B1 — 22. Battle of the Beasts
Selvaria’s tail weaved behind her as she ran at the tall bull man—this was her hero moment! She pulled back her arm and aimed right at his chest; there was no way he could hurt her with those stumpy horns.
The world flipped upside down, a thump against her back; shattered tile spat out like a grenade causing shouts from nearby.
“The hell!”
“Woah! Woah! Chill, Egor!”
“Blimey!” Astra snarled. “The bloody hell was that racket?! Selv?”
[Dermal Armor I - Advanced to B-tier]
[Reflective Exoskeleton I - Advanced to E-tier]
“Huh?”
Selvaria’s lips parted in disbelief while staring up at the muscular man; gravity must have reversed because there was no way he’d just thrown her, but here she was, staring up at the ceiling. He walked to the counter to lean against it, his small bull tail weaving behind him.
“Haha! I like the energy, and damn, you got weight on you, girl. That felt good!”
Her blade-like fin slammed against the tile, sending more shrapnel flying everywhere; he was making fun of her, but she had to be cool. Smoothly rolling to the side and pushing herself up, Selvaria’s dull blue eyes fixated on the man as she dusted herself off.
“Humph. Is that all you have, beefsteak?”
“Ooh. You took that like a champ!” He rolled around his neck and pointed at the broken concrete underneath the pulverized tile. “I’ll hand it to your defense. The name’s Abeer, but most people just call me Egor. I’ve been looking for a good fight.”
He did not just judo-throw me! I have trouble lifting my own weight when my pool is full.
In a partial daze, she had to admit he had some power; it was probably where he’d dumped all his stats, as she’d mostly done defense. Selvaria rotated her tail and shoulders, loosening up; it was important to look strong in front of the villain, after all. This was a perfect monologue time to assert her dominance.
“Ho-ho-ho.” She put a hand up to her mouth and glanced around at the gangsters; Astra informed her that the hostages were on the second floor with an armed guard. “How weak. Do you think your puny guards and their toy guns mean anything to me?”
Egor glanced at his nervous men. “Well, you heard her. Shoot the bitch.”
“B-Bitch?” Selvaria seethed, showing a smile as her narrowed gaze shifted to him. “Why are bad guys always so rude?”
The men let off a spray of bullets that ricocheted off her scaly plates as they covered her skin; one man dropped to the floor after catching a shot in the leg.
[Scales of the Deep I - Advanced to B-tier]
“Ahh!”
“W-What’s she doing?”
“Where are the grenades?!”
Two men tossed the deadly objects at her that she caught; well, she caught one of them, holding it up with a grin as the other flew two meters away. A slight sting hit her palm as it detonated, and she hardly felt the one at her back, making the men’s eyes pop.
[Liquid Enhancement I - Advanced to C-tier]
[Human Adaptation I - Advanced to A-tier]
Tossing the remains in her mouth, she chewed them up with a smile. Egor didn’t even budge from his casual position and did what all villains do: laugh while watching her torment his men.
“There’s no shot!”
“Those rounds were armor-piercing!”
“Shut up and run, dude! She took a grenade and ate it!”
“You gotta be shitting me!”
“Run! Run!”
“Dude, she ate it!”
“Go! Go!”
“I’m not getting paid en—”
She’d had enough fun; it was time to start the boss battle.
[Intimidation Aura I]
Selvaria sucked in the air, compressing a large amount into her lungs before releasing a deafening roar that shook the air. The gust she created would have made the men stumble back, had not their eyes rolled back into their heads, and they dropped to the tile floor unconscious.
“Oh, c’mon, ack… That wasn’t even my more advanced [Kaiju Intimidation Aura] since I’m in my human state,” Selvaria coached, feeling its increase to the E-tier, probably due to the number of people she affected.
Rubbing her throat and sighing, she looked up at the ceiling as Astra informed her the men upstairs were panicking with the hostages and running for the fire escape.
“Well, well, well.” Clapping came from Egor as he pushed himself off the counter to appraise the sleeping cronies. “Night-night. Damn. I see you. Relica was right; you were worth the wait, scale girl.”
Selvaria puffed up her chest, holding her head high. “Astra, you there?”
“Not for long, love. We have a bomber situation. What’s up?”
“Can you record? I wanna show my mom how I wipe the floor with this bozo.”
“Ooh.” Egor flexed his fingers and flashed his teeth. “I love a good show. Why make it exclusive? Let’s show the world me goring you. I can’t make it fast; I want to enjoy myself.”
“I got ya, ya cheeky cock. I’ll set the bugger ta follow ya. I might be MIA for a bit. I gotta cut all wireless feeds for the bloody bomber sheila. Sound is recorded on yer earpiece, so don’t lose it!”
“Hehehe.” Selvaria pointed at him, her monotone voice escalating as Astra’s drone floated through a busted window to record. “Big talk for an oversized piece of beef jerky!”
Egor walked forward to face her, towering at least half a meter or more above her. “As you said, let’s fight!”
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. Egor 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 I - Water Beam]
Egor 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; Egor 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.”
Egor 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 dropping 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—”
Egor rubbed the cuts on his chest before looking at his blood with a small smile; his brown skin had converted to 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 Egor’s frame illuminated, growing and shifting to become a 4-meter tall bull; his maroon fur deepened, white symbols and hair sprouting out of 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]
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. Egor’s muscles would have made Rachel jealous as they flexed in his agitated pacing, each step of his glistening hooves causing shockwaves through the floor.
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 defenses. “Better make this one count, or—oh, and there he goes… Mmm.”
Egor 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 I]
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.
Although Egor had made the critical anime error that every bad guy or hero made: the first one to unleash their hidden power was 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 defense Feats in quick succession to their fullest, fueling them with 50% of her current water supply.
[Dermal Armor I] Max - 10%
[Scales of the Deep I] Max - 15%
[Liquid Enhancement I] Max - 15%
[Reflective Exoskeleton I] 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, running to meet him; her weight was dropping dramatically due to her loss in water, but she had a short delay in the consumption to loss in overall stats due to the loss in her pool.
Egor’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, numb body sinking into the sea. That’s gonna be a cool scene…
[Seawater Pool II - E-tier] 34%... 35%...
[Creature of the Fathomless Void X Activated]
[Dermal Armor II - F-tier augmented to Kaiju-class]
[Leviathan Physiology I - A-tier augmented to Kaiju-class]
[Scales of the Deep II - F-tier augmented to Kaiju-class]
[Leviathan Sense I - D-tier augmented to Kaiju-class]
[Intimidation Aura I - E-tier augmented to Kaiju-class]
[Reflective Exoskeleton I - E-tier augmented to Kaiju-class]
[Breath Augmentation I - augmented to Kaiju-class]
Strength flooded Selvaria’s body, bright eyes opening to the sea paradise she’d made for her inner world; Egor’s attack was 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 her 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 water, Selvaria lifted her long neck out of the ocean, powerful legs pulling her out of the waters; her laughter rippled the air with hair-raising rumbles. Egor 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 as her triple rows of teeth glistened with her black tongue.
“We’re not done, buddy!” she roared, her terrifying [Kaiju Aura I] radiating within her cry.
Hot steam shot out of Egor’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 open 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 I - Ion Cutter]
“Shit…”
Egor 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, Egor charged into the building.
“No… Dammit… Stupid, slow body… Coward!”
“I’m no coward!”
Every step onto land made her body cry out to stop as she tried to pursue; sure, [Environmental Adaptation] allowed her to 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 while staring at the large horn Egor 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 weighted gravity had 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!”
* * *
Anthony moved Amelia’s bed to the corner so he could act swiftly anywhere in the room, keeping Molly, Sam, Astra, and Selvaria’s mother close to his fiancé. He took up a central position in the room with two soldiers beside the exit on the outside and in.
Amelia had gotten along with the two women, talking about their daughters as Astra mostly kept to himself, showing off his British vocabulary to him, no doubt by the avatar he’d currently taken.
Ever since this whole operation started, he’d been pondering his part in all of this. Naturally, he was taking up the home base protection detail since he wouldn’t leave Amelia’s side, but Anthony also couldn’t deny that he was falling behind in this changed world, and it didn’t sit well with him.
Staring down at his fidgeting hand, he knew Amelia would notice; she always caught onto his nervous ticks. What if I’m not strong enough to handle it, or one more Feat Extension could be the difference between life and death?
A pop came from Astra as he blew a bubble, mouth creasing and making Molly’s nervous eyes shoot toward him. “Has Rachel come back—have you figured out what a Legend’s Quest is?”
“My apologies, ma’am, but not yet… Oi, lover boy, we got incoming—the bleeding bomber and cheeky teleporter chap. I’ma have ta cut all wireless signals to stop any remote detonation; my man’s gonna to have ta get close… Eh?”
Anthony’s short sword blurred into action as Daran appeared by the wall, holding up his hands and wearing a frustrated expression as his blade came centimeters from his neck. Sam got in front of his wife as the others in the room tensed.
“Hold up, dammit! Shit… I’m not here to start—chill, homie!”
The green berets aimed their guns at him, calling out for him to get on the ground, and to everyone’s surprise, he did.
Anthony kept his blade to the man’s throat as he slowly dropped to his knees and got on the floor; the soldiers hustled over to zip-tie his hands behind his back.
“Look, ack—this shit has gone too far… Relica sold us out—I want witness protection for my dad and brother. I’m sure we can work out a deal with your commanding officer, dammit! I have teleportation for—I’m cool! Just…”
“Where’s the bomber?” Anthony snarled, keeping his blade point on the nape of the man’s neck and ready to thrust if he made any moves.
“That’s a good place to start,” Roy grunted. “We got thousands of people taking refuge here, so your life ain’t worth shit until the threat is neutralized.”
Astra snapped his fingers. “Best start chattin’, ol’ chap. I’m recordin’.”
“Relica can’t know I’m trying to make a deal,” Daran panted, sweating profusely and shaking with fear. “S-She’ll kill my dad, brother, and me—with a snap of her finger! We need Maria to dispel whatever magic shit she placed on us…”
“The bomber!” Roy repeated, gun jabbing his side.
“Okay! Okay! I dropped him off in the boiler room; she’s going to use a chemical bomb in the vents. I had to make it look legit!”
Roy forced him up. “If you want any kind of deal, teleport us there—Kenley?”
“Neutralize. Got it, boss,” the man stated, checking his gun and unfastening his pistol strap and knife for quick use before adjusting his sight. “Ready to roll.”
Daran’s eyes darted left and right, his fear almost palpable. “I-I… What promise do I have, if I’ll get anything?”
“You don’t, but if you’re helpful, then that should be taken into consideration—now, teleport, dammit!” Roy demanded.
Anthony took a step back as the prone man shimmered, taking the two men kneeling on his back to another location. Tension ensued in the next two minutes as they waited with bated breath; Astra couldn’t even coordinate things since he’d had to cut all air traffic in the area to stop a possible remote detonation.
He wanted to hold Amelia’s hand to reassure her like Sam was doing for Molly, her fingers closed around Selvaria’s mother’s, but the three returned within ninety seconds, only from outside.
Roy’s voice came from the hallway as he appeared to exit from a side door, dragging Daran along. “Body in the next room, get a doctor to help wrap it up for transport, boys.”
He came through the door, shoving the pale-faced gangster forward. “Astra, any more hostiles you’re aware of?”
“Nope. I caught a CCT video of the two blokes teleporting on their way here. My intel has nothing else, but I suspect Relica will know soon enough that the deed isn’t done. The bloody woman has spies everywhere, it seems. I’ll report it on—limited network should be back up in a few minutes…”
Anthony still wasn’t convinced. “Why would you betray Relica? You’re practically pissing in your pants. What made you flip?”
Daran choked, face red as he pressed his body against the brick corner, tears running down his cheeks. “S-She stuck a-an f’in child’s soul in me, dammit—as a battery! She forced me and my b-brother to try and kidnap that hare bitch’s parents… He almost died! Shit. Shit! I called the boss, and… and everyone in Colombia is dead! Adele stabbed the cartel in the back…”
Astra’s fingers paused over the keyboard, blowing a bubble before sucking it back in. “What in hells are ya on about, mate? Colombia has loads of internet traffic.”
The gangster shook his head, shaky legs making him fall to his knees. “No, the cartel—our base of operations—all I heard from the survivors was that domes… Domes trapped them, and white-scaled salamander monsters killed almost all of them—toad people… Living trees that kidnapped all the males and killed the females! Insanity!”
“Cry me a river,” Anthony grunted, flipping his chair around to sit by Amelia and hold her hand. “So a cartel is dead. What’s her plan?”
“You don’t get it!” Daran snapped, visibly shaking. “This was a global operation that was systematically dismantled in the last three days, and someone on the other end left one person alive to deliver a message—I won’t give it until…” he trailed off as Astra flipped around a screen, showing Captain Barbara’s cold eyes.
“Provide me enough details, and we’ll see about that witness protection; I have the authority to bring your case directly to the Attorney General of the United States. What are we dealing with?”
Swallowing, he cleared his throat. “He said his name was Wolfgang—a German man—and I should turn m-myself in if I wanted my family to live, s-since Relica and Adele have no intention of keeping us alive. I need Maria!”
“German, yikes. Wonder who he’s with? Did he happen to give you a name, by chance?” Astra muttered, rolling his eyes and frowning while scanning multiple feeds. “Your call was encrypted so well that even I bloody couldn’t crack the bugger.”
Daran sucked in his bottom lip as the hair on the back of Anthony’s neck stood on end. “H-He said you should look for something called the Ordo Temp—”
“Roy, Kenley!” Anthony shouted, making the men instinctively dive away from the man after hearing what Relica did to the men holding the Florida mayor’s son.
Flipping the chair over, he launched toward the man to cover most of his body; as Daran wept for help, an eruption of gore exploded, covering the item and blowing parts of it away in the hail of bone shrapnel. Anthony managed to take the brunt of it, his stats and enhanced physiology keeping him safe.
“Roy, Kenley?”
“One got my leg,” Kenley growled, limping over to check the others with Roy, but the distance and chair had kept most of it isolated to the corner.
“Doctor!”
Molly’s face went white before fainting in her husband’s arms at the guts spackling the walls, and Selvaria’s mother had a light cut across her neck. Sam was holding things together, but Amelia was looking away, trying to hold in her stomach as the horrific stench filled the room.
Roy swiftly opened the door, coughing and ordering nurses and the men in the hallway to help move them to another room. Anthony was instantly beside Amelia, trying to comfort her as she started to hyperventilate; her body was already weak as it was, making him stress.
Astra completed the living bomb’s phrase, though, seemingly ignoring the exploded human. “Smashing! Ordo Templi Orientis, founded by one Aleister Crowley… Well, bloody hell. If this pans out, I suppose the bloke’s sacrifice will have uncovered our MI6 and UK connection. Isn’t this getting interesting? Oh, looks like Selv made the chap turn tail!”
B1 — 22. Battle of the Beasts
Selvaria’s tail weaved behind her as she ran at the tall bull man—this was her hero moment! She pulled back her arm and aimed right at his chest; there was no way he could hurt her with those stumpy horns.
The world flipped upside down, a thump against her back; shattered tile spat out like a grenade causing shouts from nearby.
“The hell!”
“Woah! Woah! Chill, Egor!”
“Blimey!” Astra snarled. “The bloody hell was that racket?! Selv?”
[Dermal Armor I - Advanced to B-tier]
[Reflective Exoskeleton I - Advanced to E-tier]
“Huh?”
Selvaria’s lips parted in disbelief while staring up at the muscular man; gravity must have reversed because there was no way he’d just thrown her, but here she was, staring up at the ceiling. He walked to the counter to lean against it, his small bull tail weaving behind him.
“Haha! I like the energy, and damn, you got weight on you, girl. That felt good!”
Her blade-like fin slammed against the tile, sending more shrapnel flying everywhere; he was making fun of her, but she had to be cool. Smoothly rolling to the side and pushing herself up, Selvaria’s dull blue eyes fixated on the man as she dusted herself off.
“Humph. Is that all you have, beefsteak?”
“Ooh. You took that like a champ!” He rolled around his neck and pointed at the broken concrete underneath the pulverized tile. “I’ll hand it to your defense. The name’s Abeer, but most people just call me Egor. I’ve been looking for a good fight.”
He did not just judo-throw me! I have trouble lifting my own weight when my pool is full.
In a partial daze, she had to admit he had some power; it was probably where he’d dumped all his stats, as she’d mostly done defense. Selvaria rotated her tail and shoulders, loosening up; it was important to look strong in front of the villain, after all. This was a perfect monologue time to assert her dominance.
“Ho-ho-ho.” She put a hand up to her mouth and glanced around at the gangsters; Astra informed her that the hostages were on the second floor with an armed guard. “How weak. Do you think your puny guards and their toy guns mean anything to me?”
Egor glanced at his nervous men. “Well, you heard her. Shoot the bitch.”
“B-Bitch?” Selvaria seethed, showing a smile as her narrowed gaze shifted to him. “Why are bad guys always so rude?”
The men let off a spray of bullets that ricocheted off her scaly plates as they covered her skin; one man dropped to the floor after catching a shot in the leg.
[Scales of the Deep I - Advanced to B-tier]
“Ahh!”
“W-What’s she doing?”
“Where are the grenades?!”
Two men tossed the deadly objects at her that she caught; well, she caught one of them, holding it up with a grin as the other flew two meters away. A slight sting hit her palm as it detonated, and she hardly felt the one at her back, making the men’s eyes pop.
[Liquid Enhancement I - Advanced to C-tier]
[Human Adaptation I - Advanced to A-tier]
Tossing the remains in her mouth, she chewed them up with a smile. Egor didn’t even budge from his casual position and did what all villains do: laugh while watching her torment his men.
“There’s no shot!”
“Those rounds were armor-piercing!”
“Shut up and run, dude! She took a grenade and ate it!”
“You gotta be shitting me!”
“Run! Run!”
“Dude, she ate it!”
“Go! Go!”
“I’m not getting paid en—”
She’d had enough fun; it was time to start the boss battle.
[Intimidation Aura I]
Selvaria sucked in the air, compressing a large amount into her lungs before releasing a deafening roar that shook the air. The gust she created would have made the men stumble back, had not their eyes rolled back into their heads, and they dropped to the tile floor unconscious.
“Oh, c’mon, ack… That wasn’t even my more advanced [Kaiju Intimidation Aura] since I’m in my human state,” Selvaria coached, feeling its increase to the E-tier, probably due to the number of people she affected.
Rubbing her throat and sighing, she looked up at the ceiling as Astra informed her the men upstairs were panicking with the hostages and running for the fire escape.
“Well, well, well.” Clapping came from Egor as he pushed himself off the counter to appraise the sleeping cronies. “Night-night. Damn. I see you. Relica was right; you were worth the wait, scale girl.”
Selvaria puffed up her chest, holding her head high. “Astra, you there?”
“Not for long, love. We have a bomber situation. What’s up?”
“Can you record? I wanna show my mom how I wipe the floor with this bozo.”
“Ooh.” Egor flexed his fingers and flashed his teeth. “I love a good show. Why make it exclusive? Let’s show the world me goring you. I can’t make it fast; I want to enjoy myself.”
“I got ya, ya cheeky cock. I’ll set the bugger ta follow ya. I might be MIA for a bit. I gotta cut all wireless feeds for the bloody bomber sheila. Sound is recorded on yer earpiece, so don’t lose it!”
“Hehehe.” Selvaria pointed at him, her monotone voice escalating as Astra’s drone floated through a busted window to record. “Big talk for an oversized piece of beef jerky!”
Egor walked forward to face her, towering at least half a meter or more above her. “As you said, let’s fight!”
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. Egor 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 I - Water Beam]
Egor 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; Egor 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.”
Egor 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 dropping 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—”
Egor rubbed the cuts on his chest before looking at his blood with a small smile; his brown skin had converted to 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 Egor’s frame illuminated, growing and shifting to become a 4-meter tall bull; his maroon fur deepened, white symbols and hair sprouting out of 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]
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. Egor’s muscles would have made Rachel jealous as they flexed in his agitated pacing, each step of his glistening hooves causing shockwaves through the floor.
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 defenses. “Better make this one count, or—oh, and there he goes… Mmm.”
Egor 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 I]
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.
Although Egor had made the critical anime error that every bad guy or hero made: the first one to unleash their hidden power was 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 defense Feats in quick succession to their fullest, fueling them with 50% of her current water supply.
[Dermal Armor I] Max - 10%
[Scales of the Deep I] Max - 15%
[Liquid Enhancement I] Max - 15%
[Reflective Exoskeleton I] 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, running to meet him; her weight was dropping dramatically due to her loss in water, but she had a short delay in the consumption to loss in overall stats due to the loss in her pool.
Egor’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, numb body sinking into the sea. That’s gonna be a cool scene…
[Seawater Pool II - E-tier] 34%... 35%...
[Creature of the Fathomless Void X Activated]
[Dermal Armor II - F-tier augmented to Kaiju-class]
[Leviathan Physiology I - A-tier augmented to Kaiju-class]
[Scales of the Deep II - F-tier augmented to Kaiju-class]
[Leviathan Sense I - D-tier augmented to Kaiju-class]
[Intimidation Aura I - E-tier augmented to Kaiju-class]
[Reflective Exoskeleton I - E-tier augmented to Kaiju-class]
[Breath Augmentation I - augmented to Kaiju-class]
Strength flooded Selvaria’s body, bright eyes opening to the sea paradise she’d made for her inner world; Egor’s attack was 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 her 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 water, Selvaria lifted her long neck out of the ocean, powerful legs pulling her out of the waters; her laughter rippled the air with hair-raising rumbles. Egor 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 as her triple rows of teeth glistened with her black tongue.
“We’re not done, buddy!” she roared, her terrifying [Kaiju Aura I] radiating within her cry.
Hot steam shot out of Egor’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 open 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 I - Ion Cutter]
“Shit…”
Egor 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, Egor charged into the building.
“No… Dammit… Stupid, slow body… Coward!”
“I’m no coward!”
Every step onto land made her body cry out to stop as she tried to pursue; sure, [Environmental Adaptation] allowed her to 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 while staring at the large horn Egor 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 weighted gravity had 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!”
* * *
Anthony moved Amelia’s bed to the corner so he could act swiftly anywhere in the room, keeping Molly, Sam, Astra, and Selvaria’s mother close to his fiancé. He took up a central position in the room with two soldiers beside the exit on the outside and in.
Amelia had gotten along with the two women, talking about their daughters as Astra mostly kept to himself, showing off his British vocabulary to him, no doubt by the avatar he’d currently taken.
Ever since this whole operation started, he’d been pondering his part in all of this. Naturally, he was taking up the home base protection detail since he wouldn’t leave Amelia’s side, but Anthony also couldn’t deny that he was falling behind in this changed world, and it didn’t sit well with him.
Staring down at his fidgeting hand, he knew Amelia would notice; she always caught onto his nervous ticks. What if I’m not strong enough to handle it, or one more Feat Extension could be the difference between life and death?
A pop came from Astra as he blew a bubble, mouth creasing and making Molly’s nervous eyes shoot toward him. “Has Rachel come back—have you figured out what a Legend’s Quest is?”
“My apologies, ma’am, but not yet… Oi, lover boy, we got incoming—the bleeding bomber and cheeky teleporter chap. I’ma have ta cut all wireless signals to stop any remote detonation; my man’s gonna to have ta get close… Eh?”
Anthony’s short sword blurred into action as Daran appeared by the wall, holding up his hands and wearing a frustrated expression as his blade came centimeters from his neck. Sam got in front of his wife as the others in the room tensed.
“Hold up, dammit! Shit… I’m not here to start—chill, homie!”
The green berets aimed their guns at him, calling out for him to get on the ground, and to everyone’s surprise, he did.
Anthony kept his blade to the man’s throat as he slowly dropped to his knees and got on the floor; the soldiers hustled over to zip-tie his hands behind his back.
“Look, ack—this shit has gone too far… Relica sold us out—I want witness protection for my dad and brother. I’m sure we can work out a deal with your commanding officer, dammit! I have teleportation for—I’m cool! Just…”
“Where’s the bomber?” Anthony snarled, keeping his blade point on the nape of the man’s neck and ready to thrust if he made any moves.
“That’s a good place to start,” Roy grunted. “We got thousands of people taking refuge here, so your life ain’t worth shit until the threat is neutralized.”
Astra snapped his fingers. “Best start chattin’, ol’ chap. I’m recordin’.”
“Relica can’t know I’m trying to make a deal,” Daran panted, sweating profusely and shaking with fear. “S-She’ll kill my dad, brother, and me—with a snap of her finger! We need Maria to dispel whatever magic shit she placed on us…”
“The bomber!” Roy repeated, gun jabbing his side.
“Okay! Okay! I dropped him off in the boiler room; she’s going to use a chemical bomb in the vents. I had to make it look legit!”
Roy forced him up. “If you want any kind of deal, teleport us there—Kenley?”
“Neutralize. Got it, boss,” the man stated, checking his gun and unfastening his pistol strap and knife for quick use before adjusting his sight. “Ready to roll.”
Daran’s eyes darted left and right, his fear almost palpable. “I-I… What promise do I have, if I’ll get anything?”
“You don’t, but if you’re helpful, then that should be taken into consideration—now, teleport, dammit!” Roy demanded.
Anthony took a step back as the prone man shimmered, taking the two men kneeling on his back to another location. Tension ensued in the next two minutes as they waited with bated breath; Astra couldn’t even coordinate things since he’d had to cut all air traffic in the area to stop a possible remote detonation.
He wanted to hold Amelia’s hand to reassure her like Sam was doing for Molly, her fingers closed around Selvaria’s mother’s, but the three returned within ninety seconds, only from outside.
Roy’s voice came from the hallway as he appeared to exit from a side door, dragging Daran along. “Body in the next room, get a doctor to help wrap it up for transport, boys.”
He came through the door, shoving the pale-faced gangster forward. “Astra, any more hostiles you’re aware of?”
“Nope. I caught a CCT video of the two blokes teleporting on their way here. My intel has nothing else, but I suspect Relica will know soon enough that the deed isn’t done. The bloody woman has spies everywhere, it seems. I’ll report it on—limited network should be back up in a few minutes…”
Anthony still wasn’t convinced. “Why would you betray Relica? You’re practically pissing in your pants. What made you flip?”
Daran choked, face red as he pressed his body against the brick corner, tears running down his cheeks. “S-She stuck a-an f’in child’s soul in me, dammit—as a battery! She forced me and my b-brother to try and kidnap that hare bitch’s parents… He almost died! Shit. Shit! I called the boss, and… and everyone in Colombia is dead! Adele stabbed the cartel in the back…”
Astra’s fingers paused over the keyboard, blowing a bubble before sucking it back in. “What in hells are ya on about, mate? Colombia has loads of internet traffic.”
The gangster shook his head, shaky legs making him fall to his knees. “No, the cartel—our base of operations—all I heard from the survivors was that domes… Domes trapped them, and white-scaled salamander monsters killed almost all of them—toad people… Living trees that kidnapped all the males and killed the females! Insanity!”
“Cry me a river,” Anthony grunted, flipping his chair around to sit by Amelia and hold her hand. “So a cartel is dead. What’s her plan?”
“You don’t get it!” Daran snapped, visibly shaking. “This was a global operation that was systematically dismantled in the last three days, and someone on the other end left one person alive to deliver a message—I won’t give it until…” he trailed off as Astra flipped around a screen, showing Captain Barbara’s cold eyes.
“Provide me enough details, and we’ll see about that witness protection; I have the authority to bring your case directly to the Attorney General of the United States. What are we dealing with?”
Swallowing, he cleared his throat. “He said his name was Wolfgang—a German man—and I should turn m-myself in if I wanted my family to live, s-since Relica and Adele have no intention of keeping us alive. I need Maria!”
“German, yikes. Wonder who he’s with? Did he happen to give you a name, by chance?” Astra muttered, rolling his eyes and frowning while scanning multiple feeds. “Your call was encrypted so well that even I bloody couldn’t crack the bugger.”
Daran sucked in his bottom lip as the hair on the back of Anthony’s neck stood on end. “H-He said you should look for something called the Ordo Temp—”
“Roy, Kenley!” Anthony shouted, making the men instinctively dive away from the man after hearing what Relica did to the men holding the Florida mayor’s son.
Flipping the chair over, he launched toward the man to cover most of his body; as Daran wept for help, an eruption of gore exploded, covering the item and blowing parts of it away in the hail of bone shrapnel. Anthony managed to take the brunt of it, his stats and enhanced physiology keeping him safe.
“Roy, Kenley?”
“One got my leg,” Kenley growled, limping over to check the others with Roy, but the distance and chair had kept most of it isolated to the corner.
“Doctor!”
Molly’s face went white before fainting in her husband’s arms at the guts spackling the walls, and Selvaria’s mother had a light cut across her neck. Sam was holding things together, but Amelia was looking away, trying to hold in her stomach as the horrific stench filled the room.
Roy swiftly opened the door, coughing and ordering nurses and the men in the hallway to help move them to another room. Anthony was instantly beside Amelia, trying to comfort her as she started to hyperventilate; her body was already weak as it was, making him stress.
Astra completed the living bomb’s phrase, though, seemingly ignoring the exploded human. “Smashing! Ordo Templi Orientis, founded by one Aleister Crowley… Well, bloody hell. If this pans out, I suppose the bloke’s sacrifice will have uncovered our MI6 and UK connection. Isn’t this getting interesting? Oh, looks like Selv made the chap turn tail!”
