‘On the one hand, I get that this is a matter for the youth and [Chaos] infused to resolve. On the other, I can’t help but feel a little left out,’ Zhen Xun Tian mused while maintaining her seat in the air.
Seconds ago, her tattoo had acted up and worked with the severed arm of her mortal enemy to suddenly fly all the way to a spot above the head of the clashing giant monsters.
Moments after that, the aforementioned tattoo had extracted itself from her body and had promptly fucked off with a bunch of other random body bits, but not before bestowing some kind of inheritance package to both her grandnephew and future grandniece-in-law.
And now, she was sort of left hanging as the youngsters were still absorbing the inheritance, while a trio of oceanic kaijin kept watch over them.
There was also a fuckton of activity happening beneath her, but she didn’t have a clear idea on what that was all about. However, she could feel what was going on.
‘[Chaos], [Chaos], [Chaos] everywhere…now how do I use it?’
Despite losing her main method of channeling [Chaos], Zhen Xun Tian could still feel the flow of it to an extent and could even sense the gap in herself that was created when her tattoo excised itself. If only she could…wait a moment…
‘Hmmm. Welp, nothing ventured, nothing gained.’
While still in her position in the air, Zhen Xun Tian began to perform a circulation exercise she had done a thousand times in the past when she had Krakelios’s tattoo on her back. Only this time, instead of cycling energy through it and into the rest of her body, she began to absorb the surrounding [Chaos].
And it felt…weird…but empowering.
‘Interesting…I suppose there’s nothing stopping me from getting a new tattoo then, since it seems my old one is about to explode in a blaze of glory…’
…
[Alright, I think at this point you have gotten everything down. You should now be able to perform the Leviathan’s Dance. Albeit, not as powerful as when I did it, but that might be due to limitations involving equipment…be sure to grab my trident from my tomb when this is over,] Miavora instructed her daughter after stowing away her weapon.
[Isn’t that disrespectful?]
[I’m dead, you’re my daughter, how is it disrespectful?]
[I don’t know how to argue against that…]
[And you, Inheritor and son-in-law, have you figured out how to adapt the technique to your physique?]
[Let’s go with…maybe. We’re going to have a live fire test.]
[As the universe intended. Now, off you both go. I don’t know if Tortallion can keep the opening long enough for you two to take it down.]
…
GORRAAA!
Fully empowered, incredibly pissed and with a literal representation of his friends backing him up carved into his back, Tortallion managed to push through the last bit of dragon force to get in striking distance of the [Shadow Sovereign].
If it was alive, it would’ve been shocked and might’ve attempted to perform some form of countermeasure to prevent the incoming blow to its face.
But alas, the [Shadow Sovereign] was a mindless machine.
Meaning it was completely and utterly helpless as Tortallion managed to pull back a massive arm and clench a fist that was glowing with power.
GORA!
POW!
With a roar, Tortallion delivered an uppercut that slammed the [Shadow Sovereign]’s jaw shut and abruptly ended the beam of destruction.
BOOM!
Not only that, but the blow was so sudden and brutal that it caused the [Shadow Sovereign]’s mouth to explode as the beam had nowhere else to go.
Coils of black smoke began to pour out of the skull of the [Shadow Sovereign] as several internal mechanisms had definitely been destroyed by the sudden explosion. However, this attack may have been for naught.
Soon after this explosion took place, dragon force began to surge all around the [Shadow Sovereign]’s body, repairing the damage that had occurred at breakneck speed.
If Tortallion didn’t act fast, the [Shadow Sovereign] would begin attacking again and this would’ve been all for nothing.
GORA!
Tortallion lacked the offensive power to take down this mechanical bastard.
He knew it, people who were friends with him knew it and the assholes who unleashed the [Shadow Sovereign] on him and his beloved city definitely knew that.
However, he could sense that there was a huge amount of [Chaos] building up above his head and that it was strong enough to finish a job that was started over hundreds of years ago.
All they needed was an opening, and by thunder, he was going to make one.
Using the momentum of his punch, Tortallion proceeded to tackle the [Shadow Sovereign] in order to stun it a little longer and get into position.
Once he was close enough, Tortallion proceeded to grapple the [Shadow Sovereign] and pry its mouth open as wide as possible. At the same time, he began to course electricity throughout his body in order to deal continuous amounts of damage to the [Shadow Sovereign] and prevent it’s repair functions from working properly.
Now all that was left to do was to hope those kids above his head actually delivered.
NOW!
…Meanwhile, literally at the exact same time as the above…
“You ready?”
“As I’ll ever be.”
“Perfect.”
At this point in time, Zhen Liu and Jin Fang had managed to finish absorbing the rest of the Storm Knights’ inheritance and were now preparing themselves mentally and physically to perform the techniques that came with it.
Well, Jin Fang was preparing to perform the technique she had inherited.
Zhen Liu was forced to jury rig it and needed a little extra assistance.
Kaijin Assistance.
‘Wavebreaker, you’re in my head. Shellvalier, you’re taking up [Stigma] duty and Slug-at-Arms, you’re gonna be my [Taboo]. Ready?’
[As you wish, Captain!]
‘Good, now fall in!’
At Zhen Liu’s command, Wavebreaker first turned into a ball of light that merged with Zhen Liu’s body. As she did, new aether channel and ways to leverage [Chaos] became carved into Zhen Liu’s body. This was the first time he merged with an Aquarii based kaijin so the process felt a bit odd to him. It was like the exact opposite feeling he got off of Blazejudicator and Nepherage when they merged with his body.
[My turn!]
Next, Shellvalier transformed into a suit of armor that made Zhen Liu appear a bit like a mix between a samurai and a deep sea shrimp.
With this [Stigma], Zhen Liu felt his ability to resist water based attacks and deep ocean pressure had skyrocketed by several magnitudes. Which was going to helpful for his next trick.
And last but not least, Slug-at-arms transformed into a surprisingly elaborate looking trident.
‘Huh…I wonder if it’s a bad sign for this to be my first time actually using this ability in a fight…I have got to stop holding back so much.’
This weapon form of Slug-at-arms was referred to as a [Taboo], which is a term Logos and Pathos came up with in order to represent how different kaijin made abilities were from the normal aether stuff.
Supposedly, this would enable Zhen Liu in the future to employ both a [Taboo] and his own [Astra], but for now, he just needed the trident to take down the big motherfucker beneath his feet.
“Huh…ya know, I can’t help but feel underprepared now,” Jin Fang commented as she simply commanded Coral to take on the form of a trident as well. “Do you think I can borrow some kaijin later for that too?”
“You’re actually the right amount of prepared, I’m just an overly paranoid motherfucker.”
“Fair enough.”
Now that the two young warriors were ready, they proceeded to take positions opposite of each other and took on similar looking stances with their tridents in hand.
As they did, the [Chaos] and aether around them began to churn. As if a pair of ancient sea monsters were starting to stir from their eternal slumbers.
However, there was distinctive difference between the two warriors and beasts.
The aura encapsulating Jin Fang emulated a beast that seemed to live at the edge of reality, of a beast that was destined to devour all things at the end of days, all while enviously staring at those who bathed in the light.
As for Zhen Liu, the aura encapsulating him had this wild, primal quality to it. As if the creature he was emulating was something that was born before life itself was even a concept, a primordial lifeform from which all things came forth.
“And…go!”
And once the two of them were properly saturated in energy, Jin Fang and Zhen Liu proceeded to perform the steps necessary to fire off their techniques.
Evidently, these steps were fairly similar to that of a dance that emulated the giant beasts that were slowly forming behind the two of them.
