Chapter 54: Chapter 54 - Tidal tempests

Several hours later, Erik woke up to the peaceful sound of an angry black-haired woman storming into his room, "Hey! You! Get up! We have a p- what the hell happened here?!"

What she saw didn't shock her as much as it enraged her.

Erik, Elora, and Emma were lying on a bed soaked with various bodily fluids. The fairy and shapeshifter were tangled up in a mess of limbs while Emma was lying beside them, tied up and asleep but still lightly bucking her hips against the rope.

Naturally, all three sleepers were covered in fluids as well. It was a truly perverted sight. And the fact that her cute, innocent little sister was a part of this made fury boil inside Emily. The fact Emma was fully clothed barely even registered for her.

The fact she was still angry at Erik for the way he treated her earlier didn't help matters either.

Having been awoken by her yelling, Erik yawned and looked at her, seeing the fury in her eyes. He smirked at Emily, unconcerned by her intrusion or how she found them, "Careful now, Emilly. Emotions like that might just make the darkness win."

Yet, his words made no difference as a corrupted red light flickered through her eyes. Anger welled up inside her, and the corruption tried to take a deeper hold. To her credit, she tried hard to resist, but the sight of her tied-up and possibly defiled sister hampered her reasoning.

Seeing her struggle, Erik sighed.

He wasn't worried about her attacking him, as the covenant would prevent her, corruption or not. Yet, he didn't want her to become fully corrupted again. Not only would it hurt Emily, but he also liked Emily's determined and willful spirit. He rooted for her victory against the corruption.

Figuring he had to do something, he looked next to him at Emma and snapped his fingers, causing a small spark of lightning to devour the ropes binding her.

He shortly wondered where he was getting all these ropes he kept destroying, but quickly discarded the thought, as he had more important things to deal with.

While Emily struggled with herself, Erik looked over at Elora, who had also woken up. He leaned in and kissed her, "Good morning, Elora. Do you mind cleaning us up a little?"

Elora looked at the current situation and chuckled before nodding, "Sure. You go settle down the kids, alright?" She snapped her fingers, and a dark green wave of energy spread all over the bed and its occupants as it removed any fluids and restored the bed to pristine condition.

Next, she blew Erik a kiss, "Have fun!" before seeking the comfort of his soul.

Erik chuckled and got up, still naked, and walked towards the struggling Emily before grabbing her by the chin and making her look into his piercing, amber eyes. "Calm down." He said in a commanding tone of voice.

Immediately, the covenant began taking effect, forcing Emily to obey his order. He saw the fury and struggle die down in her eyes until only a strange calm remained.

While Erik had far from absolute control through the covenant, he could still force minor and temporary mood alterations like this.

Confusion now filled her eyes, as she knew she should feel fury at finding Emma like this, but she couldn't find it inside her.

She should probably also feel some anger at Erik for manipulating her emotions like this. Yet, all she felt was relief. She didn't want to think about the consequences of losing to corruption again.

The effect of Erik's order would be temporary, but it would help Emily remain in control until she could settle her emotions. Emma would likely be able to help with that, but a quick glance at the bed told him she was still sleeping.

Having lost her usual anger and edge for a moment, she stammered, "I- I, uh, thank you."

Waving his hand in dismissal, Erik asked, "Never mind that. Why did you storm in here like a woman possessed?"

Immediately after his question, they heard a loud noise, as if something collided with their boat before everything began to shake and roll. Erik, with his Runebound body, had no trouble stabilising himself, but Emily, as an Arcanist, stumbled and fell into Erik's chest.

Erik took Emily in his arms to keep her stable while concern spread across his face, wondering what just happened. Meanwhile, Emily felt strangely safe in Erik's arms, even if she realised it was partly because his order to keep calm still affected her.

"What was that?" Erik asked, a frown on his face.

When the boat stopped rocking, Emily quickly freed herself from his arms, "Right. We attracted the attention of a tidal tempest. The reinforced hull will protect us for a while, but someone needs to deal with them, and my spells aren't well suited for so many targets."

Erik nodded and remembered Seraphina's words about the mutated sea life which had turned travelling over sea into dangerous busines. He specifically remembered the information about tidal tempests.

Knowing what he had to deal with, he prepared to move out by donning his armour and giving some last orders.

"Stay with your sister and work out your emotions before my command wears off," he ordered. "I'll go take care of the fish."

Emily could barely nod before Erik disappeared through the door.

Almost immediately after, the calm that had spread throughout her body began to recede again. Surprisingly, despite her rebellious and independent personality trying to assert dominance again, she found herself missing that feeling of control over herself.

But before the fury and corruption from earlier reared its ugly head once more, she suddenly felt a soft hand grab hers. Looking next to her, she saw Emma's mismatched eyes. Emma looked up at her with curiosity and concern, "Are you alright, big Em?"

Emma had woken up when the boat collided with something but had pretended to remain asleep because she didn't want to face Erik after last night.

She had no idea what Emily was going through exactly, but when Erik was gone, and Emily looked to be struggling, she naturally tried to lend her support.

Looking into Emma's eyes calmed down much of the fury in Emily before she opened her mouth to speak.

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Meanwhile, Erik was rushing to the deck to look at what was happening when a second collision came. Luckily, he had no trouble stabilising himself, but it did urge him to move even faster.

He arrived under a beautiful morning sky but had no time to breathe in the cold, clean air before a sleek, torpedo-shaped object with sharp teeth flew at his head.

Erik raised his eyebrow but otherwise barely moved before the object had already turned into a smoking heap on the ground, heavily charred by lightning.

He looked around and saw these fish flying everywhere around the boat, creating an almost deafening zooming sound while attempting to take bites out of whatever they could. They appeared like the flying fish Erik had learned about during his time on Earth.

But he quickly decided to forget about the flying fish he was once told about; these mutated ones were like torpedoes with teeth.

By launching themselves into the air, these creatures could form a menacing cloud of fangs and knife-like fins around the ship, aiming to snack on whatever failed to resist their bite.

They had not been given a new species name, and instead, a school of these creatures was called a tidal tempest. Each fish individually was less powerful than a first rank, but they posed a real danger in swarms.

When swimming in the water, they even collide with ships by swimming close enough to each other to be like a single entity.

Luckily, the boat's enslaved captain had dealt with these creatures before and had already reeled in the sails. Meanwhile, the rest of the ship was reinforced against precisely such creatures. The reinforcement wouldn't hold forever, though.

While lost in thought, another five fish had attached themselves to his armour, attempting to bite through it and failing miserably.

"What tenacious creatures," he mumbled to himself as he took a closer look at one of them. It kept attempting to bite through his armour despite not getting anywhere, yet neither its teeth nor jaw muscles seemed to be wearing down.

It was black and white, had big fish eyes, and its long, thin fins vibrated like a honeybee's wings. He had no doubt they would easily cut through an average person's finger.

Done observing, he released a quick lightning pulse from his body and turned them all into charcoal. He looked around at the various fish attempting to bite through the reinforced boat, "I'll need to finish them off before they get anywhere."

More fish began attaching themselves to his armour. Still, he ignored them as he charged ten concussive lightning blasts in the form of small crackling spheres, one at the tip of each finger. When done, he sent them all out in different directions.

"Time to show them what happens when you nibble on my things!" He mumbled.

Erik braced for impact and then snapped his finger. All ten spheres exploded simultaneously, blasting every fish off the boat without damaging it, showcasing his high level of control.