The awkward dynamic between Arius and Evalaite continued on this flight over the sea.

"As a god, you should have earned a title by now, no?" she asked, her voice suave.

Indifferent, Ariu stated, "I have received the unsightly title as the Ravager."

"I see. It is too bad that the Obliterator had already been taken and used in recent history, huh?"

"Yep." Arius agreed and turned back to face Urru's horns.

"This is part of the reason why I call him Tongueless," Urru piped up. "He has neglected to tell you that he is also a god of love, by his official attributes."

A wince screwed up on Arius's face.

"Aw," Evalaite cooed. "Why wouldn't you tell me that?" She leaned forward to clutch onto Arius's elbow, very similar to the same sensual way that she had latched onto him when Val had first met them. "A god of war and love—that is so cute!"

Arius looked back to Evalaite, half-mortified. "I did not want to tell you in case that would make you uncomfortable. Instead, you seem more than comfortable around me."

"You really are cute." Ignoring the fact that Arius had just pulled away from her, she snuggled up along his back. "It seems like you get a little fussy over being called 'cute'. Don't worry yourself over it," she insisted. "It is a compliment."

"Sure."

After a pause, Evalaite picked herself into sitting upright. "Wait a minute. If you are Arius, the god of war and love, also known as the Ravager, does that title apply to both of your attributes? Do you ravage women too?"

"No!"

So much for Evalaite's attempt at a play on words. The word that she was looking for would have been 'ravish', Val thought. If that had been some twisted attempt at flirting, she had only succeeded in making Arius look more uneasy.

Coming to his aid, Urru barked, "Show some respect. You are also speaking to the right hand of Suvier, God Supreme."

At that, Evalaite raised her brow. "Wow. You really moved up in the world quickly, despite your young age. By any chance would you also be the son of the new God Supreme?"

"Yes, that happens to be the case," Arius mumbled. "All of my accomplishments are still my own."

"Oh, I have no doubt," Evalaite said, her eyes pointedly narrowed.

"I think that this has been quite enough information about me. Would you like to finish introducing yourself, since you deflected attention away from your own attribute?"

With a sigh, Evalaite whined, "You noticed that? Must I really tell you?"

There was a long pause between them, as Evalaite remained tight-lipped.

In an attempt to goad her, Arius said, "If you give me more information about you, I will be able to help you better."

"I suppose that you have been so very kind to me, it should be all right to tell you. Please do not think badly of me for it. My attribute," Evalaite restarted in a whisper, "is seduction." Nervous fingers curled around to hide her face, knuckles pressed against her lips.

Arius turned around to look at her. The red tinges in his face were slightly exacerbated by his hair. Just the mention of her attribute made him blush, and that annoyed Val. "Did he make you take that one?" he asked.

"No," she said in a torpid mutter. "I had chosen it myself, before the Sea Itself took me."

"Ah, I see." Once Arius had sorted out his thoughts, he said, "What happened to you is not your fault. You have the agency to choose whatever attribute that you want, and that agency should be respected. The fault is entirely in Tavras who chose to harm you."

"Yes, of course." Evalaite let out a soft hum, more bored than appreciative.

Darkened thoughts stormed around Val's mind. How dare Evalaite use the guise of a sexual assault victim to manipulate Arius's opinion of her like this. It was disgusting and atrocious to the point where Val now had limitless moral qualms with Evalaite if she would ever need them.

In doing so, Evalaite made Tavras out to be a despicable person, something that was simply not true. While Tavras may be an old god, he was not that sort of man. After having spent two months alone with Tavras on his Paradise, Val knew that from her own experience with him, despite the way that she had tried flirting with him.

At the same time, she did not have the same physical appearance as Evalaite albeit. As irrefutable confirmation, she had seen in her own vision of the past how readily Evalaite had thrown herself at him. As much as she disliked the woman, by no means was she projecting her hate onto her. Val understood this much quite clearly.

The two of them sat silently on Urru's back for a long while. The scenery of the ocean below them changed to a sandy shore, which quickly changed to grass and trees. They now flew towards the mountainous region at the center of the Summit of Ascension.

"As much as I hate to interrupt," Urru said to break the silence, "I need to know where we are heading. Do we report straight to Suvier with our victory, or do we have the luxury of a well-earned rest?"

"Screw my old man!" Arius said at once. "He can find out about the sea when he finds out. We are going home!" More hesitantly, he glanced back to obtain Evalaite's permission.

"If you would be okay with that, you are welcome to stay at my house. Personally, I intend to go straight to sleep. By the position of the sun, I would guess that I had been charged up for fourteen hours straight, and Urru has been flying for that long. We need rest before we do anything about your situation."

Continuing, he said, "I do not exactly have any women who I am close enough with to leave you in their care on short notice like this. I could call in a favor with Ludo. You know Ludovico, right? He is a doctor, so you could trust him! Also, you might want to look into professional therapy, which he could provide or refer you to someone."

Evalaite looked up at him with dumb, glazed over eyes. "Yes, I know who Ludo is. I feel perfectly safe with you, Arius, thank you very much. After a fight like that with Tavras, I understand that you need rest. I am simply grateful that you managed to defeat him!" Big and wide, Evalaite smiled up to him with a gracious tilt of her head.

Arius turned away from her, smiling down at his hands. Clearly, he felt proud of himself for doing something that he thought was right.

"You made that simple question incredibly complicated," Urru commented to him.

"I was only trying to be considerate to our guest."

While Urru set his flight course in the direction of their home, the smile fell away from Arius's lips as time passed.

In the silence, something was very much going on between Arius and Evalaite—more than flirting. Similar to how he had reached out to Val's mind without her knowing when they had first met, Arius was trying to scan Evalaite in a similar way. Despite all of his capabilities in brute strength, he was unable to get a read on her. The barrier of her Mental Shield was impassable to a god of weak mental prowess like Arius, at this point in time.

"Might I ask why you are trying to invade my thoughts?" Though her voice sounded strict, it also had a playful edge.

A small sigh of relief left Arius, because he seemed to have no intention to offend her. "Would you mind lowering your Mental Shield for me?" he asked over his shoulder. "I want to get a simple read on you."

Evalaite crossed her arms over her chest and made a small, unsettled noise. "It upsets me that you tried to read my mind without my permission."

"I was not trying to read your mind, per se. I cannot read any specific thoughts, though I can Read Intentions. I just wanted to have a general sense of your ambitions at this current stage of your life. I could help you better then, without any need for you to explain yourself, assuming that it would be easier for you this way."

"You do not even trust me," Evalaite wailed. "After everything that I have been through, you want to delve into my memories to prove it to yourself. I don't want to have to share those thoughts with you!

"No!" Arius said, instantly becoming overly panicked. "I was not trying to get proof of your experience. Without a doubt, I believe you."

"Why did you try to read my mind then?"

He opened his mouth to respond and struggled for a few seconds to find the words. "Honestly, I take stock of everyone's intentions indiscriminately to see if they pose any threat."

The corner of Evalaite's mouth twitched in what almost turned into a smile. Nevertheless, she contorted her face seamlessly into a miserable pout. "Whether I am telling the truth or lying to you—it does not even matter." Before continuing, she let out a big sigh to compose herself in part. Evalaite was a good actor. Her posture slouched over in defeat, void of all confidence. "How about I just tell you what I want then? Personally, I could not be happier just being away from that island. I never want to see Tavras again. That's it."

Arius nodded solemnly. "I know. I-I'm sorry that I tried to Read your Intentions. I meant no offense to you. As the god of war, I think that I tend to be untrusting and on-edge in nature, so please understand that I have nothing against you. Again, I believe you."

"Thank you. I appreciate your apology." Though Evalaite said that, the hurt remained plain in her voice.

A moment of quiet fell over them once again. The whooshes of Urru's wings increased in volume as he worked in his ascent up a mountain. Somehow, he had picked a particular peak out of the vast mountain range.

"I must inform you that your scenic flight has come to an end." A last hover brought Urru's talons crushing onto stone.

They had landed on a high point of the mountain that had a wide ledge around the maw of a cave. Apparently, Arius and Urru called this place their home.

First, Arius dismounted and held his arms out to help Evalaite in turn.

She had no qualms with jumping down and landing into Arius's arms. With a dramatic flair, she made herself collapse into his chest more than he had intended. Clinging onto him, her head turned all around. "The two of you live on a mountain? I expected that much from the dragon, but this seems rather… inhospitable for you, Arius."

"Actually, I had carved my own space out of the rock with my powers. Would you like me to show you around?" Arius smiled and put some gentle hands on Evalaite's forearms to push her an appropriate distance away.

The trio all made their way into the cave. Urru moved fast despite his sluggish movements in an attempt to get away from Arius and Evalaite. While they disappeared into the shadows, Evalaite was smiling a big, phony smile up to him without taking her intense eyes off of him.