When the pirate he had thought was dead suddenly lunged up from the ground to slam him into the thick support post, Oliver realized his mistake: he was showboating. While not as dangerous as a proper monologue, letting himself be distracted at all when out numbered as he was was a terrible choice... Regardless of how much he enjoyed it.

He enjoyed surviving more.

His pistol, jarred from his hand by the impact, clattered away across the gun deck. With the remaining pirates rushing forward to attack- and his sword arm trapped against his body by the wounded pirate- Oliver knew that he needed to act quickly.

Pulling one of his knives from the Warehouse, he plunged it into the Devil's neck before ripping it out. Hot, arterial blood sprayed across his face- but was quickly absorbed by his living armor, Lita, who almost seemed to vibrate in pleasure at the unexpected meal. The pirate's arms loosened their grip, hands rising as if to staunch the flow of blood, as shock and surprise filled his eyes. Not that it mattered; while not instantly fatal, Oliver knew that his ambusher would bleed out within minutes.

Of course, he wasn't going to risk another surprise.

Pushing off the stunned Devil, he lashed out with his sword in a disemboweling strike. He ignored the horror that filled his target's eyes as they collapsed, turning his attention to the rushing mob of Devils. His very brief grapple had led him to an alarming realization: the Devils were as strong as he was, and, with their greater mass- and numbers- he was at a distinct disadvantage.

Especially in such close quarters, where his greater speed and agility were restricted.

Needing to at least stall the mob before they reached him, Oliver reached into his Warehouse once more... and dropped the cannon he had just pilfered directly in their path. Unable to stop in time to avoid his newest surprise, the closest Devils' legs slammed into the cannon, one of them toppling over it head first- only to immediately loose his head to Oliver's sword. Blade flicking out in rapid thrusts as the pirates started to climb over the large obstruction, another pirate fell unmoving, heart pierced through, as the others quickly backed away...

All with the magic wielding Demon yelling at them from the back.

"Move out of the way you idiots! You're blocking my magic!"

A wicked grin stretched across Oliver's face at their lack of coordination. He knew full well the limits of some spells- especially projectile spells like the wind blade used by the Demon. With so many bodies in the way, it would be difficult to aim... and it would completely nullify any area of effect attacks- unless he was willing to kill his own allies as well.

Oliver wasn't willing to make any assumptions though.

With the pirates backing away, he moved forward to keep them engaged. Slapping a hand on the cannon, it disappeared into the Warehouse once more- along with his sword. With the bit of open area available, his halberd appeared in hand and he thrust it forward, skewering another pirate. His smile turned mocking as his enemies pushed forward, trying to get inside the reach of the heavy polearm... only for it to disappear again, replaced by his sword and dagger once more.

A triumphant squeak, and the flash of blue-green scales, were nearly lost in the chaos. But, out of the corner of his eye, Oliver saw his companion pounce...

On his lost pistol.

"This is what I get for letting you hang out with Ed while he plays video games." Oliver sighed, already diving for cover as Henrietta awkwardly stood on her back two legs, her middle pair of legs wrapped around the guns grip... and one of her front paws on the trigger.

Henrietta's triumphant squeak turned to panic as she pulled the trigger and was sent tumbling.

Oliver stared in disbelief as the tiny squirrel flew across the deck, every flip and roll causing her to jerk the trigger again- and every bullet fired changing her trajectory once more. The already chaotic atmosphere spiked to a higher degree as bullet after bullet flew in random directions, some ricocheting off of cannons, while others found their way into the flesh of enemies...

And allies.

Despite Lita working to protect him and trying to blunt the impact, Oliver grunted in pain as the bullet pierced his thigh. Gritting his teeth, he quickly focused on channeling Lesser Rejuvenation into himself.

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Lesser Rejuvenation: Infuses the target with a seed of life attuned mana. This seed pulses a small amount of healing energy throughout the target every two seconds for ten second, mending wounds, promoting increased production of blood, and attempting to knit broken bones back together. Mana cost=20 (Caution: This spell only functions as described on living, organic targets. Life attuned mana conflicts with necrotic mana. If used on an Undead target, this spell will instead cause damage.)

As the healing magic went to work on his wound, the pistol fell silent, it's last bullet fired, and Henrietta tumbled to a stop- somehow closer to Oliver than the pirates that still cowered from the surprising onslaught. Quickly snatching up the dazed squirrel- and his pistol- he stored them away once more and turned to survey the chaos.

While he couldn't find Chegor among the scattered pirates, the Demon mage still stood to the back, whatever protective magic he used having rendered the gun fire ineffective against him.

"I've got you now." The Demon smirked as he slowly- dramatically- raised his hand, intent on finishing off the person that was so close to ruining the job he took on...

And another realization dawned on Oliver: while the mage knew about Oliver's guns, and at least some of what he had done to the other pirates he face... the asshole didn't know that Oliver had magic too...

Either that, or he did know, and his shield would protect against magic too.

"Fuck it." Oliver snarled, channeling his mana into his hand. The Demon's eyes widened in surprise and alarm at the sight of the forming magic... But it was already too late, as Oliver's arm shot forward, launching the spell at the smug mage. Flinching as the spell impacted his chest, the Demon was surprised once more at the lack of pain. Opening his eyes, he stared in disbelief at the sticky strands that stretched out all around him- and to him.

Web: Weave mana into threads of sticky web to cover an area, entangling everything within. Range= 5 feet per point of Intelligence(100 feet). Area of Effect= 1 foot per point of Intelligence(20 feet) diameter sphere around the point of impact(walls and other obstructions my limit the affected area). Entangles people and objects caught within the area. Web strength is determined by the caster's Intelligence. Targets with a higher Strength have a chance to break Web's entangling effect. Targets with a higher Agility have a chance to evade Web's entangling effect. As the Web is a solid construct, it can be target by attacks and damaged or destroyed. (WARNING: Web is highly flammable!) Mana cost= 40

"Seriously? A Web?" The Demon snarked, his smug look returning. "I mean, it is good for running away... But maybe you should have learned a better spell."

Oliver ignored the mage's taunts- and his attempt to struggle free of the Web- as he was already focused on another spell, the Web spell simply being a test of whether magic would go through his opponents shield... and as a cover for his escape if it didn't.

Of course, it wasn't a conclusive test- maybe the shield would still block a targeted projectile spell, but not something area of effect? Without knowing for sure, Oliver was left with a choice: risk trying a projectile spell? Or stick with the AoE?

Unfortunately, his only AoE spell was Fireball.

On the gun deck. That had bags of black powder scattered around it after the chaotic fight.

Fireball: Condense threads of fire attuned mana into a sphere before launching it towards the target where it explodes, dealing damage in an area. Range= 5 feet per point of Intelligence(100 feet). Area of Effect= 1 foot per point of Intelligence(20 feet) diameter sphere around the point of impact(walls and other obstructions may limit the affected area). Deals fire based damage to everything within the area, and has a small chance to set them on fire. Mana Cost= 40

Fortunately for Oliver- and unfortunate for the pirates- Gary was a history buff, and took great pleasure in telling his friend everything he knew about the Golden Age of Sail.

The powder hold- where the ship normally stored its black powder when not in use- was always located deep within the ship, below the water line. This was to protect it from cannon fire accidentally setting off the powder and causing severe damage to the ship.

But black powder on its own was not known for its ability to damage objects or structure; the main reasons Oliver's attack on the powder hold of the other ship had worked was due to the quantity of powder present, and the fact that the explosion was at the center of the ship, causing the whole thing to pop like an overworked pressure cooker...

The small bags of black powder present on the gun deck would still cause some damage, and like throw around a good bit of shrapnel in the form of debris... But it shouldn't be enough to destroy the ship- or do much damage to Oliver at the distance he stood.

He was pretty sure, at least.

Oliver didn't take the time to appreciate the Demon Mage's look of horror as the ball of fire flew through the air, as he had already thrown himself to the floor- and covered himself with the body of the disemboweled pirate, just for an added layer of protection.

Even if he was well out of range of the Fireball itself, and fairly confident he was safe from the black powder that was likely to explode, he wasn't taking a chance with it.

The ship rocked as a concussive boom echoed out, followed immediately by several smaller, rapid explosions that sounded like firecrackers by comparison. Shouts of alarm came from the deck above, and screams of pain from the Devils caught up on the conflagration...

But none of that mattered to Oliver as he picked himself up from the floor. Only the charred remains of the winged menace mattered.

That, and the absence of the Pirate Captain, Chegor- but Oliver was less worried about one missing pirate than he had been about his spell slinging opponent.

"Well, now that I don't have to deal with that asshole anymore..." Oliver muttered into the sudden stillness of the gun deck, ears ringing from the explosions as he pulled out a fresh pistol. "I can see about disabling this ship so we can get out of here."

"Maybe without blowing anything else up..."

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