A Wolf's Howl, A Fairy's Wing

The ship was free for now, but Erik knew it wasn't over yet, as there were still hundreds of these things below the water's surface.

Luckily, his lightning would provide an easy answer there as well. He ran to the ship's edge while taking his hammer from the armour's storage.

At the same time, another cloud of flying fish had jumped out of the water and dropped onto the ship, attempting to finish what their kin had started.

Erik ignored those for now. First, he needed to eliminate what was left in the water.

Meanwhile, another heavy collision shook the ship and almost caused it to turn over. Erik stumbled but continued to run, knowing he had to hurry.

With multiple fish sticking onto his armour, he reached the edge. He looked below to see the water roiling from the excessive number of flying fish swimming around the ship. Clearly, aetherium had messed with their reproductive abilities as well.

Perhaps that was why they needed so much food?

He shook his head free from needless thoughts and, with a determined expression, plunged into action. With a defiant swing, he lowered the head of his hammer into the tumultuous sea.

Electricity sparked at his fingertips as he channelled the raw power of aetherium through his lightning affinity and into the hammer, infusing it with crackling energy.

No intricate spells or powerful skills-just a primal desire to electrify and sear every bit of sealife around his ship. He knew the stakes. These razor-winged torpedoes had the potential to capsize the vessel or gnaw through it like ravenous demons.

And if that happened, they would be in serious trouble.

The surge of power flowed from Erik's hands into his charged hammer and unleashed its fury into the brimming sea. Instantaneously, the already roiling waters exploded into a chaotic spectacle.

Electric sparks crackled, and the sea, once merely tempestuous, now boiled with heat.

Erik closed his eyes and focussed on unleashing as much power as possible. He understood the energy required to electrify the sea to a point where it could quell the threat of these creatures was extremely high.

For this, he unconsciously used both the aetherium in his Arcanist storage and the power accumulated in his Runebound body.

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He didn't realise it, but this was the first time he had used both powers simultaneously, taking the first step on the road to perhaps one day combining the two.

Elora noticed this but didn't want to disturb Erik, so she simply took note of everything that happened as the two powers intertwined and flowed into the sea.

Lightning crackled all around Erik's body as he stood like a conduit of nature's wrath. Wielding the storm to annihilate the creatures threatening his ship.

Finally, mere moments later, charred corpses of flying fish began to float to the surface. Still, Erik didn't stop until every last bit of power was squeezed out of his body, making absolutely sure to kill everything in the surrounding area.

When he was done, he was panting heavily. He quickly stored the hammer back into his armour before turning around and sagging down against the ship's railing.

Despite his exhaustion, he grinned excitedly, "Phew, that was kind of fun. It'll definitely teach them not to nibble on my boat."

He looked up and grimaced a little as he had forgotten about the last cloud of flying fish that had attached itself to his ship. They were no longer in danger of capsizing, but it would still mean bad news if these few fish managed to finally bite through the ship's reinforced wood.

Luckily, there weren't many of them, and Emily and Emma came out of the ship's living rooms just in time. Emma had once again donned her maid outfit.

The cute girl saw the exhausted Erik and immediately put aside her embarrassment about last night, turning it into concern instead.

She rushed to his side, worry etched on her face, "Sir! Are you alright? Can I help? Wait, I know!" A brightly shining magic circle appeared on her hand, and a light shone down on Erik.

While her first light spell didn't directly heal wounds, cure illness or restore energy, it did speed up various bodily processes, including the generation and absorption of power.

Elora's magic could do the same, but since she and Erik shared the same aetherium storage when they combined, she had no more aetherium available to cast spells than he did.

That said, Emma's still barely even rank one magic had minimal effect on his powerful body. But it was the thought that counts. He knew Emma would grow more powerful eventually.

He didn't want to discourage the girl, so he patted her head with a grin, "Thank you, Emma. That feels better."

He turned his attention to Emily, who was still scowling at him but at least looked somewhat less hostile than when she stormed into his room. He assumed the two sisters had a talk about what happened last night.

He waved his hand at the still surviving fish attempting to bite through the ship, "I took care of everything in the water. Can you take out the remainder?"

Emily mumbled something under her breath about him being a pervert. Erik realised she probably had more to say about what she found earlier. For now, though, she nodded. A black magic circle appeared in front of Emily, and with it, a small number of tiny black dots.

These dots quickly flew away and began skewering the few remaining fish on board. While useful against these relatively low numbers, her magic would have been pointless against the entire school.

While Emily took care of that, Erik turned to Emma with a playful smirk, "So, not avoiding me anymore, are you?" He was perfectly aware Emma had been awake while he was putting on his armour earlier, but he had other things on his mind then.

Emma's magic circle stuttered as her body trembled, and her face became as red as a tomato. "P- Please don't mention last night, Sir. I- I was not myself."

Having regained some energy, Erik stood up and kept smirking as he looked Emma in the eyes, "You can lie to yourself, but you can't lie to me."

Suddenly, his face gained a mischievous expression, one he had clearly picked up from Elora, "In fact... I suppose I could use the covenant to force you to tell me the truth of your thoughts and reasonings from last night. But should I?"

Emma paled, her eyes went wide, frantically shaking her head. Panic set in. Luckily, Erik had no intention of breaking her trust.

He chuckled and threw up his hands in surrender, "Alright, alright. I was just joking. I wouldn't do that. Please don't give me that look. Listen, despite your current feelings of awkwardness, did you enjoy yourself last night?"

With his promise not to make her articulate her thoughts, the panic in her eyes quickly disappeared.

Instead, a hesitant smile appeared before she nodded slightly. She trusted Erik with her life, and the pleasure she felt last night, even without really doing anything, was like nothing she had ever felt before.

Seeing this, Erik smiled back at her with confidence, "Then what does the rest matter? Your last seven years have been truly awful. It's time to find you found out what you enjoy and want to do with the rest of your life."

His words of comfort made Emma smile brighter as the hesitancy disappeared. But then it suddenly became a playful grin, "You mean, after these ten years are over, Sir?"

Her words, and especially the emphasis she put on the word sir, displayed a level of sass that took Erik by quite a bit of surprise. But he had to admit he enjoyed it. So he laughed.

"Well, you got me there, Emma. But tell me. Would you leave if I released both you and Emily of your covenants right now? Assuming I offered to take you to shore first? Let me remind you that I never ordered you to call me sir."

The sass quickly disappeared from her face as it became embarrassed again. Her mouth opened and closed several times as if trying to say something. Still, she eventually pouted cutely and mumbled her decision, "Of course not."

A decision which had nothing to do with Emily's condition, as Emma was still unaware her sister continued to struggle. Back in the bedroom, all Emily had told her was that she had become furious at Erik when entering the room and nothing about the corruption that still plagued her soul.

Instead, it was partly her desire to repay what Erik and Elora had done for her and partly because she enjoyed the feeling of stability and safety that came with serving someone she felt she could trust. However, she was far from ready to say those last words out loud.

Erik grinned at her cute looks when Emily returned, having finished her task. "All the fish are dead, and I've ordered the captain to continue the journey. But this won't be the last attack by such creatures."