A Boarding Battle at Sea

"BANG! BANG! BANG!!!"

Deafening impacts thundered across the sea.

The rams of Kago's fleet slammed like battering rams into the sides of several Oared Ships at the front of Liu Qian's fleet.

The sturdy oak planks groaned beneath the tremendous force, then split, buckled, and caved inward.

One medium-sized Oared Ship was nearly snapped in half at its waist. Seawater surged inside, and the vessel rapidly began to list.

The pirates of Cleftjaw Island let out bloodthirsty roars and brandished swords and axes. Like piranhas scenting blood, they scrambled along the hulls tilted by the collision or swung across on grappling lines, leaping wildly aboard Liu Qian's ships.

The battle instantly reached a fever pitch.

The clash of blades, the screams of the dying, and furious roars filled the night sky.

Although the thousand pirate infantrymen in Liu Qian's fleet had trained under Jorah for half a month, they immediately found themselves hard-pressed against the veteran pirates of Cleftjaw Island, who outnumbered them two to one and were far more savage and bloodthirsty.

Their lines threatened to buckle beneath the ferocious assault. They would have collapsed already if not for the Dragon Spirit Guardians, whose silent, unyielding defensive line stood like a reef against the fiercest attacks, reaping lives with their Valyrian steel weapons.

Liu Qian drew the Valyrian steel sword at his waist, its cold blade reflecting the flickering firelight.

Several hardened brigands from Cleftjaw Island recognized him as the commander and charged at him with howls, closing in from all sides.

A cold gleam flashed in Liu Qian's eyes. Magic power surged through his body and flooded into the blade.

The ancient Blood Magic runes along the sword's spine seemed to come alive, suddenly blazing crimson.

"WHOOSH!"

A fan-shaped wall of flame sprang into existence.

Liu Qian swept his sword sideways. Searing magical flames surged outward as though alive, instantly engulfing the pirates who had rushed within reach.

They had no time even to scream before they writhed and blackened in the flames, giving off an acrid stench of scorched flesh.

The flames swept onward, igniting ropes and debris on the deck and illuminating the faces of nearby pirates, twisted with sheer terror.

Nearby, the heavily armored Jorah Mormont had been hacking fiercely at the enemy. The horrific sight made him falter, and he stared in disbelief at the longsword blazing with destructive fire in Liu Qian's hand.

Like a war god of flame, Liu Qian charged through the enemy ranks with his burning sword. Wherever he passed, pirates turned to charred husks or leaped screaming into the sea to save themselves.

He cut his way clear through their ranks and even stepped onto the deck of an enemy warship, leaving a burning trail of blood behind him.

As he dealt with the remaining resistance, a rough, savage battle cry, brimming with power, erupted from another enemy vessel diagonally ahead of him, drowning out the din of battle!

"For Cleftjaw Island! Kill them all!"

Liu Qian snapped his head around. Aboard an enormous two-deck warship, a burly, bare-chested figure with a huge axe resting on his shoulder was slaughtering his way across the deck like a beast in human form.

Every swing of his battle-axe sent blood spraying, and the pirates of Torturer's Deep fell before him like stalks of wheat.

The Cleftjaw Island pirates around him went wild, their morale soaring as they screamed, "Kago! Kago! Kago..."

It was Kago!

Liu Qian's lips curled into a cold, murderous smile.

Here was his chance!

Without hesitation, he put away his burning steel sword and reached back to take the Dragonbone Bow from his back.

He drew an arrow, nocked it, and pulled back the bowstring in one fluid motion.

With a thought, he called forth searing flames that instantly engulfed the black arrow, blazing fiercely!

"TWANG!!!"

The bowstring cracked like thunder.

A blazing meteor tore through the darkness above the sea, carrying the promise of utter annihilation. Too fast for the eye to follow, it shot straight toward Kago's chest.

Across the water, Kago had just split open a pirate of Torturer's Deep with his axe, splashing hot blood across his face.

At that bloody instant, a deadly chill rose from the depths of his soul, as though some ancient predator had fixed its sights on him. Every hair on his body stood on end.

His beastlike instincts saved his life at the last possible moment.

Kago did not even have time to see the arrow clearly. Acting on instinct alone, he unleashed astonishing strength and agility, twisting sharply aside while his left hand shot out like lightning. He seized a gaunt man fighting beside him and hauled him in front of himself.

"SHHK!"

A faint yet horrifying tearing sound rang out.

The flaming arrow skimmed past the outside of Kago's left arm as he twisted away.

Its extreme heat instantly charred and vaporized the flesh along the outside of his arm, exposing stark white bone. The agony tore a piercing scream from Kago.

But when he looked, still shaken, at the gaunt man shielding him, his scream abruptly stopped, replaced by boundless terror and revulsion.

A horrific hole the width of a bowl gaped in the gaunt man's chest, its edges smooth and blackened.

It passed clean through his body, open from front to back.

The organs and bones inside had been completely vaporized the instant they touched the flames.

Only a little charred flesh and the splintered ends of ribs remained around the edges, trailing wisps of smoke and tiny sparks as they gave off a nauseating sizzle and burnt stench.

A look of bewilderment still lingered on the gaunt man's face, but his eyes had gone utterly vacant.

Through that still-smoking, ghastly hole, Kago saw Liu Qian standing on the sterncastle opposite him, bow in hand, like death itself.

Then he looked down at the horrific burn on his left arm, blackened to the bone and throbbing with excruciating pain...

Boundless terror engulfed the infamous Shipbreaker.

"Retreat!!! Get the fuck out of here!! Go!!"

Kago's roar broke under his sheer terror, turning shrill and grating.

He no longer cared about his fleet or victory. He stumbled and scrambled toward the cabin, desperate only to escape that enchanted bow that could annihilate him.

Their commander's flight, together with the horrifying sight of the gaunt man's charred corpse, its chest pierced through and its eyes still open, completely shattered the Cleftjaw Island pirates' morale.

The surviving pirates fled like beaten dogs, leaping back onto their ships in utter panic. Driven by the will to live, the rowers pulled with all their strength. The fleet hastily turned and fled toward Cleftjaw Island, leaving only burning wreckage, floating corpses, and the stench of scorched flesh and blood drifting on the sea breeze.

Rollo cut down a pirate who had failed to jump ship in time, wiped the blood from his face, and rushed to Liu Qian's side. "My lord! Do we pursue?"

Liu Qian slowly lowered the Dragonbone Bow. Watching Kago's flagship disappear into the fleeing fleet and vanish into the darkness, he shook his head.

Kago was too far away, with a stretch of rolling sea between them. Even if he ordered his warships to pursue now, they could not match the speed of Kago's fleet.

Besides, Kago would now be jumping at shadows. He would send all manner of vessels to cover his retreat and would never give Liu Qian another chance.

"No pursuit. Order the survivors to clear the battlefield, gather the bodies, and take anything we can use. We're returning to Torturer's Deep."

His voice was resolute. "Sooner or later, we'll settle this debt with him."

The sea wind moaned, stirring the flames still burning on the decks and carrying the heavy reek of blood.

A carefully planned ambush and counterambush had ended with Kago's crushing defeat and ruined arm.

But the maelstrom of the Stepstones had only just begun to churn.