[Trigger warning: Blood, gore]

Two vessels float alongside above calm water, one towering another. The enormous shadow cast onto the smaller ship like a monster ready to swallow its prey.

The buccaneers belonging to the smaller ship have their eyes fixated on a lone figure standing on the rail of the warship. Confusion, bewilderment, hostility, and fear are showing on their faces. Loud gasps overwhelm the Revenge after the mysterious man had declared his animosity.

That voice…

How could they not remember the voice of their sworn enemy?

“Chris.” Hongjoong’s eye shone with fathomless aversion. His hand clenches around the pistol grip, pointing toward his nemesis. His other arm tightens around my waist, bringing me closer to him.

Breath caught in my throat as soon as I realized the shadow is my supposed-to-be brother. My eyes travel to Chris on the rail. Although the surrounding is dark and he’s far above, I can feel his poisonous gaze glare at Hongjoong and sweep over me. Somehow it makes me feel sick to the stomach.

It has been an emotional roller coaster in one day. Having a heartbreak since last night, being sick, getting kidnapped, confronted by the Royal Navy and currently by the villain of the story. Life couldn’t be this worse.

“Commander Chris, what a bad omen to see you again. I thought you gave up on being a soldier after failing to capture me last time.” Hongjoong raised his voice, though he said with a hint of mockery, I’m being with him for long enough to detect wariness in his tone. 

“That fog, was it your doing? And where is this place?” He asks the question that is lingering in my mind.

Although it’s hard to believe that Chris created the fog and made us appear in the middle of nowhere in less than a minute, the villain who killed Ateez in the story shouldn’t be taken lightly. Perhaps he gained cheat power like how I was sent to help Ateez.

The young commander laughs, not answering back. His body sways back and forth as he laughs. Too bad he doesn’t fall down from the ship. Else, we’d have less problems to deal with.

Surprisingly, I’m not the only one who jinx the commander. Someone also has the same thought as me. “Captain, we should attack him by surprise. I’ll alert Mingi and the gun crew.” The quartermaster suggests from the side.

“No, if we open fire, the soldiers that are hiding are gonna rain their bullets upon us.” Hongjoong rejects the plan, frowning as he scans the rails for any movement, and sees none. The enemy side is so quiet as if Chris is the only man on the deserted vessel.

Then Hongjoong turns to order the navigator, “Yunho, take the ladies to my quarter and guard them.”

Yunho nods and extends his hand toward me. Hongjoong lets go of my waist, but I grab his arm. “No wait. What if I play a hostage like the last time, it could work. You know how Chris cares for his sister.”

Hongjoong frowns deeper, obviously not buying my idea.

“She’s right. It’s the best solution we have right now.” The quartermaster, for the first time, agrees with my idea. Though I suppose to be happy, instead I grimace at how Seonghwa is so enthusiastic to point a gun at my head.

“You sure about that?” Hongjoong asks me in a concerned tone.

I nod firmly. “You just saw my fabulous acting.”

A small smile appears on his lips for a second and vanishes. He refocuses on the enemy who finally stops laughing.

“It’s quite disappointing.” Chris heaves a long sigh. “I thought of dealing with you after getting rid of that old hag. But the plan was ruined.”

His speech makes all of us dumbfounded. Did I hear him say old hag?

“Even with this body, she refused to let me into her little island. What a waste.” He continues, sounding disdainful.

“Yah! What the hell are you ranting?! Just come down here and let us bury you in the sea bed!” Wooyoung shouts out of the blue, causing the pirates to chuckle after him.

The ridicule from the first mate causes Chris to fall silent. However, it’s an eerily silence as if it’s a calm before a storm that will sweep us any moment. The cool air prick my skin and temperature noticeably drops. The gentle wave begins to ripple harsher. The ship is rocking violently, making my body that hasn’t recovered from sickness sway with dizziness.

 Noticing my condition, Hongjoong quickly circles his arm around my waist and I find an excuse to lean against him in front of the general public.

“You arrogant human, I’ll seek vengeance with you today. Your filthy blood shall spill and dye the sea with red, your lives shall repay my children. Then I’ll finish that old hag and rule the sea!” Chris laughs afterward like how antagonists normally do after declaring war.

“Captain, he’s acting strange.” The navigator says, maintaining his balance as the wave crashes against the hull harder. “The way he speaks reminds me of the...”

He doesn't say the last word to complete his sentence. As if everyone has an answer in their mind, their eyes wide with shock. The crew, also alerted by the abnormality, erupt with baffled murmurs.

“Hey, what’s going on?” The clueless Yeojin asks from behind Seonghwa’s back. No one answers her because the thought is too unbelievable.

“Is he the sea...” Aurora’s sentence is cut off when she suddenly gasps and clutches her chest.

Alarms, Yeojin quickly supports Aurora’s body. “What’s wrong? Why there’re so many sick people in here?”

The pirates exchange glance worryingly. Hongjoong clenches his jaw and peers at Chris whose identity is unconfirmed.

“My children, you must be hungry after a long fight.” After Chris' sentence, a shadow appears into our line of sight, and another one, more and more emerges until the rail is crowded with men.

The pirates are taken aback by their enemies sudden appearance. Hongjoong immediately orders the gun crew to standby and hurry me to go to his cabin. In the next second, before any of us take action, Chris says the next sentence that sends chills down my spine.

“Enjoy your feast.”

One man instantly climbs onto the rail next to Chris and stares down into our ship. The pirates restlessly point guns at the person.

Suddenly, he leaps downward. The gunners immediately fire, multiple bullets go through him. The crew shout and scurry away from the area where the body plummets into the deck with a loud crack.

Quickly turning my head away, I wince at the sound, bile rises in my throat. Hongjoong pats my tense back and whispers into my ear, “Don’t look.”

“Are they crazy? They committed suicide to intimidate us?” Seonghwa snorts.

Hongjoong squints his eyes at the body in his ship and looks upward to Chris. The soldiers are strangely calm, too calm for witnessing their dead comrade.

“They don’t carry weapons…” Hongjoong mutters under his breath, “Seonghwa, take the wheel and get us underway.” Then he quickly commands the quartermaster. 

However, it’s too late.

Incoherent curses from the crew draws my attention. I can’t help but peer at the direction to see what’s going on. The crew make a big circle around the corpse on the floor.

Then I see it.

The supposed dead man starts to move. Sound of cracking bone echoes as his broken limbs slowly stand up like a zombie. His tattered Royal Navy attire has holes and blood oozing from them. Then the man lifts up his face. Light from the torches around him reveal his monstrous features; white eyes with no iris, mouth stretches from ear to ear that contains massive teeth inside.

All of us are too shocked to react. The monster lets out a low screech and attacks the nearest crew, biting a large chunk of a man’s neck and swallowing it down.

Blood gushes out from the victim's neck. He didn’t have time to cry as his eyes rolled backward and dropped to the ground, dead. The monster then looks for the next prey.

The pirates cry in terror after regaining their senses. They incessantly fire at the monster until its body is full of holes and soak with blood. Eventually, it falls on the floor and never gets up again.

Nevertheless, the nightmare has just begun.

Screeching sounds rise from above our heads like noise from hell. The monsters on the battleship climb onto the rail and prepare to jump into our ship.

“Fire!!!” Hongjoong shouted. Guns rang across the deck, but it didn’t stop them from landing into the Revenge.

Everything happens so fast. The next second our ship is full of sea monsters. They start attacking every crew in their sight and devour them.

“Run!!” Hongjoong shouts at me while firing at the monsters that advance toward us.

With a blank mind from shock, I spontaneously whirl around to the two girls. Horror also struck on their faces.

“R-run,” My voice comes out almost inaudible. Hongjoong has to shout at us to run again and we all sprint toward the aft.

“What the was that thing!?” Yeojin curses furiously while supporting Aurora who hasn’t recovered from chest pain.

I’m unable to answer her as I have a hard time breathing while running with shaky legs. It’s the Royal Navy sea monsters. How Chris and his crew associated with the sea witch is still a big mystery, but right now we have to survive first.

We haven’t run too far from the main deck when something coils around my ankle and pulls my leg backward with a heavy force.

My body crashes onto the floor. I let out a soundless scream because the pain is so unbearable. That creature starts dragging me along the floor back to the war zone.

The two girls who run in front of me turn around once they notice that I’m missing. Yeojin scurries after me while trying to reach out her hands for me to grab.

Unfortunately, a half fish half human monster lunges at Aurora. She screams as the monster tries to gnaw her face with its sharp teeth. Yeojin has to turn around and pulls out her dagger, stabbing it with a fast reflex, but the monster doesn’t let go of its prey easily.

Seeing they busily defend themselves, I can’t depend on them to rescue me so I try to find something to grab to stop myself from going further. To no avail, the monster tightens around my ankle like it’s going to break my bone.

“Help!!!!!!” I scream the loudest I could muster at my weak strength. However, my quiet scream only got lost into the midst of chaos. All of the crew have trouble clinging onto their lives as monsters attack them like hungry wolves. No one will be able to help me.

Suddenly a tight coil around my ankle disappears. I look up to see a figure above me. He reaches his hand for me to take.

“Thank you, you saved me again.” I say out of breath while tremble getting up with his help.

The combatant quietly stares at me. A deep scowl forms on his lips. His eyes are glowing with blood lust. He wears the most wrathful expression I have ever seen. I shudder slightly. Then he turn to glare at monsters around us.

The real devil has awakened.

“Hold tight.” He says and abruptly loops his arm around my waist. My body collides into his sturdy form. He slashes two monsters with his long sword that are trying to capture me in half. Their blood and organs splashes in every direction. Thankfully it’s night time so I don’t have to witness gore in 4k.

I tightly hug San’s waist while he’s defending us from all kinds of monsters that trying to pounce upon us. His speed is slower than usual since he has a giant koala, aka me, clinging onto him. Yet, he’s able to get rid of a couple of monsters in less than a minute.

Then I hear women screaming among the crying sound of monsters and humans. I panic, Yeojin and Aurora might be in big trouble.

“San, give me your dagger!” How stupid I am for forgetting the dagger that sea monsters fear. 

“In my belt!” San, for the rarest time, shouts in a hoarse voice. He has no hand to pick it up for me as he fights with the monsters with one hand and another secure around my waist.

I look down and pull whatever dagger that comes into my view. I pull out one of them, but it isn’t San dagger. So I pull out another one, still not the one I’m looking for.

Why does he have so many daggers?!

“Another side.” He says. Perhaps it’s my imagination, I could hear him chuckle in his throat.

I grasp on the hilt and pull it from its sheath, at the same time a monster crashes into both of us. San dagger flies off my hand and disappears among the fighting crowd.

“No!” I cry.

San stabs the monster and kicks its corpse away, then he instantly counterattacks another blow from the incoming monsters.

There’s no chance for us to find the lost dagger. The monsters make sure to keep us occupied.

But since sea monsters fear San dagger, it doesn’t take long to spot a gap among the crowd.

“Over there!” Not too far away, I point at a silver light flickering on the ground where monsters fearfully avoid the area. We try to advance forward in that direction at a slow pace as monsters don’t let us go easily.

When we’re a few steps away from the dagger, I turn to talk to San. “Let go of me for a sec. I’ll go grab it quickly.”

San nods and lets go of my waist. I quickly dash forward. My hand is an inch away from the hilt when a foot kicks it away. Cursing at the owner of the foot, I raise my head and meet with a pair of green slit eyes. Commander Chris greets me with a sickening smile on his face.

I shrink and step backward. “San!” I shout for my rescuer, yet he doesn’t come to defend me. I turn around and see the combatant is swarmed by a horde of monsters. Tentacles wrap around his sword. To my horror, one of them bites into his arm, causing San to let out a  growl.

The table has turned in a split second.

A hand grabs my hair from behind and pulls me backward.

“Ouch!” I cry, feeling as if my scalp will be torn out.

Chris’s devilish face comes into my view. The pair of green eyes looks so frightening, they remind me of the time when I was drowning.

“B-brother, it’s me, Alice your sister.” I try to gamble my luck by using Alice's identity.

“You’re not this human’s sister. You’re the weak soul that old hag sent to help those damn pirates.” Chris hisses and I know right away that I’m doomed.

“Sea witch...”

Chris or the sea witch throws her head backward and laughs. Black tongue darts out and she . “Should I possess this body so the old hag will let me in?”

Shiver runs down my spine. I have no idea the sea witch has this kind of power. She possessed Chris’s body and now she’s gonna possess me. Where’s Seakeeper when I need her!?

Sea witch grabs my wrist and uses her nail to cut my skin open. I feel my skin split apart and hot liquid flow out of the wound. My eyes become watery, not because of the pain, but of what to come if she succeeds. I try to kick her to flee from her grasp. Since Chris's body is strong, she doesn’t budge at all. She squeezes my wrist and brings it close to and...

Suddenly she halts her action and shifts away from the spot. A gunshot rings and a bullet pierce her ear. She screeches in Chris’s masculine voice.

“Step away from her!!” Hongjoong shouts ragingly. Smoke come out of his pistol. Behind him the other members fight together to protect their captain.

The sea witch twists her lips and glares at Hongjoong, equally in rage. She yanks my hair harder. I yelp and can only grit my teeth to endure the pain.

“How does it feel to lose your precious, pirate king?” She derides Hongjoong.

“LET.GO.OF.HER!!” Instead of answering the witch, he repeats his sentence.

Yet, the sea witch simply smirks. “The things that you hold dear will crumble down. Your ship, your crew, your title, fame, wealth,” Then she eyes me. “And your lover.”

“You think I’m not afraid to shoot you?” Hongjoong is so angry that his hand is shaking.

Sea witch snorts. “No matter what you do, you’ll lose today, pirate king. You’re just a mere human, you can’t kill a mortal like me. And that old hag couldn’t help you like last time.”

Like a thunder struck to my skull. If the Seakeeper can’t help us then who can. The circumstance is dreadful. Hundreds of monsters are invading the Revenge. Although the crew can keep up the fight at the moment, soon they’ll lose strength and eventually get eaten by the starving monsters. Their scream intensifies every second pass. I peer at Ateez and fear creep into my heart.

This shouldn't be the end, right?

“To think again, death is too merciful to the like of you. So I change my mind, I want you to suffer.” Sea witch chuckles darkly. “Oh, and I also have a gift for all of you. I’ll return your memories and let you suffer in monstrous bodies. You’ll live in torment for eternity!”

Right after her sentence, the monsters abruptly stop attacking the pirates. However, the whole crew drop down to the ground. They are screaming and tossing in pain. Their body parts start to transform into monsters in front of my eyes.

“No stop!!” I scream at Sea witch and try to scratch her face. She slaps me to the ground. The entire side of my face turns numb. I grab my cheek and raise my head. Then I spot a silver dagger on the floor. The distance is quite far from here, I wouldn’t make it in time since the sea witch will likely capture me first. I scan the area and see two figures standing near it.

Yeojin and Aurora hug one another, terrified by the monsters surrounding them.

“Grab the dagger!!!” I shout toward them and point at the dagger direction.

Yeojin is the first one to spot the dagger. Although she doesn’t know about the power of San dagger, she lunges toward it. At the same time, monsters around them intercept her before she reaches it.

“Aurora!” Yeojin screams to alert another girl.

Aurora immediately pounces to grab the dagger. She shakily points it at the monsters and they fearfully back away from her. Then she helps Yeojin from the monsters’ grasp.

“Use it to kill the witc-” My head abruptly jerks upward as the witch yanks my hair again. She pulls me up while glaring at the two girls.

“Aurora.” She hisses while they're heading toward her. “Destroy it and I’ll free your parents.”

Upon hearing about her parents, Aurora gasps.

“My p-parents.” She stuttered, eyes wide with shock.

“Destroy it or you’ll never meet your parents again!” Sea witch pressures her.

Aurora looks down to the dagger and then at the pirates on the floor. Her eyebrows knit together, she looks down to the dagger again.

“Don't do it!!/Don't listen to her!” Both Yeojin and I yell at the same time, afraid that she’ll follow Sea witch instruction for the sake of her parents.

“You don’t know whether your parents are really captured or not! She could lie to you!” I shout to remind her. 

The sea witch yanks my hair harder and squeezes my wounded wrist to shut me. I grunt and swallow hard, trying to ignore the pain. 

Aurora presses her lips together as she’s in the predicament.

When the two girls are being careless, a squid monster pulls Yeojin from behind, separating her from Aurora.  She tries to fight back, but there're too many of them. Soon her entire body wrap by the tentacles.

“Now, do it.” The sea witch rushes Aurora again. I can sense underlying fear in her tone and how Chris’s body tense up next to me.

Aurora walks closer to the sea witch. “I made the decision.” She says, sounding resolute.

“I’m sorry.” She says and pounces into the sea witch, aiming the dagger at Chris’s heart.

Sea witch growls, leaping to the side as the dagger misses her by an inch. Whilst I am being pushed down to the ground.

Then she smacks Aurora across the face, making her helplessly fling to the floor. San dagger falls down in front of me.

“YOU USELESS HU-” Sea witch’s sentence cuts off and she looks down to her stomach where I plunge the dagger into her gut, or Chris’s gut.

She lets out an inhuman screeching cry. Murky liquid run down from the wound, including her eyes, nose, and mouth.

Chris’s face twists painfully. She extends her hands toward me. Panic, I pull the dagger out and scoot away from the danger.

Unable to harm me, she vomits more green blood. Her eyes burn with resentment, staring right into my soul. “This is not the end, I’ll come back to all of you.” After her words, the monsters all flee into the sea.

Then Chris fell down to the floor. Blood pool around him. His face is pale, looking dead.

San dagger fell out of my grasp as I plummet to the floor, feeling no strength in my legs. I cough and gasp for air.

Orange light shines from the horizon. Darkness of the night is replaced by vivid dawn. Yet, I feel a shadow looming over me. Although the sea witch is gone, the heaviness in my chest never leaves.

The pirates regain consciousness. They start to get up and look for injured crewmates. There’re happy cries mixing with heartbroken weep. The terrible night has gone, but they have turned into half monsters again.

San crawls toward me and collapses into my lap. Blood flowing heavily from the bitten wound on his arm and another arm is covered entirely by black scales, sharp claws protruding from his nails. He reaches his hand to touch my swollen cheek. I lean into his hand and allow tears to fall freely.

In the corner of my eyes, Hongjoong staggers toward us, his eyes becoming a glowing yellow slit like a snake. He clutches over his heart, looking dazed.

‘Aurora..’ I see his lips move and he dives to embrace the girl on the floor. One by one the other members surround her. There’s no shock imprint on their expression, only sorrow. Some of them have tears welling up in their eyes.

“I remember everything.” Hongjoong says. 

Aurora cries and returns the hug.

☆*:.｡.☆*:.｡.☆*:.｡.☆*:.｡.☆*:.｡.☆

I'm back!! Sorry for the long wait. I'm stressing out by work and it kills my imagination. I couldn't come up with good idea so this chapter is kinda short (｡╯︵╰｡) I'll try to write longer next chap.

Thank you for your patience and support. Have a goooood day!!