A Zodiac's End

With Astrid's intervention, the battle hastened. Sure, she wasn't able to restore everyone's divine energy, but with a refreshed mind and rested body, the battle began marching forward once more. 

Under the onslaught of the Primordial Deities, the scorpion fought back as hard as it could. It leapt into the air, from side to side with unreal speed. Yet, given its gargantuan size spanning a small neighborhood, it couldn't avoid many attacks. 

Beyond movement though, its attacks were brutal. Every time its pincers snapped together, sonic booms would rattle everyone's eardrums. Solomon, getting caught between a set of pincers that had been materialized behind him, had sacrificed a huge chunk of his divine energy to keep his legs attached to his upper torso. Even then, they were hanging on by a thread, so he had to make an emergency trip back to Astrid. 

Then came the scorpion's mist, corroding the area around the scorpion—the mist was also reinforced with divine energy, making Rainier's storm unable to wash it away. Out of all its attacks, this was one Sylvia kept under control. 

"It's not too bad," Astrid murmured while standing next to Sylvia. Every once and a while she'd have to heal someone, but the situation seemed under control. 

Valencia, Solomon, and Rainier took the frontlines. Solomon's spear was reminiscent of mythological cannons that could tear through the fabric of spacetime—even if it actually couldn't. Rainier kept an unending onslaught of lightning going while sending waves of ice forward. These two weren't doing any damage, but they worked to support Valencia as she glowed a fiery purple while twisting and twirling through the air to chain fifty-hit combos onto the scorpion. 

Of the scorpion's various attacks though, its most dangerous wasn't its mist release or its pincer grasp, it was its stinger sting—as dumb of a name that was. Rainier, in particular, became intimately familiar with this attack. After summoning a wall of hair-thin, near-unbreakable ice needles, he waved to send them forward before getting decimated by the huge stinger punching a hole straight through his chest. 

Unable to even respond as his eyes bulged, he fell backwards, spiraling down towards the ocean below. Joanna, to rescue him, wrapped what was left of Rainier in chains before yanking him back towards Astrid and the others. 

"You got complacent, Rainier," Sylvia murmured as Astrid went to work healing him. "We had bets on who'd be the first to get punctured." 

"Who won then?" Rainier groaned while clenching his fist to mitigate the pain. "And, yes, its because all of us have been fighting a little more loosely since Astrid came. We're just a little unfocused, it's not like we're gaining much from the change in style, at least not yet." 

"You all should really focus back up then, Astrid isn't an unlimited pool of energy. On another note, though, I won," Joanna smiled before motioning towards Astrid and Sylvia. "You can pay later." 

"Sounds good," Astrid answered while keeping her eyes bolted onto Rainier. Concentrating on her magic, she hovered her hands over Rainier as they glowed with healing energy. "You're lucky the stinger is so big that it couldn't en... envenomate? It couldn't inject venom into you. It impaled through too quickly."

"Yeah but I have a huge hole through my torso." Rainier retorted before letting out a sigh of relaxation. Feeling his body begin to repair itself, Rainier fell quiet and let Astrid concentrate on her work. 

"Alright, you're good to go," Astrid pat Rainier as she closed the hole. Watching him fly off as if a demon was chasing him, Astrid straightened up before stretching and floating back next to Sylvia and Joanna. "You all are so much easier to heal than a normal person. I can just take advantage of your natural regeneration and boost it. No wonder it was always so easy to heal Valencia..." 

"What did you think made it easy?" Sylvia knitted her eyebrows together, "Love?" 

Looking down at her feet, Astrid coughed from embarrassment. "... Yeah, that is what I thought... I just didn't think about it too much, which seems to be a running trend in my life..." 

Covering her mouth to hide the laughs slipping through her lips, Sylvia gave Astrid a couple pats on the back before refocusing on the battle. Sylvia spread her arms and dispelled the wave of mist beginning to seep its way out of the scorpion. 

A moment later, a field of algae bloomed in the ocean. Beyond helping to absorb the residual mist she missed, it also solidified enough to provide a fighting surface on which Valencia, Solomon, and Rainier could use. As always, they could just fly, but having the option of fighting on foot allowed them to keep the scorpion pinned back with the threat of more attack variations. 

It was this type of fast-paced ability-base countering back and forth that defined the rest of the battle. It was a pounding to say the least. The scorpion's agility wore down, its limbs were torn, and its shell was chipped away chunk by chunk. 

---

A couple of fervent hours later, the scorpion came to a stop, the last of its eyes closed, and its limbs went limp. Crashing down into the water below, the scorpion's tail sent waves in every direction as its body began floating in the water. 

Like a small island, it sat there in the water unmoving as Valencia, Solomon, and Rainier came to a slow stop. 

It was... a little anticlimactic. 

"We're... done, aren't we?" Joanna murmured as her body began reverting to the aged form once more. "I don't need to use the agility this form provides for doding attacks anymore." 

With the three frontline combatants floating back over to the three supporters, they all gave each other some quiet high fives before looking back at the scorpion below. 

There wasn't much to see though, its jet-black carapace was chipped and cracked. It was covered in its own blood, and its previous majesty was gone. 

As Rainier's storm dissipated, the six of them fell silent as the sun began poking through the clouds. Standing in a loose line, they caught their breath as the wind blew through their hair. 

Enjoying the sun and the wind, the six stood in silence as the world around them disappeared. The city of Marcen's Cliffs faded from their awareness. The crowd's cheering fell on deafened ears and, for a moment, the world seemed serene. 

Relief. 

As her adrenaline faded away, Astrid's emotions came surging forth as the whole situation began registering in her mind. She'd revealed herself to the city, she came out to confront a huge monster, and she'd been an important part of its defeat. 

Her hands shook as the reality of blood, disgusting guts, and ruined battlefield settled in her vision. Without the lens of adrenaline, everything felt a lot more... dark. 

At the same time, like never before, she felt a sense of camaraderie. It fulfilled her to fight for a purpose larger than herself—all with a group of friends. As her eyes glistened, she couldn't help but feel a sense of hope well up within her. "Please, please let me remember this moment..."

Having whispered just loud enough for Valencia to hear her, Astrid couldn't help but laugh as Valencia wrapped her arm around her and teased, "You want to remember my glorious fighting form?" 

"No, just the hammer," Astrid retorted between laughs while pointing to the long hammer wedged in a piece of ice. "That thing is massive." 

With conversation beginning to break out, Astrid motioned back towards the outer ring. "Should we head back though?" 

Replying with a "Sure," Valencia called her hammer back to herself before giving her other hand to Astrid. Flying back to Marcen's Cliffs, the six of them passed the crowd without acknowledging their existence or answering their questions before disappearing into the Library of Truth headquarters. 

"Yes, yes, tell me later," Solomon waved off the assistants as they came rushing forward with reports, updates, and questions. "Which meeting rooms are currently empty? One next to the bathroom if possible? We want to rest a bit." 

Weaving through the labyrinthine halls, the group settled in a comfortable room as assistants provided everyone with fresh sets of clothing and pointed them to the nearby bathroom. 

It was... over. Truly over. They could relax. They could... forget about the whole situation and go back to what they were doing. Sylvia, in particular, sent a text to Estelle letting them know where they were before taking out her divine artifact. 

With her blood sizzling as it hit the ground, Sylvia grabbed a napkin before waving over Astrid. "Could you help me out, my dear?" 

"Of course," Astrid grabbed Sylvia's hand before her own hands began glowing golden. "I'm glad I can help you alleviate some residual pain."