Nemo continued up the stairs. "Travis distracted the sniper long enough for me to get a shot off. If she isn't dead it's going to be a lot harder for her to snipe without a scope." Nemo explained. He tried to use his manalysis as he ascended the roundabout stairs up to the top of the outpost, but came up with no reading on the top. Signifying that Lori was either dead, or using a advanced aura hiding technique. Nemo wouldn't find it hard to believe it was the latter since she was a sniper, a spell like that would prove useful.

As soon as Nemo reached the top and rounded the corner, he found the place Lori had been sniping from. Directly behind the railings she had her rifle propped up on was broken glass shards, some bits of metal, and trickles of blood, but no body in sight. Nemo kept a deadpan face despite the realization that the sniper was still alive. He quickly tried to make a guess on where she had gone to, but before he could formulate an idea his eyes lingered on to the metal shack of the outpost. He couldn't see inside from where he was standing, there was a metal wall with no window blocking his eyesight from peering in.

Nemo breathed in through his nose, sniffing the air a couple times like an animal looking for a scent. Apparently he had found something, because immediately after Nemo used a basic spell to abruptly slide himself backwards without friction, just in time to dodge out of the way of a blast tearing through the wall Nemo was previously standing by. Nemo made sure to bring Raiya with him out of the way if she had made it all the way up the stairs with him.

The lack of any wall made it easy for Nemo to see Lori now, if only for a brief moment in between the wall bursting open and Nemo sliding out of view. It gave him all he really wanted, confirmation his shot had hit. Her large runic gilded flintlock styled rifle was missing it's scope now, and she had a black bandanna quickly wrapped over her head and covering her right eye that was faintly stained red. She was not only wounded, but her shooting eye was decommissioned as well.

Besides that her outfit was rather standard with the rest of the crew. A rugged uniform with a worn brown leather jacket. She had long messy blonde hair, one remaining blue eye, light skin, roughly 5'5", and looked to be in her mid twenties.

Nemo readied his rifle and waited out of sight, careful not to make any more loud movements to tip off his position.

Travis nearly jumped once he registered Zoey's voice suddenly manifesting beside him and came close in reactively scolding his teammate but she was well into her report before it became a subject of interest about him. Apparently she had noted his repeated use of his mana crystals and offered to replenish them; an offer he would be fool not to accept given his pace thus far. Travis complied and produced the spent crystals from his trench coat.

"Thanks Zoey, I would appreciate that," he replied, placing the crystals within her hands, "though I do hope that you have a way of getting past the storm clouds that are right above. It'll certainly get worse from here."

For the moment we waited for a response, he had then came to a quick realization; something was missing.

"Where is..." Travis looked around but didn't Zuri anywhere and still heard nothing of a reply from his manadial. He went and quried for her again over the manadial, "Zuri? You ther-"

A nearby discharge of a familiar mana-firearm interrupted him, forcing Travis to quickly pull his attention towards the source of the disturbance. The shot that he was just barely able to catch a glimpse of in time hailed from the upper decks, right where Nemo and Raiya. Apparently they had re-acquired Lori.

"Looks like trouble." Travis stated obviously.

Raiya followed Nemo up the stairs. The small lookout was bare bones, nothing but a metal platform surrounded by guard rails. Raiya could smell the blood before they actually reached the level of the lookout. She readied her pistol, ejecting her magazine she had spent all the cartridges from previously, and swapping it out for a special magazine in her inventory. Once they reached the lookout, it was abundently clear that Nemo had hit his mark. The glass and the blood obviously told most of the story there was to tell. However, a key part of the story was missing, the body. Raiya put up her guard as soon as she processed her surroundings.

As the wall disintegrated and Nemo pulled the two of them backwards, Raiya readied her technique, which was a prototype ritual still yet to be fleshed out. She charged her mana into the gun which conducted through the metal slide and into the round that was in the chamber.

Ichi,

The ritual needed three seconds to complete. Her mana reacted with the special silver cartridge, building and interacting with the contents of the cartridge.

Ni,

The gunpowder mixture began to change on a chemical level. The gunpowder inside the cartridge was a special mixture of black powder and snake-oil that Raiya had packed herself. The powder was beginning to change into pure magical energy.

San!

Raiya aimed her gun at the sniper in the outpost and pulled the trigger, the firing pin struck the chambered round's primer. This primer was special, in that the back of the primer itself was an incomplete rune. The small firing pin only needed to strike the center of the round to complete the small rune igniting the gunpowder mixture which had now been changed into magical energy. The round itself was a small sharp tungsten cone. As the bullet left the barrel, the magical energy that followed the bullet mixed into the air directly in front of the suppressor and behind the bullet, creating a large pink magical runic circle. The runic circle was the completion of a contract of sorts that was written into the back of the tungsten cone bullet. Specifically it granted the tungsten cone bullet specific transmutations. The tungsten bullet transformed from mere tungsten into a devastating spear of plasma about 6 inches in circumference. It would surely rip apart any organic matter it were to come into contact with, and create a large explosion it were to hit any dense inorganic matter.

Raiya's attack gave Lori little time for escape. While it indeed had a charge period, that period wasn't as theatrical as most were to tip her off on what was coming. No dramatic incantation, no looming noises of death. And because of that and her disabled state, she stood no chance of moving out of the way. The only thing she saw before her lights unlit was the plasma spear ripping another hole through the wall, intent to do the same thing to her next.

After the magic spear passed through her, no doubt mangling her body, it kept on going. It passed through the last wall of the outpost and continued on a slightly downwards angled path. It connected with the deck of the ship right next to some shipping containers, causing the spear to explode with a blast that would make Nemo proud.

A large hole opened up on the deck, thankfully the spear didn't continue on far enough to cause the ship to sink. The contents of the container were strewn about from the blast as well. Given Seidon's title as a artifact smuggler, one could only guess how much they were worth prior to being mostly vaporized by Raiya's attack.

---

Nemo leaned over to look through the hole Raiya had made, giving him perfect view to stare straight down all three holes that were created. "Ooooh, now that was pretty impressive Raiya." He said as he rapidly clapped his hands together in awe. His clapping was cut short as the outpost abruptly shifted. Apparently Raiya's spear had made it a bit unstable. Nemo paused for a moment, waiting to see if they were going to tip over. Once he was sure it was just a false alarm he finished his clap for a couple more seconds, this time at a much more careful quiet tone.

After the plasma spear ripped through the air and subsequently through everything that was in its path, Raiya let out a small puff of exasperation. She looked at the path of carnage in aw, which picked her mood up a little bit from the failures she had suffered throughout this mission as a whole. "If I had been half of a second too early or too late in pulling the trigger, the cartridge would have blown the gun to pieces and probably have taken my hand with it... It's a prototype to say the least, and it isn't exactly something I can use reliably in combat." Raiya explained, "I'm just surprised it worked at all. I had only ever tested it in precise mechanical conditions. This is the first time i have ever used that technique on the field. And probably the last time until I can work out an effective method of containing the magical energy in the cartridge." Raiya continued, "Silver was the only metal so far that i have had relative success without the cartridge blowing up right away. But without access to mithril, or sacred silver I probably wont be making any leaps forward with this technique." " Raiya finished.

"Well? Now do we head for the bridge and confront the captain?" Raiya asked as she bent down to pick up the spent cartridge from the plasma spear she just fired. Those cartridges were difficult for Raiya to make in large quantities so any that survived the actual firing process were invaluable.

Nemo looked over to Raiya and leaned up against the railing of the tower, seemingly unafraid of causing it to tip over. He winced when she brought up losing her hand. "Oh Raiya, if you wanted to get your hands on fancy materials like that you should've said something earlier. Sacred silver, mythril, whatever unobtainanium you need, I'm your guy. But it'll come at a price." Nemo replied.

---

While the rest of the group would enjoy a small period of rest, things had been going south within the bridge.

"GODDAMN SWINE!" Seidon's voice boomed out before he smashed a sea blue mug filled with unknown liquid all over one of the control panels. It was unclear if he was referring to the intruders, or his own crew after their failure. But his temper had grown just as wild as the storm.

With Seidon were the two Church leaders, Father Stockton and Galvadon. They stood at each side and a little bit behind of the good captain, watching the wreckage. "You promised us safe passage Mr. Seidon." Spoke the elder Stockton. He had a slightly raspy eerily calm voice.

"Is that so? Well last time I checked you looked pretty damn spotless to me, your highness. Unlike my crew... and my ship! Which both are being destroyed to keep your prissy arses out of harms way!" Seidon spat back angrily.

"I suggest you watch your tongue Kapitan." The younger Galvadon stepped in.

"I suggest you spare me your empty threats, whipping boy. I'm not intimidated by you or that glorified soap in a sock you call a weapon." Seidon quickly shot back at him.

"I ought to have you flayed for that..." Galvadon replied at a quieter, more serious tone. He tried to hold back his anger and gripped his golden flail by it's handle tightly.

"Enough. Both of you." Stockton said. "The Captain is just feeling a bit heated from what's just transpired. I'm sure you can come to forgive him for that John." Based on Stockton's tone it came off more as a threat than a attempt to rebuild bridges between the two. Neither of them really wanted to push this further to see the consequences. "I suggest you take care of our little problem Mr. Seidon. Because if it continues to hinder our plan I'm going to reconsider your usefulness to the Arcanocracy."

After a few moments Seidon's angered attitude let up and he emitted a gruff chuckle. "After all the damage they've done to my operation, it would be my pleasure."

---

While it was hard to notice with the storm, streams of water began to magically flow out from the ship. Some coming from the bridge, some flowing from the hole Raiya opening up on the deck, some even up from the side of the ship. All of them began to pool together in an open area on the middle of the deck. The intensity of the streams began to increase until it was hard to miss even with the storm.

Nemo soon noticed the peculiarity. "I don't think that's going to be necessary, Raiya." He replied.

The streams soon formed into a gigantic mass of spinning water, akin to a whirlpool out of a body of water, before suddenly losing their form and dispersing out on top of the deck, leaving pools of water in it's wake, as well as Captain Seidon himself. He stood right in the middle of where the strange whirlpool once was. He seemed to be mostly unarmed, except for a decorated wooden cane.

Raiya only had the two magazines, the empty one she switched out, and the one she currently held in her pistol which contained 4 more of her special plasma lance rounds. Considering her luck was not going very good on this mission, and she had succeeded once with her statistically improbable technique, she was not willing to risk a second shot. So, Raiya dropped her pistol back into her mana inventory, it dissapeared with a pink crackle of her mana. She knew of people who were able to interact with their objects within their inventories and thus load a magazine in their inventory (Felix was one of these such people), but that required a deep level of a visualization technique that Raiya just did not possess.

So, when the captain of the ship appeared in a torrent of magically controlled water, she switched out her pistols for a few throwing knives. She charged each throwing knife with a bit of electricity before throwing them with impressive speed at the newly manifested opponent. The captain was fairly far off from where the group currently stood, but Raiya was good enough with her accuracy, as well as having the advantage of gravity on her side that her knives would surely hit their mark. Streaking forth through the stormy air with a crackle of bright pinkish mana electricity.

Zuri still had her back on the same container she has been taking cover ever since the sniper took her first shot. She wasn't feeling well ever since the temporary transformation she did not long ago. Being half asleep with her butt on the floor and her back against the container, even though she didn't catch the first time Travis called for her through the manadial, she caught Travis' second attempt at getting her attention. She looks at the watch, gives it a tap and replies "I'm sorry for not replying earlier, what can I do to help?" she asks with a slightly worried tone because Travis sounded like he was abruptly cut off.

Seidon quickly noticed the knives, his gaze was already towards the sniper tower because of the loss of his sniper. However before the knives could reach him Seidon raised his right hand upwards, causing one of the puddles of water created during his entrance to change shape. It rapidly shot up like a wall to block the blades and trap them inside the water before collapsing back to the deck. As soon as the blades touched the water, the whole body of liquid was briefly magically electrified, something Seidon took note of.

The Captain let out a gruff snarl before raising both of his hands up this time and then moving his right arm towards the sniper tower in a push like gesture. Afterwards his quickly turned and did the same with his left towards Travis. He still hadn't spotted Zoey or Zuri.

Two of the pools raised from their placid state, one first going towards the sniper tower, and then other raging towards Travis in waves, roughly ten feet tall and wide. Should they connect directly, it wasn't an attack that could kill, but definitely break bone from the impact.

---

"Knives? Really?" Nemo said, looking to Raiya. "I think it's gonna ta... oh shit run." Nemo continued before suddenly interrupting himself when he saw the wave attack approach. He turned around and started to run down the stairs. Because of the unstable state of the tower, as soon as the wave would collide it would surely tip over and crash down on the deck.

Raiya figured her attack probably wouldn't connect, but the attack was more of a tactical gesture than it was a practical one. She was attempting to illicit a response from the new enemy who appeared before them to gain some insight into what kind of power the enemy had. When her knives were stopped short of their destination by a wall of water, Raiya immediately knew they were in for a tough time. A mage whose aura indicated he was mostly if not solely specialized in watermancy, on a boat in the middle of an ocean meant that the homefield advantage was vastly tilted in the favor of the enemy. It was a bit like facing a dragon in the middle of an active volcano.

Raiya turned to Nemo to see what sort of response Nemo had for this new situation they found themselves in, "Nemo, what are we going to d-," Her question was cut off abruptly as a surge of magically controlled water blasted forth towards them at an unnaturally dangerous rate. Raiya bailed out of the tower jumping off the tall platform down towards the deck, she used a small glyph spell to cast a jet of wind down where she was going to land, to break her fall. Even her enhanced snakelike durability would not have kept her safe from that fall alone. The gust of magically generated wind allowed her to land a tad bit gracefully. Once her feet touched the deck she began to move towards cover, finding it in an open container. She suppressed her aura's mana waves to keep herself invisible as she entered the container and crouched down behind some boxes inside.

Just how in the hell are we supposed to combat a foe who has such a massive advantage on us!? Raiya puzzled as she sat in hiding.

A moment after Lori's shot came soon did Zuri's voice over the manadial. Better late than never thought Travis before replying back, "We could use some help up here. We've just cornered our sniper and about to close in."

Travis has more to say but another discharge echoed out, this one louder and more brilliant than the first. What looked like a radiant spear erupted out from the outpost through a cloud of crimson and glowing shrapnel before arcing in to the deck and detonating upon contact with one of the shipping containers, effectively gutting it. The Untalent stood amazed from the spectacle that transpired but soon sought to know whom the source caster was. He soon got his answer as an object whistled into a freefall and collapsed with the deck beside him.

“Actually...hold that thought.”

Travis turned his head slightly to his right flank to find the cooked but still intact frame of a flintlock rifle, bearing stylized runes across its exterior. He soon concluded it was Lori’s weapon, signaling her apparent though still unconfirmed demise. Curious about the construct, Travis carefully extracted the weapon from the deck and examined it while approaching the site where the spear had hit. Travis was familiar with modern weaponry being recrafted and repurposed into deadly mediums that cast spells or channel mana but he had never set his sights on one nor held one in his hands. Despite the burns that stained it, it appeared the weapon was still operable; question was how to use it.

Before he could he could settle his curiosity, he arrived at the scene where a twisted container had partially fallen into the still burning hole that the spear had blasted before. While the lower deck had not been damaged as badly, it had certainly caught fire, creating a miniature inferno that Travis dared not enter or even approach any further due to the escaping heat. However, his interest was captured by the container’s contents that has spilled out on to the two decks.

Pots, idols, and other miscellaneous curiosities laid broken or melting in the heat, all practically unsalvageable. A frown formed on his face; before him was an unfortunate implication that mentally gnawed at the Scholar. While it was not his field nor profession, he could see the potential knowledge that these relics and artifacts accommodated. All of it was now gone with little worth to recover. Travis could already imagine, had a certain group of the Societas Academia learned of this tragedy, their utter contempt would likely know no restraint.

Pulling himself from the carnage of antiquities, he maneuvered around the hole and debris while making his way to the upper decks. It wasn’t long until he begun to register his footsteps resonating an unusually wet splashing sound. While a certain storm was becoming uglier by the minute, its main effects had yet arrived to try and drown the main deck. Travis tried to pay no mind to the noises but it was a futile gesture as his right foot eventually clamped down on something soft, somewhat stiff, and awfully squishy. Travis froze in that instant and slowly looked down, his eyes widening upon another unpleasant sight. Though this one was, technically, reassuring.

He quickly retracted his boot from the arm of a corpse with a gaping cauterized hole within its abdomen, blood still managing to pool around it. The size of the obviously fatal wound made it miraculous that the lower half of the body was still connected, though not by much. He didn’t want to gaze upon the ghastly scene any more than he’d have too but every second he kept looking, the more he learned from it. The corpse was that of a female and was clearly a member of Seidon’s crew given the standard uniform however he noted a few tactical apparel assets and a now ruined leather jacket. Upon seeing her equipment strewn about and around her body, he realized much of it were necessities of a rifle, much like the one he now carried.

It was clear now to him that Lori has now been dispatched and soon followed up with his report on the manadial, "Ah...nevermind, she's...quite, dead."

Travis backed off from the body and out of the red pool while smearing off traces of blood from his boots upon the deck, "Ugh, this is gonna stain...I...swear..."

His voice trailed off he heard the loud hissing of fire being put out from the hole he had visited before. Where other crew members putting out the flames? That would of been a better circumstance but what he had gotten instead was an odd scene of water pouring our from the hole and spilling on to the deck. While normally that would have been a very bad sign on a boat, Travis didn't feeling the shift of gravity as if the ship was sinking; this was something else. More water pumped out and seemed to quickly creep across the deck in a specific direction; an uncanny behavior for water that would instead be spreading everywhere unless there was obvious weight to draw towards.

"That ain't natural," Travis commented cautiously as he watched on.

The thin lake that filled the main deck then accumulated to the center before rising in concentrated mass and volume and violently spinning towards its heart until it was an artificial whirlpool. The cyclone of water then dispersed, leaving a single and notable human being in its wake. The figure retained similar attire like the rest of the crew however seemed more professional and expressed seniority. He determined the unique individual to be Seidon whom radiated a furious expression across his face. Travis had a few ideas why that was.

All of a sudden came a quick flurry of knives that Travis traced back to the original tower they had engaged before, there he found Nemo and Raiya overlooking the deck. However Seidon responded by forming a large construct of water that halted the knives before reaching him. He soon countered with a large surge toward the tower before setting his eyes on the Untalent. Oh crap.

Travis gave a nervous gulp before Seidon unleashed a raging wave towards him. Given that he was much closer to Seidon than anyone else, Travis had no time to get out of the way, forcing him to react to the threat. While still holding the rifle in his left hand, he raised his right palm and generated two cryo runes, discharging them immediately. Travis needed only the slightest confirmation of the wave freezing in place before he bolted back into the collection of storage containers as cover.

Nemo continued running down the stairs of the outpost, but quickly figured that he'd never make it down in time. Nemo quickly vaulted over the railings and dropped down to one of the lower bars. He swung back and fourth before dismounting to gain as much distance from the wave as he could. He was just in time to escape from the sniper post before it was smashed and thrown overboard from the ship. With a somewhat flashy mid-air flip Nemo landed safely back on the deck.

Nemo took cover behind some of the containers away from the rest of the group members. He used his manadial and broadcasted to the entire group. "He might have the home turf advantage, but it's not an impossible fight. Water is conductive, so that gives you an advantage over him Raiya. Seidon's a powerful mage, but in the end we have more manpower overall than him as well. I'll just have to crack out some of my more reserve spells. Zoey, if you're able to distract him later on with something it would probably allow me to get a shot off." Nemo explained.

Afterwards Nemo began to whisper an incantation into his glove and waited for a response. Seidon seemed more than happy to wait until someone showed their face before attacking again, but it was uncertain how long his patience would last.

Seeing as he had yet to be crushed by an artificial tidal wave or swept in to the agitating sea, Travis found reassurance that he had gotten away from Seidon; at least for now. For the moment, Travis remained hidden behind a small collection of metal containers, carefully insuring his presence was not comprised. Occasionally, he would steal a peak at Seidon whom seemed content remaining in the same place as before while scanning the external decks of the ship.

Travis only had a few assets he could make use presently. From before, his cryo rune seemed sufficient enough in blocking the Seidon's attack. He surmised he could freeze the entirety of the Captain's amassed water and deny him of his resource but he quickly concluded that it would only be temporary. The were in the ocean after all and he predicted Seidon would be easily able to replenish his reserves in no time. There was also the additional downside of potentially weighing the boat down with all the ice that would form as a result; the storm's effect over the humidity wasn't helping either. He then considered his lightning spell which seemed liked the safer option presently. There were no real concerns aside from making sure he wasn't anywhere near a possible conductor though the issue he understood was the spell's unreliable accuracy at range unless something could guide his strike.

He pondered some more until a subconscious thought reminded him of the rifle still in his grasps. He tried to ignore it again until he remembered how dangerous it was when Lori formerly wielded it. What was considered solid cover was rendered useless by the flintlock's charged mana-bolts. With the time he still had, he began examining the weapon up and down, understanding how it functioned in the hopes of repurposing towards his own ends.

It was then that Nemo's voice eventually transmitted from his manadial, wanting to organize everyone in their newest stuggle against Seidon. Travis reported back while eyeing the rifle, "I should be able to support Raiya with my own lightning spell if that sounds reasonable. Also, I've managed to stave off Seidon's earlier attack by freezing it. While I don't have a good view from here, it didn't look like he could reconstitute much afterwards..."

It was then he finally found the firing mechanism and the supported spell engraving of Lori's rifle, "...question, given how destructive Lori's attacks were, would ya suppose that could put a few literal holes in Seidon's defenses?"

Zoey had been concentrating on refilling Travis' mana recepticles when the world went to shit. Water pooling up on the deck made the ship lurch, and the overdramtic cyclone to display power was tacky. Unfortunately, the waves caused by this put Travis in danger. Travis was a good friend. Probably. At least, one of the few in the group that she'd had real interaction with lately. The other person she had interactions with was a criminal, serial murderer whod' lent her his gun. She'd have to give that back now.

She received her orders: distract the jack in the middle. Thankfully, Travis had managed to save himself. It was nice to have continued proof that creative use of small ammounts of mana can suppliment one's abilities. She Shadowported into his hidey hole and gave him his crystals back. They would feel cold, tingly, and foreign to him. He wasn't one of her brothers or sisters after all. Yet, I suppose. Though it is a little late in his life to consider him recruitable. Further, he has his own dedications and path. "Now, for the fireworks." She pointed to the sky, and it was lit up with: Fireworks. Big ones, small ones, ones that go boom. Brilliant flashes of greens, yellows, reds. Spectacular shapes. An american flag. An exploding cannon. Loud, bright, and flashy. Just about everything she hated in an illusion. But a distraction, none the less.

The loud illusory sound of fireworks exploded overhead. Raiya knew it was illusory because the sound was the same inside the shipping container as it was outside. The chatter over the manadial commlink was pertaining to a combined effort to bring down the new foe using everyone's specialties but, importantly to Raiya, electricity. Raiya opened up her line and began to speak as she thought it through. "I don't know for sure but I have to assume he is keeping a small dry spot where he is standing by manipulating the water in a sort of eye of the storm kind of thing. If that's true, all he has to to do us continuously block my attacks with his water to disperse the charge before it hits him. I am going to need an opening, and I am at my best at close range. So if someone could get him to target them with his attacks, draw his fire to them while I flank him, that will open him up to any number of attacks I can serve up." Raiya suggested as she sat hunched down in her container.

If I can get within striking distance, it is over for him. But... I have a feeling he might have an active defense field surrounding him. And if that is the case, I will have to strike from beneath him... She thought through the possible scenario and decided to use the same technique she used on Logan, her Yamata no Orochi, to strike the knew enemy from below while he is distracted. If he were to leap into the air before being struck, she would use a burst of mana to activate her plasma katana and extend its length to reach her foe without entering into his area of influence.

Raiya stood up from her crouched position and summoned the two instruments she would need to pull off her technique, her odachi, and her bladeless katana hilt. She opened up her commlink again, and said"Alright, I think I have a specific attack in mind. I am pretty sure that it will not defeat him though. This enemy seems particularly powerful. So, I am going to need some serious followup after I go all out. As I said last time, I need someone to draw his fire at which point, I am going to attack him from below. He will most likely avoid this by jumping in the air, where I will intercept him with a medium ranged attack. If he avoids that attack he will be completely open for anyone else to attack, so I will need everyone else to follow up immediately after because I will be leaving myself open as well." Raiya explained, "So who will draw his fire?" Raiya asked.

Nemo raised his dial up to reply to Travis. "Depends on how the rifle is set up, if she only uses as a amplifier for her own magic, it would be much harder for you to use without knowing the right spells. But if it has spells built into it's runes and only needs someone to activate it, it could help out quite a bit. Either way it's worth a shot" He replied.

Upon hearing that Raiya needed someone to distract Seidon, Nemo was more than happy to oblige her. He whispered a spell into his glove and peaked out from his cover and quickly fired it towards Seidon. He picked one of his fastest moving attacks to try to catch him off guard. A large white beam roughly half a foot whide bursted fourth with a high pitched bang. The travel speed of the attack was similar to a bullet.

---

With the fireworks banging off in the sky, Seidon had no choice but to look. He figured it would be a distraction, but what if that was the point? What it a powerful spell was about to rain down on him from above disguised as fireworks? The old man grunted angrily and looked up, and not a split second later did Nemo fire off his spell.

Seidon acted quickly, putting up a heavy shield of water to try to block the attack. But the plasma of Nemo's spell easily burned through the water and continued on to hit a wall of Seidon's ship.

---

Nemo put a hand over his head like a golfer and squinted to see the effects of his attack. After Seidon's water wall dropped it revealed that he had hit... sorta. The shoulder epaulet of his coat had been burnt clean off by Nemo's magic gun, but besides the uniform damage and a slight heat burn, it looked to have only made the captain even angrier. Nonetheless, the sight seemed to be satisfactory to Nemo. A toothy grin crossed his face, followed by a small chuckle.

---

Seidon had had enough with waiting. The pool of water around him concentrated around his feet and lifted him up off the ground. He then manipulated it so he could ride on it towards Nemo at a rapid speed. Just before reaching Nemo he jumped off it and swung at Nemo with his cane. Except for the handle, the stock of the tool liquefied away to reveal a razor sharp straight saber blade.

The wave Seidon was riding then diverted off towards Zoey and Travis's container. It picked up speed and mass as it rolled through other pools of water, increasing in size like a snowball rolling down a hill. Before long it was nearly as big as the late sniper tower. Within seconds it would crash into their container, intent on destroying it.

---

Nemo used his magic to slide himself back, just in time to get out of the way of Seidon's swing before he was cleaved in twain. He then reversed the spell to slide him back towards Seidon. Nemo spun around into a roundhouse kicked aimed at Seidon's face. Still in them middle of his swing, the Captain had no choice but to take one for the team right to his jaw.

Seidon took the hit without emitting anything more than a simple flinch in response. He spat out a small amount of blood from his mouth. "You albino punk." Grunted Seidon before he swung once more. Another pool of water quickly started to flow across the floor towards Seidon for him to likely use against Nemo once it arrived.

Nemo's quick implementation and smooth movements surprised Raiya. Everything went according to plan so quickly that Raiya almost forgot about her own role within her plan. Immediately after the kick to the captain's face, he focused his water on Nemo, it was in the following moment Raiya struck. She used her enhancement spell to get within the distance for her Yamata no Orochi. Because the surface of the deck was made of steel, Raiya could integrate her sword with it to create her spell. Raiya quickly charged mana into her katana and then stabbed her sword into the deck, "YAMATA NO OROCHI!" she yelled her Japanese incantation. Instead of actually cutting into the steel of the deck, the spell that was charged within her blade melded the metal with the deck, giving her spell control over the steel within a certain area of effect from where the sword was stabbed. The area of effect depended on the amount of mana she charged her blade with, but for her purposes, she only needed about twenty feet.

Raiya willed the spell to complete itself underneath where the captain was standing. Within a second of her blade integrating with the deck eight blades as tall as the captain sprung forth from the deck. They all converged towards the captain's torso, the tragectory of each blade was close enough to scrape against its neighbor when the converged. When all was said and done, a ring of eight long blades would have stood converged in a veritable bouquet of very sharp very long blades. The quickness of the spell left almost no time for dodging to the side. And Raiya had one more spell loaded if the captain did indeed decide to dodge laterally. Raiya was determined to force this battle into the air.

"If she was using an amplifier, I think I could trace it out but the latter would be helpful too,"

Making good on his statement, Travis casted a projection spell used earlier to decipher Seidon's runic lock. As how the lock was holographical disassembled so did the rifle as well. Aside from the obvious mechanical workings, he quickly narrowed down a number of systematic spells and runes put in place. The multiple characters installed into the inner framework alluded to the weaponizing of an offered mana amount before being fired by the rifle's own mechanical physics in conjunction with the main casting rune. Travis marveled at the design and was pleased at the intrical working of how the weapon worked. While he morally didn't support it, he could not deny it's splendid composition of magic and mechanisms.

Sure enough, Nemo was right about the amplifying portion of the rifle that made it deadly. He soon found the verse section that helped magnify the shot's power as it was casted. Without it, the ensuing discharge would have had little kick to it and if anything, only carried enough punch to perhaps knock someone down but not actually injure them in the process. Luckily, the amplifier was integrated with the rifle but its considerable complexity made the weapon difficult to use if one didn't properly know how it worked. But for Travis, seeing the artificial blueprint was the same as reading an instruction manual.

It was then that Zoey finally reappeared with his mana crystals seemingly filled and recharged, "Thanks, Zoey. I owe ya," said Travis as he retrieved the crystals back from her.

Per Nemo's orders, Zoey was already on the move again and engaged into a diversionary tactic while Nemo and Raiya began planning and processing their next moves. While having figured the mana-empowered flintlock out, Travis soon came upon a strange realization of the maan crystals he had received back from Zoey. They felt much colder than he had anticipated and gave off an unusual aura that he hadn't anticipated on encountering. It was clear her method of recharging the receptacles was much different than how he had done so previously. However whether they were any more effective than before was unknown to him. Unfortunately he quickly realized that he had no time to inquire Zoey of her handiwork as Seidon as another, much larger tidal wave than before came barreling down on top them.

"Oh, here we go again." Travis growled as he reactively summoned up several cryo runes and casted them.

As like last time, the cryogenic vapors spewed forth from their runes and melded with the crashing water, effectively freezing it. However Seidon's wave held more momentum than he expected and preventing Travis' spell from stopping the attack entirely. Instead, the attack caused the frozen portions of the wave to loom over he and Zoey like an arch as the surge of water harried over. The attack eventually passed harmlessly but not before mutating Travis' efforts from stopping Seidon's attack in to consuming a portions of the containers into a mass of ice and this limited their options and assuming new cover.

"Time to go!" Travis openly declared as he broke cover from the frozen containers.

For the moment, Seidon's attention was back on Nemo and soon Raiya as Travis caught her preparing a new and powerful spell. Seeing an opportunity before him, Travis slid in to a small gathering of box before scrambling to aim the Lori's former rifle at Seidon. Having stowed the crystals Zoey had recharged away, Travis decided to bring one of them out to replenish his reserves.

"Alright, just line 'er up...channel the mana" Travis spoke aloud has he been beginning drawing from the sliver-shining mana crystal supply. As he anticipated, the crystal's strange aura over took him briefly and carried an almost alien sensation. It felt empowering but didn't radiate any sense of rushing strength, instead it felt cool and calm. He momentarily thought if this was a bad idea to utilize a crystal bearing unfamiliar qualities but Travis soon disregarded his worries having confirm the rifle was now priming and was ready to fre, "now, cast the spell and let it fly."

Travis felt the stock of the rifle into his right shoulder as the weapon discharged, shooting a sizable beam of light unseen from its previous use against them. The pronounced shot sped forth and was already upon Seidon's mass. Travis was unsure how effective his shot was but he hopped his intention was knocking out Seidon's defenses would come through, leaving him open for Raiya's own attack.

Nemo used his warp spell to phase himself back and away from Seidon's swing.

---

Raiya's incantation brought most of his attention away from his fight with Nemo. He knew something was coming, but he just couldn't figure out from where yet. Turning around completely would leave him open for an attack from Nemo. Before he could think any further on the matter he heard the sound of Lori's weapon discharge.

Seidon spun around to see the beam coming towards him, he used the latent water on the ground-which due to the rain there was an abundance of-to slide just barely out of the way of the attack. The thought of an enemy using one of his now former crew-mate's weapons against him enraged him. It enraged him just long enough to forget about Raiya's spellcast. Blade suddenly began to shoot up towards him, something he missed until he received two significant cuts to his legs. Paul went to work quickly however, using the water he had called over to attack Nemo with to rapidly lift him off the ground and into the air instead before he could get ripped to pieces.

Seidon was now roughly twenty feet off the ground riding the wave in place. His wounds didn't seem to bother him all that much. He channeled some of the water he was using to ride into an attack and pointed his forefingers towards Travis. A extremely concentrated pressurized beam of water began to spring fourth with enough cutting power to etch through the metal of the ship. Flesh and bone wouldn't stand a chance.

From his vantage point up in the air Seidon started to drag the beam across the ship, attempting to pass it through Travis, Zoey even if she was hiding behind a container, and then finally Raiya and Nemo.

As soon as the captain was in the air, Raiya wasted no time preparing her next attack. She pulled her odachi from the steel of the ship's deck that it was integrated with, and dropped her sword back into her inventory. She then began to cast her plasma sword spell as she was running forward. "Watashi wa hone kara niku o wakeru kaminari..." She leaped forth with an enhanced jump, and winded back her empty hilt in her right hand, She charged her mana into the hilt as she ascended. As soon as she was level with the captain, she swung her hilt and shouted, "...o shōkan suru!" She poured more mana into the hilt than was necessary, storing it almost past the maximum capacity that the sacred material her hilt was made of could handle. She released it as she swiped her hilt horizontally forth, releasing a bright pink plasma blade that extended well past the length she held it at before.



The blade was now about fifteen feet long as it swept toward the captain, the blade created a high pitched electrical whine as it ripped through the air. No amount of water or basic physical material could stop the blade, and anyone foolish enough to attempt to use a magic barrier better be confident in their mana manipulation. Her blade was thin enough, sharp enough, and hot enough to make it past most basic magic barriers, and only highly dense barriers could stop her blade. Enchanted items and sacred metals also held their own against her technique if enough mana was forged into the materials. The blade felt weightless to Raiya, but she knew that if any physical material were to be unlucky enough to be in the path of her swing, that her mana would drop significantly. Her experience in that last fight taught her that much. Which is why she forced her aura to stop at her hand after she released the spell in the swing. The mana that she used to create the blade initially was enough to make it through the captain before dissipating.