Pirate Kingship

Just as Byron and his party arrived at their fiefdom, a "Crown War" was also coming to an end far to the west, on an inconspicuous island in the Banta'an Archipelago, deep within native tribal territory. This war was fought to obtain ritual sacrifices.

CRACKLE! POP!

In the Banta'an tribe, whom the colonizers called natives but who called themselves the Tenor People, numerous longhouses constructed from vegetation were engulfed in raging flames. Scantily clad women and children ran and cried, attempting to flee the tribe and escape into the tropical rainforest. However, they were driven back by a group of menacing colonizers wielding firearms.

The men were mostly armed with crude stone weapons; only a very few wielded precious steel swords obtained through trade for spices. They rushed towards the invaders, roaring in anger.

Their seemingly heroic resistance was futile.

Among the colonizers, a strange figure wearing a grey cloak, even in the tropical jungle, stepped forward. With a somewhat shrill voice, he exclaimed, "Venomous Plague Swarm!"

He spread his wide sleeves.

BUZZING...

A swarm of bizarre, wasp-like insects, each carrying a foul stench, rushed out from his sleeves and instantly enveloped everyone.

One by one, the natives—men, women, and children alike—screamed, frothed at the mouth, and fell to the ground, utterly losing the strength to resist.

This was the "Crown War," often waged even among native tribes. Its purpose was not to kill, but simply to capture living sacrifices for rituals!

Among the natives, only one female high-ranking warrior was clearly a Transcendent. Wielding a pair of daggers seemingly polished from the fangs of ferocious beasts, she danced like the wind. The light of her blades flickered, cutting down the swarm of insects flying at her.

Glaring with rage at the cloaked figure, a blue flame emanated from the leopard tooth necklace around her neck, enveloping her entire body. Her eyes suddenly transformed into the dangerous pupils of a leopard. Golden and black leopard spots appeared on her wheat-colored skin, triangular ears emerged on her head, and a long tail swished behind her, whistling through the air.

She seemed to have truly transformed into a majestic, beautiful, yet dangerous female leopard. Beneath her satin-smooth skin, perfect muscular lines rippled like water, providing her with immense explosive power. This allowed the female warrior to pounce toward the cloaked man, who was evidently the leader of the invaders.

"Outsiders, you all deserve to die!"

The colonizers were no strangers to such transcendent abilities. They knew this was a unique Transcendent profession among the Banta'an natives—the Leopard Spirit Warrior. One had to personally hunt a prime wild leopard and use its teeth to create a talisman. In battle, they could transform instantly, gaining the formidable power of a wild beast.

If such primitive witchcraft existed in the Old Continent, it would undoubtedly be considered forbidden knowledge. However, in the overseas world, it was an exceedingly common ability. Bear Spirit Warrior, Eagle Spirit Warrior, Frog Warrior... these were as common as the Knight Professions scattered throughout the Ladder of Glory in every major Sequence system.

The price was a life henceforth filled with Beastliness, a craving for raw flesh. And if the animal spirit possessed someone for too long, those leopard ears, tail, and spots... could remain on the body forever, never vanishing.

In the slave market, many so-called "exotic species" actually came about this way. It was said that in the colonial lands of the Kingdom of Castile, a dark industrial chain had even formed to satisfy the peculiar tastes of the domestic nobility. Not just the most common Cat Girls and tiger girls, but even Merfolk were available.

However, before the fully enraged female Leopard Spirit Warrior could reach the cloaked figure, three rows of firearms discharged simultaneously.

BANG! BANG! BANG!...

Amidst the crisscrossing lines of fire, the fur on her leopard tail bristled. Her entire body became almost a blur as she dodged at unbelievable angles, yet she was still shot in the shoulder and thigh. Blood splattered, and she let out a pained cry before collapsing to the ground.

Noticing the cloaked man approaching her, his gaze fixed on her ears and tail, she pleaded in the somewhat unfamiliar common language of the continent, "Outsider, spare my people, and I, Yasmina, will serve you henceforth."

The cloaked man glanced at her leopard ears, which were slowly retracting, and at the leopard tail behind her. His sharp voice, however, was flat as he said, "If it were the former 'Bloody Mary Faction' within the Bloodthirsty Cult, they might have treated you differently. But you have neither carapace nor tentacles; you only have one pair of legs. What makes you confident that I, a follower of the 'Book of Giant Insects Faction,' would be interested in your type of female? My tastes simply don't lie in that direction."

He raised his hand, lifted the hood from his head, and revealed a very young, pale face. However, two long antennae, like those of a centipede, grew from his forehead. He extended his arm. The sleeve slid down, revealing a limb covered with a chitinous carapace that segmented and lengthened like a centipede's body. Its edges even bore densely packed, blade-like, blood-red appendages.

Seeing his true form, even though this female warrior was a battle-hardened Transcendent, the instinctive fear of giant insects made her scream.

"AH—!"

A mouthpart on this arm immediately bit her neck, injecting venom. She instantly fell unconscious, just like her tribespeople.

As the last high-ranking warrior fell, the ancient tribe seemed on the brink of complete annihilation. The last shamanic wizard, who had been kneeling all this while beneath a Totem Pole in the center of the tribe, rose with grim determination. He then dashed his head against the vividly colored Totem Pole, ending his life.

THUMP!

Brain matter burst forth, mixing with hot blood, all drenching the exaggerated human face at the base of the Totem Pole. The Totem Pole, some ten meters high, suddenly shone with brilliant Divine Light.

A leopard's roar echoed through the entire tribe.

Hmm, a Guardian Spirit? This small tribe isn't populous, yet they've managed to foster a Guardian Spirit capable of manifesting its power? Perhaps they were defeated in another 'Crown War,' had many warriors captured, and later migrated to this island. No wonder I initially thought these longhouses seemed too new.

The cloaked man from the Bloodthirsty Cult couldn't help but frown at this scene, the antennae on his forehead twitching faster.

In all native tribes that believed in All Things Have Spirit and that souls are eternal, Totem Poles were indispensable. The carvings at the top of the pole usually depicted eagles, bears, Tiger Whales, Thunderbirds, ravens, beavers, wolves, frogs, and other animals or plants. The natives believe that each clan has a kinship or other special relationship with a certain animal or plant. This animal or plant becomes the clan's totem, symbolizing the tribe's guardian. Further down, the poles generally depicted human figures, usually representing the ancestors of the clan. Continuing downward, various figures and different combinations constituted the unique legendary deeds of each tribe.

Typically, small tribes would carve a variable number of Totem Poles. Larger city-states and nations would build magnificent Pyramids, establishing Temples atop these truncated Pyramids. Connected by "stairways to heaven," the lowest tier had four levels, the highest thirteen. Each Totem Pole and each Temple would form an island in the Spiritual World, protecting the tribesfolk from the Source Tide and various bizarre invasions. It could be understood as a substitute for humanity's 'Silver Law,' just on a much smaller scale. The natives, who primarily practiced Black Sorcery, clearly had a greater need for their own 'Anchor.'

ROAR—!

In the blink of an eye, a leopard spirit, comparable in size to a small house and wreathed in azure flames, leaped out from the Totem Pole. Its body was that of a leopard, but its head was that of a human male. This was because the tribe's strongest warriors, upon death, would choose to merge with the ancestral spirits, becoming the tribe's Guardian Spirits. Possessing traits of both humans and animals, they represented a natural power beyond human control. And in the eyes of some High Order Transcendents in the Old Continent, these spirits seemed more like a fusion of 'Divinity' and 'Beastliness'—sharing common roots with the Old Continent, yet more primitive.

The cheetah Guardian Spirit was now clearly covered in scars. It was riddled with bullet holes and sword wounds, and transparent blood still oozed from some areas. This clearly confirmed the cloaked man's suspicions. It had recently endured a fierce battle with another group of colonizers. If the tribe hadn't reached such a critical moment of life or death, the shamanic wizard would never have sacrificed his own life to summon the Guardian Spirit.

However, before this half-human, half-beast Guardian Spirit could pounce on the invaders, the buzzing of vibrating membranes rose from the distant sky. A vast, dark 'cloud' then suddenly descended. It was, in fact, thousands of palm-sized black locusts. Opening countless pincer-like mouths, they swarmed over the tribal Guardian Spirit, gnawing wildly from head to toe. An incomparably shrill scream, like that of someone suffering death by a thousand cuts, pierced the sky, only to cease abruptly.

In just a few breaths, the powerful spirit creature was devoured completely. The locusts then clustered in mid-air, gradually forming a human shape. Then, with a flash of crimson Divine Light, it transformed into a black-robed figure that slowly drifted to the ground.

The crisis was instantly resolved. However, locusts occasionally crawled in and out from beneath the figure's black robe, a sight that made one's scalp tingle.

"Gather the captives, loot the spoils of war. Aim to plunder another indigenous tribe before nightfall."

"Yes, Mister Swarm!"

A group of firearm-wielding colonizers, their eyes gleaming, immediately rushed into the native tribe's settlement, causing further chaos.

The first cloaked man, the grey-robed one, stepped forward and said respectfully, "Teacher, you've arrived. After you completed the second rite, wholly abandoned your mortal shell, and sublimated your Life Essence, your power has grown even stronger. You can now emerge unscathed even from a battleship's concentrated fire. Among all Third Order Transcendents, you undoubtedly rank among the strongest."

Hearing his disciple's flattery, the black-robed man known to the colonizers as Swarm sighed, his voice just as shrill, "I have now merely become the will of the swarm. Although my Life Essence was sublimated, it will eventually decay. Only the 'Crimson Holy Grail' represents true immortality. Unfortunately, although our 'Book of Giant Insects Faction' successfully defeated the 'Bloody Mary Faction' and gained sole access to the sacred site for communicating with that entity, we still haven't deciphered the legendary rite of the 'Crimson Holy Grail.' Thus, we cannot brew a chalice of the 'Blood of Immortality.'"

Hearing this, his grey-robed disciple also sounded indignant. "That's immortality just below the Divine Domain! We desire it. The York Family of Hightins desires it. Even those so-called servants of God in the Church, while feigning piety, secretly covet power that belongs to God. They always make us lead the charge. The dirty work is ours, but the benefits are all theirs. And those fools actually lost the 'Touch of the Kraken'! That Calamity first helped us defeat the 'Bloody Mary Faction' during the Bloodthirsty Cult's internal strife (Chapter 91). The second time, it helped the York Family defeat Lancaster in the Throne War. The third time, it was aimed at Iron Anchor Bay. It should have been a foolproof matter, yet they let the 'Touch of the Kraken' spiral out of control, turning it into a true Calamity. And now they want us to clean up their mess? Do we look like 'honest and trustworthy' people? If we go to the North Sea, won't we be swallowed whole by that entity whose true Rank is as high as Sixth Order? What a joke!"

Swarm waved his hand, cutting off his disciple. "Enough of this useless talk. To obtain the 'Crimson Holy Grail,' we need living sacrifices—more sacrifices. The Cult has received reliable intelligence: the maritime overlord, the Kingdom of Castile, will soon deliver a fatal blow to the dying Aztec Empire and Taya Empire. Everyone's opportunity has arrived. This is a feast for lions, and a carnival for hyenas. The Banta'an Archipelago will soon plunge into turmoil. Digory, issue the order. Have all our slave ships, pirate captains, and our collaborators from the Kingdom of Hightens take action."

The grey-robed man bowed, his hand to his chest. "Yes, Teacher."