Chapter 67: Motivation

The boys would struggle as they'd get up, still laughing, still embracing this feeling. The two exchanged glances, recognizing they are feeling the same thing, before they began to confess. "You know something....? This was a fun one....Outmatched...Outsourced....Outgunned.....And yet, for some really, REALLY weird reason....I wanna keep going!! I don't know why I want to, I just do!" Harvard would began, breathing heavily as he'd pull out a card.

"Yeah...To be pushed to your limits....To be pushed until you break....To be pushed until you can't take it anymore and snap. To just let loose. It's almost exhilarating in a way....Going all out like this and it not being enough. It just means you gotta keep going. You gotta survive....You gotta make sure your opponent doesn't take the advantage and run away with it." Stolas would add, his beak showcasing a wide grin, as a star was being made.

"A Hero has a breaking point....It's natural for them to be tipped over that edge. It's natural to go wild and not care what the heck everything happens next. The only thing they'd care about is just to see the end..." Harvard would take one step ahead, raising both of the pirates guards and focusing their attention on their movements.

"Yeah...Same with being a Man, too.....There's always gonna be some point where they just wanna go off..." Stolas would add, getting within a stance, the star vibrating wildly.

"That's why....."

"That's why....." 

Both would get within position, and as they said their last declaration, such sanity snapped. Their pupils constricted, their eyes strained, red veins being seen, and their smile was wider. They were like animals. For a brief moment, they were monsters. For a brief moment, They were being demons.

"WE'RE GONNA MAKE YOU SEE GOD!!"

As they both spoke in unison, they lunged forward, somehow being faster than before, forcing Teach to shoot prematurely and bend the Steel ball to act as a barrier to protect them, while Anne kept her focus and tried to track their movements. When they made such preparations, however, they were met with a fierce counter. The Steel that acted as the barrier being absorbed, as well as the debris from the dust made by Stolas' stars. A Monster was being born, as a Green sigil was made amidst the sky, and Harvard chanting as he'd went to town against Teach, talking while striking at Teach in cross-ups, Hooks, Uppercuts, and sweeps into heavy punches that would be enough to break one's teeth. When Anne tried to stop it, Stolas was right behind her, delivering the same attacks, creating star-like appendages to cover more ground and move even more around the ship, closing the distance so she wouldn't be given a chance to fire her bullet.

"Urere...Urere....Urere omnia"

"Flamma pennas tuas, Corpus tuum, Animam informet..."

"Perditionem in nativitate tua...Perditionem in caelo tua propter exaltationem tuam....."

""Nunc illam flammam fingant di....Finemque ferant.....!!!"

His words were almost cut by Teach aiming a Cannon Point blank at Harvard's face, the steel molding itself and wrapping around his neck, ready to fire, yet Harvard casts a spell to cut the distance, being just above Teach, allowing him to cast a second spell to fight back: An Orb of pure darkness and lightning, exploding and carving across the ship. Void was its name: A Spell that destroys whatever is in its path, reducing it to nothingness. Teach would be heavily damaged with his back being carved out, bleeding out profusely, yet still standing despite the severity. Harvard would be smiling when he saw Teach not being done yet.

"ARAWAREU!"

"Natus ex nihilo.... Exsisto Reapse...!"

"R A S C A!!" 

The Summon was a success, a beam of light struck down, splitting the ship in two, making way for the behemoth that has been spawned. A Monster. A Bird. A Vulture. A Beast of stone, with a glyph embedded into its body, its being. It glowed a white light as it wrapped around its wings and talons. It was an enormous creature, with its wingspan blocking out the very sky, the markings of what looked to be skulls staring back down in envy. A Beast that watched the pirates, delivering its marking amidst the river. The pirates, should they still live, would be hit with this marking, and yet they would feel as if their very soul was departing. Stolas would assist in this by having his own stars be made by the glyph that has been made, a constellation made through the lines connecting to them, as if they were connecting the dots. The beast made by the stars was of a man. A Man with a bow and arrow on their side. A Man with no face, yet with the strength necessary.

Orion.

"Dear god....They really weren't kidding....They're in a High, but....I didn't expect them to go this far..." Anne would, for the first time, showcase some genuine fear, forcing herself to retreat back, yet Stolas would be hot on her trail, having Orion followed swiftly and aiming its bow right at her face.

"It's over.....You're done..." His voice was cold when uttering such words, the bloodthirst being prevalent, as the arrow would be fired, striking at Anne, not in body, but rather in spirit. Like if she was wounded by an invisible force, rather than a physical one. Teach would attempt to reach out, yet he wouldn't notice Harvard appearing close by, ready to finish his side just as much. Casting a spell while being in such euphoria, hands and arms would expel out, grappling and dragging the Captain across the wreckage, before throwing him directly towards Anne's position, with Rasca, moving its head slightly as it aims for an attack on its own: A Blast of light, which, when coupled with the arrow, became a massive pillar that would send the two to the skies, ejecting them out of Salvandi permanently.

Anne and Teach were bested, their men most likely dead, and their mission failing. Even despite all that....

They still smiled.

" 'MEMBER THIS, YE LADS!! IT AIN' OV'AH YET!! WE'LL MEET AGAIN!!! WHETHER IN HERE, OR IN HELL!!!" Teach cried.

"YOU BOYS TAKE CARE!! DON'T BE DYIN' ON US!!! WE WANNA SAVOR THE MOMENT WHERE WE BLAST YOU TO THE DEVIL'S LAIR, YEAH!?!?" Anne added, with the both laughing, nay, cackling wildly as they were shot across the horizon, the streak of light burning their bodies, sending them to god knows where. At this point, At this instance.

They were satisfied.