Chapter 5: Leviathan

Wendy takes a moment to compose herself and thinks of the best tactic to deal with this new threat. Her mind takes her back, back to her brief time with the old God Set. Faster, harder, you must be more dominatable in your attacks, he always claimed. Whenever their vigorous training would come to a halt, she would take a break to bathe in the river that surrounded the temple. "Can you sense it?" She hears a voice speak up right when she finally composed herself in the steamed waters. She yells back, "PERVERT! Can't you see I'm bathing!" Set continues from behind a boulder not paying any mind to her humility.

"I can sense it's not happy that I'm here, though it has only truly awakened because you arrived. Wendy not over here humility begrudgingly continues their conversation.

"What are you talking about?" Set looks up and replies.

 "The Dragon."

Suddenly, the girl gets an intrusive shock throughout her entire body. Memories of the previous spirit goddess Undine flush within her. A feeling of fear and regret washed within her as well, her link with the previous spirit goddess causing her to receive a feeling of grief and distress. After some time to ponder her recent experience, she presses on, "The previous Spirit Goddess… her essence feels like it's still lingering here, could it be because of the Dragon?" Set continues, "The dragon is called the Leviathan. An ancient spirit that roams the primordial sea, it is derived from the Greek translation of the word Dragon. In the last couple of centuries, Five Dragons roamed the world, they were known for causing terror and havoc, for their great power had unbalanced the cosmic order. To counteract this, Five Gods from various groups of Faith decided to take action, conquering the wild beast and in turn using their power for the coming centuries. The one who claimed the sea Dragon was the Undine, the Spirit Goddess." Wendy, engaged in this, decided to stay quiet for the time being. "After her untimely demise, not having a demigoddess as its medium must have instigated it to take independent action, making it incapable for it to return to the spirit realm, who knows how many years it had been condemned to this temple."

 Wendy continues to ponder before replying, "I see, what happens to spirits after their host dies?" Set continues, "It can differ depending on the situation. Great spirits are similar to lesser spirits, being able to exist both here and in the spirit realm simultaneously, but when a spirit as powerful as a dragon makes a contract with a worthy candidate, the bond may last even after death. If she were to have met an untimely demise, then it stands to reason the spirit may feel obliged to remain here until it's guaranteed its purpose for forming the contract is complete. Not to mention, only a powerful being who is inept with spirit magic can send a greater spirit back by force."

Wendy suddenly shows up in front of the old God completely soaked, but dressed nonetheless. "There you go getting all philosophical and such, not everything has to be so formal and contracted," Wendy says matter of factly to him. "Then what do you suppose then?" Set questions causing Wendy to smile, "Obviously, it misses her."

Set seems rather shocked but accepts her way of thinking. "Either way, I'd say that should be our next task. A good way to challenge your spiritual affinity would be to conquer that greater spirit and send it back to the spirit realm." Wendy nods her head to the side, "How so?"

"You, my disciple, are blessed by the strongest spirit, the Eternal Phoenix. Your spirit affinity is the exact opposite of the sea serpent spirit. As you could understand, fire and water are clear opposites, so mastering spirit magic that counters your affinity will solidify your improvement." Set seems very intriguing in this experiment but Wendy digresses.

"Well, it's not like I have much of a choice. Let's give it a shot!"

Taking a moment to view her latent connections with the previous spirit deity, Wendy asks the spirits to link her fleeting spirit with her. The Sea Dragon goddess, and master of the spirits Undine. She was a formidable warrior who protected the children and the seas. Still trying to form a connection with her fleeting spirit, Wendy focuses hard on her meditation. After a long moment of silence, she spazzes out. "Gah! This isn't working!"

Set chimes in, "You must have more patience, my dear. Linking with a spirit of this magnitude isn't going to be an easy task." Wendy sighs.

"Well feel free to do this yourself!" Set continues, "If I were a betting man, I would assume the dragon is part of the reason you're stuck here. It's keeping everything bound to this place in its own secluded bubble, that would include Undine's soul, as well you."

Wendy has reached her limit, standing up and deciding to take action. "Fine then, if this dragon is the root of it all then I'll just go speak to it myself!" She then lunges out into the pond in pursuit of the serpent, Set looks displeased but is unable to stop her.

Wendy swims around aimlessly around the temple, looking for any sign of life. She is met with only groups of fishes and various sea critters around the temple, but before she can even consider giving up, a large swarm of water engulfs her. As if by magic, a long serpent-like creature appears out of nowhere, wrapping itself around the outwards of the temple and bringing its long scaly head over to Wendy's location. now face to face with the dragon, tries to reach out when it lunges at her. She's doing her best to dodge and get around before it has a chance to strike at her. She aims forward and decides to land a powerful blow at the base of its head. The impact of the blow suddenly releases a fluctuation of spiritual energy and halts the serpent in its path. Noticing its change in demeanor, Wendy reaches out her hand and touches it softly.

She is then brought to a different place, not physically but within the realms of her mind. She is facing a small dragon girl, she's all but facing down, crying. Wendy walks a bit closer to the young child, sensing a feeling of familiarity before speaking to her. "What's wrong?" The little girl looks up at the caring blue eyes and mutters back, "I can feel it." Wendy stays silent, edging the girl to continue. "The pain, the anguish, I couldn't save them, they're all crying out for someone to rescue them but I can't anymore."Confused, Wendy speaks back."Who's crying, who couldn't you save?" "A small undine looks back at her and continues, "The spirits, they are suffering, they need to be put to rest."

Wendy looks up to see a mass of darkness and spirits surrounding them. "My vow was to love thy spirits, both man and child, to protect those without vanity and discretion." She takes on her adult form. "Up till now that's what I've always done, I used my place as a spirit god to secure the souls and hearts of the people, and I used my position as a dragon God to slay those I deemed evil. Because of my death, the natural order of things has started to collapse, someone must continue my work going forward." Wendy looks back at the now adult dragon-kind. "There are many spirits and many gods, but there is only One Spirit god at any given time. The faith and responsibilities of our title now fall upon you." She puts her hand out, "Will you accept me?" Wendy takes her hand.

"Of course, I will leave it to me." Undine smiles and begins to fade away, the last remnants of her fleeting soul now being put to rest. Now back in the real world, the dragon surrounding her starts to move and swarm through the ocean. During her internal conversion, a circular gate, made from rock and stone, with a dragon-like structure had appeared in front of her. Within this construct, a blue portal had opened from its center. The Leviathan shoots straight into the portal, and once the full length of the dragon's size enters the gate, it turns into light and vanishes from thin air. As she looks dejected at the open waters, she smiles as she feels the remnants of the water spirits left behind.

Back in the ruins, the battle with the greater demon begins. Wendy lunges forward, attacking with a slash of her sword. The Demon dodges her incoming attacks, moving around the designated area. This demon is notably able to bend sand at his will, creating quicksand-like holes beneath Wendy in an attempt to immobilize her. Hibiki starts to monologue, "This isn't good, at this rate we'll all be a bunch of corpses within this temple!" Wendy, losing her footing, gets hit with a strike from the demon, resulting in her getting pushed back. "Hey, sister! I don't suppose you got any tricks up your sleeve, I don't exactly feel like dying in here!" Wendy yells back. Hibiki starts thinking, " I need to think, I still can't summon the lesser spirits around me, is it because something is preventing me from reaching the connection? Could this demon be in possession of such an artifact? where could they be hiding it?" Wendy continues her back and forth with a demon, unable to do much damage with her sword due to the demon's sand-like texture.

"Damnit, I won't get anywhere like this… What should I do…?"

Hibiki thinks to herself as well, "What is she going to do...

If this keeps going at this rate, we're all going to die...."

"I'm too young and pretty to die!!"

"No, I'm not like my sisters. I have spiritual capabilities… That's why I'm wearing the white robe… This dress holds a conservative of spirit energy... I was saving it in case I needed to heal John or the children… but I could use that reserve to boost Wendy's physical stats… But if it turns out to be a waste, I'd be losing my only hope of escaping this temple…!" 

Stuck in the realms of her indecisiveness, John, who was presumed to be unconscious, reaches over to Hibikis's arm and makes an effort to release words of encouragement.

"Hibiki… You can do this…"

Hearing this, the girls take action, boosting all of Wendy's stats to help aid her in her battle. Wendy immediately starts combating against the Demon, now relying on her two fists to get the job done. Blow after blow is delivered, bodies get slammed to walls and debris, the goddess and the demon are engaged in a heavy all-or-nothing brawl as they face off against each other. Overpowering him for a moment, Wendy is able to send him hurtling to the end of the arena, where he lies on his back taking in the force of the impact. 

"W-ww-wow! That was amazing! You're absolutely incredible!" Hibiki says, astonished by the older girl's prowess. 

"Thanks… That was you wasn't it?"

"Yes!!"

"That boost really came in handy. But… As things are going now... I don't think I can beat this guy…"

"WHAT!?" Hibiki looks absolutely mortified as she says this. 

"Look there's clearly something here that's preventing the spirits from reaching us... while I deal with him you should figure out what that is…"

"But I already found that thing! It's that cube-looking thing up there...

"You're telling me this now!?

"I didn't want to bother you! You were fighting!"

"I should hit you." Tears start forming around Hibiki's eyes.

"DON'T BULLY ME!"

"There's not much I can do in the sense of combat, I'd only just get in your way! Especially when I can't use any spirit magic right now!! This is why I wanted to wait and stay back in the church! I'm not cut out for this! I'm in the most danger I've ever been in! I'm scared, I'm tired, and I want to go ho-..."

Before she could get another word out, Wendy grabs her by the shoulders and headbutts her.

"Kya!!"

"Stop freaking out and focus! Right now those kids need your help, that guy John needs your help…"

She pauses before making sure she's looking directly into the silver-haired girl's eyes. "I need you!"

After a moment of silence, Hibiki responds, "Okay. Thank you... I'll try to be more level-headed going forward."

"Good! Now what do we do?"

Their back and forth comes to a halt when the impatient demon strikes a sand-like bomb at them, forcing the girls to move out in defense.

"It's acting as some sort of spirit repellent. But if I use the magical reservoir within my dress, I should have enough power to overpower it, as long as I make physical contact." Wendy looks surprised," Wow you're capable of such a thing!?" Wendy was honestly surprised this girl could be useful in any way. Hibiki continues, "Yes, I in particular, carry the white dress of heaven, different from the black dress worn by all my sisters, this has the accumulated power of an entire church, I am the only sister with a high enough affinity to wear it!"

Wendy smirks, "Is that so!" She says before putting on a fighting stance! "Why didn't you just say so!" Suddenly the air around them starts to pick up. Wendy flexes her muscles and stands firm. The demon seems to be pretty disinterested in the whole thing allowing Wendy to take advantage of the situation. Hibiki chimes in "What are you doing? I thought I made it clear we can't use spirit magic!" Wendy grips her fist, "I'm not." Suddenly she throws a supersonic punch forward, clearing all the covering sand away. Hibiki looks in shock but then is suddenly grasped from the back and thrown up to the roof of the ruins. "There you go! I believe in you sister!!!" Screams out Wendy after quickly throwing the lunge straight at the artifact. Hibiki starts to wail out in fear, "That barbarian!!! She threw me! I'm a sister for crying out loud!" With newfound determination, she pushes her hands forward and uses her latent magic to cancel out the artifact's spell, imploding it completely. She seems pleased with her action until she realizes she has no way of landing.

"Wait wait wait wait! How am I supposed to land now!" The demon, now on guard, tries to lunge at her when she's grabbed by what seems to be a shot of energy. "Are you alright?" Wendy questions, holding the startled sister bridal-style in her arms, Hibiki's face is incredibly flustered as she looks at her heroine. The girls share a moment of silence before Hibiki speaks up, "Y-yes, I'm fine…" Wendy looks firmly back at her target while still holding the sister in her arms, "Brace yourself, this fight's only just getting started!"