Ethan focused on his powerful supernatural senses, one of the few abilities he had been blessed by upon awakening his Dimension heritage.
Unlike Scarlett, who was blessed with the best ability there could ever be, the bane of all Heritages, in fact, his ability was not that special—he couldn't just 'go beat up other Heritage Awakened and devour their ability with a touch as long as they were completely helpless.'
That was something only Scarlett could accomplish. Nevertheless, His Heritage was in no way weak. It was strong.
He had four abilities as part of his Heritage—Dimensional Senses, Dimensional Travel, Dimensional Marking, and Dimensional Pocket.
Even though his core Heritage was just B Rank at the moment, he could already be entirely wanton on Earth with nothing that could stop him. His power was just too good at escaping.
S Rankers might have more firepower than him, but what could they do if he ran away, Teleporting to another state entirely?
His eyes could also see other people's Heritage and its information at a glance, but that was an ability that everyone who awakened more than one ability on their Heritage had, so that was not part of a Heritage but more of a general thing.
Even S Rankers didn't make him afraid. He could teleport to anywhere he had left Dimensional Markings or anywhere his eyes could see, or his Dimensional Senses could reach. And he had already left Marks all over the planet; even though his maximum distance for one teleport was not that big, he could teleport multiple times to reach any country from another in an hour or two with rests in between.
But he was still nothing but a mortal. His body was as feeble as any other. He could teleport, but he could just as easily get wounded. Now, more than ever, he was reminded of it.
His gaze turned to his leg, bleeding and blistering. Gently, he twisted a part of its flesh, and all the maggots inside it were wrapped up in his Dimensional Senses and teleported away along with a piece of his flesh. They appeared a distance away from both of them, and he hissed, feeling the utter pain of tearing his own flesh away.
"It hurts!" he bit his teeth.
Scarlett was beside him, biting her lip in nervousness and fear as she clenched her hand on his, both wrapped around the pillar that held them stable in the wobbling ship.
"What are those maggots anyway?" She cursed and threw a small fireball at them, making Ethan's heart jump out of his chest.
"We are in a fucking ship!" he shouted just in time for her to take the fire back.
Nervously sweating, she looked at him, and he showed her his bleeding leg, which had exposed flesh. "Burn this instead. It hurts too damn much!"
The walls shivered beneath a fierce succession of gusts, and the flame twirled with abrupt incandescence. The hanging skeletons lightly rocked to and fro.
She looked at his legs with a bit of disgust but a lot of worry but just as she was about to ask him how to help, something happened, and through the dark circular windows behind Ethan, she saw it: a cold face looked at them; plastered on the window, it had a pale complexion, two dark holes for eyes, and a wide, luminous tongue.
Scarlett sat rooted to the ground, and Ethan swiftly turned; nothing was there. Still, with a sigh, he took Scarlett's hand and teleported to another room in the ship. This time, a floor lower. One couldn't be too cautious.
A long silence stretched between them, and they fumbled around in the dark till they found something to hold onto that seemed like an iron bar firmly attached to the ship.
With caution, they sat there without using any light-emitting powers. And feeling Scarlett's soft body pressed against his own, he smiled a bit through the pain that wracked his foot. It hurt like hell.
But... When was the last time that something had scared the shit out of her like this?
Ethan already liked where this was going.
He took out a first aid kit from his Dimensional Pocket and, with the silent Scarlett's help, applied a strong antiseptic on his foot, wincing as the sharp smell filled the air and the liquid bubbled on contact with the raw wound.
Scarlett held him steady, her hands firm on his shoulders as he gritted his teeth against the pain.
With swift, practiced movements, Ethan then packed the wound with a sterile dressing, pressing it against the torn flesh to help stem the bleeding. Scarlett quickly handed him a roll of medical bandages, and he wrapped it tightly around his foot, securing the dressing in place.
He rested his back against the hardwood, ready to teleport with her at a moment's notice, and once again, a calm settled around them. She laid her head against his shoulder, creeped out.
What was it that she saw?
An alien?
"Don't use any abilities that emit light," he said. "What did you see, anyway?"
"An alien with a bright green tongue, pale face, and two dark holes for eyes. It looked at us from outside…" she said, which alone made her hair rise again.
Against the rain, in this dark ship, she couldn't help but fear the horrors that might lay under the sea; it made her heart chill. Sea, it was a horror at times.
Ethan grew quiet.
The sea's whispers were hushed as they penetrated the chamber, absorbed by the thick air laden with the musty perfume of decay. Probably, just like the other room, there could be skeletons or even worse and quirkier things here, but this time, Scarlett didn't try to be over-smart by using her powers and just calmly laid against his chest without using any ability at all.
His Dimensional Senses would be enough to warn them of danger anyway. Her heart rate quickened slightly as it beat against Ethan's, but soon enough, both of them were much calmer.
Outside, the storm seemed to be reducing in might.