"We're here to get the Stultifera Navis back to Iberia. It's the last dreadnought of the country, old man." Irene took out her sabers and Alfonso laughed.
"Where was Iberia when she was floating around alone in the middle of the sea? Surrounded by monsters from the deep? Nowhere!" Alfonso shouted.
Then he calmed down, but he obviously did not like them at all. Especially the Aegirians.
But Skadi and Specter didn't give two shits about him. "Are we going to have a problem? Because we have good solutions." Skadi squinted her eyes.
"Hoh? Then what are they? Filthy Aegirians." He spat on the ground and Skadi's eyes twitched.
"Specter." Skadi uttered her name and the shark gave a massive grin that would make almost anyone's blood run cold.
"A sinner, calling the servants of the lord filthy... Ahh, such irony." Specter clasped her hands as if to pray for his soul.
"Whatcha talki-" Alfonso was about to yap again, but Specter ran at him like a rabid dog. Cracking the ground as her red eyes glowed crimson.
Alfonso definitely didn't expect that and he saw his life flash before his eyes as her buzzsaw started spinning.
Alfonso closed his eyes, but nothing happened. He slowly opened them up and he gasped.
"G-Garcia..." He sucked in a cold breath as a humanoid seaborne that was wearing clothes stood in front of him.
Specter stopped though, tilting her head curiously. She could feel that the seaborne was fighting tooth and nail for control. And its desire is simply to protect him.
"We will listen to your story, consider yourself lucky." Specter gave him a look and he started talking immediately.
"T-that... Right. 60 years ago, back when the profound silence began. All of the eyes and dreadnoughts were destroyed. Stultifera Navis was protecting Gran Faro, as was her job." Alfonso sat on the ground.
He reminisced about the golden days of Iberia, in which they were unmatched by any navy on Terra.
"But we got separated and the last eye of Iberia got taken down by the damned monsters from the abyss." Alfonso furrowed his brows and he clenched his fists.
"We didn't give up though. But it was hard, one by one... They, my men..." The man just stared blankly at nothing and one of the feelers of the other seaborne patted him.
"Thank you Garcia... They killed themselves one by one. It's either suicide or get eaten by them." He scrunched up his face.
"A reasonable choice." Irene would kill herself too before she turns into a seaborne or gets ripped apart by those things.
"And as the captain of the ship, I had a duty. I killed those who lost their will and didn't have it in them to end it all. It was the only thing that I could do to help them." Alfonso glared at empty air.
"And it's all because of the dirty Aegirians." He gritted his teeth. Skadi sighed at that.
"Contrary to propaganda and what you believe, Aegir is the country that is suffering the most from the seaborne." Skadi said, trying to convince no one in particular.
"Lies! These abyssal monsters must be their weapons!" Alfonso was in it too deep to change his ways.
Skadi just shrugged and let him continue. "We ate the flesh of these abominable monsters. But there is a price for that." He raised his left arm and it was already part seaborne.
It was the reason they were able to survive too. The majority of the seaborne thought they were part of the hivemind before they attacked.
And the other one called Garcia is almost fully assimilated by it. 'Is this what will happen to the hunters?' Skadi grimaced.
She was scared. And more so, because she has the blood of a behemoth flowing in her veins. Skadi doesn't doubt Ash at all. Believing that he will be successful in making a solution.
But it still kept her up at night. That Gladiia and Laurentina will have to fight her due to turning into their sworn enemy.
And Ishar-mla wasn't the only one, there were three more according to the crazy Kukulkan.
"We're more similar than you think, old man." Skadi thought that was quite ironic. The abyssal hunters were more part seaborne than anyone else.
That's why they're so strong. But just like Alfonso, they fought and their country seems to have forgotten about them.
"Shut yer trap! We are nothing alike! You're an Aegirian, you must have some fancy shmancy cure for this." Alfonso hissed and Skadi closed her eyes.
She then opened them and they turned into slits. White scales formed on her body and golden spikes adorned some parts.
"A... A seaborne, you can control it?" Alfonso blinked dumbly and Skadi shook her head.
"Absolutely not..." She frowned and reigned it in. Still fearing her self as the newest behemoth.
And while they were trying to talk to Alfonso, somewhere else on the ship. An elegant looking Liberi woman was holding a book while calling out to something.
"It is my duty as the bishop of the church of the deep to return to the sea. It will be the highest honor." She started spreading the nethersea brand.
With a feverish gaze, she watched it spread and was delighted. "With this, they won't be able to take back the ship to Iberia. And I... Will assimilate with the oceans once more." She grinned madly.
The cultist was definitely mad, like all cultists are. "Oh ocean deities, your loyal servant has more work to do."
"Are you done? Then it's time to meet up with Ishar-mla." A man with white hair and red eyes gave her a disgusted look.
"Yes, ahhh~ so envious. You are integrated with the ocean. But you fight against your kin, such a shame." She commented.
The man with the pointy hat looked at her coldly, but he didn't do anything otherwise. "Let's go."
__Maria & Gladiia__
The two fought through hordes of seaborne. Maria having trouble a bit with their vitality. She had to use her arts to truly kill them.
But that's where the problem lies. She might have endurance for days. But arts is different with her physical stamina. She would gas out if she continues.
"Just watch our six, you will be tiring yourself. And I don't want to babysit you." Gladiia gave her the side eye and Maria smiled at her.
"Aww, you should just say that you're worried about me Gladiia." Maria cheekily patted the tall woman's back and she huffed.
Honestly, she did worry about her. She's Ash's sister in law. But she just doesn't want to see more victims due to the seaborne.
And while they were trying to survey the ship for Maria's research. The two heard the sound of footsteps.
"Ulpianus? I thought you were dead..." Gladiia squinted her eyes and a male abyssal hunter with a bulky scythe as a weapon appeared.
"Gladiia, it seems that you are too. But you are not exactly successful in your mission." Ulpianus snorted.
They got tense immediately. "You won't be touching a hair on her Ulpianus. You even gave us the opportunity to fight Ishar-mla. She did her job splendidly." Gladiia brandished her glaive and Ulpianus sighed.
"I did, I held back hordes of seaborne and leviathans for you three. I even thought I would die. But Ishar-mla will be a disaster that is waiting to blow up on everybody's faces." Ulpianus and Gladiia stared at each other, waiting for one to move.
Gladiia started walking towards him though. "Hoh? Are you getting close to me now?" Ulpianus raised a brow. He is a leader of one of the squads of abyssal hunters too.
And they were pretty matched in their strength. "I can't beat the shit out of you if I didn't. Skadi is innocent." They let out a menacing aura and Maria thought that their pressure was quite something.
Of course she was used to Degenbrecher's. Which is like a storm of battle intent that crashes right onto you. So she wasn't that affected.
"Need a hand Gladiia?" Her sword started buzzing and light began forming around her blade.
It also coated her armor and shield. "I might not be as strong as my sister, but I developed supportive skills rather than be a dreadnought like her."
Gladiia raised a hand and she pointed her glaive at Ulpianus. "You might think that you're equal to me, but you forget something Ulpianus." Gladiia's cold eyes bore down on him.
He furrowed his brows and felt something change in Gladiia. She activated her AOS, giving her the familiar feeling of being in the sea.
"You work by yourself. While I have been practicing with monsters." She charged at him and Ulpianus prepared for a fight.
And he immediately felt the difference at their first clash. Gladiia's skills were much better than his now.
Ash's elite operators are mainly anti-personnel combatants after all. Unlike the seaborne who just charge. The abyssal hunters are more focused on brute strength.
"How? Gah!" Ulpianus backed away as Gladiia used the forbidden move. Something in her hand was smoking as she unleashed the Glock with hollow points.
"Let me tell you something. Humans are capable of far more Ulpianus. Ash is basically a god, but there's no one more human than him. And unlike us, their ingenuity knows no bounds." Gladiia saw how they took tons of land from Yan and Ursus.
It honestly terrified her. Paradiso's enemies walked towards walls of lead. Whistling bombs fell from the sky in droves. She thought that stabbing someone and using arts to kill others was violent.
But what she witnessed on those days was a slaughter. Such simple weapons in principle. Yet capable of so much violence and death. It was like mowing the grass of your lawn.
"Now, what will it be Ulpianus?" Gladiia pointed her weapon at him and he frowned deeply.
"We can't return to Aegir Gladiia... We'll only cause chaos. And the remaining Aegirian cities will be annihilated due to Ishar-mla." Ulpianus was stubborn.
And she understood where he came from. He didn't know what Ash was cooking up after all. Or what he's capable of.
"Then we won't, we don't need Aegir's help then." Gladiia thought about it while they were on the way to Iberia.
Home... Was a nice thing to think about. But Ulpianus is right as well. Skadi is now Ishar-mla's successor, no matter how you look at it. Even if she manages to control its powers.
And the seaborne are feared in Aegir. Even the abyssal hunters who don't have any signs of being seaborne are feared like the plague.
If they return to Aegir, civil wars and anarchy will start due to Skadi's presence.
It will be a losing battle, for what? Just to return home.
And that defeats the purpose of their creation in the first place. To defend Aegir and defeat their sworn enemy, the seaborne.
"Unsung heroes we will continue to be, Ulpianus. Go and do your own work, but do not show yourself to me if you still insist on getting rid of Skadi." Gladiia threw a phone at him.
He looked at it with confusion. "That one's special, I even asked one of the lead engineers to make it. That will give you a message later. Our boss, yeah. Boss... Is almost done in stabilizing seaborne DNA." Gladiia turned around and Ulpianus gasped.
His eyes widened in shock. "Is that true?" He couldn't believe it.
"That's right! Ash is successful in sequencing the seaborne DNA! Once we return, he'll be surely making cures for the hunters. Just like how he did with Oripathy." Maria nodded in pride.
"I helped with it too you know?" She huffed and Gladiia had a small smirk on her face at Maria's pride in her work.
"That you did. Prepare yourself Ulpianus, Aegir will have to pick a side soon. Hide and be forgotten, or follow change that is inevitable. Our boss is capable of great things. And change is always followed by conflict." Gladiia left with Maria.
Ulpianus was left there with new discoveries. But he didn't know what to do. So he just pocketed the phone that Gladiia gave him.
"An old dog doesn't learn new tricks Gladiia. I'll just continue in protecting Aegir in my own way." He stood up and began searching for something that can help him find the origin of the seaborne.
The detection systems of the dreadnoughts of Iberia. It was the thing that helped them navigate the seas which are infested with Leviathans that can damage their hull.
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Thanks for reading everyone, ciao.