The core that drives Cetus into some of his best and worst decisions is love. Love, both selfish and selfless, roaring desire that mounts like tempest waves and threatens to topple the stability of nations - or tenderness as gentle as the sea breeze. Cetus loves so much and that's the core of who he is. Neither a just or ignoble tenet, instead a mostly truthful one about himself. Cetus' greatest moments come from his love for others. While it's very easy to see this in his relationship with Deepcolor, his mercy and compassion for her that evolves into his blooming romantic love for her, one shouldn't overlook how much Cetus truly loves the other Abyssal Hunters. They're his family. They mean everything to him. Which is why ever having to go against them, even for a chance at a better future for all of them, is so deeply agonizing to him. When Cetus fought as a soldier for Aegir, his strength came not from a place of hatred against the seaborn, but his love for his fellow hunters and a desire to protect them. To protect their home. At least, when he thought that was what they were doing. Now that he knows that seaborn can feel love, that he feels it every day from one himself, he cannot stand by Aegir's long history of violence against them. Moreover, Cetus loves his friends, like Aberration, and when he deigns to make himself helpful, it often comes from a sincere place of care.

But there is also a darker side to Cetus' love. In its absence, left without it and coping poorly, Cetus will seek substitutes. Instead of finding comfort and belonging in a community of his kin, Cetus will seek any form of connection. Sexual, often, but not necessarily. Something to fill the void that loved ones leave in him.

At his best, Cetus is a compassionate and open-minded hunter whose love for both sides of a war pushes him to end it. At worst, Cetus is a shell without the love he craves, and his hunger for it can harm others as he begins to replace it with hedonistic behaviors. There is also no small part of Cetus that loves himself, and while his love might be great enough to lead to a sacrifice of his own life, first it must succeed against his love for himself.

Since his low point in Iberia, Cetus has been learning from Deepcolor and the other Abyssal Hunters about managing that balance. In finding fulfilment in the love he both gives and receives from others, and how not to crumble in its absence. To be a better man, not just for the love of himself, but for the love he has for those around him.

After all, one day, Cetus knows that's all that will be left of him.

It's love.