Trapped In Elysium: A Virtual Reality Nightmare-Chapter 72: What have you done to my ship

Back on the Sea Phantom, the deck was soaked with blood, smoke, and sorrow. The salty breeze had turned sour with the iron sting of death. Captain Ander lay groaning on the planks, his beaten face barely recognizable beneath the bruises and blood. His chest heaved with every breath, pain anchoring him deeper to the floor. But it wasn’t his pain that mattered. It was hers.

Droskyn stood above him, grinning like a beast with his foot pressed hard on Ander’s back. The pirate’s coat flared in the wind, the crimson sun casting a devilish hue across his scarred face.

"Lick it," he sneered, raising his boot toward Ander’s swollen lips. "Or I kill another."

Ander turned his head away in disgust, biting down on the groan rising in his throat.

BANG!

Another body hit the deck, lifeless. The crew screamed. Marcus flinched as a spray of blood landed across his already-bruised cheek. He didn’t look away this time. He glared, eyes burning into Droskyn’s soul.

"You filthy animal!" Marcus snarled. "I’ll gut you myself!"

Droskyn strode forward, and without hesitation, slapped Marcus across the face with the back of his ringed hand. "You’ll do nothing, you limping mutt," he spat.

The air was thick with despair. The Sea Phantom’s crew, what remained of it, were down on their knees, hands bound, expressions broken. Jason, his fingers still subtly working at the rope behind his back, flicked his eyes toward the others. They couldn’t do anything—not yet.

Then Droskyn turned and grabbed Mariel. "This one," he said darkly, gripping her tightly by the arm. "This little brat’s got fire." His hand ran down her cheek in a mockery of gentleness. "Might be fun to break it."

Mariel shuddered. "Get your hands off me!"

He laughed and nodded toward two of his pirates. "Hold her down."

"No!" Ander shouted, trying to rise to his feet, but another pirate booted him back to the deck.

Droskyn threw an axe to the ground, its blade thudding against the wooden boards near Ander.

"You want her to live?" Droskyn asked, as if this were a fair negotiation. "Then you cut off her foot. Do it nice and clean. Or I blow her head off."

Everyone froze.

"What?" Eleanor whispered, horrified.

"No... no no no..." Sophia’s voice broke as she struggled against her bonds.

"Father..." Mariel’s voice cracked as tears formed in her wide eyes. "Just do it. Don’t let him kill me... please."

Ander was trembling. Blood fell from his mouth as he crawled toward the axe, dragging himself like a ghost, like a father made of nothing but guilt and love.

"Droskyn... please," he begged. "She’s just a girl—"

"She’s your daughter, Captain," Droskyn growled. "And your weakness."

"Bastard!" Jason hissed, still cutting his rope slowly, waiting... praying.

Droskyn’s grin widened. "You have ten seconds. Chop it off. Or she dies."

Ander’s fingers gripped the axe. The blade was heavy. His arms barely moved with strength anymore, but he found a way to lift it. He knelt near her, trembling as Mariel was pinned to the deck, her tear-streaked face looking up at him.

"Do it, Father..." she whispered, tears rolling. "I’m not afraid. Just make it fast."

"No... no... Mariel... I can’t—"

"Do it!"

He raised the axe.

Everything fell silent. No sound but the wind and the creaking of the old ship beneath them.

He stared at her foot.

No.

He stared at her eyes.

And then—he swung.

But not toward her.

The blade turned mid-swing and slashed through the air, headed straight for Droskyn’s smug, grinning face.

But Droskyn wasn’t stupid. He had expected it.

He leaned back just in time and the axe missed his skull by inches. The blade clipped the tip of his ear, blood flying. Droskyn’s grin dropped, his eyes flashing with fury.

He raised his shotgun—

BANG!

The shot fired, piercing Ander’s shoulder. The old man dropped with a groan of pain, clutching his side. Mariel screamed, writhing as she was still held down.

"STUPID OLD MAN!" Droskyn roared. "You think I wouldn’t be ready?! I’ve broken tougher men than you!"

He aimed the gun again, breathing heavily.

"You get one more stunt like that—and I blow off both her legs before I put a bullet in your other arm."

But something had changed.

Just as Droskyn steadied his shotgun, the muzzle pointed down at Mariel’s trembling head, the Sea Phantom held its collective breath. The group, beaten and bloodied, cried out in fear and despair—shouts of "NO!" rang out from Marcus, Jason, Sophia, and Eleanor as Droskyn’s finger began to tighten around the trigger. Mariel squeezed her eyes shut, tears cutting down her cheeks, her body stiff with terror.

Captain Ander tried to throw himself forward again, groaning through the pain in his shoulder, but he was too slow.

And then—

BOOOOM!!!

A thunderous explosion tore through the air.

The sound was deafening.

A massive fireball lit up the sky behind them as over half of the Leviathan’s Howl erupted into a blazing inferno, the shockwave tearing through the sea with such force that the Sea Phantom lurched violently to one side. Timbers cracked, sails snapped, and the deck beneath them trembled as if the gods themselves had struck the ocean.

The explosion sent several pirates flying, flames and black smoke curling into the sky like angry spirits. Screams came from the Leviathan’s Howl as pieces of the burning ship splintered and collapsed into the sea.

Even Droskyn staggered back from the blast, eyes wide with disbelief and fury, nearly dropping his weapon. His men were screaming from the chaos—some trying to put out the flames that had reached the Sea Phantom’s deck, others diving into the water to escape the death erupting behind them.

That moment—that heartbeat of panic—was the break the group had needed.

Jason was the first to react.

He no longer held back. His jaw clenched with resolve, and he jerked his hands apart, snapping the weakened rope binding his wrists with all his strength. The moment the ropes broke, he spun with purpose and plunged the hidden blade into the throat of the pirate nearest to him, then slashed it across the gut of another who barely had time to scream. Blood splattered across the deck.

"Get up!" Jason hissed, crawling toward Marcus. With quick, practiced movements, he sliced through Marcus’s bindings. "Go!"

Marcus didn’t hesitate. He surged to his feet like a wounded beast unleashed, eyes blazing. "About damn time!"

He snatched a fallen cutlass, rushed to Sophia, and tore through the ropes around her wrists with such force that the blade nicked her skin. She didn’t flinch.

"Let’s tear them apart," she growled, already reaching for a dropped bow and yanking arrows from a fallen pirate’s quiver.

Jason turned to Eleanor next, slashing through the cords at her back.

Eleanor stood up slowly, no expression on her face—just a quiet, lethal calm. "They won’t live to regret this."

Then came a bellowing roar from the other side of the deck.

Von.

His hands had been bound in thick rope, but the explosion had left his guards stunned. With a guttural yell, he broke free—ripping the ropes apart with raw, savage power—and turned to the two pirates nearest to him. 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

They didn’t even have time to run.

Von’s massive hands grabbed the first pirate by the head and crushed it like an overripe melon, a spray of blood hitting the sails behind him. The second pirate screamed and turned to flee, but Von stomped after him and grabbed him by the shoulder, yanking him back and slamming his skull against the mast with a sickening crack. The body went limp instantly.

Droskyn staggered forward, enraged. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO MY SHIP!?"

The flames from the Leviathan’s Howl crackled in response, painting the sky with black smoke and orange fury.

No one answered him.

The crew of the Sea Phantom had risen again.

Bruised, bloodied, and boiling with vengeance.

And far off, beneath the burning wreckage of the Leviathan’s Howl, someone else was climbing back aboard from the shadows—soaked, silent, and ready to finish what he started.