Punishment

Keelhauling, Krage learned is the practice of tying up an offender before plunging the delinquent repeatedly under the ship's bottom on one side and hoisting him up on the other, after having passed under the keel. This punishment caused the man to both drown and be cut to shreds by the barnacles and sea life attached to the bottom of the ship

when they threw him overboard he slammed into the water like a brick to concrete, knocking the wind out of him and causing him to release an underwater scream of pain and shock, before promptly spitting the water out. And when the ropes began to pull he felt the sharp casings of clams and barnacles scrap and tear at his skin, changing the water around him to a murky red.

The feel of the cuts was present on his entire life side, his fingers and singular hand cut to a bloody shred as he tried to push himself away from the sharp knives that pierced his skin.

Apparently, they say that if you were ever sentenced to keelhauling you would pray that you drowned before you reached the barnacles of the keel. And he did not drown

If the cuts and bashes of the keel felt bad, the seawater felt even worse, flooding into his marred skin like acid, burning so bad that he thrashed under the water, causing more and more damage to himself

Agony, true agony was what he felt, similar to that he gave to the captain only hours ago

And finally, after what felt like days and years of pain and suffering, he felt the rope begin to pull him upwards, to the other side of the boat, indicating his first loop had finished

"Looks like he's still livin!" a course voice chirped from on deck, sounding filled with mirth even at the concept of a child facing torture.

"That's a first" another pitched in, the same voice that belonged to the man that had hit him on his way to Beastys cell. "Usually they come up in two pieces haha!"

"Second round!" the crew shouted, their voices filled with enough hate that even Krage, in his broken and tattered state shivered in fear "Second round! Second round! Second round! Second round! "

"Well you heard em private!" that same voice yelled, "hoist im up!"

They were going to do it again? Krage thought in shock, feeling panic enter his system as the idea, the very concept of facing that again. He couldnt let that happen, he had to escape! He had to run!

Struggling against the pull of the men hoisting him aboard he tried to free himself, tried to just sink into the water and let himself sink to the depths

But he couldnt, he was far too weak from the loss of blood, and the many, many cuts disfiguring his skin kept him from using his full strength. And so he was pulled on board once more

And he was thrown off one more

It was both far better and far worse than the first time. This time he was prepared for the crash against the water, but not the pain it would erupt in his side. This time he was prepared for the icy sting of the salt on his skin but not the feeling of the barnacles slicing doubly over his already wounded side, cutting into his face and limbs as he unconsciously shielded his unwounded side, leaving his already wounded side to get even more ripped apart

It wasn't until they were preparing to throw him overboard a third time that he heard the Men go quiet and the sky turned dark

"Boy?" the word rang through the air, unseen yet heard. The sky began to go dark, storm clouds rolling in, from his position of laying against the ship's taffrail, unable to stand, Krage, watched as the crowd of the crew who had been prepared to watch his bloody corpse of a body get thrown over the third and final time turn as one towards the voice

Beasty stood at the top of the stairs to the lower deck dragging a corpse by its blood-matted hair, her azure blue mana shining a light that illuminated her beautiful and barbaric features in a way that only Krage could see, making her seem almost angelic in his blood-soaked senses. Unable to look away he stared at her as she looked through the crowd, searching innocently, like a child looking for their pet at night, and lay her eyes on his crumpled figure

And the world as one stopped breathing

"Krage?" she called softly as she stepped towards him, ignoring the crowd which parted before her, she saw his condition and that was all that mattered. Stepping towards him she tentatively reached out a hand before drawing in back sharply with his and repeating the motion, unsure what to do or where to touch "what happen?"

*cough* Krage wheezed, spitting out blood as he did so and looking towards the practically terrified seafolk "keelhauling" he muttered, causing the woman to go stiff, apparently she understood what that was, which made sense seeing as she was a sailor, sort of

Numb to most feeling in his body and instead simply looking toward the large woman in front of him Krage simply watched as Beasty slowly stood up and looked towards the crowd behind her, electricity arcing off her body and jumping off her like shooting stars

"You hurt Krage," she said, sounding almost surprised by this before her body went tense as the thought was processed in her head. About what had happened, about what they did

"YOU HURT KRAGE!" she roared as she sent an enormous wave of pure electricity towards the crowd, frying the closest row alive where they stood,

"Hold up Bitch! What are you doing-" the man who had caught him began to yell before beasty slammed into him, knocking him to the floor as she knelt straddled him before slashing her claws towards him, cutting even his screams away as she sliced his lower jaw off and then crushed his skull

"RAAAAAAAAHHHH" she roared as she went berzerk, slamming herself into the crowd and slashing with her claws, ripping apart organs and severing limbs as they tried to flee

"Beautiful" Krage whispered as he lost consciousness