Heroes of Man

by Wake the Wind

Chaldea has fallen. Ritsuka is fighting for his life after a black key nearly rips out his heart. And a dozen Servants disappear when encountering a strange power. Emiya deploys on a mission to recover those Servants, and restore the defenders of human history to full power. But it will take him to a history that was never recorded. With many dangers that he cannot forsee.

54. Asha IV

Asha IV

The Silence was of the fog. Long gone were the docks of the Drowned Town, the screams of the Chequy port and the fires of the arsenal. As were the other pirate ships, all spreading out over the different harobors of the city, reaving and raping. Even further off was music or food or water or a bed. All she had now was a throat parched, a jaw sore from the rope in her mouth, and her limbs were aching from their position along her uncle's ship's single mast.

She could only feel. Everything else seemed to come into the fog, and sink into it. And once something was in the fog, it no longer was. Sound, light, shadow, wind and flame had gone within the fog, and had disappeared among the mist. Only the gray cloud and its aroma of rotting fish seemed to exist here with Asha now. And all she could taste was that starchiness of the rope held against her tongue.

'Still glad to have it,' she thought to herself, even as she felt the muscle spasm beneath the tightness of the constraint, 'Unlike these bastards.'

She looked to her side, and saw that the rowers dipped their oars into the sea below them in perfect time with one another. Every single rower pulled their oar back the same distance,and then pushed it down, pulling the wing to slide out from the sea. Then, they would push forward, and raise their arms to push the oar into the sea, and, as one, pull, sending the Silence gliding forward.

…Or…not forward, really. It was true Asha could no longer see the world around her, but she could feel the list of the ship beneath her. She could see the rowers on the right raise their oars slightly higher, and push slightly further, than the ones to her left.

'Circle,' she thought, 'We've been going in a circle since we entered this blasted fog,' that at least would explain why it had felt like near an hour they'd been in this. An hour with the Silence's rower's pace on even a war galley full of marines would have already hit one of the shield islands. She then gazed over, 'Is there some sort of plan? To wait here for the rest of the pirates to return to set out after taking all that this was worth, 'This fog is Nuncle's,' she considered, 'But I don't know what it's for.'

All she could do was stand there, her whole body growing sorer and sorer as time and the rope tore into her. She tried moving every muscle in her body, but she knew in her heart that it would do nothing for her. She'd tried to find a way to maneuver her body to pull herself from the rope, but whatever else could be said of her uncle, that he was careful beyond measure with holding prisoners on the Silence was undeniable. She could only be thankful that they hadn't tied the rope so tight that she had lost blood in her feet or hands. If she survived this, she didn't want to think about going through life a cripple.

'Hobbling around,' she imagined herself hopping along, 'That'd make Dra-'

She caught herself, closed her eyes, and stopped.

'No,' she said to herself, tears already threatening to pour from her eyes once more, 'no, no, don't think on that.'

She couldn't afford to consider anything that was happening beyond getting off this ship. Or at least, couldn't afford to think on something that would make her unable to think clearly when her Uncle finally did something to let her get just a bit of movement. She couldn't focus on revenge, or justice, or anything of the sort. She had to be ready to pounce and dive into the sea, to swim as hard and as fast as she could. Maybe she'd die from arrow fire, but she knew that if her nuncle was holding on to her like this, that just waiting to be let free would only lead her to a worse fate than an arrow in the back.

And it was then that she heard it. A…sound…

That was all it was…a sound. It was not the splash of waves, or the groan of men. It really was like nothing she'd ever heard, but the closest she could imagine was the sound of a monger's knife slicking into the belly of a fish and pulling out its innards. The squelch of the guts, that was what it sounded most like. But not really, because this sound was more solid. Like these fish guts sounds were almost words, being said calmly and with determination.

And Asha could tell that there was only one man who could ever come up with such a strange chant. After all, there was only one man on this boat who hadn't had his tongue ripped out of his mouth.

Her answers were confirmed as Euron came up from the stern. He seemed to be almost whispering, barely moving his mouth up and down, but she could hear the strange wounds sliding out of his mouth. She could only see his leather eyepatch, the other eye hidden away from her. His long hair seemed to cling to his head, as though he had dunked it in some sweet sap or syrup. His fingers were twitching as he held his arms to his sides, each finger sometimes shooting away from his body to jut out at a corner.

He continued past her without even turning towards her. Asha allowed her head to follow her Uncle, but she couldn't see anything he was doing. Finally, he was to the front, and Asha couldn't get her head to turn enough to see him. She imagined that he must have finally arrived at the bow of the ship.

And then she heard the chanting grow louder again, only this time, it was from behind the mast hse was tied to. She felt a sweat come down her brow, and she almost imagined, as the sound of the chant grew louder and louder, that Euron was creeping up behind her…only to stop when the sound past her, and grew fainter, as he marched toward the stern.

And then, a moment later, Euron was back in front of her, chanting the same as before. He would continue chanting, never looking at her, but continuing in a circle around the ship. Strangely, it seemed he was walking in the opposite way that the ship was rowing. He was turning towards his left, while the ship was turning to the right. She couldn't help but consider that Euron was doing something strange and wrong.

That was confirmed when she finally began to see something besides the fog. Or rather, something happening to the fog. It was no longer merely a black void of night, the normal gray hues deprived of even the very least amount of light. No, now there was a greenness now. It seemed to be seeping into the fog from beneath the waves. Long, veinlike, snaps of the color cut through the cloud, and from those cracks the green spread, the sickness spreading. As it did so, Asha realized that with how dark it was, she should have been able to see the changing color.

'Almost as if there is some other source of light,' she lifted her head, and felt her stomach drop, 'Oh Gods.'

Beneath the top of the waves, inside the great circle the Silence was forming in the bay, was a great green light. It was not bright, not like the sun, but rather this pulsating illumination. There was nothing natural about the color, and Asha could only think of pusses having to be cleaned out of wounded sailor's arms, and of the barnacles that she had spent years clearing off her crew's anchors.

'What is this?' she could only ask herself, 'the sea…is it sick?' her ears twitched, as again her uncle approached her. She saw mouth move, but now, she saw his neck. The skin was shaking of in hanging flaps, still whole, but no longer seeming to be connected to his flesh, the poke of his neck no longer visible. Even as the flabs waved back and forth, she could see the flesh beneath seem to writhe, and she almost slither and push the skin out of its way. She was reminded of a time at the fishmongers, where Salla had popped the top off a barrel, and hundreds of eels swarmed around the water.

'Hold it down,' she thought, as her stomach twisted up and down. She closed her eyes for a second, with Euron eventually walking out of view, before opening them again, and feeling her belly settle, 'Gods, I'd hate to choke on the bile falling back in.'

And yet, around her, the world grew greener and greener. Or, the right of her. It was only growing along where the Silence was circling. Like, that was the sore that was infecting the mist around her.

And as this all continued, she began to notice the list of the Silence was growing. She began to feel the ship incline to the right. At first, it was only a few inches, but slowly, she began to get a view of the sea to her right.

"BLLEUGHGH!" this time she was unable to keep her stomach under control. But as she was vomiting, she was still far more frightened about what she was seeing.

'The sea,' she coughed, desperately pushing the spit up through around the rope, trying to keep her throat at least slightly clear, 'There's a hole in the sea,' she stopped, and then blinked, as she could feel air move clearly into her lungs, 'A whirlpool, but, there's no way. There's no way that he could have made a whirlpool,' there were no rocks beneath the waves or converging currents in the lagoon, a whirlpool like this could only exist if it was created by magic, 'Gods, what have you become Uncle?'

She watched as the rowers continue, with greater and greater effort on every row. Their eyes were so wide that she might have thought they were about to pop out of their heads. All their pupils were the same sickly green of the fog and the They all were keeping their eyes forward, away from their right, and whatever was down there.

And Asha could tell why, as the list grew to such a height that she could not help but look down off the side. And she saw a great spinning whirlpool at least five Silences wide, and three Silences deep. But the lagoon was not that deep, certainly not that deep that it wouldn't at least be possible to see the sand and rock at the bottom of the bay. But it wasn't, all she could see was green down there.

"I see you are seeing the world I've seen," it was her Uncle's voice, but something was wrong. She felt a thunk behind her, and felt some ropes along her mouth and her shoulders come loose. She tried to take a step forward, only to fall forward, falling face first onto the deck. She groaned, looking down and realizing that both her hands and feet had been tied together.

"Ohhh," she groaned, her forehead and knees now throbbing. She then blinked, and realized, to her horror, that she couldn't hear anything. Her groan was not something she could hear. Nor could she hear the sound of swirling water, or of the wind's the sound around her had been sucked away. Combined with all the strange green, she felt the need to get out of hera as quickly as she could

She adjusted her forearms to push her head up, and looked up. The rowers were slowing their pace, all of them turning their heads to her, their eyes all green now, and seeming to sink within their heads. She wanted to push herself away from them, but she then felt the back of her shirt suddenly lift up, carrying her up to into the air.

"My dear Asha," she found herself face to face with her uncle. Somehow, she could hea-no, feel. She could feel her uncle's words, so even though there was no sound around her, the conversation could go on. Euron's blue eye was green, but unlike the dull green stare of the rowers, his one blue eye was swirling in the same manner as the whirlpool the Silence was riding on. His neck seemed to hang away from his flesh, and as he spoke, Asha could see something moving at the back of his throat, barely contained by the man's teeth. Despite the damage that seemed to have happen to his body, the reaver was still dashing.

No, not dashing, but mesmerizing. He wasn't handsome anymore, but she found herself unable to look away. It was as though his presence was clawing its way into her soul.

"It has been quite a long time since we were able to speak to one another, hasn't it," Euron continued, his presence covering over her, "Last time we truly were able to speak was so long ago," he raised his hand to her's and it was as cold and wet as a dead fish, "you were barely at my chest height then, but now, well now you are still quite a bit smaller, but certainly you have grown."

"Fuck off Nuncle," she cursed, but no sound came from her voice. Euron simply turned his head to the side, shaking it like he was instructing her on tying knots.

"You haven't changed at all, have you?" He then smiled, and reached back to side, and pulled up a small shining little shard, "You probably are quite curious about the spell," he held it up to her face, "About what it's doing to you."

Asha could see her eyes widen at the dull green her pupils were. She began to thrash, and closed her eyes.

"Oh, don't act like a child," she heard the clinking of the glass upon the ground, guessing he had tossed the mirror to the side, "The effects of this exposure are fleeting, you are only getting the most minor of radiation, it's not like you are actively on that plane," she opened her eyes as he smirked, "And I can tell you, you will be dead before any lasting damage will be brought into this world."

"So you mean to kill me?" she asked, but Euron only continued to shake his head in exasperation.

"You know I can't hear you?" he twisted his head to the side, disappointment on his face, "But yes, soon you will be a sacrifice for my rise beyond the constraints of this world," he then reached behind him again, and pulled out an axe.

Her axe.

"You are my offering," he then used her axe to lift up the flap, and she saw his hidden eye. The black eye, the crow's eye, stared right back at her. He then lowered the flap quickly, as though he was trying to hide himself from the effects of the strange whirlpool, "I have taken a new role, one that has granted me more power than that fool, your father, could have ever imagined. Or that fool before him, my father," he waved the axe in his hand, "I ave seen, and felt things that no man has ever felt before. I could kill you with a simple flick of my wrist. That is the power I have obtained. That is the joy I gained when I was made Foreigner."

But the smirk disappeared. And she could see something she never thought she would see in her Uncle, a man who hid everything under a cloak of bravado. Now she could see a shrieking rage across from her.

"But the fools around me," he growled, and suddenly his words almost hurt as they passed through her, like slices from a short knife, "They feared the power at my fingertips, the strength that is mine by right," he began to walk towards the starboard, dragging her all the way. The rowers slunk away, but one was not quick enough, so Euron slapped him, and sent him falling backward, "They claimed it was to keep control over me, to not allow my mind to be warped by things I could not know."

They arrived at the railing, "I can know. Every night, the Drowned God calls to me. He calls me from beneath the beneath, deeper and darker places than the merling king ever conceived. He once strode along this world, quite like you and I do now, placing his symbols and leaving his mark before he returned to the nameless city."

And finally, he placed Asha's neck over the railing, and held her down with one hand. She was able to see down into the depths, and now did see something beyond the mere green. She could see strange shapes and buildings all along the bottom…but it wasn't the bottom, it was like there was something far beneath. She could feel in her bones that Euron had used his spell to open a way to this place. As she looked downward, she could see that the whirlpool was not just suckiing in water, but als pulling in what looked like wind. But…but she knew that it was sucking in sound itself. While spewing the green vileness of the miasma around this strange place.

"So, I gave the fools my word that I would help them by having the pirates turn on you," she could almost see his words pass her head, sucked down into that nameless horror, "they were already half bought. But more importantly, I used my time to figure out how to fully complete my transformation into Foreigner. That would require an iron blood sacrifice."

"My blood."

"Do not fear my dear niece," Euron continued, "You shall be the key to the creation of the most powerful Ironborn since the Merling King," she could imagine him shouting, but again, all she could do was feel the words, not hear it, "Or at least, you shall not have to fear what I shall do once I have become the Drowned God."

"But a birth such as this," Euron's words began to fill her from head to toe, "It must be in a world with nothing else. Not even sound can be allowed to cloud out this new birth."

And then, he seemed to grow fully quiet. Instead, the Silence seemed to just rade the outer whirlpool. Around and around the top they went. Asha tried to push herself up, but nothing could allow herself to overcome Euron while he stood over her, with her own axe readying to come down. And every time she tried to think of something that might allow her to pull herself free, to stop this…she couldn't. It was like the same force sucking down the sound was pulling away her plans and thoughts. Her own mind seemed to empty, just leaving her to lay there.

There was nothing to do.

She was going to die.

And there was nothing she coil-

BOOOOOOOOMMMMMMM

And then she felt herself knocked to the side, falling back from the railing back onto the main deck. She suddenly felt something oozing along the side of her face, and then a stabbing pain into the top of her ear. She slowly rolled to her side and then felt the prick of pointed wood against the side of her head.

"A Splinter?" she looked around her, and suddenly realized she was now covered in dozens of pieces of shattered wood, "A splinter must have cut into my-Wait," she opened her mouth again and again, "I…I can speak, I can hear!"

All around her, sound had come back. There was the splashing of waves, the whooshing of wind, and cracks of wood. Those were coming from the remains of the right mainyard hanging right above her head. Something had shattered most of it into pieces, and the remains were only not falling onto the deck through some of the ropes holding it up to the mast. She gave a look around, and saw at least one of the rowers was dead, a large shaft of the wood sticking out directly from his forehead. Several others were covered in splintered spines as well, many having their mouths opened in tongueless screams.

And though he may have been alive, it was clear her Uncle had taken the worst of it. His face had been spared, the mast having been behind him, but she could see several large chunks sticking out of his back, and there was blood, black from the strange green color around them, flowing around him like rivers. He was shaking in rage, as he stood up, and stared out over the stern.

"ThE BIEeTcH," now she could her her Uncle's voice, and she could hear the damage that his spells had done to him. His throat sounded as it looked, like a dozen worms had dug into it and hollowed out little tunnels to call their home. He stood up, still strong enough to keep to his feet despite wounds that would have killed a normal man, and marched toward the stern, "HoW iS SHE sTIll AlIVe?"

'How is sh-' Asha turned her head, and saw a ship cutting through the fog, one she had never seen before. It was strangely black and red, with dozens of colorful decorations over it. There were two great masts, with four full sets of white sails, and waving flags all over it. Those sails seemed to catch whatever wind was covering the whirlpool, and it was already beginning to gain on the Silence, which seemed to be made easier by the complete collapse of the galley's sail.

As that ship came closer, Asha looked at the flags the dotted the ship, but they were very simple, a simple white flag with two plain red lines crossing at the center, 'Please let there be something,' she begged in her mind, 'continuing to survey the whole of the ship for some kind of hint, 'Please let her be here,' As the Silence continued to turn, she was given just for a moment a view of the stern of their pursuer. There, staring up at the sky, was a golden deer.

"YES!" she shouted, only to have her head smacked down, back into the wood.

"SHUGHT IT!" screamed Euron. He then looked around, "GETus deEPEr, wE MUsT BE DEEPer!"

The Silence did seem to tack into the whirlpool, slowly approaching the great hole in the middle of the whirlpool. And while it wasn't the same lack of sound as before, it did seem that it was being swallowed away. Asha felt her self be picked up again by the back of her shirt, and then felt Euron place his head next to her's.

"We're too deep," he laughed, his voice seeming to flatten even if he was still making sounds. He pointed up at the ship, as they were about to pass it, "She can't catch us before we make the center, and I can perform the ritua-"

And just as they were about to pass by the pursuing ship, Asha watched as a figure on the other ship stood on the mizzenmast. A second later, that figure was swinging by a rope, and flying from the ship, toward the center of the whirlpool. Or, in other words, right where the Silence was just about to be.

"Fuck."

"Oi, Euron!" Asha felt her heart soar. There standing on the top of the remains of the Silence's mast, was Lizabet. The older woman looked as she always did, only now moreso, with a massive black hat with a bright white feather sticking out of it, and a black silk coat instead of the old brown leather one. Asha couldn't contain her joy, even as she wondered how her captain had had the strength and skill to swing all the way across the whirlpool to land on the Silence. Lizabet was glaring directly down at them, before reaching behind her, and tossing something down, "I think this should serve as my request to come aboard."

A second later, there was a dull thud, as the head of Tycho Hotyr landed on the deck, and then rolled towards Asha. She was not ashamed of the snort she had at the look of horror in his glassy eyes. She then looked back up, and could not help but smile as the older woman winked down at her.

"You should have come to be before thinking of working with scum like that," Lizabet's face lost its playful features. She bore a new long scar between her eyes, but that was nothing compared to the snarl that was her mouth. It was a look Asha could never have imagined Lizabet would have on her face, "I would have told you you couldn't trust that fool and his crew to do anything right."

"Well," Euron had again seemed to dip into his more charming tone, helped by the closeness to the center of the maelstrom, "It would have been quite rude to have intruded on a lady to ask about hiring away her help," Asha then saw why Euron was being so calm, as she saw a man on the still stable beam slowly creeping up behind Lizabet. She was about to shout, when there was a sudden flash around her, and the top half of Euron's man fell to the deck, followed by his legs in short order.

"You really should have known that something like that wouldn't have worked," now there as disappointment in Lizabet's eyes, "You must have realized that if I am here, that you and I are," she paused, twisted her head, and then shrugged, "Well, not the same, but we are sort of similar by this point."

'Similar?' Asha asked herself. It did…it did seem as though something had changed. Lizabet had always been daring, but she'd never been so reckless as to jump from one ship to another, at least not from this distance. The tone had changed as well, some of the playfulness gone, as was some of the petulance as well. Looking up at the woman who'd taken Asha in, the Ironborn girl could not help but see a more mature woman than before. And her mind went to another woman with flaming hair, 'Like Drake?'

"I killed you," Asha's uncle croaked, pointing up at Lizabet. The damage to his back was starting to wear on him, and Asha wondered how much longer he could keep his feet underneath him, "I stabbed you in the heart an-"

"So you never figured out the whole twin thing," Euron's finger fell, as his eye widened in shock. This caused Lizabet to bark, "Oh, oh god, that's rich," she then placed her left hand on her chin, fingers hanging down in a mock beard, "Oh, I'm Euron Greyjoy, terror of the sea. I made a contract with an eldritch god of unspeakable horror but I'm too stupid to see a fucking body double plot happening right in front of me," she then let her hand down, and somehow took on an appearance of even more disappointment, "Pathetic."

'Well, she's still Lizabet,' Asha kept her groan inward, 'The japing when all this is happening," she looked around at the whirlpool and several rowers getting up, and beginning to stalk towards Lizabet, 'proves it.'

"Don't you mock me!" Euron shouted, raising up Asha's axe.

"Pfft," Lizabet just rolled her eyes, before taking a step forward, and then falling, completely in control, onto the deck. She landed without even having to bend her knees, and pointed her sword directly at him. He took a step back, and she rolled her eyes once more, "Really are not making a case for yourself, oh great one eyed crow," she smiled, "Though, I should thank you," she raised her sword up again, "This time, I know I'll get my hands on the person who took Drake away from me."

She advanced forward, and Euron took another step back. The toungeless men of the Silence managed to get closer, but Asha…Asha felt no worry. Even though they seemed to outnumber Lizabet, Asha couldn't help but think this was nothing to worry about.

"Oh, what's wrong?" Lizabet snarled, "What's scaring you, "Foreigner"?" Euron was finally next to Asha again, his hand shaking, "Do you really have to have a plan for everything, or can you feel just how much weaker you are?"

"Do not say any thing else!" Euron lunged forward, bringing Asha's axe down towards her. At the same time, several of the rowers that were still able to move jumped at Lizabet from behind. Yet she didn't even have to move, before Asha felt a burst of wind, and saw all of them knocked back from her captain. The rowers all had massive gashes in their bodies, and laid unmoving along the deck. Euron managed to keep his feet, but she could see blood begin to ooze from his front. He tried his best to cover the wound, while Lizabet simply rested her sword on her shoulder

"So," she spoke up, "Is that it?" Euron didn't say anything, just glaring at her, "That was the best you could come up with? Just have more people jump me from behind," she shook her head, "God, this honestly kind of embarrassing. I would have thought you'd have something, anything to make this a challenge," she then lowered her sword, and pointed it right at Euron, "Are you saying that this is the best you can do, Foreigner?"

BBRREEWoouuuuWWWWWgghghhghghhghghghxxxxtttttttLLLLLLLLLLLL

It came from the middle of the whirlpool. The sound, for that was the only thing it could be described as, was so loud, that it seemed to cause all the world to stop. Asha would have sworn that the water itself had momentarily ceased to move, with the Silence stuck halfway turned to the side. Even Lizabet, for all her boldness, though the world itself had blown trumpets declaring the arrival of something grand.

Euron was the first to move. He sprinted backward, and a second later, had Asha held within his grasp. To add to the sudden change, she felt the blade of her axe pressed alongside her neck, and cursed as Euron placed her between himself and her captain.

"This girl is precious to you?" he asked, "Of course she would be, you stole her with the crown and the throne," Asha looked up, and saw that Lizabet was gazing toward her, and she could see, just for a moment, the woman's eyes soften, "She is also the last of your crew," and then her eyes hardened again, "So put down that sword of yours, or I will take her away from you too!"

"Lizab-" she tried to warn her captain, that her life was already finished, that there was no way to save her, but it died, as she Euron's other hand reached up and grabbed her mouth. Lizabet seemed to be taken aback, and Asha screamed into her uncle's hand. She tried to bite through it, but despite it, her Uncle refused to let go.

"Put down the sword then?" Asha tried to shake her head, but Lizabet tossed the sword behind her. She almost groaned in disbelief, as her captain let her hands fall to her side, "So, I'd suggest you let her go no-"

"He," she felt her uncle pulsate behind her, "Hehe," and now, she felt his whole body shudder as he began to cackle, "Hehehehahahaha!" he then threw out the arm with her axe, and screamed, "I'll sho-"

BANG

"AGH!" It happened so fast, that Ash only caught up as her uncle was screaming his throat raw and she felt a small spray of blood hit her cheek.

"I'm not that stupid," Lizabet's right arm was pointed forward, and in that hand was a short metal tube attached to a piece of wood. Almost like a crossbow, but more compact. From the end of the tube smoke seemed to be billowing out, and Asha followed the direction of the tube, and saw that Euron's hand. Or what was left of it, as there was now a large hole in the middle of the palm, and both his pointing finger and thumb were gone, the other three fingers mangled. She briefly wondered what had happened to her axe, until she looked up higher, and saw that her weapon hanging in the air, the lower half of the shaft having shattered, but the blade still had something attached to it. She saw begin to fall back to the deck, and her body moved.

She kicked her legs back, and threw her head toward the falling axe. Euron, already dealing with nearly losing a hand, wasn't able to hold his grip on her. She broke free almost immediately, and watched as she saw the axe begin to descend only a few feet in front of her. She reached out her tied up hands, and waited as her weapon fell. By some gift of fate or her own damn luck, the axe handle was pointing directly down when it came right to her hands. She gripped at the broken handle, ignoring the sharp stab of the splintered wood, before slamming her feet, still tied, into the deck, and twisting her hips to the right, swinging the axe upward as she twisted.

"Wha-"SHLIUK

Right into bringing that axe directly into her uncle's face. She stared for a moment, having somehow lodged the axe between his open mouth, and then felt some kind of relief as more blood splattered out of the man. Vaguely, Euron grabbed at the axe, before finally grabbing the handle, and with a pull, tearing it out, But at the same time, teeth and flesh splattered along the deck. Asha looked at her Uncle, and couldn't help but chuckle as the old Reaver seemed to waver about dazed from the shock.

'Lost his tongue,' she thought, looking into Euron's now permanent gaping maw, 'Oh, he lost his tongue,' she thought.

Euron raised his hand at her, pointing, about to say something-

BANG

When his head was thrown back, and he fell backward, his one green eye exploded into a stream of blood. Asha looked over, and saw that Lizabet had another one of those short tubes, and had used it to attack her uncle once more. Euron's back hit the railing of the Silence, before the force of the attack sent him tumbling backward, over the side of his galley, and into his whirlpool. Asha didn't even have time to get to the side to see him, as when she finally looked over the railing, Euron had long ago been pulled beneath the surface.

"Well," Asha blinked, and looked over at Lizabet, who seemed to be admiring the tubes in her hand, "There aren't many things I missed about being a Spirit, but let me tell you," she twirled both of them around her fingers, metal rings on the tubes' bellies letting her keep control, "Gunpowder is marvelous."

"Lizabet?"

Lizabet stopped, and looked at her. There was much in her. The older woman steadied the tubes, and then stuck them beneath her jacket, where she seemed to leave them. She walked over to Asha's side, reached into another pocket, and pulled out a knife. Asha felt her hands pulled forward, as Lizabet reached out, and began to cut at the binds around her hands, all the while making sure not to look Asha directly in the eye. It took only a few seconds, but soon Asha's hands were free, allowing her to rub the slight burns on her wrists where the rope had cut into her.

"Let me get your feet," Lizabet said, leaning down.

"Liza-"

"We," Lizabet cut her off, again refusing to look her in the eye, "We can talk after we get off this thing," Asha blinked for a moment, "Your Uncle's ship looks like it's about to fall apart. Shitty Ironborn shipbuilding."

"He-" Asha looked around though, and was not necessarily able to disagree. Well, she could about the ship as it would have been before. It had been well built and one of the finest to have come from the Iron Islands. But…well, with the smashed mast, at least a dozen dead rowers, and the rest of the crew just knocked around, it was hard to say that the ship was really sea worthy anymore. She felt her legs come undone, and sighed in relief, as she spread them out from one another, and fully regained control of herself. She then herself spoke up, "It will probably be best to get to your new ship if we are to escape this whirlpool."

"Whirlpool?" Lizabet's eyes suddenly widened, and Asha stared, "No, this isn't right," she watched as Lizabet went to the side of the galley, and looked over, "the whirlpool should be running its course now," Asha watched as sweat began to pour down, "When I killed Euron, the magic that was causing this thing should have lost it's source, there should be no way that the portal at the bottom should still be open."

"Do you know about this magic?" Asha could only blink. Lizabet had always been open to things such as magic, but she had never spent any real time even suggesting she knew how such things worked. Asha was glad to know her suspicion about this whirlpool was right, that her uncle had used some strange ritual, but to hear that from Lizabet was strange.

Lizabet nodded, "It's a summoning ritual," she answered curtly, before adding, "Or a half summoning ritual, considering the first half was already completed," she then stopped, and spat over at the flesh that had once been Euron's tongue, ""Foreigner" my ass. He wasn't even a demi-servant. Mashu would have wiped the floor with him with both her hands tied behind her back," but then she looked back at the sea, "But, we stopped him from completing his transformation when I killed him."

CREEEEAAIIOONNKKKK

Asha felt the Silence creak beneath her feet, and heard the ship strain from whatever had made the sound. She tried to remember what her uncle had said, and then stopped, right as she was being pulled to the side of the ship.

"Lizabet," Asha's captain turned to her, "He said he just needed a blood sacrifice," the older woman stopped for a moment, "An iron blood sacrifice," realization dawned on Lizabet's face, "What if we just gave Euron as the sacrifice?"

"We have to get out of here now," Lizabet said. She then reached out her hand toward the back port of the silence, "I'll call up Golden Hind as soon as I am able. She'll be able to cut through these currents much better than this hunk of junk."

"Hunk o-" Asha was about to question the new term, when the ship beneath her suddenly shifted, and she fell forward onto the deck. She blinked, pushed herself up, and began to scan the rest of the whip, "What was that?"

Asha blinked, as she heard a wet flopping sound to her right. She turned her head, and saw a massive green column of flesh lying only a few inches away from her. She followed the line of flesh toward the center of the Silence, and saw that the tip had wrapped around the ankle of one of the still living rowers. She instinctively rolled away, and then watched as the tentacle seemed to slither back off the deck. The man tried to hold onto the crate he had been up against, but soon lost his grip. As the tentacle began to drag him over the side, he gripped tightly at the railing, only for the railing itself to be ripped out behind him as he was dragged down.

"Tentacles," she asked herself, before adding, "Is this a Kraken of some kind?" she remembered tales of her family when she was but a child, of the ferocious squids attacking ships and picking off as many crew members as it could carry.

"If we were only so lucky," Lizabet ran over, and reached her right arm underneath Asha's own arm, "We need to get to high ground right now."

"High gro-yieuah!" she shouted, as suddenly she felt herself be pulled upward, as Lizabet had jumped up. A moment later, she was being pulled up onto the top of the mast. As she placed her feet on the wooden bottom of the crow's nest, she looked at Lizabet, and then asked, "When did you learn to jump like that?"

"We'll talk when we get out of here," Lizabet seethed, before looking back. Asha could see the outline of the other ship approaching rapidly. She took a moment to look down, and felt her stomach drop. Down on the deck of the Silence were at least two dozen tentacles like the one she'd just managed to dodge. They were buys grabbing and dragging off anyone they could ensnare, whether they be alive or dead. Asha watched several tongueless men try to dig their fingers into the deck, only to have their fingernails ripped out as they were dragged off into the water. She took in a gulp, before she felt a hand on her shoulder, and looked to see that Lizabet was pointing at the ship, which was now only about a hundred meters away, "Come on Asha, we can't stay on here anymore," and Asha could only nod dumbly at the obvious truth of that.

Lizabet placed her arm around Asha's waist, and quickly lead her out onto the undamaged part of the mast. As they made their way, Asha could see that the tentacles had managed to clear off the deck of any body, living or dead. Instead, the tentacles were reaching further, beginning to grip at the whole of the ship. She could see pieces of the deck begin to splinter, as the tentacles started to squeeze the Silence to death.

"Hang on!" she heard Lizabet shout. This time, she prepared herself to be pulled upward. And she was, though this time, it was not just upward, but over the sea itself, back and to the left, towards the other ship. As they were flying through the air, Asha watched as the planks of the silence fully gave way, and the whole galley began to be crunched into splinters. As her uncle's galley began to crumble beneath the waves, Asha looked where it had once been, and felt her eyes grow wide.

She saw a shadow. It was larger than any ship she'd ever seen, even the great barges of Volantis paled in comparison to whatever was hiding beneath the water. And she could also see round shining orbs around the thing, so many she could not reasonably count. Though, for some reason, all of the were seeming to rotate-

To point at her.

"We need to-" and then, she was suddenly rolling along another wooden deck. It took about four rolls for them to slow down, and suddenly for her to be pulled upward by her armpits. As her eyes stopped spinning, she found herself standing in front of Lizabet once more, who was looking her over.

"Good, no obvious damage," she then grabbed Asha's wrist, and pulled her, "We need to get out of here," and Asha found herself pulled behind her captain once again, up the set of stairs, and to a wheel. Lizabet then reached out, and grabbed at the wheel, before shouting, "Come on my beautiful girl," Asha blinked, "You've gotten through storm's rougher than this," and then thought to slap herself when she realized that her captain was speaking to the ship, "Now hold on, we have to make it through this next pass."

The ship turned, and instead of following the whirlpool as the Silence had, cut out, away from the middle of the cyclone. Asha watched as her captain pushed against the wheel, the force of the gale likely trying to drag them back down toward whatever had just sunk the Silence. Asha made to try and join her captain, but stopped when her eyes met Lizabet's. The order was clear, "Let me handle this", and Asha could only stand back and wonder at her oldest remaining friend.

'Gods,' she thought, watching as Lizabet seemed to show strength she'd never had before, 'What's happened to you?'

Whatever it was, it was enough, as in only a moment this ship managed to cut its way up the side of the gale, and crest over the edge onto flat water. Asha watched as Lizabet turned, and rested her elbow on the wheel, her usual smirk of victory covering her face, before saying, "So what do you think of the Golden Hind?"

"Oh, that's the ship's name," she vaguely felt some offense for the Golden Stag, though she asked, "How long have you had this ship?"

Lizabet's smile dropped in a moment. She kept her mouth shut for a minute, before sighing, rubbing the side of her head, and saying, "Longer than I've known you," the look on Lizabet's face told Asha that she seemed to be quite guilty about it, "Longer than I've known anyone," she ran her hand through her hair, "It's…well," she stopped again, trying to come up with words, something that Asha had never thought she'd have trouble with before, "It's just a part of me that I hoped I'd never need again."

"Like how you jumped like that," she waved her head back, and Lizabet winced, "Or those…whatever those tubes were."

"Guns," this time, Lizabet was quite strict, "They are guns, and they are wonderful," she pulled one out, and spun it around by the small iron ring on its belly. She brought the spin to a stop, and then grabbed the "gun" by the iron tube, and held it forward to Asha, "Here, you never know when you might need it," Asha looked down at the thing, before slowly reaching out, and grabbing it by the ring, "Now be careful, you feel that little metal thing in the middle, that's the trigger, and if you want something to die, you pull that when the barrel is pointed down at it."

"Barrel?"

"The iron tu-"

BLOOOOOSHSHSHSHSHHSHSHSHSHHSHSH

And then the Golden Hind jerked. Asha felt herself nearly fall forward, though she managed to catch herself on the railing, while Drake only shook slightly. They blinked, and watched as a massive column of green water shot out right to their side, just outside of the whirlpool. Asha watched in horror as a massive figure began to become clear as the water disappeared, a creature nearly twice as tall as the mast of the Hind came into view. It was a great green thing, with long tentacles extending all over its mass, a long set of three tooth-like beaks sticking from its side, and dozens of glowing green orbs sticking from different parts of its. Asha felt as though she'd been tossed in the air again, before suddenly she felt a sharp pain along the side of her face.

"Don't stare at that thing too long or you'll go mad," Lizabet declared, fighting with the wheel, "It's got strange powers, and you can't allow it to drive your mind to tear itself apart," Asha blinked several times, before nodding, "Only look at it for a few seconds at most, before looking away," and again, she nodded.

"What can we do?" she asked, watching as Lizabet spun the wheel forward and back, "We can't fight this thing," she pointed in what she thought was the "creature's" direction, "It will slaughter us."

"We have to," the tone of Lizabet's voice said she'd probably rather drive a nail into her hand, "Your Drowned God," Asha was about to snap back that the drowned god was not some kind of half kraken monster before her captain cut her off, "Is a creature of unspeakable power. It has the ability to drive almost anyone mad who looks at it too long, and has the ability to distort the world by it's very presence," she pointed away from the beast, "If it gets to Braavos, then that whole city is dead, and probably every other city in this world if we don't stop it now," she looked around, and then sighed, "Thank the gods the fog and the night at least keep it hidden for the moment, but we have to stop it now."

"You don't like Braavos," Asha couldn't believe what Lizabet was saying, "Or the world for that matter. Why not just cut and run?"

"That's not what I signed up for," Lizabet sighed. When Asha turned her head, "All these things, my strength, the guns, the Hind," Asha nodded, "All of that came with a price. My master," Asha was about to shriek at the term, but Lizabet continued, "My Master has a hero complex the size of the whole sea, so he's not going to let us get away with running away," she then looked where Asha guessed the monster was, "Not from this thing."

"...fine," Asha sighed. After everything else that had happened, she should not be surprised. Everything had already been tossed away, why not this too, "Tell me what I can do."

"Stay in the middle, and keep your eyes out for any tentacles like the ones on the Silence," Drake began to spin the wheel, as she eyed the massive creature, "I need to get the Hind into position so I can hit it with everything the old girl has."

Asha sighed, and took her position against the mizzenmast right behind the wheel. She watched as Lizabet steered the ship directly towards the beast. She gave another quick glance at the monster, but looked away just as quickly.

'Could that really be the Drowned God,' she asked herself. It certainly was a creature of the sea, the massive tentacles like those of a squid or octopus, 'Not to mention where it came from,' she then thought of how it dragged men down, 'and it can certainly kill those as the Ironborn can,' but she shook her head, 'Even if it is the Drowned God, it's either me or it, so I'd rather it be it than me.'

"Watch out!"

Asha was pulled out of her trance, and saw what Lizabet shouted about. A long green tentacle had climbed onto the deck, and was slithering towards her legs. She jumped back, and then allowed it to pass. She raised the "gun" in her hand toward the fleshy mass, and tried to pull at the edge of that ring, but there was no fire. She kept pulling with her finger, but nothing came. Just as the tentacle was about to reach her leg, she heard another explosion, and watched as the tip of the tentacle turned to a red mulch.

"Inside the ring," Lizabet said, "Inside is the little trigger."

"Right," Asha wanted to slap her forehead as she moved her finger inside, and felt the other piece of metal, "Sorry."

"Just keep your eyes open," her captain shouted, before turning her head back to the bow and to the beast. As she did so, Asha noticed a slithering force along one of the rails, "You nev-"

BOOMM

Asha was nearly thrown back as she stuck the metal tube towards another tentacle right near Lizabet's leg and pulled the trigger. As her arm swung past her shoulder, she watched as the flesh of the thing burst apart, and soon the tentacle itself was pulled back. She allowed herself a smirk, before saying, "Got one!"

"...I figured," she looked, and saw a coating of greenish blood over Lizabet's shoulder, and just barely managed to keep herself from laughing. She looked around, however, and saw more and more of the tentacles begin to climb up around the Golden Hind, and waited for more orders, "Don't worry, I just need to get into a better position."

"Does this thing," she waved the gun in the air, "Have a way to get another…attack out?"
"Don't have time to teach you how to reload a bullet," Asha then watched as two more of the guns suddenly were being tossed toward her through the air. She reached out with both her hands, and caught them, allowing the old one to fall to the deck, "Save those up, and keep these things off me."

"Right," Asha said, taking the time to find a small crate, and push herself up off the deck, if only to keep another tentacle from reaching up toward her. She slowly eyed the deck of this ship, and wondered at the artistry. The Golden Hind was more well crafted than any ship she'd ever been on. The planks of the deck more well crafted, the rope less frayed, the sails whiter than freshly cut marble. And the wood had been carved with different decorations, most of them a hind or some other deer. And as she saw one of those deer be covered by a green mass, she raised the gun in her right hand, and pulled the inner metal tab.

BAOMN

And then that green mass splattered, and fell back. She raised up her next gun, turned around, and saw another one of the creature's strange limbs trying to come up from the bow, and fired again at it.

BAONGGMM

And sent that one backward.

"Do you have any more!?" she shouted.

"Give me a minute," her captain responded, taking a final slight turn on the wheel in front of her, as the ship came up right in front of the thing, and she realized how strange it was to see something that at least came up to the waist of the Titan. Then, she saw Lizabet's posture change, her shoulders rising and her back straightening. She then slapped something along the wheel, and it locked at that position. She grabbed her sword, and then rushed forward, down the stairs. Asha, seeing Lizabet's sudden change, rushed after her. She didn't have any weapon with her new guns, which she decided were wonderful, so her best chance was to be near her captain for this last throw of the dice.

As they made it up towards the bow, Lizabet reached out, and grabbed a rope hanging out from the mainmast, and then swung herself out from the ship, and then forward, until she kicked her feet out, and landed on the bowsprit. She then raised her sword toward the Drowned God.

"Oi you moldy pile of kelp!" Asha nearly lost control of her limbs. She looked at the Drowned God, which kept absolutely still. And for a full minute, they all kept their position, and Asha felt some sweat begin to drip down the back of her head. Lizabet didn't seem to care, as she finally spoke up, "I don't know what that Crow told you, what he offered you to turn make him less of a failure, but the fucker's dead."

Again, the creature did nothing. Or at least, the main body of it. Asha could hear creaking beneath the Golden Hind, and had a sneaking suspicion that there were many dozens of tentacles beneath the Hind right now. She took a moment to try and walk towards Lizabet, but stopped, when she began to notice red glows around her head. She looked up, and suddenly saw shining red lighting in the sky.

From that lighting, long black tubes began to push into the air, as if from nothing. As the seconds ticked by, she could see fancy golden plating along the black metal, all looking near royal in their ornament. She realized almost instinctively what these were, and immediately slapped her hands and arms over hear head, and threw herself down to the deck. The last things she managed to hear, as she covered her head from the explosions.

"NOW! Prepare to join him you squid-faced cunt! GOLDEN WILD HUNT!"

BBOOOOMMMMMM

Her arms barely did anything to keep out the noise, which was the loudest she had ever heard. The world beneath her, especially the deck of the ship, seemed to jump up. She floated in the air for a moment, before landing back down on the deck, slamming her head against the wood. But the sudden feeling of her bruised nose was nothing compared to the throbbing of her ears, which were ringing like hundreds of bells were being rung directly next to her ears.

She groaned while laying on the wood, almost unable to even control her limbs. Her eyes spun around the world, but she spent a moment seeing nothing but green. She blinked several times, and suddenly realized that it was the same green spew that had come from when she had shot the tentacles. Realizing how much had happened, she forced herself to her feet, looking over at the bowsprit. Standing there was Lizabet, tall and proud, but covered in green slime. And looking up, Asha felt her heart soar at just seeing where all of that slime had come from.

For the entire top half of the creature was gone. Where there had once been a thing the size of some small islands had been reduced to a simple rock outcropping. Whatever had looked like a face was gone, the mangled tentacles were still beginning to fall off of the creature's body, and all those little orbs appeared to have been set to flame.

"Ha," she couldn't help herself, "Hahahahaha!" she tried to jump up in victory, but nearly fell when she landed. But she didn't stop, "HAHAHAHA!" as she stumbled and lunged forward towards Lizabet, "You did it!"

She continued to laugh, waiting for Lizabet to run down and greet her. But her captain retained her position, staring forward. Asha briefly caught the older woman's face, and felt her own chuckles begin to die down, as the severity of Lizabet's face was enough to stab her hopes in the heart. Yet as her own laughter died, it was replaced by a new…but familiar cackle, coming out from beyond the Golden Hind.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH

ANd then the world shifted again. She watched, as at the top of the remains of the creature, there was a sudden bulge. Something not quite unlike a boil had grown, and kept growing at the remaining flesh. But the sound, that eerie sound of this far off laughter, was unmistakable. She had heard it in both her nightmares and in the terror she had just lived through, and she felt her stomach drop, when suddenly the boil on the corpse of the Drowned God burst, and sitting their on that mound of flesh was the man she hated most in the whole world.

Euron Greyjoy, or what had once been Euron Greyjoy, was only a torso now. Less than that really. His right hand and arm had been split open from where Lizabet had blasted it open, a long tentacle had descended, and wrapped around the bisected flesh. From where his right eye had been shot out, a massive, bulbous orb, like those on the Drowned God, had inflated so large that it nearly covered his now uncovered black eye. And the missing tongue had been replaced with a long tubelike tube, which shined from razor sharp teeth from within. This tube began to sway back and forth, before slowly opening and closing, as Euron's voice began to fill her ears once more.

""The Fucker's Dead"," the remains of Euron slowly made to shake its head, but due to the massive bulging thing on its face, it couldn't really even move that much, "You really are that arrogant, huh, Rider?"

Lizabet flinched, but kept her eyes forward.

"I must thank you, my little pirate," Euron's voice continued, "Had you not done that level of damage to the old one, my soul would have been completely devoured by its might, and I never would have had the chance to reach my apotheosis," that was a word she did not understand, but one she was sure she got the general meaning of.

Euron…had become a god.

"Now that I have become the whole Foreigner," he raised his un damaged hand, and pointed it past them, "I will grant my glory to the people of Braavos, so that they may gaze upon me, and exalt me and fall to the madness of the world beyond."

"And what makes you think I'm going to let you get to Braavos?" Lizabet's voice was to anyone else filled with her usual bravado. To Asha, she could hear the fear at the back of it, and she could only hope that her uncle could not hear it.

"That was the last Wild Hunt you could use Drake," Asha blinked at the name, "You have stretched yourself so thing I can see right through you, and I can see that there is barely enough mana for you to keep your ship together," and then, Asha vaguely saw the tube with teeth seem to curl almost into a simple, "But do not worry, I'll take care of the rest."

And then, Asha felt the Golden Hind rock beneath her. She looked over, and stared as dozens of the tentacles began to grab at the railing fo the ship. Others were slipping through the railings, and beginning to encircle the masts. She could hear wood being rended by more and more of Euron's limbs.

"I shall grant you the greatest gift I can, for all you and Asha have given me," slowly, the mighty ship groaned as it was being torn asunder, "A quick death."

And then the ship rocked, and Lizabet was sent tumbling back off the bowsprit onto the deck. Asha, looking around, seeing death soon coming, could only manage to force her arms forward, dragging herself towards her captain. As she got closer, she watched, and stared into Lizabet's eyes.

"Captain?" she asked. For a moment, Lizabet looked around. She seemed to take in the ship around her, and Asha could only imagine what was growing through the woman's head on this ship, one that she had known for a long time. Slowly, the horror on Lizabet's eyes gave way to sadness, and then to exhaustion. Asha, on seeing that, could only sigh, and reach out her hand to grab Lizabet's arm with the last of her strength.

"Captain," she said. Lizabet's eyes fell on her, and there was some confusion, "Lizabet."

Lizabet's eyes suddenly sharpened. The woman pushed herself up to her feet, and after wavering a moment, planted herself and stood proud. She then reached down, and placed her hands underneath Asha like she was a babe again. Asha nearly blushed in embarrassment as she felt herself lifted into the air, as Lizabet began to walk towards the edge of the ship. The railing had already been torn off, leaving a sheer drop right in front of them.

"Cap-"

"If it were just me," Lizabet said, her voice raw, tired, and resigned, "I'd be fine dying, you know?" Asha could only blink but before she could say anything, Lizabet continued, "I've gotten so many people killed in my life, so many better people, that I probably deserve it. IT'd be an honor to go down with this ship," as if to make this clear, several of the central planks of the Hind shattered into splitters, as the mast began to buckle. She then looked down at Asha, "But you, I won't let you die," she stepped to the edge, all the while the sound of the her ship being torn apart echoed all around, "So I will do it. I'll take up that name again. That name that I wanted left back to another life."

"Lizabet?"

She saw the older woman smile, before looking out forlornly over the sea. For a moment, the world hung in silence, before she opened her mouth again, "I pay a debt I never promised," Asha felt Lizabet take a step forward. Suddenly, Asha felt her stomach jump once more, as she felt them both beginning to fall from the side of the Hind.

"Ca-"

"RULE BRITANNIA!"

SPLOOIISSHHSHHHHHH

And instead of falling, she was suddenly rising. Around her, a massive white spray of salty water filled her vision. As she blinked, she saw wood and canvas and rope surrounding herself once again.

'Another ship?' she asked herself. Not that she wasn't glad to not be in the water, bu-

"She's 'ere Admiral!" It was a man's voice. A young man was suddenly in front of her. He wore light brown trousers that loosely hung around his legs alongside a torn and cut light blue shirt. It was a look he shared with many other men, all of whom seemed to be running around the deck. He stopped in front of them, and at first his hand made to come up to the side of his head, before he stopped, realized what was happening, and then bowed forward at his waist, "Our majesty. Is me honor to welcome you aboard the Victory."

"Ughhhh."

Asha knew that sigh. She felt a shift in the arms around her, and then felt her feet lowered to the planks of the deck. She stopped as she regained her stance, before looking back. To see her captain-

"Oi, I order you to stop gawking at me!"

In a dress. Not just a dress, but the frilliest, fanciest, most uncomfortable dress she'd ever laid eyes on. It was whiter than the sails around the ship, decorated with a smattering of bright, multicolored jewels, all of which sat in the middle of garish patterns that seemed to have been designed to be more ridiculous than the last. The skirt was so wide that if it were actually meant to fit Lizabet, it would have meant her hips were the size of a cow's. And the skirt was appropriate in comparison to the collar, which was a ring of lace larger than Drake's head, and held up in such a way to almost make her red hair look like the remains of a cup of tea.

"I said stop gawking!" Asha couldn't help herself, before covering her mouth. She didn't have the energy at the moment, but if she had, she'd probably have collapsed over her herself laughing. Instead, she could only stand there, as Lizabet walked past her. She watched as an finely dressed man, bright blue coat and hat showing his great wealth, walked to meet her halfway. He, unlike all the other men around the ship, did not immediately bow his head toward Lizabet. Instead, he held his nose high up, and looked down on the slightly shorter woman.

"So you finally have stopped running then?" his voice was stern, almost a bit like Prince Baratheon, but older and more experienced. This, mixed with his long nose, and graying hair made Asha wonder at how old he actually was. Lizabet flinched beneath his gaze, and looked down to her feet at the question.

"I," she then looked over at Asha, who could only stare blankly. She then turned back to the older man, and nodded her head, "I am Elizabeth of England," the man raised an eyebrow, "I have called you here by the right of the Crown, and I expect you to do your duty," when he continued to keep his mouth shut, she sighed, before adding, "As I shall do my utmost to do my own."

The side of the man's mouth twisted upward slightly. He then stepped back, and bowed so he nearly touched his knee to the deck, before raising himself. He then waved his hand, "My Queen, there is much to be done," the two of them walked together, "Victory is a mighty vessel, but it should not be the end all of your Noble Phantasm," he looked around, "I think we may be able to hold on, enough hands to keep that thing from tearing us apart, but-"

"In this current body," Lizabet said, hands behind her back, which seemed quite uncomfortable considering the size and style of her dress, "I barely have enough power to summon you. I am still partially human, and it is keeping my powers constrained," she held out her hand, and flexed her fingers, "You are all I am able to summon now."

"Then we shall have to make do," the Admiral nodded, before turning to men around him, "To me, men of Britain-"

As the older man began to walk among the sailors, Asha finally was able to walk up to Lizabet, and ask, "What…what is going on?"

"I am taking the role I have run from," she nodded, "Rule Britannia is one of the most powerful of all the Noble Phantasms, and perhaps the most powerful on the sea," but she held out her hand onto Asha's shoulder, and then continued, "It might not be enough, but it is our best chance to get through this fight," and then, she gave Asha a confiding smirk that Asha so missed, "Now come on. Your Uncle is not a god yet, no matter what he pretends," she then stood up, and smiled at the massive creature, "So let's give him a battle he will never forget."