The System Seas

Marco turned back to where he knew the captain must be by now. The man was rising to his feet near the wheel, carrying what looked like a halberd. A guard weapon, really, not something you normally saw at sea and not something Marco had ever had to deal with. His armor was expensive and glistening. Marco had hoped the enemy ship was just specialized for speed and that this was where most of the value of their ship came from. It now seemed it was specialized for speed and for crew quality, at least in terms of their equipment.

The halberd stung forward at Marco, who snaked his body to the side and around the point, then had to spring again as the pole spun in the captain's hands, shifting the chopping side in line with Marco's hip before he yanked it back. Rapid-fire, the captain pressed the attack, stabbing at just the right spots to force bigger movements, aiming at his balance so he'd have no chance to counterattack. A single mistake, and Marco would be skewered.

The reach of the weapon was a problem in and of itself. A rapier had a long range compared to most other swords, but it was so far from what the halberd could do that it might as well have been a dagger. The enemy captain didn't seem undefeatable or even that wonderful with his weapon, but as long as he had space to fight, Marco was at a serious advantage in terms of reach.

That was only true of the rapier though.

Having not used his gun much in this battle so far and intentionally tucking it into his belt, it would have been easy for the captain to forget about the fact that Marco had a long-range attack too.

Marco let the man work himself into a full lather, going heavy on defense until the man seemed as excited as he could get. Then, dodging to just the right distance, he baited the enemy captain into a particularly long strike. The man kept his head up as he thrust almost every time, trying to keep his eye on Marco and increase his chances of landing a hit. When he did so again, Marco fired at his neck. The captain was wearing a thick, expensive-looking leather gorget that absorbed the bulk of it, but it couldn't stop his reflexes at being hit in the neck. Read full story at novel✶fire.net

The man stumbled back, coughing and startled. Marco took a deep breath, gripped on his much-improved saber, and stabbed at the captain’s face.

Marco’s enemy bellowed and stumbled back even further, unintentionally running into a blast of lightning Elisa had intended for an entirely other target. He stiffened up, stopping in place more than long enough for Marco to stab Elisa’s actual target a few times to keep her out of danger. The man went down, but it gave the captain enough time to recover and level his halberd again. Marco would have to get past his reach again, and there was the possibility he wouldn't be able to before something went wrong.

Riv changed the balance in his favor. Once his hand finally gripped the edge of the ship, his superior strength took over, negating the need for agility as he brute-forced his way onto the deck of the ship.

The captain was too distracted by pain and Marco's covering fire to notice the sopping Sturdy approaching before it was too late. Riv brained the man with a double-handed swing to the side of his head, and Marco took the opportunity to yank the halberd out of his hands before he and Riv went to work on the man with rapier strikes, continuous clubbing, and stabbing.

Aethe had been working the whole time, first helping Elisa clear the deck and then putting down the people from the other ship who were trying to climb their way back up to dry decks. Just like that, it was over.