Horrorclaw felt a vein popping on his neck, every time he released his acid mana, Aurora's light blocked it, she was his natural counter, and he was originally supposed to fight the Trident Marshal but Black Beard of course had to provoke the old Vincent, which ended in him having to deal with Aurora.
"Matriarch of the Light Palace get out of my way!!!", shouted Horrorclaw as he unleashed another portion of his mana.
The Maelstrom Sea is known for being unstable, and for that same reason Stellar ranks can't use their whole power or they could cause a disaster, it is an unwritten rule and one of the few things in which the four seas agree, anyone who destroys the balance of the space will be hunted down and eliminated by the all the other forces.
The Wild Tide Reef was also in part territory of the Maelstrom Sea, so Stellar ranks could at most excel half of their power safely, more than that and the space might collapse.
"Crack!", the air trembled as Horrorclaw reached about 60% of his maximum output, even then he wasn't getting serious yet, but the pressure he was exuding did increase to the point that the ships were creaking just by being in his presence.
All those who weren't Half Stellar ranks at least were pressed down until they almost fell into the sea.
Aurora softly snorted in response, she took out a staff similar to Jasmine's and then chanted.
"Neutral Field".
White light shone on the gem in the center of the staff and then little sparks spread across the whole area.
"Woah, my body feels light again!", exclaimed one of the many peak Arch ranks which were suppressed just by Horroclaw's aura earlier.
Horrorclaw gritted his teeth in response, to fight Aurora who is known as the strongest support mage in Neptune, one must be a full attack type knight or a control and focus on attacking her, or be a control type mage and take her allies away from her, so that somebody else can take her on.
And while is abilities are pretty destructive they are based in acid mana which is weak against light mana.
"Aghhhhhhh!!!".
A second scream woke Horrorclaw from his stupor, his eyes got bloodshot but besides trembling due to anger he had to swallow his pride, because he recognized the voice of his wife but couldn't find her no matter how much he tried, so that meant there was someone at the same level of that "Lord" in the enemy's side too.
And now he had to re-evaluate his next movements, because he couldn't afford to let Shyrel die, not because he was in love with her or anything, but because her family is one of his most important backers, and without their support he wouldn't have been able to become the ruler of the Skalia continent.
Not to mention he still had to deal with the thing about Snakele's temples being burned down, it was better for him to put out the fire in his backyard before he went in an all-out war with the Elemental and Mermen Seas, that's also why he accepted to participate in the plan using hostages, but everything has gone wrong and he now had no other option but to give an order of retreatment.
"SKELEFIENDS, WE ARE LEAVING!", he shouted from the bottom of his lungs.
Black Beard who was containing Vincent nearly spat blood due to anger, upon hearing Horrorclaw's words.
'What the hell are you doing Horrorclaw, continue with the plan!', he said directly to the Skelefiend's ears as he blocked Vincent's trident with his two black sabers, making sparks fly all over the place.
'Shut up, it was your incompetence which made the plan fail, that armed fish couldn't get rid of the snake who then called the Black Empress here, your forces were wiped out and that brat Sting got his ass handed by two Half Stellar women, I'm wishing to see how are you going to explain that Lord that you failed to get the two targets he assigned you'.
'Thanks to your uselessness my wife got captured, if you want my help you must retrieve her alive, if not I'll do it by my own means but you can forget of any idea of being in an alliance with me'.
Black Beard's face twisted, he was being put all the blame by the Skelefiend ruler and he had to swallow it, because his side was technically the weaker… at least for now.
The nobles saw that Aurora wasn't trying to stop Horrorclaw and his surviving subordinates got on their ships and they frowned.
But then Vincent's thunderous voice drew their attention.
"What are you waiting fools, capture all the pirates, in case of resistance kill without hesitation!".
"Ohhhh!", the nobles, neo nobles and the members of the sects ganged up on the pirates and the battle which wasn't showing signs of ending anytime soon earlier, was now advancing in direction to the victory of the Mermen Sea over the pirates.
At the other side of the battlefield Karmandi and the other snake general had safely arrived at the small hill which was the most protected place, Daimon and the girls jumped out of Karmandi's back and sat down on the ground, almost at the same time a fully black armored tall figure stood still behind them like a guardian angel, or this case a guardian bone general.
Daimon's aura returned to normal and he let out a small sigh, using Core Synchrony so much has taken a toll on him, specially because he used mana this time instead of just battle aura and his physical abilities.
'That was cheating Gabriel, now did you know the Skelefiend ruler will leave after hearing that woman's screams?', asked Karmandi, he wasn't mad of losing the bet, instead he was rather curious.
After seeing the silver haired youth pull soma amazing stunts time after time, it was hard to not admire him, despite his realm and age not being too high.
'Easy, she is just a Half Stellar ranked and yet she had another Half Stellar ranked assigned to be her subordinate… Skelefiends aren't exactly sentimental, so that woman must have another status besides being one of the many wives of that Horrorclaw guy, I just betted that she weighted enough to force him to retreat using her well-being as a threat and it worked', said Daimon as he shrugged.
The snake general had the sudden urge to laugh but he endured it, as he noticed there were other humans observing them, among which he recognized the king of the Mermen Sea who was replaced by one of his guards, so that he could elegantly supervise the battlefield along with his wives.
Daimon of course noticed the disgusted expression in Triten's face, he was about to go and talk with Daphne and also Mellie to offer them "protection", but he saw Jasmine standing next to Daimon too and he didn't dare to go and cause troubles for them.
Blacktooth was sent back to the beast pouch to the relief of the goblin shark, the cages were left on the hill but the male nobles didn't want to leave now as they felt safer inside of them.
As for the female nobles they stuck around since Mellie and Daphne remained at Daimon's side.
"The curtains should be falling anytime now", mumbled Daimon as he observed the battlefield.
Half of the pirate ships were destroyed already, the others were being fiercely defended by their protection formations, but they were reaching their limit, the same applied to the pirates, who were being forced back with each second that passed.
…
Above in the sky Black Beard saw things going south and he gritted his teeth, but he had no time to get angry, when he saw Aurora coming to join Vincent to suppress him he immediately made a cut in his palm with one of his two black sabers and then his figure starting blurring.
"Next time you won't be as lucky old bastards, the time has come and your two seas will fall!", he shouted as he disappeared.
The pirates saw their main pillar abandoning them and they hopped onto the ships and turned around to flee, while being chased by Dominic leading the neo nobles and the Blackfin Duke leading the nobles.
The other important battle was finishing too, Annete and the Valas Duchess were stalling Sting, who saw things falling out and he immediately pressed the black plate hanging on his waist, which controlled the flag ship of the pirates, it was his to begin with but he lent it to Black Beard since he was going to be hidden in preparation for an ambush.
The duo of queen and duchess saw Sting trying to flee and they became fiercer, the queen played one of the cords of her lyre and a large wound appeared on Sting's back, but the lyre's glow diminished a lot, also Annete was showing signs of being tired.
But there was still Daphne's mother, her image flashed and just when Sting managed to jump into his ship, she extended both of her hands at him before saying.
"Twin Chaotic Stream!", her mana reserves practically were drained, but in exchange two blue streams of mana were shot from her hands, clashing against the giant black ship.
"Boooom!".
The attack impacted the barrier and though it didn't immediately pierce through it, the ship was sent flying due to the shockwave.
Inside of the barrier Sting saw some cracks appearing and he gritted his teeth, he came with a plan expecting a glorious victory, and now was forced to flee with his tail between his legs, it was humiliating.
"I don't know where are you, but I will tear you to pieces!", he shouted, referring to the guy who according to his cousin screw all the plans the pirates had.
A few hundreds of kilometers away, the toad man saw the black ship leaking out some kind of mist and he shouted.
"Wait Sting, don't leave here", unlike his previous lecherous cocky behavior, right now he was terrified, his body was full of cuts and he was missing an arm.
The reason of that was a black flash of light which zig-zagged towards him, transforming into a tall elegant woman with a black dress and a wild penetrating gaze with a spear in her hands.
"Trying to escape, leave your life behind for this Empress!".
"Royal Fang, Sun Piercing Hydra!".
The Black Empress pushed her spear frontwards and a series of nine snakes of different sizes and species made of black light were shot from the tip, the things spread and then surrounded the toad man, whose face paled.
"Aghhhh!", the man screamed in pain as he was restrained by the nine snakes, each of them shoved its teeth into his body, and then his originally green skin was corroded.
Soon the snakes coiled around the body of the toad man forming a black sphere, which then exploded into a black rain, it was a really brutal spell.
But judging by the unsatisfied expression in the Black Empress's face, the result wasn't what she expected.
A corroded pair of legs were brought back by the nine black snakes.
"What a shame, that coward escaped humph", the Black Empress snorted and then pierced the legs with her spear, whose tip changed to become the head of a snake that swallowed the legs.
Annete and Daphne's mother approached the Black Empress and raised the sides of their dresses to properly greet her.
"Thanks for lending a hand, if my memory doesn't fail me, you are the ruler of the east side of the Maelstrom Sea, the Black Empress Thea, right?".
The Black Empress smiled in response and then she closed her eyes, to Annete's surprise her aura went from threatening to gentle and calm as soon as she did it.
"We are both queens, you can call me Thea, no need for honorifics".
"Now where is that little friend which that old snake general mentioned?", added the Black Empress with an interested expression.
Needless to say, but the queen and Daphne's mother were in awe right now.
'Since when the magic beasts are so friendly?', they wondered.
