Chapter 84: Interlude Seventeen: Selvaria - Battle of the Beasts

Spinning back with a monotone giggle, her tail whipped to the side, sweeping his legs out from under him. "Girls first!"

"Nice tr—"

He tucked into a sharp barrel roll, only for his shoulder to be met by her scaled heel. Abeer grunted as she punted him through the desk and into a fancy stone pillar in the large bank area. Using her tail to right herself, Selvaria began humming her favorite anime battle song; things were only getting warmed up.

Breathing in deeply through her nose, water filled her mouth as she opened it; the liquid was drawn out, condensing tighter and tighter into a sphere.

[Breath Augmentation - Water Beam]

Abeer forced a laugh as he got up and broke into a charge, chest bleeding slightly from the imprint her clawed toes left in his skin, tinting a dark purple hue. The blast of hyper-condensed water jetted from between her jagged jaws, yet it dispersed into mist against the bull’s maroon aura as he powered through. Still, it applied just enough pressure to make her grin.

Just as her liquid beam petered out, Selvaria jumped forward, sliding across the slick tile to trip the raging bull; Abeer mirrored her, chest hitting the still-settling water. The earth shook with their movements as they collided, Selvaria’s weight carrying her through his momentum and sending him toppling over her to be ripped across her spiked spine.

Unfortunately, she hadn’t considered the ’after’ portion of this plan.

"Uh...no, no, no—oof!"

Trajectory thrown off by the slick tile, she crashed, slamming into one of the pillars at full force, breaking through the bottom and sending it falling on top of her.

"Give me a break," she grumbled, face turning red as she tried to push it off her chest; her tail thrashed, beating against the bank floor and cracking the tile, but her attempts to free herself came to no avail. "C’mon—moooove! Ugh."

Abeer had tumbled into a wall and was getting back up, showing minor cuts across his back and shoulders; Astra’s drone was still recording. "Eh-haha... Ack! Son of a bitch; you do have some sharp edges! Damn. Well, what happened to you?"

The tapping of liquid dripping from the ceiling came into the foreground as Selvaria glared at the bull-man from her trapped position; the problem was her back spikes had dug into the concrete, and the pillar was on her chest.

She sighed. "Go on, take your free shot—"

Abeer rubbed the cuts on his chest before looking at his blood with a small smile; his brown skin had turned purple, the shade deepening as his horns grew and thickened.

"Oh, babe, I’m just getting started; let’s start getting serious."

"Woah, woah, woah. Let’s not do something crazy," Selvaria said with a dull laugh, not doing well in her attempts to wiggle out; she was starting to feel a bruise from his previous attack. "You’re not supposed to go boss mode yet; I haven’t reached the enrage timer."

"Can you take a full charge from my released state without any damage? Let’s see, dragon girl!"

The red aura expanded, and Abeer’s frame illuminated. He grew and shifted into a 4-meter-tall bull, his maroon fur deepening, as white symbols and hair sprouted from various parts of his body.

A strained laugh bubbled out of Selvaria’s tight chest as he practically grew six more horns that were practically fused together and wrapped around his face. One curled under his eyes, two jetted out from atop his head, and two curved out, each one housing deadly barbs.

"You gotta be kidding me... Well, this is probably going to—eh?"

[Level Up - Level 5]

[1 Stat Point Added; 1 Available]

[1 Stat Modifier Point Added; 1 Available]

[1 Refinement Point Added; 1 Available]

[1 Branch Feat Point Added; 1 Available]

The level came as a shock, considering her position, but it probably meant their team was winning somewhere and sneaking her EXP.

Score! I get my super abilities now! Well, if I don’t die. Pfft! Me? Never! Just please don’t hurt too much...

Hot steam shot out of the bull’s nose as the bone atop his head thickened with spikes that ran down his spine. Abeer’s muscles would have made Rachel jealous as they flexed in his agitated pacing...and had he not been a bull right now. Each step of his glistening hooves sent shockwaves through the floor, yet the sounds they made were less intimidating to her.

Some of his men started to wake up from her fear aura, saw their drenched environment, the bull about to go on a rampage, and her under a pillar before scrambling up to run. Astra’s drone caught their exit in 8k, and she couldn’t go out like a punk.

"Bring it on, beefsteak," she laughed, trusting in her Defense. "Better make this one count, or—oh, and there he goes... Mmm."

Abeer turned and walked through the front, destroying the wall with a flick of his head. Selvaria could see where this was going; yeah, it was time to really try before this got bad.

[Liquid Enhancement: Activated]

Strength flooded her muscles as she burned a bit of liquid; she groaned, trying even harder to push the debris off. [Breath Augmentation] wouldn’t be strong enough to rip through the pillar at its low tier. She needed to get to the ocean to transform and access her full kaiju-enhanced abilities, just as he’d activated his; she couldn’t win against a kaiju in her human state.

However, Abeer had made the critical anime error every bad guy or hero makes: the first one to unleash their hidden power is always the loser.

Shoving off the pillar just as a thunderous noise came from outside, the drone catching every second from its high vantage point, Selvaria stumbled to her feet and activated her defensive Feats in quick succession to their fullest, fueling them with 50% of her current water supply.

[Dermal Armor] Max - 10%

[Scales of the Deep] Max - 15%

[Liquid Enhancement] Max - 15%

[Reflective Exoskeleton] Max - 10%

The dark plates along her body shimmered with an obsidian sheen, thickening and flaring out in preparatory retaliation as her aquamarine eyes brightened; metal, brick, and stone exploded inward as the brown-eyed bull charged, head lowered and hooves ripping up concrete in his swift acceleration.

"Bring it on!" Selvaria screamed (monotonely), running to meet him. Her weight dropped dramatically from her loss of water, but she had a short delay between consumption and loss in overall Stats.

Abeer’s front horns met her protected belly, forcing the air out of her lungs and sinking slightly into her skin underneath as his bony head met hers; the world went white. Flashes of light and dull sound met her ears, her mind spinning as she saw falling pieces of a building, a bent metal dumpster flying over her, and fire burning her abdomen. Had his horns been cloaked in flames? She couldn’t remember.

[Grade Advancement - Dermal Armor II Unlocked]

[Grade Advancement - Scales of the Deep II Unlocked]

Selvaria’s hazed vision saw a bright, partially cloudy sky, with a pretty moon overhead as air rushed past her; she blinked, and suddenly there were choppy waves overhead, her mind soon washing out completely.

Damn... she thought, her numb body sinking into the sea. That’s gonna be a cool scene...

[Water Pool - 34%]

[Water Pool - 35%]

* – * – *

[Creature of the Fathomless Void: Activated]

* – * – *

[Dermal Armor - Augmented to Kaiju-class]

[Leviathan Physiology - Augmented to Kaiju-class]

[Scales of the Deep - Augmented to Kaiju-class]

[Leviathan Sense - Augmented to Kaiju-class]

[Intimidation Aura - Augmented to Kaiju-class]

[Reflective Exoskeleton - Augmented to Kaiju-class]

[Breath Augmentation - Augmented to Kaiju-class]

Strength flooded Selvaria’s body, bright eyes opening to the sea paradise she’d made for her inner world; Abeer’s attack had been strong enough to knock her unconscious and heavily damage the plates guarding her belly, but they’d held due to maxing her defenses on impact.

A smile spread across Selvaria’s monstrous jaws as the status screen popped up, giving her an understanding of what she’d gained; this was what she’d been waiting for.

She swiftly scanned through the options and didn’t have to think hard about her decisions; she was a tank bruiser, after all.

Exiting her internal world as fast as possible, Selvaria felt a pulse quake through her entire body; her tail scraped along the bottom of the floor as she twisted around in the water, the seafloor growing smaller as she grew larger.

Head exiting the ocean, Selvaria lifted her long neck, her powerful legs pulling her out of the water. Her laughter rippled the air with hair-raising rumbles. Abeer was still in his bull form, 4 meters tall, and turning to look at her.

Nearly 20 meters long with everything she’d gained, Selvaira opened her spiked mouth. Bones on the outside of her wide jaws meant for penetration gleamed, as her triple rows of teeth glistened with her black tongue.

"We’re not done, buddy!" she roared, her terrifying [Kaiju Aura] radiating within her cry.

Hot steam shot out of Abeer’s nose, his grunt translating to her through the universal Kaiju language as he turned around. "So you’ve become a bigger target? How kind of you..."

Selvaria’s tail curled around, bringing a wave of seawater onto the ripped-up beach. Tipping her head low, electricity ran along her back up to her mouth, and she pulled in liquid, charging and condensing the particles with the static bouncing around her jaws. This time, she wasn’t using her weak human variant of the attack, and she had a whole ocean to fuel her.

[Kaiju Breath Augmentation - Ion Cutter]

"Shit..."

Abeer used his horns as a shield as she breathed the shimmering, aquamarine laser at the bull; the force of the impact forced him to take a step back—two seconds, three, five—the beam dwindled, showing a heated spot on the man’s larger horn. A second later, it cracked and fell to the grass.

"Fight me, villain!" Selvaira roared, thrashing her tail and kicking up sand. "Our battle will be leg—why are you running? Why are you running?!"

He took one look down at his broken horn as a flaming message Selvaria couldn’t read flared into existence beside him. "How...did you get so powerful in less than three minutes? Shit. Agh! Son of a bitch. Next time, dragon girl—this isn’t over—I have other business to handle."

Turning, Abeer charged into the building.

"No... Dammit... Stupid, slow body... Coward!"

"I’m no coward!"

Every step on land made her body cry out to stop as she tried to pursue. Sure, [Environmental Adaptation] let her be in this form on land, but that didn’t mean she was good at it.

"W-Why are you...going—yes, you are—cowardly beefsteak... I’m hungry. Aww, this sucks... I’m soooo slow..."

Falling on her belly, her head struck the rise that led to the bank’s broken back wall; a dog was nearby, barking at her, somehow bypassing her fear aura, or maybe she just didn’t want to scare it, and that mattered. Frustration boiled in her restored belly as she stared at the large horn Abeer left.

The drone came hovering down, her big eyes following its path as Astra’s voice came over the speaker. "What did I tell ya, mate; you lost the earpiece, didn’t ya?"

"Shut up," she grunted, but it only came out in an agitated, monstrous growl.

"Hehe, well, bollocks. It’s a good thing yer mate knew this would happen and packed a spare!"

Returning to her human state, Selvaria groaned as the weight of gravity against her less-enhanced body increased. "Ugh... I need more points into Power... Wait, really? Aww. Thanks, Astra," she said, releasing the tense air in her lungs. "I guess I have a trophy and video for Mom..."

She stopped at the wall, crossing her arms and glaring at the rise as Astra snickered.

"Knackered, love?"

"Ish. I’m taking the stairs... Screw platforms," she yelled into space in her monotone way. "Wait, I scared off the villain, which is a good segment. Right?"

"That it be, chapette! The Adventures of the Invincible Sea Lassy, episode one!"

"No, no, no... We gotta have like a short teaser of the fight," Selvaria hummed, rubbing her chin while taking her time to get up the rise; she was, as Astra put it, quite knackered. "I need a cool ’just your normal girl’ introduction with my mom and Chocolate the Moose...oh, and my new friends.

"Aww, you’re so wholesome and terrifying," Astra laughed. "Oh, you will not believe how things ended with this bomber, ma’am."

"Ooh? Go on, and take me to another fight... I can’t believe he ran away. Ugh. I hate villains."

"Oh, and don’t get your knickers in a twist; he’s gone-gone. Someone’s doing some teleport shenanigans—probably MI6, and... Hold up. Blimey! I think Rachel’s back, and rockin’ a look?! Damn, girl, got some bling!"

///SMENote///

How about a Power Stone Goal?

Every 200 Power Stones this week = +1 Extra Chapter

We could have the normal 2 Daily Chapters... Or +2 Extra Chapters Every Day. The power is in your hands! Or should I say Stones?