Blessed by Night

Chapter 165  What is Malachi?

Even if a roach were to run directly at Malachi in the middle of a filled concert venue, he would still be able to notice it and react accordingly. His senses were just that well developed after becoming his mother's avatar. And since Anna regularly ingested his essence and acclimated it into her body, her senses were almost as sharp as his. So then why hadn't either of them noticed the sea creature coming until it was almost too late?

Malachi pulled in Anna by the waist and together the two avoided a well timed bite that was aimed at them by one of the creature's three heads. Finally, Mal seemed to notice just what was wrong with this creature and the reason why he didn't notice it, but it was pretty hard to believe. And even if that was the case for him, it didn't explain why Anna couldn't sense it. "Hey babe... did you notice anything weird about that thing's attack just now?" He asked. Anna put her hand to her chin as she thought about it for a few seconds and came up with the same crazy and nonsensical answer as Malachi. "Now that you mentioned it... it seems really slow. And I thought that we didn't notice it because we were too busy kissing, but... truth be told it's aura just doesn't feel that imposing." she admitted. Malachi nodded in amazement, confused by how Anna had managed to reach the same conclusion as him. If he was honest, this thing didn't feel that much more impressive than anythingthing else they had just fought. But why?

He was always strong, but he had never been so strong that he could practically ignore the arrival of a boss level monster before. Even if this thing was around B rank, it still should have set off more than a few alarm bells. And another strange detail was that his girlfriend remained equally oblivious.

Anna and the girls were tough too, but they were still new to their blessings and weren't quite as powerful as him yet. But... what if they were closer to him than he thought?

He wanted to be sure. "Anna.. do you think you could beat that thing on your own?" Malachi asked suspiciously. The young woman in his arms looked at the creature for around a solid five seconds before nodding. "Yea, I think I can, I'm just worried about that venom though."

"I can give you a hand with that if you like."

With a simple mental command, shadows solidified and rushed toward the open mouth of the three headed Leviathan. They encased it's venomous fangs like oversized mouth guards, preventing the beast from spreading its poison anywhere. Malachi thought that he had done good, but Anna gave him a playful nudge in the ribs and shook her head wryly. "Babe... you don't have to tee things up for me all the time. You've already done so much for me, now you just have to let me succeed or fail on my own, or else.. why do I even have these powers in the first place?" She asked.

Not giving him a moment to say anything, Anna shook herself free of his grasp and did a freewill through the air. "Let me show you that I can make you proud, okay? Keep your eyes on my ass!"

As she left him with a teasing remark, she finally unfurled her vengeful red wings and flew at the giant sea monster without showing the slightest traces of fear. 'That girl... Her ass does look good in those jeans though.' Mal thought as he freed the creature's teeth. Shaking his head free of degenerative thoughts, he landed on the roof beside Nadine, Joanne, and Celeste. Leaning against the railing, he did exactly as he was asked and kept his eyes firmly planted on his girlfriend's behind. "Can you not stare at my daughter's rear so openly while I am right beside you?" Joanne asked in annoyance. "Sorry, director. I already have my orders."

"Shameless brat."

"I prefer a man in love." "I don't give a damn what you'd prefer."

Nadine suddenly joined in on the banter, jumping on top of Malachi's back like she was a little kid. "Damn, I hope the day comes where you look at my butt like that." Nadine said with a pout, not at all hiding her jealousy. "Hope in one hand and shit in the other then let's see which one fills up faster." Malachi said without looking back. "Jerk!" n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

Nadine started squeezing Malachi's neck with her monstrous strength, but since he didn't need air or feel real pain anymore, it did not bother him in the slightest. In the corner, Celeste watched the three of them with something of a happy smile on her face. The man in front of her now was drastically different from that somewhat timid and insecure young guy she met several months ago. And the way he specifically looked at that one young woman with the tattoos and piercings... she could tell that he loved her very much. 'Melanie, did he look at you like that too in the past?' She wondered. -

Anna flew at the rampaging hydra who was in the process of destroying a building. When it felt her coming, it turned it's heads around and opened it's three mouths wide. Jets of venom squirted from the glans within it's large front fangs, and six consecutive blasts traveled right towards Anna. 'Babe's watching, gotta do some cool shit!' she thought excitedly. Using the last bit of her stored kinetic energy, Anna created a glowing red shield in the air that was just large enough to protect her body. Ignoring the strong jet of poison that was threatening to push her back, Anna closed the distance between herself and the hydra before she finally dispelled the shield. Now that she was right in front of the beast's snout, she cocked her fist back and punched it as hard as she could. BOOOOMMM!!

Despite the alarming size difference between the two, Anna felt the familiar crack of bone as the beast's middle head was thrown back by the sheer force of her blow. The other two heads dove to crush her between them while their leader recovered, but the young woman on red wings simply flew above their reach, causing them to miss wildly. Anna thought she had perfectly avoided any follow up attack, but she missed the moment where the creature's thick tail came flying out of the water and struck against her body hard. She was immediately sent catapulting backwards into the air, temporarily making her lose her balance. "ANNA!"

Righting herself in the air, Annalise could see her mother looking like she was about to jump over the railing and help her, but Malachi was holding onto her by the back of her jacket to prevent any interference. Their eyes met in midair and she heard his voice in her head not long after. 'That didn't hurt you, right?'

'Course not, babe. You know I'm tougher than that.' She said with a twinge of vanity. Malachi smiled at her proudly and gestured for her to continue. 'Remember, give as good as you get.'

'Of course!'

That last attack had left Anna with a fair amount of kinetic energy at her disposal. Even though it didn't actually hurt, the fact was that she had just taken a strike from a tail the size of a building. Something like that was bound to give her plenty of power to play with. Anna's entire body started to glow like a red lightbulb. The serpent had finally recovered from it's earlier assault, and it looked to be pretty upset that one of the heads that Anna had punched with all her might was now crooked and had a pretty bad nosebleed. It let out a horrible roar that should have deafened anyone within the nearby radius, and it began to rush at Anna like she was it's most hated enemy. Coincidentally, Anna also flew like a bullet towards the multi-headed serpent. But she would not aim for it's heads as she had last time, instead she had a different target in mind. Focusing on the chest where the three head were conjoined, Anna focused her power into her arm and clenched her fist until it seemed likely that she was going to break it. "Ha!"

BOOOOOOOMMMMMM!!!

Throwing out a fist, Anna expelled all of her stored up kinetic energy into her punch, causing a massive shockwave to ripple outward from the point of collision. The hydra did not even have a moment to process how it died as its entire chest was completely obliterated, sending chunks of blood, scales, and flesh everywhere. Anna hovered in the air, slightly out of breath and holding the arm she'd used for the last attack. She'd never released that much energy at once before, and now it seemed like she was paying for it. The bones in her left arm felt like they'd been broken, and not in their usual quick healing kind of way. She felt a gust of wind blow past her, and soon her boyfriend was scooping her out of the air, returning her to her rightful place in his arms. "You did great... Is your arm okay?" he asked, clearly trying to hide his worry. Anna smiled at him harmlessly and immediately put his mind at ease. "Yea, that's what I get for trying to shown off in front of you and my mom anyway. I just didn't want you guys to think you always had to protect me."

"Well you definitely showed us, but we're still going to look out for you. You're all either of us have."

Anna wouldn't admit just how happy those words made her to hear, but Mal knew the truth anyway. But on another note, he was really surprised by just how easily she had dispatched the creature. Her initial aptitude assessment said she was around an A rank and yet she was taking down B-Rank gate bosses on her own.

Things like that don't just happen to those who aren't blessed by primordials, no matter how talented they might be. He wondered just what might be separating her and the girls from the rest of the pack but... he had a feeling he might know. He couldn't wait for the next time his mother decided to descend onto this world, as he had a great many things to ask her.