Salt and Blood [A Pirate LitRPG]

When a determined man puts his mind to a task, there is little that can stop him in his tracks, save for the cold grasp of death itself

-Quoted from Castell Saltbeard

Everyn roared defiance to the heavens and the unfeeling oceans as he swung his sword. This was the final clash.

Whoever's resolve was stronger would determine the victor of this battle. In the wake of his swing, the golden sphere was ripped apart.

The golden light was drawn into the commodore's body, revealing the two ragged men to the soldiers around. All sounds of battle faded as the gathered foes watched the final clash of the two men.

The commodore had given in to his fury, the righteous facade crumbling in the face of death. He swung his fists to meet Everyn's sword, the air itself shimmering with light as his fist ploughed through it.

As sword and fist met, a blinding flash of arcane and divine energy erupted, blinding everyone present. A sound like a hundred thunderclaps roared across the sea, drowning out all noise for a dozen miles.

***

Rose raced through the second deck. For the past few minutes the entire ship had been trembling as the sound of roaring steel echoed through it.

A fight of ridiculous proportions was taking place on the main deck and she wanted to witness it. To see the men she'd trained and fought beside claim the fruits of their effort.

She practically threw herself up the ladder after slicing a man in half. As she jumped out of the hole in the deck, she was blinded by a flash of gold and blue light and her ears rang as a deafening clap echoed out.

Her gaze turned to the source of the noise as she channeled arcane energy to her eyes to recover her vision. When the light faded she saw the cause of the explosion.

Rose's eyes went wide and she didn't think before she rushed towards the two men. Just what had happened while she was below deck?

Her eyes flickered between the two. She had to make a split-second decision. Whatever she did now would change the course of the war forever. She clenched her teeth and kicked against the deck.

She considered using Divine Serpent's Lure, but with how wounded the commodore was, it would be unnecessary. He was on his feet, but barely a flicker of arcane energy dripped through his circuits.

Blood poured from a dozen wounds across his body, deep gashes left by Prince Everyn's blade. His skin flickered between a faint golden glow and a pale bluish pink.

Rose was racing across the deck towards him, covering six plank-widths with every stride. When she was a single step away his eyes moved to stare into her own.

They burned with anger, resentment, and… the bitterness of failure. She didn't have time to contemplate the feelings of her enemy. Arcane energy welled in her core and exploded outwards, condensing in her feet and right shoulder.

She planted her front foot into the deck, the planks groaning in protest. Her hips pivoted and she cranked her right arm backwards above her head.

Before she could strike Commodore Olivan, he suddenly roared and a spark of golden energy descended from the sky; a bolt of divine lightning in the light of day. It was too late to change course, so Rose did the only thing she could—empower her strike even more.

She squeezed her core until it could no longer provide her with energy. Her fist swelled with power, blood vessels bursting and the tendons straining to withstand the arcane enhancement.

The air rippled in the wake of her fist. Rose aimed to strike the commodore in his face and end his life in a single blow. The spark of divine energy that struck him from the skies was an annoyance, but she believed it couldn't stop her.

The previous explosion was the clash between the commodore's divine techniques and the prince's blade dance. She'd seen Everyn gasping for breath, his skin cracked and festering with golden rot. Rose had chosen to leave him to fate and finish off their foe.

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Skill up!
Arcane Resistance 9 > 10

You have earned a new trait!
Worldtouched: Baptised in the energies of the world, you have experienced the rigours of arcane power and survived its ferocity. Your physical body resists the damage wrought by arcane energies a little better, in turn allowing it to flow with less resistance.

Rose had no spare focus to read the whorls, but she understood the importance. At such a vital moment her arcane resistance had increased.

As her fist ground against the barrier of divine energy the commodore formed, she felt the rampaging energies in her fist ease, the power launched into her strike rather than turned against her flesh. Against an ordinary foe, the last minute divine intervention may have saved Olivan's life, but Rose was no ordinary girl.

At first the shimmering golden barrier held and the commodore's cracked and bloody lips were tugged into a smirk. That soon faded when a crack appeared under her knuckles.

Then a second and a third. After another half second a spider's web of cracks exploded out from the point of impact. With the tinkle of windchimes, the golden barrier shattered into a million motes of divine energy that scattered in the breeze.

And her fist didn't stop there.

Surrounded by a storm of swirling divine energy and the crackling arcane energy that suffused her fist, Rose buried her punch in the commodore's face. He screamed as her knuckles slammed into his nose with a sickening crunch.

His skin radiated in ripples of gold, but he lacked the energy to truly emulate his transformation. On the contrary, Rose was overflowing with arcane energy and hadn't been through an exhausting battle.

Skill up!
Unarmed Combat 2 > 5
Arcane Attunement 21 > 22

Blood spurted from the commodore's caved-in face as he staggered backwards. Rose was unrelenting. Nothing short of his death would be enough.

Another step forwards. More energy. Her fist cocked back above her head. The commodore stayed upright, but his energy was spent.

He tried to summon his golden barrier once more, but all that happened was a pathetic spark of divine energy that fizzled out in an instant. He roared, blood dripping from his eyes.

Rose punched.

Ribs shattered. Muscles tore. Tendons snapped. Flesh rent apart in the wake of her turbulent arcane energy.

Her knuckles smashed into the commodore's beating heart. For a moment it withstood the force of her blow. Then with a sickening squelch it burst open in a shower of viscera and gore.

Arcane energy crackled outwards, burning through his flesh as it sought the fastest escape out of Rose's fist. She stood there, holding up the man's corpse with tightly clenched knuckles.

You have slain [Olivan Arlett]!

Accumulated merit:

1 Occupations Completed
3 Titles Acquired
1 Soulbound Items
1★ Earned
Flowing Core

Skill up!
Unarmed Combat 5 > 9

Death had become something of a normality to her over the past year, but it was still gruesome to slaughter a person with your bare hands. Usually she fought at range, or with her cutlasses at the very least.

This was… different. Visceral. Her face twisted into a grimace and she yanked her arm backwards, spraying blood and shards of bone onto her clothes and the deck beneath her feet.

A heavy silence hung in the air, every man and woman on board the flagship staring in muted horror at the destruction she'd wrought. Rose had around a third of her arcane energy left in her core—enough to fight their way out, but likely not to defeat all the soldiers present.

While the commodores had been the biggest threats, that didn't mean the rest of the navy soldiers were useless. Plenty of the officers would put up a struggle.

She'd already examined the construction of Minenblum's new ships and stolen their fuel. Could they disable another ship and still escape unharmed? Perhaps. Was it worth the risk? She didn't know.

Snapping wood yanked her focus back to the real world. Salt kissed her lips as the ocean breeze gusted across the deck. A soldier roared their fury at the commodore's death.

Rose didn't hear the contents of his shout, but it was no doubt filled with vulgarity and hatred. It opened the floodgates and the bubbling rage crescendoed around her.

She'd barely noticed the energy that flowed into her from killing the commodore. A spluttering cough came from behind and she whirled on her feet to see Everyn crawling upright.

He was injured, but his core had… How can he have more energy than before? He was almost certainly dead when I chose to kill the commodore, Rose thought to herself, her brow furrowing as she thought about the strange series of events.

Oh! He did most of the damage to the commodore, so perhaps he received some of the energy when the man died? That would make sense.

Rose knew little of the tide's greater workings, but it was the only plausible answer. At the very least, it saved her from the guilt of sacrificing Everyn's life to kill their shared enemy.

A decision that might mean little, she realised, staring at the hundreds of soldiers that streamed towards them with cutlasses and swords drawn. The crack of a pistol cut through the cacophony of shouts, signaling the start of a chaotic brawl.

Staring at her blood stained fists, Rose sighed. I need another cutlass…