When Tavras had walked behind her and began playing with her hair, Val's heart had fluttered away with an unrivaled thrill. His fingers pulled her hair away from her neck, making that skin more exposed underneath. To make matters worse, Tavras leaned in close and whispered to her.

Any other person doing this to her, and she would have jerked away and asked what they were doing with quite a lot of hostility. In the case of Tavras though, she allowed him to get away with this much. A part of her enjoyed the attention, at least until she felt a tug against her hair and a weight removed from her shoulders.

“Ah!” Her hand ripped up to her head, tearing her hair away from Tavras’s hand. Rather than feeling her long hair, some short strands gathered in her fist. “My hair!” Behind her, the length of her hair had scattered across the ground.

At her cry, Foofy came running with savage growls rumbling in his throat. Given how far away that he had wandered off, he had a long way to run in her defense. This gave Val a few seconds to react for herself.

She ground her teeth together with all fury. Here, she had thought that Tavras had been joking about making her pretend to be a boy. Unless he had the ability to make her hair magically grow back, this did not seem like just a crude prank anymore. Never had she imagined that the Sea Itself would be such a shallow, misogynistic jerk, not even to mention the fact that he had just cut off all of her hair!

Under a different set of circumstances, Val would have no other choice but to swallow her pride and take this insult from one of the most powerful gods in the world. Given the way that Tavras deliberately tried to get a rise out of her, likely to test the theory behind this new ability, she made no attempt to restrain herself whatsoever. If he wanted her angry, well, she was angry all right. Val would let him have it.

Her mind focused entirely on Divine Judgement and tried to come up with a fitting punishment for Tavras’s trespass. For starters, he deserved a solid wallop over the head without a doubt.

All of this, Val had processed in the split second that she had turned to see her hair fallen across the ground. Immediately, she flung her fist up into Tavras’s face.

Backed by an unnatural force, his neck snapped back at her punch, even reeling his entire body backward. Golden blood came from his face, either nose or lip—maybe both.

That same blood lingered on Val’s fist, smeared across her knuckles. Did she really just punch the Sea Itself hard enough to make him bleed?

The thin trail of blood dripped from Tavras’s face. He grinned much too wildly at her, unsettling by the way that he was bleeding. “That was not much more than a regular punch!” he jeered. “If that was the most power that you can create with your divine blood, then I don’t know if you are even worth your life.”

“What?” Val practically jumped out of her shoes from fright. Please let Tavras just be fooling around with her, or else she might just die right here.

She could probably generate a lot more strength, but frankly, she did not want to go too far in the name of avenging her hair. Her intention behind Divine Judgement: she did indeed want the punishment to fit the crime. No matter how much power that she would let loose, she doubted that she could do enough to survive against Tavras if he actually felt so inclined as to kill her.

Please let this just be a game, Val prayed.

Foofy came flying in from the side and lunged at Tavras with open jaws. His teeth dug into his arm and he tried to tear his head either which way.

Tavras stood there with his arm in Foofy's mouth, unmoving like a statue. Against the strength of a god, Foofy hardly managed to make his arm so much as shake.

Those Dobie teeth would have to leave a nasty bite mark at the very least. His thrashing head could only make his teeth drive deeper into Tavras’s flesh from the initial bite.

Water condensed from the air, all around Tavras. These strands of water swung through the air to strike at Foofy like whips.

With some yelping sounds and some reinforced growls, Foofy stayed clamped onto Tavras’s arm.

This water continued to swirl around them both, battering Foofy from all sides. A particularly explosive burst of water rocketed into Foofy’s ribs. From that, he was flung into the air with his paws curled into himself. His body sailed as far away as he had originally started, now collapsed into a muddy puddle. He did not get up to his feet, but his body managed to writhe around and roll onto his side.

“Foofy!” Val shouted out of concern for the mortal doggy, but really, she needed to worry about herself right now.

The endless stream of water continued to swirl around Tavras, entwining closer together until it nearly concealed him within a sphere. Through these rushing waters, he lost his appearance as a human. Instead, he looked like a jagged shadow beneath the raging surface of the watery shell.

That water seemed to very much form an impenetrable shield around him. How could Val get to Tavras through that? While she stood in a readied stance, freaking out more so than anything else, a loud crash of waves sounded from behind.

Her already racing heart elevated ten-fold.

That racket had come from the ocean. If Tavras could pull this much water around him from the moisture out of thin air, then what could he do with all of the water in the sea?

She almost did not want to look behind her, but she had to.

Again, water rushed forth with an unnatural movement through the air. This time, the water turned into a column that shot out of the ocean’s surf. Spiraling around like a twister, this column of water pummeled straight for her. It would be intimidating enough as is, but the surge became even more terrifying as it took the form of a sea serpent. Complete with jagged edges for fins and pointed teeth coming from its gaping maw, the water roared as it came for her.

This watery recreation of a sea serpent looked as alive and terrifying as the real thing. Even the sunlight seemed to reflect off of the water within the darker gaps that formed its eyes, boring into her. The light gave life to those eyes, alongside the gleam of a thousand shimmering scales of pure water.

She needed to act fast to save herself. The only option that sprung to her mind: she had to try to use Divine Judgement again.

Character Update

* New information is marked in cyan.

* All entries are based on what Val knows.

Tavras Title: The Sea Itself Rank: God, Fifth Seat Attributes: Water Abilities Name Class Description Aquatic Rejuvenation medical - heals injuries with water Aspect of the Depths combat - recreate a watery mirage of an aquatic animal Bend Water combat, practical

- move water at will

- can pull water from humidity in the air

Marine Ally combat, practical - controls aquatic animals Read Blood cognitive - sense a person's heritage Unknown n/a - probably has a lot more abilities