Dyle looked through the looking glass and growled in displeasure. He had heard stories about the Van Eltia and its crew, but so far had been spared of ever having to deal with them. Today it seemed his luck had run out. The red ship was an impressive sight to behold, even through the looking glass. However, this was not the time to be impressed. No doubt, their lookout had already spotted their comparable tiny ship, and the pirates were now in hot pursuit if he and the others didn't want to end up as fish food they had to do something.

After putting the looking glass away, Dyle jumped down from the Crow's Nest, landing straight on deck, where his "crewmates" were waiting for him. His new demon body could handle the landing very easily, one of the few good things that came out of his transformation.

"It be worse than we thought," the sailor informed the others. "It be none other than the Aifread Pirates who're coming from us."

Judging by the confused looks he was overall getting, his mates had no idea what he was talking about. The only exception appeared to be Seres, the red-haired Malakhim.

"That is quite troubling indeed," she agreed.

"How so?" Velvet asked with a raised eyebrow.

"The Aifread Pirates are one of the four most notorious pirate crews haunting the seas. They have been a thorn at the side of the Kingdom even before the Abbey rose to power. Aifread and his crew have sunken countless ships, after plundering them of everything that was worth. There is a rumor going around their ship is made of some unknown red wood, which supposedly can even deflect cannonballs."

"Really? Deflect cannonballs?" Rokurou asked.

"It's probably just some made-up story," Velvet said dismissively.

"Well, the stories of their exploits aren't made up," the local lizard informed the others. "There's a pretty high bounty out there for Aifread. He ain't someone to mess around with."

"But he's just a human, right?" Rokurou pointed out. "If we force them into a combat situation, we can easily overwhelm him and everybody else on his ship."

"True enough," Seres agreed. "But that only works if the pirates decide to board us. If they think we're not worth their time, they can simply sink us from afar, and there's nothing we could do about it."

The gravity of their current situation slowly sunk in with everyone. Magilou let out an overdramatic sigh and slumped her body forward until her fingertips almost reached the tip of her feet. "Can we ever catch a break? We're just a bunch of prison escapees running for our lives. Even we deserve a vacation now and then."

Minato tactfully did not point out that they had had a small break on the island they just escaped from and instead focused his energies on trying to find a way out of this situation. Unfortunately, his experience at sea was practically nonexistent. As such, he had a hard time coming up with a valid idea. Luckily for him, it seemed Velvet had come up with something.

"How far away are we from the mainland?" she asked Dyle directly.

The lizard-man crossed his arms and looked into the sky. "Hmph. A couple of hours if we're lucky with the wind. Usually, I would give us another day and a half. But it doesn't matter. They will have long caught up with us before we get there."

"And smaller islands? Anywhere we can dock and force them to follow us would be good," the raven-haired woman inquired.

"Nope, too far away from where we are," the sailor shook his head. "I'll be frank. Our best hope is to raise the white flag and hope they have enough manners not to shoot us. I mean," he chuckled dryly "the only way we could get away is… I dunno. They would have to have some rotten luck."

"Like a sea monster attacking them?" Minato asked, looking over the railing.

"Hehe, I guess that would count," the lizard chuckled again. "But there's no way that would happen."

"Are you sure?" Minato asked and pointed with his finger into the open sea. The others followed the way he was looking and had their collective jaws hit the deck. A couple of miles away from their position, a sea monster just so happens to be on its merry way. And judging by the course it was taking, it would possibly come into contact with the Van Eltia.

Dyle quickly took out his looking glass and made some mental calculations. "By Davy Jones' Locker…" the lizard muttered in disbelief.

"Are you for real?!" Magilou exclaimed, for once being not overdramatic, because one could not be dramatic enough for this particular stroke of luck.

"Is this… some sort of mirage? Only on the sea?" the local samurai asked.

"No," Malak number 4 of all people answered. "That is a daemon known as a Leviathan," he explained with an emotionless voice. "It is categorized as being too dangerous to face, so it is mostly left alone. It lives in the far northern seas and only comes further south on infrequent occasions."

"I have heard stories about this beast," Seres' voice was thin. "But only hearsay and rumors. What a beast."

"Ever thought about going into gambling?" Minato asked his lizard companion. "Because to me, it looks like you have some divination ability."

After the crew of the "borrowed" abbey ship had collected their jaws off the ground, they began using their highly unusual luck. They put as much distance between themselves and the Van Eltia as possible. This was not because they feared the pirates. But instead, they didn't want to have to deal with the Leviathan. Who knows? Once it was done with the pirates, it might turn around and decided to play with the prison escapees.

Hours passed. Seeing as the small Malakhim who still had a number as his name wasn't of any use as physical labor, Velvet had put him in the crow's nest. She instructed him to tell them if the monster or possible, any other ships were approaching them.

There wasn't much an inexperienced crew like them could do. All that was possible for them was to readjust the sails, catching the wind and leave the steering to Dyle. Everyone, aside from the lizard, found themselves watching the waves most of the time, which was only interrupted by the occasional order the sailor gave.

At some point in time, Rokurou decided to strike up a conversation with Velvet, the two of them standing at the front of the ship.

"You know, I feel a little bad for the pirates. There's no way they stand a chance against a beast like that."

"Why should we care?" Velvet shrugged.

"Er, I guess we don't have to. I can't help but feel bad for them. What rotten luck."

"What, do you want to fight this thing? If what the Malak said is true, then even the exorcists have been avoiding this thing. Which means it must be strong."

"I don't mind fighting strong opponents. What better way is there to become stronger than to fight strong opponents?" the male demon argued.

"That is true. But how do you plan on fighting that thing when it takes out the only ground you can stand on? Like this ship?"

"Oh… yeah. That would be a problem."

Velvet shook her head. "You are very eager to get into a fight," she noted.

Rokurou smiled. "I've always enjoyed fighting, even before I became a demon. And now, well, I'm war-demon. I get more easily excited for battles, especially when I get the chance to face a tough opponent."

"I hope that doesn't mean you will lose control in the heat of the moment."

"Nah, don't worry. Self-control was part of my training. I'm a bit looser now than I was before, but I am still in control of myself."

Meanwhile, on the other end of the ship, Seres was holding Minato's Evoker, eyeing the unknown piece of technology suspiciously.

"So, if I understand this correctly. The reason this artifact is shaped like a blunderbuss is to simulate a life and death situation."

"Basically," Minato nodded. "The way I understand it is that it is easier to summon a Persona when you're in a stressful situation. And what is more stressful than coming face to face with immediate death?" he asked.

"I see," Seres nodded. "Unorthodox, but if it works, I can see why the Evoker was designed in such a way. Although, I have never seen any gun weapon shaped in a way such as this. It makes it look more elegant than the usual."

Minato chuckled. "I guess the one who came up with the concept, though it might as well look good."

"Hmm…" Seres eyed the artifact from every angle for a couple of seconds, making a mental note of the "SEES" engraving. "May I?" she asked, already holding it partway towards her head.

Minato thought about it for a moment. It shouldn't work, considering the entire concept of personas was new to the people in this world. Besides, even by the off chance that Seres turned out to be a persona user, it might be helpful in the long run. Well, he thought the long term, even though he was still thoroughly planning on ditching these people as soon as it was safe to do so.

"Sure," the boy eventually answered.

Having received the go-ahead, Seres slowly raised the fake gun against the side of her head. The redhead was half-expecting to feel something that would indicate magic being afoot, something like a small tingle. But there was nothing. And truth to be told, Seres wasn't feeling particularly nervous about pulling the trigger. The sheer knowledge that she wasn't holding a real weapon against her head was enough for her to keep a calm mind. As such, it came to no surprise when the only thing that came from pulling the trigger was an audible click.

Seres lowered the Evoker and handed it back to Minato. "So much for this experiment," she commented.

"To be fair, the power is supposed to be incredibly rare. I would have been surprised to see a persona coming out of you." Minato accepted the Evoker back and secured it in its holster.

"Speaking of Personas, what I have meant to ask-"

"I can see a ship!" The small, blonde Malakhim suddenly shouted from above. Immediately the little boy had everyone's attention. On deck, everybody looked up to see the boy eyeing the sea with the spyglass he got from Dyle.

"A ship lad?!" the lizard-demon shouted. "What kind of ship?! And what kind of flag are they floating?!"

"I don't recognize the ship class!" The boy shouted in his monotone tone. "It's red and has more sails than usual. And it has a pirate flag on top of its mast!"

"The Van Eltia?!" Dyle shouted in surprise and horror.

"Say what?!" Magilou shouted. "I thought they got eaten by a sea monster!" The blonde woman shouted angrily. "Hey, boy! Are you sure you aren't color blind?!" she cried upwards.

"No, I am not! I also do not see the Leviathan!"

Being the skeptical woman she was, Velvet quickly climbed up the crow's nest and practically yanked the looking glass away from the Malak.

"Give me that!"

Unfortunately, as it turned out, the Malak had been right with the observation. There was a red ship in the distance, still a few miles away. As it just so happened, she was directly looking at a pirate who had his spyglass pointed in her direction. The demon and pirate made eye-contact. This was proven by the pirate waving at Velvet and giving her a mocking grin.

"Damn," she cursed and thrust the glass back into the blonde's boy's hands. "Keep an eye on them!" she ordered and jumped down to the deck.

"It's them alright," she told the others. "Their ship looks surprisingly undamaged."

"What? Are you telling me the sea monster ignored them?" Magilou asked in disbelief.

"Never mind the monster. We need a strategy," Minato interjected. "We have the same problem as before. We stand no chance in open sea combat."

"How close are we to land?" Seres asked Dyle, who hissed in annoyance.

"Hard to say, but I reckon we made good headway. Hey, boy! Can ye see the coast anywhere?!" the lizard shouted up to the Malak. The boy looked around for half a minute, checking every direction before stopping all of a sudden.

"I can see some black spots in starboard direction!" he reported.

"I reckon this be our best chance," Dyle said and turned the rudder in the right direction.

"Let's just hope the Van Eltia doesn't catch up to us until then," Seres stated, looking in the direction of their pursuers.

The following hour was a tense one on the ship. Minato had joined the small Malak on lookout duty, occasionally asking for the looking glass and giving Dyle updates on their current position relative to the pirates and the mainland. It was at this time that the persona-user found out how tough Fuuka's job must have been keeping tabs on the surroundings during a day of exploration.

Inevitably, the Van Eltia came into view even for the people on deck. With the enemy ship being so close, Minato could finally make a full assessment of the enemy they were about to face. Miraculously, the ship did indeed not suffer any damages from their encounter with the sea creature. Maybe the Leviathan did ignore the pirates? Or did they outrun the beast? Whatever scenario held true, it didn't change the fact that the pirates were coming.

Down below, Minato could see everyone preparing in their way for the inevitable battle. Rokurou polished his twin-blades, Velvet was making some adjustments to her gauntlet, Dyle was busy steering the ship, Seres was watching the approaching pirates and Magilou…

Well, she wasn't doing anything in particular. She was the only non-combatant in their group and couldn't do much to prepare. She didn't have any weapons on her and couldn't use any spells, despite being a self-proclaimed witch. Minato believed she was a con-artist of some sort and got into trouble with the wrong people, hence her landing inside a prison filled with demons.

There was also the little Malakhim standing right next to Minato. The teenager wasn't sure what to think of the poor blonde boy. So far, the boy had been docile and none-hostile to everyone else. He was following orders to a frightening literal degree. If Seres was to be believed, this was due to the indoctrination of the exorcists. Given that Seres was a free-thinking Malak, did that mean that the boy could be free as well?

Valid questions, but sadly not something the teenager had time to worry about. He took out his sword, Lucifer's Blade, and inspected it. As expected, it didn't show any signs of wear and tear at all. None of his persona weapons ever had. And this particular sword was made with one of the strongest personas he had ever wielded: the Fallen Star from the Christian Religion. The sword hummed a little to Minato's thoughts. Sometimes the teenager wondered if the personas turned into weapons were in some way still alive.

The sudden sound of cannon fire violently brought the blue-haired boy out of his thoughts. A loud splash accompanied the shot. The cannonball had missed their ship by a fair margin, but no doubt, the pirates were already readjusting their aim.

"Curses! They're already in firing range!" Minato heard Dyle shout.

"That is a remarkable range," Seres commented.

More shots were fired from the pirate ship, luckily all of them missing.

"Hey, boys! How far away are we from land?!" Dyle shouted upwards.

"A couple of miles?!" Minato answered unsurely after checking. "It's hard to tell…"

"Drat…" Dyle muttered something under his breath. "That's what I get for teaming up with a bunch of landlubbers…"

Despite consistently getting shot at from the Van Eltia, the group of misfits managed to get on land successfully. Granted, they practically crashed the ship against a reef in doing so, but they had no time to check on an excellent docking spot. Surprisingly, none of the cannon shots hit their own ships. This either meant that the pirates had poor aim or that they wanted to take the ship intact. The second option appeared to be the right one, as the pirates followed the escapees on land.

Velvet and her cohorts had placed themselves on a plateau with cliffs behind their back. The pirates were in front of them, waving around with their sabers and generally making a ruckus. One pirate that had a yellow bird on his head (?) stepped forward and said: "Huh! Well, look at that. They really are a buncha daemons. That works in our favor."

"You knowingly pick fights with daemons?" Rokurou asked. "Must have a death wish," he thought aloud. "You're in trouble now that we're on land."

"Wipe them out Number 2," Velvet ordered the small Malak to which he nodded. Seres glanced at the black-haired woman from the corner of her eyes.

"Whoa there! We're not the one you'll be fighting," the pirate with the bird on his head exclaimed, holding his arms in a none threatening manner.

As if on cue, a blonde man wearing a black coat stepped forward. He looked very sure of himself, despite being face to face with daemons. "It'll be me," he said in a grave tone. The small Malak then proceeded to attack the pirate with papers. To everyone's surprise, a magic circle appeared around the pirate and rock shot out of the ground, deflecting the flying papers.

"A Malak?" Velvet and Seres asked at the same time.

"I'm starting to believe the exorcists aren't all that good at enslaving Malakhim," Minato muttered.

"No," the Malak Pirate disagreed, shaking his arm. A bracelet appeared from beneath the trench coat, settling around his wrist. "I am the reaper." And out of nowhere, he charged at the group with his fists.

Despite being taken slightly by surprise, Rokurou blocked the strike and countered with his blades. The self-proclaimed reaper dodged, but instead of going after Rokurou, he charged at Velvet, who greeted him with her foot blades.

Seres took the smaller Malak by the hand and positioned him and herself a little away. The two started charging various spells, while Minato found himself frown into the ensuing melee.

"Why are you attacking us?" Minato asked, dodging a couple of strikes. "Malak or not, you can't take us all on."

The only answer the blue-haired boy got came in the form of the pirate swinging his fists from afar. This was followed by what appeared like small yellow shockwaves, each striking Minato's chest. "Gagh!" The teenager felt like he had just gotten hit in the chest by some big rocks. Luckily for him, the pirate had to divide his attention away from the boy and towards the two Malakhim, as they were shooting spells.

He dodged them by rolling backward and was immediately greeted by Rokurou's sword, forcing him to roll away again. Only then, he came face to face with Velvet, who unleashed a flurry of slashes onto the pirate. He held up his arms instinctively and got some pretty nasty cuts on them. Nevertheless, he tried to counterattack, only to find Minato coming up from behind, forcing him to abandon his efforts.

All in all, it was a sad affair. Despite being a Malak, the pirate was outmatched. When he wasn't dodging one of the many blades, he had to worry about incoming shots of fire, light, and darkness from the two other Malaks standing at a distance. He was being chased around the field with barely a chance of countering.

The proverbial nail in the coffin came in the form of Minato summoning Lilim to the field of battle. The succubus-like persona cast a sleeping spell on the pirate. Despite having bad experiences with status inducing spells, this one hit dead-on, causing the blonde pirate to fall to the ground and start snoring very loudly.

Pirates and none pirates alike were baffled at this sudden turn of events but quickly realized who was at fault for this.

"Well, that was anti-climatic," Rokurou stated.