Nitocris VI

"You bitch," Mairu paced back and forth, again and again reaching up for his hair, and again and again finding not enough to grab on to, "You arrogant bitch!"

'You've said this quite a few times,' Nitcoris observed. She then felt a burning, as Mairu brought a hand together, and the circle tightened greatly. She let out a light grimace, as the mage bared his teeth, "And you've done this too. Every time you become angry, you shriek and cry, and then try and crush me with a containment circle," Mairu shook with rage, "You do know that if you push it anymore, then it might kill me," she the pulled up her most arrogant smile, one she'd practiced in both her lives, "And considering how much you've talk about "having a use for me", I'm sure you don't want that."

"Shut up!" he screamed. He gripped his hand together, causing the circle to cascade over her, the first ring of three of the control spell seeping onto her skin, "I'm so tired of being questioned by everyone single one of you fucking ghosts," she could feel something like a chain come over her arms, pulling them around to her back, "Do you know what it was like to be ordered around by that neanderthal Grazdan?"

NItocris looked up at Mairu and then twisted her head to the side while her jaw hung open in shock. A moment passed, as the second ring of the circle began to inch closer to her body, and he continued to focus on that, she barked, "Yes, I do know what that's like."

"I find this fat politician, no skill in magic or anything," Mairu was clearly too focused on ranting to care about whatever she said. Nitocris could only roll her eyes as the mage continued, "ANd I give him power and command that he could never have experienced," he then glared down at his arm, "But somehow, I wasn't able to get a command seal on him. So I had to spend months in that knockoff Rome massaging that freak's ego," he then shuddered, "All that time planning on conquests of a bunch of grassland, but it was going to be fine."

The second ring of the circle touched her feet, and she felt her legs grow as heavy as iron. She fell to her knees, she groaned, but she scowled as she looked up at him. She could only hope that Colan had made it to her companions, and was now getting them ready to come and rescue her.

"After all, Grazdan had spies, and it wasn't long until I learned that you were in Astapor," Mairu added, "I had managed to get in Grazdan's confidence enough to tell him of the importance of bringing the other cities of Slaver's Bay into his great invasion, and how there was a woman of incredible power among the Masters that would be worthy of being his queen," he smirked, "I knew it would be enough to get him to bring you all in, and once I got you alone in the palace, I'd be able to get you as my servant."

"But Grazdan was too busy parading you around, and my plans were interrupted when I was informed that Cu Chulain and Xuanzang were arriving," Nitocris had blocked the memory of Grazdan's flirtations during her first days of capture from her mind. She would have to find a way of…repaying, Mairu, for reminding her of them, "And you know what happened after that."

"You left one of my companions dead."

"He was already dead," her stomach turned, both from that, and from the magic of the second circle climbing toward her core, wrapping around her guts and forming a binding. She tried to move her mana, but she felt it held in place, "You all are."

She glared. She looked out the window, and slowly wondered if Colan had even made it. She really needed him to get to her soon or-

"It's even worse now that the little shitheel is on this plane," the third and final circle of the began to climb up her legs, "I tried to add a Command Seal to Mata, my first real servant, and it didn't work," he growled, "Too bad for you, it means I have to go with a bit more brute force than before," She felt it past the second circle, and over her chest, "Though I can't help but think this is more appropriate for a bitch like you," as the ring came to rest around her neck.

'...he spent days thinking that one up huh?'

"March," he pointed to the door. Nitocris felt the magic circles around her arms and legs force her to move toward the door, though it was like moving pieces of iron. There wasn't really pain, as much as it was her legs were almost dead pieces of meat she had no control over. As she moved though, she was getting faster, and she could watch as Mairu's smirk grew more and more as she walked.

"Yes," he laughed, "Oh, you don't know how long it took to make a spell like this," she came to a stop in the hallway outside the room she was held, "I couldn't even use command seals, considering how you are still attached to that other set," he pointed out the door, and then smiled, "Fire a shot."

Nitocris tried to keep her arms down, but the circle around them raised them up as though being pulled by a crane. She placed her hands in a position fire a spell, and then felt the circle around her core pulsate. Then, mana began to travel up her arms, and she fired a small dart of magic toward the door. It slammed into the wood, and sent a spray of splinters back, knocking the whole thing off its hinges.
"Excellent," Mairu snapped his fingers, and Nitocris had to snap to attention. She couldn't even say anything, the circle along her throat choking down her words, "Most excellent," she felt him place a hand on her back, and the worst part was she couldn't even shudder, as hit slowly slipped up her back, "To finally have one of you as my servant…it's been what I've been waiting for for years."

Nitocris felt a fear that he might try touching somewhere else, but he walked past her, hands held calmly behind his back. Nitocris could only scowl, his good mood just another thing she'd had to deal with now. He then turned back, and looked her up and down. She gain remembered Grazdan doing the it somehow got worse, when Mairu just lowered his head after a moment, and turned around.

"Not enough meat on her," she heard him say.

'...'

'...THE NERVE!'

"Besides, I need you ready to fight," he smirked. He snapped his finger, and she marched alongside him as they headed out the door. He then looked up, and snapped his finger once more, pointing, "Take me to the roof, will allow me to survey the battlefield."

Nitocris couldn't even roll her eyes. She grabbed Mairu by the sleeve, and jumped up to the top of the roof. From there, they were able to look over the whole of the city. To the North, she could see burning, likely where Euron's pirates were raiding the wealthiest ships and docks of the city. The intensity of the fires was closer to the west, to the drowned town she'd been in back before she'd been captured. She gave a quick turn of her head to the archipelago of temple islands, and sighed in relief that the House of Black and White remained closed. Mairu had only said that there was an attempt to summon a servant of awesome power from there.

"I don't see them yet," but Mairu was looking southwest, towards the outcast inn. His fingers were twitching, some mix of anticipation and nerves causing his body to fidget. He looked back, and smirked at her, "They'll probably be bringing me that brat's guts when this is over," he laughed, and Nitocris again was prevented from rolling her eyes.

'He was probably hoping when we came out that they'd have already brought his body,' she thought. So the chances were good that Colan had made it pretty far at least, and in her mind at least half a chance he was already at the Outcast Inn, 'As long as he didn't need to use that reinforcement spell too quickly,' she worried, before also also adding, 'or that the burst of mana didn't strain him so badly to leave him in a heap,' she wished she could massage her temples, 'The damn thing was our only option to get the warning out.'

As the moments went on, nothing seemed to happen. Oh, there were screams coming from the north, but still nothing coming from where RItsuka and the others were. She could only vaguely move her eyes, to see that Mairu's twitches were growing more frantic. She could almost imagine him warring within himself, wanting to charge forward with her to go make sure that Colan was dead. But he didn't want to give up this position.

"You know," he said aloud, "It was a very difficult spell to get you under my control.'

'Oh, he's talking to deal with the stress,' she thought, 'Of course, there isn't anything I can do to stop him…'

"-n't be a command seal," he continued, "So I had to tailor it directly to your current body instead," she was only vaguely listening, "It took weeks to build out the basic theory, and then, well I had to use the time you were in the circles to adjust the frequency of the seals to match your own," he shook his head, "The resonance has to be exactly perfect. It was so much work, but now I have you."

'Wait,' Nitocris thought, 'So this spell…is only tied to this body,' she considered it for a moment, 'and not only this body, but it's state inside the circles over the past three days,' she considered the necessary matching of the frequencies of her mana to that of the spell, 'that means, if I can somehow disrupt the frequencies, I could break free,' she then frowned, 'if I had even the slightest control of my magic, I could probably perform a large enough spell to exhaust my mana supply completely, which would likely short circuit it,' but for all of his foolishness, Mairu had made sure that he was in control of her ability to use spells.

"Caster," Mairu commanded, "I want you to create a spell that will let me see down by the Inn. I need to know if th-"

Nitocris wasn't listening anymore. She could feel her arms being to lift up, and the circle around her core forming a spell that would provide something like a seeing eyeglass for about two miles, but her mind wasn't on that.

'Caster.'

She calmed her mind, and then her soul. She hadn't done this since Ghis, mostly because it hadn't been necessary, but also because she hated doing it. It had been a discovery that she had had while battling outside Goetia's lair, and while she was thankful it had allowed her to survive, the feelings were too painful when they were brought out. She hated the rage that flowed through her was just something she was not comfortable with.

'Anubis,' she called out in as clear a mind as she could, 'Are you there?"

She was no longer on the rooftop. She was among the stars now. Above her, the jackal faced god looked down at her, resting his head lazily in its outstretched palm. He opened one eye, and the canine snout was transformed by a massive smile.

I always am Little Pharoah.

"What are you doing!?" Nitocris was back in the real world again. She turned her head, and smirked as she saw the shrieking mage, "I ordered you to let me see the Outcast Inn-" he raised his hand, "Caster," he moved his hands about, "Create that spell or-"

"I'm not Caster anymore," she said.

First, Mairu's face was one of dumb surprise. The spell she'd been under had been at least partially designed to keep her from speaking. So simply hearing her voice, something he'd likely assured himself he'd never have to listen to again, had knocked his feet out from under him. He was supposed to be completely in control, and now he knew that he wasn't.

Then the surprise was gone, and there was a questioning disbelief. He was likely asking himself what could have allowed the spell to go wrong. It was well crafted, and if he had really designed it himself, it was actually quite impressive. If he wasn't so self absorbed, Mairu might have been able to make something of his talent for magecraft. Though, the arrogance was such a common quality in even the most wisened and experienced mages, he probably had no chance to avoid the humiliating neutering of his spell.

Because this next bit was the best part, as Nitocris would admit, the flowing spite in her heart allowed her to enjoy the collapse of this man's world. It was fearful recognition. He realized that she had bypassed the spell. That, as the pure mana erupted around her skin, destroying the circles around both her arms, legs and stomach, he knew that she could do this, and somehow had never accounted for it.

"Nitocris Alter," she took a moment to bow forward. Winged pauldrons on her shoulders only slightly incumbering her movement, the feelings of bandages slowly descending and wrapping her body, "Avenger."

"Ono-"

Mairu raised his hand. From the sound of it. Nitocris threw her arm upward, kopesh materializing as it did so. A second after that, blood splattered over Mairu's face. A dull thud could be heard, as Mairu's left arm fell to the ground, cut cleanly at the elbow. His eyes had almost doubled in size, before he took a step back, and then fell backward, his right arm reaching up, and grabbing at the stump of where she had struck him.

"You saw me use this to beat Grazdan," she really didn't care that he hadn't remembered. It had helped her that he'd forgotten. But, it was so wonderful to watch him stammer, to watch him squirm, to make him walk through the mistake that had led him here, "How could you have even thought about not including a contingency if I switched my class again. Surely, it must have occurred to you that I might be able to become an avenger once more, and that would disrupt your delicate spell?"

Mairu opened his mouth to speak, but he couldn't even get a single word out. He closed it, then opened it again, but again he couldn't get anything out of it. She shook her head, stepping closer. She raised both Khopesh high above her head, ready to tear him apart. No need for anything else. She then sliced both her blades downard to his prone body.

Her bronze hit stone. Almost immediately she brought her eyes up, and scanned quickly. The first swing of her eyes to the right showed her where Mairu had gone. He was hanging, by the back of his shirt, from the hand of a tall man with white hair, bronze skin, and a red coat. For an instant, she was about to scream that Emiya had waited for days to come out of the temple only to save the life of their clear enemy, when her eyes met the figure. Instead of the steel grey, she saw a white star sitting in black void.

"You're not Emiya," she said, pointing one of the Khopesh at the man. The star-eyed man smiled at that. He lifted Onos up to his face, until their faces were only a few inches away from one another.

"Strike three."

"Ono-" the figure slammed his free hand into the back of Mairu's neck, and mage slumped, hanging in the air like a pig carcass on a meat hook. The faker tossed Mairu over his shoulder, and then waved his hand.

"Halt," Nitocris said. She began to move her mana forward, preparing for a strong strike, "You will explain yourself now, and hand that mage over," the figure seemed to freeze, his entire body hitching in place, "if you do, I shall-"
"How dare one of you think to order me!" a bronze skinned fist was only an inch in front of her nose.

A second later, she was crashing backwards, before colliding with the stone wall around the edge of the roof. She let out a groan, reaching up, and feeling that her nose was slightly scrunched up, and that mystic blood was pouring from her nostrils. Almost immediately, the mana fire of her skin flowed up, and ended the blood flow, but she was at least slightly delirious from the strike.

She jumped to her feet, staring at where her opponent had been. He was gone, Mairu as well. She growled, but she opened both sets of ears. Through the sound of the waves, the far off screams and cheers and the crackle of fire, she listened for anything immediately around her. When she heard the displacement of wind right behind her, she dove forward, and then felt the momentum of a fist just miss her.

She rolled, and then turned back. The Emiya imposter was standing where she had been, his fist right squarely placed to slam into the back of her head. She raised her khopesh. As he looked down on her, she reached into the back of her mind.

'Anubis?' she asked, they were more connected than ever in this state, so she could use the God's advice, 'What is this man, and why is he able to move so quickly?'

He is a great danger little Pharoah. My Judgment can not be given to him.

"Shit," she cursed aloud, readying herself for the next bout. The figure adjusted his legs, and then smirked to himself. He then raised his free hand above his head, Nitocris felt her stomach curl inward.

"I am the Sword of Bone," Emiya's chant came from his mouth, but it was sick and wrong. Emiya's call was one of lamentation and reverence, this one, "Steel bent by body, fire doused in blood," was a mockery. Slowly, swords began to appear out of the ether around him. But instead of well crafted weapons forged for proper use, they were ragged and chipped and splinted metal, pointing directly at her, "I have conquered all blades," he flicked his hands toward her, and the blades shot forward like a storm.

And then she was no longer facing him. Instead, she was staring out toward the middle of the lagoon. She then felt an arm around her stomach, and the form of a figure up against her, "Wow Nitocris," a smug voice said in her years, "You really should think about staying an Avenger, you are way more beautiful like this."

"Musashi?" Nitocris blinked. She turned her head, and saw the woman smirking at her. Her mind stopped, as she tried to process that another servant had just appeared, and not only just appeared, but done so to rescue her instead of turn out to be another enemy she'd have to fight to survive and get back home.

"The one and on-," the pink haired swordswoman stopped, placed a finger against her cheek, and then laughed, "Well, I guess that line really doesn't work for me, considering," she waved her hands about, "You know, a whole bunch of stuff that is way too confusing to deal with right now," she then stopped, and pointed back at the fake Emiya starring over at them, "Considering it looks like we are dealing with another evil version of Emiya."

"Musashi," the figure said, staring in shock at Nitocris's companion, "But...you weren't, how did you?" he stopped, and then Nitocris watched as the Emiya clone clenched his teeth together, "You weren't one that we-"
"La Grond-"

And then he jumped away. A burst of black fire hit where he had been standing. As he sailed through the air, he glared instead at another rooftop. Nitocris followed his eyes, and felt relief when she saw not only Jeanne Alter, but Colan and Ritsuka standing there, glaring at their enemy. Knowing that Colan had managed to get back to the inn was a relief. It also explained Musashi. More than likely, the samurai had run into Ritsuka sometime in the last few days. Now, with three servants, they would be more than strong enough to deal with this-

No We Cannot

'Anubis,' Nitocris asked.

Little Pharoah. Do not attempt to fight this one now. I fear that we may have found ourselves in a confrontation with a figure that even Goetia would be forced to bow beneath.

"He's a Beast?" she asked aloud. Musashi stopped. Ritsuka looked over at her, his eyes widened, as Jeanne Alter growled, readying another strike. All the while their opponent seemed to hang in the air, glaring at them while holding onto

…No. Something both more alien and…more familiar.

"Have you no pride Anubis."

You can hear me.

Nitocris paused, looking over the star eyed man, who was looking at her. No, not at her, but through her. He was looking at Anubis as she channeled him.

"Have you no pride, no shame?" he asked aloud, "Lowering yourself to creatures of an order of understanding lower than your own," he pointed his free hand toward her, "You have betrayed the mantle of godhood, all for the measly affection of these parasites," he waved his hand around, "worlds upon worlds of rotting flesh and fetid bile. And yet you offer nothing but merc-"

Are you not currently residing in a vessel of such flesh and bile?

"That is-," the figure stopped, and he glared over the assembled opponents, "Forget it, there is no point in speaking to one so desperate for pets," he looked away, and then lowered himself. He landed on a small buoy out in the middle of the water, before turning back, "I have what I need," he smiled, "I need not waste my time with you lot at the moment. There are more than enough keys jingling in your ears."

And then, he bolted backwards, sailing across the surface of the lagoon, Mairu hanging in his hand. Musashi made to lunge after him, but Nitocris raised her hand. The Japanese Woman gave her a look, but Nitocris could only shake her head.

"Whatever that spirit was," she said aloud, "I doubt we are capable of fighting it as we are right now," she cringed, as the pain along her nose was still there despite her quick healing, "Not to mention he was right, we have other problems that need to be addressed first," Musashi raised an eyebrow, before following Nitocris's eyes to the burning fires along the northern horizon. She then nodded, before grabbing at Nitocris's waist again, and hopping. A second later, Nitocris was right in front of RItsuka on his roof. The boy was staring off at where their opponent had disappeared, before he sighed.

"Hey Nitocris," he said, waving his hand, "Sorry it took so long to find you," he admitted, "Things have been hectic."

"I can certainly see that," Nitocris looked over at their newest companion, "So you found Musashi, guess that will come in handy quite a bit moving forward."
"Actually," Ritsuka pointed over at the youngest member of their group, "It was Colan who found her tonight. If he hadn't then we probably don't get warned where you are, and whoever that was might have taken you out," he then raised a thumb in the air, "So good work on getting Colan free to help us."

Nitocris gave a look over at Musashi, giving her a questioning look. The pink haired woman then threw her hands up, before adding in exasperation, "No, it's a joke, it's always been a joke, stop thinking it right now, or I'll have to say I regret jumping in to save you back there," Nitocris then rolled her eyes, and Musashi rubbed her temples, "I like pretty things. Doesn't mean I do anything creepy."

"We can go through all this sort of stuff later," Ritsuka spoke up, and Nitocris could only nod, "RIght now, we need to plan our next step of action," he looked back into the lagoon to the Southeast, and then pointed to the windowless building with the ivory and ebony doors, "That's where Emiya is right?"

"Where he last went in," she said, before slightly wobbling, having to catch herself. The initial burst of avenging malice had left her, and now she was being forced to deal with the after effect. It also left her with guilt. She looked down into the mirror of the lagoon, saw the winged pauldrons and the white hair, and she turned her head back quickly, "We probably should go over there and-"

"Uh oh," Ritsuka suddenly stopped, and reached into his front jacket pocket. Out came the small little triangle that was their "Compass". It was flicking back and forth, one directly to the north, and one to the southeast. He stopped, looked in that direction, and said, "Bess is on the move."

"Too bad for her," Jeanne Alter huffed, before waving her hand, and turning to the archipelago, "Come on, we need to wake up the harem protagonist if we are going to-"

"We are heading North," Ritrsuka declared. This caused Jalter to stop mid stride, and then somehow pirouette around on her standing leg, and turn with a glare directly into Ritsuka's eyes. The movement caused Colan to jump backward, and even Musashi flinched at the anger the witch projected. Ritsuka just continued to look her in the eye, before he added, "If she is in trouble, she's still my servant, and I owe it to her to come and help her when she needs it."

"You," she pointed her finger directly into Ritsuka's face, her teeth bared and sharper than before, "You," Ritsuka didn't budge, but he did seem to relax his eyes somehow at her, and wait for a moment longer, "After everything she said."

"I kn-no," he shook his head, "I don't know. But I made a pact with her, and while she may have abandoned it, I never did," he almost made to reach to grab her, but stopped, and held back, "I owe it to her to go and see if she needs help."

"And what if she's the one leading this raid," the witch added, "You said she was angry at her fat fa-"

"Then I'll put her down," he said with a finality, before smiling, "But I'm like, eighty-six percent sure that she isn't behind this," he stopped, blinked, and then added, "Eight-four percent sure."

Jeanne Alter stared at him for a moment, before groaning, and then nodding in resignation. Nitocris Alter could only look at the young man who had summoned her to Chaldea, and then shake her head. Perhaps she could only notice with her fury dissipating, but she let loose a chuckle, drawing the attention of the rest of the group.

"I was truly lucky," she said, turning North, readying to use the rest of her limited time as an Avenger, "That it was you that became my master."

The Purple Harbour was, even in this state, a place of opulence. There were silks laying along tables along the front of open aired shops. Clear glass, a very expensive product, shone over many other shops, with expensive trinkets hidden behind it. Ripe and succulent fruit sat out, likely to be replaced quite soon. There were ships with expertly carved figureheads standing at attention at the docks.

"Would be pretty fancy if half the place wasn't on fire," Jeanne Alter snarked. Nitocris wanted to reach back and smack her, but it would probably be a bit of a misuse. Luckily, Musashi was there, and an audible smack was quickly followed by a loud, "HEY!"

"Okay," Ritsuka's hand was out, allowing the compass to direct him. He stopped, pointing towards a little cove within the harbor, and pointed, "She's there," he looked over at Musashi, "Musashi, Nitocris, get down there. Jeannette and I will cover you."

"Oh, are we sure you two aren't going to spend your time making kissy fa-"

THWACK

"OW!" never let it be said that Jeanne Alter was a woman willing to let opportunity pass her by. Before Musashi could turn back around to retaliate, Nitocris touched her shoulder, and then lunched forward in the direction Ritsuka had pointed. Musashi almost immediately followed her. As they flew through the smoke, they came upon what seemed like a massive wooden platform. There were bodies strewn throughout, and massive pockets of men. She could see some where wearing the uniforms of the city guard, and they were facing a motley group of others in every kind of stripped back sailor shirt imaginable. Nitocris could quickly guess that those pirates were the enemy, though she looked for Drake as she hung in the air for a moment.

"Come on you dogs!" she heard a familiar voice shout, and her eyes went to the northern edge of the great platform. There she saw a flash of red hair, and a woman surrounded by at least a half dozen pirates. She had on her head the cap of a member of the guard, likely so they wouldn't think her a traitor. And, despite everything that had happened, Nitocris was glad that her companion was not too far gone, "I'll cut down every las-"

"There is no need for that," Nitocris announced. She did not raise her voice, but she didn't have to. The resonance of her being carried over the entire platform, and was enough to cause the everyone there to pause. She then swooped down to right behind three of the men Drake was fighting, and sliced her blades along their backs. The movement was too fast, and they were falling to pieces before they had time to scream.

The other few around Drake were stunned. With a free hand, she twisted, and then brought her sword up and slashed at the neck of one of the other pirates, sending forth a spray of blood. When one of the others tried to attack, Nitocris sliced upward, cutting off his arm and causing him to miss a step, falling helplessly to the ground. Drake used the opening to turn and stab into another pirate directly next to the suddenly collapsing man, while Nitocris kicked to her side, catching that pirate in the knee and causing it to buckle. Drake then finished that one off with a backhand stab directly into said pirates face.

"Thanks for that," Drake said, "Now we can get to clearing off the rest of this-"

"Already did it."

Nitocris sighed, before turning back to see Musashi standing there, holding up with her left hand an entire bushel of freshly decapitated pirate heads. She looked over the rest of the dock, and saw that the guards were now staring at the now headless bodies either in the process of collapsing, or already collapsed. She glanced back at Drake, who was staring in shock at the swordswoman, though…

"So you finally show yourself Musashi," she spat, "Knew when I heard of a strange swordswoman that you were the most likely culprit that Ritsuka would throw at me," she shook her head, "How long have you been keeping tabs on me?"

"Weeelllllll," Musashi placed her blade on her shoulder, while twirling the clump of heads in a circle while she thought on the subject, "I think I arrived here about six months ago give or take," the guards were now looking at her with a mix of awe, horror and…well, she'd rather not say, "I was disappearing after fighting chaos, when suddenly I just, like, land here of all places, and nothing is making any sense, and every-"

"Wait," Drake raised her hand, "You weren't born here?"

"No," she continued to swing the heads, only to suddenly lose a bit of control, and suddenly send her dozen or so trophies into the night air, and then watch as they began to splash into the waves around the docks, "Damn," she cursed, "No, I wasn't born here. When I met other you, who swore she had no idea who I was, I thought that perhaps I'd been born in another timeline where-"
"You ran into Drake!"
"Yes, well, I ran into other you," Musashi said, before Lizabet groaned and slapped her forehead, "Hey, I don't want to hear it. Do you know how confusing this place is?" she reached her hands out, "I run into a Drake that doesn't swagger around like a pirate, the maps I see are just plain fantasy nonsense, I have to adjust how I speak so anyone knows what I'm saying, and it turns out that this places Ritsuka is a cute boy instead of a pretty girl," she raised her hands up, "I'm barely keeping my sanity for the moment, so I'd appreciate it if you don't go on talking about how strange the world is turning."

"...RItsuka was a girl?" Nitocris heard herself ask.

"Not you too!"

"That's ridiculous," Lizabet raised her hand to her head, before she said, "People just don't switch sexe-" the look Musashi gave Drake, and how her words applied to the both of them, caused her to sigh, and then place her hand on the back of her head, "Maybe old Grindal was right. At least hellfire makes sense," she groaned, "My afterlife now seems to be nothing but so much mummery."

"Lady Antaryon," they were pulled from their conversation by a voice behind them. One of the guard was standing at attention, though he seemed to be trying to keep some distance between himself and them, and most obviously Musashi, "We hold this section of the docks," he then pointed out into the distance, "Our barrier won't be flanked for now, but if more ships come in-"
"On it!" Suddenly, Musashi jumped away. The guard flinched at her disappearance, and almost on instinct reached up and held at his neck.

"Do not worry," the pirate said, looking out at an incoming ship, "I don't think anything untoward is about to happen to you," as she said this a massive plume of fire traveled overhead. They all stared up as strange black flames shot through the air, before crashing down on the attacking ship, causing the whole structure to erupt. As the screams of the pirates on board echoed across the water, the guard, with terror in his eyes, looked over at Lizabet, who shrugged, and added again, "Nothing untoward will happen to you."

"I shall," he paused the fear still clear on his features, "keep that in mind," he then turned around, and Nitocris guessed he was desperately trying to not break down. He began motioning with his hands, "Men, we need to move up. I doubt that other ships will try and dock here as long as that one keeps burning," the slow nods from the rest of the soldiers said that they had similar feelings about what had just happened. It was confirmed when they all seemed to double-time their way off the dock, and toward the street along the harbor, towards the sound of more fighting in the West. As they did so, Nitocris noticed more and more men in guard uniforms streaming in. Most likely the guard forces from the rest of the city were making it to the palace in the East, and were streaming towards the fighting in one great show of force.
"So," Drake said, pulling Nitocris from her consideration, "Went Avenger again huh?"

"Yes," Nitocris admitted, "I don't think I have much longer, it is not a natural state of my soul, but I should be able to keep it up for a bit more," she looked at the one living pirate, and severed the back of his neck, "I do not like this form though, the fury it brings out in me is something I find…disturbing."

"Thank you for coming up here," she proceeded to kick one of the dead pirates beneath her, "Damn traitors, after everything I did for them," she growled, "After everything I offered them, they go and set half the Purple Harbor up in flames."

"Maybe you should have thought of that before you brought hundreds upon hundreds of pirates into this city," Drake's scowl deepened, before looking up to her right. Nitocris didn't need to look to Ritsuka to know that he had just been brought here by Musashi. Still, she looked over to him, and as she suspected, had a bit of relief in his features, "Knew you wouldn't have tried a stunt like this, but how did they sneak this around you?"

"I don't know," Lizabed shook her head, "I was over with my father in the Palace. Be a distraction so my crew could lead the whole fleet out of here," she looked around, "There is no way that they are behind this. We had the plan ready for them to leave, and there is no way they'd try and pull this sort of thing off while I'm not there at least."

"Maybe some of them broke off while your ship was leading them out and decided to raid while they had the chance?" Nitocris spoke up, but Drake only shook her head.

"No, not at this scale," she waved her hand, "At least half the purple harbor is on fire, more ships keep coming in to try and attack further down," they all looked at the still burning hull just outside the water, "Or, were coming in," she grumbled while Jeanne Alter did not hide the smugness from her face, "and if I can look out in the distance, I see that they've already set fire to the Customs House on the Chequy Port, and are attacking the arsenal," there were fires and plumes of smoke coming from the lagoon to the northwest, "no, they'd only try something like this with overwhelming numbers."

"So where are your crew then?" Ritsuka asked.

"I don't know," the pirate was trying to hide how nervous she was. She was keeping herself locked straight, but that only made it clear that she was actively trying to tamp down on her jitters. She was staring off toward the Drowned Town, a bit to the southwest. There was some smoke coming from there, but from this angle, it was hard to see just how much of it there was, certainly in comparison to all the smoke coming from the fires at the other end of the Purple harbor, "I need to get there. If my crew is holed up in my palace, then I need to go and free them."

"We can help with that," Drake turned her head to Ritsuka, and now she was unable to hide the emotion from her face. Nitocris could compare it to when she saw Yemsaf step in elephant dung one time in Mereen. Before the pirate could object though, Ritsuka continued, "Your crew is likely in danger right now if you are right about them, and I don't think you are going to be able to fight your way through several hundred pirates and guardsmen to get to your place on your own," he then pointed to his right, "You'll certainly be slower than if you were to travel by Air Musashi," the samurai grinned at that.

Drake looked like she was about to snarl at the master, but stopped. Nitocris could guess the rudimentary calculation Drake was computing in her head, and then watched as her shoulders sagged. She slowly looked up at Ritsuka, before saying, "Fine, take me back."

"Sounds good. Okay team, time for-"
"Ritsuka," Jeanne Alter snapped, "Didn't you say one of the reasons we were coming up here was to make sure that we could save the people," the witch was doing all in her power to not look at Drake, "Maybe her crew can wait for a bit while we clean up her mess."

"Do you want to say something to me?" Drake snarled, pulling her sword free, and pointing it at the witch.
"A whole lot of things," the witch held up a hand bathed in black fire, "I want to roast the skin from your fa-

"Stop," Ritsuka made a t with his hands, "Time out," he turned to Jeanne Alter. He was about to speak up, when Ritsuka watched as she crossed her arms and glared at him. He then sighed, before adding, "Jeannette, why don't we put you up on some of the roofs over to the west a bit, so you can set fire to move of those ships. That way, we are helping out the innocent people of this harbor, and you don't have to go back there."

"...Fine," "Jeannette" nodded, and her voice missed a bit of the annoyance. Ritsuka had gone out of his way to accommodate her, and she did seem to appreciate that. She gave one final glare at Drake, who raised her middle finger at the witch. Jalter then snorted, before raising her hand again, watching as flames lit up, "I should be able to go a while as long as I keep it at targeted fireballs. None of that whole massive immediate immolation field."

"Okay," Ritsuka nodded his head, "I say we get moving now so we can get there as quickly as possible," he he held his hand out, "Elizabeth," he said, holding his hand out to the pirate, "Grab my hand so Musashi can take us to the roofs."

"Not that I don't appreciate ditching the witch," Jeanne Alter didn't even flinch at that, which considering what Drake had called her previously wasn't that much of a surprise, "But will she be enough on her own. There should be enough men to hold, but even with some of the ships being destroyed by her, I'm not sure it will be enough to completely push the pirates back."

"Oh, she won't be alone."

And then, as if on que, There was a massive scream to the west. Nitocris turned her head, and watched as, end over end, a ship flipped high into the air, sending crowds of pirates shooting away in different directions. A second later, the ship came down, and in the darkness there was a mighty splash. Nitocris then turned to Drake, and saw the look of at dull, defeated surprise.

"Xuanzang is here, huh?" she asked.

"Got it in one."

They had left Jeanne Alter at one of the rooftops, and quickly made another jump. It took only a few moments for this new group to make it to the wooden tops of the Drowned Town. Nitocris was fairly sure she only had a few moments left before her Avenger form gave out, but she was doing her best to conserve it just in case. Drake and Musashi would take the lead, in case they ran into anything. Though, it did seem eerily quiet out here now, with no one seeming to move around. There were fires burning around the outer edge of the town, but that was it.

"Alright," Drake said, "Here's the Moot," she grabbed at a small latch along the roof, "Now let's check in and," she opened it, and stopped. Nitocris glanced in. This latch led down to a set of beams that likely hung over the moot. With a few steps down to the beam below, it was easy to guess that this was a ladder for someone to come down and use to monitor what was happening below.

It was also easy to guess that a pool of blood sitting on the beam did not mean good things for whoever had been stationed here.

"Shit," Drake slammed the latch back closed, "Fucking hell," she ran her fingers through her hair, "There must have been an ambush," she then immediately looked over to the palace, "My crew that survived the fighting must have retreated to the palace. We need to get there quickly."

"You heard her," Ritsuka said, and Musashi nodded.

The next jump took them to the palace's entrance. The front door had been smashed open, and there were three bodies lying there. Two appeared to have strange silver shirts on, and from what Nitocris could guess they were some of the pirates that had turned on Drake. The third was a decapitated body, clearly with Drake's stag and color on his shirt. Drake kneeled down, and placed her hand on the body of her dead comrade.

She then stood up, and shot through the broken door.

"DRAKE!" she shouted, "Drake, where are you!"

"Isn't she-"

"Elizabeth the First," Ritsuka answered Musashi's question, "Prince and the Pauper thing,"

"ASHA!" the pirate ignored the explanation, "Get out here! Inneo! Salla!" she began to rush back and forth, going through different doors. This lasted for a good several minutes of her moving alone through her palace, shouting all the while, "You all have to be here!" She pushed open one of the doors at the back, and inside then they heard her gasp, "Oh god."

Nitocris and the rest rushed to behind the pirate, and looked inside. This was one of the back rooms, and it was a complete mess. The long silk tapestries adorning the sides of the hall were ripped from wall, a half dozen large tears along them. Most of the furniture had been knocked over, with shards of ceramics covering the floor. And there were a dozen or so bodies, most being of other pirate crews, but two more being decapitated men in Drake's colors.

"This can't be happening," Nitocris heard the pirate whisper to herself. She looked around, before slamming her hand into each door. Each door flew open, none having actually been locked. With each door that was open, the fear only seemed to grow in her. Finally, she had opened all the secret rooms, and had not been able to find a single one of her crew. She took a step back, and just stared at one room in particular, a small parlor with chests open revealing different copies of her current wardrobe, "This can't be happening."

Nitocris looked over at Ritsuka, but the boy remained silent. He was looking at the woman, but he was doing his best to appear level. She almost nudged him to try and get him to say something, but the look of concentration on his face told her that it would be useless for her to do so. So they all, Musashi, Colan and she, joined Ritsuka in staring in silence as the pirate seemed to grow more and more frantic.

Finally, Drake pulled herself from her stupor, and then stared out one door to the outside, "The Docks," she said, "They must be at the Stag," before they could do anything, she was out the door, likely rushing over the wooden planks toward where her ship should be. Musashi was about to rush after her, but Ritsuka held up his hand.

"I think," he said, "We need to let Drake figure this out on her own."

Nitocris nodded. Drake still hadn't come to terms with the reality of what had happened to her crew, and likely needed to see it without some scapegoat nearby. Drake was clearly in a state of denial, and the only way to overcome that was to be confronted with it..

Nitocris should know, she was an Egyptian.

"Okay," Ritsuka said, after a minute had passed, "We can follow her."

It wasn't too hard for them to find Drake's ship. There was a small plume of smoke coming from the docks, and it was easy enough to guess what that meant. It had only been confirmed when they saw the first spike with a head atop it. Followed by another head, and then another.

But the time they saw Drake again, the whole place was covered in at least two dozen heads, if not closer to three dozen. They were a motley bunch, but it was clear from their presentation that these were members of Drake's crew. As for Drake, she was kneeling in front of the one whole body left of her crew. A body hanging from the smoldering stern of her ship…that appeared to be her own.

Once Nitocris got closer, it was clear that they were two different people, and not just because one was a corpse and the other wasn't. The one hanging was older, more beaten by age and life, while the Drake they knew still was vibrant. More clearly, there was a massive scar along the corpse's face, that honestly looked quite like the scar across her face, and blood spilling from several no dry wounds.

"It was always going to happen this way, wasn't it?"

They all looked to Drake, who reached up and touched the cheek of her dead doppelganger, "When I first met you, as a Tudor, you said you'd always go first," Nitocris could see tears flowing down the pirate's cheeks, "You said you'd take on all the dangers of the world, and protect "Your Princess"."

"And you did," she shook her head, "God in Heaven, when Mary wanted my head on a pike, you helped smuggle me out," she shook her head, "You taught me to sail, and to drink and so many wonderful things," she then shook her head, "And I just, kept taking things from you," she sighed, "Freedom from the duties of the crown, your family," she ran her fingers over where the scar would be on her face, "I even made you scar yourself when I was fool enough to get a spanish cutlass across my face."

"And when you died, I thought I'd never see you again," she clenched her left hand into a fist, "When I never saw you on the throne, I was sure that I was being mocked. That you had to have your name used by a failure like me."

"But then here," she added, almost chuckling, "I got to meet you again, and everything was better," she shook her head, "You were safe. We had a big crew, we had fame, and freedom, and you were able to finally get that kid you wanted," she looked down to the ground, "But it turns out that I still never stopped being an anchor to you. I never," the words seemed to catch in her throat, before she forced out a croak, "I never stopped hurting you."

She reached to the blade between Drake's breasts, and pulled it out. She stared at it a moment, before saying to herself, "Ironborn," and for a moment thinking it over. Then her fingers squeezed more tightly around the hilt, and she added, "Euron."

Then, she stopped, and raised the blade to her face. She placed the blade tip right above her right eye, and then cut diagonally along the bridge of her nose until she pulled the blade back. Blood was flowing down from the wound, but she barely seemed to react to it. She turned back to Ritsuka, while placing the blade in her belt.

"Ritsuka Fujimaru," she said, "I don't like you," he didn't even move, "But at the moment, I like a lot of people around here far less," this time, he nodded, "If I'm going to show them my fury, I'm going to need to be at full strength," she stuck out her hand directly in front of Ritsuka. She glared into his eyes for a moment, before smirking up at him, and then adding in defeat, "So I ask of you…"

"Will you be my Master?"

Ritsuka looked at her, and then smiled back, before reaching his hand out to clasp her's.

"Never stopped."