Chapter 771: Deep Sea Prince

*You’ll die first!* Came a reply to Laz’s mind. He could feel where it came from and looked in that direction. His eyes went wide as he used Heaven’s Gaze, trying to pierce the darkness to see what made the noise, but between the night, the water and the other creatures constantly moving about, he failed to find it. The effects of being on the water were showing Laz a real weakness of self. He was constantly moving as was his target which made it hard to lock anything down. Laz could use his spiritual perception to find it, but even though it would work, it would leave him open to attack and would exhaust a large amount of energy due to the same reasons Heaven’s Gaze didn’t work.

"Heh," Laz just said with a laugh.

...

The ship was in chaos as everyone was moved into rooms deeper into the interior of the ship and away from any rooms with direct widows outside. All of the crew that could be armed were armed along with any on board in law enforcement or with military training. They were placed with the groups of people in the larger rooms to provide protection while security roamed the decks.

One hour passed.

Then another hour.

After two hours, people began to get a little upset about being locked up for no reason and began to complain. They didn’t need to wait for another hour before the action began.

Dozens of massive creatures came to surface right around the ship, surrounding it as they pushed against the metal monster, keeping it in place and unable to move. From the backs of these beasts came at first dozens and then hundreds of what could only be called fish people, their deep blue and green skin shinning as the lights of the various decks reflected off them, the tiny, fingernail size scales glittering like gems.

One fish man in particular stood out, a crown of gold on his head with a cape of violet that flowed off his back, staring straight up at the bridge of the ship, as though challenging the captain.

"WITHOUT MY ORDER, DO NOT ENGAGE," the captain said as he slipped on a poncho and walked out to the open area, meeting the strange creature face to face. He would have almost looked fearless if it wasn’t for the fact that his eyes darted from left to right, as though looking for something that hadn’t shown up yet.

"You can either give us what we want, or we will sink this ship to the bottom of the sea and take it for ourselves. The choice is yours," The decked out fish man said, his voice harsh and raspy, like the sound of gravel rattling. The captain couldn’t help but look at the tall, grey skinned creature. It’s bright green hair seemed to be bioluminescent as it gave off a green light while the man looked down at the captain, standing almost two heads taller than him. The fish man’s body was slim, but highly muscled, his bare feet and hands were webbed and he wore tight fitted clothing that looked like shorts and a short sleeved shirt made of some type of flexible rubber. While his face looked mostly human, his eyes were bigger and more angled than a human while his irises seem as though they were entirely black with no visible white in them. His ears were bigger too and look slightly fin like as well.

"Now now... certainly we can make a counter offer, wouldn’t you think?" Laz said as he walked out of the shadows just feet from where the two men faced off.

"Let me take it from here captain. Sorry I’m late," Laz said, patting the shocked man on the shoulder as the fish royal turned to face the new comer, his body now slightly tense. As a predator of the deep, it’s instincts were highly developed and were now screaming at him that this person in front of him was dangerous.

"Now then... how about you take your people and those beasts they rode in here on and get the fuck away from this ship? How’s that for another choice?" Laz said as he stared up at the fish man, a total lack of fear in his eyes. The Prince laughed, even if it sounded a little forced. Due to this, the other fish people around him laughed as well, their voices showing none of the forced nature that the prince did.

"Do you think you are strong enough to stop all of us from sinking this ship? The moment you enter the water, you will be torn apart, just as any creature from the land would be. What right do you have to bargain with me, foolish human?" The prince asked with his gravelly voice.

Laz didn’t miss a beat and brought his hand up, the bracelet shone slightly before Jörmungandr appeared in his hand. Lifting the bone white blade into the air, a massive illusion appeared behind Laz of a gigantic snake, it’s black body twisting and turning within the confines of the storm and ocean, looking like a great sea monster had risen out of the depths of the sea.

Far off somewhere, a massive cry sounded out, shaking the ship and all the people on it as over a dozen tentacles shot out of the sea and rose up like pillars from the ocean’s floor, piercing upwards to the heavens like spears. They hung solid and huge for a dozen seconds before they all suddenly went limp and sunk slowly back into the water.

As the sword sat there, blood started running down the length of the blade before it was reabsorbed as the blade glowed with a bone jarring red light.

Screaming came from the edge of the ship as dozens of men and women fish people came rushing over getting the Prince’s attention. The annoyed looking prince bent his head down to look at the small woman who then spoke into his ear, causing the prince’s body to go ridged as his already big eyes went wider.

Laz casually pulled a cloth out of his bracelet to wipe the sword down, cleaning a remaining drop of blood off it it before stashing it away while sending it his thanks. When the Prince had come on board, the sword suddenly demanded to be let out. Laz resisted it at first, but it simply told him that what it wanted would be of a help to Laz, so Laz had trusted it and timed it for the best possible effect. Lad hadn’t known the blade would manifest itself in such a way or do what it did, but it was a nice surprise all the same. And even though Laz wasn’t sure what had happened, he knew that whatever it was had seriously bothered the prince.

So acting like this was all his doing, Laz calmly stored the sword back away since it said it was done helping for now and turned back to face the somehow white faced prince.

"Was that enough for you? Or should I show you one more time?" Laz asked, knowing perfectly well that he couldn’t do that again if he wanted to. While Laz wasn’t sure what had happened he did know that a large amount of the pressure he had been feeling was now gone, giving him some idea of what had just happened.

"You’re bluffing..." The Prince said, almost as though he was trying to convince himself that it was true. The prince wasn’t a fool and knew that something like what had just happened couldn’t be something someone could constantly do. If it was, why would the human not kill them all if he had the chance? Still, he also knew that while there might have been a price to be paid if the human could do it again, then they all might die this next time and pushing that to happen would be a stupid idea.

"Maybe, maybe not. That’s unimportant. What is important is what we do now," Laz said keeping his face looking as unconcerned as he could.

"What do you suggest?" The Prince asked, his eyes narrowed.

"Well, neither of us really wants to escalate this as it would mean a huge loss of life for both side. So how about we settle this between us, you and me. I win, you and your people leave and let us go. You win, you get what supplies you want and you let us leave. No people though. And that’s my final offer," Laz said, looking at the man. He had heard everything that had been communicated to and from the bridge earlier and knew that they were looking for people for whatever reason. Laz wasn’t about to let that happen.

"Do you think this makes up for the loss of our..." The Prince started to rage before Laz cut him off by holding a hand up and pointing at the tall man.

"You brought that on yourself. Don’t blame me for giving you exactly what you asked for. Would you even be willing to deal with me right now if I hadn’t shown you something worth seeing? That’s just you being hypocritical so spare me."

Laz almost thought he would explode with rage, but the Prince managed to control himself.

"So be it. You and me. Winner takes all," the prince said while thinking that he would kill this arrogant human and then take what he wanted anyway. He did not like being insulted and Laz had done that in spades. Even if the supplies capture was successful, none of it would make up for the death of his god realm pet unless he could take that sword for his own.

Laz then smiled as the black flames surrounded his body and he entered his battle form, knowing that this prince would never keep his word but that by agreeing to it, he had already sealed his fate.