117 Vol. 2 pt. 54 Patch 9.0: Confrontations and Revelations (2/2)
However, her attempt at fighting back ends up being short-lived as Alexander drops her to the ground, draws his sword, and stabs it into her tail.
Nell feels her tail go numb as it limply falls to the floor. It has been a while since she last suffered enough damage to actually see her vision start to darken, and this numb sensation reminds her of her encounter with Manasa.
”You might have an innocent face, but you're just as much of a bitch as that mutt is,” Alexander says, rubbing his neck. He then takes his sword out from her tail only to thrust it right back in, pinning it against the floorboard. ”Let me make one thing very clear to you. Until I hand you over to my empress, I will not be treating you like Ull did. I'm not going to just lock you away when you misbehave. You are stuck with me until we make it up to the capital, so if you misbehave, I will punish you.”
”I do not believe we will be together for as long as you think,” Nell says, looking in the direction of the ship's stern. She may not be able to see still, but she can feel.
”Sir! We're being followed!” one of the crewmen shouts.
”What – how? Is it some random nobody we pissed off? Wouldn't put it past those idiots from the second round to try and get revenge either,” Alexander says.
”Can't tell, sir! Just see its silhouette heading straight for us!”
”How long until we meet up with our escape?”
”We can't go any faster than this, so it'll be another hour at least!”
”My hero will catch up by then,” Nell says.
”What are you talking about?” Alexander asks her.
”My hero – that ship coming after you. It is The Shoebill, is it not? My hero is coming to rescue me, and when he sees what you have done to my tail, I doubt that he is going to be very kind to you. I've caught him looking at it rather often, so I think he may be into that sort of play,” Nell explains with a smile.
”You – damn it! You three, get back here and equip everything you can!” Alexander shouts to his crew.
…
Fenrir sneezes.
”Catchin' a cold there?” Tabitha asks.
”Don't think so,” Fenrir answers.
”Perhaps somebody is talking about you?” Corwin suggests.
Fenrir shrugs and returns his attention to Serra and the ballista. Using the explosive bolts are too risky for as long as Nell is aboard The Steel Tiger, so the hook-shot has been loaded into the ballista instead. ”All you have to do is slow them down,” Fenrir tells Serra.
”Got it,” Serra says, aiming through the scope and ready to fire.
”Everybody ready? The rest of you ready?” Fenrir turns around and asks.
Bonekraka, Cassiel, and Tabitha have their weapons out.
”About time we board,” Bonekraka says. ”Finally get real fight.”
”Yeah, I've got to admit I've been missing fighting with my sword,” Cassiel says.
”I 'spose it's about time to finally show off what I can do with my baby here,” Tabitha says as she casually twirls her massive hammer around with her fingers.
”Alright! Let's kill those bastards and rescue Nell. We rescue her and I promise there won't be any more fishing tournaments,” Fenrir says. He turns around to look back at Serra, ready to tell her to fire, but ends up almost getting knocked off his feet when Oleander performs a sharp turn to avoid a blast of fire magic.
”We aren't going to be able to get close if they keep shooting fire at us!” Oleander shouts. ”It's way stronger than before!”
Not only are the blasts of fire larger and being shot from further away than Alexander did during the tournament, but they are much more accurate given the increased distance between the ships.
Sailing straight at them would be suicide. Hooking onto them to slow them down would be just as bad.
”Why are you smiling?” Cassiel asks.
”They're afraid,” Fenrir says. ”He's trying to keep us away. He knows that if we get close, we win. He also knows we're not going to risk shooting them while Nell is there, so all he has to do is keep us away.”
”But he'll run out of Mana eventually. Isn't it a waste to just use it all up now?”
”He's not dumb, so that just means he's trying to buy time for something.”
”Or somebody,” Tabitha adds on.
”Exactly,” Fenrir says.
”Then what do we do?” Cassiel asks.
”Something stupid.”