Chapter 1034: Come to me. 2
Anna was sitting on a chair on the balcony of her personal room, enjoying her afternoon now that all her services were no longer needed.
With how competent her sisters were, Violet's order was completed in less than a few hours, an expected result when everyone in the pantheon moved as one entity.
'Although Velnorah didn't like it much, Violet said we had to finish things much faster, so we moved as a whole. Such a thing would be more possible if we didn't take Darling into consideration. He always does unexpected things, as was the case this time when he empowered his faithful and sent them on missions. Thanks to that, we needed to restructure some missions that were given in that area... Well, his intervention did end up helping us even more. It's funny sometimes how that works,' Anna thought amusedly as she read her book, sipped on hot tea, looked at the landscape on the horizon, and sighed contentedly.
The best decision her husband made was not letting anyone live on this planet except for them and the animals that the mother goddesses were raising.
Thinking about his actions, she chuckled a bit more. Somehow, he always took actions that benefited the pantheon overall. His action of turning into a dragon and temporarily assuming the leadership of his own religion proved that.
As she pondered this, Anna suddenly felt a slight shift in the air. As a dragon goddess, her senses were much more potent than those of many races out there, and she narrowed her eyes at the visible change in the air.
'Energy is leaking...?' Following the location, she saw that the energy was coming from some of the moons.
Narrowing her eyes even more, her vision zoomed in, and she saw Victor and Kali fighting on the moon. Despite a very powerful barrier around them and the moon itself being reinforced, small amounts of energy were still leaking.
"Ara..." She smiled contentedly when she saw Victor having fun. "Scathach, Rose, Morgana, and Haruna will want to see this..." Immediately, Anna contacted her sisters and told them what was happening.
...
Going back a few minutes.
The moment Victor made that gesture of his, Kali wasted no time, as her body was covered by an easier-to-wear outfit. It was a full-body suit that perfectly clung to her body, an outfit that had many similarities to Scathach, Morgana, Rose, and Eleonor's, evidence that the more 'combat-oriented' girls of the group were influencing her in some way.
Next, she leaped towards him, and with her fist covered in the power of destruction, she threw a punch at Victor's face.
Victor frowned a bit and simply raised his hand and caught her fist.
"... What-..." Kali was in shock. Even though she hadn't put much power of destruction, she used almost 50% of her strength and 50% of her power of destruction, and still, he casually caught an attack that could even cause Shiva to suffer some damage.
"I said you can use anything against me. Stop holding back."
"... How did you defend that with martial arts? The divinity of destruction can only be defended against by a greater divinity of destruction or the divinity of creation, but you didn't use either."
"You have to include the divinity of Begin and Positivity as well, my dear." Victor pushed Kali's fist away, and this simple gesture made Kali fly a few meters away.
"But you're correct, I didn't use any of those divinities... So, why can I defend myself?" He displayed a small, amused smile.
[The answer is simple] Roxanne spoke excitedly, as she grabbed a pair of glasses from somewhere and put them on her face: [Darling's body is monstrously strong, and as you're constantly channeling your powers into your body, your body has adapted to these energies, not to mention the natural coverage your body provides thanks to the immense amount of energy.]
[For all intents and purposes, only beings with exceptional destructive powers like Kali with her full strength, powers of the END gods, powers like our daughter Yol, who can turn the unreal into real, can harm you in any way!]
[But as expected from Darling, such an effect is only temporary; after all, Darling won't just fight these beings with martial arts.]
[Roxanne, stop spoiling!] Amara huffed.
[Blegh.] Roxanne stuck her tongue out at Amara. [The point is, Darling's body is invincible! And even if there's something that can surpass these defenses, he'll adapt, Umu!]
[This woman...] Veins popped on Amara's head. The woman already had a daughter and still acted like a child sometimes.
[But Kali really is lucky. If Darling had complete control of the Negativity divinity, she could never harm Darling no matter what she did. After all, Negativity is the energy that drives the power of destruction.]
Victor ignored his two wives and continued: "That's something for you to find out."
"Come... This time, don't hold back."
Kali's eyes gleamed crimson as she completely let go of her power, and like a faucet being turned on, that power gushed throughout the space around her.
A crimson glow colored the area, and through this crimson glow, Victor saw the changes happening in Kali's body.
Her long crimson hair became pure destruction energy, and her body was covered entirely in pure energy. Normally, her presence alone would destroy the moon, but thanks to Victor's reinforcements and reality-altering runes, nothing was happening to their training area.
[As expected, she's currently like a hybrid of a primordial being made entirely of energy and a goddess.] Victor spoke internally.
[... Somehow, she bears many similarities between me, my sister, and Jeanne.] Roxanne spoke seriously this time.
Amara looked at her sister, who had a similar appearance to Kali's, and at herself, with their hair made of pure energy. Seeing this, she understood what Roxanne was pointing out.
[Yes, she's one step away from becoming a being made entirely of energy... But essentially speaking, you're different.] Victor pointed out.
[You're somewhat related to a primordial, and because of that, you fall into some kind of cosmic rule that is essential for existence, and my dear Jeanne is the guardian of the Universal Tree, so she receives energy directly from her brother.]
[Meanwhile, Kali is walking towards that step...] Roxanne understood what Victor was trying to say.
[Exactly.]
"Don't regret your desires, Victor."
Victor smiled. This time, he didn't hold back and showed a twisted smile that took up most of his once handsome face.
"Never."
Kali felt a chill down her spine. For a few moments, she wondered what kind of hole she was getting into. When she felt several beings looking at her from the planet, this feeling intensified.
'Why do I feel like I'll have to do this more often in the future?' Somehow, Kali felt like she wouldn't have more time to meditate after this fight.
"Come to me, Kali. Are you so afraid?"
Kali narrowed her eyes in slight irritation and then did exactly what he said, approaching him at a terrifying speed and attacking him.
Boom.
Victor defended against her fist causing an explosion around them.
"Hmm, not bad. I felt that a little."
Containing her inner shock, Kali focused on the fight and began attacking Victor, who still had his left hand behind him.
Using the martial arts she learned in the past, she attacked him. Left, right, up, down, in the middle, no matter where she attacked, he would defend or dodge.
"Hmm, a mix of various martial arts, huh... Some of your attacks mimic animals, so Kalari? I sense some Chinese martial arts as well."
Kali began to be covered in a cold sweat when she saw Victor dissecting her fighting style. She approached him again, put both feet on the ground, and, assuming a closed fist position, she attacked Victor's stomach.
Victor caught her fist with his hand, but the effect of holding such a powerful attack was obvious, as a small crater formed beneath the two.
"Heh..." Victor's smile widened.
"Mixing martial arts with acupuncture to hit my pressure points, huh. You never told me you had medical knowledge."
Kali swallowed hard. "... You never asked."
"Fair enough." Victor chuckled. "Unfortunately, such attacks don't work on me. I may be mimicking the human form now, but I am biologically a dragon. My pressure points are only revealed in dragon form."
'And even in that form, I can change my body as I want. After all, I am also a shapeshifter because of the fusion of my noble vampire side.' Victor thought internally but didn't speak aloud.
[... This...] Amara was as incredulous as Kali.
[Oh, you've never seen him fight like this, huh... Yes, as you can see, Darling is a complete genius at anything involving combat.] Roxanne spoke. [With his experience, he can dissect any opponent and find weaknesses within seconds.]
"Let's continue-." Victor lowered his head as Kali tried to kick his face with her leg.
"We're in a fight, Victor. You're guilty here for talking. After all, who talks in a fight?" Kali huffed and attacked him again.
Victor laughed. "Fair enough, I guess I've been watching too much anime recently."
Using both fists covered with the power of destruction, she kept attacking Victor, but this time, she made alterations. Sometimes, her attack came with an open palm, while other times, it came with her hand in claw form, and she started using her legs more.
The fight continued, and Victor continued to dodge, reflect, and defend the attacks, but he didn't remain passive, as he also started attacking.
When Kali attacked, he would direct her blow and counter with his elbow or his hand.
Feeling her face burning from the fist that hit her, she snarled. "Tsk, I'll make you use your left hand!"
Her pride hurt when the opponent was clearly holding back his strength to fight her! Throughout all these attacks, she never used concentrated destruction power attacks. After all, she is a martial artist, too, and she won't be satisfied that way!
Victor just laughed. "You need more than making me use my left hand, my dear, look." He pointed downwards.
When Kali looked to where he was pointing, she saw that... From the beginning, he never moved from where he was standing.
[At this point... This is just bullying.] Amara sighed.
[Well, this outcome is expected, considering Darling frequently trains with three powerful martial artists, Haruna, Rose, and Scathach.] Roxanne spoke.
The power in Kali's body exploded creating a pillar of crimson light.
[Ara... She's annoyed.] Roxanne laughed.
When the pillar of light finally subsided it revealed Kali with a thick layer of crimson energy around her.
Victor showed a small, amused smile and looked at her eyes, which became orbs of red light.
"What now? Do you think this will be enough to make me move or even use my other hand?"
Veins popped even more on her head. Kali had never felt so angry and insulted before. She wouldn't blink if someone insulted her name. She doesn't have a fragile ego like that, but seeing her opponent treat her like a child was very disrespectful, even by her standards.
"I will make you move... Even if I have to destroy this damn moon." She pointed her palm at Victor, and a concentrated beam of destructive energy flew toward Victor.
Looking at that beam of light, Victor casually punched the air. For a moment, reality distorted, and the power that was coming towards him returned to Kali.
.....