*Timeskip/PoV switch*
'Thoughts'
"Speech"
[Telepathy]
—————
*1 hour later*
A man in an extremely high tech suit, a spear and a pistol walked down a corridor towards the cockpit of a disable destroyer. Behind him, bodies off different races with a variety of different wounds were littered on the ground, with the only commonality being the lack of life in their eyes.
*1st person*
'Last room, I still haven't found the captain, and presumably ring leader of this group of pirates yet. If I had to guess, they're in here with quite a few guards if I had to guess. Well, at least I've been able to find a lot of slaves and thankfully no more situations like that poor girl.'
Finishing my thought, I walked up to the last door and opened it, walking in slowly. With a quick look around the room, there were a surprising lack of people. I expected at least ten or so pirates, but there were only two people. The first person I noticed was a large Kishari man. Kishari are a race, small in number but extraordinarily strong, with four large arms and grey skin. They are a race that thrives on fighting and making weaker peoples submit to their rule. It's common for them to put tattoos on their bodies, signifying their accomplishments. Seeing one leading a group of pirates isn't all that impossible, as weak Kishari or 'runts' as they are called are exiled or killed by their families as to not bring disgrace to their family and empire. The ones who are exiled, either join other empires, become mercenaries or become pirates. That being said they are still a rarity due to the low population of the Kishari.
The other member however, was what caught me off guard. This was another slave girl, who was being held hostage with a sword pressed against her neck, though she looked scared, it wasn't to the point that most would in her situation. The part that caught me off guard however, wasn't her beautiful appearance, or her oddly calm demeanor, it was her race: an Astralis. In laymen's terms, a space elf. They look almost exactly like typical fantasy elves, but they have one distinct feature, their eyes that resemble a galaxy.
Luckily, the Kishari are honorable people, even the exiled. I knew him using the elf as a hostage was more of a formality than anything else. I holstered my pistol and lowered the butt of my spear on the ground. As soon as I did, he retracted the sword from the girls neck, but still held her in place with two of his four arms.
I knew what came next, either I invoke a custom of theirs known as Invoul, a one on one duel with nothing but our weapons and basic clothes, or I chance it in hopes I can kill him before he kills the girl.
"Let the girl go, I demand Invoul." I said to the Kishari, who raised an eyebrow.
"You know our customs well human." He growled and let the girl go. She quickly ran to the side, out of the way.
"It wouldn't be my first Invoul, won't be my last." I replied as I took off my helmet and armor, leaving only the clothes, or bodysuit, that was on underneath it. Grabbing my spear in my right hand, I unsheathed my sword with the other, taking an odd fighting stance that I could feel was the best. Sword in one hand, spear gripped about 2/3 of the way down the shaft in the other, I waited for my opponent to do the same. To be frank, this fight is going to be stressful and tedious, but the main thing I felt was anticipation. In game, it was just patience, don't take any hits you can avoid since Kishari are much stronger than humans, and whittle them down over time. Now though, I was eager to see how I stacked up against a Kishari, sure he was probably weak compared to the rest of his race, but a Kishari is still a Kishari at the end of the day.
The biggest advantage I had was my number of maxed out skills which gives me insane stamina, unnatural amounts of it, and my damage would be significantly higher with each strike I landed than most.
Back to my opponent, he saw my stance and put away his sword, walked to a nearby cabinet and pulled out two large hammers, wielding one in two hands and the other in his last two. I took note that he had very few tattoos on his body, meaning he was young, or unskilled. We stood across from each other, neither making the first move. Eventually, he lost his patience and ran forwards toward me. He swung both his hammers down overhead, attempting to turn me into paste. I quickly jumped to the right and thrust forward at the back of his knee with my spear, attempting to cripple his movement immediately.
Unfortunately, or fortunately for him, he was moving fast enough that he was able to jump away after his hammers slammed on the ground, and only go a light cut on the side of his calf. Though in the process he had to abandon one of his hammers, which was now lying on the ground between us. Not giving him any time, I rushed at him as he readied a horizontal strike, attempting to either hit me or zone me off. I simply halted my step for half a second as the swing went past me and rushed at him again. This time, I was able to get in close and thrust forward with my spear again, my the spear embedded in his gut, before jumping back to avoid the fist that rapidly approached my temple.
I knew it wouldn't be enough to bring him down, so I didn't give him any rest and kept slowly making shallow cuts here and there, with the occasional deep wound when I got a good hit or he overextended. It was slow, but after twenty minutes of back and forth fighting, he finally fell to his knees, his body riddled with wounds and myself barely having any superficial cuts. He was strong, but he was slow. His skills weren't bad, but if I had to put a number he would be around 50/100 compared to my 100/100.
"Finish me… Grant me an honorable death…" he said with a pant.
My eyes narrowed in hostility, "After what you allowed your men doing to that girl, you think I would give that to you? You deserve to rot in a cell and never be given that honor." I said with slight venom in my tone. Slavery is a thing here, I get it. Not all slavery happens from kidnapping and pirates either, most are from people who owe debts. The thing that pissed me off was her age, the thought made my blood boil.
The Kishari looked up at me with surprise, then his eyes narrowed, "I never allowed any of my men to force the girls we captured to do anything. Especially to kids." He said with a resolute tone. I looked into his eyes for a bit and could tell he wasn't lying, mostly because Kishari seldom lie. Honor is a huge part of their culture, lying is the polar opposite of their nature. Just to make sure, I looked over at the Astralis girl, who nodded, confirming what he said.
I looked back at him and sighed, "Fine, I believe you. I'll grant you an honorable death." I didn't let him respond as I brought my sword up and pierced his heart, quickly ending his life.
I walked back and put my armor back on but left my helmet off. The girl followed behind me as we walked out, so I spoke, "So, what is your name?" I asked, making small talk as we walked back to the barracks I found when I first breached the ship. I noticed she wasn't traumatized or scared by the bodies and blood that littered the ground, though she did cover her nose to dampen the smell.
She looked at me for a moment before speaking, "Amanda… Amanda Elric. Thank you for rescuing me… Us…"
Her response made me stop in my tracks and look at her seriously. Why might you ask? Well, that's because her last name just so happens to be the same as the one of the royal family from one of the kingdoms, and she just so happened to be an elf, same as the royal family.
"Do you happen to be related to the Elric family of the Maegrin Empire?" I asked, already expecting her response. If she is, this might be a lot more interesting than I was expecting.