Seeing Arthur’s nonchalant attitude in the distance. Anne gritted her teeth as sparks of fire began to erupt from her body. Locking her eyes on Arthur, she dashed towards him with a rapier in hand.

As she moved, five flaming daggers appeared in the air and shot towards Arthur from different angles. Sensing higher destructive power behind the daggers, Arthur pushed his golden aura outward to form a shield.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOo…m!....

A devastating explosion rang out as the daggers collided with the shield.

Using the explosion as cover, Anne then appeared behind Arthur and swung her rapier a downward arc. Arthur picking up on her presence responded by meeting it with an upward slash.

CLANG!

As their attacks collided, the impact from collision sent them both parties skidding backward.

After a few meters, Anne stabilized herself and smiled, “you are quite aggravating to fight, you know.”

Arthur responded with a smile,” I will take that as a compliment.”

Grabbing her other rapier, another wave of fire burst from Anne, as her dual rapier began to be coated in thin streams of fire.

Arthur, in turn, burst forth with even more power.

With a roar, both parties lunged towards each other.

TING! TING! SHING! CLAANG!

As Arthur and Anne collided, the surrounding ice began to break and shatter at they clashed all over the artificial icescape.

After a few more collisions, Arthur and Elain split and stared at each other at the opposite end of the ice land, breathing heavily. By now, the already devasted ice land to the point that only a few small pieces remained.

Nevertheless, as Anne calmed her breathing, her aura began to rise again, “I am surprised, I never thought I would actually be pushed to this point by such a pretty gir-, I mean boy.”

‘This woman.’

However, just as Anne said those words, a bronze circle with grey hues along with three rings appeared underneath her feet – Peak Lunar Mantle, Tri-ring.

Shock filled Henry and Cisse’s face as they saw this.’ What the hell? How did she become this strong?’

Fully releasing her power, Anne smirked. “Scared?”

Arthur, upon seeing this, calmly began to condense all of his energy in his hands as he flashed a smile. “Mmmm, not really.”

“Aurum!”

Step.

Failing to catch Arthur in time, Anne’s pupils shrank as the golden sphere suddenly wrapped around her body.

“Mukōnisuru!”

BOOM!

Taking Arthur’s attack full-on, Anne’s figure seemed to freeze. The sphere itself didn’t cause much damage; for Anne, the recipient, this was bad. As for why? After being wrapped in the golden sphere, she suddenly felt all her energy rushing back into her body, unable to manipulate it in the slightest bit.

This left her completely defenseless. After all, she was a Celest, not a Terrest.

As for what Arthur had just done, he simply took advantage of his golden aura’s ability to reverse the effect anything it came in contact with. And in this case, it simply reversed Anne’s flow of energy back into her body, locking it in her body, thus rendering her defenseless. However, there was a catch; the stronger the target, the more energy is consumed. And from Arthur’s estimates, he only had enough energy to keep her in this state for around two seconds.

Regardless, seeing that his move worked, Arthur brought up Excalibur in an upward slash.

But it was then that he picked up something approaching him fast.

Wasting no time, he reacted.

Block.

BANG! WHOOSH!

Arthur was sent flying through the remnant ice sheets until he finally stabilized himself on one of the larger pieces. When he finally stopped, he fell to a knee and coughed up a mouthful of blood. Stunned, Arthur dazedly looked up but saw nothing. Suddenly he felt cold, a breeze brush past him.

BOOM!

An explosion of ice mushroomed at Arthur’s position, further freezing the surroundings as it rippled outwards.

After a few silent seconds…

WHOOSH!

A flash of gold was followed by a surge of wind. Blasting the remnants of ice of his body, a bloodied Arthur came into view, and by the look on his face, he was not a happy person.

As for the cause of Arthur’s current state. Of in the distance, a beautiful blue-haired woman was seated atop of a bluish-white rabbit. The rabbit gave off a chilling breeze, freezing the sea as it ran. The woman, on the other hand, dressed in a light blue leather armor and held on to a bow made of ice. “Sorry, but I can’t have you harming her.”

Anne, who had just recovered, looked towards the woman. “Mary?”

Hearing Anne speak, Mary shifted her gaze from Arthur to Anne with a roll of her eyes. “Yes, Anne. Miss me?”

While Mary and Anne had their little talk, golden energy danced around Arthur as his skin began to turn into a golden color, while his injuries healed. Taking note of this, his eyes flicked to Mary.

”Mary, was it? You know it’s quite improper to barge in on someone’s fight like that.”

Mary, moving her gaze from Anne, looked at Arthur. Watching waves of golden energy coming off his now glistening skin, her eyes squinted. ‘Why is the surrounding energy rushing towards him like a waterfall?’

“My apologies, but she is someone very important to-“

Arthur cut her off as he released a chilling aura, with the white streak in his hair turning back to blue. “That all fine and dandy, however, you should know that if everyone could apologize for their actions and call it a day. Their world realm wouldn’t be as it is.”

Though Arthur held his emotions under control, he was very much still irate. Thus causing a wave of frost rippled through the surroundings, freezing the surrounding sea and ships.

Nonetheless, understanding Arthur’s words, Mary nodded. “What do you suggest then, if both of our parties clash we will both suffer losses,” said Mary as she cast a glance at Cisse and Siegfried’s teams who were now standing on the newly formed ice land with their weapons ready.

Arthur pondered for a bit as he cast a look at Anne, “Trespassing, aggression against your betters, disturbance of local peace, and…” Turning to Mary.” And an attempt at murder.” Pausing for a second, Arthur’s eyes flashed an unknown light as he continued. “However, lucky for you two, I am a benevolent person and an avid believer of ‘forgive and forget’…. How about this?.... Leave those five ships, and your crimes will be forgiven. What do you say? “

Hearing Arthur’s response, both Mary and Anne frowned. Losing five ships would cut their total number by twenty percent. This would set back their future plans by a significant margin. Moreover, other than that, there were the matter people on the ships. When Mary sensed something wrong with Anne’s bond stone, she rapidly made her way here by herself. Anne and Mary could both travel without ships, but what about their people on the boat? They were all Terrests.

Taking note of their frowns, a smile appeared on Arthur’s face. “I know, I am asking for just a little, for such crimes. If you feel that this request is too little, why don’t you throw in the people on those ships.”

Realization slowly dawned on the female duo as they glared at the smiling Arthur. ‘And I thought we were opportunistic. Was he planning on this from the beginning?’

Shaking her head, Mary looked at Arthur. “You are asking for too much.”

“No, no, I think you misunderstand something here, Ms. Mary. The moment those ships became trapped in my ice, they were already mine. The people? Not so much, after all, the realm won’t allow me to drown them all instantly. But the ships are a different matter.”

Arthur paused. “Are you catching my drift? What I am really asking of you is to not damage the ships as compensation from the goodness of my heart. Of course, you could also choose to fight, but it will just be the two of you against us.”

As Arthur said this, he clenched his hand, enshrouding the five ships in five giant ice spheres before slowly submerging them in the sea.

Seeing this, the female duo frowned.

It should be known that within the Realm of Pandora, every Celest has only one ability. With the most common type being elemental control. However, their control over the element would only ever reach Arthur’s level at higher evolutions of their abilities. For example, Mary herself could summon an ice rabbit, create things of ice, and freeze some things, but she could not do what Arthur just did. Leading to the illusion that Arthur was more than likely stronger than her, especially since she no longer held the element of surprise. As for why Arthur had such a level of control over the four main elements or even had them in the first place?....All things in due time.

Nevertheless, after Arthur’s display, Anne and Mary couldn’t help but exchange glances. They were truly at a loss. Even if they fought, after what Arthur had shown alone, it was clear that he was quite capable. And in addition to Cisse, Siegfried, and their soldiers, facing them head-on, would not end well.

Sighing, Mary turned to Anne and nodded at her. After all, her main goal was to find and sure Anne’s safety. Physical losses could be made up, emotional ones? Not so much. Nevertheless, turning back to Arthur, she gritted her teeth.

“So be it, but you should know that this isn’t over.” And with that, she grabbed Anne and spurred her rabbit into the distance.

If only they would see the smile on Arthur’s face as they left, “The name is Arthur.”

Seeing the familiar smirk, a shiver ran through the gathered troops. ‘They shouldn’t have come here.’

Turning back into his cube form, Cal looked at Arthur in a questioning gaze. “Why did you ‘really’ let them go?”

Arthur just laughed. “I didn’t let them go, they now work for me. They just don’t know it yet.”

Knowing Arthur’s personality, Cal knew that no matter what happened, everything always fell within Arthur’s control. After all, It was a trait the Old Man began ingraining in Arthur the moment he declared he wanted to follow the Sovereign’s Path. ‘Control Arthur, control, everything around you, should be in your control.’

As for how this played a role in what just happened. It all began with when Arthur decided to fight with golden aura instead. Originally Arthur was going to simply destroy the fleet of pirates, but when he felt the water resist his control. It was then that he decided to spare the pirates, opting to capture them instead. But then Anne appeared, further cementing Arthur’s idea of capturing the pirates to secure this region of water. After all, when talent came knocking at his door, who was he to turn it away. However, with Mary’s appearance, he decided to slowly do it over a bit of time, especially now that he knew that he knew that their fleet was larger than these five ships.

Nevertheless, in a normal case, Anne should have held the upper edge in their fight, and she would have if Arthur opted to use any of the four elements. It should be known that in most fights, the greater the gap in level between the two opposing parties, the more likely the fight would lean in the stronger party’s favor. Power levels are more accurate as a predictor than anything else. The stronger one was in comparison to their opponent, the greater their odds of winning. But, due to how diverse everyone’s abilities are, just going off someone’s level could lead to a rude awakening. Which, in short, translates to the fact that combat is more subjective than it is static.

As Arthur made began to make his way back to shore, he gradually unfroze the sea as he went. All the while leaving the five pirate ships and their crew in their ice spheres.

“You aren’t going to let them go?” asked Cal.

“Nope. They are a bunch of hot-blooded people. Rather than have them cause trouble, they should take this time to cool down.” Replied Arthur. “Now then, let go see what goodies Henry brought us.”

.

.

[Tidbit 1: Mukonisuru is Japanese for ‘to disqualify’ or ‘to void.’]

[Historical Tidbit 1: Mary Read with a known alias of Mark Read was an English pirate. She and Anne Bonny are two of the most famed female pirates of all time, and among the few women known to have been convicted of piracy during the early 18th century, at the height of the “Golden Age of Piracy.” The two women were also part of the same crew under Jack Rackham or more commonly known as Calico Jack]