Several crab-like appendages anchored themselves into the island's cliffs.
The monstrous sea beast Scylla exuded such overwhelming presence, it felt as if it might drag the entire island into the ocean depths.
It bowed its massive heads respectfully, lowering Poseidon down to the shore.
The skies darkened. Turbulent waves surged across the horizon.
Poseidon wore her scaled armor, a crown signifying dominion over the Seven Seas resting atop her head. In her hand, she held her divine weapon, the Trident.
Eros took a second glance just to confirm: yep, definitely a proper trident, not just a campfire stick.
Poseidon stormed forward, divine might radiating from her like crashing waves. Each step closer brought more pressure, a suffocating force that blanketed the beach.
Eurynome instinctively hid behind Eros, unwilling to face Poseidon directly.
Cercrops, meanwhile, was caught between awe and terror.
She'd expected that Eros might be waiting for a god, but Poseidon? The sea goddess herself?
This was the deity whose name passed through the lips of every sailor, every fisherman, every coastal townsperson.
How many times had Cercrops offered prayers before setting sail?
How many times had she, caught in a storm, silently begged Poseidon for mercy?
Even if her belief had never been devout, she was still, by habit, if nothing else, a worshipper.
And now, to see that very goddess in the flesh, she was stunned into silence.
Before she could recover, Poseidon was already raising her trident high with a laugh.
"Seeing you alive fills me with such joy!" she exclaimed.
Then, with full force, she brought the trident down toward Eros, only to have it casually blocked by his crescent-headed wand.
"Don't come at me with all that aggression. I don't owe you anything," Eros said calmly.
If he hadn't noticed Poseidon wasn't using her full divine authority, he would've already launched a [Corpse Qi: Netherworld Wave] and sent her straight to the underworld for a double-team smackdown.
"Hah? You don't owe me anything?" Poseidon pressed forward, adding force to the trident.
"Do you have any idea what I lost because of you?! I was bedridden for days! You did that to me! And you're telling me you don't owe me?!"
Someone, please understand her rage!
All she did was happily attend a banquet, sipping tiger-shark milk, humming a tune.
And this treacherous little weasel, this insidious Eros, actually poisoned her and, with his co-conspirators, stole half her oceanic dominion.
Then Typhon, that nightmare brute, had the audacity to show up and slap her into bedrest for weeks!
Where's the law? Where's the order?
She just wanted to be a happy little Sea King, who did she ever wrong?!
The more she thought about it, the more infuriated she became.
"That was my domain! Mine!"
Her greatest loss wasn't power or authority, but the symbolic weight of sharing the sea.
The ocean couldn't have two rulers.
In Poseidon's eyes, anyone holding dominion over the seas, if not under her control, was an enemy.
Though not the most dependable goddess, Poseidon was still wildly ambitious and fiercely territorial.
The brief verbal exchange between the two revealed such a flood of information that the onlookers were left reeling.
Prometheus was less surprised, she knew some of the story already.
But Eurynome? She couldn't keep it together.
What happened to all that gossip about hidden affections? Was the rumor mill just gaslighting the entire divine realm?
This wasn't some past-lover reunion, this was full-blown blood feud!
Don't tell me Eros didn't seduce his way through the Oceanic Throne after all, but hacked his way from the Abyss to the Sea King's throne?!
Maybe she hadn't misjudged him in the beginning...
Maybe this was an attempt to kill Poseidon using borrowed hands!
Cercrops, meanwhile, was completely blanked out. She wasn't even processing anymore.
"Now, now. Don't get so worked up, Poseidon," Eros said, brushing the trident aside and taking a step back.
"I was just preemptively defending myself. If I didn't strike first, you would've come after me eventually."
"This was nothing but a desperate act of self-preservation. Honestly, the root problem lies with you."
From an objective standpoint, sure, Eros had made the first move.
But subjectively? He was sure this was 99% Poseidon's fault.
He was just a regular human. What wrong could he possibly do?
"Tch. You think I care about your excuses?"
Poseidon scoffed, her hair floating like writhing sea tendrils.
"Offending a god is a capital offense!"
In the age of gods, who needed concepts like human rights or justice?
Gods were the law.
"Oh please, stop pretending. You're not sentencing anyone to anything," Eros replied, unimpressed.
"Unless you're really confident you can take me down right now, let's drop the act and talk properly."
If Poseidon truly intended to fight, she would've gone all out from the start.
The fact that she hadn't meant she was still feeling him out, testing him.
If Eros had shown weakness, she'd have struck decisively.
But since he held his ground, she was unlikely to take the risk.
After all, Eros had already shattered her expectations once. She couldn't afford another mistake.
In fact, her instincts were right on the mark.
Eros was more than ready to drag her back to the underworld and let her savor some "sisterly love" therapy.
Faced with his directness, Poseidon suddenly laughed and dismissed her trident.
"Hahaha! What are we even fighting for, really?"
"Aren't we friends forged through combat?!"
"As friends, shouldn't we... TMD HUG?!"
The storm clouds above began to disperse, and the crashing waves grew calm.
Poseidon shed her armor, donning a pristine sheer cloak, and opened her arms wide with enthusiasm.
The earlier tension dissolved in an instant, though the awkwardness remained thick in the air.
Eros stepped back, rejecting the hug.
"Let's skip the hugging. But I do agree, no need to stay hostile."
He and Poseidon had no deep-rooted conflict.
Their only point of contention... was over women.
And now that Poseidon was fully and openly a goddess, much of that tension had dissipated.
So long as she left Amphitrite alone, Eros saw no real issue.
He brought out the fruit and spring water he'd prepared earlier and smiled warmly.
"Here, I gathered these specially for you, Poseidon."
Poseidon smiled back, but waved it off.
"No thanks. I'm cutting carbs."
Eros raised a brow. Ah, still worried I poisoned them, huh?
"No need to be paranoid. This time, it's just regular fruit."
"If I really wanted to deal with you, I wouldn't need tricks anymore."
He bit into an apple to prove his point.
The mountain spring was sweet, just like the nectar that flowed from ocean goddesses after a long day,
Poseidon narrowed her eyes. "Wearing a mask now, are we? Don't tell me you got disfigured?"
"How about I take a look? I can heal you, you know."
She reached toward him.
"Come on, let me give it a tug."
"No need, no need," Eros said, gently blocking her hand.
"I'm just worried that revealing my face might... overwhelm your emotions."
The two exchanged biting sarcasm under the thinnest layer of civility.
Though the atmosphere seemed less aggressive, the undercurrent of tension hadn't vanished.
After a few more jabs, it was Poseidon who finally asked the key question.
"Eros, what are you really trying to do this time?"
She even said his name aloud, but the sea was still cloaked under her divine concealment. Hera wouldn't hear a thing.
"Me? I'm just passing by."
"Then I happened to see a goddess being chased down, and my righteous heart wouldn't let me look away."
At those words, Poseidon finally remembered why she'd come here in the first place.
Her gaze snapped toward Eurynome, filled with undisguised heat.
"Hmph. This is between me and Eurynome. It has nothing to do with you."
"Standing up for justice when I see it. That's me." Eros straightened his back nobly.
"Even if you're the Sea King, that doesn't mean you can just abduct a goddess in broad daylight!"
"Where's the justice in that? Where's the morality? What about the laws laid down by Themis?"
"As the Sea King, you're setting a terrible example for your people and your worshippers."
"Today, you take your sister's woman, tomorrow, your sister takes yours. So maybe... I should try out the Sea Queen sometime?"
That last line broke her.
"F**k off! Didn't you already sleep with her?! I haven't even said one damn word to her! You can't be this shameless!"
Mentioning that was pushing it too far.
A Queen for every King was only natural.
But while Poseidon, the Sea King, hadn't even gotten to greet her own Sea Queen properly, the Sea Queen was already sharing silk sheets with Eros?!
And now this bastard had the audacity to poke at that wound?!
Salt. Meet wound.
Poseidon was boiling.
She hadn't done anything.
But somehow, some divine how, she ended up with a bright green hat square on her head.
Absolutely unacceptable.