Chapter 1071: Bad guys can grow too
{Inheritance protocol at thirty-five percent. Design drafts for Chambers one through three have been finalized…}
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[No…it didn’t end that pleasantly, did it?,] Tortallion mumbled to himself as a dream of peace played through his mind like a memory. [It was more like…,]
Once he realized that his memories should’ve been more violent, he remembered the actual first time he met Terra…and how it was also the last time he saw any of his friends again…
[After that moment, trouble came and…wait…what is this nostalgic feeling? No…why does this feeling feel wrong?]
…
[Chaos Art: Storm Surge!]
Channeling her inhuman heritage and the [Chaos] flowing through her veins, Terra’s entire body began to glow as arcs of electricity spontaneously formed up and down her entire being.
[That’s not good,] Gao Ao Long concluded as he felt the [Chaos] surging from Terra’s body. [I better.]
[TOO SLOW!]
KRACK
[Bitch!]
In the moments it took Gao Ao Long to realize he needed to attack before it was too late, Terra had already finished charging up her own and had rushed towards him, teeth first.
By the time Gao Ao Long had realized what had just occurred, a chunk of his kaijin arm was missing.
Mildly shocked at the occurrence, he turned his attention towards the woman who had just done the deed…and watched with shock as Terra spat out the piece of flesh she just bit off of him.
[You taste like thirty years of sweat, stolen flesh and death,] Terra commented in regards to the flesh she just bit off. [I’m not a big fan of this taste in the slightest, but I’m still going to rip you apart piece by piece. Storm Surge!]
Despite no longer having the element of surprise, Terra was still as fast if not faster than lighting. This meant that Gao Ao Long was having an incredibly hard time trying to land a hit, despite her always coming in close enough to counter attack.
Granted, he wasn’t exactly trying his hardest to counter at this moment.
‘How did that little girl managed to do something like that? She clearly has kaijin blood inside of her, but it’s not like me or any of the other Grafted…’
Instead, the War Elder of the Fallen began to become introspective.
One of the most defining traits that separated elite Aether Warriors from their peers was the ability to learn and grow.
This sounded simple on paper, but the older mortals got and the longer they live, the less likely they are willing to learn and try new things.
Many an Aether Warrior who haven’t advanced in stages but advanced in years, will often settle their roots and try to establish means for their descendants to reach heights that they were never able to.
Of course, sometimes the opposite occurs where an elder saps away the potential of youths for their own ambition, but such societies tended to end in an inglorious collapse.
For a long time, Gao Ao Long had assumed he had reached the limit of his abilities and was starting to entertaining the idea that he would no longer be able to cultivate. However, that mindset changed once he received the arm of the kaijin, Grand Blue.
Realizing that there was a whole new avenue of power out that was the secret behind some of the greatest warriors through Valresta’s collective history was the kind of thing that reinvigorated his spirit for cultivation.
Especially since his new arm augmented his existing abilities to be even stronger than before.
However, there was one drawback on this new journey of his:lack of guidance.
Buzza had simply given him the arm and told him to go and learn what he could do by himself. Additionally, while Gao Ao Long was aware that there were a handful of Grafted warriors like himself,they were scattered across the world. As such, every trick and ability he used with regards to his grafted arm was something he painstakingly developed over time.
But now, lo and behold, he was fighting a woman who had kaijin ancestry and was clearly better at leveraging these innate abilities better than how he was making use of his looted ones.
And if he was already considered a thief anyways…why not do a little more plagiarism?
‘It was only for a brief moment, but I think it went a little something like this…’
In the midst of this barrage of attacks from Terra and her kaijin form, Gao Ao Long did his best to not only defend himself but to try and mimic the flow of [Chaos] that she had performed moments earlier.
As he did, he felt something about his existence…change.
‘[I see…so that’s how it works…let’s try it out for myself…]’
…
[Shit! I need to end my recovery phase, now!]
…
[It’s over!]
At this point in time, Terra had managed to do a dozen or so attack runs with little to no interference, taking out chunks of Gao Ao Long’s flesh with every pass.
As such, she was confident that she could end this battle now with a decisive strike.
[Chaos Art: Electric Tooth Twister!]
With a click of her teeth, Terra summoned forth a massive eel shaped construct that overlapped her position in the air. Row after row of massive teeth could be seen in the construct’s mouth, arcs of electricity jumping between each tooth.
Propelling herself with a mix of [Chaos] and aether, Terra shot herself forward like a bullet. Her goal was to essentially blend her way through Gao Ao Long’s torso, turning his internals into a meaty paste.
At least, that was the plan.
Before her teeth could sink into Gao Ao Long’s flesh, a huge amount of [Chaos] began to pour out of his body in a manner very reminiscent to what Terra did moments ago.
In fact, as if to mock her for the parallel behavior, the sudden surge of [Chaos] coming from Gao Ao Long had knocked her away and put an abrupt end to her attack!
As she was being knocked away, Terra couldn’t help but to stare at Gao Ao Long’s transformation…and become overwhelmed with a mix of disgust, horror and rage.
[You-you profane bastard! How dare you!]
[So this is the power of a Kaijin…how intoxicating.]
Before her very eyes, Gao Ao Long’s form began to double in size as the texture of his [Regalia] began to resemble that of his grafted arm. His facial features became wider and larger, carrying the facisimile of a blue whale. In other words, he began to look like bastardized depictions of the kaijin known as Grand Blue.
However, his arms still appeared to be lopsided, as if to make it obvious to the universe and himself that he wasn’t Grand Blue. Merely, a plagiarized copy.
But even a copy can be devastating in its own right.
Settling into his new form, Gao Ao Long decided that he was done playing and decided to finally use a bit more power than what was necessary for this battle.
[I wonder how this new form interacts with my abilities. Avatar, manifest].
With a flex of his oversized hand, a massive surge of [Chaos] and aether began to coalesce around Gao Ao Long and form into a solid whale-like monster.
[Oh. You’re much stronger than I remember.]
Whenever a traditional aether warriors summoned their [Avatar], they were essentially massive extensions of their aether. They could perform the same moves and maneuvers as their source, but at a much larger scale.
However, this was something else entirely.
Thanks to the power of [Chaos], Gao Ao Long’s [Avatar] didn’t just take one a new form that was highly reminiscent of the long passed Grand Blue, but it had become significantly more solid looking.
If a traditional [Avatar] was like a solid hologram, Gao Ao Long’s current [Avatar] was like an animatronic.
Real enough to move and act, unreal enough to be just the tiny bit unsettling.
Especially combined with the strangely rudimentary intelligence that it had developed because of the injection of [Chaos].
[Your…or…ders?]
[Oh you’re alive now? Interesting…for now, kill her!]
[As…you…com…mand…]
Under Gao Ao Long’s direction, his [Avatar] began to condense a ball of water before it’s mouth until it was the size of a boulder. Once it was ready, he launched the ball at Terra at blistering speeds.
A feeling of death began to rapidly creep up Terra’s neck as the water boulder was mere feet away from her head.
[Stay away from my daughter, Oceanic Aegis!]
[Father.]
Thankfully, at the last possible moment, a giant shield made of water and in the shape of a turtle shell manifested right in front of her, deflecting the water boulder away from Terra and the city as a whole.
[Oh, you’re back. How annoying.]
Needless to say, the source of this shield was a very pissed off looking Tortallion.
[How dare you make a mockery of Grand Blue like this?! I’m going to tear you apart.]
As these words lefy Tortallion’s mouth, the [Chaos] in the area became even more disturbed…and Tortallion’s form became a bit more… unsettling.
