[Juliana's PoV]
The second she had finally prepared herself to face the endless depths of water, a surge of Mizukai rushed forward. All around her gills and scales and tridents ran around her.
They scread with a violent fury as they passed her, brandishing their weapons as their scales began changing colors. If they weren't so murderous, that aspect could've been seen as beautiful. There was a reason why shed Mizukin scales sold for so much money.
No ti to think about that now!
The fish folk would return any second–she had to get Nick right now!
Yes, little girl. That is what you should do.
She took one last look at the water, its shimring surface reflecting her face once again. Only this ti, all the ripples across its surface made her face look fragnted, almost torn.
'Here goes nothing. Everyone has to face their feckin fears soti.'
Her soft hand covered her nose as she squeezed her eyes and mouth shut, hoping to shield herself from water. Then she put her weight on her knees as she prepared to dive.
"Ah-AHH!!! FYNN!!!" A cry of pure anguish rang through the battlefield.
Juliana stood still for a second, preparing to jump. Yes, Alia was being attacked and would likely die. However, she had Nick to save–
Her eyes opened for just a second, for just a mont of doubt. In that instance, she saw her face reflected off the water, beautiful as ever. But the ripples showed the truth underneath: debris, wreckage, death, carnage.
Impurities.
Only a savage, a psycho, would allow soone to die like that. The poor girl was too busy crying for her dead ntor to even defend herself. And lord knows what Yck was doing. Probably running like a coward.
Her king was strong too. So water wouldn't be nearly enough to kill him.
As the water stilled, her mind was made up as the illusion was cast again. She was a perfect lady, raised to be perfect and dandy and everything like that. That's all she was–a perfect little princess.
Perfect.
And perfect people knew what their lords, their kings, wanted. Nick wanted to beco stronger, but he didn't want soone's head to be sacrificed for that strength. Not if it could be helped.
So she would be perfect–a dazzling burst of lightning that not even the legendary Mizukai could face. Every single one of the feckers would be turned into ash.
Turning around, she saw 17 of them in total. 6 of them attacked her directly–they were the ones with tridents and so king of longer, barbed dagger. 11 others surrounded her, donning so kind of cloak that a cleric would wear, except theirs was made out of seaweed. On the back of the cloak was so kind of symbol–3 lines with a circle running through them.
'Cloaks are made to burn, dumba$$es.' Juliana cackled as her hand coursed with the energy of 1,000,000,000 volts. This was enough to contest even the most powerful lightning strikes found in nature.
Of course, a Valkyrie wasn't a warrior of nature, though. They were warriors of destruction, beings so violent and powerful that when they served the correct leader, they could rattle the fabrics of reality itself.
She wasn't there yet, but give her a few days and allow her to hit Nick a few tis when he acts stupid. Planets would crumble in no ti.
If Nick asked.
A soft smile escaped her lips as she bore the fruits of her master's labor.
Thunder erupted across the battlefield, the sound itself already disintegrating the Mizukai's uniforms. They were defenseless as lightning arched across their back, hitting them directly on their spines. A few managed to look back at their assailant, fear clouding their eyes right before the pressure popped them.
Then they all exploded into a fountain of blood and gore. Their remains doused the battlefield, even covering the 6 Lurkers. Still, they were too entranced by Alia's taunting armor to notice.
She cried as one of them sliced at her again. So kind of barrier covered her body and lit up as they struck. Juliana didn't know how long that barrier would last, but she wasn't keen on finding out.
Besides, even if she trusted Nick to get himself out of that ss, that didn't an she wouldn't try to hurry up regardless. Most boys needed a girl to save them at so point.
"Hey, ugly a$$ fish. Instead of hurting that poor, defenseless girl, why don't you defend yourselves against ?"
All but one of them completely ignored her and continued to hack at Alia's barrier. The Lurker turned its ugly head and scread, its gills flaring as its small beady eyes were covered by a clear slit and its small mouth revealed rows of yellow teeth.
One zap later, and LoudA$$ was disintegrated.
The rest soon followed one after another. In monts, the 2 girls were left alone on the battlefield.
Alia jumped with glee the second the last Mizukai was killed, turning to Juliana as she said, "Fyn–"
Then her expression dropped as the truth hit her. No, he was gone. Dead.
Yet she was saved for so reason.
Alia sat back down heavily, almost crashing into the ground. Her arms fell to the side lifelessly as her face lowered. She was completely defeated, mumbling, "Thanks."
Then she sobbed into her bare legs, a torrent from the start. Sotis, people lied to themselves and said that they wouldn't cry. That they were perfect and wouldn't show weakness, or that they were worthless and didn't deserve to cry. Sotis they just didn't want the person they were crying for to see them cry.
There were many reasons why people lied to themselves and said they could hold back their tears. But when everything was gone, taken, what use was there in lying? Everyone cried–pain is a universal constant.
The depths of despair didn't have any bias when it chose who to drown. It simply rejected the facade that everything was fine, and then the truth cascaded as tears.
All Juliana could do was place a hand on Alia's shoulder for comfort. An act that only seed to cause more tears to flow.
Flustered herself, Juliana looked at the still water. Nick still was nowhere to be found.
Did she judge wrong? Did she–kill her king?
We both knew who you should have saved, sweetie. And it wasn't little miss sniffles over there.
Even though she felt for Alia, she knew that was right. What could she do? Her entire place in the universe, the thing that kept her going forward, was dead.
Juliana knew she should have saved the thing that kept her moving forward now that she was a Valkyrie.
Nick.
She looked back to the still water again. It was easy to imagine her reflection off the water, pristine and perfect. Its depths held the truth, held her dead king and her failures as a person.
"The Queen grows strong."
Queen, eh?
'Queen? ?'
She turned away from the sea to the voice that had spoken to her. It was one of the skeletons, similar to the ones that had healed him.
Its arm shot through Alia's stomach before she could even react.
"The Apostle has sent its ssage through . If I die within the next minute, my brethren will revive Alia once more."
Overhead, she could hear a dragon's laughter, its intrigue and curiosity completely piqued.
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