this

Gou’s landing was deafeningly loud, ludicrously attention drawing, and amazingly destructive—and we both intended to take advantage of it. I reappeared directly behind Gilgamesh, drawing power into my hands and lashing out mercilessly at his back. In my left hand, I forged Longinus, the space-rending spear’s tip aimed for Gilgamesh’s head, while in my right, I gathered orbs of light, cycling them in preparation of the inevitable.

And at the last moment, Gilgamesh moved. His body blurred as he turned on a dim, bone-sword coming up to cleave at my neck like the reaper’s scythe. I didn’t flinch, staring down the blade even as I felt my heartbeat quicken—and continued with my own attack. I flung Longinus towards his left eye from as close as I could manage, silently daring him to abort his attack or take the blow. At the last possible second, he twitched once, angling his face away from the blow and letting it instead cut a clean line across his cheek, sending up sparks as it carved through the material.

At the same time, his attack struck my neck, breaking the surface of my skin and swiping clean through, casually removing my head from my shoulders. Not only that, but the force of the blow was so great and its passage through my body so disruptive, that the stumps on both sides bent and ruptured, giving me a feeling of exploding grotesquely. I felt myself come apart as I was nearly blown apart by the strike—

And then I came back together. It wasn’t just the usual nature of the Gamer’s Body, either—no, I felt myself flow back into place, like water refilling a vessel.

Exactly like that, in fact.

Varuna (Active) LV1 EXP: 0.00%
An ancient technique named after its user, one of the Apauruseya of Vytal. The man that became known as Varuna was born was born to the raging might of the sea, in a land of endless storms and waves. As its waters flooded the lands of Remnant, Varuna heard a song within the sea and answered it with his own, calming its rage and taking it within himself. Though lost to the receding grip of the ocean, Varuna soon returned, reborn from the power he used to hold back the seas. In time, he joined the ranks of the legendary god-kings of Vytal, having internalized the part of himself that he had sacrificed to the sea in order to reach for new heights of power.
Water Affinity rises to Max.
The user of this skill is immune to Water Elemental attacks and has increased resistance to physical attacks.
Active MP-based skills that do not naturally share an affinity with an Element way be given the Water Element at no additional cost.
Only those with a Water Elemental may use this skill.
A Water Elemental may not be manifested while this skill is active.
Only one Elemental may be merged with in this fashion at a given time.

Even as I came back together, my now liquid form piecing itself back together from a storm of droplets, I continued to reach out with my right hand, grasping Gilgamesh’s face and firing unleashing the full might of Lux Aeterna. The blast plunged the world into darkness, drawing in all signs of light and devouring everything in its path. The torrent of light swept over Gilgamesh from point blank range, searing through the world at the speed of light—too quick to dodge from here even if his speed matched or surpassed my own. When the light returned the world, a scar of destruction glowed incandescently across the battered landscape, a glowing brand of power.

Gilgamesh grabbed my wrist and brought his sword around again, cutting through me from head to toe with force enough to make the rest of me explode into a rain of droplets. It hurt—not so much the injure, but the simple need to piece myself back together in its wake—but it had its own advantages and I had ways to compensate.

Coming back together, I Shed half a dozen skins, trailing a small river of water behind me all the while—a feat I’d once accomplished with Dust Eater, now performed with a simple combination of Bai Hu’s ultimate skill and Varuna. I circled him once completely before running into and then over him, taking his next hit full on and then slipping through the streams I’d made as easily as air.

Then, without even looking, I snapped my fingers and froze the whole thing with a flash of Deposition, freezing both the water and the Grimm within it. Rotating on my heel, I flung a hand out towards it and shattered it, crushing the misshapen sphere of ice to powder.

There was a slight cracking noise as Gilgamesh lifted an arm in defense, the last of the ice cracking above his armor. Despite the series of hits, he hardly seemed injured, looking more annoyed than anything—and I was sure.