Round Three: Awakening

The mage got a private room—although the succubus also lived there, she was now entirely the mage’s property.
The minotaur stood at the door, doing nothing, but his strong physique ensured that the cowardly sea dogs didn’t dare provoke him. Pippi gained temporary freedom; Captain Jones said he needed a lookout, so Pippi flew around the mast, pretending to carry out his duties while mostly plotting how to escape and devising all sorts of strange schemes. Did the River of Darkness really need a lookout? Was he hoping to see mermaids?
A few days later, the Anger left that desolate shoreline and entered another turbulent branch of the River of Darkness—if anyone were to look from an almost infinitely distant perspective, they would see the river winding its way upward through various distinct worlds—though no one on the Anger realized this, as they lacked divine eyes.
Today, Pippi was dozing off, his tail wrapped around the mast—the Anger actually didn’t need sails; the smelting equipment taking up half of the ship not only produced various armors and weapons but also provided sufficient power.
Stephanie spent most of her time in her own cabin, indifferent to where Captain Jones would take them. The minotaur roared at those sea dogs who got too close, “Don’t disturb the mage’s research!”
But Pippi was almost certain that the minotaur was actually playing with the succubus or being played with by her—giving a succubus a command through magic was one thing, but truly having control over her was another. Though Pippi had only lived for a few hundred years, he had seen many people try to keep a succubus as a pet only to end up as her pet—even demons more powerful than succubi.
Besides, was it fun to play with something that could transform? It was even stupider than Pippi’s dream of becoming a lord of the abyss.
Suddenly, the ship lurched violently, almost turning sideways. Pippi’s tail was pulled straight by the force, and he shouted, “Reefs! Reefs!”
“Shut up! How can there be reefs here? Fly down and check!” Captain Jones shouted angrily, waving his stinger claws from the bridge.
Unwillingly, Pippi flew down to the propeller to see what was causing the ship to run aground—but he immediately flew back up, screaming, “It’s a person! It’s a person!”
Captain Jones had to kick five cowardly sea dogs before he could pull the culprit up.
But then he narrowed his eyes, thinking it might be worth throwing all the ship’s sailors into the River of Darkness.

Pipi was also flying around, examining this thing that had startled him. At first, he thought it was a human being in armor, but upon closer inspection, he realized it was entirely a metal construct—yet it was completely different from anything he had seen before, as it was incredibly intricate and complex. The metal armor covering its entire body fit together seamlessly, with a perfect structure; golden stripes ran throughout its body, and its joints were flexible due to the extremely fine metal structure. Even its face had very distinct human-like features… except for a hole in the chest where the heart should be, as if some component had been removed, revealing several half-metal tubes resembling veins.

“I sense a mysterious and powerful force within this construct.”

Stephanie also appeared, her face somewhat pale.

“You’ve gone too far,” Pipi thought viciously.

“Hmm… Mister Mage, can you repair it?” Jones examined it. “I can cover your travel expenses! This is a great thing… it might even be valuable!”

“I don’t recommend it,” Stephanie said, touching the cold surface of the metal man. “Constructs exist because of their creators and will always obey their masters. This metal construct is so precise and contains strange energy—I can’t even tell what it is… So I think repairing it isn’t a good idea. First, it might not obey your commands, and second, I’m worried its creator might notice. Although it seems to have been destroyed and thrown into the River of Darkness, who knows if its master is still looking for it?”

Jones thought for a while.

“That makes sense! I’m starting to like you! I’ll send you to wherever you want! You brutes! Hurry up! Drag this metal man into the forging room!”

The forging room was filled with smoke.

The Anger Ship temporarily stopped, with all its fuel being directed to the furnace. With the help of magic and fuel, the fire burned at its maximum intensity, spewing flames and heat like a monster ready to receive sacrifices.

The demons tugged at the metal corpse, finding it difficult to disassemble it—almost impossible to even remove a small piece. Impatient, they gave up and stuffed it whole into the furnace.

Stephanie, Pipi, and the succubus watched from the doorway.

“Why is it so slow?” The fire burned for a long time, consuming almost all the ship’s fuel. Several batches of sailors replaced each other to blow air into the furnace, and the flames even turned white, yet there was still no sign of the construct melting.

“We can’t wait!” Captain Jones’s sweat flowed like a stream through the gaps in his armor. Gasping for breath, he shouted angrily, “Take it out and forge it! Hit it hard!”

One of the demons grabbed a long hook. Its skin, pale with gray-blue patches, became wrinkled under the intense heat. It opened its mouth wide, its saliva almost dried up, as it tried to pull the metal corpse out of the fire under the unbearable heat—but as soon as the hook touched the construct, things took a sudden turn for the worse.

A red viper-like serpent shot out from the furnace, wrapping around the poor wretch and pulling him into it. He let out a half-scream before it cut off abruptly—the terrifying heat instantly melted his flesh, turning him into a pile of black charcoal emitting a burnt smell.
“What’s going on!” Jones shouted, drawing his serrated sword, ready to fight. An unbearable stench filled the forging room, as if thousands of years’ worth of foul mud from the bottom of the River of Death had been brought to the surface, forcing Stephanie and the others to retreat in distress, nearly vomiting from the smell.
Flames splashed out from the furnace and spread everywhere. The demons shrieked, filled with anger and fear, as they watched the human figure burning inside the furnace—two faint red glows could be seen through the flames and smoke; those were his eyes.
He crawled out of the furnace, leaving burning flames in his wake with each step. The chain blades circled him once before retracting back into their bodies.
“Kill him!” Jones roared. The demons rushed at him, not only out of obedience but also out of a profound fear—one that surpassed even their fear of death or the power of larger beings.
Pipi flapped his wings and flew high up to the mast; no one paid attention to him now.