A bullet whizzed past Sarah's ear, its powerful gust stirring her fiery red hair.
The red-haired woman, with her curvaceous figure, kept her eyes focused as she weaved between the tavern's tables and chairs, dodging the dense gunfire coming from every direction. At last, she lunged forward and took cover behind a pillar, where she could finally catch her breath.
"Damn it." Sarah gritted her teeth, holding up her finely crafted pair of pistols. "Those bastards should be thrown out of Grayport to feed the bone-skippers!"
Judging by the direction of the gunfire, at least five men besides the two she had just killed were lying in ambush around the tavern, continuing to pour bullets into the pillar where Sarah was hiding.
"Damn it, I was careless. I never thought an ordinary tavern would be one of the Iron Hook Gang's hideouts."
Sarah was annoyed with herself. She had come alone to a tavern to unwind, without bringing anyone else, only to be recognized by members of the Iron Hook Gang. A shootout between them had been inevitable.
Only her sharp instincts and nimble movements had kept their ambush from succeeding. Instead, she had taken down two of them first.
Just then, the hail of bullets gradually stopped.
Sarah was about to assess the enemy's movements when she heard a man's rough voice, full of mockery. "Well, well. Look at our famous Miss Fortune, the rising star among Bilgewater's bounty hunters. How'd you end up in such a state, cornered by ordinary sailors like us?"
Sarah turned her head and edged closer to the pillar's edge.
Out of the corner of her eye, she could make out a fat man crouched behind an overturned table to her rear right. Waves and an iron hook had been tattooed across his face.
"I say, Miss Fortune, since you've got no chance today, why don't we have a little chat? Put down your weapons, and we promise not to shoot you anymore. Then... we can do something more interesting."
The fat man licked his lips. He pictured the red-haired woman's exquisite face and her voluptuous figure, which her clothes could barely conceal.
The other men, crouching behind cover with similar tattoos on their faces, began to breathe more heavily.
Sarah was now the Iron Hook Gang's number-one enemy. Since she had suddenly appeared on the scene, she had claimed the heads of more than a dozen wanted gang officers and collected their bounties. She had even brought to mind the legend of the Blood Harbor Ghost, which had recently become all the rage in Bilgewater.
She struck swiftly and decisively at the targets on her hunting list, nothing like a rookie bounty hunter.
The Blood Harbor Ghost was only a legend, after all. No one had ever seen him. But Sarah, right in front of them, had truly spilled plenty of Iron Hook Gang blood.
Enemies they might be, but Sarah had a body that could set a man's blood racing. If they could make her submit to them...
The Iron Hook Gang members sniffed, uncertainty creeping into their minds. It would be a terrible waste if that perfect body behind the pillar were riddled with bullet holes and killed...
Hearing the men's heavy breathing behind her, Sarah finally reached her limit. These lackeys were just as vile as their boss, Gangplank!
She had been too merciful before. Feeding them to bone-skippers wasn't enough to vent her fury. They should have been dragged to the bottom of the sea by Bilgeport's other terrifying legend, the Deep Sea Titan, and smashed into pulp with its enormous anchor!
The men's breathing gave away their positions. Sarah planned her next moves in her head, running through them several times before taking a deep breath. With nimble movements, she rolled out from behind the pillar, quickly righted herself, and raised both pistols to aim in two directions. "I'll—"
"I'll hack your filthy body apart, cut it to pieces, and chop it to bits!"
Sarah froze. Just as she rolled out, a flash of blood burst through the tavern door, carrying two sailors guarding it along with it, and slammed into the fat man at the far end of the room.
The fat man had no time to react. The flash of blood pierced all three of them and pinned them to the floor.
The sudden turn of events reversed the situation in the tavern. Acting on instinct, Sarah seized the opportunity and fired both pistols. The two men whose attention had been drawn away fell as well.
After killing the last two, Sarah raised her pistols and scanned the room. Only after confirming no one else was there did she focus on the spot where the flash had landed. Her expression shifted.
It was a blood-red greatsword as tall as a person, its black edges twisting and winding along both sides. A black spike above the hilt gleamed coldly. The blade pulsed with red light, accompanied by a thumping sound like a heartbeat. Although the greatsword had pierced the three men, not a drop of blood had spilled.
"Was that voice coming from this thing? Is this a talking sword?"
Sarah stayed wary of the greatsword, but what happened next made it impossible for her to remain calm. Black-and-red light suddenly burst from the three pierced men. Their bodies began to disintegrate, then vanished. The whole thing looked as if the greatsword had absorbed them.
"What in the world is going on?" Gripping her pistols, Sarah slowly edged toward the door. Her common sense told her to leave the tavern immediately. The blood-red greatsword looked far more dangerous than the undead that had roamed the streets during the Harrowing!
"You wretched maggots! Maggots!" the blood-red greatsword roared. The red light flickered noticeably faster. "Why? Even after devouring enough flesh, I still can't form a body! What did that insect do?"
"Give it a rest, old-timer."
A well-built man strolled in through the door. His voice was lazy, as if he had just woken up, and he scratched his messy black hair.
When he saw Sarah, some of the drowsiness faded from his face. He then sighed. "Oh, Nagakabouros. Look who it is—the famous Miss Fortune. You're every bit as beautiful as the rumors say."
"Wretched insect!"
"Why does everyone I meet today know who I am?" Sarah sighed, but didn't let down her guard. She asked, puzzled, "Nagakabouros? Are you a Buhru?"
"Miserable mortal!"
"No, I was just picking someone at random to sigh to." The man shrugged, then walked straight toward the blood-red greatsword. "Please wait a moment, beautiful lady. This sword is far too noisy."
"Even killing you a thousand times wouldn't be enough!" The greatsword seemed unable to move on its own. It could only express its fury through words and rapidly flashing red light. Otherwise, Sarah figured, it would have already taken flight and started hacking people to pieces.
"Insect, what did you do?"
"What did I do? Nothing at all. You Darkin, sealed inside weapons, always have to fight your hosts for control."
The man didn't care that Sarah was standing nearby and could hear him. He simply began talking to the greatsword.
"I almost forgot. You're the strongest of the Ascended, after all. In the thousand years since you awoke, no one has been able to overcome your will. Every time, you've easily seized someone else's body. But this time, I'm afraid you lost."