510 Nemesis

[You have gained your first Nemesis. One hundred development points awarded. After divisor, six development points have been received.]

Wait, what? SIX points? Out of a hundred? What had I just stumbled into?

[Nemesis System. Your Nemesis will grow in power as you do, in addition to...]

I sent, waving an arm from right to left to clear the letters from my vision. Survive now, understand later.

Mara chuckled in a way that sent water droplets upward from the surface of the river.

“O Mother Moon, it is I, Mara, spirit of your divine gradient...”

“Move Water!” I shrieked. “Water Wall!”

I remember, now, how I had nearly died incanting such effects, let alone the more hasty casting I did then.

I threw the soap powder into the water, hoping to occlude it. “Shroud! Deeper Shroud!”

.....

[You do not know the spell [Deeper Shroud]] my System reminded me.

Crap. I had some Sun magic, but I didn’t know what spell...

“Gather your brilliant light! Smite my enemy direct to his wretched soul!” As she continued incanting, the world seemed brighter around the both of us, and darker, less distinct as one got further away.

I had time to raise my [Water Shield]. “Mystic Shield!” I called out.

She squinted at me and pointed. “Mystic Moon Bolt!”

[You have taken 24 points of Aura damage. After defenses, you have taken 21 damage. 19/40 Serenity remain.]

I screamed, emotions rising raw from my aura, like multicolored crosses between snakes and wisps. But when I could open my eyes, my form was whole, and actually looked quite striking to be glowing silver, with beams of pearl white seeping out from between the scales.

“And now,” she said, drifting toward me, “now, when your emotions are beyond your control. Kneel. Kneel before me and beg forgiveness.”

“Forgiveness for what?” I asked. “What have I ever done to you?”

“Holy piss!” she said, rising back into the heavens as though pulled by an invisible string. “How are you still YOU after that? That was my strongest attack against your weakest defense!”

I coughed up a wad of phlegm, through which ran veins of [Depression] and [Duty]. “How do you know about my defenses?” I asked.

“Hm? Oh.” she said. “I see. I haven’t introduced myself properly.” She began scratching her nails against each other, making them longer, sharper, and stronger all at once. She also threw her shoulders back in a way that made her breasts bounce disgustingly.

historical

“My name is Mara, and I am a divine and living piece of...” she waved her arm, violently and theatrically. “the very moon itself. I have been born this very night with only one purpose, to take you into your component pieces, and end them, one after each other. So, if we’ve nothing else...”

She began calling upon the Moon again.

“Jaws of Wrath!” I called out, doubting that she was within range.

“I am a Goddess!” she shrieked, blocking with her left arm.

The [Jaws of Wrath] gained purchase for all of perhaps half a second before sliding off her arm, diminishing not even one erg of her Serenity.

“That was rude!” she said. “Look, I’m made out of energy, but it’s not infinite. You should just LET me kill you. Did I mention the hatred of over three hundred women fuels me? I am a goddess, and you are just a MORTAL. All I need do is tap the barest minimum of my power, and I can crush you.”

“Your strongest attack does only twenty four points of damage.” I said. “Isn’t that a bit paltry for a goddess with over a hundred worshipers?”

She sniffed. “I suppose I did come here rashly, not gathering my full strength. But don’t you get cocky! I can still mess you up. Storm of... What did you do to the clouds, you megalomaniac fish?”

I sighed. “Nothing. I’ve done nothing to the clouds. We mortals have things like range penalties.”

“That,” she said, “sounds like an excuse from a mortal.” She flicked her hand toward the water, and lightning burst forth.

Yeah, I don’t associate the Moon with Storms, either, but that was what she did, not even bothering to mouth the words.

Remember how I’d readied a [Pounce] earlier? I didn’t take any less damage, but I leapt clear of that water. I struck well beyond the blank, eventually coming to rest on the back of my right shoulder.

Not one of my better landings.

“Ugh! I suppose you think you’re smarter than you are ugly?”

“Um.” What comeback was there? Most of my opponents insult my intelligence. I wasn’t ready for the reverse. “If you were just born tonight, then you should respect your elders.”

“Make me! Acid spit!”

I dodged. It was easy. Wait. It was EASY. She might have had more magic than me, but ... “I thought range penalties were for mortals.”

She held up a hand to look at it; I scrolled my Reticule over her.

[Spirit Curse.] the reticule read. [Minor Moon Spirit.]

Spirit?

I pulled forth cornmeal from a near forgotten slot in my Inventory. “Spirit Bind! Leaden Wings.”

She sniffed disdainfully, spreading gossamer wings in the shape of a bat, but marked as brightly as any wing of butterfly or fae spirit.

[Your success with a spell has been negated.]

“Goddess.” she mocked. “O Mother Moon, o mothers of my rage, hear the suffering of your child!”

I struck with the Jaws of Wrath, but she just danced in the air.

“I call upon your chaos, your will, your emotions. Power the static which destroys the very System of my enemy.”

[System modules now have triple normal Existence versus disruptive effects.]

“Reset System – Preborn!” she called out.

[SySTem... System... System Reset Engaging.]

I called out.

[System reset will engage in ten seconds.]

[Nine.]

[Eight]

“Oh, you’ll be so CUTE as an unborn fetus.” she beamed. “But don’t think that will stop me from smooshing your tiny body between my fingers. I think you’ll find...”

But then she was silent, and her face turned from white to a deep purple, and even as she clawed at the scaled hand around her throat, her eyes bulged as though trying to be free of her head.

A new voice shook that area. “IT IS **FORBIDDEN** FOR ANY DIVINE BEING TO ATTACK THE MORTAL FOLLOWER OF ANOTHER.” Sobek said.

“DO YOU THINK I WAS NOT LISTENING?”

“Great Sobek...” I tried to say.

Sobek snapped at me.

I sent, as my System flashed different versions of the number three across my vision.

“COME. I SHALL ASSIGN YOU TO A PROPER HIERARCH, WHOSE UNDERLINGS SHALL TEACH YOU WHAT **FORBIDDEN** MEANS.”

Mara sent, kicking Sobek straight in the elbow.

Sobek rolled his eyes at her. “No, only mortals keep a nerve cluster there. Do I look like a mortal to you? Does my grasp about your throat feel even slightly mortal?”

She struggled, wings yanking her first in one direction, then another.

“As if that could even possibly stand a chance against me.” Sobek said. “How young...”

“She was born tonight, mighty Sobek.”

“IS THAT SO. AS IF IT SHALL BUY YOU ANY...”

[Happy Birthday! Your age is 0.]

My world shrank, but I was aware of the instinctive terror of falling. When it struck the ground, my egg burst open. Somehow, I wasn’t harmed. Make no mistake; I was dying. [Smothering], to be honest.

I reached out with my mind, touched the icon marked with [Air].

[Evolution: Amphibious Lungs flagged for instant purchase. You may now breathe in gaseous atmospheres as well.

Sobek opened both mouth and his hand, closing them both when she tried to escape. “What have you DONE?” he asked.

I didn’t understand the words just then, of course. An older version of me had set that up to go to System files whenever words, of any language, were spoken.

“By the Forge of Worlds.” Sobek said, picking me up ever so gently with his free hand. “I should kill you now.”

Mara protested.

**UNDO** Sobek... I’m not really sure of the word here. Commanded?

“Bweh!” I said, knowledge of words cascading back into my head without so much as an invite. Along with another sixteen thousand or so concepts, not even waiting for me to fully absorb the former before trying to rewrite my body, my mind, my soul.

“Now.” Sobek said, “Now he is fine.”

I curled up into a ball, weeping as creation itself danced along my nerve endings.

They weren’t in and of themselves disgusting, just on the larger end of what seemed natural. I found my eyes drawn to hers, or to her smile, in any event. Her eyes were a crystalline blue, like the... NO! FOCUS! SHE’S TRYING TO KILL ME!

.....

Yes, that is the name of a legitimate defensive ability. It’s like wearing a suit of metal plates to protect yourself from a pillow.

Again, the number to remember is one hundred twenty. I’ll get to why someday, but today is not that day.