Why Can't I Live In a Quiet Peaceful Life?!

Episode 24: Resolve

"Luck is everything... My good luck in life was to be a really frightened person. I'm fortunate to be a coward, to have a low threshold of fear, because a hero couldn't make a good suspense film." — Alfred Hitchcock

—

Yuri, Jak, Styx, and Brian stared in shock. What was Val doing here?

"Val!" yelled Brian, heeding Jazz's words to keep her away from the dangers of gods, "Get out of here! This place is dangerous!"

"How can I just leave when Neos, Kaleb, and Jazz are unconscious?" asked Val, "I want to do my best to help!"

"Brian's right, Val," said Jak as he tried to stand up, "She's way too powerful. The three of us are already bruised. Hell, it's hard for me to even stand up."

Jak fell to the ground, failing to stand.

"Even more the reason why I should fight!" replied Val as she ran towards Yuri.

As Val ran, Yuri smiled. In less than a second, her smile disappeared.

"What's happening?" asked Yuri in dismay, "Why isn't my negation working? She should be back where she was a few seconds ago!"

Val smiled, thinking she had an advantage, but soon she was transported back to the place where she made her entrance. The negation had worked on her.

"If you're going to fight her," suggested Styx, "At least know what she can do. She has the ability of negation, allowing her to negate Jak and I's abilities. Not only that, but she can negate actions as well. Even negating her own death. However, it seemed like your negated actions are delayed because you're not a god. Be careful. She may be negating things to keep you away, but she's really good in hand to hand combat, being able to dodge both Neos and Brian's attacks."

"I'm guessing we have to hurry too," replied Val, "Jazz might not make it from what I've seen."

"Val," said Styx, "Remember to be careful. We don't know what we can do if we end up losing you. We promise to try to help as much as we can."

Val ran quicker this time, even in injury, trying to aim for Yuri's head. However, after a short delay, she was back to where she was. The good thing was that her energy was being replenished each negation. After each negation, she began running towards Yuri once again, at a faster pace. It was if she was running the Racer Test in gym.

Soon, she caught up to Yuri and threw out a punch. Yuri dodged and Val was back to where she was once again. Val took note of something however. Because she had a delay to her negation, she was shortly getting closer to Yuri after each negation. Soon, she'll be able to face Yuri one on one.

After a few more attempts, Val was finally up close to Yuri. The only thing Yuri was doing at this point was negating her attacks. Val was punched in the gut, and kicked in the ribs. She was taking lots of damage from the fight. However, since Yuri kept negating Val's attacks, she was instantly healed from the damage, since the negation also negated Yuri's attacks. This loop made Val have to take the constant pain without injury.

Although she didn't have a plan, Val was winning the fight. Just by the delay of Yuri's negation, she was able to succeed in throwing out a couple of punches before the negate. Even though most were dodged, some hit Yuri.

"That's enough!" yelled Yuri in frustration, "I'm sick of this loop! We're not even injuring each other! You're injured, and I'm not even harmed. I'll just take you down myself."

Val was immediately punched in the gut, followed by a right hook. Val stumbles a little, realizing that her injuries weren't being negated. She could take some serious damage. Yuri punched and punched, hitting Val multiple times. Soon, Yuri noticed a drastic change in the fight.

She wasn't landing her hits anymore.

"Why can't I hit you?" thought Yuri in her head, "I've mastered hand-to-hand combat! There's no wa—"

Yuri was punched in the face, followed by an uppercut. She was then hit by a barrage of Val's punches before regaining her composure.

"How are you able to hit me?" yelled Yuri, "It took multiple tries for Brian and Neos to hit me, and there were the two of them!"

Soon, Yuri was launched to the floor by a kick. Val didn't even think she could do that.

"H-how?" asked Yuri, "How were you able to defeat me?"

"Since the very beginning," explained Val, "I've been known to observe everyone. So much that I've found out all about gods and their reasons for being here. It doesn't take much for me to find out your strategies and where you'll hit me.

Honestly, I could read you like a book."

"That's what you think," thought Yuri, smiling, "I'll just mix my moves up and negate any damage coming to me. It won't take long for you to fall to the grou—"

Yuri's face was filled with despair. Val smiled in triumph.

"Your plan wasn't to figure out how I fight or take me down by yourself," whispered Yuri in fear, "It was to create a big enough distraction to sneak Brian in to mind control me!"

Brian smiled, touching the back of Yuri's neck with his fingernail. Styx and Jak flashed a thumbs up, fulfilling their promise to Val that they'd help.

"Yuri Godrasil," announced Brian, angered over the events that happened, "Die in this forest and never show your face to the world again."

Yuri, obeying the actions of Brian under her mind control, stood up and wandered through the forest. As she did so, she was consciously aware that she would be walking towards her death. Only she knew what was to happen to her.

After Yuri left, Val smiled before collapsing on the ground out of exhaustion.

"We were really lucky, huh?" asked Val as she fell asleep.