The smile dropped from Tavras’s face upon Val’s first move, as if tout in disappointment at her brute-force strategy.

After taking the first few steps, she was pleased to see the wave come rushing down the slope of the serpent snapping turtle’s shell. Tavras had reacted exactly as planned.

Never, would Val be able to reach the high ground at this rate, precisely what she had figured when taking that first stride. She just wanted Tavras to toss away that first wave of water which he had drawn up to leave her an opening later.

Foofy arfed from shock, but turning heel, he had nowhere to go that did not face him with more water.

Val scooped him up in both arms and held that wrestling Dobie fast.

In the direction of the oncoming water, Val employed Mind Blast to send her careening backwards and past the lip of the turtle’s shell. Downwards, she dropped over the edge a short distance to land atop the serpent snapping turtle’s neck.

Water gushed over the shell and slapped into the back of the turtle’s head. The onslaught of water merged with the rest of the sea.

Otherwise, the shell’s slight overhang gave Val a place where she could press herself into the turtle’s cushy, wrinkled flesh and remain relatively dry.

Unfazed, the serpent snapping turtle continued to swim at its slow and steady pace.

Uncertain if Tavras manipulated its emotions or the serpent snapping turtle was that patient of a beast, Val did not care. She vaulted herself over the shell and back onto the surface of the arena. Not waiting a second for Tavras to gather a second wave, she sprinted forward as fast as she could.

Foofy did so in kind, far faster than any demigod. His jaws snapped as he barked and growled in his head-long charge. Double her speed, he had already arrived at Tavras’s feet by the time that the second unavoidable wave came crashing down.

“No,” she cried out of frustration. Val clamped her mouth shut tightly to avoid a chest full of water. Her body battered within the wave and was flung unceremoniously into the ocean.

Her body churned around for a couple of seconds while she reorientated herself to swim up. When her head breached the surface, Tavras gave away his direction even before she opened her eyes.

“Hey Val,” Tavras yelled, “Foofy and I win yet again! We have the high ground. You lose!”

Though her eyes stung from salt water, Val peeled them open to witness the closest thing to a victory that she would get.

Tavras spun around with Foofy latched onto one arm. In doing so, the dog had to bounce around on two legs to keep ahold of him. The declination of the shell made Foofy’s hind paws stand on lower ground than Tavras stood, still at its peak.

Fierce growls came from Foofy as he gave the occasional thrash and yank of his head.

“Tell him that he’s won already!” Tavras hollered.

A big huff of a sigh left Val as she treaded water. “Foofy, off.”

The good boy obeyed, leaving Tavras and Foofy together on the turtle in a tense albeit peaceful atmosphere.

She never really stood a chance at besting Tavras in either competition in which they partook, so Val did not know why such an overt annoyance had taken hold of her.

Though her training had been intense on Tavras’s Paradise, the idealistic landscape had lulled her into a sense of ease. The vacuum in which she engaged with only Tavras and later Iharu and Fang—all friendly gods—had left her marginally complacent in her training.

The knife that Arius had put at her neck served as a superb wake-up call. Val needed to get stronger, faster.

There were countless gods in this world who she would have to face. The Ravager might end up being the least problematic or the most problematic among them. It could really go either way, depending how seriously he would regard that supposed soulmate connection between them.

A shiver ran up her spine, and Val could no longer blame it on the cold water as she enjoyed warmer waters now. Even though they had left the Summit of Ascension far behind, Arius still gave her a bit of the creeps.

“I think that I need more abilities,” she mused.

“You certainly do, yes,” Tavras said. Approaching the edge of the serpent snapping turtle’s shell from behind, he sat down and kicked his dangling legs. Like that, Tavras watched her get left behind by the ever-swimming turtle.

Foofy came up alongside him and sat on his haunches. Those watchful eyes peered down at Val from way over there. Each passing second drove Val farther away from her dog.

Though they had felt like they were traveling at an easy pace when on board the turtle, Val now realized that she could not keep up. Her body ached from the effort of swimming her fastest, but the large, powerful turtle propelled itself forward with every sweep of its flippers. Likewise, the water that it used to push itself forward also carried Val backwards.

“Do you need some help over there?” Tavras asked.

“Yes, please,” though Val regretted letting those words leave her lips at once.

The water changed around her, contorting in unnatural ways by Tavras’s ability to Bend Water. When the water drifted upward like a rocket preparing for launch, enough pressure formed at Val’s feet for her to stand atop the water.

The wind blew at the length of her hair. Val basically surfed atop a wave that crested over the rear of the serpent snapping turtle. Gently, Tavras set her back down on the shell and let the water run down its back.

“Thank you. That was actually so cool!” Val spun around and jumped to express the surge of fun that she had just felt.

“You’re welcome. I know! Aren’t we having so much fun away from the Summit?”

Nodding earnestly, Val held Tavras’s smile brimming full of happiness.

“You should work on some more reliable offensive abilities along with defensive abilities,” Tavras declared. “You would have done better if you had a viable attack to use against me. Plus, you will not always be able to use the environment like you just tried doing with the turtle’s shell.”

“I’m ready,” Val said, eager to learn more. Her heart already pumped with the vigor in her ichor—pure thrill at the prospect of expanding her ability set with moves both more versatile and competent.