"Level four!" (V)

I freeze. All my being freezes. Not only because I cannot believe what I just heard, but because something in the atmosphere just shifted. The air stilled, feels heavier, an undefinable pressure settling all over me.

I try to press my tentacles a little harder down at her, but from inside, something pushes against, swelling up more and more. The mass quivers, then shakes, before streams of water erupt from every little gap.

Then all at once it explodes. Naturally, I instantly try to follow up with more mass, but no matter the construct, it gets instantly shredded upon drawing close, while squalls of water in all directions displace any of my matter.

I forget to keep up the pressure for a moment, and thus gain sight of an impossible being. Still entirely consisting of water, but now it almost feels like there's a glow to it. Or rather, the water became more vibrant. There's just something to it. Something that increases its presence to make it unignorable in intensity. More so, on Veo's back now sprout two wings. Or rather, two jets that constantly spray sparkling water behind her at a scale that dwarfs her main body. Furthermore, I sense something from them. A form of presence, pressure, that makes it clear to me that these are more than simple matter manipulation. All in all, I think now she was rather founded in being so confident.

"I guess it's time to get serious." (V)

She wasn't until now!?! Actually, now that a part of mine contemplates this, she only attacked me once during this whole ordeal, and that one was more of a showcase attack. I feel that she's about to do something, but know all the better that I shouldn't let it happen. Instead, I send the wall that was protecting me until now her way. Like a tidal wave of flesh claws and bonespikes, it rushes at her, only growing the further it moves due to my manipulation. By the time it has almost reached Veo, it dwarfs her like a mountain.

With remote eyes, I can see that the angel lowers herself to the ground. Just another moment and it will descend.

"All this power..." (V)

"Swish"

"...And it amounts to nothing." (V)

Abruptly, a wave rushes over me. Wind, streaming by, makes me shiver, even though that shouldn't be possible. When I look up, I see something else impossible. There's a massive cut, right where the wave should've slammed down on Veo.

"I certainly believed you could do more, but the way you wield your abilities, it's kinda lackluster." (V)

I send another massive tentacle at her. A red one, of the same density I used to fight the hero group with, but this time she throws her arm horizontally, and it just gets severed at the root.

"You know what your problem is?" (V)

You?!

Another wave of attacks surges at her. This time, a hail of devastating rain grounds everything that approaches At the same time, I see Veo sending forth water from her body.

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. It gathers above her, elongates into a pillar that aims right at me, before compressing again, until it has an almost solid appearance.

"You're lacking creativity, skill, but most importantly..." (V)

She makes the structure spin along with a twirl of her finger, that whole thing accelerating ever-faster along its own axis with each repetition. Of course, I'm raising defenses along the whole line, but I'm growing concerned.

"Willpower!" (V)

She jumps, spinning in the air, right below the spinning line of water, and without touching, she throws her arm forward, making the thing come flying as a remotely propelled spear. The saying "like a hot knife through butter doesn't apply here, as it would imply there'd be any kind of resistance. No, it simply transitions through everything I put up, nothing even capable of influencing its course. How can water do this? How can she throw it without losing force or shape?

"Will is what defines our existence! It is will that drives us on! Without will, I'd be just a puddle, shallow and transitional like the very air that surrounds you. It is will that turns the air into wind and the wind into a storm! Can you feel it SURGE?!!" (V)

Oh damn, I feel it! I feel it when the water lance drives itself so close to me that I know nothing can stop it anymore. I erect one last desperate defense, this time impeding it for the shortest blink in its advance, yet it nonetheless drills itself through with that wretched spin and impacts right at me. I'm being obliterated.

Momentarily losing focus, my mind adjusts again. Just like back then when Chiaki stabbed me with super light magic, this time even a bit faster, as I'm directly connected to my whole world.

And there she still is. Generating a storm of water within my very world that I cannot stop, no matter how much I want to change physics. The water droplets around Veo circulate with a force that simply shreds everything they pass through.

"Ah, consciousness displacement. That's neat. You're basically unkillable. Without eradicating every last speck of you, you'll just grow back. Not like I wanted to do so, but how am I gonna secure a win if there's no total way? Well, I can still go for making you GG out! For I am Veo, the living will, and I won't back down!!!" (V)

She reaches out with her arm, making a victory sign, while her wing turbines shoot even more intensely.

Just how can she be so dismissive of everything?! I'm getting really upset at her. Her whole casual attitude, this dismissiveness, it even reminds me of a certain someone.

While my mind is still adjusting to not having a body, I literally focus my consciousness and restart my attacks. Just like before, Veo resumes her dance, spreading watery destruction everywhere around her. It's vexing, seriously. Especially, how she enjoys herself, dodging all my attacks. Something makes me want to unleash all I've got at her.

While her goal is to make me despair, I'm not quite out yet. More so as, before I got disassembled, I got a glimpse at something. For a moment, I could put something up against her attack. It was the same principle as with my empowered tentacles, but not quite, just a tiny bit stronger. I guess that was the willpower she spoke of.

My super tentacles are the result of the finesse she mentioned. By concentrating them and arranging better patterns, the attacks become stronger. Furthermore, more creative shapes and attacks are pressuring her the slightest bit more. It's just difficult to maintain a continuous barrage of creativity. Will, on the other hand, strengthens my control. It increases the regrowth, the stability, and most importantly, the velocity. My strikes come faster and hit harder. That's what she just showed me by making mere water strike down worse than a meteor. Just you watch, what you can do, I can as well, just better!

With never-before-seen ferocity, I turn the area where Veo's storm wails into a death zone. Tentacles stronger than any I ever created pierce towards her. She can still sever them, yet it apparently requires significantly more effort. This effort is putting the scale in my favor, as I can, just like before, simply add more to this. Drawing from my whole, ever-growing realm, aside from the inhabited zones, I can send with every passing second more and more to her.

I don't like this. Not a bit. Adding all this mental capacity means I'm thinking in ever less human ways. My mind is doing things, leading me to realms that would annihilate any mortal thinking processes were they to experience them. I never wanted to go to those places. I want to preserve my own true self and fear getting lost in an ever-further spiraling cloud of the knowledge of madness. Yet just this once, I'll need to make an exception. Just this once, I need to fight for my freedom and hope that my mind will be salvageable afterwards.

"Yeah, that's more like it! Good thinking! You might actually get me... Shit!" (V)

Did I get her? She seems cornered! She might...

"Shiver"

Something is going to happen!?!

Suddenly, all my eyes focus. Focus on something completely insignificant. Outside of the weave of doom that I spun around Veo, descends a single drop of water. A tiny drop that can't be. It falls on and on, at one point reaching my growths, passing through them, without making contact once, until it strikes the ground.

"Oh damn." (V)

The tiny mass of water wobbles, stretches, widens, takes shape. Hands, arms, legs, and feet of water come into existence, till a head with neck-length hair shapes.

"Veo, you got one job! Pray tell, why can't you get it done by yourself?" (?)

"Oh, great. It's her... Ahem. Hello, Nimue!" (V)

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