Shrouded Seascape

Psh! Psh! Psh!

As heads rolled onto the ground one after another, the continuous spurting blood quickly congealed into dark red pools and soon dyed the entire deck a crimson red.

The sticky surface made every step uncomfortable, but no one was bothered by it. As the sacrificial ritual continued, the number of people was dwindling rapidly.

The chainsaw, almost completely encased in blood, finally ceased whirring. It attempted to revert back to its prosthetic form but got stuck.

Clutching his head, Charles looked down to find a bone fragment stuck in the chainsaw. This was the reason why the chainsaw couldn't be reverted.

He pulled out the bone fragment and tossed it into the thick blood pool before stumbling back to sit on a nearby stool.

"Ah… damn it! This is so hard to tolerate! Argh!" With his face twisted into a painful scowl, Charles hammered his forehead with his blood-stained iron hand, each strike heavier than the last.

"Do you need some anesthetic? It might help relieve the pain," Linda asked as she stood nearby with her arms crossed.

Charles shook his head. "No. We are at the most critical moment. Anesthetics would impair my judgment. Don't stop. Proceed with the next batch. Linda, you and Grace will join this batch."

"Alright, got it." Linda nodded calmly. She then grabbed Grace by the hand and led her toward the blood-stained magic array.

The two of them chatted as she began to clear away the corpses on the ground with the other chosen sacrifices. The blood had smeared the magic circle, and the array needed to be redrawn.

This time, it wasn't just three people. Including Linda and Grace, there were a total of eight of them. They formed a circle and started chanting the strange incantations on the paper.

Suddenly, a young man with a headscarf stopped. He struggled as he pulled a meter-long blue fish spine from the base of his neck.

"What are you doing! Why did you stop all of a sudden? Don't you feel any shame having so many people waiting for you?" Linda and the other sacrifices glared at him with apparent annoyance.

The young man waved his hands apologetically, and with a bitter smile on his face, he said, "Sorry, sorry. That spine is a life-saving relic. If I don't remove it, I might not die. It was my oversight not to take it out earlier. My apologies."

"Alright, quickly sit down and continue the sacrifice." Still suffering from an intense headache, Charles gave a slight flick of his left hand. His steel prosthetic transformed into a chainsaw and whirred to life. The blood droplets on the chainsaw splattered onto Lily's fur.

However, Lily paid no attention; her eyes were fixated on the group of people sitting in the magic array.

The group resumed their low chanting, their voices growing louder by the minute. Just as hints of madness gradually appeared on their faces, Charles suddenly interrupted them. "Hold on, eight people aren't ideal. We need one more."

The eight sacrifices muttered complaints under their breath. Being interrupted twice in a row was frustrating for anyone. Even Grace pouted in discontent.

Clutching his head, Charles scanned the crowd of survivors, but yet, he couldn't find a suitable candidate.

"Never mind then. Lily, you join them."

Charles reached out to grab Lily and tossed her like a ball toward Grace.

Being caught by Grace, Lily stood on the former's palm and looked toward Charles. Her face was painted with hesitation as she said, "Mr. Charles, I…"

"What is it? If you have something to say, make it quick. My head is killing me."

"Mr Charles, I don't want to go first. If possible, I'd like to go with you."

Seeing Lily's pleading gaze, Charles stood up and started walking over to the magic array. He let out a sigh, saying, "I really can't say no to you. Fine, I'm done enduring this pain anyway. Dipp, you're in charge now."

"Aye, Captain!" Dipp exclaimed enthusiastically as he pulled out a black spike.

"Hehe," Lily let out a giggle, and a sweet smile spread across her face as Charles approached her.

Charles took a copy of the incantation, and with Lily perched on his shoulder, they began chanting together.

As their voices grew louder and their expressions slowly suffused with madness, Charles, in his hazy state, could feel a force pulling him upward. It felt as though a giant hand was dragging his soul toward the shadowy figure.

Feeling anxious, Dipp tightened his grip on the black spike as he waited for the final moment to approach.

"It's just killing someone. Why are you so nervous? It's not as if you have never taken a life before," Audric said with a smile.

"This is the captain's order. I have to carry it out dutifully, or he'll get mad at me."

"It's fine. Don't worry. He's part of this round of sacrifices. Once he's dead, he won't be able to yell at you."

Hearing Audric's words, Dipp froze for a moment before nodding in agreement. "Yeah, you're right. My worries are redundant. Vampire, with so many people being sacrificed this time, I might not be able to handle all of them. Help me out later."

"Sure. We're good friends; of course I'll help."

As they conversed, the sacrificial ritual had reached its climax. Dipp stopped talking and with the black spike in hand, he slowly approached Charles from the back.

The moment Charles was within attack range, Dipp raised the black spike and aimed for Charles' carotid artery.

Just as the black spike was about to pierce through Charles' skin, an unbearable gripping sensation seized his mind. The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end, and he instinctively jerked his neck slightly backward.

Shcuk!

The sharp black spike skewered through Charles' neck at an angle, the tip emerging from the other side. Immediately, a wave of intense pain overwhelmed Charles, and the tightness in his brain vanished almost simultaneously.

Charles felt like a bomb had exploded in his head and left a heap of chaos in its wake.

Dipp was about to pull the black spike out of Charles' neck when the latter's steel prosthetic hand clamped down on his wrist and halted his actions.

Panic suffused Dipp's scale-covered face. "Captain, let go quickly! If I don't pull the spike out, you can't die!"

"Why do I have to die? Why is there such a strong smell of blood? What am I doing?" Charles' voice was laced with confusion.

As Charles pondered over these questions, he noticed Audric on the other side had raised his axe and was about to swing it toward his wife, Linda.

Without any moment to think, instinct took over, and with a thought, dozens of invisible tentacles erupted from the deck and flung Audric away into the dark skies.

Charles quickly dealt a back kick and sent Dipp behind him flying. Under the astonished gazes of the surviving crew, he stood up.

He stared at the bizarre magic array on the ground, the gruesome pile of corpses nearby, and the looming black silhouette in the distance. His face contorted with pure horror.

What… what is going on? Why did I bring my crew here to die?

As he sifted through his memories, he realized that just moments ago, he seemed to be completely devoid of any fear of death. Also, sending Lily to her death had felt as simple as sending her off to have breakfast alone.