SSV 4 Chapter 12 (Patreon)

Edited to include Emma's power - Ty

“Now we are on the wrong side of the city.” Daeva pointed out.

“Yeah, but we’re also not getting attacked by a ghost titan, so I’m calling it a win.” I paused and looked around the area. “I think we are going to camp out tonight. We can head back with our loot tomorrow.”

I started to circle the city when something caught my attention. I jerked us up into the air. If you asked me, I’d have said it was a sixth sense.

The Fenris Wolf shot out of the ground with its muzzle open, closing over right where we had been.

Apparently after checking on its pup it had decided to hunt us down once more. Though with a method I hadn’t expected.

“Miles!” Daeva pushed me aside as the titan rose faster, beating me in speed. The titan’s mouth slammed down on her in a spray of blood.

I floated in a moment of complete surprise as I met the Fenris Wolf’s eyes. If I was reading it right, the titan was intelligent and very upset that it got Daeva instead of me.

And Daeva had just saved my life.

I wanted to idle in shock and figure out what to do next, but my survival instinct kicked in. I needed to keep moving.

The Fenris Wolf opened its mouth, and a purple fog raced out of it.

I wrapped myself in a shell to keep the fog out, but I was blind as I tried to shoot higher up into the air to escape the death fog.

I prayed that I was moving in the right direction and not about to slam into the ground once I cleared the fog.

I let out a breath of relief as I cleared the fog, still high up in the sky.

But even then, a dark paw burning with the blue fires of death swiped at me even as I tried to dart out of the way.

Seeing I wasn’t going to be successful, I blasted everything that I had at the same time. I pushed out shields from all sorts of energy as the wolf’s paw went right through each of them. Its claw met my skin, and the precision was like a surgeon's scalpel as it sliced through my right arm and leg. The two limbs fell away in the cleanest cut I’d ever seen.

Pushing myself to my absolute limit, I shot straight up while I put pressure on the stump of my arm and my leg, my brain scrambling, unable to fully comprehend what was happening.

A little part of me kicked in and I stuffed myself full of ki trying to speed up the healing process, I wasn’t going to regrow a limb, but I’d heal.

I knew I was slipping into a state of shock. What the hell was this titan? It was beyond anything I’d fought before.

And I was reaching the bottom of my bag of tricks.

Deciding I needed to try anything new I could come up with,  I pushed my mimicry of Frankie’s power at the wolf.

A splash of water appeared right where one of the titan’s eyes was, and it was followed by a spurt of mist and a howl from the Fenris Wolf.

I nearly froze, but my body compelled me to keep moving. It… it worked!

“Run.” Daeva was next to me again, alive even though I’d just seen the Fenris Wolf clearly kill her.

I didn’t think too hard about her statement. My small use of Frankie’s power had worked, but it was also like fighting a titan with a squirt gun. We needed to get away to fight another day.

The air rippled as she slammed her telekinetic force at the wolf and then shot off to the side. “I’m going to steal your puppy if you chase him!” She shouted at the wolf.

The Fenris Wolf shifted so sharply, I was worried for Daeva. She only ran for about fifteen seconds before it caught up to her and killed her once again. I cringed as her blood splattered everywhere.

I didn’t know what her power was, but I had to trust that she had enough lives to come back again.

After flying for several seconds without the heart pounding chase of a giant ghostly titan, I felt the loss of my limbs.

If I didn’t look, I would have sworn my right arm and leg were still there, but I knew they weren’t. Angelina would probably say something like phantom limbs. She’d call it a psycho-something and explain it all away, but she wasn’t here.

It hit me harder by the second.

I had just lost two limbs and I was in shock.

Self regeneration was common, but healing powers were rare, and the regrowth of a limb was rarer yet. Emma was an extremely rare case, but she was too far away right now to do anything.

I had to believe it wasn’t permanent. We didn’t know much about Emma’s power, maybe she could fix it when I went back to Point City. If it was… fuck. I couldn’t think that.

I felt like I couldn’t breathe even despite the air rushing into my lungs at a frantic rate.

Rage began to build up in me, and I threw a force of kinetic power at the ground destroying a swath of forest.

I’d fucking lost.

I, Miles Matherson, Void, the monster who killed Fortress and the man who stopped Daeva above point city, the man who killed two titans, lost.

I was angry, almost to the point of disbelief.

That titan wasn’t normal. It was something stronger than titans because of its strangeness.

Something hardened inside of me at losing to it.

I shot across the sky, looking once more for the spot where we had dropped our loot from Valley City. I figured Daeva would circle back to that spot once she finished leading the Fenris Wolf on a merry chase now that we knew there was a puppy and she could use that to get its attention.

When I spotted the loot, I shot down and landed on my one leg. I felt balanced, like my power had subconsciously filled in the space where my right leg had once been.

A small miracle.

I looked at the pallets of sheet metal and the substation parts.

And I felt empty.

My leg and my arm weren’t worth these.

Where the fuck was Angelina when I needed her.

I’m trying. Mona was in the back of my head. You are a mess, My Fated. Everything is topsy turvy in here. Her voice faded out but snapped back into place with a grunt of effort.

I blew out a breath, knowing I needed to calm down. It was true. I was grieving the loss of my limbs.

My Fated, would you like to talk to Angelina again?

No I would not. I would like someone to fix this.

When a hero loses a limb, even the BSH doesn’t get it fixed. There just isn’t any—

No! I will fucking get this fixed and if Emma can’t do it, then I will make someone who can. Stuffing myself with ki had sped up the natural healing, but they were still stumps. Just healed over, hopefully that didn’t interfere with Emma’s power when I got back.

The anger from my thoughts blew away the surrounding trees as I fumed.

I’d never felt so weak before. Even when I’d grieved the loss of my family after coming into my power, I’d been in a position of power. Now, I was… less powerful.

My brain knew that was rationally okay, but my feelings were in a different place.

Mona pulled away from my mind, and I could feel her distance herself.

It was probably for the best. My head wasn’t a place anybody would want to be at the moment.

My side was a mess, though it hadn’t been directly caught by the claws. My skin was shredded, and it went far enough up my side that I knew my neck and jaw would have some scarring.

A cough escaped me. I tried to cover my mouth with my right hand but nothing came up to catch the flecks of blood that came out.

I laughed like an unhinged lunatic.

It was too much. Just too much for me.

My power faltered and I stumbled to balance on one leg, putting my arms out to try and balance. But that only put me more off balance. My power supporting my missing leg disappeared and I toppled over.

Fuck me. Now I didn’t even have the focus for my power.

I wasn’t sure how long I sat there stewing in my anger before Daeva appeared, pristine as she started the day. And that made me even more angry.

Suddenly, I realized that I was in a bad situation.

My mind was unfocused, my power had faltered twice, and I was likely in need of some serious recuperation.

I was weakened. This was the moment that would test Daeva’s intentions.

As Daeva looked down at me, she raised a brow and squatted down. Her eyes were filled with sadness as she pressed her hand to my chest.

The sun was setting and casting a warm glow on her while the stars and moon were coming out behind her. I smiled up at her. I wasn’t sure if it was the adrenaline crash, grief, or some other mix of emotions. But she was a beautiful sight to die to if my time had come.

Daeva waited a few seconds before a bright smile bloomed on her face. “I love you too.”

I froze, unsure what to say.

My heart was racing from an unfamiliar emotion.

“I knew that fighting together would instill some love for me in you. Though, I’m a little disappointed you couldn’t do more than take its eye out. But hey, that’s more than an entire city of supers, including me, has been able to do.” Daeva pressed harder on my chest, smiling brightly at my rapid heartbeat.

“Daeva, that’s not what’s happening. My heart is racing for another reason.” I didn’t lie to her.

She tilted her head curiously. “But hearts race when they are in love.”

“Or when they are working hard.” I replied.

She still didn’t seem to understand, and I tried to figure out how to explain it to her.

Daeva had Fortress’s inhuman physical abilities. I had a feeling she probably didn’t even remember what it was like to breathe hard after a run. Fortress had always made everything look effortless, part of his heroic charm.

She smiled and scooped me up. “Don’t worry. I love you too. You are still the God King of Fertility of New Haven, and I’m just so excited that your heart finally beat so fast for me.”

I just let her carry me while she picked up the rest of our loot and started to fly carefully through the woods rather than above. I was in a stupor throughout the journey, a little baffled that she still wanted me even in my weakened state.

“You don’t mind that I’m like this?” I struggled with the words.

“Are you not still the powerful man that fought me above Point City? You crushed a titan just yesterday. This one has given you trouble, but from what little I’ve observed, you are not one to let something as simple as the loss of a little flesh stop you.” She smiled.

My strength had been a large part of me. Having it stripped away made me feel vulnerable in a way that I hadn’t experienced before. And I wasn’t a huge fan.

But it did mean something that Daeva didn’t care, and she didn’t take advantage. My trust in her grew. Maybe she was right. My lips curled up at the over casualness in which she’d said it, it was just a flesh wound, one I’d recover from.

I felt lighter, and not because I was suddenly missing two chunks of my weight.

Even if I’d let all of these women into my life, I had always had my own strength to fall back on, to protect me.

But right now that was gone, I was truly exposed to Daeva’s whims.

She landed in a level area between a cliff and a lake, still holding me. “Guess we’ll just sleep here for now.”

“Mind grabbing something that I can cook? I’m going to try and work on water.” My head was still a mess, but it was clear enough to try and use some of my powers.

“Will you be okay alone?” She paused.

“Yeah. I think I can handle a few regular monsters if they come.” I wasn’t that weak.

Daeva nodded and shot away again.

I stared at the pallets of goods and tried to lift my right hand to visualize my power, but it was once again missing. I was still operating on a reflex, built from years of muscle memory.

The thought interrupted my power, and I had to switch to my left hand, peeling back the bands on one of the pallets of sheet metal and cutting a strip off.

Normally big clunky machines would do the motions I was making, but my power was more than up to the task. I bent the metal and cut it again until I had two cube-shaped cups.

I had to stop several times to clear my mind and focus back on the task before me. Now wasn’t the time to have a pity party.

Pausing, I worked on the harder part, the part I hadn’t practiced quite as much.

I mimicked Frankie’s power once more. It had been the only thing to injure the wolf, so I had every intention of practicing it.

Daeva wasn’t right about my heartbeat, but she was right that a flesh wound wouldn’t keep me down. I wanted my revenge. And next time, I would fucking win.

Focusing again, I tried to channel the ki above the cups and vibrate them so that they made water. Focusing, I tried to control it.

Power and quantity was useful for some things, but control always was the best.

Rather than just make a splash, I tried to make a drop, and failed.

There was a small squirt of water that went to the side rather than into the cup.

I needed to feel it. More closely.

I wasn’t sure exactly what had injured the wolf, but something told me it was more than just the water.

The only other thing in the air would be another form of matter, like the atmospheric gasses here above the cup.

I vibrated the ki again, but rather than thinking of it becoming water, I thought about it vibrating into the gasses, converting them into water. Closing my eyes to focus on the sense of ki that I had, I heard a small trickle.

It sounded like when a coffee machine first started to fill the pot.

Good. Sometimes it was getting the visual right that helped me wield my various aspects of my power.

I peaked at the stream, watching as a clear stream of water poured into my cup. I eased back the vibrations until the trickle thinned to drops.

Slowly but surely, I let drops of water fill my cup, pausing and pushing on my control of the ki to deliver each drop individually.

If I was converting the gasses, that meant there was something to the Fenris wolf to convert. And whatever that was, it converted easier than gas when I’d lashed out with my power.

I smiled, feeling like there was a shimmer of hope in beating the wolf.

I focused my new knowledge of the power and put a hand to Daeva’s cup, willing the whole thing to be filled with water.

It took a push of my power, but it took and water burbled up into her cup, filling it to the brim.

I couldn’t help but smile. I was learning to change matter.

It fit with what Kim had thought. That energy to mass and mass to energy should be possible, but the sheer energy required to convert was astronomical. That’s why I wasn’t creating matter straight from ki, I was converting something readily available like the gasses in the air.

I knew that ki was likely highly charged, but even still, it would be difficult for someone like Frankie to push enough ki though to make water from pure ki.

I should have realized it earlier, but converting something into water was far less energy intensive job by several orders of magnitude.

Daeva appeared from the dark. “I half expected you to start a fire.” She looked down at the cube cup and lifted it to her mouth with her telekinesis, no hesitation.

“Playing with how I saw Frankie using her power. I’m trying to mimic it. It’s what I did when I was able to injure the Fenris Wolf.” I added.

“Can Frankie kill it?” Daeva asked excitedly as I noticed a deer-like creature floating behind her.

I grabbed it from her with my power and began to cook it, sealing in the flavor like I had on Melody’s date meal, though I didn’t have herbs and spices to help enhance it. “No, I’d be concerned about her dying before she could harm it much.”

Daeva nodded and floated some sticks into the area between us with a smile on her face. “I like fire.”

I wanted to make a snarky comment, but I resisted. Instead I blasted the core of the teepee she’d made with heat.

A fire flickered to life amid the dried twigs.

Daeva floated over some larger sticks and logs. “I don’t know of anyone that can regrow limbs.” She brought my injury up.

I frowned. “Neither do I. But I will find a solution.”

She nodded. “Good. It seems like you have your spirit back.” She scooted around the fire so that she was close enough to put her hand to my chest again.

I let my heart hammer in my chest at her touch as I stared into her eyes. “What does my heartbeat tell you?”

“That this could work.” She took my hand and pressed it between her breasts. “Feel mine? The idea excites me.” Daeva blushed a little, and I pulled her a little closer with my power to kiss her cheek.

I felt her heartbeat quicken under my hand with the kiss.

She clutched the spot, staring back at me as I pulled away. “That… what was that? It made my heart beat faster.”

“You’ve seen people kiss?” I knew she had to know what a kiss was, but maybe she didn’t understand the intimacy of it.

She nodded.

“It’s a way people express their care and feelings for each other. And it makes their hearts beat faster if they have romantic feelings.” I decided to speak her language.

She pushed my chin, and I let her expose my cheek. Leaning forward, she placed a small peck on it, smiling as she finished.

I didn’t even have to fake it; my heart quickened just a little.

She smiled as she pulled away. “Are there other ways to show feelings?”

“Yes, but I’ll let Stella explain those. She’s better equipped as the goddess of lust.” I dodged that bullet.

Daeva nodded, taking in my words with deathly seriousness.