Chapter 7 "Be Not Afraid of Death"

As the days passed, our brig filled with pirates from so many different occupations. We had a doctor who lost it all during the war for Yulch, and so he turned to aiding pirates to make ends meet. An ex-sniper that served in the Oslovian conflict after being falsely accused of war crimes he didn't commit; he was dishonorably discharged and had nothing to return to at home. A noble who had too much pressure placed upon him, causing him to gather his knights and join the pirates. He was the commander for the knights and guards we fought a few days ago. These are just a few of the people we captured, and these people were more than willing to trade in information for a reduced sentence or their life back.

Through this, we learned that their leader is a mage, not just any mage, no, a mage that Jey knew things about—things that even she can't comprehend. The practice of the dark arts, such as necromancy and soul summoning—the said mage could also use the curse Re-Primal, causing beasts, monsters, and animals to go feral. The only reason said mage can use his Re-Primal spell is because of his right-hand woman, a woman named Amelia Cobalt, the eldest of the Cobalt Family. She was reported missing years ago by her father, but to no avail, and now I see why.

Now, the odds seem stacked against us. Why? What's with that look, dears? Sigh, okay, the odds WERE against us. But as a band of misfits in the Empire, whose only purpose is to reclaim its lost glory and to claim glories that have yet to be claimed, this was our unsavory but nonetheless noble duty. With a clear mind, we stepped into the final area of the base, facing the top brass of the pirate gang.

The leader, the mage who goes by the name Ms. Noir, greets us and expresses her genuine annoyance at us for capturing a vast number of her crew but commends us nonetheless for our ability to make it this far. She says they say only one person has ever made it this far into their base, and before I could even ask, she points towards a decomposing corpse with a harpoon impaling its temple. Before anyone else could speak, Joy shouts in disbelief, "Mr. Lopez! No, it can't be! You were just fishing at my place a few days back! There's no way it's you!" The mage laughs a little, "Lopez? Was that his name? Honestly, that dumb fisherman did put up quite the fight, even cut me a little on my cheek! And for that, he paid." The tamer holds her cheek and speaks up, "And who healed that beautiful scarred face of yours, pookie~" The mage chuckles as she diverts her attention back to us, exclaiming, "Are we gonna fight or not! I'm growing tired of this pity party! That Lopez prick died because of his stupidity. Let's hope you lot can put up more of a fight than he can!"

Angered at the death of the fisherman, some of us had shared a few valued memories with, we simply gave a nod, not even deeming her worthy of a verbal response.

And so, the fight began. The first to fall was a pirate who used Water magic, followed by her Earth, Wind, and Fire mages who dealt with her top brass. The only thing left was to deal with a couple of chaos mages, and there I see it—the mage's glove comes undone and reveals the ring the goddess told me of, "The All-Seeing Ring of Donia," the artifact from the evil god!

Max, confident, tried to take her down with a series of combos, and Joy, behind her, added pressure on the mage by attempting to impale her with staggering speeds. The mage somehow knew all of their moves before they could even land. Could this be the power of the ring? Just then, the mage yawned and spoke up, "This is getting boring," and with just a movement of her staff, a bear gone mad had jumped on the duo. Max took the largest hit as she was In front of Joy. She tried to use her modified claw knuckles to deal even a bit of damage, but to no avail. The bear bit off an arm, followed by the other. Max screamed in pain, but her voice eventually died off as the life from her body slowly drifted away.

Angered by the loss of his lover, your uncle switched targets. Initially attacking the tamer, he diverted his attention to the bear, which was now feasting on the innards of our Valkyrie, who was still conscious, screaming, "Bloody Murder!!" over and over again as she tried to impale the bear with her spear. And bang! Your uncle shot the bear, followed by another and again and again until he ran out of Psyche to keep his infinite bullet source running. He just let his arms down, looked at me, as the blasted bear jumps and claws all recognizable features off him.

I refocus myself and try to attack the tamer; without her, the beasts summoned can't be used, but before I could attack, "click boom!" Kinny took a shot which hit the tamer on the arm—our first official hit! This, however, did more damage than help, as that shot pissed off the Mage, grabbing hold of Jey and crushing her neck, going ballistic in turn. Your Auntie Zeth and I went off; we used all of our strength only to deal nothing more than a scratch and bruise on the now ballistic mage. The tamer, on the other hand, called upon a Hawk to get Kinny distracted and lose his footing. He fell off a high surface and surprisingly survived, barely. His life force was draining, but with what little life he had left, he grabbed his silenced Walther PPK and finished off the tamer.

As much as I wanted to take the tamer prisoner, death is inevitable, especially after they took the life of my crew. While I was distracted looking at the tamer's body fall, I heard a yelp and a crack. I look to my left, and my sister, your auntie Zeth, was on the floor, neck bleeding, crushed by the mage who was now significantly weakened without her lover's control over beasts. With my mind full of anger and grief, I charged to maybe deal the final blow, which I didn't. All I dealt was a bad hand of cards while she held an Ace of Hearts—my heart in her hand. I looked in horror as I saw my own heart beating, checking my chest and panicking. I fell to my knees, but as the lights flickered, I heard a familiar voice.

"You simply can't die here, my dear captain. You've got a promise to keep! To me and to your crew," sulking in my defeat, I reply, "What crew… they've all passed on… except Jiro, lucky bastard… we told him to stay behind…" The goddess laughs, "Do you remember who you're talking to, Mr. know-it-all?" I look up to see the faces of multiple gods and goddesses smiling, as though they see great things ahead for me and my crew. I laugh and ask, "So what's the plan? I'm dead; my heart is literally not in my body right now." The goddess looks to her right, smiling, "This is my one and only child, Lilly. She's been begging me to let her visit the human world, and I guess I can come to a compromise with her. She may go; however, she has to support you and your crew as the official Cleric of the team. She will be blessed with my resurrection magic to counter your enemy's Necromancy. She may also use exorcise to deal with spirits and undead. So, what do you say, captain? Do you wish to continue?"

My vision goes dark as I'm presented with a screen which simply had the words, "Game Over. Do you wish to continue your Journey, Mr. Ishikawa?" I press yes, and a notification screen pops out of nowhere, "You have been blessed by the heavens with strength and intelligence, and your crew has been revived, each with their own individual blessings."

As my eyes begin to see the rough stone on which I fell before my untimely death, I see my crew get up from where they once laid motionless, and the eyes of our dear friend, the mage, widen. I get up first, collecting my thoughts. That's when I remembered a critical piece to the puzzle. I smile and say, "You know, Gwendolyn, you're not the only one with an artifact." The mage is shocked and points at us, exclaiming, "HOW ARE YOU ALL ABLE TO STAND ONCE MORE? I'VE TAKEN YOUR LIVES! AND HOW DID YOU KNOW MY NAME!?"

My mind shows visual bliss at seeing her frustrated. I put on the ring, and the world goes dark, leaving only me and the Mage known as Gwendolyn. I am lifted by a pedestal, and in front of me are a golden gavel and a marble base to go with it. In a similar fashion, Gwendolyn is lifted up by a bust statue of the goddess Themis, the goddess of Justice, holding her iconic scale, with Gwendolyn on one end and nothing on the other. A list is presented to me, and it's quite lengthy, to say the least.

Meanwhile, my crew regained consciousness and their ability to coordinate their bodily functions. They saw a dark orb with a door that opened, prompting them to enter. When they came in, they saw me listing out every crime and misdemeanor Lady Gwendolyn had committed. For each count of said crime, a feather was added to the scale. The crew was stunned; they had thought their visions had been dreams of a dying person, but it turns out it was real. Each of them had been blessed with a relic from a god or goddess that matched them the most. They all watched in awe as the scale went lower and lower with each feather added. Once the list was finished, Gwendolyn was crying, begging for mercy, though it was barely coherent. I could understand as much.

And so, to end the whole fiasco, I grab the golden gavel and speak up, "May the sentence fit the crime. May the judgment of my heart be true. With a strike of this gavel, your fate is sealed, never to be changed, not by any exterior nor interior force, visible or not. Once the sentence is dealt, remember you caused this ending, Gwendolyn Wild!" And with that, I strike the gavel, and what happened after that was hazy, but I remember having Lilly heal the Tamer and transport them to the ship, along with Gwendolyn's top brass recollecting crew, making sure everyone was fine and being there when someone needed the company. As the day ended with a campfire, watching the embers lift up to the sky, I burn a cake and some cola in the fire with a thank-you note and utensils to offer to the goddess Themis, and with that, the day has officially ended.