The storm raged. The ship bucked and heaved, its wooden hull creaking in protest. Sol Meka stood at the bow, his eyes fixed on the horizon, his long coat whipping about him like a dark cloak. The Devil's Sea lay ahead, its notorious reputation for strange occurrences well known across the globe. It was an expanse of ocean that lay between the continents of Saifelle to the south west, Apollonia to the East and the Holy Land of Ezkanur to the North.
Rumors of bizarre happenings had reached Sol's ears – whispers of twisted creatures and unexplained phenomena such as fishermen disappearing and sightings of a castle at sea.
He had dispatched some members of his network,now the Tsukikage, disguised as fishermen, to venture into the storm in order to uncover the truth. Around the same time. About a week ago,her felt a strong surge. Like something had been awakened somewhere. A few moments later,the world blacked out only to instantly return like nothing had happened. Being a Mercurian ment that while he wasn't a transcendent,he could still sense and perceive ,to an extent, the workings of things not seen. It made him feel uneasy. He was a man whos intuition was spot on. It was giving him mixed signals so he was uneasy. His unease was further amplified whenonly one of the agents he'd sent out returned, his body broken and mutilated with an arm and a chunk of his torso missing. It was a miracle that he was able to survive long enough to deliver a warning: "Death.... gathering... they... come."
Sol didn't know what it meant.
"Was it in any way connected to the Apostles or did it have to do with the blackout?Even then are the two events connected in anyway or is it something else entirely?" He pondered folding his arms and looking at the large expanse if water that rose and fell with the sting gale as the rain beat on him. Unknown to him a beast had been following tgrm through the storm. Some of Sol's men walked by the side of the beat checking if everything was alright. Lightning flashed across the sky and he wondered when they'd be done with the mission in order to go home.
" Don't say that. The boss his here." His partner silenced him glancing at Sol.
" Nothings gonna happen if you don't tell him." The other man joked.
" but I seriously don't know why he gathered us all to come to the middle of nowhere during a storm.
" He's investigating something."
" yeah but what could he possibly be investing that involves us. I hear he's been investigating shit for decades. He hasn't aged a day from what I heard. Maybe old aged finally getting to him" the man joked. He heard no response and heard a sword drop to the floor. He turned to his friend Lightning flashed. His face slowly turned horrified as the light illuminated the form of a fiend who had impaled the other man with a boney spear,blood dripping down to the ground. Before the man could scream the alarm, the maajin grabbed his head and crushed it.
Sol's thoughts were interrupted by a shrill cry: "Maajin! Off the port bow!"
A horde of twisted, humanoid creatures emerged from the stormy darkness, their eyes glowing like embers. Sol's men readied themselves, drawing swords and preparing for battle. The charged at the intruders and a conflict ensued.He looked on, seemingly unbothered. Lightning flashed again and he found himself covered by a large shadow. He looked up to see a large Maajin descending on him, arms raised,claws extended. In the blink of an eye the maajin burst,it's body parts falling all over the ship. A whip appeared in his hand. Maajin began to infest the ship both from the sky and sea.
Sol jumped into battle with his men.With a swift motion, he launched himself into the air, using the whip to swing and immobilize the Maajin and pulling them into a skul crushing kick to their skulls.
His kicks creating shockwaves that enabled him to jump and run in midair. He used this to his advantage to evade the attack from the Maajin while delivering a devastating lash to his attackers.The shockwave sent Maajin corpses flying into the sea, their bodies torn apart by the force. Sol's movements appeared like a blur as he ran around the ship taking out maajin while providing support to his subordinates who were being overwhelmed.
His men too,seeing their leader in action actively participated in the battle.
A Maajin caught his whip and threw him through the wood into the inner part of the ship. He'd barely gotten to his feet when it followed him and tried to hit him again. This time,he caught its arm and delivered a dropkick that tore the limb from its socket . Landing on his hands, and spun,delivering a spinning landed on its jaw before standing upright and delivering an uppercut that sent it flying into the ocean. He turned his attention to his men.
His men fought valiantly, employing their unique abilities to hold off the Maajin horde. Arin, Sol's right hand woman,a skilled elven archer under him moved through the Maajin in order to draw them in then. Shot arrows imbued with flame magic, instantly incinerating the enemy while Jaro, a hulking warrior who served as Sol's right hand man, wielded a massive greataxe a different weapon from the shield he normally used to protect his boss and swung indiscriminately cleaving through the creatures with ease.
The storm raged on, lightning illuminating the chaos.
Sol surveyed the state of the battle. While they did manage to defeat a lot of Maajin,they were taking a lot of damage both to their forces and their ship while the Maajin just kept coming. He concluded that the best course of action would be to retreat instead of fighting on your opponents home territory when they also had the numbers advantage. H
A Maajin lunged at Sol, its jaws open wide. He sidestepped and delivered a devastating kick that sent it upward then did a backflip that sent it flying into a bunch that were trying to climb onboard sending them all back into the water.
One of the men yelled and pointed to the distance. Tornadoes appeared on the horizon, their funnels twisting and writhing like living serpents. The ship creaked and groaned, its wooden hull splintering under the pressure of the battle. They would be dead people if they were caught up in it.
"Retreat!" Sol yelled.
But it was too late. A Maajin with long, razor-sharp fingernails impaled the captain, lifting him off the deck. I roared but was taken down by an arrow from Arin.
A large two headed Maajin appeared behind her, catching her off guard but Jaro spawned from nowhere, hacking the creature apart with ruthless efficiency.
Sol gave orders for Jaro to steer them clear while Arin would direct the men to take cover inside the ship.
He made sure everyone was inside before making a run for it but was too late however and the ship was swept into the vortex of a tornado. The world around Sol became a blur of chaos and destruction as debris and corpses were lifted up into the air he managed to hang on but was nearly blown away. He used his whip to hold on to the ships railing. It cracked and was about to break but Arin held the whip and tried to pull him. She was aided by Juro. Sol was about to yell at them to get back inside but he turnedand peered inside the whirlwind. He caught a glimpse of a broken-down castle, its towers shattered and crumbling. With a whole swarm of Maajin circling around it.The image vanished as quickly as it appeared.
The ship crashed into the water, its hull breached. Arin and Jaro helped him back onboard. He looked back and saw they were in the middle of the storm.The ship would be crushed between the other two tornadoes.
With a mighty stomp, Sol generated a shockwave that displaced the water beneath the ship. The vessel lurched into the air.
Seizing the moment, Sol whipped the space in front of him,the whiplash creating a powerful shockwave , propelling the ship out of the storm. The Maajin horde was left behind, lost in the turbulent waters.
As the ship emerged into calmer seas, Sol's men tended to the injured and worked to repair the damage. His two subordinates approached Sol who sat against the railing, concern etched on their faces.
"Sol, are you alright?" Arin asked.
Sol waved them off
"How many casualties?" He asked
" A third of the hundred men we brought on board." Arin responded.
there was silence.
"Focus on tending to the wounded getting us out of here."
" Sir." Both Arin and Jaro responded and left to attend to their task.
Sol got to his feet and turned looking back at the storm in the distance and saw a flash of teal lightning.
He knew he had to inform the other Moonshadows.
He may have escaped the storm , but he knew that the true tempest was only beginning.
He smirked in anticipation.