NOVEL SIMPLE 65: The Calming Effect of a Girlfriend
Following along right behind Rainier, Valencia soared into the fray as her hammer began glowing purple. Like a beacon in the storm, Valencia swung the massive hammer down onto the scorpion’s shell only to have it bounce off without damage.
“What the...” Valencia murmured as a vibration ran through her hands. With scratches on the carapace being the only evidence of the impact, Valencia backed off as Rainier began blasting the scorpion with everything he had. “Joanna? Can I get a strength boost?”
One “judgment” and “I proclaim you to be innocent later,” Valencia rushed back forward as the scorpion sat still taking the beating.
Slamming downward, Valencia murmured “Meteor impact,” before making contact with one of the scorpion’s eyes. She still couldn’t quite kick the habit of saying attack names. They just rolled off the tongue! But after Astrid came to her dying from second-hand embarrassment, she had always kept the volume at a whisper.
After twirling in the air to follow through her swing, she slammed down for a second time and sent multicolored blood everywhere. Crushed through the ice and into the ocean, the scorpion began blinking and chattering. Snapping at the air, it began drawing on more of its divinity. Its energy began to rocket upwards as it waved its claws around with haphazard movements.
Twitching and chattering, the scorpion grew a little in size as it scuttled away from the current site of battle. Still coming into its own after being born, the sheer ocean of divinity at its disposal pushed it to keep growing to reach the sizes of the Cataclysmic Monsters it had been birthed from.
Valencia, now a little miffed that she was drenched in blood, pursued. Flying through the air and having a duel with the scorpion’s stinger, Valencia began channeling more and more divinity into her arms to boost her strength.
Beginning to take chunks out of the scorpion’s carapace, Valencia felt her stomach lurch and flip as she got closer.
Underneath its carapace was a layer of multicolored fur stretching across the entire spectrum of “dull” colors. Similar to how its blood was a mixture of vomit gray, rot green, and blotchy red, the fur Valencia had revealed befit the scorpion’s unnatural nature.
Even more though, Valencia had to look away as hundreds of eyes peeked out from underneath the fur. Blinking, looking around, crying, and bleeding, these eyes were just... unsettling.
“What in the actual... what is that?” Valencia spat while feeling a certain icky shudder scamper up her spine. Having censored herself like Astrid, Valencia just shook her head before making a mental note. She should tell her girlfriend she was picking up some of her mannerisms.
With the storm camouflaging most of the more... gruesome details of battle, Valencia didn’t have to worry about the bystanders’s judgment, or Astrid’s safety. Pushing her hair back with one hand, she reveled in the freedom and rush coursing through her body once more.
It had been so long. She could fight to win! Fight to dominate! Fight to feel her blood rush through her body! For a moment, she could feel alive while not worrying about anything else.
Cackling while bringing out her inner battle maniac, Valencia pushed her hand forward as a purple glow enveloped Rainier. Yanking her hand backward, Valencia sent Rainier flying back towards Joanna before diving down towards the scorpion. With a hammer more than two times taller than her in one hand and a willingness to punch in the other, Valencia began channeling her powers forward and manifesting them in reality.
With streams of purple beginning to take shape around her, Valencia crushed the scorpion under its own weight. Causing its joints to buckle, Valencia layered enough gravity on the scorpion for it to break into the ocean floor and sink under the water’s surface.
Doing a couple of spins in midair to build up some momentum, Valencia timed the moment she let go so she was sent flying upward while the hammer was sent crashing into the waves and scorpion’s head below.
The scorpion though, at this point, had remained... neutral if anything. It hadn’t done too much to attack and had spent more time sitting in place than anything else.
None of the Primordial Deities though, including Valencia trusted this air of languidness. From experience, each of the Cataclysmic Monsters spent a while acclimating to... having life before beginning their never-ending rampage.
Sure, they had tried to communicate and reason with a couple before, most notably the Crimson Cancer, yet, that, more than anything, had backfired. It had just given it more intelligence and knowledge about the world it could exploit for its later goals...
And so, Valencia kept the fight’s pace as fast and as destructive as she could. Smothering the scorpion in an unending stream of attacks, Valencia chipped away at its health as much as possible before it decided to go on the offensive.
The battle, after a few exchanges, settled into a rhythm. Like many battles involving deities, it felt stagnant as both sides fought not to defeat the other party outright, but to wear them down and overwhelm their regenerative capabilities.
Hours passed. Astrid, watching Valencia, Rainier, and Joanna go at it couldn’t help but keep her eyes glued to the battle. It wasn’t... interesting, per se, like many other battles because even the most flashy, effective, and unstoppable combo became a little boring after an hour and a half of it.
Yet, she kept watching out of worry. It was hard to see any specifics about each of the deities, but she could tell who was who at the minimum. Of course, it helped Valencia that had the unreasonably-sized hammer too...
The scorpion, an unwitting victim to the Primordial Deities’ onslaught thus far, began blinking and shifting more and more as the sun began to dip against the horizon’s edge.
Its first attack, marking the shift to a new phase of battle, was a huge belch. Pore-like holes opened up all over the scorpion as they let loose green gas in every direction. Once it came in contact with the ice, it began corroding it like a fierce acid.
With the sound of sizzling beginning to fill the air as the rain and gas reacted violently, the battle came to a stop as the scorpion began chittering in joy. Letting loose another huge cloud of gas, the scorpion began rushing forward as its divinity began spiking once more.
Deciding to brave the corrosive and probably health-endangering gas, Valencia blasted forward to meet the scorpion head on.
Swinging the hammer in an uppercut motion, Valencia connected as a solid crack eviscerated the scorpion’s exoskeleton and dislodged its head. Yet, before she could capitalize on it, Valencia was forced to back off as another two stingers attached to extra-dimensional tails materialized right around her and shot forward like bullets.
Watching the two tails slice the space she had just left, Valencia could only groan in annoyance.
This too?
How many capabilities and powers did it need to take from the other Cataclysmic Monsters...
Regrouping with Joanna and Rainier, Valencia looked back towards the dots of light marking the edge of the outer ring. Solomon, having burnt most of the city’s ammunition during the fight against the three monsters, had deactivated the turrets.
What a dumb move on his part.
At least, that’s what Valencia felt. He kept her out of battle for “freshness” purposes, but didn’t decide to spare some extra ammunition? C’mon, that couldn’t have been the “truest” way to victory, Mr. God of Truth.
Yet, she couldn’t complain that much. It had allowed her to spend more time with Astrid after all...
“Refocus yourself, get that stupid lovestruck gaze out of here,” Rainier slapped Valencia across the face. “We have a fight to win. What’s the plan for the mist?”
Glaring at Rainier, Valencia rubbed her cheek. Conjuring up a mental image of Astrid to keep herself from assaulting Rainier, she nodded towards the city. “Why don’t we make a couple of adjustments to Solomon’s plan. Instead of sending Estelle out because it's night, get Sylvia to come because she can detoxify.”
“I’m on it,” Joanna nodded before pulling out her phone and backing off. “You two keep Scorpio busy.”
