Chapter 1099: [Timing] is key
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Hovering above the waters of the [Abyssal Lands] a low-key yet dangerous battle was playing out between Cornileus, a warrior who was capable of wielding time aether, and Buzza, a rogue kaijin that should’ve gone haywire and died centuries ago.
It was low-key in the sense that both sides employed simple blasts of their respective energy.
[Chronos Bolt!]
[Parasite Blast!]
But incredibly dangerous due to the effects of what would happen if one side gets impacted by the other.
Cornileus’s time aether was capable of causing rapid aging or de-aging effects on a selective part of a target. While this doesn’t sound dangerous on a surface level analysis, the actual effects can be quite devastating.
Against normal aether warriors, having one’s limbs or their heads rapidly age pass their normal lifespan would be fatal nine times out of ten. Alternatively, having parts of one’s body suddenly becomes youthful again sound nice, but that also means the loss of precious experience.
Years and years worth of training, tempering and improvement, down the drain in an instant as the aformentioned body parts can no longer handle the strain of aether circulation.
And against someone like Buzza, this type of aether is even more dangerous.
[You seem very insistent on aiming for my head. Trying to end this quickly?]
[I was gonna ask the same thing!]
On the flip side, [Chaos] was already dangerous by default, but the way Buzza was using it was even moreso.
[Seems to me that you’re trying rather hard to hit me with one of those “parasites”. Trying to turn me into a pseudo-kaijin like those Grafted assholes you experimented on?]
[In a way, yes and no. I’m actually using an older version. One that led to an interesting fellow who fell down a hole of spiders.]
Decades ago, Buzza learned how to turn mortals into abominations by using a refined version of his blood.
He used this method to turn an ambitious scion into a monster that haunted people’s nightmares. But alas, the fool met his end at the end of some country bumpkin that learned to burn bright.
After that though, Buzza refined the technique further and further, optimizing it until he learned the grafting method that created the likes of Gao Ao Long, Alain and the soon-to-be Gao Shen Yuan.
That stated, he also learned to turn part of his flesh and blood into a special parasite that worked even faster than his blood, but caused the target to feel as if the process took hours to days.
In essence, if Cornileus managed to nail Buzza, he’d be able to accelerate the breakdown process that all lordless kaijin suffered.
Buzza had been living a long time on borrowed time, and it was time to pay the piper.
On the flip side, if Buzza managed to hit Cornileus with a parasite, then he would turn into am abomination of [Time], an unprecedented creation and possibly Buzza’s slave…in the best case scenario.
In the worst case, Cornileus would simply go mad and tear himself apart with his own power.
A pity, but that was the price of progress.
This was a battle that was no less deadly than an old west quick draw, but the deaths caused were far less swift.
On top of that, both Cornileus and Buzza were veteran warriors that had lived through countless battles over countless decades.
It would take a miracle or a drastic change in circumstances to give either side an edge.
Or perhaps…it would just take a simple reminder of the past.
[You know, time drifter… I’ve alwayzzzz…admired you,] Buzza suddenly said after yet another failed exchange of blows.
[What?]
[I mean, it muzzzzt be difficult living zzo many livezz, zeeing zo many zightz and living with…so many memories.]
As Buzza said those last few words, in a tone of voice that sounded significantly more seductive, Cornileus’s blood ran cold. Because he heard this voice a long time ago, and knew what Buzza was trying to do.
[You…]
However, just because his head knew what was going on, didn’t mean his heart would listen.
[I mean, it must be hard, having all of those secrets in your mind, having to live with centuries upon centuries of mistakes to your name,] Buzza continued to say in a voice that sounded more and more like paramour for hire. [Wouldn’t it be nice to share with someone?]
Crack!
At that last sentence, something in Cornileus had snapped.
Because several lifetimes ago, it was that exact sentence, that exact voice that had brought Undertow to its knees.
And the [Shadow Sovereign] to its doorstep.
[You bastard, you bitch, you lying PARASITE! I’ll reduce you to dust!,] Cornileus roared as his aether took on the form of a sandstorm before condesing into an hourglass.
Once fully formed, Cornileus waved his hand and unleashed a terrible sandstorm that swirled towards Buzza like a spear.
[Sandstorm of Time!]
Most people would cower before such a terrible sight…but Buzza was surprisingly pleased.
‘Excellent! I wazzz hoping he’d do that…now I just need to wait…’
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[Shrimp Blaster!]
Bam!
[Scavenger’s Art: Claw Crusher!]
Crack! Crack!
[Wavebreaker!]
BOOM!
[By the deep! This bitch isn’t letting up in the slightest!,] Slug-at-arms griped.
[Just keep your wits about you! Duck!]
[Whoa!]
Despite not being able to participate in glorious battle, the Neo Storm Knights were given the equally important task of making sure the [Storm Queen’s Galleon] didn’t get sunk by the Darkshell Citadel’s turrets.
They had originally attempted to cut down the actual turrets on the shell’s surface, but that proved to be significantly harder than anticipated due to the [Chaos] coursing through the aforementioned defenses.
Everytime they tried to swing down and strike at the turrets, crystals would automatically form and block the blow.
As such, the Storm Knights opted to simply play interception against the attacks in order to free up the ship’s occupants.
This planned mostly work, but there was a just one problem.
The galleon had yet to fire off anymore shots ever since the Storm Knights took over.
And unfortunately, they knew exactly the reason why.
[Have they figured out how to get the cannon working yet or not?]
[Let me check…]
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[Shiiiit! That big lizard thing is starting to get a lot hotter…,] Hurricroak nervously noticed, which was completely out of character for the froggy kaijin.
Not too long ago, she and her fellow kaijin were absolutely rocking the hell out of the [Shadow Sovereign] thanks to the speciality cannon that could turn them into highly dangerous projectiles.
Unfortunately, they had to stop due to their ship almost getting perforated full of holes from pressurized jets of [Chaos] infused water.
Working together, they managed to repel most of the attacks and prevent their ship from getting sunk, all the way up to when the payloads suddenly changed to crystals and their new Kaijin brothers-in-arms came in to act their defense.
Unfortunately, this was when a tragic twist of fate happened.
Right when the Neo Storm Knights took over defense, a lucky crystal shard the size of a watermelon managed to bypass not only them but the kaijin on the ship as well.
The crystal, miraculously, didn’t hit the hull or the mast of the ship. Instead, it had impacted the cannon directly.
As such, for the past five minutes or so, Nepherage, Frosttusk and Springerdermain were attempting to play repairman with the cannon…by themselves.
They would normally be following the instructions of Logos and Pathos, but were unable to do so in this situation due to all of the [Chaos] and Dragon Force in the surrounding area disturbing everything.
At this point in time though, the dragon force was getting particularly thick.
[How much longer are we on the repairs?,] Hurricroak asked as she ducked her head down to the gun deck to check on the others.
It appeared they were almost done, but looks could be deceiving.
Especially with the amount of tension radiating off of Nepherage.
[Well, physically, everything is back to where it was, but…]
[But what?]
[But this.]
Prompted by the question, Frosttusk opened a panel on the cannon and revealed an array that was carved into the bottom part of it. Upon closer inspection, it appeared to be connected to an array pattern in the cannon’s barrel.
[We figured out that that crystal shard had fucked up the internal wiring of the cannon. We can fix it but it’s gonna take time to locate the flaw and restore it.]
[Okay, that’s bad but fixable…how much time?]
[Twenty seconds.]
[Okay, that’s fast! How much time we got until big bad and ugly fire off it’s attack?]
[Not enough.]
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[Papa, please! You don’t have to-]
[But I must, my darling daughter. I must. Not only to keep you all safe…but to make up for the sins I have committed. Good-bye.]
