"Just as soon as I get out of trouble first."
Elincia cocked her head to the side as she listened to Caspian's last statement. "Is everything okay?"
"Oh, yeah. I'm fine. I just, uh, seem to have run into some trouble. Anyway, tell me where I should go."
"Okay. Give me just a minute." Elincia had to cut her connection to Caspian so she could speak to Freya. "What should I do?"
"Summon me," Freya said. "With our current bond, you should be capable of keeping me in your dimensional plain for at least twenty minutes now. That will be more than enough time for us to defeat everyone here and take control of the ship."
Elincia nodded and channeled her mana. "Freya, please come and help me."
She appeared before Elincia in a burst of light, a beautiful woman with silver hair, whose body was clad in platemail that didn't quite cover everything. A silver and gold breastplate covered her chest but not her stomach, revealing toned abdominal muscles and copious amounts of cleavage. The pauldrons sitting on her shoulders were made of segmented metal that clicked together. Silver protectors covered her hips but not her front, though a blue tassel moved down the center to protect her modesty. Twirling a spear in her gloved hands, Freya, the Nordic spirit of battle and warfare, charged forward and slammed her spear into the door.
SRRRRCHHHHTTT!!
The door was torn off its hinges and flew into the hallway beyond. Freya stepped outside seconds later, and Elincia flinched when swung her spear twice more and two loud screams were immediately cut off. The spirit turned toward her, set her blood covered spear on the ground, and gestured.
"Come. Let us make haste."
"R-right."
Elincia stepped out of the holding cell and, ignoring the sight of the two corpses that Freya cut up, she followed the elegant spirit of battle as she destroyed yet another door and exited the hallway.
"You should inform your life partner of our location and tell him to follow my directions."
"O-okay! I'll do my best." Elincia switched from her connection to Freya and contacted Caspian. "Can you hear me, Caspian?"
"... Yes. Is everything okay?"
"I'm fine. Freya is with me. Listen, I'm about to begin giving you directions. Please follow them so we can meet up."
"I'll do my best."
Elincia took a deep breath as she followed Freya, switched back and forth between talking to the spirit and Caspian, and tried to ignore the constant drain on her mana from keeping a gate open to let Freya remain in this world. It took a lot of effort. It was more a mental effort than a physical one. However, she continued doing her best.
"Head down two more flights of stairs. You'll reach the floor we're on."
"Two stairs. Got it."
"Next, travel through the hallway and take a left."
"Kay."
"Keep going straight."
While Elincia directed Caspian, Freya stood before her, leading her. The spirit of battle was an absolute force to be reckoned with. All Elincia needed to do was walk behind the woman, who moved forward with absolute confidence. Several people came out from doors and down staircases, trying to attack her, but all of them met their ends at Freya's hands. She moved like a whirlwind. She sliced through people as though they were fragile crepes. Even people trying to attack them from a distance with pistols and muskets met their end when Freya created several spears of light and sent them flying forward.
As they traveled up a flight of stairs, two people appeared before them. One was a man. The other a woman. While the man charged forward to attack with a sword, the woman hung back and aimed her pistol. She never got a chance to fire. A spear made of light appeared next to her and pierced her chest. She died instantly. Likewise, the man had no time to block or dodge as Freya thrust the spear in her hand forward. Blood drenched the tip of her spear as she stabbed him through the throat, then yanked it out. The man stumbled backward as he raised a hand to his throat, now gushing with blood, but then he fell against the wall and slid down it. He didn't get back up.
Elincia thought she was going to be sick.
They emerged from the stairs and entered another hallway. Before too long, Freya had led Elincia into a room that appeared to be an armory. Several racks of guns lined lined the walls, swords hung from more racks, and there was even a bow with a quiver sitting on a table--wait a minute. That was her bow!
Elincia rushed forward and grabbed the quiver of arrows. The straps were still in good condition and it looked like no one had touched the arrows. She slung it around her shoulder, and then grabbed her bow. The string still looked good.
"I shall remain here and protect you until your life partner arrives," Freya informed Elincia. "Once he comes here, travel up to the deck. That woman who is in charge will be there. If you can defeat her, you will be able to take control over the ship."
"Okay. Thank you, Freya," Elincia said.
Freya smiled. "Think nothing of it."
Elincia switched her connection again, contacting Caspian as Freya stood in front of the armory door and cut down anyone foolish enough to come near her. It seemed there were a lot of foolish people. Freya's spear was practically a blur as she attacked everyone who appeared in this hallway.
"Caspian. Where are you now?"
"I'm traveling down the hallway you told me to."
"Once you reach the next corner, you will see a woman with silver hair wielding a spear. That's Freya. Don't attack her."
"I know what Freya looks like, you know."
"R-right. I just wanted to make sure."
A moment later, several more loud noises echoed from the other side of the door. Elincia turned to Freya, but the woman just stepped aside, allowing someone to enter the room. It was Caspian. He was covered in small nicks and bruises, breathing heavily as though he'd run across the entire ship, but still alive and perfectly healthy.
"Caspian!" Elincia was so overcome with emotion that she rushed up and hugged Caspian before he could fully recover. To his credit, Caspian did his best not to fall over, but he did stumble back a few steps.
"Ele... I'm glad you're okay."
"Me too! I'm so glad you're all right!"
They held each other for just a moment before separating. Both of them understood that now wasn't the time for this. Elincia turned to Freya and smiled.
"Thank you for the help, Freya."
After cutting down another man foolish enough to get too close, Freya bowed to Elincia and said, "of course. Please call upon me whenever you have need of my assistance. I will always come to you."
As the woman disappeared in a burst of light particles, Elincia sighed in relief when the drain on her mana ceased. She had about half her reserves left. If need be, she could probably summon Freya again for ten more minutes, but she would like to avoid that if at all possible. She'd be useless once she ran out of mana.
"Are you ready, Ele?" asked Caspian as he discarded the rapier he'd been using and changed it for a broadsword.
"Yes." Elincia nodded.
"Then let's go."
Caspian and Elincia left the armory and entered a hallway filled with corpses. There must have been at least 20 bodies strewn about this hall, though it was hard to tell because some of them weren't completely whole. Freya had been merciless when she killed her enemies.
While Elincia directed Caspian on where to go, she still let him lead her. As a frontline fighter, Caspian could protect Elincia while she nocked back arrows and fired them from a distance. They walked through several hallways, ascended a number of stairs, and battled against everyone who stood in their path.
"Halkaista!"
Swinging his sword, Caspian cleaved through weapons, armor, and people as he constantly pushed them forward. He didn't stop for even a second. He danced across the ground, parried a sword swing, and then cleaved through the neck of the man fighting them. Before that person died, he kicked them in the chest and sent them into the woman behind them. Caspian then killed her with a thrust to the skull.
While he continued fighting enemies in front of them, Elincia used her newfound bow skills to shoot people who were further ahead of them. Unlike Caspian, she did not have the heart to kill anyone. Her shots were debilitating but nonlethal. One person was struck in the shoulder, another in the knee, and still more received wounds to their hands or thighs.
However, while she did her best to incapacitate and not kill, Elincia only had a limited number of arrows, which meant she could only fire sparingly. Caspian did most of the grunt work.
It took a long time for them to reach the deck. They'd had to fight their way through several dozen people. That said, given the size of this ship, the amount of people they'd had to fight was less than she thought they would. She surmised that not everyone had been alerted to what was happening. Otherwise they would have no doubt been swarmed.
When they emerged onto the deck, Caspian and Elincia were confronted by nearly twenty people, a mixture of men and women wielding swords. Among this group stood Chloe, fully dressed, and looking more than a little angry. She glared at Caspian as she stepped forward. In one hand was a pistol and a rapier was in the other.
"You two have given me far too much trouble," she said. "I don't know how you managed to escape with that collar on you, or how you managed to use magic, but it doesn't matter if you two have some tricks up your sleeves. I'm done playing around. Kill them."
"Thor! Help me!"
As the men and women rushed toward them, a powerful bolt of lightning slammed into one of the attackers. It leapt from one to another and then another. Before even a second had passed, 16 of the 20 people Chloe had brought to attack them were brought down. They weren't dead. Each of them groaned in pain as smoke wafted from their bodies. However, they wouldn't be getting up any time soon.
"How can you use Spiritual Evocation with that collar on you?!" Chloe suddenly shrieked in surprise.
Elincia didn't answer her.
Caspian took two steps forward and parried a swinging rapier. As his blade locked with his opponent's, he twisted his wrists and sent his enemy's weapon into the ground, then stepped forward and slammed the pommel of his sword into the other man's jaw. A loud crack echoed around them. His enemy stumbled back, but that was a mistake. Caspian swiped his blade across the man's chest. In most circumstances, his sword wouldn't have been able to penetrate the other man's armor, but he cast Halkaista on his blade. Blood spilled on the ground, splattering all over the place as his enemy pitched forward and died.
Barely a second had passed since Caspian began fighting, and with one of the four already dead, Caspian was able to quickly leap into the midst of the other three. They tried to fight back. In a three on one battle, they held a clear numerical advantage, but Caspian didn't let them get the better of him. He shuffled against the ground. His constant movements kept the three of them from being able to attack him at the same time.
"Damn it!" Chloe swore before she began chanting another Aria. Elincia didn't know who she was calling upon, but she wasn't going to let this woman do what she wanted.
"Thor! Knock her out please!"
Another bolt of lightning erupted from the ether, slammed into Chloe, and blasted the woman off her feet. As she skidded across the deck floor, the three people fighting with Caspian stopped. This gave Caspian the opportunity he needed to cut down the last three making liberal use of Halkaista.
As he finished off the remaining enemies, Elincia walked over to Chloe and checked to make sure she was really unconscious. The slave trading sorceress was lying on her back. Her eyes were wide open, but her pupils were rolled into the back of her head, and her mouth was hanging open. She was completely unconscious.
"It looks like we've won," Caspian said as he walked up to her.
"Yeah..." Elincia nodded, though she didn't smile. So many people had been killed today.
"What should we do now?" asked Caspian.
Elincia changed gears and thought for a moment. "Let's tie Chloe up first. Once she wakes up, we can order her to have the boat drive to the shoreline and force her men to abandon ship." She paused and tilted her head to consider their options. "We'll keep Chloe, though. She probably knows a lot about Marquis Hunington. We'll need her knowledge if we want to create a plan to shed light on the marquis deeds. We also have to rescue Lady Clarissa and bring Commander Enriche's corruption to light."
"Sounds like we have our work cut out for us," Caspian murmured.
"Yeah..."
The midnight sky twinkled with dozens of stars as the two of them went about binding Chloe with some rope they found on the deck.
***
And that is that. The lesson here? Never mess with Caspian and Elincia. They won't go easy on you, even if you're a woman.
I hope you all enjoyed the chapter. Please tell me how I'm doing. Don't be afraid to point out any grammar mistakes I made.
Also, if any of you can and are willing to, please consider supporting me on Patreon or buying my books on Amazon. The link to my Patreon can be reached via the "External Link" button down below. Thanks!