Headed by a Snake

Lang Hai drew his pistol and shot a man in the back.

How dare that guy! They were supposed to be fighting, not fleeing! The pirates *clearly* had a numbers advantage.

Yet, some of his prey were running in the opposite direction...

Sea god's socks, they were ALL running away!

Hai was no stranger to enemies running for their lives. It just... usually... took a bit longer.

He hadn't even revealed his final form!!

"COWARDS!!!" Hai shouted, shaking his fist menacingly.

He drew his other pistols, expending his ammunition for a measly three additional kills.

Stupid pirates...

Casually walking forward, he inspected Pale's most recent kill... and discovered the reason for the pirates' sudden withdrawal.

"Wasn't this guy... their boss?"

The Pirate Captain didn't even get to deliver a super-dramatic speech or show off his domineering skills.

He just... died.

The boy's damned spear caved the guy's chestplate in and blew a bloody hole through his back big enough to put a hand through.

Hai wasn't even sure if HE could survive the attack Pale used. And if he did survive, he was sure he'd be bedridden for... a few suns? Half-a-week, at least?

What a weird kid... with his weird skills...

...The kid used a skill, right? Hai hadn't heard him activate it, but... the battlefield *was* pretty noisy.

Sea god's shitebox... Lang Hai thought that HE was a monster. Pale was... definitely right up there with him and Rico.

"Should we go after them, Cap'n?" Pale smiled politely, flinging the blood off of his weapon.

"Nah, don't bother," Hai groaned listlessly. "Let's just clean up, here."

"Aye aye, Cap'n!" Pale beamed. He immediately got to work, casually sticking the pointy end of his spear into the throats and hearts of the fallen.

Cold, calm efficiency. It was off-putting coming from a boy so young. That was definitely a habit he got from Sol Invictus' leader, that green-haired nerd, Tycon.

The eastern side consisted of just him and the kid...and they were positioned there just to dissuade the Marauding Squid pirates from recklessly attacking their flank.

Between the two of them, they wiped out over two hundred men and women... and the enemy even had over a dozen Iron-Ranks.

The boss was at least that.

...Whatever.

He and Pale did well enough-- good enough for government work. Sergeant Jacque and Rico spearheaded the frontal assault and Lieutenant Eleven of Seven led the western wing. Those guys could finish off the rest...

Still... a hundred each? Those numbers didn't make any sense for such a short amount of time, even for him.

Worse... he could have just sent the kid by himself, and he was pretty sure the pirates would've routed, all the same.

"Ooh, Cap'n, I found some booty!" The kid waved his weapon, smiling so wide that his eyes turned into little lines.

"Good to hear... --but stop saying it like that."

"It's a pirate term, Sir! Rico taught it to me."

Rico... of course she did. Over the past few moons, Pale had become her second favorite person.

He was the first.

Over the past year or so, Hai had grown a little closer to Rico... For whatever reason, he no longer found her as annoying as he once did.

"We're not pirates, you brat," He growled. "We're pirate *hunters.* There's a difference."

High-Captain Lang Hai was the greatest pirate-hunter amongst them... until Pale came along. Honestly, besides the kid being a terrifying monster in his own right, it felt a little out of place to have someone that was almost stronger than he was in his crew.

The field battle against the Marauding Squids was the first time he had seen Pale at full strength.

The kid held back in training, that was for sure... but no matter how much he and the other Officers tried to piss him off, he never showed just how much he was hiding.

It was funny... the first time that Pale seemed to go all out-- it was when no one else in the crew was watching. That meant, besides him, nobody actually knew how strong he was-- oh, and maybe Rico. Those two play-fought a lot.

He wasn't jealous. Not at all. Why would he be?

Anyroad, the behavior fell in line with the kid's usual, borderline-annoying humbleness.

Dumb... stupid... clever pup.

Hai wished a little bit that he could take credit for how strong Pale had become.

Honestly, he could not... but it'd have been nice to have Tycon grovel at his feet in gratitude.

Dumb, noble... somewhat-clever nerd.

After a short while, Pale approached him with his arms full of looted weapons and trinkets. The kid had good eyes, his attention to detail better than even his own. It was yet another thing the kid outshone his peers in.

"Good haul, Lieutenant," Hai nodded.

The boy looked up with a weird, far-off look in his eyes, "Sir, it's been... over a year."

"Huh..." Hai pursed his lips to the side... "Yeah. Doesn't feel like it, though."

"I think that... that soon... Sir Tycon's gonna call for me."

Hai furrowed his brows, taking off his majestic Captain's hat to scratch his head, "What in the seven hells is that supposed to mean?"

The boy shrugged, "Just had the feeling, I guess?"

Hai launched a half-hearted kick against Pale's armored side, "Talk sense, kid!! You're not an elf, you're a person!"

"My dad's an elf?" Pale stumbled but regained his balance with an acrobatic cartwheel. "So I guess it's okay that I make half-sense?"

"Yeah, yeah. Quay of Sol Invictus, sing his name in praise-- or whatever," Hai grumbled.

He and Pale started arranging their plunder in a pile. It gave him time to think.

Lieutenant Eilean told him that years ago, the legendary guild, Sol Invictus, was capable of even fighting against the seven hells and eleven heavens. From what little Hai had experienced, meeting not even half of their members, he wanted to believe it.

When Pale rejoined them... maybe even the gods would have something to fear.

He just hoped that... if the world was ending anytime soon, that Tycon would have the courtesy to invite him.

"Blood and thunder, Sol Invictus," He muttered. "I hope you losers don't die out there..."

"You say somethin', Cap'n?" Pale turned.

"What?! NO! Get back to LOOTING, Lieutenant!!"