Unheroic Life of a Certain Cape-Chapter 47 Serpent’s Wrath

Chapter 47 Serpent’s Wrath
The Captain collapsed flat on his back, the sound of his body hitting the deck sharp in the still air. For a moment, I thought it was over. Then, with a stiff, puppet-like motion, he rose to his feet again, unnaturally straight, as if the bullet in his forehead had been nothing more than a trick of the light. His eyes locked onto mine, cold and strangely calm. “You shouldn’t have done that,” he said, voice dry as old wood. “You shouldn’t have done that,” he said again, and then again. “You shouldn’t have done that.”
“I can explain,” I said, hand half-raised, fingers still trembling from the spring-loaded mechanism hidden in my sleeve. My words sounded weak, pathetic even, carried away by the cold sea breeze that smelled like salt and rust.
“No, you can’t,” the Captain said, the faintest trace of a smile curling the edges of his lips. Then, without a hint of resistance, he leaned backward and let himself tip over the side of the boat. The splash echoed sharply, water spraying my face as I chased after him.
My stomach dropped. I fucked up.
The thought burned through my mind as I stared at the ripples where he had fallen, the dark surface already smoothing out as if erasing the evidence. My pulse thundered in my ears, each beat louder than the lapping waves against the hull. My mind flashed with everything I knew… everything the forums and whispered news threads had ever said about the Captain of Seamark. They called him unkillable, a relic of an older era of violence that even time couldn’t erase. Shifter-9. Longevity unclassified. A man who survived wars, coups, and entire gangs collapsing around him, only to rise again every single time.
The boat rocked violently under my feet. I staggered, snapping my gaze to the water. The surface, calm a moment ago, erupted.
From the depths, something massive surged upward. A shadow first, dark and impossibly large, followed by the glint of wet, glistening scales catching the sunlight in dazzling streaks. The serpent exploded from the sea, water cascading down its bus-wide girth as it towered over me, its body stretching endlessly like a nightmare drawn from an ocean trench.
Its jaws opened wide enough to swallow the boat whole, the hollow roar vibrating the very air around me. My legs moved before my brain caught up, instincts screaming at me to survive. The serpent crashed down, its body slamming against the deck, coiling with deliberate, crushing strength. Wood groaned under the pressure, planks splintering as the boat lurched violently to one side.
“Shit,” I hissed, already leaping forward, using the serpent’s ridged body as footing. My boots slammed against the slick, scaly surface, my balance wavering but holding. The creature’s muscles tensed under me, a living, breathing mass of raw power that radiated heat even through its wet skin.
The boat groaned once more, then gave way, shattering under the pressure of the creature’s weight. Splintered wood and shattered fragments spun in the air around me as the serpent plunged back into the sea, dragging the remains of the vessel with it. The force of its dive nearly ripped me free, but I anchored myself with a practiced motion, my right wrist snapping forward as the grappling hook launched with a clean, metallic hiss.
The hook embedded deep into the serpent’s scales, catching with a satisfying thunk. I phased my grappling hook at the last second to the scale, then solidified it, letting the tether lock against something inside the creature. The line held fast.
Water swallowed the world around me, a cold, suffocating rush as I pressed my shoes against the serpent’s slick body, steadying myself. Every muscle in my body screamed as we dove deeper, faster, the surface vanishing above in a blur of dark blue and frothing bubbles.
The serpent writhed, twisting and coiling with an almost unnatural awareness of my presence. Every sudden jerk of its massive body sent me skidding across its slick scales, but I held on, my grappling line digging into my gloves. My left sleeve mechanism jammed with a sharp snap, the small gun popping free and vanishing into the dark water below. Now, with both hands free, I grabbed the line and hauled myself closer, chest pressing against the living wall of muscle and scales.
It didn’t matter. The serpent wasn’t interested in playing along with me. Its body convulsed violently, like a hurricane tearing through the depths. The shift in water pressure crushed my ears, sharp pain stabbing through my skull. Then I saw it… sparks. Thin streaks of blue-white lightning danced across its scales, crackling like storm clouds tearing through the ocean itself.
The first zap ripped through me like a thousand knives, every muscle locking at once. My teeth clamped down hard as a guttural scream clawed up my throat, muted by the water flooding past my mask. Every nerve was on fire, screaming for release, for escape, for anything but this unbearable pain.
I knew I’d die if I held on.
But I didn’t let the currents have me. Instead, I did the only thing I could. I phased.
The world warped as I slid through the serpent’s outer scales, my body moving past layers of muscle and flesh until everything around me turned into crushing darkness. My lungs screamed against the mounting pressure, but I kept my focus sharp.
Thank god my gear was waterproof.
My fingers found the trigger on my utility belt, feeling the cold, familiar click as the C4 charges armed themselves. The mechanism in my jacket hummed faintly as the signal connected, linking the bomb vest. The grenades clinked softly against one another as I unpinned them, one by one, each sharp click echoing through my skull like a countdown.
Fine control was everything. I phased through the bombs, letting them pass through my body as I slipped out of my own equipment. The weight vanished, leaving me in nothing but my pants, my undershirt, my shoes, and the mask that clung tightly to my face.
Then the pain came.
White-hot agony tore through me as my intangibility faltered, the strain of too much power, too much pressure. My vision blurred, the black waters closing in from all directions. I blinked hard, trying to steady myself, and the serpent was there… writhing and coiling in the murky depths.
It moved like a storm given flesh, circling me in the water, its serpentine body weaving patterns I couldn’t follow. The rage in its eyes burned like molten gold as it locked onto me. The water trembled around its colossal form as it charged, mouth wide, jagged teeth glinting in the dim filtered light.
Lightning sparked again, dancing across its scales, freezing the water around me. My muscles locked. My breath hitched. I couldn’t move.
Then…
BOOM!
The world was ripped apart. The explosion was deafening, a thunderous roar that turned the ocean into a field of rupturing shockwaves. Heat and pressure slammed into me all at once, hurling me backward through the water like a rag doll. My body twisted uncontrollably, my head snapping back against the surge, white streaks flashing across my vision.
The last thing I saw was the serpent, its body shattering into chaos, fragments of scales and bone spiraling into the deep, before the blackness swallowed me whole.
And then, nothing.
Death wasn’t as cold as I thought it would be.
It was quiet. Still. The kind of silence that felt like floating endlessly, where there was no up, no down, just an eternal weightlessness. If this was dying, then maybe the stories about pain and agony had been exaggerated. Or maybe I was too far gone to feel any of it. For a moment, I almost accepted it. Maybe this was what peace was supposed to feel like… drifting, disconnected, and fading into nothing.
But then, something broke through the stillness.
“Nick...”
It was soft, feminine, shaking, and desperate.
“Nick, wake up. I’m here.”
The voice cracked, trembling on the edge of a sob.
“It isn’t your time yet.”
The sound cut through the emptiness like a knife, raw emotion pulling me back toward something… someone. I could almost feel the tears woven into her words, a quiet sob that ached with desperation.
Then something thumped against my chest, steady, rhythmic, and almost painful. My ribs groaned with the pressure, and I realized it wasn’t my heart that stopped. It was someone forcing it to keep going.
Then, soft lips pressed against mine.
The shock of it dragged me out of the void. My eyes snapped open, vision blurring against the harsh light reflecting off the water. The first thing I saw was her eyes… emerald, bright and impossibly clear, flecked with hints of blue that caught the sun and twisted it into something unreal.
I shoved her aside instinctively, coughing hard as I gagged, saltwater spewing from my lungs. My body shook with every ragged breath, my throat raw from screaming underwater, even though I didn’t remember screaming. My sleeves were torn to shreds. My gloves were gone. Every muscle screamed like I’d been dragged through a grinder. My porcelain mask, the one I never let anyone see me without, was missing, probably lost to the sea.
“Nick!”
The word broke as Silver threw herself at me, her arms wrapping tight around my shoulders, almost too tight, like she needed to convince herself I was solid and alive. Her silver hair clung to my cheek, soaked and plastered against her face. Her voice cracked into a whisper as she trembled against me.
“Oh, I don’t know what I would do without you.”
I blinked past the haze, confusion fogging every thought as I rasped, “How… how did you find me?”
She pulled back just enough to look me in the eyes, her gaze unwavering, soft but sharp in that way only Silver could manage.
“We are connected, silly,” she said, her lips curving into a tired but relieved smile. “Of course I know how to look for you.”
Something in my chest loosened, the knot of fear easing just enough for me to return her hug. My arms slid around her as she helped me sit up, the world spinning wildly around me. My head throbbed like a war drum, but I managed to rasp, “What… happened?”
Silver’s smile faltered, replaced by something grim. She held my gaze, unflinching, before answering.
“You just declared war on Seamark.”
I froze. My breath caught in my throat. Then, because there was nothing else to say, I muttered, “Oh… fuck me.”