The absence of wind is not unusual, even on Earth.
Naturally, in this strange sea region, there are times when the wind disappears, and it's not restricted to a specific area.
However, the timing of the wind stopping this time was far too coincidental. Ethan didn't believe it was just happenstance. When the enemy wanted to fight, the wind was strong. But when they wanted to flee, there was no wind at all and the enemy just so happened to have a propeller. Ethan had already noticed that their ship had folded its sails and was using propulsion to escape the range of the Goddess of Dawn and the Eternal.
The Eternal was still firing. When the enemy ship began to flee, the Eternal was positioned to one side and unleashed the firepower of its entire battery of cannons. But just as it was about to turn, it lost power and came to a stop, unable to continue pursuit, so it could only keep firing at the retreating enemy from a distance.
The Goddess of Dawn was preparing to accelerate and give chase. Now directly facing the enemy ship, they could only watch as it gradually moved farther away.
"You're just going to watch them get away?"
Diana glanced at Ethan and immediately understood his answer when she saw him signal for Logan to take over the helm.
"How could I? They think they can pick a fight and leave whenever they want? Since they provoked me, when I retaliate isn't up to them."
Donning his gear and spreading his flame wings, Ethan launched into the air and went after the fleeing ship.
Diana didn't just sit back and watch either. She followed Ethan into the sky. The Eternal also noticed Ethan had taken flight and ceased fire to avoid friendly fire.
Compared to this side, Ethan noticed some panic aboard the enemy vessel after he took off.
These guys never expected Ethan could actually fly!
"Archers! Bows and arrows!"
The enemy captain had some presence of mind. After a brief moment of panic, he quickly steadied himself and ordered his crew to pull out bows and similar weapons, launching an aerial attack on Ethan and Diana.
But it was useless. Ethan's speed was far too fast. They couldn't aim at him at all. Even the few arrows that did strike him were blocked by the magic shield he casually cast. They couldn't even scratch him.
Boom!
Ethan didn't slow down as he landed, crashing directly into the stern of the ship. If the distance between the two ships hadn't been so far—and if Ethan had gone full speed—the wooden hull might've been shattered entirely by the impact.
But even with Ethan holding back, he still smashed through half of the poop deck and burst onto the main deck through the hatch at the front.
Diana's landing wasn't as destructive as Ethan's, but she nearly demolished the captain's cabin, almost wrecking the helm and control panel. As she landed, a few enemies rushed her. She took advantage of the momentum, delivering a kick that sent one of them flying dozens of meters before splashing into the sea.
There was no need to check, he wasn't going to survive. Being kicked that far, how much force had his body endured? That kind of power would kill someone instantly. Few parts of his body were likely intact. He'd drawn his last breath before hitting the water.
With both of them aboard, the outcome was no longer in doubt. The few who tried to resist were taken out by Ethan and Diana within minutes.
Diana wasn't one to go soft. Even in the original story, she had never been merciful when facing enemies.
Unlike Batman, Superman, or the Flash, who follow a no-kill rule, Diana—raised among the Amazons saw using full strength and killing the enemy as completely normal in battle.
As for Ethan, he never even understood the meaning of mercy. In the blink of an eye, he'd killed over half the sailors on the ship. The rest quickly lost the will to fight. Once they raised their hands in surrender and weren't immediately killed by Diana, everyone else followed suit, desperate to survive.
They already understood that continuing to resist meant certain death. The gap in strength between the two sides was so vast that they couldn't even see a sliver of hope.
Among them was the captain, an adventurer named Salva.
Looking at the people kneeling on the deck, Ethan activated the bio-detection on his glasses to confirm that no one was hiding. Then, he began interrogating them. He wanted to know why they had suddenly attacked.
The answer he got was not what he expected and it made Diana furious. This group had simply acted on a whim, deciding to "score a haul" after spotting Ethan's ship.
By "score a haul," they meant a typical act of sea robbery. The targets included ships, food, various supplies, and even people.
Anything in sight was fair game. It wasn't Salva's first time doing this. In fact, he often relied on the magic stone he held to escape tough situations later on.
"You used this to completely stop the wind in the area?"
A magic stone emitting faint energy fluctuations was now in Ethan's hand. As Salva handed it over, the windless zone suddenly changed, and a cool sea breeze brushed across Ethan's face. The wind that had vanished before had returned.
"This thing doesn't seem to hold that much energy?"
Ethan inspected the magic stone. Its energy fluctuations weren't particularly strong, and he didn't believe it could affect natural weather on its own.
Salva's explanation cleared things up. Although the stone could influence the wind to a degree, creating a windless zone required favorable conditions.
First, the weather had to be right. If there were storms or even mildly strong winds, the magic stone wouldn't be enough to halt them entirely.
Second, the affected area had to be small. For Salva, the stone's limit was just enough to allow the Wind of Darkness to escape pursuit. But that was all he needed. Thanks to this magic stone, he'd dodged stronger enemies many times.
In addition, he had a good eye for choosing his targets. With this magic stone, Salva really could fight when he wanted to and flee when things went south. He'd done well in these waters and had never run into any real trouble.
Until today, when he met Ethan.
In Salva's eyes, the Goddess of Dawn wasn't anything special. On this route, better ships weren't uncommon. Its hull was relatively new, making it look like a newbie's vessel that had just entered the region. As usual, Salva planned to "educate" this rookie in his own way.
But to his surprise, this so-called rookie had installed powerful defensive gear on the ship (he didn't realize the magic shield was cast by Ethan using the Book of Inheritance). Although Ethan had used a similar energy shield to block arrows, Salva hadn't made the connection.
Unable to harm the Goddess of Dawn, Salva found himself outmatched two-to-one. As usual, he used the magic stone to create a windless zone and activated the Wind of Darkness's propulsion system to escape.
He didn't expect the enemy could fly—or that they'd be so powerful. What kind of monster sailed such an ordinary-looking ship?
His greatest asset was rendered useless, and Salva himself wasn't particularly strong, nor did he have any backbone. Once he lost his advantage, he crumbled faster than his crew.
Even though he could see the contempt in the beautiful woman's eyes, he didn't care. As long as they spared his life, he'd take the humiliation.
"What now?"
Looking at Salva's groveling face, Diana felt a little overwhelmed. She'd never dealt with something like this before, so she turned to Ethan for guidance.
Ethan was standing at the console, stopping the ship. Now that the wind had returned, both the Goddess of Dawn and the Eternal would regain power. He was waiting for the ships to catch up and share in the spoils of victory.
That's right, he planned to loot the enemy ship. He didn't see anything wrong with it. If they'd tried to rob him, they had to be ready to be stripped clean in return. Ethan had no sympathy for these kinds of people.
When he noticed Diana looking at him, and Salva plastering on that fawning smile again, Ethan cheerfully pulled out a pistol and ended Salva's life with a single bullet.
"There's no need to show mercy to someone like this. If there really is a god in this world, let him go meet that god and beg for forgiveness in person. That's all we need to do."
Diana pouted. Did he really need to make it sound so cheesy? It was just killing a guy. Then she turned to the remaining sailors. Salva's sudden death made them panic. Maybe they feared Ethan would kill them too. But if they tried to resist, they knew they didn't stand a chance. Caught between terror and confusion, they froze.
"Fight? Or wait to be killed? That's the question!"
Just as they were hesitating, Ethan left the console. His actions made it clear—so long as they didn't act rashly, he wouldn't kill them. The rebellious sparks that had just begun to surface were extinguished instantly.
In reality, even if they had resisted with everything they had, they wouldn't be able to lay a finger on Diana. Ethan was willing to spare their lives because he found a message on the console he wanted to ask them about.
(To be continued.)
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