SSV 4 Chapter 8 (Patreon)

I floated in the hot spring, feeling relaxed and satisfied as Melody peppered me with kisses.

“I wish this could last forever. Not a brow wrinkle to be seen.” She rubbed at my temples, and I melted further into her.

“Me too.” I half mumbled out, my body feeling like jelly in her hands.

She laughed. “Didn’t expect you to agree. I half expected you to say that you wanted to get back to Point City and the BSH, or maybe some sort of normal life.”

“It’s growing on me. New Haven, that is.” I clarified.

My fated, it is time. Mona popped into my head.

“It’s time for therapy.” I said, including Melody in the conversation.

“Then let me just keep your body relaxed while you go there mentally.” Melody pulled me closer as she found a spot to sit down.

I grunted in approval, enjoying her touch.

A few moments later, I could feel Mona reach out to my mind and grab hold of me, leading me out of my body.

It was a surreal experience. Before I knew it, I was plopped on the therapy couch. We were on number five for therapy couches, and so far it had lasted the longest. I wondered if that meant that we were all improving in our therapy.

“Hello, Miles.” Angelina sat across from me, her slime body held together as she presented herself as a normal human, though she was particularly less distracting at the moment, not a single bit of lace on her today. “Mona told me you’d be uncomfortable in her body, so I am going to say right now that I won’t be touching you during this session.”

I frowned, and in a strange way I felt like I was frowning in both bodies. “This is strange. I don’t really have any interest in experiencing things as a girl.” I looked at Mona’s hand, holding it up and trying to adjust to the fact that I controlled that part of her body. “Okay, therapy me.” I raised my eyes back to Angelina.

Angelina frowned at my usage there but continued on. “So how has New Haven been?”

Before I could answer, there was a pounding on the door. “Is Miles in there?” Kim’s voice came through the door. Another noise followed, and it sounded like she was being dragged away.

“Sorry. She’s been hanging around the house ever since Mona asked for some time off tonight. She doesn’t know everything but understands there is some connection between Mona and you. She has been very… invested in meeting you again.” Angelina glared at the door.

“Sounds like she needs to sign up for therapy.”

“Not a bad idea.” Angelina clicked her pen and scribbled something down. “But we are going to focus on you. What do you think of the city?”

I sighed. “It’s great. I sort of expected a den of thieves given they are largely criminals and the unwanted from the city. But, they actually are pretty tame.”

“How so?” Angelina was intently focused on me, like she was trying to see me through Mona’s eyes.

“Things are simpler. I feel more connected to people when I trade them goods rather than swiping a credit card or ordering something online.” I said.

Angelina continued to scribble down on her pad. “I see. And you are participating in these exchanges?” She sounded surprised.

“Well, yeah. They are for food. Well, so far they have mostly revolved around pancakes for Stella.” I smiled a little.

Angelina focused on her pad scribbling down more notes. “So, for Stella, you’ve started to participate in these. Interesting. Very interesting.”

“Wait, why is that interesting?” I leaned forward, trying to see her notepad, expecting her to shy away, but she didn’t.

“Just notes for future conversations, no profound insights here.” She showed me the pad, which had some notes about what I was saying.

“But it was worthy of being noted.” I pointed out.

“Yes, it was. Given that you pretty much tried to detach yourself from society at one point, the fact that you would participate in personal exchanges for Stella is interesting. And the fact that you are enjoying the community is also interesting.” She stopped showing me her pad and continued to scribble notes. “Speaking of how are Stella and Melody doing?”

“Good. I went around with Stella getting pancake supplies as a sort of date, then I did steak and a hot spring date with Melody. I’m actually still in a hot spring. This is kind of weird actually. She’s rubbing my temples right now and I can feel it, but here it feels sort of like a phantom stimulation.” I frowned as my brain tried to pair the sensations it was feeling with what it was seeing. It knew that something was wrong but couldn’t figure it out.

“Dates for both of them. Wonderful! And how are they liking New Haven?” She twirled the pen, her finger losing its shape briefly as she prevented it from falling.

“Loving it. They are calling this a vacation. Tomorrow I’m going with Daeva to see Valley City and the Fenris Wolf.” I explained.

“Is that wise?” Angelina asked.

I frowned in thought. “Daeva is a little crazy, but her god complex makes a little sense now that I’m here and yeah… she doesn’t understand love or a lot of things. But she seems fair, if that makes any sense? I don’t get the sense she’ll try anything behind my back.” She wasn’t evil by any means. Just too powerful compared to people around her. It had alienated her. “Oh, and I’m a god too now apparently.”

“Say again?” Angelina caught her pen and prepared to make a note.

“I’m a god. She inducted me into her pantheon when I arrived. There’s a big marble statue of me now in a temple, and she is calling me the god king of fertility.” It felt awkward saying it aloud.

“Of fertility? Huh.” She made a note. “And you are okay with this? It puts quite the spotlight on you, something you’ve painstakingly avoided up until now.”

“I wasn’t initially. But then I did some trading in the city and now…” I waffled my head back and forth. “I’m not fighting it.”

Angelina was frowning heavily and staring at her pad, but this time she wasn’t writing anything. “How many new girls have you added to your harem?”

“Oh, none.” I thought I might understand what was happening. “Stella wants me to and even coached this one girl, but I don’t know if I’m even staying here.”

“This girl?” She led the question.

“Pollen. She makes a sort of maple honey that Stella was putting on the pancakes.” I explained.

“Ah.” Angelina made a drawn out noise of understanding. “I see why Stella wanted to recruit her. Endless syrup. What are her powers?”

I shrugged. “No idea.”

Angelina looked back up at me from her pad. “Is she attractive?”

My attempt at being expressionless must have told her everything.

“Got it. Okay. Pollen.” She circled something on her notepad. “Any others that have come up?”

“No. Just meeting lots of people and working with them. The community is… nice.”

Angelina said something, but there was a loud buzzing.

I looked around, but Angelina didn’t seem to be reacting to anything.

“Everything alright?”

There’s an alarm going off in New Haven. Mona informed me.

“I’m hearing an alarm in my body. I have to go.” Standing up I almost rushed out with Mona’s body. “Uh. Mona, a little help please?”

The trip back to my body was much faster, like a rubber band snapping into place.

I blinked a few times, feeling Mona kiss me in my head. Angelina was having trouble controlling herself any longer. You left at a good time. Love you, My Fated. Have fun killing monsters.

“That’s the monster alarm, isn’t it?” Melody was still holding me in the water.

“It is.” I sat up. “Therapy went well. Though, I think I’m going to need more information about Angelina when I’m not there. Also, she’s very interested in this community I’m becoming a part of here.”

I pulled myself out of the hot spring and dried myself instantly, lifting my toga off the ground and using my powers to wrap myself up.

Melody was just behind me and getting the same treatment. “Well then, let’s have you kill another monster.”

I smiled, dismissing the barrier and floating the two of us out of the caves.

More than a few other supers were coming out of their own hot springs, worried from the alarm.

“Don’t worry, I’ll handle this.” I found myself repeating as I flew out of the caves and up into the air.

Melody giggled.

“What?” I frowned.

“You are kind of being a superhero.” She smirked at me.

I scowled at her. “Do not say it like that.” Suddenly, I liked the idea of being a god much more. “I’m just a god defending his city.”

“Ah.” Melody didn’t comment further, but a smile lingered on her lips.

We flew out, and I looked around.

I didn’t know where the trouble was, but I knew who would be able to tell me. The guards were mostly sporting some bug mutations and used them to communicate.

I found the closest one, knowing exactly where to find her.

Grabbing Pollen in her hut, I opened the door and gently pulled her out before I wrapped her in a bubble. She came over the city until she floated before me, looking around wildly before her eyes locked onto me and then at the hot spring caves behind.

“Uh. I’m flattered and all, but this is sudden.” She hesitated a glance at Melody. “Oh, wow, it’s true. You have no problem with mutas.”

Melody just gave her a smile and a friendly wave. “Hi! But you’re reading the situation wrong. We just came from the caves.”

“Pollen, you listen to the guard’s communications. Where is the monster?” I asked, focusing on the actual problem and not her misunderstanding.

Her mouth made a large ‘O’. “Yeah. To the south.” Her antenna twitched as she shifted. I assumed she was shifting in the direction of the monster, so I followed it.

I merged the kinetic bubble I had her in with the one that I was sharing with Melody, forming it into a carriage.

Melody grabbed her. “You might want to sit down, especially if you get motion sick.”

“Huh?” Pollen asked, and the world blurred as I shot in the direction she indicated at full speed.

With a lightsail up front, like how Mona flew, along with my full power, I felt like I broke into a new level of speed. It was the first time I’d really tested it out since having my power boosted.

Pollen screamed and grabbed at the invisible bench. “What the fuck just happened.”

“Miles travels quickly when he wants to.” Melody pat Pollen on the shoulder. “You get used to the things he can do.”

Pollen was looking around to get her bearings. “We were just at the caves. Now we are by the river… but… but… that was just a few seconds.”

“We broke the sound barrier for sure.” Melody added in.

I ignored their discussion, more focused on the gathering of guards. They were a motley crew. Many of them were on the heavier side of mutations.

“Ah. God King.” The butterfly guard waved at me as I approached much slower. “We have a major problem, and Daeva is out of the city today.”

“She’s out?” I asked.

The guard nodded. “Don’t ask me what she was doing. Goddess things probably. But we have a very large monster out here.” She gestured in the distance, and for a moment all I saw were rolling hills.

But then one of the hills moved.

“Shit that’s big.” I frowned. “It’s nearly as big as a titan.”

The guard looked at each other awkwardly until one spoke up. “We call them false titans. They are big, but not one of the seven. Honestly, we have no idea how strong something like that is. The goddess takes care of it when we see something this size.”

I looked at it with my power, and it’s ki was incredibly thick. If I didn’t know better, I’d think I was looking at a titan.

Daeva’s words about the wild growing stronger than the cities at an alarming rate was starting to prove true. There very well could be a new generation of titans being born in the wilds as we spoke.

And at the moment, I was the best chance the group around me had at being protected. Not to mention the rest of the city, this was only a few miles out.

“Let me handle this. Feel free to have a seat.” I had been coaching supers on how to put on a show, I could do the same.

I imagined myself standing on top of my invisible carriage and riding it over as I pulled the rest of the guards into it to keep them protected.

Riding high above the titan, I formed four beads of destruction in an arch above my head. The little black beads were a darkness that couldn’t be imitated by any paint.

Even to me, they were eerie, and not just because I knew they contained boundless energy.

Then I fired all four at the same time.

The world went completely white. Light was one of the compressed energies, and it bled out of the beam to the point that I had to use my power to see what was happening.

The clouds ripped open above us and the ground shook as all four beams of destruction tore into the false titan.

My vision cleared and the vision of the people in the carriage must have as well, because there were shouts of astonishment from behind me.

I couldn’t help but smile. This was what it looked like to be called a god.

But the living hill continued to move, injured but not dead.

It shifted, starting to unfurl as four bat wings rose up off the back of a giant lizard. It began to lift itself into the air as the four huge holes in its body began to repair themselves. Its regeneration was on par with the Leviathan.

One word came to mind as I saw the giant winged lizard.

It was a mother fucking dragon.

The dragon had to be several hundred feet long, and its very angry looking face was focused directly on me.

“Mr God, are you sure you’ll be able to handle that?” The butterfly guard asked.

“Not a problem. Bigger than I expected. I’ve seen three titans before. Honestly, this one is about at the same level.” My words caused a ripple of shock among the guards.

“Then we should run.” Pollen insisted.

Melody just laughed in a heroic way at their panic. “Everyone, calm down. My Miles killed one of those titans on his own. I’m sure he can do it again. Isn’t that right, Love?” She was referring to the lab grown Chimera, but this one certainly was going to be tougher with that regeneration.

“Absolutely.” I played my part. “Just sit back and watch, I’d rather not have to focus too much on keeping you all safe. So please stay put.”

The dragon had several glowing patches on its throat that suddenly lit up a big angry orange.

I paused, my brain registering what I was seeing, but not loving the idea.

Fire rushed out of its mouth, and I threw up a giant kinetic shield.

Of course the fucking dragon breathed fire.

The fire washed over the shield and I made a gap between it and us with a second shield. No reason to let the fire cook me and the others behind me.

While the breath continued, I used the time to inspect the dragon further.

Its power was blindingly bright, like the Leviathan, the Chimera and a Roc. But with my boosted power, I did my best to filter out as much of the ki as I could. I wanted to get a view of the powers it might contain.

And what I saw shocked me. It had not two powers, not three, but four powers swirling inside of it.

I knew that I needed to keep enough of it to get a sample back to Skel, maybe even have a piece shipped to Wells to see what she could come up with. If the wild was starting to breed monsters like the one in front of me, we were going to need to seriously step up our defenses.