Chapter 8-214: Who is the Greater Evil? (1/2)

I had the overview above, and sent it to Sama, who I could see shooting through the water like a submerged missile, clouds of blood exploding like inkbombs in her wake. I could see all the submerged sahaug and the larger sharks they were using as beasts of burden, complete with nets ready to haul their spoils.

There were plenty of bloodstains on the deck, along with the viciously disassembled corpses of crewmembers who had become dinner, gore running in the rain from scattered white bone and scraps of meat and organs not devoured by the ravenous shark-men.

Vivus was starting to crawl over everything, as a massive incoming rush of necromana from the slaughter came sweeping in to set it off.

Keeping an eye out below, I sent a blast of Silver Magic into the sky, reaching out for the ephemeral strings of the Control Weather effect the kraken had put up to isolate the ship, grabbed them, and tore them apart.

The winds started dropping an mph a second, and the rains faded just as quickly, while the frothing sea raging below calmed down with unnatural speed to the appropriate direction and strength of waves. The default winds came sweeping in patiently to take over and do their thing.

Magic comes, magic goes, physics cries.

Sama had me Marked, and I had Master Fred Blessed, making me the /tellepathic link between both sides of the /tellepathic networks. I flicked that on to real time and exchange in the back of my head, linking up with Sama doing much the same, added my visuals and hearing to the display if they wanted to see, and kept up here on overwatch.

The remaining sahaug in the water were fleeing like rats, while their cargo sharks were trying to do the same, and getting hacked apart in doing so. I noticed Sama was slicing at their cargo, focused on her visuals, and found myself snarling.

Human corpses, all ages and genders, reluctantly getting set alight with vivus as Sama’s Sword went through them.

Fresh corpses, because they weren’t undead right now, yet were still intact. It was likely they’d drowned when put into the net, although the lolling necks of many said they’d had their spines snapped.

-The cargo is people!- I /snarled out.

Briggs was moving through tight corridors below, reading every footstep on the metal and every claw on the walls with merciless accuracy. He wasn’t using his Hammer, of course, but his fists were just fine, crushing, cutting, piercing, twisting in a whirlwind of hand techniques, while grasping claws and razored teeth got to try to deal with Hardened steel armor. Supernaturally strong creatures of the deep were trying to swarm him, and the wet crunch of their cartilage breaking and bodies exploding under the cutting edge of Versatile UA and the grim electrum glow around his limbs was everywhere.

The control cabin was also clear now, parts of sahaug here and there, along with what looked like what might have been the command crew.

Master Fred focused on an intact face at my thought.

Definitely Oriental. Not in what would be a uniform. Master Fred scanned around for a book or log, opened it up.

Bird Script...

-Look for surviving captives. Assay them to see if they are Powered.-

Briggs acknowledged, Master Fred Rode the Shadows to another entrance to belowdecks, and entered without hesitation.

My Allegiance had been watching this since my first spell, and was swallowing as they caught the implications of what was going on here.

-Lady Traveler,- Sir Pellier /asked me gravely for all of them from thousands of miles away, -What is going on?-

The Paladin had sworn in under me after the Firezone, and was one of my nine Directs, helping rapidly organize a Shroud-cleaning force that was now en route back to New York City to slowly begin the clearing process. Helix and Father Bower had both joined in under him, the former a bit reluctantly... but rather stunned when he realized Windgraf Mochtal and the Angelos were both my Directs after the Firezone was cleared and I’d made a special Teleport back to Detroit, just for them...

The Angelos now had a clearer link with the Heavenbound Sworn to me than he’d had as their Pact Sponsor. Every Heavenbound who could was now swearing an Oath to join in, and they were rapidly organizing themselves, communication taking off, coordination ramping up, information exchanging in real time.

You know, what an Allegiance was supposed to be and help them do!

Non-combatants could basically tune into a fight at almost any time now, happening somewhere for some reason, giving huge numbers of witnesses to any conflicts.

This fight was getting monstrous amounts of attention, and I knew it was from Sama’s side, too, although her Marked didn’t proliferate quite as fast as my Vassals did, as she didn’t have the people skilled enough to make the Tat-Marks yet.

-The Sahaug who eat the brain of a human Powered can evolve and take Class Levels, not just Racial Levels. It doesn’t matter if they are powerful or not. I think these are weak, low-Level Powered who were captured, drugged, and sold off to the Daoists to be refined into pills for their Cultivation.-

Quite a few Vassals promptly puked as they realized what was going on.

Sahaug, eating Powered so they could become stronger. Daoists, eating Powered to gain more power for themselves, and eliminate their competition.

Which one was the greater monster? One raiding the other for their cargo of human beings...

The racket from Briggs’ area grew much, much louder, and the squeals and the cries there from that deep, deep rumbling bass shaking the metal around them suddenly sounded a lot more panicked than previously.

If you had good ears and put your head to the hull, you could hear that Song, too...

“Endure, we are coming...

Up from the deeps, where the kraken sleeps,

Where sharks steal through the endless gloom.

Seeking hot strife, thirsting warm life

And finding our wrath, meeting your doom.