I head below deck and to my cabin while the Captain and crew continue towards the bay. Once I arrive I try to open the door only to find it's locked.

I knock on the door firmly a few times. "Twilight? It's me Damien, open the door," I call out to the occupants.

I hear a gasp and something being moved before the door opens with Twilight standing there with a sword in her hands.

"Damien!" she shouts and hugs me. "What happened? A gryphon and zebra wanted to take us, something about selling us as exotic slaves..." she tells me with tears in her eyes.

I pat her on the head gently. "Don't worry, it's all taken care of now," I reply and look to Fluttershy and Angel. The hellhare is breathing heavily with a blood soaked cloth pressed to his side.

I gently pry Twilight off me and walk over to the distraught thestral. "He'll be fine, Fluttershy," I tell her and take the demonic rabbit from her. I remove the cloth and grimace as the wound is deep, a lesser demon won't survive this for long even with extra energy to help the healing process. Seems like I have no choice but to make him at least a deamon to save him, but will he survive the process?

"Stronger... make, me... stronger!" the hellhare tells me with a look of self hatred in his eyes.

But then again, with the willpower he seems to have he might just survive it. "Are you sure? There's a high chance you may not survive the amount of energy I'll have to give you," I warn him.

His eyes harden as he grins. "I... risk it," he replies, determined to go through with it.

I glance at his owner who's silently crying with Twilight hugging her.

I frown and look back to the hellhare with respect for his resolve. "Very well," I reply and place my hand on his back before pouring my energy into him with the goal of making him a deamon.

Unlike last time where he withstood the pain easily, this time he screams loudly as his bones and muscles grow again making him now six foot three inches tall, he retains his general shape but his eyes look sharper and bone seems to grow out of his skin into what look like plates across his shoulders, forearms, back and chest. His horns grow longer as well as his claws.

The wound closes until all that's left is a furless scar. It also seems he has passed out from the pain as well.

"Angel?" Fluttershy asks weakly with tears still streaming down her face, the hellhare that once was small enough to hold is now taller than her.

I keep my hand on him and feel the energy flowing through him. It's stable and he's now a deamon. "Relax, he just passed out. The wound has healed and he's now a deamon," I tell the thestral and stand up.

I walk over to the two pirate corpses and drag them out of the room while Twilight continues to soothe Fluttershy.

Walking up on the deck I see Shining giving Kira a slight glare while Ironhoof is talking with the other minotaur who looks unsure about something. Reaching the rails I toss the bodies overboard and then walk over to the others.

"Alright then, let's get ready to go so Jock and the crew can leave," I announce and turn to the gryphon captain. "Jock, I'm taking the smaller ship, get whatever you need from it and then get going," I tell him and he nodded before ordering his crew to transfer the cargo and food over.

He then turns to me with a smile. "Thanks for protecting us, even if it doesn't mean much to you," he tells me.

I chuckle before leaving to make sure we have everything we need.

It takes an hour to move everything and it appears there's a commotion happening at the bay. I pinch a spyglass from one of the crew and look to see figures running about manning cannons and ballista on top of the natural rocky wall surrounding the bay.

I scoff and look to the others. "Desire, Selene, and Luna, come with me and destroy those cannons and ballista, leave the ones manning them alive for now," I tell them.

Desire jumps happily at the chance to destroy them while the sisters merely nodded.

"What about us?" Ironhoof asks gesturing to himself, Kira, Scarlet, Shining, and the minotaur.

"Get the smaller ship ready for us to pull to the bay," I reply and take off with the others close behind.

It takes a few minutes but we reach the bay and look around from the air; most of the buildings are made from wrecked ships or small shacks. The pirates here look up at us with scowls and a few fearful after witnessing what we did to their ships.

"Desire with me, Selene and Luna take the left side!" I order them and we split up.

I use my darkfire to melt the cannons while Desire throws energy blades at the ballista, cutting off their bow limbs and ropes. We meet the sisters at the middle of the bay and look at our handy work; all of the artillery defences have been destroyed so we head back to the smaller ship while Jock is sailing away towards Talonsport on the larger ship.

"We all ready then? The moment we land, there will be a fight. Gather some planks and nails to build makeshift shields since they have bows, just an arrow to your heart is enough to kill you, so I want you all prepared for a long fight," I tell them seriously.

They do so without question as Shining rips the deck apart bare handed and lines the boards up into crude shields, Ironhoof and Scarlet hammer nails into the boards to keep them together along with grips from the door handles below deck to hold them. Shining and Twilight then use their magic to fashion crude iron armour from whatever metal they can get on the ship for Ironhoof for added protection as he'll be our meat shield. Doesn't look very flattering but it'll protect his torso and head.

It takes ten minutes but they all apart from me, Desire, and the alicorns have wooden shields.

"Alright, We'll pull the ship to port, the moment we land, I want you, Blackhide to guide us to this Pirate King's place," I say and then order the ghoul.

"Fine, it's the largest ship in the bay at the very back," he replies angrily that he can't even resist.

"Then let's go say hello," I say with a grin before taking off with my wife and the alicorns, pulling ropes attached to the ship towards the bay.

What greets us is a large group of three-hundred or so pirates all armed with weapons, both blades and bows.

"Well well, what do we have here?" I taunt and land on the dock of the bay. The others disembark from the ship where Desire is beside me while Twilight and Fluttershy hide behind Angel, Selene, and Luna. Ironhoof, Scarlet, the submissive looking minotaur, and Kira are behind me while Shining is beside his sister with a plank shield and a sabre in his hands.

"You will pay dearly for destroying our ships!" one of the pony pirates tells us.

I laugh at him as Desire speaks up. "Oh stop being such a foal, we left two of them intact!" she replies and huffs.

"Keep your muzzle shut wench!" a gryphon tells her, making me stop laughing and glare at him.

I launch a tendril at him with my left hand and choke his neck before pulling him to me and punch into his gut with my right. I grip as much of his innards as possible and rip out a kidney, his intestines and his liver. Some others drop out with them onto the dock planks staining them red as I also drop the guts in my hand.

I growl as I toss the corpse into the sea for the fish and glare at the others who look horrified. "Anyone else wish to disrespect my wife?" I ask them coldly. I ignore the slight moan Desire gives off as she loves it when I kill those who insult her.

About fifty of the pirates with bows aim at us and I just smirk. "Shining, a shield if you will," I order him and he uses both his pony and demonic magic to erect a large pink and red dome around us before the archers let loose their arrows which get deflected easily by it.

"Ironhoof? Which way to the King's place?" I ask the balrog who points to the large gallon at the back of the bay. "I see, care to make a path please?" I order and he grunts with a smirk.

"It would be my pleasure," he replies and places both of his plank shields in front of him. He then roars out before charging into the pirates knocking them easily aside while ignoring the small cuts he's receiving which heal quickly.

We follow behind the balrog as Shining keeps the dome up around us. The pirates try to break through it but don't even leave a scratch, it's so pitiful that none of these races are stronger than a deamon... except dragons and the alicorns.

We just casually stroll through the bay where the pirates are shouting at us and still trying to at least scratch the shield, the sound of a cannon going off echoes throughout the bay as the shield cracks from the cannonball's impact.

Twilight then adds her magic to the shield adding more red along with a purple colour swirling in it. The crack repairs itself before another cannon hits.

Ironhoof charges forward and rams into one of the cannon crews and crushes them swiftly, he then drops his shields ignoring the cuts he's receiving from the pirates still trying to take him down as he lifts the cannon onto his shoulder and lights the fuse while aiming at the second crew.

"Oh buck!" one of the other cannon crew shouts as Ironhoof's cannon goes off and destroys the second cannon. He then uses his cannon as a club and whacks a few pirates away from himself before picking up his shields again and making his way back on the path.

Luna and Selene are using their telekinesis to lift up the pirates in front of us before tossing them aside into the others making our path even more clearer.

Shining is beginning to look tired so I give him some of my energy to continue powering the shield. Desire is just giggling as she conjures her double ended throwing knives while casually throwing them into the arms and legs of the pirates. It keeps them both alive to be turned into demons and out of the battle so they won't be pests anymore.

A few unicorns start to use magic to blast the shield but they're still not even denting the barrier, it's rather pathetic to watch really. They'd be a lot more threatening if they used silver weapons... huh, I wonder if Celestia has cannons that fire silver cannonballs? Then shields wouldn't be a match as they'll just break through.

Scarlet is watching her husband push the pirates aside while Fluttershy is riding on Angel's back who's walking on all fours glaring and growling at the nearby pirates as a few darkfire embers huff out of his mouth with each breath he takes. He looks ready to attack at a moment’s notice.

For ten minutes we walk along the path up to the galleon at the back of the bay, most of the buildings here are crudely built homes made from the rotting wrecks of ships or shacks, no shops or even a café anywhere, it’s more like a fortress or base than a town.

I've also had to top up Shining and Twilight's energy now and then to help keep the shield up but we're making progress which is really pissing off these pirates as they can do nothing about it. Blackhide is getting yelled at for betraying them making him grimace and me smile.

Ignoring the shouts and insults we reach the galleon. "Ironhoof, please announce our arrival," I ask the balrog who grins.

"Knock knock," he says and punches the door on the side of the ship inward sending splinters everywhere.

The balrog then grunts as a couple of spears stab him in the legs, the pony and zebra responsible then have their heads crushed together by a pair of large dark blue hands. Ironhoof pulls out the spears and looks ahead to see a large five foot four inches tall deep orange furred gryphon with an eyepatch, a pegleg on his back left leg, jewellery adorning his neck and talons, and he's wearing a tricorn hat and blood red coat.

"What be the meaning of this!? How dare ye attack my bay! I'll have all ya gizzards for this outrage!" he roars out angrily and stands up before drawing a long gem encrusted cutlass.

I frown and walk through Shining and Twilight's shield and pass Ironhoof. I glare at the King as his cutlass has a thin layer of gold and silver on the blade.

"I am Damien Jackson the Overlord of Tartarus, and I'm claiming this bay and everyone in it. You people are familiar with slave trading correct? Then you'll have no objections to me taking you like slaves as well," I tell him and draw my revolver.

"You think I'll let ye jus' waltz in my territory and do as ye please!? I have enough people and firepower to repel the Gryphonian army!" he tells me and starts walking towards me before looking at Blackhide. “And you! How dare ye betray me after I took ya in!” he yells at the ghoul who winces as if struck.

I huff and smirk. "And I have enough power to level this entire area into splinters, ash, glass, and rubble within seconds," I reply and light my right arm with my darkfire.

That just seems to anger the King more as he hobbles towards me, quite amusing watching his pegleg swing out to the side before touching the floor again, looks like a dog lifting his leg to take a piss.

I just raise my revolver and shoot him in the head, the loud bang makes Twilight, Fluttershy, Scarlet, and Shining to yelp in surprise as the King drops dead. Wait, what was his name? Meh, don't care really. I carefully pick up his cutlass as the grip doesn't have silver on it since the hand guard appears to be made of iron and decapitate the King with it. I then clean the blade on his coat before sheathing the cutlass and give it to Desire, it may look gaudy but it'll prove useful if we encounter another demon and my wife can use it to kill them quickly should she need to.

"For me? Oh you spoil me, my love!" she teases and straps the cutlass to her hip.

Lifting up the severed head, I head back out where the pirates are still trying to break through.

"Listen up scum! I have killed your King and now lay claim to this bay and all of its inhabitants. You will all be converted into demons and serve me or I will take the souls of those who refuse! If just one of you runs then you all suffer!" I shout out over the mob who all stop attacking and stare at the severed head of their former King.

I hear Kira whimper as tears flow down her face.

"What's the matter, sweetie?" Desire asks the lycan softly while stroking her head.

"P-Please don't harm my h-husband or pup..." she replies sadly, nearly begging.

"That'll depend if they surrender themselves or not," I reply and look out towards the crowd of pirates. "Well? What'll it be?" I ask them.

One of them panics and tries to run making the others panic as well and dog pile the zebra trying to flee.

"Bring him to me!" I order them and the pirates don't hesitate to throw the zebra in front of me. He's too afraid to even speak as he stares up fearfully at me. I don't say anything as I grasp his left arm and bite down onto his forearm.

He yelps and screams in pain as I convert him, his fur changes from white and grey stripes to dark grey and black stripes, his eyes melt out of his head and a pair of wispy ice blue lights appear in the sockets acting as pupils, his body then shrivels up like he hasn't eaten in a long time and then turns transparent like a ghost. His legs then merge and fade from the knees down, almost looking like a tattered robe. Lastly, his hair and tail look like they’re floating about as if submerged in water.

'Huh, so zebra's are an undead type demon? I guess I'll call them wraiths,' I think to myself and let go of the new lesser demon.

The crowd is dead silent as they all watch fearfully as the ex-zebra gets up and hovers two feet off the ground.

"That's new..." Desire comments and examines the wraith who is looking himself over as well.

I just grin and look at the crowd. "Who's next?"

Next Chapter: Chapter 29: Rescue the Elements Part 1 Estimated time remaining: 7 Hours, 4 Minutes