were still fighting outside the plane of ice. She drew in a deep breath and shouted, "Poseidon!"

Triton turned his attention to Lara, giving Ursula a chance to strike. Dark lightning coated her giant trident as she stabbed at Triton. He summoned forth a huge wave of water, intercepting her trident. There was a flash and the water froze, holding the giant trident in place. Ursula struggled to pull it free, the ice temporarily disarming her.

"We're not done!" shouted Lara. "Not by a long shot! Once these guys are gone, you and I are gonna settle this! So don't you dare crawl back to the sea, or I swear I'll dive down and drag you back up so I can finish you off for good!"

Triton scowled. He pointed the trident at Lara as the forks glowed. "Trident, shoot her!"

A bolt of lightning flew from the trident. Lara nimbly darted out of the way. Triton kept firing at her, his blasts missing by wide margins. They blasted chunks out of the ocean, the ice wall, and the marina's stone embankment.

Lara stopped in the air. "You can't hit me at this distance, Poseidon!" She pulled down the lower lid of her right eye with one hand as she stuck out a long, glowing tongue. "Bleeeeegh!"

Ursula scowled darkly as she watched Triton get ready to fire on Lara again. "I told you, Triton…!" Her muscles suddenly bulged to twice their normal size. She yelled as she ripped her dark trident free of the ice. "You're fighting me!"

Triton abandoned shooting Lara as he saw Ursula raise three tentacles overhead, the suckers sprouting stone-hard teeth as she swung down. He summoned a jet of water from the trident, blowing himself backwards as the tentacles came crashing down into the sea.

Lara turned her attention back to Morgana. "Now to get rid of you." She breathed in, glowing lines appearing across her body as–.

The water below Lara broke as Undertow burst from the sea with jaws opened wide. He leapt completely out of the water and bit down on Lara's tail, his hands grabbing her legs.

Lara looked down in alarm. "What the–!?"

The next thing she knew Undertow pulled her under the water. It was cold and dim, the ice and storm blocking most of the light. But it was bright enough Lara could see Undertow was very much alive. Two large black and purple marks adorned his middle where she hit him, and his teeth did not line up correctly anymore.

"Got you now!" sneered Undertow as he beat his tail hard, dragging Lara deeper.

Morgana's momentary disbelief was quickly dispelled. "Now to get rid of you!"

She shoved a hand into Lara's face. A blast of freezing magic went off, encasing Lara's head in ice. She reeled back, releasing Morgana as she clawed at the ice. While she was blinded, Undertow swam up and smacked his tail hard into her head. Lara sunk back, and then Undertow raised both fists overhead and struck down on Lara. She went shooting down into the dark depths, hitting the sea floor with a loud whump. Morgana drew a glowing green hand back and then pointed down at Lara. A beam of green magic shot down into the water and struck Lara, encasing her whole body in thick ice. She was visible in the dark for a moment, encased in a solid block, and then the black swallowed her whole.

"That'll show her!" sneered Morgana as she wiped blood off her face. "Undertow, make sure she drowns! She had the edge up there, but in the water she'll be–!"

An orange light appeared in the dim below, pulsating like a heartbeat. Was Morgana imagining things, or did the water get warmer?

Morgana's eyes widened as she saw the light get brighter and heard ice cracking. "You've got to be kidding me!"


Melody stood at the edge of the wharf, watching where Undertow pulled Lara and Morgana under. She could not see anything. The ice was already settling out where they disappeared.

She reached behind to start undoing the ties to her dress, but Ariel grabbed her hands. "Melody, you can't!"

"She's down there, mom!" said Melody. "She could drown!"

"So is Undertow!" said Ariel. "If you go in there, they'll kill you!"

"They'll kill Lara!"

Suddenly the water exploded upwards as Undertow went flying into the air. A moment later the water burst again as Morgana went shooting into him. They struck in the air, flipping over and then falling down to the ice. Both of them were steaming as though they were pulled from a boiling pot, Morgana draped over Undertow's stomach.

Undertow sat up, rubbing his head. "Ow…what was that?"

"What do you think!?" snapped Morgana as she pushed herself upright. "That kid's still kicking!"

"I think it was a punch," added Undertow.

Morgana smacked him over the head with a tentacle. "Shut up!"

There was a crack as Lara burst through the ice. She rose into the air and then landed on a floe. Steam rose of her body as the water evaporated, the orange aura surrounding her again. Orange lines appeared on her body as her eyes began to glow brightly. She growled low in her throat, and then Lara threw her head back and roared. Hot wind radiated off her like a storm as the surrounding ice shattered and melted. Lara stood on the water's surface, steam emanating from under her feet.


"There!" said Remora as she slammed the furnace door shut. "You want something done, you do it your–!"

A distant sound cut Remora off. It was hard to hear this deep in the ship, what with the furnace and boilers waking up again, but she could definitely hear it. More than that, Remora felt the magic attached to it. It was Lara's without a doubt.

"What's that brat doing now?" She shoved her way past a group of pirates and headed for the door, intent on finding the answer for herself.


"Would you just die already!?" shouted Morgana over the din.

Lara's wings glowed orange and then transformed into smoke, swirling together to reform the piercings in her brow. She crouched down as fire blossomed on her feet, creating clouds of steam. Explosions erupted, blasting Lara forward at immense speed. The water turned to spray behind her as she took off faster than human eyes could follow. The heat from her feet boiled ice and water instantly, allowing her to effectively skate over it. She streaked towards Undertow and Morgana like a comet, a trail of steam in her wake.

Undertow's eyes widened as he lost track of Lara. "Sweet streakin' salmo–!"

Undertow did not finish before Lara hit them. She spun and threw a burning side kick into Morgana's chest and drove her into Undertow, the force carrying through into his gut. Lara's foot detonated, the explosion sending the pair skimming above the water and ice. Undertow hit a frozen wave and embedded in it as Morgana flipped over, tumbling across the surface. Lara crouched and blasted off again, sailing straight at Undertow as she thrust both fists forward. She hit him like a battering ram, driving him through the ice.

Morgana stopped when she hit a dislodged piece of ice. She clutched her chest, feeling sharp pain from broken ribs as she sat up. She heard a whooshing sound and turned to see Lara standing behind her with her right foot pulled back.

"When did you–!?" she started, but Lara cut her off when she kicked Morgana's side and sent her flying away.

Undertow was just starting to get up when he saw Lara come flying straight at him. Her fist nailed him straight between the eyes, and off he went again. At least, until Lara appeared directly above him and punched straight down. She embedded him straight into the ice, sending water and ice shooting out in a ring. She then grabbed his tail and spun hard, throwing him after Morgana. The two collided in midair, Morgana glancing off hard.

Lara stopped, steam rising off her body as she melted the ice floe below her. Her aura disappeared again, and then Lara disappeared from sight. The water and ice detonated in her wake. Melody and Ariel lost track of her entirely. All they could do was follow Morgana and Undertow as Lara beat them around the marina like a pair of pinballs. The ice shattered where Lara stopped, and then exploded as she took off again. The sound of her blows was like the finale of a fireworks display.

Suddenly Morgana and Undertow went sailing straight up. Lara came to a stop on the ice as fire sprouted from her back, reforming her wings as she roared. She leapt straight up as she beat her wings, rising like a rocket. She spun around and then drove her knee into Morgana, carrying her straight up into Undertow. They rose as Lara pummeled them with her fists. Up they went to the edge of the storm clouds before Lara stopped. She grabbed Undertow's feet and somersaulted forward, flinging him back towards the shore before she kicked Morgana with a glowing shin. The resulting explosion sent the witch after her minion. Undertow hit a ship in the marina, and then Morgana struck him. A support beam for the ship's deck collapsed down, pinning Morgana against her unconscious subordinate.

Lara spread her arms wide, fire coating them and then gathering in her palms. "It's over…!" Her hands glowed as magic built inside her, her eyes and hair glowing brighter. She thrust her hands forward and roared, "Morgana!"

A fireball as big as a rowboat formed in front of Lara, and then it shot forth from her hands. It roared like a beast as flew through the air for Morgana and Undertow.

Morgana looked up in time to see the fireball coming towards them. She tried to scramble for the water, but found the beam was too heavy for her to lift. She reached for the water with her tentacles, but it was just out of reach. She was trapped.

"Not like this! I can't end like this! Not to a stinking, lowly, worthless freak like you!" she yelled, looking up to see the fireball seconds from impact. "No! No! No! No! No! NOOOOOO!"

The fireball struck and then exploded, shaking the marina and beyond. Morgana and Undertow were illuminated in the flash for a moment and then vanished in the blast. A roiling cloud of smoke and fire rose into the air from the smoldering remains of the ship, signaling the demise of the sea witch and her shark.


Ariel stared at the ship, eyes wide and mouth covered by her hands as smoke rolled into the sky. "Oh my gosh…she killed them."

Melody sunk to her knees, staring at the burning ship. They were gone. Morgana and Undertow were really gone. There probably were not even bodies left. The fireball would incinerate them completely. They were finally dead.

So why did she feel so joyless about it? Morgana was the one who killed William. She and Maelstrom murdered who knows how many at Eel Ectric City and Abyssum. And Melody was not omitting the events of seven years ago, or when Morgana tried to leverage her as a baby. She should be feeling relief. Happy even. Complete. She got her revenge, even if it was Lara who dealt the final blow. More than that, William and countless others had been avenged.

And yet, all she felt was the same emptiness and anger as before. She thought the witch's death would fill that void. Allow her to feel that things had been set right. That justice had been done. That her demise would finally bring her closure.

There was no closure from Morgana's death. Just that same aching wound in her heart as before. If this was what revenge felt like, Melody hated herself for ever wanting it.


"That's…two down," Lara panted as her eyes and hair dimmed. She looked out across the marina. From this high up Seahaven looked like an elaborate colony of termites. The people were specks scurrying across the earth. Even Ursula looked comparatively small. She saw that most of the mutants were now either cut off by fires or being held back by armed civilians. The gunship's smokestacks were putting out the thinnest trails of smoke. No doubt the crew was racing to get its boilers going again. The damage to the town from the gunship was less than she anticipated. Her "fire binge" had prevented any flames from spreading. However, the buildings that were struck had been completely destroyed. Anyone inside would have been…

She scowled, clenching her fists. There would be time for the dead afterwards. She needed to focus on the now. And right now, she needed to get Melody and everyone else to the other side of that ice wall. Some people were getting around one end, but the other was flush against the northern sea cliffs. Others were trying to get ropes over the top. There were hundreds still trapped by the ice wall. They needed another way through.

She caught sight of a distinct head of red hair near the ice wall, and the raven-haired girl in the blue dress next to her. She beat her wings and flew down, diving out of the sky to land in front of Ariel and Melody. The two shrunk back from her, clearly intimidated by her appearance.

"Look, before you say anything…" said Lara as she stood, hands up disarmingly. "I know I just baked those two to a crisp. But I promise I'm not gonna do that to you. And I know I look scary, and I've got a lot of explaining to do…"

"That's putting it too lightly," said Melody.

"Okay, fair enough," continued Lara. "But right now, I need to get you all outta here before I deal with the rest of this floating trash heap. Once that's done, I swear you'll get the full story. Deal?"

Ariel and Melody looked at Lara, then each other, and then back to Lara. "Deal."

The trio ran back to the wall. The princesses shied away as Lara approached. Attina, Andrina, and Alana had been attacking the wall with whatever they could find, while Aquata was swinging Lara's sword at it. Arista was now attending to the wounded Adella. When they saw Lara approaching with their little sister and niece, they quickly turned their makeshift ice picks towards Lara, brandishing them as weapons–if one could call a broken lantern handle, a nail, and half a fishing spear weapons.

"It's okay," said Melody. "She's here to help."

"Define help," said Attina.

"As in I'm getting you all through that wall," Lara went up to the wall and scratched it, ignoring that the mermaids were keeping their weapons pointed at her. She let out a low whistle. "Now that's ice magic! Top tier stuff! That trident thing doesn't play around."

"Can't you fly just fly everyone over it?" said Ariel.

"That'll work for the eight of you, but I can't fly the whole marina over! That gunship will be working again by then. Gotta make a way for everyone to get through." Lara rubbed her hands together vigorously, sparks shooting out from them. Her hands began to glow, and then they caught fire. The heat coming off was so intense that the princesses took a step back.

"Keep an eye out for me," said Lara as she set her hands against the ice, fire spreading out from under them. Steam immediately rose as the ice began to melt. "This'll take a few minutes."


Remora barged out the door onto the gunship's deck. "There! We're minus a man, but the furnaces are starting up again!" She looked around, noting the significant loss of sea ice and the smoking ship near the burned-out wharf. "What is going on out here?!"

"That would be Anclagon," said the Master. "She just defeated Morgana and Undertow."

Remora snorted. "Not a high bar to clear. What about the clockmen?"

"Destroyed. Entirely."

Remora stiffened slightly. "All of them?"

"All of them," confirmed the Master.

"And the mutants?"

"Retreating, stopped, or burned."

Remora grit her teeth as she caught sight of Lara against the wall. "Now can I go kill her!?"

The Master shook his head. "My answer is still no."

"What do you mean no!?" fumed Remora. "She's completely overpowered Morgana, Undertow, and the chaff! And that fire trick pulled all the heat out of our boilers! We'll be dead in the water another twenty minutes at least! Longer if she does it again! So unless you have another plan, put me in!"

"Fortunately, I do." The Master's eyes turned down to the water. "Him."

The entire ship suddenly listed to one side as a large wave pushed against it. Remora caught hold of the railing to steady herself, and then ran to the other side of the deck. She saw an enormous dark serpentine shape pass under the water, heading straight for the marina.

"Since when was he a plan?" said Remora.

"Since now," said the Master.


Lara kept her hands against the magic ice wall, fire boring into the blue structure. Steam rose in great billowing clouds around her. Her brow was furrowed in concentration as she continued to melt through it. A man-sized hole a foot deep had been bored into it so far, but the other side was far from close.

"Why is it taking so long!?" asked Attina. "You smashed Morgana's ice no problem!"

"That was magically frozen water!" said Lara. "This is magic ice! Emphasis on the magic part! It's a lot tougher that anything Morgana was flinging around, so bear with me!"

"Just hurry!" pleaded Arista. "I don't want to be here a moment–ah!" Arista suddenly let out a startled cry, clutching her stomach as she fell to one knee.

All the mermaids immediately turned to the blonde.

"Aunt Ari?" asked Melody.

"I'm fine," said Arista as she started to rise. "It just…ooh!" Arista winced as though she had been struck, kneeling down again.

Ariel's eyes widened. "Oh no…"

Arista looked at her baby sister. "Ariel, you don't think…?"

Ariel nodded. "Yes, yes I do!"

Lara stopped melting the ice. "What's going on?"

"The baby…" Arista said through grit teeth. "I think…he's coming."

Lara and Melody's eyes flew wide open. "Now!?"

"No, he's giving his two days' notice…yes now!" snapped Arista before grimacing again.

Lara groaned. "Bad timing on his part! Aquata, give me the sword!"

Aquata backed away from Lara, keeping the sword pointed at her.

"For the love of–!" Lara extended her hand toward Aquata forcefully. "Give me the sword! We need to get through this ice now, unless you'd rather stay here with–!"

Suddenly the ground rocked violently, knocking everyone off their feet. Lara braced against the ice wall as she looked about. Some of the burned buildings along the shore collapsed, their structure weakened by the fires. Small cracks appeared in the ice wall. A long stretch of water was splitting like a prow wave, racing towards the shore. It was hard to see, but something was moving under it. Something big.

"That!" said Lara, pointing to the coming wave.

The wave dove down as it reached the edge of the ice floes. It was quiet for a moment, and then a large section of ice suddenly exploded as a plume of seawater shot high into the air. It rose far above the ships and buildings. The water fell away as a pair of glowing yellow eyes appeared, swamping the burning ship serving as Morgana and Undertow's funeral pyre.

A titanic sea serpent reared its head, its body a blue-gray and black with a bright orange, spiny dorsal fin that ran down its body like an eel. A long tendril dangled off the front of its head, tipped with a boulder-sized pearl. Its mouth was filled with enormous needle teeth, each long enough to pierce through an entire ship and then some. Loops of its body broke through the ice far out into the water.

"Sea serpent!" screamed Alana.

Melody's eyes widened in alarm. She knew this serpent! It was the same one that chased her, Tip, and Dash out of the ocean almost a year ago! There was no mistaking that fin or those teeth. But it was absolutely massive now! The serpent she saw had been able to bite whales in half. This thing could swallow them whole! It pushed the boundaries of even her imagination. If she tried to guess, this specimen was pushing fifteen-hundred feet in length. She had never seen any living thing so massive. How did it grow so fast? How did it even eat enough to stay alive?

The sea serpent looked down at them. It suddenly roared, mouth gaping wide to reveal a second set of jaws in its pharynx. A pointed blue tongue poked forth, splitting apart into multiple separate tendrils that writhed like a squid on a jig.

Aquata stared at the sea serpent, and then she quickly shoved the sword into Lara's hand before running behind her. "All yours!"

"Lara Anclagon!" the beast said, its voice thin and hissing for something so large.

"It can talk!?" exclaimed Ariel, Aquata, and Attina at the same time.

"That it can," said Lara. She walked towards the creature, stopping at the end of what remained of the wharf.

The sea serpent lowered its head towards Lara, one giant yellow eye looking at her. Giant waves lashed at the wharf, swamping it with water. "We meet at last."

"Yes we do," asked Lara, the water hissing and steaming as it washed over her feet. "You seem to know my name, but I don't know yours. And I think I'd remember it if I heard it. Who are you?"

"Riptide," hissed the sea serpent. "Third seat of Maelstrom, and left hand of the Master. I've been sent to eliminate you."

"That's quite a hand your boss has got," said Lara. "You're way more impressive than that Undertow character. Wait…you don't have a size complex too, do you?"

Riptide's mouth curled in his attempt at an amused smirk. "Hardly! And unlike him, I have nothing to compensate for!"

Lara cocked her head to the side, looking Riptide over. Then she turned back to Ariel. "If I catch him, can I keep him?"

Riptide gave what Melody assumed was a chuckle, though whether it was at Lara's question or the look of stupefied disbelief on Ariel's face she would never now. "You'll find I'm not suitable for a pet."

Suddenly Riptide's tentacle swung down with startling speed. Lara darted back as it ripped out the section of the wharf she had been standing on. She had to retreat yet again as Riptide lunged forward and bit, literally eating a whole section of wharf. He retreated back and spat, dropping the crushed wood into the sea.

Riptide shook his jaw and spat again, shooting a pylon out of his mouth like a toothpick. It embedded point first into the ice. "I would be hard on your furniture. That, and I eat people."

Lara's hands were shaking. Not with fear, but with excitement. The prospect of fighting something this big had her heart beating more than a few ticks faster. But she knew she needed to get the Melody and her family to safety first. "Shot in the dark, but you wouldn't be willing to take a rain check on this till tomorrow, would you? We've got a baby on the way, so now's not a good time."

Riptide hissed, baring his teeth at Lara. "Two meals in one body. More for me to devour." His tongue licked over his teeth.

Arista went stiff as a board, arms embracing her stomach protectively.

"Yeah, I thought as much," said Lara. She looked at her sword, and then back at Riptide. "Can't have you eating them. Guess I have to kill you too, then."

Riptide threw his head back and laughed loudly. "I like your spirit, Anclagon! But do not think you'll have an easy time of it!" He swatted his tail, sending a massive spray of water against the marina. A coral-riddled cannon was flung out of the water, hitting the stones with a loud clang and then rolling up against the ice wall. "You'll find me a far tougher opponent than Morgana!"

A/N: "Iron" by Within Temptation (to be continued into next chapter)

"No worries," Lara said as her hands caught fire. She held her sword out in front of her, one hand flat against the hilt of the sword. "Claymore…"

Lara ran her hand down the blade, encasing it in fire as she went. The sword burned, its form lost in the flames. The conflagration grew bright and hot, and then it grew longer. A few moments later the fires abated. Lara's sword was now a claymore in form as well as name. The blade was as long as Lara was tall, inscribed with glowing orange runes. The blade, pommel, grip, and crossguard were now the same black material as Lara's armor.

Lara gave the sword a spin and then slashed to the side. Melody could hear the blade cut the air. "I'm good with large animals," said Lara. "And I've seen much, much bigger."

Riptide's eyes narrowed as he gave a full toothy smile. "Prove it!" With a roar he lunged at Lara, mouth gaping wide as her sword caught fire.


Below the waves, Sebastian had been taking refuge inside a coral-encrusted cannon dropped into the marina decades ago. Hearing a lull in the activity, he poked his head out of the barrel. "Is it over yet?"

Suddenly the cannon was struck by a tremendous force. It went flipping through the water and then into the air. Over and over it tumbled before landing with a loud clang on the land, rolling to an abrupt stop against the ice wall.

"Ooooooh…my aching shell," he groaned as he stumbled out of the cannon. "What in de tides–is dat!?"

A colossal sea serpent stood tall in the marina. It was the largest living thing Sebastian had ever seen. Its teeth were large as ship's masts, and its mouth was big enough to eat whales. Standing on the wharf before it was a dark demonic figure wielding a long black sword. The sea serpent roared and lunged down as the demon's sword caught fire.

Sebastian's eyes bugged out of his head. "Oh heck no, mon!" He dove back into his cannon, grabbing a shell off the ground to seal the barrel shut.


A/N: Lara Anclagon rises from the ashes of defeat, transformed into the visage of the demon himself. Neither Undertow's pride or Morgana's vengeance have proven a match for her latent power. But now Lara faces Riptide, a creature unlike any other. Is her power great enough to match the leviathan's might? Or will she become his next meal?

As I have said before and will say again, though it may be extended periods between chapters, I will keep this story going all the way till the end! I have not forgotten you all, or your eagerness for new chapters! I hope this chapter and the ones to come do not disappoint you! Make sure to follow if you want to know the moment the next one is posted!

DISCLAIMER: I do not own "The Little Mermaid," Disney, or any of its associated characters and intellectual property. I do not own the listed song(s). Everything else, however, is mine =)