Chapter 16: The unbloody battle of life and death
"Your bitch!"
In a fraction of a second, Aquoria closes the distance between her and Reyna and hits a cross so hard in her face that sends her flying away. The queen, who didn't even have time to react, collides on a column of stone that falls on her, raising a smoke of dust. It is impossible for a human to survive a blow like that, yet there was Reyna again, backstabbing the goddess in the throat.
"Aaagh...!"
The unpleasant feeling of a blade thrusting into her larynx makes the goddess squirm in pain and agony. The queen makes sure to push the sword all the way to the guard, in order make the goddess feel even more horrible, and successfully, as her rage only increases.
"See how you speak to me, you filthy goddess."
Annoyed, Aquoria turns around quickly, trying to hit Reyna by surprise with her elbow, but the queen dodges by rolling behind the goddess again. She removes the sword, which was still inside Aquoria's throat, and in a single movement slashes diagonally to hit Aquoria in the back, but right before she is intercepted with a kick in the stomach.
Reyna isn't thrown as far as the last time, but Aquoria could feel very well her ribs breaking and her internal organs exploding. Maybe now she was dead? The answer to Aquoria's doubt comes quickly, as the queen's body disappears in sparkles of magic.
Now, Reyna was attacking from above. Aquoria realizes her intentions and jumps back, escaping with a shallow cut on her face. The queen doesn't give up and, as soon as she lands, she charges at Caelia unleashing several attacks, which are easily evaded. Although she was still fast, Reyna was much slower and predictable when attacking directly.
When she finds an open, Aquoria lands a kick to Reyna's chin that breaks her jaw and hurls her up. But the queen was already behind the goddess again. Now in a crouching position, she slashes both of Aquoria's feets which separates from the rest of her body. Without being able to stand, Aquoria falls flat on her face.
Now that the battle was in her favor, Reyna walks slowly towards the goddess, steps on her back and points the sword at her.
"How long will it take you to regenerate your feet? I guess it will take a while. Think we can talk in the meantime?"
"Kh!"
Aquoria clenches her teeth almost to the point of grinding. Of course, she was unable to use magic, but to be humiliated by a young woman like that was unforgivable. The wrath in her heart was much greater than the pain of the wounds she gained in that battle.
Not long after that, several guards armed with rifles enter the room and find the two in that situation.
"Queen Reyna, we came to help you!"
"Stay back! I got this!"
Reyna pokes the tip of her sword into Aquoria's face, which was unable to move.
"So? Will you surrender or I'll have to cut all your limbs?"
But the goddess doesn't submit to Reyna's provocations. Instead, she smiles.
"This will never happen."
Suddenly, Aquoria's body starts to liquefy. The foot with which Reyna stepped on her sinks into the goddess body, and soon the she had been replaced by a huge puddle of water that spread across the floor of the entire room.
The queen and the guards look around terrified, wondering what was going on. When Reyna realizes that she was still in danger, it was too late.
"Quickly, run away!"
The water starts to freeze and before they can do anything, the guards' bodies crystallize from their feet until they turn completely into ice statues. Reyna becomes a statue as well, but she manages to escape just like she did in the battle before. Even so, she is in trouble now, as her soldiers' lives are in the edge.
"Damn! I let my guard down!"
Aquoria reappears behind the frozen guards, emerging from the ice in the ground. Her severed feet had been replaced by duplicates of ice.
"I didn't want to be forced to resort to such methods, honestly, it's a shame. You're too powerful for a mere human. But if there's one thing I've learned in my life it's that power isn't everything. Now, what will you do? Your soldiers' lives are in my hands. If I wanted to, I could kill them right now."
Disappointed by her own mistakes, Reyna strengthens the grip of her sword. A quick surprise attack wouldn't be enough to stop the goddess, and she couldn't just throw away lives like this. She was out of options. The most she could do was to buy some time until she thinks of some way to get out of that situation.
"Is there a reason why you're doing all this? What do you want with me?"
"Not too long ago, I've lived a disgraceful life. I was betrayed, stabbed on the back by you, humans, that forced me to fight an unreasonable and hopeless battle. Now, after all I've been through, I find that the accursed Klaus Empire is long gone. This is an opportunity that I cannot miss."
"So it's just revenge? That's simple enough. But I don't know if you noticed, goddess, I have nothing to do with your so called miserable past!"
"Maybe not. But someone have to pay for these mistakes."
"That's why you're gonna kill me? Is that your notion of righteousness?"
"The time of righteousness is over! I'll do whatever it takes to make the world return to what it was before!"
"Tch! You're just a selfish and hypocritical child! There's no way for someone like you to rule the world again! You would sink it into your own ambitions, like Klaus did before!"
"You... you will pay for this!"
Hearing Reyna comparing her to her biggest enemy and the source of all her hatred, Aquoria fills with anger. Completely blind with her rage, she forgets about her hostages and charges at Reyna again. She punches her in the stomach, following by a hook to her chin and finishes by grabbing her head and smashing it on the floor. The strength of the impact is so big that a crater opens on the ground and Reyna's head is shattered into countless pieces.
"You dare to compare me with that bastard?! I will never forgive you for that! Never!"
Needless to say, this was far from over. After everything that happened in this night, Reyna wasn't going to die from this attack, in fact, she was already waiting for Aquoria to finishes her tantrum.
"That's it? As I thought, you really are a child."
Aquoria drops the body that was already disappearing. She knew it was useless, but she couldn't control herself. This was way more stressful than she thought.
Reyna was in the place of her companions now, which weren't there anymore. She just finished of conjuring a spell that teleported them away, that's the reason she didn't counterattack immediatly. Now they should be safe, but if anyone else enters the room, she might be in trouble again. It was time to get serious.
"Playtime is over. Let's finish this!"
Reyna returns to her battle stance. Aquoria was almost done. She had spent all her energy on that magic and now she also had lost her assurance. She couldn't see herself winning anymore, the immortal queen was way too unexpected for her. As much as she hated this idea, if she wanted to accomplish something, she had to leave for now.
"You win this time. But this is not over."
Aquoria turns her back on Reyna and runs away. The queen just leaves her be, since she couldn't keep up with her speed. Now she had a mess to clean and one more goddess to worry about. Maybe it was too greedy of her to try to solve things out on her own, the reinforcements would certainly be able to neutralize Aquoria with her help. But whatever. Perhaps that was for the best, as the city was not in chaos again.
Reyna calls the maids to do the cleaning and leaves the room, hoping to finally get some rest. Now she needed another bath.
Meanwhile, Aquoria manages to escape the castle with a lot of effort. She was practically in pieces and could barely walk anymore, since her frozen feet weren't the optimal way to move. She lookes at them with rancor, like a scar of that disgraceful battle, the price to pay for being so reckless. For a wound like that to recover, she would need at least one day, and now that her plan failed, she had nowhere else to go.
"Damn!"
She tries to take her anger out by punching a tree that almost collapses, but it wasn't enough. It was never enough. Unable to bear the frustration, she falls on her knees and starts crying.
"Why? Why I can't...? Why I'm so useless?"
As she wipes away her tears, she notices someone's feet approaching. She looks up and recognizes a familiar face. It was the angel girl from before. Aquoria looks away, ashamed.
"What is it? You came to laugh at me?"
"I... was worried..."
The girl approaches.
"Are you okay?"
"I don't need your help!"
The goddess slaps the hand that the girl had reached out to help her and gets up on her own.
"What happened to your feet?"
"...nothing."
"Hey... are you really a goddess?"
"Believe what you want."
Aquoria walks away. She had enough of that conversation. It took her long enough to realize that goddesses weren't a thing anymore. There was no point in trying to prove something to the world that they didn't want to believe. The hard way was the only way.
"I believe!"
"Huh?"
Aquoria stops walking and turns back. The girl still had the same innocent eyes as before, the ones that would deceive any naive.
"My faith is the only thing I have left. That's why I believe. I have to. But for others, maybe faith is not enough."
"So what?"
"I saw what you did to that tree. Maybe this is the answer I was looking for."
The girl looks down. There was a certain discomfort in her eyes. Then, she takes a step forward.
"If you're really a goddess, then please..."
The girl unexpectedly kneels before Aquoria, who is startled by her attitude.
"Please, use me as you want."
"W-What are you doing?"
"It is my duty as your servant to help you fulfill your objective, even if it costs my life."
The girl was serious. She was the first person to treat Aquoria as a goddess.
"Very well. What is your name?"
"Sophia."
The goddess and the girl exchange looks, as if they were connected by something bigger, as if they understand each other. In an instant, the night no longer seemed full of loss and despair.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Vandso
Vandso Hey, guys! Thank you for reading my novel! We managed to get 2/3 of the first volume and now the story is getting a little bit complicated. I'm going to have to think well about what I want to do from now on, otherwise I'm screwed. That said, I may need a few more days to finish the next chapters, so I'm sorry if I delay them. Don't worry, I'm not gonna drop it! I'm just excited as you are!
Also, sorry for the late message. I hope I can answer your expectations.
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