In a matter of seconds, around a dozen of Captain John’s men had boarded the deck.

“Briggs!” Captain John shouted, “You boys deaf or something? What took so long!?”

“Sorry boss,” Briggs replied as he then glanced over at Lady Social. “Can see you weren’t expecting us. We didn’t drink as much as you hoped.”

“Did you know what she was up too!?” Captain John yelled.

“More or less. She somehow got our navigator to switch sides. Caught him writing her a letter during the party about how drunk the crew were getting. Luckily me and a few other’s hadn’t drank much yet,” Briggs said.

“Why didn’t you tell us then?!” Captain John said.

“By the time we found out, we could see everyone on the other ships were pretty wasted already. So we kept quiet about it hoping she’d let her guard down,” Briggs replied, as he looked at Lady Social again. “Clearly it worked.”

Briggs then gazed over at Captain Williams ship—which hadn’t shown any signs of noticing the commotion. “Looks like they got a traitor among them too. But seeing how quiet it is there, seems they weren’t smart enough to figure that out.”

With two steps forward, Briggs pulled his sword from it’s sheath. “Men! These are all professionals fighting for her, so face them in pairs if you can!”

They then all charged following Briggs signal.

Soon, Captain John’s crew were engaged in combat with Lady Social’s men. Briggs had gone straight for Lady Social, but was immediately intercepted by Vic who had blocked his attack.

“Not my first time fighting a Dayne,” Briggs said, as he prepared to attack again. “But fighting the legendary Victor Dayne? Now that’s a story I very much plan to tell.”

“I’ll be sure to teach you a thing or two, as the more experienced Quartermaster,” Vic replied.

As the battle raged on, Captain John’s men began to slowly wither down as their opponents were extremely skilled. Even so, their larger number allowed them to put up a decent fight.

Soon, only Lady Social, Vic and a handful of her men remained.

However, only Captain John, Bron and Briggs were left standing as the rest of his men lay defeated on the floor.

Briggs was still being held off by Vic, and Bron had been fighting three men but managed to push one overboard—allowing him to focus on just two.

In the heat of battle, Captain John managed to catch his own opponent off guard and kicked them in the groin. He took the few seconds he had to taunt Lady Social who was still watching on the other side of the deck.

“This mistake will cost you! Give up now and all I’ll do is leave you stranded on an island somewhere!” Captain John yelled, as he pointed his sword at her.

Lady Social ignored him and turned her attention to Briggs who was in front of her fighting Vic.

“Briggs. You haven’t mentioned anything else about what you learnt from your navigator,” she said. “Are there perhaps details about my plan that you’ve chosen not to mention?”

Briggs who was holding off Vic’s sword paused for a moment.

“Only a madman would believe everything that was on that letter,” Briggs said.

Lady Social glared at him, as she appeared to carefully observe his expression.

“Am I looking at one now?” she asked.

Briggs didn’t reply.

Suddenly, there was a loud thud at the back of the deck behind Briggs and Captain John.

Bron had just knocked down one of Lady Social’s men, leaving him unconscious on the floor. But it seemed the encounter had left him injured, as blood was now trickling down his arm.

Captain John kicked his own opponent away and looked over to him. “Bron!?” he shouted.

The last man fighting Bron had stepped back, clearly weary of fighting one on one against such a giant man.

With no one attacking him, Bron lifted his head and looked at his captain. There was a stream of tears flowing down his face. But his sad eye’s soon stopped upon someone else on the battlefield.

Lady Social.

His eyes quickly filled with anger. Bron’s heavy feet began crashing across the deck as he suddenly charged toward her.

Captain John looked in the direction he was running to, but his eyes widened when he saw that Briggs and Vic’s swords were no longer touching.

“No! Bron wait!” Captain John shouted, as Bron rushed past him straight toward Lady Social.

Moments later, the sounds of heavy footsteps had stopped and was instead replaced by the splashes of dripping blood.

Vic had twirled in front of Bron with his back facing him and shoved his sword through under his arm—piercing Bron from behind.

Everyone stopped fighting.

Bron coughed out blood, splattering it across Vic’s back.

Enraged, Bron clenched his fists and lifted his massive arms into the air. Vic then pushed the sword further in, but it wasn’t enough to stop the large man’s attack. With tremendous force Bron swung his arms down and bashed Vic over the head, slamming him into the ground.

Bron then pulled out the sword and began to slowly walk forward. But then he fell to his knees—only a few distance away from Lady Social.

A soft breeze swept across the ship—softly pushing Bron—causing him to collapse onto his stomach.

Soon, he was laying in a pool of his own blood.

Captain John attempted to rush over but was blocked by Lady Social’s two remaining men—the man he was fighting and Bron’s leftover opponent.

“Briggs!” he yelled. “What are you doing!?”

But Briggs didn’t say anything back, as he held his head low.

Lady Social then slowly approached Bron and stopped right next to him. An injured Vic slowly got up and watched as she silently stood there with her head down.

“Have you gone mad woman!?” Captain John yelled.

“No,” she whispered, with her head still down.

Hearing her voice, Bron slowly looked up and met her gaze. But his expression of pain suddenly changed to one of shock.

She was staring at him, with a cold dead eye—a look of pure apathy.

“Only the future matters now,” she said.

Finally out of strength, Bron’s eyes gently shut and his head crashed onto the floor.

Silence befell the ship as the sound of waves whispered through the air.

And at the back of it all—still watching silently—was Kenzo, with a look of horror.

This silence however, didn’t last.

“What’s with all the noise up there!”

Everyone turned as a voice came from Kenzo’s direction.

But he was standing there pale and speechless, which made it clear the voice didn’t belong to him. It was then the sounds of squeaky wooden boards echoed from down the stairs. The voice seemed to belong to whoever was ascending from below deck.

A few footsteps later, they had finally revealed themselves.

Lady Social let out a heavy sigh. “Shit.”

It was Jetta.

Upon seeing the floor littered with unconscious bodies and a blooded Bron in the middle, Jetta’s eyes naturally scanned the deck for one person.

“You one eyed bitch! What have you done!?” Jetta said, as her eye’s met Lady Social’s.

Vic limped toward Lady Social’s side. “I can deal with her,” he said.

“No,” Lady Social replied. “It’s time I shut her up myself.”

As Jetta’s hands curled into fists, she spat onto the floor and slowly began to approach.

“Move pet,” Jetta said, pushing Kenzo out of the way.

One of Lady Social’s men who was previously knocked out had struggled back onto his feet in front of Jetta.

“Where do you think you’re going?” he said, pointing a sword he picked up at her.

However—in the blink of an eye—he was laid out on the ground once again.

With an even angrier expression, Jetta kicked up his sword and snatched it out of the air as she continued to walk to Lady Social.

“Idiot. No one else intervene,” Lady Social said. “Vic, get me a sword.”

Vic grabbed a nearby sword from the ground. It wasn’t as large as the others and had a sleeker design.

“This will do nicely,” Lady Social said, as he threw it over to her.

She then got into a combative stance and signalled him to move out the way. Jetta wasted no time to hone in and delivered the first strike, which Lady Social swiftly deflected.

Alongside this fight, there was another unresolved conflict on the battlefield still at play.

Captain John was now up against two opponents—his previous one and the fighter Bron hadn’t finished off. With alternating attacks, the captain was outnumbered and soon began to be overwhelmed.

There however, was one more fight being fought on the ship.

Across the deck—near the stairs—an inner, more personal battle was happening.

Kenzo eye’s were fixated on Bron’s idle body. Even with the fighting happening, his mind was still processing what had happened to Bron.

The feeling of guilt was something he was accustomed to. But this time, it felt like his heart had sank to the deepest depths of his stomach. It was so bad that next to him, was a small sample of his insides.

His puke.

However, for a moment, he thought his eye’s were playing tricks on him. It seemed like the large lifeless body had just moved. But Kenzo was already convinced that it couldn’t be possible seeing as how much blood was surrounding Bron’s body.

Kenzo had never seen anyone die, but he was sure losing that much blood would be fatal.

But, there was a cough.

And then, a second cough.

Without thinking, Kenzo slowly walked up to the body. It was then he heard a third cough, and realised he wasn’t hearing things.

Bron opened his eye’s, but his pupils were unfocused. “K-Ken..zo,” Bron said, with his high pitched voice deepened by the blood in his throat.

Upon hearing his name, Kenzo dropped to his knees and began to tear up.

But he was suddenly startled as a barrel close by was knocked over by Captain John and his opponents.

As food spilled out of it, something larger seemed to also fall out. At that moment, Kenzo truly believed his eye’s were playing tricks on him unlike before. Among the food looked like a small body was unfolding itself. And then, they sat up.

It was the small orphan girl.

“Ouch,” she said, as she rubbed her backside.

She then immediately noticed Kenzo, causing a smile to form on her face. The girl began to crawl over to him—ignoring everything else that was happening. With everyone occupied on their battles and Vic watching Lady Social’s fight, no one apart from Kenzo had noticed her.

He was soon greeted with a warm hug once she reached him.

“You promised to see us again,” the girl said. “But I heard the big men say that everyone might never come back. They said you’re all going far awa—”

The girl stopped talking as something wet had reached her legs. It was then that she noticed the blooded Bron next to them.

She held his hand and began to sob. “Bron, w-what’s wrong?”

Kenzo still couldn’t believe that she was there, right in front of him. But his attention fell back on Bron, as the dying man began to speak his final words.

“T-Tell….m-my,” Bron said, but struggled to finish his sentence as blood filled his mouth.

The girl began to sob harder. “Oh no. Please don’t go,” she said. “I came back to see everyone again. So please don’t go.”

After a cough, Bron managed to get out his last words. “T-Tell….m-my…b-brother….I’m..s-sorry.”

And then, the light from his eye’s slowly faded. Bron was no longer among the living.

With blood staining the girls clothes, she cried as she continued to hold his hand.

“I’ll tell him Bron, I promise. I’ll tell Theo!” she cried out.

Kenzo lifted his own shaking hands, which were painted with Bron’s blood. Learning that this was Theo’s brother brought about a new type of pain within him.

It was easy enough to blame himself for this outcome. If only he had alerted the other’s like Theo asked, but instead, he choose not to act. Even if he didn’t cause it directly, the consequence of his inaction had finally led to the worst outcome.

Someone’s death.

Kenzo couldn’t help himself and began to cry. He truly felt like he hated himself for being the way he was. For being useless.

But thing’s got much worse before it got better as the little girl was suddenly swooped off her feet.

Kenzo—who was too emotionally exhausted to properly react—slowly looked up.

Holding the girl, was a desperate Captain John.

“Stop!” Captain John shouted, as he held her with one arm and a sword in the other.

It was clearly a shout for Lady Social, but was not enough to garner her attention as she was purely focused on her battle against Jetta.

But that changed once the small girl began to scream for help, alerting both Jetta and Lady Social. The men Captain John was fighting also stopped in their tracks, unsure of what to do.

“Emilia!?” Lady Social called out to the girl. “W-Why are you here!?”

“We end this now!” Captain John shouted. “I’ll let the girl go once me and my men are back on our ship!”

The girl continued to scream as she struggled against his grasp.

“Jetta please, let me talk to him,” Lady Social pleaded.

Jetta—who was still unaware of what started this conflict—observed the situation. “Throw your weapon away first,” she said.

Lady Social threw her weapon off to the side. Jetta then kept her sword pointed at her, allowing Lady Social to take a few steps toward Captain John.

“It’s okay Emmy, everything will be all right,” Lady Social said to the girl.

She then looked over at Briggs who earlier had retreated off to the side. But when she made eye contact with him—he averted his gaze and looked elsewhere.

Her eye’s then hovered down to Kenzo.

“Kenzo! Help her, please!” Lady Social said, as she called upon him.

But still overwhelmed by everything that had happened, her voice was unable to reach him.

There was a much louder conflict occupying his mind.

Lady Social then looked back at Captain John. “I-I can’t let you go. But I can promise that no more harm will fall on you or your crewman if you let her go now,” she replied.

Captain John laughed as he lifted his sword into the air, next to the girls face. The girl then screamed in pain as he sliced the side of her cheek.

“Stop!” Lady Social shouted, as blood trickled down the girls cheek.

“Don’t test my patience woman!” Captain John yelled.

“P-Put her d-down.”

To everyone’s surprise, Kenzo was standing and had picked up a sword—pointing it at Captain John. It seemed the girl’s cry for help had sprung him on his feet, but without him meaning too.

“P-Put her down,” Kenzo said, with a wobbled voice.

The captain turned round to a shaking sword.

Without much effort, Captain John flicked his sword at Kenzo’s and knocked it to the ground.

“Sit back down kid. You’re the only one here I don’t hate yet,” Captain John said, as he turned back to Lady Social.

But unknown to Captain John and everyone else on the ship, Kenzo had found an answer to his inner conflict. He might have not intended to stand up, but he knew what he chooses to do next would be entirely his decision.

And this decision would be decided on the fact that for the first time in a long time, his feelings about the encounters he had kept himself out of had now changed.

He wished that he had gotten involved.

“Put her down,” Kenzo said, with more commitment in his voice.

As Captain John turned round, something strange began to happen. Kenzo was suddenly shining a bright yellow.

Everyone on the deck stopped and covered their eyes as the light got even brighter. After a few seconds, the light burst outwards—creating a strong shock wave.

Somehow, this caused the surrounding night sky to brighten for a brief period of time. It however quickly became dark once again, being only lit by the moon.

The light emitting from Kenzo eventually faded, revealing an unexpected change underneath.

His worn out clothes and baggy hoody were nowhere to be seen. Instead, they had been replaced with a new set of stylish clothing. With new shoes, a jacket and sash around his waste, Kenzo was barely recognisable to the mentally conflicted boy from earlier.

The next few moments were ones of instinct. Kenzo wasn’t sure where they came from, but they came naturally.

He flicked back his new jacket, revealing a sword on his side—somehow knowing it was there. Kenzo then grabbed it and pointed it toward Captain John.

But even with this new change, the sword was still shaking like before.

Captain John looked Kenzo up and down, clearly confused on what just happened. But even so, he lifted his sword and attempted to knock his weapon down.

But he missed, as Kenzo moved his sword away at the last second.

The captain attempted again, but Kenzo easily moved his sword out the way again and continued to point it at him.

“What sort of trick is this?” Captain John asked. “Who are you?”

But with him now distracted, the small girl bit down on his hand as she tried to wiggle free. The captain yelled out in pain and let go of her, dropping her to the ground.

She then ran behind Kenzo and held onto his jacket.

“You’ll pay for that!” Captain John said.

“Enough!” Lady Social yelled.

“Don’t move!” Jetta shouted, but Vic had walked between them and stood in the way of her sword.

Jetta pulled back her weapon—showing a clear hesitation to confront him as he continued to stand his ground.

“What a disappointment this sea has been,” Lady Social said as she suddenly stretched out both her hands to her sides.

“In the end, you’re all the same.”

Lady Social’s hands suddenly started to glow—with a mist of yellow light forming around her open palms. Slowly, a violin morphed from within the mist into one hand and it’s bow into the other.

She swiftly got into a playing position, and said the following words:

O’souls within, heed my call and let our story begin.

And then, she began to play a song.

To Captain John’s side, the two opponents he was previously facing suddenly fainted and fell to the ground.

Deciding to get in an early strike, the captain impatiently ran toward Lady Social. However, he stopped as something had grabbed his leg. He swung his sword downward to free himself, but nothing was there—apart from one of Lady Social’s men unconscious body.

Then, something slowly emerged from the body.

It was the same man, but in a ghastly yellow form. Suddenly from the bodies of the fainted, a legion of ghastly hunters came forth onto the deck. Their misty yellow glow and distorted appearance strongly resembled that of ghosts.

Captain John and Jetta had tried to hit some with their weapon, but every attack passed straight through each one. By the time they knew it, they were surrounded by these ghastly figures—with Captain John being cornered to the edge of the ship.

“What sort of evil is this?!” Captain John yelled.

Jetta raised her sword. “I don’t know what this is, but you’re mistaken if you think our crewman will let you get away with this!”

Once Lady Social had finished playing her song, her newly materialised violin softly faded away—leaving a trail of yellow mist behind.

“Am I now?” Lady Social responded, as she then clapped her hands twice.

Suddenly, more ghastly figures emerged but from below deck. They all carried the appearances of the two other crews onboard.

The doors to the cabin also abruptly opened. “Come,” Lady Social said.

Walking out from the meeting room was Captain William and Theo—with their normal bodies.

They joined Lady Social by her side and remained silent, but with a faint yellow glow in their eyes. Theo’s slowly looked down at Bron, who lay still. There was barely a reaction, apart from a misty tear that fell from his cheek and evaporated.

Jetta lowered her weapon and gazed at her comrades with disbelief.

“But…how?” she said.

Briggs walked through the horde and stopped a few steps away from Lady Social.

“So what I read was true,” he said, as he gazed in wonder. “The drinks wasn’t to get us drunk…but to do this.”

Lady Social walked up to him and delivered a harsh slap across his face.

“That’s for not helping the girl,” she said.

However, she grabbed the other side of his face and softly touched it.

“But, you can still make it up to me—for there is now an available role for you to play,” she said, as she looked over at Captain John who was still swinging his sword but to no avail.

“Farewell old friend.”

One of the figures then stabbed Captain John, causing him to stumble and fall off the ship—into the sea.

They then subdued Jetta with the help of Vic—who then brought her down to her knees.

“How are you doing this? What is the purpose of such witchery!?” Jetta yelled out.

“For years I wished for a way to unite this fractured world. And after so long, I have finally been gifted with the power to do so,” Lady Social replied.

She then took her hand off Briggs face and turned toward Jetta.

“There is a seat in the realm of hunters that will help me to achieve what I want,” she said. “And it is currently occupied by the man your captain serves.”

Jetta’s eye’s widened as she stared at Lady Social. “You want to become Hunter Lord!?”

Lady Social didn’t respond and her attention instead turned to Kenzo who had backed up to the side of the ship with the small girl still behind him.

“Thank you for helping her Kenzo. Come Emmy, it’s okay now,” she said.

But the girl looked at the ghoulish figures surrounding the ship and hid behind Kenzo.

Lady Social waved the horde to stand back. “Kenzo, bring her here.”

Kenzo looked back at the girl who shook her head sideways. He then looked at Lady Social and her army of ghastly hunters. His answer was a subtle head shake, denying her request.

“Kenzo!” Lady Social shouted, as anger filled her face. “Bring her here now!”

But he held the girl back and denied her request once more.

Lady Social took a deep breath in and out. She then began to approach him.

Not knowing what to do, he pointed his sword at her but suddenly began to feel dizzy. It seemed the alcohol was now starting to affect his vision again. Lady Social then easily moved his weapon to the side and got extremely close to him.

With a smile, she held his face in her palms. “Poor Kenzo, seems the adrenaline has run it’s course. You can barely focus your eyes on me now.”

She then caressed both his new clothing and sword. “I know you must be scared and confused. After all, you’re just a stranger alone in a world unknown. But I promise that everything you saw today is the beginning of a better world.”

She then took her thumbs and forced Kenzo’s frown into a smile. “It’s time to smile for the future Kenzo.”

However when she removed her thumbs, his frown returned.

She then looked down at the small girl and then back at Kenzo. “I do wish things could of played out differently. However just like me, it seem’s you’ve chosen your path.”

Lady Social then let go of him and turned around—taking two steps forward before stopping.

“Unfortunately, there can only be one hero in this story.”

Suddenly, she turned round and delivered a kick to his stomach—pushing him off the ship. As he fell, he noticed the small girl had been pulled from behind him to the side by one of the ghastly figures.

With the sea approaching behind him, it began to feel like time was slowing down. As he watched Lady Social look down at him from the ship, Kenzo noticed there was a necklace around his neck as it hovered in-front of his face. At the end of it was a yellow jewel, shining brightly.

Then, a piece of paper in his pocket suddenly flew out and unwrapped itself mid air. It read:

Social Fundamental

Trial 1 - Discover your new answer. COMPLETE✓

With the sound of the waves right below him, Kenzo closed his eye’s before impact. But then, something happened.

He woke up.