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Chapter Ninety-Six: The Old-Fashioned Way
Google Docs: For Suggestions<< Previous| Table Of Contents| Next >>“Battle stations!” Anathor roared, echoing Serena’s command not just in the bridge, but throughout the entire ship. While the bridge was already at full hands, Serena knew a flurry of activity would spread throughout the Vengeance as several hundred sailors carried out their practised preparations with ruthless efficiency.In the bridge, thick tension permeated the atmosphere, and, as if to celebrate that fact, the Southern Passage decided now was the time to start lashing ...
Chapter Ninety-Five: Searching
Google Docs: For Suggestions<< Previous| Table Of Contents| Next >>Serena sat in her captain’s chair, idly tapping the table as she looked at the greasy gear Allston had handed her. More than a few thoughts and concerns flooded her mind, and the simmering feeling of anxiety and dread refused to go. She couldn’t help but run her mind through numerous future possibilities, ruminating on all the ways their journey could go wrong.“Miss Thornheart approaching, Captain,” Anathor said, his gruff voice snapping Serena’s focus to the present. ...
Chapter Ninety-Four: Caution
Google Docs: For Suggestions<< Previous| Table Of Contents| Next >>“Liona! Bring that longtail up front!”“Yes, Head Chef!” Amelia shouted, relying on her enhanced dexterity to dart around the chaotic kitchen and bring a plate of the delicious meat to the kitchen’s opening, where it was being served to a bunch of hungry demons who were desperate to begin their celebrations.They had good reason to celebrate; Anathor had announced throughout the ship that the Republic had signed a peace treaty, ending eight years of conflict!The war was ...
Chapter Ninety-Three: Celebration
Google Docs: For Suggestions<< Previous| Table Of Contents| Next >>“Alright,” Serena said. “Tie these around your waists.”Amelia was handed a white strip of cloth. Mel received a red one, and they both quickly tied them as instructed. The colours matched the two hand flags Serena held. Those flags would be used to declare whether Amelia, as white, or Mel, as red, scored a point against the other.Serena then handed them both wooden training swords, which Amelia accepted without complaint. She guessed that even with her healing abilities,...
Chapter Ninety-Two: Challenge
Google Docs: For Suggestions<< Previous| Table Of Contents| Next >>Serena woke slowly from her dreams. Taking her time, she let her senses align to the waking world, feeling the hum of the ship’s propulsion engine and the rhythmic beating of the lift engine wash over her. The Fengra wool hammock was so comfy that she was briefly tempted to doze off again.Wrapped in her arms was a familiar bundle of warmth and snugness. For a moment, Serena lay there, listening to that bundle breathe ever so softly. Then, unable to resist, Serena used a small ...
Chapter Ninety-One: Lady Luck
Google Docs: For Suggestions<< Previous| Table Of Contents| Next >>“I call,” Finella said.The northern demon wore a grim expression, her eyes flickering between her rapidly dwindling reserves of coffee and coin, and the two face-down cards in front of Amelia’s growing winnings.“You look like you’re about to be walked to the gallows,” Tomes said with a sympathetic tilt of his head.“She can’t get lucky three times in a row,” Finella said. She spoke as if she were trying to convince herself rather than anyone else. “She can’t...
Chapter Sixty-Five: Commodore
Google Docs: For Suggestions<< Previous| Table Of Contents| Next >>After taking a moment to ensure neither of them had any noticeable flush on their faces, Serena and Amelia returned to the observation deck, where they found Greatlord Oshiro alone.“Greatlord,” Serena intoned, bowing.Amelia followed suit, this time remembering his title.Even in the dimly lit room, the Greatlord’s presence shone. He stood with perfect posture at the window, his hands clasped behind his back. What would it be like to wear his horns? To be responsible for Asa...
Chapter Sixty-Four: Discovered
Google Docs: For Suggestions<< Previous| Table Of Contents| Next >>The Old Guard Headquarters was as imposing as it was boring. Its roof was flat, absent Eastern architecture’s characteristic sweeping rooftops. Nor did it have any decorative statues or inlays. All to prevent the possibility of someone climbing.At first glance, the façade appeared plain, built with plaster and wood beams. However, Serena knew from prior visits that the outside walls were more than a foot thick and packed with special material designed to block sound—a simpl...
Chapter Sixty-Three: Noburu's Experience
Google Docs: For Suggestions<< Previous| Table Of Contents| Next >>It was time for Noburu to finish the job. He and Seonmi made their final plans in their rented accommodation. Their charisma and skills had paid off; not only had they gotten an impression of the key they needed, which they used to create a replica via a contact Seonmi knew, but they also managed to identify the exact box containing the target artefact.Why would a pair of old daggers be worth so much, anyway?“Are you sure your ability can last?” Seonmi asked, blinking at him...
Chapter Sixty-Two: Mel's Deductions
Google Docs: For Suggestions<< Previous| Table Of Contents| Next >>Under pressure from Seonmi, the archivist Takumi sought permission from his superior, Noel Yamaguchi, Head of the Department of History and Military Studies. The Department Head's narrow, investigative eyes worried Noburu, but Seonmi’s act as the work-driven Yunseo Yoo-Jung won through, and they got permission for her to explore the storage room for replacement rivets.If anything, he seemed annoyed they’d bothered him with the request.The Department Head reiterated that ...
Chapter Sixty-One: Investigating The Shimmer
Google Docs: For Suggestions<< Previous| Table Of Contents| Next >>The workspace the academy prepared for them was a small room through an unassuming door on the lower floor, away from the main throughway. Once, Noburu thought it might have been a classroom, judging from the inset part of the wall where a large blackboard would have fitted. They were told it had been a nearly forgotten storage room for years until it was hastily tidied and cleaned pending their arrival. The assorted furniture and boxes were piled against one side, and a large t...
Chapter Sixty: Ochimusha
Google Docs: For Suggestions<< Previous| Table Of Contents| Next >>Serena woke to the sound of hurried footsteps in the outside corridor. She immediately knew the owner of those footsteps was coming to communicate bad news. It was the same type of determined strides she’d grown familiar with from her time as a captain. On many occasions, Tomes or Dagon approached her quarters in the Vengeance in the same way, always coming to inform her of a problem.She elbowed Amelia. “Get dressed,” she hissed before climbing out of bed and slipping on h...
Chapter Fifty-Nine: A Knife In The Night
Google Docs: For Suggestions<< Previous| Table Of Contents| Next >>With the occasional hiss of steam, the plateau lift continued trundling its way up the cliff face towards Asamaywa. Peering over the railing and looking down, Noburu could see the slums fade away until they merged into one great smear of gloom and grey. As the distance grew, he felt a growing sense of liberation. Living in the slums was a sordid experience; he always felt a little dirty, no matter how much he washed. He somehow felt cleaner by riding the lift and rising above it...
Chapter Fifty-Eight: A World War
Google Docs: For Suggestions<< Previous| Table Of Contents| Next >>Serena woke to a comforting warmth divided into two parts: the first being the golden-haired Amelia nestled in her arms, snuggling against her chest; the second was the radiant glow of Amelia’s magic enveloping Serena, soothing her muscle soreness and dispelling any lingering sleepiness.The sensation of going from asleep to fully awake in a split second was something she was normally used to. Serena had been shelled awake on more than one occasion, and Anathor had done his fai...
Chapter Fifty-Seven: Refinement
Google Docs: For Suggestions<< Previous| Table Of Contents| Next >>After Amelia left Lunaria’s observatory, she dropped off the book about the Formless in her room before hunting down Serena for some aura training. Given Katalin’s morning session and the events that had transpired, most normal people would baulk at the idea of doing more. However, Amelia’s magic made her an exception to the norm. Even with her body that was supernaturally more resilient due to her game stats, she was sure she would have fallen asleep if it weren't for...
Chapter Fifty-Six: In Asamaywa's Shadow
Google Docs: For Suggestions<< Previous| Table Of Contents| Next >>Noburu shivered against the bitter lowland weather. He hugged himself, preserving his body heat, covering the holes in his tattered clothes and hiding the package he carried. He had warmer clothes hidden away, but Noburu didn’t dare wear them outside. Winter was when people got desperate, and if Noburu wanted to keep pretending he was the same as everyone else, he couldn’t afford to be seen as possessing too much wealth.Not that he was wealthy. Noburu, like the majority of t...
Chapter Fifty-Five: The Shimmer and The Formless
Google Docs: For Suggestions<< Previous| Table Of Contents| Next >>Amelia quietly observed the first-year class. It was led by Instructor Kawas, who, aided by a handful of assistant instructors, inscribed first-circle formations in chalk on the room's enormous blackboard. The twenty-five students of Junior Class C did their best to copy the geometry into their notes, scratching away while Amelia listened in on Kawas’s instruction.“Note the double-helix shouldn’t pass the heartline here,” Kawas intoned to the class, snapping a long c...
Chapter Fifty-Four: Aftermath
Google Docs: For Suggestions<< Previous| Table Of Contents| Next >>“This must never get out,” Grandmaster Shun said, glaring at the three of them. The grandmaster sat at his desk, hands clenched with white knuckles hinting at his controlled anger. Serena, Amelia, and Katalin stood to attention. The demon's presence wasn’t quite as intimidating as the Dragon’s, but it was enough that Serena felt a tinge of nervousness; a part of her instincts raised alarm bells at the sheer violence he was capable of.After Amelia had quite literally ...
Chapter Fifty-Three: Red Aura
Google Docs: For Suggestions<< Previous| Table Of Contents| Next >>Serena woke at first light. She didn’t open her eyes just yet, instead choosing to enjoy the warm pressure of Amelia leaning into her. It was unbelievable how difficult it was to maintain composure around her girlfriend. At first, she accepted it as the result of a fledgling infatuation, but in many ways, it only got worse. Was this what it felt like to be madly in love? As the days and weeks ticked by, Serena not only began factoring Amelia into more and more decisions, but s...
Chapter Fifty-Two: Crystalcraft
Google Docs: For Suggestions<< Previous| Table Of Contents| Next >>Amelia walked as quickly as she could without embarrassing herself. She would only be a few minutes late. Her chat with Sarafina Nakajima had occupied too much time! Sarafina’s company was pleasant and Amelia made a mental note to acquire her own batch of firemint tea leaves. It would complement her Jimari coffee beans quite nicely.Although now wasn’t the time to be thinking about tea. Amelia entered the magic tower and hurried up its spiralling staircase. About halfway up, ...
Chapter Fifty-One: Firemint Tea
Google Docs: For Suggestions<< Previous| Table Of Contents| Next >>In the academy’s central throughway, Amelia found herself lost in thought as she idly perused the display cabinets lining the walls. Contained within were martial weapons of all types, to which Amelia paid little attention. Her mind was occupied with recent events, and the passing student gossip barely registered.She was filled with a mixture of excitement and doubt. One of the students, a second-circle mage named Hinako, had enthusiastically requested Amelia’s tutelage. The...
Chapter Fifty: Duel
Google Docs: For Suggestions<< Previous| Table Of Contents| Next >>With the sensation of her entire body taking an exhilarating cold breath, divine aether flowed in and through Amelia’s body. Power. Since Lunaria had been so kind as to blast Amelia away with her invocation of Igni, Amelia thought it was fair that she returned the favour.She didn’t quite know exactly how strong the surrounding Writing-enforced walls were. Still, her intuition told her that if she maximised the amount of atmospheric aether to be expelled by the incoming god-g...
Chapter Forty-Nine: Aether Addict
Google Docs: For Suggestions<< Previous| Table Of Contents| Next >>After grumbling and complaining about their tardiness, Grandmaster Shun spent no less than half an hour drilling the pair of them about how they should conduct themselves around the students. Well, it seemed he was drilling the pair of them, but Amelia felt she was the target of most of his instructions and warnings.From what Amelia could decipher, any trouble they caused would reflect badly on him. As the head of a famous academy Empire-wide, where Cascadian nobility and other ...
Chapter Forty-Eight: The Northern Swordmaster
Google Docs: For Suggestions<< Previous| Table Of Contents| Next >>For the first time in a long time, Serena woke up in an Amelia-less room. Her sleep had undoubtedly suffered for it. She’d become accustomed to the soft warmth of Amelia’s body next to hers, and without her girlfriend’s gentle breathing, the night seemed awfully quiet. She’d tossed and turned for an hour before arranging no less than three pillows into a line next to her, which she held until she eventually fell asleep. The pillows were a poor substitution for her human ...
Chapter Forty-Seven: The Assistant Instructor's Assistant
Google Docs: For Suggestions<< Previous| Table Of Contents| Next >>The carriage trundled away from Serena’s home and towards the academy. Inside, the pitter-patter of steadily increasing raindrops filled the carriage’s cabin. Serena sat, doing her best not to break out into a giggle. Amelia sat opposite her and, judging by how she looked everywhere but at Serena, she didn’t want to make eye contact.“That was… something,” Serena said before biting her tongue to stop herself from laughing. With a mighty effort, she managed to squeeze ...
Chapter Forty-Six: Greatlord Oshiro
Google Docs: For Suggestions<< Previous| Table Of Contents| Next >>Greatlord Oshiro shifted slightly in his chair. It wasn’t that his seat was uncomfortable, the atmosphere awkward, or the temperature too hot or cold. No, it was his instincts as a warrior, honed to a standard worthy of his station through thousands of hours of religious practice, that caused him to adjust his weight. It wasn’t a conscious reaction, and he found his body preparing for combat before he identified any obvious threats.The sensation lingered in his mind; the sub...
Chapter Forty-Five: The Public's Personage
Google Docs: For Suggestions<< Previous| Table Of Contents| Next >>Serena hadn’t been wrong.The moment Amelia crossed the gangway and set foot on the Asamaywa Imperial Airdocks, several dozen workers ceased their activities and stared at her, stopping only to elbow their coworkers and nod in her direction. Unlike her arrival in Kenhoro, Amelia wasn’t wearing a hat and so her blond hair was as noticeable as a lighthouse aetherlight. Serena suggested Amelia travel covertly throughout the city, but she’d rejected the idea; she was now a Lord...
Chapter Forty-Four: Human Mince
Google Docs: For Suggestions<< Previous| Table Of Contents| Next >>The next day, with only a few hours until they landed at Asamaywa, Amelia was dragged away from her game of Drunk Demon’s Hand, where she’d won a significant chunk of Dagon’s monthly pay, and was led by Serena out and onto the deck of the Vengeance.“Wow!” Amelia exclaimed, stepping out into the open air and pointing towards the front of the ship. “You can see the airflow!” Like the aircraft from her world, the Vengeance had flaperons. The large panels that extended...
Chapter Forty-Three: Full Broadside
Google Docs: For Suggestions<< Previous| Table Of Contents| Next >>“Right then, this looks good enough.” Serena held up her hand, feeling the strength and direction of the wind. Her gunners would need to adjust slightly, but for a crew as experienced as hers, they would hit the target easily enough.“Are you sure this is a real training method?” the target in question complained before putting her hands on her hips and pouting. “You’re not making this up so you can shoot your adorable girlfriend, are you?”Serena felt a sly smile fo...
