"You really shouldn't have done that." (V)

I think I did it now. I sincerely pissed off a cosmic agent. Just what is she going to do now? I kinda don't want to know.

"Be that as it may, I think I can forgive you if you just sign the accord." (V)

Of course, what else did I expect?

"N-no! Still no. I'm sorry." (I)

"Sigh, too bad. You know, I'm not the most enthusiastic of a fighter. I prefer to solve conflicts by talking." (V)

"You, you want to fight?" (I)

"Well, no, but I guess you want to. Not like it's going to change anything. As I said, even if I were to stop pursuing you, someone else would be sent. However, I'll still make you an offer. I'll give you your fight, and if I win, you will sign the contract, and if you win, I'll leave and tell the others I'm dropping the case. Though, you shouldn't believe that this would get you out of this. At most, you've got a week to a decade till the next one shows up." (V)

A decade doesn't sound too bad. Still, I'm not sure about unleashing my powers against her.

"Are you sure about that? My powers aren't exactly non-violent." (I)

"Pffft! You are fun. Do you seriously believe I was seeking you out without any idea or care of what I'm dealing with? Iori Nomia, Devourer Effect of category six. You can rest assured, I did my homework. No need for holding back. Hah, maiming a water angel. Not possible." (V)

"So you're saying I don't stand a chance?" (I)

Just for that, I'd kinda like to prove her wrong.

"Well, you may. After all, I'm just a newbie. I've only been around for a couple thousand years. But it's certainly not going to be easy." (V)

Well, this is certainly concerning, but if she says so. If things go wrong, I probably still could restore her, even though I've no idea how that water body works. Yet I think she made a little miscalculation.

"I'm sorry to say this, but you are here in my world!" (I)

"Whosh"

Seemingly out of nowhere, I create a gigantic tentacle I drop from above her. The miscalculation I was talking about is that I control this whole dimension, its space, and the fabric of reality itself. With attacks that manifest as fast and on any possible scale I can imagine, I honestly can't see how I'd lose this.

"WHAM"

"You'll need something better than this if you truly intend to get me!" (V)

Next tentacle!

"Wham"

This time, I saw it. She, she kinda punched it. Not really, the way her hand connected was weird, but kinda she did.

"Seriously, I really think you should just sign the damn ledger. If you already struggle against me, the others would give you a run. I'm not even one of the big three!" (V)

More disturbing information, but I won't let her get into my head!

"No! I'm not going to sign this thing just because you shove it at me! I don't know you, and the mere fact that you press me into this like some mafia goon makes me not want to! You could force me into anything like this!" (I)

"I already told you. It's not so bad." (V)

"Sure, and I'd take you at face value! How naive do you think I am!" (I)

"I was nothing but truthful to you. Water angels can't even lie." (V)

"Says the one who just a bit ago stated she's weak!" (I)

"That was technically not a lie." (V)

"Technically?!" (I)

"Well, if we speak about actual strength, I certainly don't have much going for me. My body crumbles at the slightest bit of actual strain. Yet in addition, at that time, I was technically not much of a threat." (V)

At that time?! What's that supposed to mean?

"You see, water angels utilize their powers on quite rigid levels. The first is for mere interaction with mortals. Our strength on that level is basically non-existent, and we can only utilize a bare minimum of our powers. Usually, movement and minor water manipulation and stuff. It's an important measure to make us hold back. Not like we can just fight regular folks with planet-splitting powers" (V)

Is she seriously going to use technicalities to claim she didn't lie?! That seems like quite the loose excuse to me.

"Wham"

Apparently, talking doesn't keep her from obliterating my tentacles.

"Then there's the second level, where we actually activate our powers. It's thought to face foes of considerable strength, up to the level of a greater demigod. The glowing eyes are actually quite the hint. Or the darkies, yet those are rare" (V)

Well, if that isn't convenient as an explanation.

"Wham"

Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

Argh, still not getting to her.

"And then there's level three, where we simply stop holding back altogether. This one packs a punch, I tell ya. However, we certainly have to abide by the rules not to let everything out when we please. So yeah, abbreviations like this are technically allowed. Just no outright lies." (V)

The fact that she's not even that far yet is extremely concerning. I mean, she's literally holding a lecture here, while dodging omni-directional attacks, and dashing out kicks and punches beyond any conceivable scale!

"I'm still not buying this!" (I)

At once, I summon more tentacles, making them grow larger and larger, until all around her not a single spot remains.

"Huh, you certainly have a foible for the 'more is better' route." (V)

I'll show you more!

While she's occupied, I spawn as many demons as I can. Since I quite clearly got shown that strength and durability builds don't work here, I focus on speed. This means I settle for a horde of hellhounds and killer vultures, which I immediately send her way. Let's see how she deals with this.

Yet, unfortunately, she does so surprisingly well. The hellhounds obviously were a mistake, as Veo is constantly far above their heads, which only allows them to confusedly try following her respective position in the sky. Yet whenever she comes down to them, she's more than prepared to completely obliterate them all.

The fliers, meanwhile, don't fare much better. Either they get shot down by tiny projectiles, the whirling water around Veo obliterates them, or they get even as unlucky as to tank a direct attack. Worse, as I don't control them directly, they get more often than I'd be happy with caught up in my tentacle attacks. Seeing how the demons do so much less than my directly coordinated attacks, I realign my concentration back to the directly controlled tentacle, away from the demons. Also, even if they aren't quite conscious, I started to feel a bit bad about sending the pseudo-sapient beings into the grinder like this, only to get slaughtered.

Instead, I let my newly formed tentacles strike at her, all at once. Those more abstract, greater attacks certainly should fare better.

"Whosh"

At least I thought so. Yet before the attacks connect, Veo jumps up. With an almost unnatural grace, she's just dancing around my attacks, as if she can anticipate them.

No, scratch that, she's definitely unnatural, as I'm pretty sure she's moving her body outside physical boundaries. Coming from the outer looks, it's almost as if she pulls herself out of harm's way. Even midair, she can suddenly change direction without any clear indication to her body how she'd even make this happen.

"Whack"

That was a kick. It shattered her leg that instantly reassembles, but was enough to get a tentacle thrice her width out of the way. I continue sending tentacles, but can't quite see any progress on that front. She simply doesn't seem bothered by the attacks. Yet as I said, this is still my world. If she wants to see me unhinged, then I'll do her the favor.

I separate my mind, using a certain partition of it to create sub-processors, somewhere in the vastness of my dream, that have the sole purpose of helping me control my attacks. This way, I can't just create a circle of tentacles around her, no, I can move them quicker and spread the space where I create them, to make them larger and more numerous. All this to overwhelm this water angel.

And it truly does seem to work. While at first, it seems like she can continue dodging, jumping from one gigantic flesh pillar to the other, she soon starts getting overwhelmed. The transition is actually hard to make out, but my total observation and all the brain matter I put into this task tell me I got her cornered.

"Yeah! That's more like it!" (V)

With a sense of annoyance, I put my hands together, and simultaneously, all the tentacles converge at her position, forming a meat knot at the center.

"Level three!" (V)

Wha-

Before I can even contemplate the implications, my meat knot explodes. Torrents of water flow in all directions, along with purple blood and chunks of scattered tentacles. In the center, levitates now a being that seems to consist entirely of water, its glowing eyes focusing on me.

"Gulp" (I)

"If you don't mind, I think I'll attack for once!" (V)

I see something forming in front of her hand that she points in my direction. She holds her thumb over her middle finger, in front of a small water bubble that takes shape right there and seems to slowly be compressed down to the size of a pebble. Oh damn!

I quickly erect a massive flesh wall, mostly concentrating on its width.

"Whoshhh"

A moment later, something impacts. It shreds right through the meat, towards me. This massive, but incredibly concentrated force pierces right through the defense. I can put it a little off track, but a tiny fragment comes through, and even if it's only the most minuscule amount, it shreds my shoulder, which right away regrows.

"You need to dodge, you know?!" (V)

I'd retort something, if she hadn't said that while storming at me at mach... I honestly don't even know! I still try to erect some defenses, but just like before, she dances around them, jumps over the last hurdle, and while looping midair, places her hand on my forehead. Her hand is wet and cold, and with a smile as if to call "gotcha", she says:

"Impact." (V)

It's hard to define what happens next. I notice some kind of wave, moving quicker than it's perceptible through her body, it accelerates till it meets the endpoint of her hand. Then it passes over, and while it feels like the whole world is moving, I realize belatedly that it's just me. I just got sent flying.

Huh, actually, I keep on flying. My body is still fine, but at the velocity I'm going, I surmise the eventual stop is gonna hurt.

"Whoosh"

"CRASH"

"CRACK"

"SCRUSH"

Ouch. That certainly shattered every single bone in my body. I start to feel a little outclassed here.

My body knits itself together at astonishing speed. Just a bit slower than I could usually move, the bones, muscles, and all other relevant parts snap back into place. Of course, while that happens, I don't just keep lying there, but renew my attack. While erecting many more defensive lines, I have a gigantic partition dedicated to squashing her. She may have scattered my barrage before, but their origin is still at work.

All the while, I increase my processing ability, only being held back by the available space. Yet every little bit of it is bitterly needed, as now Veo actively fights back. Where before her punches only redirected my swings, they now obliterate them. I even see how that works. Whenever she swings, there is, for less than a microsecond, a residue to the trajectory. This one follows the movement after the aforementioned time, and once it has caught up, releases all its destructive potential at the impact. The truly astonishing part is how she utilizes this apparently extremely abstract and complicated technique fluently, with each of her kicks and punches, over and over again, at a succession that matches my output. I mean, she said so, but how can this level three just casually make her like a hundred levels stronger?!

But then, I see an opening, and swing at her back.

"Swish"

Only to have a tentacle of five meters in width and a hundred meters in length be cut off by a spontaneously created armblade that simply moved through it without any resistance, as it's apparently only a single molecule wide at the edge, as I got intimately familiar with just now.

I try to surprise her and quickly let another controlled shape grow out of the severed appendage. It lashes out, but before it can connect, gets ripped apart. I couldn't quite discern what hit it, only that it must have delivered that blow at an incredible speed. All I see now is Veo holding a finger at the former position. Then she shoots three water projectiles at the original tentacle I grew my latest attack from. Literally, a single water drop from her finger. So she even has finger pistols.

"I can do this all day, you know?" (V)

Yeah, I think so too. She doesn't show any signs of exhaustion. I guess she simply wants to make me realize how hopeless my position is. However, I cannot accept this.

Suddenly, my danger sense spikes up, and I hastily erect a new defense wall, as countless droplets impact like shrapnel. If shrapnel had a velocity that each piece would, by itself, obliterate buildings. Okay, no more direct line of sight, only remote eye observation. I need to constantly maintain a defense. Also, I create spiky and sharp forms to my structures, let them grow teeth and claws that lash out. A carnival of terror. Doom and destruction in all its nightmarish forms. Yet it doesn't amount to anything.

By now, this agent can match the amount of destruction I try to deliver to her. Mid-sized tentacles get cut, large ones obliterated with strikes that could fell titans each by themselves, but the worst is this water control that shows up more and more. Her fluid body moves in ever less form-given shapes, her blades send slashes of flying water from them that leave deep gouges in anything they reach, and everything that's smaller gets shot by a barrage of tiny water droplets far beyond the speed of sound.

I'm simply lost here. Nothing I throw at her seems to be able to connect to this being. As if she has complete spatial awareness and the means to exploit this. Nothing in this dimension seems to be able to touch her if she doesn't want it to. Dimension?

... That's it!

I control this place! Not just the things I can form right here, but physics, time, and basically all of its dimensions! Every last bit of it is mine! So if she can keep up with the things I'm throwing at her in this realm, I can simply add dimensions. Yes, that's what I'm doing! All those spatial rooms that are part of my dream, I can create an infinite number of them and open up portals to let my growth stream out of them. Let's see how you dodge this!

...

Wow, she did. And continues doing so. Apparently, she can even maintain awareness of multiple dimensions at once. Now it even seems like she's making use of that by fluently sliding between them to dodge otherwise undodgeable attacks. This agent is simply ridiculous. Yet that's not an issue. While her abilities are so far beyond anything agreeable, she's still limited to just her body. I, on the other hand, can grow as much as I like and attack her simultaneously with any number of attacks. This allows me to grow my oppression further on, until it simply encompasses all the space around her. To top it off, I now simply add to the scale. With tentacles that beat skyscrapers, I come at her. Growths so massive that there can be no escape. It doesn't matter how fast this storm is raging; I simply take the space to rampage away from it.

"Get lost!" (I)

"WHOOOOMMMM"

They come down. I let everything descend to her position. Not a chance to escape, as all surrounding dimensions were blocked off. Now that she's squished, I should've won.

I'll simply salvage her soul, or whatever she got, and send her on her way. I think this is over now.

.

.

.

"Level four!" (V)

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