79 Aerius takes to the skies & Vlad’s new appearance

"I'm done playing around, you dirty bastards. It's time for you to leave this ship."

Ended Aerius saying while extending his four wings a bit more as if he intended to use them like daggers. His feathers seemed to change their properties turning sharp from their soft feather state.

The pirates looked at Aerius, who was now appearing slightly bigger with his four wings extended.

"Shoot this damned rat guys." yelled one of the now six pirates like they got possessed.

*Gunshots*

As the bullets began to rain, Aerius did a large jump and began to wave his wings and fly a bit up in the skies. Escaping the bullets and being high in the sky, he looked down at the pirates, and still flapping his four small wings, he pushed his body for a dive.

The pirates were yet again reloading. However, there was a slight problem for them.

"I'm out of ammo, share some with me guys."

"I barely have enough to end that black rat, go draw your sword and fight you useless fuck."

They began their reloading process, while Aerius, who was looking down on the pirates with his golden eyes, was already beginning to get momentum in his descent.

"He's approaching fast, shoot now our we'll get fucked." said a pirate who drew his sword to fight with Aerius.

Seconds passed since the pirate said, and Aerius already looked to be a fast black arrow moving straight to one of the gunner pirates. Using his sharp beak as he dived down, he targeted the pirate throat.

The pirate only saw Aerius shadow while touching his throat, which gushed out blood uncontrollably, and not long, he dropped on the ground, removed of all life's signs.

The other pirates who saw their mate get done by Aerius rushed to attack Aerius. However, just as he dived down, he took again to the skies flapping his four dark wings, which created a slight wind pushing on the caravel main deck.

Still, the pirates began shooting Aerius, who was taking off to the skies, yet all the bullets shot were swiftly dodged by the young gryphon.

Feeling that he took enough altitude for a second dive, Aerius shifted directions and turned himself toward the pirates for another attack.

"Watch out guys, he's coming again!" yelled a pirate who took a sword guard, trying to protect himself.

"I can see for myself. Damn it, I'm out of ammo."

While the pirates were arguing about their ammo, Aerius, who was already diving down to take them out, thought to himself.

'I think I can take to the skies and dive on them three more times. It's as Vlad said, my muscles didn't mature enough to cope with the force I require to fly.'

'But this is fine too, those bastards seem to be out of their bullets, which means I can take them out one by one even on the ground without having to fear those bullets hitting me.'

Taking the form of a flying arrow, Aerius yet again descended from the skies and took the life of another pirate who tried to block him with his sword. However, the pirate guessed that Aerius would target them again with his beak, but to his surprise, Aerius used his talons to cut his throat.

Like the first dive, the pirates rushed to attack him while he was lower to the ground, but he just sneered at them and took off again from the caravel deck.

"Argh, I was so close to stabbing that damned rat."

"Group up guys don't let him take us one by one. Let's see if he can do something if we group up and focus our attacks together."

"Good idea man, let's do this."

Then as the four pirates finally settled down on an idea and grouped up together, Aerius just looked at them from the skies as they grouped up and said with an annoyed tone.

"That will be harder for me. Damn it, I wanted to enjoy flying for a bit more, but I have to use that attack on them to break that formation and quickly take them out before I collapse."

"My little wings please don't give up on me. I will need you a lot in the future."

As Aerius ended saying that, his golden eyes turned even sharper, and he focused his vision on the grouped pirates who also searched for him in the skies while pointing their swords at him.

Not long after that, he began flapping his wings and fly even higher in the skies. With each of his wings movement, he approached, even more, the clouds, but this ascension of his made him cry a bit in pain.

"Fuck, my wings hurt and body hurt like hell. Hmm, it's this altitudine enough? No, I need more to take out all of them."

Then he ascended even more that even the clouds covered his black fur and feathers. Turning his head toward the pirates, he could see that they were looking for him with confused eyes.

"Good, they are confused, this is the best chance to take them out."

Saying that Aerius released a strong gryphon cry that resounded in the entire sky, making both Robert, Vlad, Dethel, the pirates, and even the Picodrasians look toward the sky.

"Have you heard that guys, this cry is completely different from the first one. But where is the monster?" said one pirate watching Vlad's and Dethel fight.

"Look, there's a black thing in the clouds descending towards the caravel." added another pirate, pointing toward the skies.

As for the Picodrasians, they were staring with surprised faces, some even said to themselves.

"That's the fabled cry of the Sky Guardian from the Legends of Atlas? Am I, right, commander?"

"I don't know, just focus on going back to the island and start focusing on defending the island from the land."

For the pirates on Vlad's caravel, they saw Aerius descending at an immense speed as the precursor of imminent doom.

"Guard yourself guys." that's the only thing a pirate managed to say before the winds began getting stronger, blowing them.

Like a black rocket, Aerius's diving speed created great winds focused on the pirates, shaking and unbalancing them, not long dropping down on the wooden floor.

Seconds after they dropped Aerius, stabbed with his beak one of the dropped guys right in his heart when he descended. The winds blow the rest of the guys hitting the caravel structure, from railings to the mainmast and dropping them unconscious.

"Argh. My wings and body hurt so much, I can barely feel them. Robert get out and finishes the rest of them, they are unconscious. I can't move." said Aerius in a loud voice

"I got this Aerius, go take a break." responded Robert while getting out from his hiding spot.

His shot leg was bandaged using a piece of cloth, keeping the blood flow in check. Moving limping toward the unconscious pirates while supporting himself with a sword. When he arrived toward the guys who hit his head on the mainmast, he stabbed his heart before moving toward the railings of the caravel.

As he killed another one, he moved toward the last one, who suddenly woke up and screamed in fear.

"Ahhhhh, please don't kill me. I'm unarmed, also I broke my legs. I can't harm you." pleaded the pirate trying to lift his legs without success.

Staring coldly at the pirate with his brown eyes as he moved limping toward him, he thought for a bit before nodding his head.

"Fine, I'll let you live, but I have to tie you down so you better don't resist or I'll seriously kill you."

"Anything is fine, just don't kill me."

Snorting at the pirate, he walked limping toward a spot on the main desk that had ropes. Picking some ropes while gritting his teeth from the pain the shot leg caused him, he finally bound the pirate's legs and arms and left him to stay in the spot he hit the railings.

Then he moved toward Aerius, who was cursing in pain. Arriving after 1 minute in front of him, he stared at the black gryphon saying to him.

"Still alive you crazy gryphon?"

"Fuck you, can you spread some of that fish ointment on my body. I can't even move my legs now or wings."

"We didn't bring Nius ointment with us, it's too precious to waste it in this journey."

"Too precious, it's just some fermented fish. Argh, I can't even speak properly because of this pain. So how is your leg, did you got hit badly?"

"I'm fine, it's just a bullet, Vlad will take care of it. Here let me pick you up to a softer spot."

"NOOO, don't touch me! Do you want me to die from pain? Just leave me alone. Boss will take care of me with his blood magic." screamed Aerius when he saw Robert trying to pick him up from the ground.

"Fine as you wish, I'll go look at that pirate and question him a bit while Vlad fights that pirate he was talking."

"Ahh, yes. I remember looking at their fight for a bit. The guy Vlad fights looks like a human-size insect."

"Hmm, an insect you say? Then that means he's a zoan user."

As he ended saying that, he walked limping toward the pirate who looked down on the wooden floor.

Meanwhile, on the pirate ship, Vlad was fighting with Dethel for a while. His crimson armor had cracks on it and even missing some plates, but the same was for Dethel, who had some nasty cuts on his exoskeleton, which gave some bodily fluids similar to an insect.

Dethel attacked first again, using his long legs advantage against Vlad.

"Mantis Style - Flying Kick"

When Dethel said his attack name, he expected something like his [Blood Slicer] to happen, but to his disappointment, this strike looked to be just a hit that had more power into it, or so he thought.

As the leg was moving toward Vlad's body, Dethel laughed as he said to him.

"Hah, you took the bait you dumbfuck."

Quickly all of Dethel's legs spiked out in all directions before making contact with Vlad's body armor.

When the hit came, Vlad looked slightly surprised with his green eyes at Dethel's leg, which pushed his chest with strong momentum. His armor cracked entirely on his chest, yet the leg still went toward his skin with all the insect spikes.

When Dethel felt that he wounded Vlad's chest, he retreated his leg before quickly jumping on the opposite side to avoid a future [Blood Slicer]

He looked at Vlad's face with a large evil smile as he said to him.

"You'll die soon because of that wound you arrogant idiot. I'll just have to toy with you right now, until you."

As for Vlad, he looked at Dethel with his green eyes that began shifting color. They quickly turned black and began giving off some dark smoke.

Then the armor on his body began to reshape itself, filling the missing parts while also turning darker compared to the red one.

Vlad's hair also began turning white at the ends of his hair.

Looking at Dethel while his armor and body were releasing more dark smoke, he said to the pirate.

"You're overestimating yourself, insect."

Just as he said that he rushed toward Dethel, who looked surprised for a bit but managing to maintain his calm.

Arriving in front of the pirate, he did a fast diagonal cut with Nemesis that Dethel dodged at the hair's end.

The ship's deck got cut by the blood aftercut. Then as he did the first cut, Vlad followed with another cut which got blocked this time by Dethel arms.

"Argh my arm. How can you still have this power? Don't tell me the poison doesn't work on you?"

Just as he said that, Vlad came with another cut that pushed Dethel, and only after he pushed the pirate, Vlad said with a cold expression.

"I'm immune to poison. I easily isolated and then expelled the poison from my system."

Raising his sword as blood began flowing from his hand toward Nemesis. Waiting for the blood to accumulate while looking at Dethel's movement, he could see the pirate staring dumbfounded at him.

When he accumulated enough blood on Nemesis, he slashed the sword forming a vertical blood line moving at Dethel, faster.

Getting back to reality by his insect instincts which cried out in alarm, he saw the blood line, which looked bigger this time moving at him.

"FUCK. I can't get out in time." Gritting his teeth while dodging Vlad's [Blood Slicer] that managed to get his mantis arm extension.

"Argh, this hurts so badly, as if someone stabbed me for hundred times."

Not long after, he said that he saw Vlad moving like a phantom toward him, having his sword prepared for another weird strike.

He quickly picked a sword from the floor belonging to a dead pirate and blocked Vlad's attack while being pushed by the strike.

Being on the defense for some strikes, he saw an opening for attack and did a kick strike that pushed Vlad a bit.

After he pushed Vlad, he roared, saying out loud his skill.

"Mantis Style - Piercing Kick"

Before quickly using his strong long legs to lunge himself at Vlad's pushed self, while in the air, he tensed his kicking leg as he was lunging at Vlad.

Vlad used Nemesis to block that kick, and after Dethel's leg made contact with the sword, a wind wave exited from that clash.

Seeing the kick blocked, Dethel roared while saying.

"I'm not finished yet."

"Mantis Fist - Insect Anguish"

He followed up with a series of fast jabs, which some got blocked by Vlad's sword, while other jabs got blocked by the dark-red armor.

Following those jabs, Dethel mixed the fists and legs to keep Vlad guessing what was to come.

He felt confident in his ability to outlast Vlad in stamina and take him down on the late part of the fight. Yet with each minute he was fighting, he felt that Vlad was waiting for something to happen.

He didn't take his focus out of Vlad, but as more minutes passed, he felt a metallic taste in his mouth and the floor he was touching being slightly slippery.

When he looked down on the ground, he saw that his surroundings being filled with blood.

Suddenly when he tried to escape, he saw the blood starting to morph and quickly turn into an enclosed space.

As the blood began to rise itself, he tried to escape pushing himself out of his cage, yet at the last moment, a spike raised from the ground to try to stab him.

This instantly made Dethel jump out of the attack range and missed the chance of getting out.

"Damn it, I got myself done so badly." said Dethel when trying to exit from this blood world, however to no avail.

"Hmph, you like to play mysterious you disgusting blood creep? Show yourself and I'll end you."

Silence resounded in the blood world for a while after Dethel said that. Annoyed at Vlad's silent treatment, he attacked the blood construct again, only to leave no mark on the blood walls.

"How do I get out of this closed place? Think Dethel, there must be a way out. Right the floor."

Quickly thinking of this approach, he began acting out, drawing all his power in a strike. Yet before he managed to strike the blood construct floor, a series of spikes rose from the floor and rushing to stab Dethel.

"Ohh, so you're indeed afraid that I will get out if I attack the bottom of this ability of yours." said Dethel as he dodged the blood spikes coming from the floor.

Yet, after he said that, only silence resounded in the blood world.

This gloomy atmosphere wasn't to Dethel's liking or his insect instincts that were all high alert since getting inside this blood world. He quickly began gathering strength in his fist to strike the floor with the hope of getting out.

Just as in his first try, when he was ready to attack, blood spikes rose from the blood floor to stab Dethel, but this time he didn't stop and pushed his fist down the floor.

However, quickly the blood floor began dispersing, and instead, what appeared in front of him was the ship's wooden deck.

Looking down on the hole, he saw the lower deck of the ship, yet the blood world still remained strong.

"This is so annoying. Get out already Blood. You played enough with me, let's end this in a manly fashion."

Ending by say that, the hole on the floor seemed to be patched up by the blood floor. After some silent seconds finally, Dethel could hear a cold voice resounding in this blood world.

"You're getting impatient, pirate. You've only been here for some minutes and already start showing signs of madness. Hah, maybe I should really put an end to you and stop torturing your mentality."

"You want to end me, you? A scared fuck who only fights from the distance and uses cheap tactics? Let me see you do this." said Dethel while looking vigilantly around the blood world, using his insect senses to follow Vlad's voice.

"Hoh that's some low-class insults. Forget it, I can't expect anything from a dirty criminal. Yet those insect senses are indeed fascinating to watch. But I doubt you'll find me in this world of mine as long as I don't want to be found out."

Hearing Vlad's voice in the blood world, Dethel quickly used his insect hearing, but it was, as Vlad said, he couldn't find him at all.

"Fine since you are insisting on this, I'll entertain you for a bit more before I send you to Hades."

Then as Vlad's cold voice got heard, suddenly from the corners of the walls, two men appeared in front of Dethel, looking at him with cold faces. In this appearance, Vlad's hair looked to be shorter yet still long, passing his shoulders. His clothes were those of a 15-century noble, which gave him a more ancient feeling when staring at him. The sword in his hand had a dragon handle, while around his neck was a gold cross necklace. The only thing that didn't change was his facial features and cold and arrogant expression.

Both opened their mouths and said at the same time while gesturing with their empty hand.

"You wanted me to make my appearances before you peasant. Here I am standing in front of you. Come on do something. Aren't you going to entertain this monarch?"

.......

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