Prologue- Driftwood and seafoam
Snow-white streaks of hair flow through the wind as the waves crash against one another and the sun beams its radiant glow onto the starboard of his ship. A man standing at a height of 6'3 watches the waves crash from the crow's nest and lets out a single breath and blinks, opening his empty, dark eyes, reminiscent to a forest at night. Nothing but water for miles in every direction and a ship with black sails in the distance from the north. He watches the ship as it shifts and moves going against the waves towards his direction. The man's eyes fill with a crimson red as he takes the horn next to him and blows into it alerting the crew below, jumping into the center of them using a rope he yells out, "BOROS FACTION SHIP 200 METERS NORTH ALL MEN TO YOUR STATIONS!" pacing towards the ships wheel to take the gun sitting on the side; a normal bayonet with a scope and a magazine that holds 6 shots. The man looks through the scope which reflected the radiant waves of light making it visible to anyone with a keen eye. He sees a man running towards a cannon with its ammunition in hand, holding his breath and aiming towards his target, the wind brushes through his hair and in a fraction of a second, he adjusts his aim and lands his shot right into the left temple of the crewmate. "150 METERS PREPARE TO FIRE ON MY MARK!" The man commands as he puts the bayonet down clutching it tightly, his eyes turning a burning red and his hair getting blown forward by the wind. Eagerly he waits, second after second, the enemy getting closer and closer as the waves crash into their unmoving ship and as soon as a man dressing as a red imperial commander was seen he ordered his crew in a calm, confident voice. "50 meters. Fire at will." A brief moment of silence came and then a loud explosion only a few moments after. Cannonballs fly in synchrony all hitting the hull of the ship and the cannons before the enemy could reciprocate the assault. Then loud screams were heard as a silver wind blew through the hordes of enemies at the front of the boat turning them into dust, all the while a green emerald stone erupts from the side of the crimson eyed man's ship bridging the gap between the two boats as molotovs were thrown while the battalion charged into the enemy ship starting the clash between the quillon array and the Boros faction.
The Boros faction and the Quillion array are bands of pirates that have gained a reputation in the seven seas as two of the strongest pirates in the century besting the likes of the black skulls and white crows. Pirates who are rumored to have destroyed ten royal battalion ships for each member of their crews. Comprised of skilled mercenaries and hunters that have been retrained to become conquerors of the seas and protectors of the treasures that the god they serve scattered around the world.
The Boros faction are a band of pirates that have only just risen 3 years before the current time. Before their sudden rise in rank, they were comparable to bandits who rob the defenseless and run from the average man, without help. But after a strange encounter with a snake that circled a whole island that spanned over ten thousand meters, they suddenly gained confidence, strength, and wisdom in military, political, and survival tactics. Making them the most notorious group of pirates in most countries they visited. They only fight for money and power and don't hesitate to use cheap tactics to gain a higher position in the political system. Almost a quarter of the crew on shore have a high political standing while almost every crew member has connections to big names in multiple countries scattered around the world. Captained by a Man who goes by Cornatious they traverse the world with greed and lust fueling them.
The quilllion array on the other hand is a group of pirates that were trained from the ages of 7 and up because of their mysterious talents that had launched their families positions higher in their own respective motherlands.
Captained and raised by a Man of great talent and mystical prowess named Horus, a man with eyes that change between shades of red with white hair and a lean, fit build. Horus is an extremely mysterious individual with a blank stare that tell stories from the fiercest of battles to the most mundane experiences. He can tell numerous stories and hum strange songs that even druids would barely know. Horus is a man of infinite wisdom and when presented with a battle plan or an argument he gives the most unthinkable answers and executes it with such delicate precision that even the greatest of minds would fail to replicate his work. Rumors spread of his name throughout the nations he visited; that his face was on pictures and portraits centuries prior from his alleged date of birth but truly, no one knows the actual year when Horus was born, but many speculate that he has lived through thousands of years and had only kept the day and month of his birth as a remembrance of his roots.
Horus scouted out his crew when they were still children and they left their homes on their own free will after Horus made a single offer that even the parents consented to the whole ordeal without reluctance or doubt. Rumors say that every conversation never lasted longer than an hour. However, nobody knows what offer Horus made to the families. The members of the crew and even their parents would rather have their skin slowly peeled little by little and having their remains thrown into sea rather than say a breath of that offer. A crewmate's parents met such a fate, yet neither him, the crew nor the parents who were tortured, raped, and killed had the thought cross their minds as they slowly rotted from infection and eaten away by maggots while every nail, hair, and part of their body was toyed with. Though the bloodline of everyone who even got remotely involved in the mutilation and murder of the couple disappeared without a trace. The Quillion array's goals are unknown and their power is immeasurable. skilled in every field people jest that even though every member except Horus was born two decades ago that they have lived through a thousand for every year that passes with how knowledgeable they are in everything. Earning their fame as pirates their rise was the most normal out of the reigning parties to date.
At the edge of the Boros faction's boat, blades clash into one another ending with the right hand of Horus, Cessil's victory as the Boros faction member's head rolls down onto the floor and into the sea. Cessil harbors a grey coat and long, navy blue hair with a cutlass in his right hand and a pistol on the other as he runs towards a band of five men armed with swords and shallow expressions. Cessil shoots the man he runs towards and kicks the dying body onto the man behind him as he digs his cutlass into the solar plexus of the man to his right and turns to meet a blade right next to his face. Before he tries to evade the attack and a cannonball shakes the ship and the turbulence from the successful shot gives Cessil enough leeway to move and shoots his opponent point blank in the head as he hears someone yell "BOMB" and uses the falling corpse to shield himself from shrapnel, his eyes never leaving the remaining opponents who stand before him. The remaining two rush towards him with speeds similar to an arrow leaving the hands of a bow, with wide smiles and eyes filled with vigor as if they knew they won the encounter but before they could strike Cessil even once, his hair glows into a bright sky-blue color as he leans forward and dashes through the gap between them like rushing water through a river, faster than their eyes could follow. Cessil turns around counter clockwise and shoots the man to his left in between the eyes mid motion and ends it by kicking the last morsel in the side of the head knocking him down to the floor and slashes the man's neck as he runs towards his next victims. The floors paint with blood and flames as the other Boros faction troops meet the same fate to the crew that was sent forward to fight them. Everyone only getting small cuts in their clothing and faces from swords and stay shots from any direction. But the fight wasn't over, for the Boros faction's acting captain reveals himself opening a black box. The Boros faction's final ace.
Every time the Boros faction had encounters with other pirates and even the royal battalion they would lead their ships far from land and anything in a certain radius to avoid peering eyes. And every encounter at least one member of the fleet disappears from the fight and a black box is given to the acting captain. This black box was the trump card that was given to them by the snake that they had encountered the conditions to use this box were as follows:
1. The box must be offered the sacrifice of a crewmate
2. Once the box is opened it cannot be closed until the fleet wins or loses the fight
3. If the fleet wins the fight, the sacrifice is revoked and the life of the sacrificed morsel is brought back. But if the fleet loses, then the black box will destroy itself leaving only dust.
Cornatious, the man in red imperial clothing, disappeared from the fight after he made his appearance.
The captain of the fleet opened the black box that released a giant who was knee deep in 30 meters of water and a body so horrendous and disgusting that even the acting captain couldn't help but gag at the sight as it raised the sea into a fitful rage with storm clouds brewing above the ships rain started to pour as Cessil's hair slowly turned into brighter shades of blue, his eyes glowing brighter by the second.
"I AM CORNATIOUS! KING OF THE WORLD! TREMBLE BEFORE MY PRESENCE"
He shouts as he cocks his hand back to destroy the array battle ship and laughs with such pride resonating from him that his remaining crew was instilled with a fear that could not be shook off.
"I SHALL NOT SPARE A SINGLE SOUL FROM YOUR FLEET, HORUS! EVEN YOUR SOUL WILL BE FODDER FOR THE GREAT MOTHER!"
He says as his hand quickly approaches their ship 'til Horus decided his plan of action. Walking towards the bow of his ship looking up towards Cornatious he yells out,
"A king? When you've barely even lived for a century? The only thing you shall be a king of, IS THE KING OF FOOLS!"
Horus exclaims with his white hair refracting the sunlight that escapes through gaps in the sky, making his hair bloom with the colors of the rainbow, his eyes filled with a bright, terrifying crimson as he slashes his sword towards Cornatious once. The acting captain who was smiling ear to ear didn't even notice his head falling off from his body. As he slowly went unconscious, the last thing he saw was Cornatious' hand still flying towards the quillion array ship, grazing the water and making capsizing waves before it silently gets cut into a couple hundred pieces of rotting flesh and bone with the last piece of his captain's body falling in synchrony with his severed head hitting the ground.
There was no sound to Horus' strike not even the sound of the wind splitting. His strike was quick and powerful that even the sound of his voice didn't mask a single thing. Because there wasn't anything to mask. There was just the sight of a giant falling chunk by chunk and the loud crash that followed every single one.
The fight lasted a total of 15 minutes from start to finish, and ended in the crowning of the true king of the seas. The quillion array.
But Horus was skeptical about how easily the Boros faction went down. Horus knew that the faction had a battalion of 500 men standing ready and about 3000 troops reserved, as well as the existence of the black box. Horus had been wary about the Boros faction since their rise in rank, so he assigned fifteen mercenaries to join the Boros faction as spies and espionage, but a week before the fight started Horus lost contact with one of the fifteen mercenaries who was assigned with leaking the faction's military plans. The mercenary's last message was the number of boats that were being prepared in his sector. There was only one. After another minute to think Horus finally gathered his thoughts and gave Cessil an order.
"Group our forces and split up into three groups. They have more than one box and they're surrounding us. I'll take the east alone. Move as fast as you can or else, we're going to get capsized." Horus tells Cessil clearly as he walks past and places his hand on his shoulder, leaving shortly after. Cessil doesn't waste a single second hastily he catches the crew's attention and tells them of the captain's order, calling out two men from the crowd. Gabriel who stood at a height of 5'9 with emerald green eyes and lengthy hair that had green highlights and Michael who was 5'11 with silver eyes and long, black hair neatly tied into a ponytail. "Gabriel, take the north. Michael, To the south. And I'm taking the west. I'll take fifty men and you both can split the remaining 250. MOVE" Cessil shouts out his orders to the men and leaves to take the Boros faction's boat, clearing out any remaining enemies while he waits for his comrades as Gabriel and Michael organize their numbers
Shortly after Cessil left with the men, Gabriel and Michael start changing. Michael's eyes turned jet black while his hair suddenly began to float and turn silver while Gabriel's hair turned into a glistening green reminiscent to emerald gemstones. Both stabbed their sword into the ground first splitting the boat clean in half clearing the sails and crow's nest with a silver wind moving the boats apart. Afterwards, green crystals burst out of the severed part of the split boats and turned into the missing section of the boat replacing the sails as well and replicating the color and weight of wood whilst still keeping the strength of emeralds.
Cessil about 30 meters away as the ship becomes two uses his power as well, turning the boat he used to leave into a giant ship with open cavities in the hull and holes in the sails and he himself turned into a creature made of moving blue tentacles and royal blue mist coming out of him mimicking the shape of a human maintaining his clothes as he turned to face the direction he was headed.
Three years after joining Horus, Cessil went rouge and ran away from the crew for a year. During that year rumors came up about a ship with no crew and open cavities in its hull so big it shouldn't be able to float destroying hundreds of sailing boats in Europe and Asia, manned by a monster made out of rapidly moving and convulsing tentacles that could reach something 50 meters away in a fraction of a second and had the intelligence of a naval commander being able to best 15 royal war ships even though it was ambushed. The lone survivor was a great admiral who was considered to be one of the strongest men said, "it was a monster that could destroy a ship with sheer strength alone but combined with its incredible intelligence and toughness it was like fighting against a mountain. We got completely crushed" with inexplicable trauma he later retired from duty and continued to live the rest of his life staying away from the sea. While in another instance 3 groups of S rank adventurers came to hunt down the notorious beast and leaving with only a single man half dead on a floating piece of driftwood. Slowly bleeding out until his lifeless body was spotted by a fishing boat. Many more instances had been recorded but after the year ended with a total of 15,000 men dying from this monster it was given the title, Captain of the ghost ship: Navy death. Abruptly he disappeared after fighting two men, one with hair that had emerald green highlights and another who had silver eyes. The two men went back to shore severely injured but carrying the medal of victory in the form of the monsters severed tentacles that shriveled up and faded into dust as soon as the two showed it to the townsfolk.
Cessil's troops became skeletons made out dark mist holding onto black swords, the sky grew cloudy and grey with a thick fog starting to cover the area as the ghost ship disappears into it. Gabriel and Michael fade into the mist as well the closer they get closer to their target hiding their location from the enemy.
Cessil enters the enemy ship unnoticed. His ship a few hundred meters away. He swum into the enemy ship entering silently by separating himself into hundreds of tentacles and reforming after killing everyone below the deck not making a single noise. Cessil removes a single tentacle from his body and orders it to scout above deck to find the black box. As soon as the tentacle found the black box inside a room with the captain sitting down with his eyes on the box while his right hand guarded the door. But this was no problem for the tentacle as it slipped into the room through a small crack in the roof and as soon as it entered it immediately killed the captain by stabbing him through top of his head, then killed the right-hand man through the hole in the door finally communicating with Cessil as it coils around the black box to protect it. A few seconds pass and Cessil finally got to the room with the black box. He grabs it and hides it in his chest and went out the room to wait for his crew to be surprised that they were already there, the first shot already being fired by a Boros faction member in a black coat. His shot hits but does nothing while Cessil stands behind him and stabs him through the chest with a large spike formed by tentacles coiling around one another starting a quick engagement that leads to 25 men losing their heads to flailing tentacles while the crew rushed to get back on to the ship so that Cessil could end the fight before it got any more heated.
The last member of Cessil's fleet enters the ghost ship signaling his que to start his final massacre. Retracting all the tentacles he used to keep the enemy away as his crew rushed back to their ship Cessil reveals his face underneath the moving tentacles. With bright cyan hair and deep lapis blue eyes his face ornamented with a single gold piercing on his ear and a tired expression, Cessil raises his hand and closes his fist. After a few moments Cessil walks back to the ship as large tentacles erupt from the sea grabbing hold of the enemy ship and sinking it. Dragging the men into the depths where giant octopus and carnivorous monsters of his creation reside.
Michael turns the men inside the captain's bed chambers to dust to create a body in his image. While Michael proceeded to turn to dust outside the enemy ship as he took control of the newly formed body grabbing the black-box and leaving the bed chambers to see the enemy battalion standing at the ready completely clueless as to what is about to happen. Closing his eyes, Michael recites a single incantation, "To dust you shall return, to secrets you shall divulge through memories cast in the sands of time." Finishing his words, he opens his eyes to the scene of everyone looking at him and turning into statues of sand that hastily erode as Michael absorbs every grain through the palm of his hand
Gabriel on the other hand transformed the entire enemy ship into emerald crystals procuring the black box inside and getting out before he shatters everything inside the ship making the shards of the boat and the crystallized men sink into the bottom of the ocean. Going back to the ship and being first to reconvene with Horus
The sea becomes silent with only the movements of the waves being heard for hundreds of meters. The Boros clan fleets grow careful as they are slowly surrounded by fog. The captain of the ship stations three black boxes on the table in front of him as he waits to see or hear anything. His eyes are closed and he is so incredibly focused that he could even hear the heartbeat of his men on the far side of the ship from him and after a thousand heart beats he hears something. A serene sound of a single drop of morning dew falling into a still lake, making a ripple that spreads through the pond while the wind blows through the leaves of the foliage as the sun rises into view above the peaceful mountains and silent plains. But the captain opens his eyes snapping back to reality as he rushes to open one box before his hands get cut off before he could open the second one or even get close to the third one. The captain cries in pain squinting his eyes for a moment and stepping back to see his entire ship bloody with not a single member of his crew alive. His right-hand man's head rolls towards him with a smile on its face, filling the captain with overwhelming terror as he looks up to see a tall figure with a bloody sword and deep black eyes with floating white hair "Floating white hair? Oh, he's leaped towards me. I wanted to see that place again; it was so peaceful." The captain thought as he lost all hope and Horus leaps towards him with every intention to kill but by luck the captain is absorbed into the black box as sacrifice and turns into a monster at a height of 6 feet coated in a black suit of armor and a thin blade with jagged edges. The captain closes his eyes to rest as his mutated body moves on its own and attacks Horus. Their blades clash making a deafening sound that traveled through the fog, Horus' eyes not changing and steps back to launch his attack. Horus runs towards the monster and fights it moving at unthinkable speeds through every exchange. Each move flowing into each other so smoothly making it look like an elegant dance of death as parts of the ship get cut in the crossfire of their clashing blades the monster releasing dozens of black spikes to strike Horus ultimately failing with a single strike as he gets knocked back from the shockwave generated by Horus' strike. The monster looks up and gets stricken by fear as he sees Horus with a terrifying smile and bright red eyes. The monster who could make a kingdoms army lose all hope was scared stiff by a human. Then, suddenly a potent string of light passes through the monster's chest and turns into a giant beam of energy. The monster thinks to itself, "All this from a single glance?" as it gets destroyed and the beam cuts through the fog and clouds leaving a clear sea without a single cloud and the sun shining its light onto Horus as he closes his eyes and opens it back to an empty black color and looks towards the horizon with concern for his crew filling his head as the fog slowly returned obstructing the view.
Horus, in only a few moments figured out what was happening and planned it carefully. He chose to go alone towards the east, because that is where the nearest city, "Aramus" was and Horus knew the Boros faction would concentrate their troops to attempt an ambush once the fight ended. They knew the risks and they knew that if anyone except Cornatious was the one to use the "only black box" The entirety of the quillion array would be suspicious of their plans. But they wanted to destroy the quillion array after they had assumed they won to see their hopeless eyes as they get massacred. Horus looked over the number of troops they sent for this entire operation. Mobilizing all 3500 troops, they sent out 500 men for the opening act, 1500 men to block the east and 500 men in every other direction. Horus deduced that the Boros faction was setting up a trap because of how weak the soldiers they put in front were. As for why he thought the Boros faction would split up into four directions, if the Boros faction had more than one black box that would release earth shaking monsters like Cornatius, then they would try and capsize the ship and drown the crew with waves higher than the mountains. However, it seems as though the appearance of these monsters differ depending on various things about the sacrificed person. But maybe the monsters that should have been released changed because of Cornatious' death. The crew would've likely not have known about this because Cornatious was a mortal and was the Boros faction's leader so the entire faction would have never known until today. Walking towards the wheel of the ship Horus takes the remaining two black boxes and ties them on his side, sitting down eagerly waiting for the fog to dissipate and his crew to convene with him with victory hung around their necks.
The quillion array reconvenes near the enemy ship in the east. Horus jumps from one ship to another clearing a hundred-meter gap as the ship combines back into one single vessel congratulating his crew, Horus asks them about how it went on their missions. Cessil responded with a straight, "It went fine. The black box in my assigned ship was procured and the rest of the enemy crew was disposed of." Michael continued "It was easier than I thought it would be, they didn't put up a fight and I have gathered all the needed intel, as well as my assigned ship's black box." Lastly, Gabriel responded "The enemy was very clueless. Even though they had a boost in every field that required intelligence their roots of banditry showed making it easy for me to finish the mission without any trouble." A man named Lucas then called them over with a smile that goes from ear to ear and two mugs of rum in his hands "Is there really a need to be so cold to each other? We've known each other for years! Let's save the reports for until we get to land and spend this time to celebrate! It's our win after all!" With Cessil. Gabriel, and Michael looking at Horus eagerly awaiting his orders. Horus says to them with rose red eyes and a refreshed expression "I'll be steering us back to Aramus, you three go ahead and have some fun with your comrades." And then proceeds to walk back to the wheel where he starts driving the ship back to the city with the sun behind his back and his crew filled with radiant smiles and somewhat drunk faces in front of him that makes him smile just a little bit before he focuses his gaze on the vast expanse ahead of him thinking, "This world is filled with magic and unexplainable occurrences out here. It's crazy to think about how different life is on land and out here at sea. I made this crew to explore this vast expanse and become strong enough to beat the chaos that's brewing. 15 years to protect and train these boys. 15 years until…" Horus looks at his hand, his ring finger's first joint severed but dressed with a ring and a large scar across his hand looking back up Horus shows a sorrowful expression as his rose-colored eyes turn back to a deep black.