Dragoncrator's Zero-Fear Doctrine

The ship shuddered under relentless impacts, wooden hull groaning like a wounded beast. Panda crewmen brandished harpoons the size of small trees, curses rolling off their tongues like thunder.

Hailun leaned over the rail—and froze.

Below, the sea seethed with nightmares.

Hundreds of tiger-headed sharks circled, their dagger-lined maws glinting in noon sun. Each tooth resembled a butcher's cleaver, rows upon rows designed to shear flesh from bone. Yesterday's skirmish had been a teaser; this horde quintupled in fury.

"Main act's here," Liu muttered, knuckles whitening on the rail.

Old Xu stepped forward, voice cutting through chaos: "By ancestral pact sworn before sea gods, we claim passage! Does Neptune's word mean nothing?"

The waters parted with a roar.

Emerging astride a leviathan that dwarfed even the Penglai, the newcomer dwarfed mortal comprehension. Three meters tall even seated, his lobster-plate armor oozed menace. Sunlight glinted off the trident-and-crown sigil on his breastplate—the mark of Banilux, mightiest warriors beneath the waves.

"Whale Knight..." Hailun breathed.

Liu's gut clenched. Banilux made landlocked giants seem toddlers. This specimen's biceps rivaled mast timbers, his bald scalp etched with barnacle-like battle runes. Twin walrus tusks curled from his lip, each longer than Liu's leg.

"Vermin." The Banilux's voice earthquaked the deck. "Your kind murdered our arrowfish kin. Pay blood-price—or become chum."

Xu palmed sweat from his brow. "A tragic accident! The fish impaled itself on—"

"Lies!" The warrior hefted a rusted ship's anchor one-handed, its triple hooks screeching against coral saddle. "Your feeble pacts end today!"

Liu's pulse raced—not from fear, but exhilaration. Cursed dragonblood sang in his veins, itching to test itself against this titan.

Then the sea bloomed sapphire.

Astride her obsidian hippocampus, Princess Aviere emerged like vengeance incarnate. "Enough, Fergo! These land-rats owe two lives. Give them, and tides stay calm."

Her talon-like nail swept the deck—and froze.

"You." The princess's coral lips curled as she locked eyes with Liu. "My tides bring gifts. That sniveling pig... and his red-haired whore."

Rage ignited Liu's soul. "Suck brine, fish-bitch!"

Chaos erupted.

Banilux roared, anchor whirling overhead. Pandas braced harpoons. Ning Yu's shells flared with prismatic light, weaving illusions of thrice their number.

And Liu Zhenhan—dragon-cursed, foolhardy, gloriously alive—leapt onto the rail, howling a battlecry that shook seabirds from the sky.