The sea had turned hostile long before the attack began.
Waves struck harder, the wind sharper, as if the ocean itself rejected their passage. The ship cut through it anyway, but tension hung over the deck like something waiting to break.
It did.
They came from beneath.
Shapes surged through the water—fast, unnatural. Then bodies followed, rising with the tide. Sea folk. Twisted forms of scale and bone, their eyes hollow, their movements violent and precise.
They climbed the hull in seconds.
The first landed with a wet thud.
Then more.
Steel met them instantly. Hercules moved first, crushing one with a single strike, sending it overboard in pieces. Ignis followed, her magic flaring as she drove back another wave trying to breach the deck.
"These aren't stopping!" she called out.
They weren't.
More hands clawed over the sides, more bodies pulling themselves onto the ship. The deck filled quickly, the fight tightening into chaos.
Hercules turned—searching.
"Ares!"
He saw him.
Standing.
Still.
Ares hadn't moved.
The sounds of battle surrounded him, steel clashing, bodies falling, water crashing against the hull—but he stood at the center of it, unmoving, his gaze distant, unfocused.
Like he wasn't there.
Hercules' expression hardened. "What are you doing?!"
Another sea creature lunged toward Ares.
It got close—
Too close.
Hercules intercepted it, slamming it aside with force that cracked the deck beneath his feet. "Ares!"
Ares flinched.
Barely.
But it was enough.
Hercules stepped closer, his voice sharper now. "You're holding back."
Not an accusation.
A realization.
"You think this is the time for that?!"
Ares didn't respond.
Didn't look at him.
Another wave of enemies surged forward, forcing Hercules to turn back into the fight. He struck them down, but his focus kept drifting—back to Ares.
Something was wrong.
Ignis saw it too.
"Ares!" she shouted, her voice cutting through the noise. "Snap out of it!"
Her magic pushed back another group, buying space—just enough.
"Whatever's in your head," she continued, breath unsteady but voice firm, "this isn't the place for it!"
Ares' fingers twitched.
The battlefield.
The blood.
The feeling of losing control—
It bled into the present.
For a moment, the two worlds overlapped.
And then—
He moved.
Slowly at first.
Then all at once.
Weapons formed midair.
Not one.
Not a few.
Dozens.
Blades, spears, axes—each one suspended for only a fraction of a second before launching forward with lethal precision.
Each found a target.
Each struck clean.
The sea folk didn't have time to react. One by one, they were cut down, their bodies falling before they could even reach the deck.
Silence followed.
Not complete—but enough.
The remaining creatures retreated, slipping back into the water they had come from, leaving the ship breathing in the aftermath.
Hercules exhaled, rolling his shoulders. "…There you are."
But Ares didn't respond.
He stood where he was, unmoving again.
Only now—
He was present.
And that seemed worse.
—
Night settled over the sea slowly.
The waves calmed, the wind softened, and the ship drifted forward under a sky that felt too quiet after everything that had happened.
Most of the crew rested.
Ignis had long since retreated below deck, exhaustion catching up with her. Even Theseus had stepped away from the helm, trusting the course they were on.
Only a few remained above.
Ares was one of them.
He sat near the edge of the deck, his gaze fixed on the dark water below. The ocean reflected nothing. No stars. No light.
Just depth.
Endless.
He didn't move.
Didn't think.
Or maybe he thought too much.
Footsteps approached.
Heavy, but unhurried.
Hercules stopped beside him, glancing down at where Ares sat.
"You've been off," he said.
No pressure.
No edge.
Just observation.
Ares didn't answer.
Didn't look at him.
His eyes stayed on the water, distant in a way that felt deeper than silence.
Hercules waited a moment.
Then another.
"…That wasn't like you," he added, quieter now. "Back there."
Still nothing.
No reaction.
Ares remained exactly as he was.
Not dismissive.
Not defensive.
Just… unreachable.
Hercules exhaled through his nose, scratching lightly at the back of his neck. He wasn't used to this. Not from Ares.
Not from someone who never hesitated before.
"…Alright," he said after a moment.
He didn't press.
Didn't force it.
Instead, he turned, taking a few steps away before stopping.
"If you need something," Hercules said without looking back, "I'm here."
Simple.
Honest.
He didn't wait for a response.
He walked off, leaving Ares alone with the sound of the ocean.
Ares didn't move.
His gaze remained fixed on the water below.
But his hands—
They tightened slightly.
As if he could still feel something there.
Something that hadn't washed away.