Dueling Under the Warped Night - Part 4

If Corsair was really like Anna, then she also had a tipping point. At some point, her body would receive so much punishment she would be unable to continue. And as things looked like, all it took was a whole magazine of silver bullets to reach it.

Against humans, they were only more expensive bullets, but spirits took it differently. For them, well-made silver rounds with the proper engravings were very damaging. And the eviler or the more corrupted they were, the worse the damage.

Their effectiveness was the whole reason why producing them was something the Federation tried to hide so much.

Legends say it went so bad against proper devils that it was likely the only reasonable way to kill them. The only real limitation they had was a material one based on the gun being used.

There was only so much a small pistol could do and only so much speed the round could have in a small package.

Still, with fifteen of them hitting her very wounded and tired body, the pirate captain became unable to hold her weapons. She stood on her feet even after the barrage, but that was only on willpower. Fighting was outside of her capabilities now, and this much was easy to see.

Even her ship and crew didn’t seem to be in any condition to keep going after all the collateral damage and direct attacks.

“So…” Anna spoke as she also staggered back and tried her best to not buckle right there. “A draw again?”

“Heh… Hahahah! Yes… A draw is good...” Corsair laughed heartily at their situation for a few moments, likely due to the fact that this human considered this a draw. It was too funny that someone could say that disabling a battleship, fighting off a half-dragon, and surviving the encounter was a draw at most. And one she wasn’t happy with too.

“Ay… I ain’t sure if I can or wanna keep goin’, and y'see to be the same.”

“It seems so for sure…” The woman still trying to control her laughter continued, sharpening her gaze as she spoke. “But what now?”

From the physical state, the redhead was in a much better situation than Corsair, but that was only on the outside. Other than the closing bullet wounds, she could barely feel her body at all right now. She needed at least some hours to recover after overdoing the elixir and the fighting, even if her spiritual energy wasn't that spent.

Her kitsune companion, on the other side, seemed to be close to vanishing by how weak was her soul. Anna was unsure of how her skills worked or of what kind of spell she was preparing during her duel, but Minako seemed as spent, if not more, than anyone around.

“To be honest, I’d love to kill ya ‘ere. Yer too much trouble to leave ‘round… But I’d lose a way too good tool, y’see?” She weakly glanced at the kneeling shrine maiden trying to somehow get up and look strong. “What ‘bout we turn way and leave?”

There were ways to keep fighting and Anna was sure she had a fair chance at it, but there was also a good chance that she wasn't the only one with a hidden trump. She couldn’t be sure of what would happen if she forced all her seals open and bulldoze her way through her foe after all this. It was even possible that she would be fought off again.

Anna was even starting to question her own skills a little by now.

For her, a draw against a demon was as bad as a loss. They had no way to defeat her, it was impossible as it could be, so not winning was the worse she could achieve. And for someone that could boost a reputation like her, a loss in such a clear one-on-one fight was very shameful.

If it was due to lack of equipment or just because, as she was feeling lately, she was becoming too soft, she would need to think about some other day.

Next time, she would need to be sure to go all-out right away against this woman. Both due to curiosity as to how things would go and to end someone this powerful, trying to be fancy like today wasn’t an option anymore.

More than that, going even further right here would mean killing off someone way too useful as collateral. And unless she was reading the situation wrong, losing Minako here was a bad move.

She still had more uses than defeating someone who, at worse, was the second more powerful fighter on Eden’s Workshop. If it was to sacrifice the five-tailed girl, then Annabeth would do it when her real target was in place.

“Looks good to me… But steer away from that base, inquisitor.” The unsteady lady in tattered scraps of cloth warned the young redhead in a similar state. “You’re in no condition to fight what’s there, and I want a rematch someday.”

The redhead's eyes expanded as she understood, or thought she understood, what the dragon was implying here. And if such implication was the truth, then going here instead of returning to the Leviathan was the worst choice she made in a good while.

“Ya can’t… Hells! He was there all… Cof Cof!” As she was complaining though, her knee finally buckled, forcing Anna to hold herself with her musket and willpower as she coughed more blood. “If I… If I had a way to get there…”

“Anna…” Minako called as she rushed in worry, but the redhead was too focused on looking toward the moving fortress now. If she had used her original plan and rushed forward, this whole mess would be over, and she would be sure to end it.

But now… Now she only had two wounded females and a burning ship to complain to.

And worse even, now that she wasn’t moving anymore, all the damage was starting to reach her head and she was on the verge of fainting. If it wasn’t for the burning pain and the enemy nearby, Anna would be out cold by now.

“Don’t kill yourself for free, child. No matter what trick you still have, it wouldn’t… Sigh… She’s not hearing, is she?” The dragon lady rolled her eyes and started to limp away from the two girls, giving some last words to Minake. “I have a ship to save, so take your friend and leave. There must be some surviving lifeboats, so be my guest… Until next time.”

Without anything more to say, Corsair turned away from her enemies and went to the flaming parts of her ship. The few remaining crewmates were working at the double to control the damage caused by the stray shots and the fox fire, and they needed help.

Meanwhile, back at the bow of the ship, the five-tailed fox dropped her guard as she stopped holding her breath. She wasn't in the condition to fight anymore as much as the other girl she was holding, or that was how she saw the situation at least.

The inquisitor was still too focused on trying to glare at the bastard across the water, but she was alive enough. It was only a matter of resting for a little.

“Come with me fast, Anna. Who knows when they’ll decide to take us down while we’re running...” The worried shrine maiden tried to call while using her remaining strength to pull her companion towards the few lifeboats she could see.

The whole tip of the ship was mostly intact since their fight had only reached it in the last stages, so it had no one else there too. Dealing with some intact place while half the ship was burning and there was a massive hole in the middle of it would be stupid of the crew.

“Tch! Dammed be...” Anna cursed and then finally went back to reality, shaking off the one trying to help her stay steady and rushing away. She then headed to the first davit she could see and started to try and force the lifeboat in position. “Help me 'ere and pray they won't blow us on our way out… We've to move on.”

"Move on? To where?!"

"That's obvious, fox..." She barked while rushing inside the small boat and getting ready to cut its ropes.

"I'm goin' to that stupid movin' port now."