As soon as the pirate ships lost their shields, it only took a few minutes before the pirates were either captured or cut down.

Cassian and Kirja had played a huge role in taking one ship by themselves before moving on to help with another.

Both of them ended up injured, though Cassian was far worse off because of his brutal fighting style. Even if he dodged most attacks, he willingly took hits whenever it guaranteed him a killing blow in return.

Kirja, on the other hand, was much harder to even approach.

Her giant axe was nearly as tall as she was, giving her swings incredible reach. Most enemies couldn’t get close enough to attack her directly, leaving the mages as the only real threat since they could strike from a distance with spells.

So while Kirja dealt with the enemy mages, Cassian focused on hunting down the Circle Warriors.

"I thought we’d end up stranded in the middle of the ocean for a while..." Cassian said as he watched the mages repairing the ship with magic.

The giant ice pillar had already melted away, and the massive hole it had created in the lower decks was now sealed shut. Meanwhile, the people who couldn’t use magic were busy cleaning up the dead bodies.

There were a few casualties on their side too, though luckily none of them were people Cassian knew.

As for the pirates, their bodies were tossed into the sea only after removing either their eyes or entire heads, since both could be exchanged at the nearest guild for the bounties placed on them.

As for the people who had died on their side, their bodies were stored inside spatial storage rings so they could later be returned to their families or handed over to funeral houses to arrange proper burials.

After throwing another pirate corpse into the sea, Cassian asked, "That was the last one, right?"

Kirja nodded casually, both of them acting as if they hadn’t just killed dozens of people each.

"It’s a hassle, but honestly, I wouldn’t mind fighting a few more pirate fleets," she said with a wide grin. "It’s fun chopping them apart with my axe..."

Cassian looked disgusted as her cultist tendencies started showing again.

"Don’t say things like that," he said. "These pirates were nobodies. If we ran into one of the famous fleets, it’d be a miracle if even a few people from our ships survived."

Kirja looked surprised, though the excitement in her eyes only grew stronger.

"They must have some really powerful people in their ranks then?" she asked.

"Yeah. Have you ever read about the legendary pirate known as the Pirate King?" Cassian asked. "A Domain Shaper mage. Nobody even knows his real name, but people say his fleet is large enough to rival the entire Magic Empire or even the Andhartha Kingdom..."

Cassian had picked up the information from all the reading he’d been doing during the boring chores aboard the ship.

"Who even let them grow that much?" she asked in surprise.

A Domain Shaper was already terrifying on its own, but pirates having an army comparable to entire kingdoms was something else entirely. The cult had only grown so large because it stayed hidden for thousands of years and had time on its side.

And even before the cult was destroyed and the Dark Lord sealed away, the cultists had already been a force powerful enough to shake the world. Back then, they had the strongest mages alive supporting them, along with entire kingdoms standing on their side.

So it wasn’t really surprising that the cult had risen again with enough power to fight multiple kingdoms and noble houses almost by itself.

"It can’t really be helped," Cassian explained. "The sea is too massive to fully control. Pirates can flee in any direction—even straight down into the depths—so stopping them completely is almost impossible."

He continued, "And navies usually don’t bother interfering unless pirates start attacking their ports or important trade ships. Honestly, we got lucky these idiots decided to stay and fight us instead of running away."

"There are also countless places to hide out here," he added while looking across the ocean. "Lost islands, ruins, hidden coves... and tons of treasures sunk into the sea. Some of them are even legendary things, like war armors..."

He still remembered finding his own armor on one of those islands.

All of that only made Kirja look more excited.

"You’re really making me want to become a pirate now..." she said while staring out at the sea.

By then, the first rays of sunlight had started cutting through the darkness, slowly setting the endless blue ocean ablaze with gold near the horizon.

"Well, it’s better than fighting in someone else’s pointless war, so of course it sounds exciting," Cassian said.

Honestly, who wouldn’t want freedom, even if it meant being labeled a criminal?

That made Kirja raise an eyebrow.

"You’re against this war?" she asked.

By then, Wanni and Peter had walked over to them.

"Yeah," Cassian answered. "Why would anyone like war? All the pointless killing, forcing people out of their homes, children losing their parents, parents losing their children... it’s horrible."

Peter looked genuinely shocked, and even Wanni stared at Cassian strangely.

"Who the hell are you?" Peter asked in disbelief, as if the Cassian speaking now was completely different from the one who had been butchering pirates without hesitation earlier while now talking about the horrors of war.

Because Cassian himself was horror.

Pieces of his flesh had healed like twisting tendrils attaching themselves back together. A shoulder that had nearly been sliced off had reconnected itself while muscles slithered through the air searching for their matching parts to fuse with again.

It was horrifying enough to make even those lawless pirates tremble in fear.

Kirja looked like she wanted to ask more questions too, but stopped herself after noticing Peter and Wanni nearby.

"I hate war," Cassian continued, "but that doesn’t mean I won’t fight in one. The only thing that matters is being on the righteous side."

"And how do you decide which side is righteous and which side is wrong?" Peter asked with an amused smile.

Then he added,

"For example, tell me about this current war. Why are the cultists evil while the people fighting them are good?"

"Who said the people fighting the cult are good? They’re just less evil than the cult," Cassian answered.

Wanni nodded in agreement. "To be honest, neither side in a war is truly good. It’s just that the cult is far worse compared to the others. They want the world drowned in darkness, everyone turned into slaves for their Dark Lord or whatever... I seriously don’t understand whose mind that sounds appealing in."

Cassian looked amused hearing that, especially since she already knew Kirja was a cultist and probably suspected Peter too—which, in Peter’s case, was true. Cassian just hadn’t gotten around to telling the others yet.

Wanni finished her little speech with a bright smile, forcing awkward smiles out of Kirja and Peter as both nodded rather reluctantly.

"Anyway, enough about war," Cassian suddenly said, instantly changing tone as he stretched out his hand with a greedy grin that reached ear to ear, looking like some shameless merchant. "Where’s my treasure, Captain?"

Peter’s face immediately fell.

With visible reluctance, he pulled out five more spatial rings and slapped them into Cassian’s hand.

"Here. Now shove them up your greedy ass..."