Vacation at this Resort Town:

During the third night of the travel to the beach resort town Maximus was sitting by the fire trying to keep himself awake. It was his turn to take the shift of looking out for any troubles and ensuring the horses were accounted for. After making his rounds, he stopped to check on Aqua. He saw she was still sleeping peacefully. He remembered how she had a displeased opinion on him leaving her side during the cold nights thus far, but knew she had to put up with it. Maximus circled back to the fire and waited for the end of his shift to arrive.

Before he could settle down on the seat next to the fire, he heard in the distance the rattling sound of a creature approaching. The horses sensed the danger drawing near and became restless. Their cries echoed in the air around the makeshift camp.

Maximus used his magic to prepare himself for what could be in the brush some distance in front of him. "What is this creature or creatures that approaches us in the dead of night." He wondered to himself.

The next moment he heard the moaning sound that would echo from a human's mouth. He studied what sounds were able to hear further. The heavy and dumb stumbling sounds of footsteps that walked poorly, as though it were from someone who were an undead being. He soon began to hear the growling of such beings draw closer. The next moment several of them fell out of the bush and he could see the humanoid shape they had.

"By Heaven's name, it's a pack of Undead." He said to himself. He snapped his fingers and a dozen fireballs formed overhead.

He pointed his fingers forward and motioned his hand as though he shot a gun at each one of the Undead. The moment his hand moved a single fireball darted towards the closest enemy. The fires quickly consumed them and soon he noticed several dozens more were appearing out of the forest.

"How could there be so many of them in one spot. Did we travel near an ancient battlefield?" He wondered to himself.

He raised his left hand above him and soon a larger ball of blue fire and lightning formed. The blue light illuminated the area and he beheld a greater number of them than before.

"It is as though there is no end to them." He said out loud.

The next moment several of the adventurers who were assigned to guard the caravan saw the commotion after barely waking up from the sounds of the fireballs clashing against the corpses.

"Heaven's Blaze!" Maximus shouted.

Before anyone could say anything, Maximus' attack erupted in the air and expanded out. Within the same moment streams of the twirling fires descended down from the large blue fire disk. The lightning zapped through the Undead bodies, stunning them as the fires consumed their corpses.

After it was over Maximus went to check on Aqua and noticed she was huddled up in the corner of the carriage they rode in. Before he could inquire about her, she started to point behind him with a look of fear behind him. He turned around in time to see an Undead Giant which brushed him away. The force sent him flying across the ways and upon a tree. He coughed a little of his saliva and quickly prepared himself to launch back at his enemy.

"Filthy Undead, you would dare sneak up on a Goddess and hurt her lover. I will teach you not to mess with me and him! Sacred Turn Undead!" She shouted with anger.

The next moment a massive circle was shined upon the entire ground and soon all of the Undead Maximus had not gotten to were instantly vaporized. The souls of the Undead ascended into the sky and everyone cheered for the two of them. She appeared outside and stood next to Maximus.

"Here's a Nature's Beauty to celebrate the quickly victory." She said laughing while taking several poses with her last one pointing at Maximus and immediately a small flowerpot formed on his head with a flower blossoming.

"If our battle with Leech and his Undead Troops has taught me anything it is, her Goddess aura can attract the Undead to her. We are going to have to be careful from here on out until we arrive at our destination. I will also have to employ a barrier around the camp and see about having her bless it to vaporize any Undead that touches it." He said to himself.

Everyone returned to bed and Maximus was relieved from his shift a couple hours later. The next day at noon they arrived at the resort town and the two waved goodbye to those in the caravan. As they were making their way through town, they noticed a lot of the people were wearing their swim attire. The ladies were clad in nothing but bikinis, clothing Maximus had never seen before on his world. The men wore their swimming trunks and several of the people were giving them funny looks and whispered amongst themselves about how they were standing the intense heat in the southern region.

"Well hello there, I'm the Headman of this village, it is a pleasure to welcome you two to our resort town. I take it the two of you were flying south before winter arrived and if that is so, why are you not going to change into something more refreshing? Are the two of you not how in those robes of yours?" He inquired.

"Yes, we were wondering where to get some comfortable clothes before enjoying all your town has to offer." Maximus said.

He quickly studied his mind for a bit and noticed no reward posters had been put up in this town.

"Well, our best swim attire would be this store right over there." The Headman said pointing behind him. "They even have a special discount going on right now. I do hope the two of you enjoy your stay here." He finished as he continued to walk the town.

Maximus and Aqua were feeling the heat beat on them even more under the robes. The next moment he placed his hand on her shoulder and nodded. She nodded back and their robes instantly disappeared.

"I do not know how you can stand it under those, if I were made of ice, I would have been a puddle of water already." She exhaled and began to feel relieved.

"There is no sense of them knowing we are wanted for crimes the posters back in Axel had written upon them. I believe we can stay here with no troubles at all." He said and they entered the shop.

Aqua's eyes lit up seeing the many different swim attire to choose from. She began to gleefully dance around the shop as though she were a kid in a candy shop not sure where to begin.

"I wonder if Maximus will like this one?" She whispered to herself trying a specific piece and began to cycle through some of them.

After choosing one she liked the most, she met with Maximus to pay for their new clothing. He soon realized he had only a little money and quickly made some in order to pay.

"I know it is not something I should do, but this is a delicate situation." He said to himself.

He reached into his pocket once more to use his magic to create some Eris Coins to hand to the owner. They made their way to the nearby Inn and luckily a room was available for them. When they walked through the door, they noticed it was a honeymoon suite and not a regular room. The two turned to each other and laughed a bit. She dashed for the bathroom to change with a large smile.

After a little bit she opened the door and revealed her new outfit. Aqua's skirtini had a small mini skirt which barely covered the bottom of her cheeks and white bow ribbons on the side. Her top was a string top, small in size, barely covering half her breast with a large white bow ribbon at the center which connected the front together. The strings wrapped around her shoulders and back.

"Maximus," She called out to him after stepping out of the bathroom of their suite. "Do you like the new outfit I acquired."

Despite seeing her all before, he could not help but admire the new look as he was only used to seeing her in the usual outfit and pajamas. His jaw had dropped a little from her beauty as the skirtini seemed to help accent her figure a lot more.

"I knew he would like this; the silence is everything, especially with that look in his eyes." She said to herself with a smile forming.

Maximus took his turn to change after staring at her for several moments. When he exited into the bedroom, she saw his strong muscular physique once more. She took several moments to admire the chiseled look upon each muscle.

"His body is perfection, every muscle of his is well developed. Gentle when relaxed for someone to lay their head upon, like a pillow, and hard as stone during intense moments to defeat his foes. Even if he is mostly human, a Nephilim's essence and form are ever present with him. Their genes are more than likely not to miss a generation at all." She stopped for a moment to look down at herself and placed her hand on her belly. "I want to bear his child someday as to further both of our lines. I know there is a risk of reviving that terrible race once more, the Scourge of the Cosmos. Do I even want to be responsible for that? Do I want to be remembered as the Mother of the New Nephilim who spread throughout the Cosmos once more to claim it for themselves? A child from me and him would be a Nephilim Deity, that baby would potentially be the strongest being in existence." She stopped her thought and looked away for a moment.

"Aqua, what is the matter?" He inquired seeing her face move from an admiring smile to a horror filled expression. He sat next to her and wrapped his left arm around her.

"It's nothing, just a silly thought, no need to worry." She cheerfully smiled instantly and looked outside at the sun ridden sky. "Hey, why don't we go walk about and see what this place has to offer. We are on a sort of vacation after all, even if it took an evil man to scare us off." She giggled nervously and grabbed his hand with hers. "Come on, let's go!"

He chuckled a little and began to follow her lead. At the same time, he could not help but wonder what she was thinking about that made her go from being happy to be feeling scared or terrified about something.

They began to explore the resort town, from eating at several seafood bars to window shopping. She noticed other swimwear she wanted to get but was not able to because money was tight. She begged him to use his creation magic to create Eris Gold Coins. He decided to give in since they were enjoying themselves and took a couple of them when no one was looking, placed his hand on the ground to summon the elements needed.

They continued on their day exploring and laying upon the beach and found a perfect spot where some of the rock formation formed a natural pool. She looked at him with delight and before she could say anything, he used his magic to smooth out the edge around the top and side of the rocks to make it easier to rest against. A ring formed around it as well with steps encircling within to the center. He also formed a pathway on the rocks to the sands to make the walk to it easier than suffering from the sharp edges. He also warmed up the water to make a hot pool where the two relaxed.

"It's amazing the type of magic you learned on your homeworld." She said relaxing on his shoulder. "I could stay here all day in this little pool of ours. Here all day every day for the rest of time. This would be perfect, no?" She looked up at him with an excited smile on her face.

Maximus looked around and had a thought brew in his mind about what she said.

"You know, I could as well. In fact, I am almost half tempted to stay here. I can go with the idea of retiring out here. Of course, I will need to move the castle once I find a good enough spot to set it down on. What do you think?" He looked down, inquiring.

"But should we not go after the Demon King and Lord Alderp first?" She asked feeling a little concerned about the two would be enemies.

"I feel as though the Demon King is nothing more than a pacifist individual. The entire time I have been here he has not even once sent a foe to fight me specifically. Verdia's reasons for showing up may have been because of me, however, he did not seek me out when he supposedly arrived. If he was sent after me, why not challenge me from the start. He only sought after my life because I was protecting a comrade and as the leader, it was my duty to take some responsibility. But after the fight with Leech, he never once returned to avenge their deaths. He had more reasons than Lord Alderp to seek after me, yet never done so. Why do you think that is?" He paused for a moment as Aqua began to think for a moment turning away.

"You do have a point, but why did Lord Alderp make a move against you now?" She inquired, looking back at him.

"There lies a mystery which beckons to be solved. I could say the obvious reason, or one of them, is he wants to be in a position of higher power. In fact, in more ways than not, that is usually the main reason." He said thinking about several motives.

"But why go after an adventurer, it's not like they would be a real threat to him." She said feeling a little annoyed by the idea.

"You would actually be surprised for why men like him in power would have reason to fear an adventurer or hero types. That is because they would be the most likely to overthrow him or force him into submission. By the way, our meeting with Maxwell went I would say it is on the lines of wanting to get back at me for putting a dent into his income. That is to say he was getting a handsome sum of money from Axel, which was why the cost of everything was so high." He explained.

"You said we would head back when he makes an appearance, what if he never does show up within Axel?" She asked, anticipating the most likely outcome.

"Well, we can either do two things. One, we return to Axel after a few days and settle everything down ourselves. Or we,"

"We stay here and just live out our lives, settle down, and raise a family!" She said with a cheerful smile and sparkles in her eyes.

"Well, that is one way to put it." He said feeling a little nervous as he scratched the back of his head and chuckled.

She laughed along with him and they looked back into each other's eyes once more. She leaned up to kiss him again and both embraced each other. A few moments passed and Maximus noticed the water had lost the salty feel and she noticed he was looking down.

"Uh, Aqua, how come the sea water looks so pure?" He inquired feeling confused.

"Oh, right, I can purify anything that is water based with my aura. Did I do something wrong with the pool you made?" She responded feeling as though he would be disappointed with her.

"No, I just find it odd and if that be the case, how come you were able to get drunk off of wine and ale? Both are water based, so how were you hammered after downing either drink?" He inquired to know about her a little more.

"I can basically control when it happens, at least to the point where I end up losing control over myself, then it goes off by my mood I guess." She replied.

"Interesting either way, well, no need to dwell on that too much as I was only curious. Why don't we get something to eat, I believe we can leave this pool long enough for that, no?" He inquired.

She nodded her head and they went into town.

Nearly a week passed and the two were at one of the restaurants, the two were sitting at a small table sitting across each other. The evening sky was beginning to show its purplish-blue color over its entirety. She was enjoying another story about one of his adventures from when he started his original journey. Her laughter filled the air as she found it hard to contain herself.

"This is too much; I cannot believe that guy was going to try to fight you right after you employed a magical trick. What a stupid idiot!" She laughed so hard her abs were aching in pain as she tried to hug them to provide some relief.

"You should have seen the look on his face when he picked himself up from the ground. He had this dumbfounded look as though there was someone else who was a bigger fish in the sea metaphorically speaking. He was so dazed and confused, he was not sure where he was at that moment." He said and began to laugh along with her.

After a few moments of recollecting themselves he happened to look up and noticed someone he did not want to run into.

"Oh no, don't look now, but it appears Kyouya is here as well." Maximus said feeling annoyed they were in the same place once again. His mood was becoming sour and she noticed right away. His mind was reviewing what had transpired the last time they had crossed paths.

"Wait, he is here?" She said turning around and saw Kyouya without his armor. She had barely recognized him and quickly turned around.

Kyouya saw the two and Maximus had a displeased look.

"I told you not to turn around." He said feeling annoyed.

"I am sorry, I did not mean to." She said squinting her eyes shut hoping Kyouya did not notice her.

"There you are!" Kyouya's voice shouted with anger and disdain as he noticed the two across the ways.

The two of them flinched sensing the intense feelings within the sound of his voice.

"I have been looking to challenge you to a duel Maximus! In fact, I swore I would if by some chance I see you again!" He said as he began to stroll across the open restaurant towards them. His feet stomping against the floor loudly.

"Oh great, now look what you have done. Now I have to deal with him and that is sure to cause a commotion." Maximus said feeling his annoyance grow as the situation was turning in a sour direction.

"I cannot forgive you for how you are treating Lady Aqua!" Kyouya shouted clenching his fists.

"I Still cannot believe this mongrel thinks I am mistreating her; this is so annoying. But it looks as though a fight is going to happen no matter what. Kyouya's reason to fight is obvious and dumb, but it appears he is not under the same influence as Kazuma or Wiz was. If I can recruit him to aid me against Alderp, it would make things a lot easier. But my mood for that has changed over the last week with no sign of Alderp showing himself. Why did Kyouya had to show up of all places?" Maximus said to himself and prepared for the inevitable bout with Kyouya.

He stood up from his chair and sighed a little before squaring up with Kyouya. The two were standing still for a few moments, waiting for who will make the first move. Everyone around could sense the intense staring between the two, along with the seriousness of their demeaners. Several people were beginning to move away unsure of what would transpire. Aqua was not able to move she could sense the tension between the two. Both of their annoyances towards one another could rival the hatred between enemies. The moment before their fight could begin, the Headman of the resort stepped in between the two.

"Hold on fellas, if you are going to have a fight, I am requesting you leave the town's boundaries. If you had not noticed, you are disturbing the peace." The Headman said.

The two kept their gaze upon each other with fierce intent. Aqua stepped to Maximus' side and took hold of his hand to get his attention. He looked down and noticed her scared expression. He sighed a bit and turned back to Kyouya.

"Since it seems you do not intend on giving up your silly attempt to 'Win Aqua's Affection' nonsense, might I suggest we engage in a different type of duel." Maximus said coming up with a thought and pointed out to an island in the distance. "How's about we swim to that island and back tomorrow. A test of endurance if you will, for that island is a good enough distance for the two of us to challenge ourselves. Whoever makes it back from shoreline to shoreline wins. However, this will not result in any way the right to have Aqua in either party as she has already made her decision on who she wishes to be with. So, let us wager something else instead. If I win, you will no longer ask me to duel for her. If by some chance you win, I will allow you to duel me again but only for dueling purposes only. You are to reframe from requesting to duel for Aqua, is that clear?" Maximus finished.

"But that is not fair, how is that in any way a win for me when in fact it is a lose-lose situation? I don't get to win anything at all!" Kyouya protested the conditions.

"As I said before, she is with me and has no interest in being with you. Besides, I cannot help but notice you have two companions right behind you. Or are they not good enough for your affection or are they just hopeless idiots following you around like a couple of desperate fools or lost puppies who are only following you around because you are some big shot with a sword. Surely there is more to you than that?" Maximus said pointing at the two young women behind Kyouya.

"No, I wish to duel for Aqua and nothing else!" He snapped back without Maximus' words about his companions registering in his mind.

"I guess that answers that, they are nothing to you?" Maximus inquired and noticed he was still not answering. "Very well then, I accept your challenge, and look forward to your defeat." He said.

Maximus turned around and left some money on the table the two were sitting at. He nodded for her to come along and acknowledge it. She had become angry that Kyouya had ruined their night out on the town.

"Mi lady, can I,"

"God Blow!" She shouted with anger raging into her fist and Kyouya fell to the ground unconscious. "That is what you get for interfering with me and my one and only again. We had a fun filled time until you showed up with your stupid attitude. Thanks for spoiling the mood for the rest of the night!" She shouted.

She stormed off with Maximus as they headed for their room at the Inn. Once there they both laid on the bed wrapped in each other's arms. The two of them trying to find their way back to their joyful mood the evening was pointing to.

"I cannot believe the nerve of that guy, walking up to me as if I would actually care about his efforts. He makes me shiver with the way he stares at me, what a jerk!" She pouted looking off to the side at the night's sky. "You better not lose tomorrow." She ordered him.

"Do you think I am just going to hand you over even if I were to somehow lose a race against him. I would rather die a thousand of the most painful deaths imaginable than to turn you over to someone like him, or anyone for that matter. But I promise you, here and now, I will not lose to him. Besides, he doesn't have the advantage I have on him anyway." He said calmly.

"You have me on your side who genially loves you." She quickly said.

He placed his right hand on her cheek and stared into her eyes.

"You got that right and no one is taking you away from me without my say so." He paused for a moment and chuckled. "I wonder if this is some accident or design that lead our paths to meet, you and I that is. Either way, talk about literally living the Star-Crossed Lovers story." He finished his thought.

"Fate or not, I am glad we did meet." She said resting her head on his chest. "You better get some rest for the swimming race." She said and quickly gave him a short kiss goodnight.

"You need not worry about that for you will stay by my side no matter what or who interferes with that." He said to himself wrapping his arm around her and kissed her forehead for a few seconds before turning in for the night.