Jean watched as the once singular Miss Brooke rose as nine humanoid forms from where she had been scattered on the deck from Eliza''s furious series of kicks. Jean hadn''t expected that. A chuckle rose from his chest as he looked over the several women rising from the deck.


    From what he could tell, Miss Brooke didn''t look like she was dressed for a fight, but her curse made that not matter. She wasn''t just a single person, but the water itself. Somehow, her curse allowed her to transcend her physical form and transform her body into water while still retaining her thoughts.


    He pondered if the curse was of the first grade or much higher. Would a second-grade curse allow the user to become the element they could originally only manipulate? Perhaps a third-grade curse? Not even he and his time dealing with curses could guess what level of curse that was.


    "Water Clones," Miss Brooke whispered as she reformed in her original body.


    "Where there was once one, now there are many." Jean smiled. "Is there anything else your power can do?"


    "Oh, we have plenty of interesting things to show you." All ten of her forms cocked their hands into gun shapes at once. "You''ve both managed to delay me long enough. Time for you to all die! Steam Barrage!"


    "Spirit Step!"


    Hiss. Ptss.


    Jean reacted instantly, already guessing what she would try to do. From each finger, a hot blast of water shot out and into the rain, but as they did so, steam hissed out from the fingers. Jean''s feet blurred as he disappeared and reappeared behind the furthest away clone. He swung Eliza on his arm as he continued the dance.


    She had split into ten. What would happen if she had to split into even more? He wanted to test the idea out. Perhaps there was a limit to how many forms she could take or the volume of water she could control. Maybe it would weaken over time. He didn''t know, and that was the exciting part.


    "Spirit Battement!" he yelled as Eliza''s leg blurred into a flurry of kicks, crashing into the clone and bursting it into a shower of water that dispersed into the rain.


    Hiss-bang. Crack.


    Wen took a shot with her revolver, the bullet crashing into another copy and causing ice to form across it rapidly. The woman flinched across her remaining eight copies as Eliza''s kicks and Wen''s ice took down two. Jean noted that as he drew Eliza into his arms.


    Miss Brooke felt pain across all of her copies, and while she was split, she could not as easily dodge as she may have when she was in a single form. Operating multiple bodies at once probably caused her strain and meant she couldn''t fight as effectively as she could in one.


    He smiled. Making more people to control had a cost, no matter what. It wasn''t as simple as overwhelming an opponent with more copies. So long as she chose this tactic, they might be able to force a stalemate or a win. Jean readied Eliza as he prepared for Miss Brooke''s next move.


    "A trifling annoyance." Miss Brooke shook her head, her eyes watching one copy turn into a white statue of ice before looking to Wen. "Your ability is the most troublesome of the bunch. Water Whip!"


    As one, her remaining nine lifted their long dresses, revealing long black boots with equally tall heels. She raised her legs and kicked, the long line of the boot becoming transparent as each one turned to water. With a single fling across all eight copies, she shot a long line of water across the deck, right at Wen.


    Thwip.


    Wen tried to dodge, jumping to the side with all her might to get below the attacks, but it was too late. Not every whip needed to connect, but more than enough did. One whip, two whips, and three, the water wrapped around her limbs, binding them together as she fell to the deck. As Jean watched, it bound her arms tight around her body. Wen struggled against them and dropped her gun to the deck as the water tightened around her.


    Jean assessed the problem and aimed at all the copies. He would go through and dismantle them before the binding could be completed. Hopefully, Wen could free herself once the pressure was off her. He leaned forward, taking a deep breath as he and Eliza crossed the distance to the clones in tandem.


    "Spirit Break." Jean lunged forward in a flurry of movement.


    He swung kick after kick as he moved through the copies, sending them crashing into spurts of water one after another as he and Eliza alternated in their dance. However, even after every kick, the water lines around Wen remained. Jean came out on the other side of the group of Miss Brookes, Eliza fluttering around him as he looked over his work.


    Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.


    He had hit every single copy with a solid kick, and the torsos of each one had broken, leaving only the legs and abdomen as thin lines. Each clone''s leg was still outstretched and connected to the lines of water wrapping around Wen''s chest. Even though he had broken each one, it hadn''t been enough.


    Jean didn''t understand it. He had never seen a curse before that let a person completely change their body into a separate form. Sure, many curses allowed people to generate and manipulate a substance, but they didn''t allow a person to turn into that substance themselves. If Miss Brooke was indeed water, there wasn''t much he could do to harm her. All she had to do was reform herself after an attack, no worse for wear.


    The lines of water connecting the clones to Wen bulged and folded into each other, following a path together through the air and combing until they formed a bubble around Wen. Jean''s eyes widened as Wen was wrapped in a massive orb of water.


    Once the orb formed, four long lines and a single stub on the top lashed out, two of the lines of water touching the ground. The water thickened and grew, rising high above the Nighthawk as a roughly humanoid liquid form rose against the dark clouds.


    Crack-boom.


    In moments, Miss Brooke formed out of that ball, the massive orb sticking out from her belly as it protruded from her dress.


    "I always thought about having a child." Miss Brooke, now twice as tall as she had been before, tapped the bubble with one hand. "However, I always worried if the curse would kill it."


    Aside from the massive bubble protruding from her body, Miss Brooke roughly retained her original form. So, she had the appearance of her dress and clothing, but the distended bubble remained transparent and showed Wen as she tried to swim against the water to reach the surface.


    As Jean watched, bubbles burst out from Wen''s mouth in the water. She was drowning, and he had to act quickly. That was certainly no condition to use a curse in. Especially without the chance to breathe, there would be little that Wen could do.


    "Alright, Eliza." Jean took a breath. "We may need to hurry. Wen will not last long inside there."


    He examined his options in an instant. While he might be able to defeat Miss Brooke, that would take too long. No, shattering the bubble and giving Wen a chance to be free would be better. Then, they could work together to bring down the woman.


    However, freeing Wen might prove to be the hardest thing to accomplish. He watched her struggle against the bubble and try to swim to the surface, but a strong force pulled her back to the center every time. Panic wouldn''t buy him more time to act. He made his decision.


    "I''ll have you out in a moment," Jean said, taking Eliza in his arms and raising his knee for her to rest on. "Are you ready, Eliza?"


    Eliza nodded, her empty eyes staring up at Miss Brooke. Jean took in a breath, embracing the power of aether within his body and allowing it to flow out through his skeletal limbs. Power gathered to his fingertips like lighting, and he slung Eliza out the length of his arm, letting go of her fingers at the last moment.


    "Spirit Pirohette!"


    Eliza shot out into the air like a cannonball, thrown forward with the strength of his kick as he spun on his remaining leg. She spun in the air as she flew toward Miss Brooke, aimed directly at the bubble that held Wen captive.


    "You think I would let you?" Miss Brooke raised one transparent arm, sending a wall of water falling from it to crash onto the deck below. "Water Fall!"


    Splash!


    Eliza crashed against the water, even as the impromptu waterfall slammed into the deck. The water crashed around Jean''s ankle as he focused on watching Eliza. She needed to get through that wall of water. If she didn''t, he would need to make the next move.


    Tik-shh. Tik-shh.


    Water slung off of the fall as Eliza penetrated through it, but the water slowed her spin. Jean adjusted his feet, focusing on the far side of Miss Brooke. He took in a breath and gathered aether through his body, and in the next instant, he charged, calling on the power.


    "Spirit Step!"


    He charged through the waterfall with all his might. His body disappeared in a blur of movement, but he still had to pass through the water barrier. Water sloshed over him, slowing but not stopping him until he came out on the other side.


    "Hrah!" he yelled as he crashed through the waterfall, the water sloshing around him and soaking him to the bone. "Of course, because I am a skeleton!"


    He didn''t pause to chuckle at his own joke. Gathering a breath, he threw himself up with one leg, his other extended in a kick. A water arm came for him, but Miss Brooke couldn''t take both Eliza and him at the same time. He sailed past the wave, crashing into the bubble and slamming his foot hard into Wen.


    Splash!


    His foot penetrated the bubble hard, and the force holding Wen inside pulled him faster than his initial kick toward Wen. His foot crashed into her chest with a solid thump. The force of his kick forced Wen out the other side, and he saw another wave of bubbles burst out of her mouth as he sent her out the other side.


    Now, Jean was not a proponent of friendly fire or attacking one''s own teammates, but his plan worked the way he wanted. He settled into the water, the cold wrapping around his limbs like the center bubble was a vortex drawing him in. Wen crashed out the far side, falling out in the air and onto the deck.


    The one good thing about Jean''s skeletal body was that he didn''t need to do much to survive. He didn''t need to eat unless he needed to repair a part of his bone body with the food''s nutrients. He didn''t need to sleep unless he wanted a time without any thought. Lastly, he didn''t need to breathe so long as he wasn''t trying to use a technique. He had enough aether stored inside himself to keep Eliza active and in the fight.


    So, he did not panic as the center of the bubble drew him in. He did not struggle against the water. He remained in control. Though the water was crushingly strong and restrained his bones from moving a single centimeter, he did not need to move. Eliza and Wen were free on the outside.


    He trusted that they would rescue him. He was not fated to die inside of a water bubble, but his part in the fight was over.


    Jean closed his eyes as the fight continued outside.