Chapter 1000: The Undercurrents of War(1)
*Bing-Bong*
Wow.
|Yeah.|
The big one thousand.
|Uh huh.|
Never thought I’d see the day.
|What, you thought I’d die or something?|
Nah. More like… you’d eventually lose interest? Suffer burnout. Something like that.
|Pst! If I did either of those, I wouldn’t be here 7 days a week.|
Fair, fair…so anything special planned?
|Well…I guess for the first time in a long, long while… we’re doing a long chapter.|
How long?
|Long enough that there’s a number for a reason.|
Oh boy, who are we focusing on?
|The Night Parade, the Fallen, the Zhen Clan and the Kaijin.|
Well…this is going to be interesting.
________________________________________
While Zhen Liu was with some of his cousins in preparation for an alchemical upgrade, the rest of the Zhen Clan were preparing for the expedition into the [Abyssal Lands], and were quite nervous about the whole affair. After all, it was a literal ocean of darkness filled to the brim with beasts of the unimaginable sort, and of bastards of the most unscrupulous variety. Especially given that their target wasn’t some rare treasure or a singular aether beast, rather, an entire enemy clan that had made the fatal error of messing with them.
However, they weren’t the only ones planning to make the trip at this time.
The [Abyssal Lands] were a big place with many different entrances that were incredibly separate from one another. So separate in fact that many of these parties were unaware they were about to collide in the first place.
But that’s the funny thing about following flowing water, it’s all got to pool somewhere…
________________________________________
The Night Parade goes on the march.
Several months ago, Madam Venus had suffered several losses in a single evening.
She had suffered a monetary loss when the merchandise she was supposed to sell, ran away on her.
She suffered a personnel loss when several elite warriors from the Blue Shadows suddenly came down with a bad case of a mental breakdown that shook them to their very formulas, forcing them to undergo therapy to this day.
She even suffered a personal loss when one of her precious [Masks of Stolen Fate] became broken, with the aforementioned stolen fate being freed in the process.
If any other member of the Night Parade organization had experienced such losses, their life would’ve been used as the price of repayment. Not only for failing so badly, but for damaging the organization in the process. However, that didn’t happen.
Instead, after Master Bulga, leader of the intelligence division and an Anima Wielder, had extracted Madam Venus’s memories, the whole organization suddenly shifted gears.
The leaders of the Night Parade chose to commit significantly more resources than expected or anticipated in investigating this strange boy and monsters that Madam Venus had encountered.
Why?
Because despite the fact Master Bulga wasn’t able to get a clear look of the young man’s face, he could get a clear look on the monstrous warriors and the strange looking combination of a palm tattoo and ring on the man’s left hand.
Now, that latter trait wasn’t that uncommon of a view, since there were quite a number of organizations that needed some method of determining organization status or serve as a signal. A special tattoo or a ring was enough of identifier for those in the know, but the two of them together was enough for certain scholarly elements to remember something in the old history books.
About how several, seemingly disconnected warriors throughout history had those exact same features.
[The Invulnerable Storm Queen].
[The Drunkard of the Damned].
[The Shadow Collector].
[The True Demon].
And on top of that, the leader of the leaders knew damn well what these items really meant. These items meant that the [Demon’s Archive] had awaken once more…and the chance to claim its knowledge had presented itself once again.
…
“If I had known at the time what a big deal this boy was at the time, I would’ve fought a little harder to capture him or one of his…what was the term? Kaijin?”
“Kaijin.”
“Huh…such a simple word and I keep forgetting it…is this the effect of that [Chaos] stuff?”
“Perhaps.”
At this point in time, on the isle of the Shadow Garden, Madam Venus and Master Bulga were enjoying an afternoon tea. Well, enjoying was a strong word.
The two were actually waiting for the arrival of some import information, and decided it was better to spend that time chatting with one another while doing something mildly more interesting than waiting. Which is why the two were discussing just how insane the former’s incident had evolved into.
“From losing the mask of an up and coming warrior of Umbral Spider, to leading the way in trying to find a legend many thought to be lost to the ages…I can’t tell if this is fate or luck,” Bulga mused as he stirred a sugar cube into his tea.
“Personally, I would’ve loved to have maintain my mask collection as is,” Madam Venus snorted in a manner that suggested she was personally injured from the act. “But I suppose an infinite source of knowledge is pretty good compensation.”
“Indeed.”
Shortly after making this statement, a messenger dressed in assassin’s robes appeared from out of nowhere and knelt before the awaiting leaders, before making his report.
“Madam Venus. Master Bulga. A message has arrived from the Stampeding Bison frontier. The contents confirm that the man we are seeking is living in Stone Claw City.”
“Stone Claw City,” Bulga repeated. “I never heard of the place.”
“That’s because it’s a pioneer town,” Madam Venus elaborated while sipping tea. “Nobody goes to such places unless they’re on the run.”
“Ah.”
“I assume the reason you’re here now though instead or reporting a successful capture is because of some unusual circumstances?,” Madam Venus asked.
“Apologies madam, but despite Stone Claw being a frontier settlement, it’s defenses are… unusually thorough.”
“In what way?”
“About a dozen or so different species of arachnid type aether beasts, and a strange army of warriors that display perfect coordination with one another,” the assassin explained. “Any attempts to acquire the target in a stealthy manner have ended…poorly.”
“Hmmm.”
Normally, the two leaders would’ve been upset at their subordinate’s failures and taken their anger out on this poor messenger by popping his head open like a grape. However, they chose not to do that.
Especially since the man appeared to have a very good reason for appearing before them without flinching in fear of retaliation.
“I suppose the fact that you’re here and not begging for your life means that there is a development that you believe to be a positive?”
“Indeed, Madam Venus. We have managed to not only identity who the target is, but we have also found an opportunity in which we can strike, well, two.”
“Oh really?”
“Well don’t leave us in suspense, who is he?”
“From what we have managed to find, the man in Madam Venus’s memories is known as Zhen Liu, the Fourth Young Master of the Zhen Clan of Stone Claw, and former dead trash.”
“Wait a minute, I know of the Zhen Clan,” Master Bulga commented. “They’re one of the oldest military clans in Roaring Tide, why are they in Stampeding Bison and in this Stone Claw place you mentioned?”
“Our sources indicate that the Zhen Clan of Stone Claw is an offshoot of the larger Zhen Clan you just mentioned. There is a long and complicated story behind that, which will be included in a dossier we are in the middle of preparing.”
“Good man.”
“Hang on a minute,” Madam Venus interjected. “What do you mean by ‘former dead trash’? ”
“The citizens of Stone Claw state that prior to Zhen Liu’s sudden rise in ability and status, he was once a young boy unable to cultivate aether due to not being born with any aether channels.”
“Just like the batteries,” Master Bulga noted.
“As for the ‘formlerly dead’ bit?”
“In a bid to destabilize the Zhen Clan of Stone Claw, a rival faction at the time had attempted to murder him and use his death as a catalyst. Unfortunately, that plan failed when Zhen Liu returned from the dead and revealed himself it be an aether puppet master.”
“Ah.”
To the rank-and-file, this was a weird story and that was about it.
To the upper brass however, they understood a bit more to this story.
Namely, they already figured that this formerly crippled dead man walking, was probably the beneficiary of the [Archive]…and that made him target number one.
“Well, now that we have a face and a name. We need an opportunity,” Master Bulga observed.
“You were saying?”
“Based on our current information on the Zhen Clan and their activities, we have learned that they’re going to be joining hands with the main clan in Roaring Tide to explore a place called the [Abyssal Lands]. Our analysts have determined two possible points of attack.”
“Oh?”
“We can either use the time they’re away to establish an ambush in their home base of operations.”
“A classic,” Madam Venus nodded in approval.
“Or…”
“Or what?”
“Or we can try and intercept them in the [Abyssal Lands].”
“Impossible,” Bulga dismissed. “We have no one who knows how to explore that place.”
“Actually…there’s a reason why the analysts brought up that larger option,” the assassin said in a tone of voice that sounded a little odd from what it sounded like seconds ago. “And it’s because we received a letter not too long after discovering who this Zhen Liu was.”
“Really?”
“From who?”
CREATORS’ THOUGHTS
Mizako
1000 Chapters…never thought I’d see the day.
On a side note, the reason why I am breaking this down into smaller is to keep the costs low for readers. I was gonna do a MASSIVE 3000 WORDS one, but the costs would’ve been…greater.
On that note, expect a…bonus of sorts. In the auxiliary chapters.
Hmmm…maybe a discord server?
