The Fallen had often said that the worst day in their history had always been the day they were banished from the Pearl Scale Empire.
Years, decades, centuries of loyalty down the drain all over a little rebellion.
Perhaps they did some questionable things under the table to improve their own foundation, cut some deals with the enemies of the Empire, but it was all for the benefit of the Pearl Scale Emperor.
At least, that’s what they told themselves.
However, now they had a new darkest day to forever hold infamy.
The Failed Siege of Undertow.
In one day, the Fallen had gone from possibly being able to stage an uprising of massive proportion with warriors of unknowable powers, to having four of them captured, one injured and two of them now missing.
In one day, they had lost an ancient super weapon that could’ve been used to level Blessed Willow City into the deep, after it had been torn in twain by some giant armored asshole and his little girlfriend in a funny dress.
In one, spectacularly terrible day, their matriarch had been horribly injured after getting caught in the explosion caused by the aforementioned weapon’s destruction, while their home, the [Darkshell Citadel], was partially destroyed and horribly injured due to the sheer amount of dragon force and [Chaos] that hammered it in quick succession.
Strangely enough though, this damaged state was in itself a miracle.
Most vessels, living or otherwise, when sufficiently damaged and subsequently forced into sinking into the depths of the [Abyssal Lands], would end up getting torn to shreds by the [Shadow Water] and the various luminescent inhabitants that live in it.
But that didn’t happen.
Unbeknownst to the Fallen, and to Zhen Liu and company, someone had interfered during the explosion of the [Shadow Sovereign].
Not to the extent of blocking the attack so that the Fallen could immediately go back to attacking, rather,they had interfered in such a manner that the Fallen, their matriarch and the [Darkshell Citadel] were knocked out of the [Abyssal Lands] completely, using a little known array that allowed one to be teleported to anywhere in yhe world that had similar properties in the environmental aether.
As to where they ended up, well…let it be known that [Abyssal Lands] isn’t the only place on Valresta where [Shadow Water] exists.
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Umbral Spider/Radiant Feather Continent border: Twilight Sea
“Ugh…my head…”
“Hey! We got a survivor over here!”
“Who is it?”
“It’s the matriarch!”
“Move, now!”
On the shores of a white sandy beach, the matriarch of the Fallen was looking rather… defeated, and had the injuries to match.
“Oh gods above, we need a healer over here, now!”
“My skin…hurts…”
Moments ago, she was in floating near the [Shadow Sovereign] as it was in the process of being destroyed. The next thing she knew, it released an explosion of energy that knocked the wind right out of her and tore through her [Regalia] like it was a suit of paper against an acid rainstorm.
Gao Shen Yuan may have been an Aether King, which meant that her life force was significantly harder than most other aether warriors, but that also meant that any injuries she received were severe enough to outright kill most of her lesser compatriots.
And she was covered in them.
“Do we have burn ointment?”
“Nothing that can help due to the matriarch’s cultivation!”
“It doesn’t matter, give it here!”
Her once pristine body was now riddled with various bits of shrapnel, some big enough to cause hemorrhaging in others, while others deep enough to damage organs.
Her once flawless skin was now covered in deep burn marks, the kind of burns that would make most people feel nothing but pain if they did nothing but twitch a finger.
The only parts of her that wasn’t injured were her eyes by some miracle.
Unfortunately, perhaps being blind in this situation would’ve been preferable.
“I managed to recover a [Tempering Heart Pill] from the wreckage.”
“Give it here.”
With the help of her clansmen, Gao Shen Yuan was given a sixth tier aether pill meant to stabilize her blood flow and restore any broken bones and torn muscles.
The effect of the pill was immediate but slow, as she feels bits of shrapnel was pushed out of her body as new muscle cells replaced damaged and missing ones.
It wasn’t enough to get her back on her feet, but it was enough for her to lift her head up and see the aforementioned wreckage.
“Matriarch! Take it slow.”
“I can’t take it slow,” she managed to spit out. “I need to see…oh no…”
Upon the sandy white beach of some unknown land, Gao Shen Yuan saw what was left of the Fallen.
Scattered across it were various limbs, corpses and injured folk that were crying out for help or simply calling out in pain.
The Darkshell Citadel, their home and cross generational companion, was now beached as it’s impervious shell was now looking decisively shattered, and the buildings within looking broken and battered.
She could even sense that while still alive, the injuries were so severe that the citadel could die if it wasn’t treated in time.
For all intents and purposes, the Fallen had finally…fallen.
And Gao Shen Yuan had no one to blame, but herself.
…no.
That wasn’t true.
She had plenty of people to blame.
The people of Undertow were so hard headed in their diplomatic attempts that they gave the Fallen no choice to attack. If they had only agreed to at least talk, then the Fallen could’ve achieved their goal without anyone being the wiser.
The Zhen Clan had chased the Fallen down into the [Abyssal Lands] and proceeded to make a nuisance of themselves as they had done again and again in the past.
But on top of all that though, Gao Shen Yuan had one person she could blame above all else.
The Kaijin Lord.
He was there during the Fallen’s assault on the Zhen Clan’s base of power and had foiled their attempt in causing lasting damage when he, apparently, swallowed their [Ghost Flame] bomb like some kind of demon.
His kaijin were scattered all over the city of Undertow and had suppressed the Grafted warriors to the point of defeat, preventing them from being able to take over the city in one fell swoop.
He and his fucking consort had been there to prevent her and her clansmen from claiming all of the Storm Queen’s inheritance.
If that asshole hadn’t been there, then the Fallen would’ve not only inflicted a massive blow to the Zhen Clan and the Pearl Scale Empire, but they would’ve also gained significant benefits in the form of [Chaos] warriors.
But alas, it was too late to able to inflict retribution.
Or…was it?
As Gao Shen Yuan laid there, her surviving clansmen trying to help patch up her wounds, a familiar presence made it self known.
[Well, well, well. You’re looking rather worzzze for wear.]
“What the-”
“You’re alive?!”
“Why are you here now?!”
“Buzza…”
Before her eyes, a strangely more human-looking Buzza had appeared, looking and feeling significantly more…stable than how she remembered the insectile kaijin being.
Next to him, she saw Alain and Sophita, the former looking a bit more weathered while the latter appeared to be unconscious and in Alain’s arms.
“What are you-”
[Doing here?,] Buzza interjected. [Well, I was originally going to abandon you and your clan after I saw the Shadow Sovereign was in the procezzz of being destroyed, but then… Zzzomething occurred to me. It would be in my best interest to have a regular base of operations, manpower and resources to maintain my experiments. I didn’t think about it before, but then again, I was part way to breaking down completely anywayzzz.]
At these, Gao Shen Yuan couldn’t help but feel insulted.
“Are you saying you’re going to take over the Fallen? Take over its burning corpse?”
[On the contrary, I don’t think you’re at the precipice of death just yet. After all, your War Elder is showing remarkable signs of recovery. Nay, evolving.]
“What?”
BOOM!
As if the universe was answering her question, a hulking beast of a blur suddenly fell from the sky and kicked up a massive amount of dust.
Once the dust cleared though, Gao Shen Yuan couldn’t believe her eyes.
Standing before her was the War Elder, Gao Ao Long, although he looked significantly better than what she had heard.
For starters, the man had both of his arms now and radiated more power than before…with even more [Chaos] behind it.
Although, his eyes looked incredibly inhuman now.
“War Elder?”
“Matriarch Gao Shen Yuan,” Gao Ao Long said in a strangely deeper voice while bowing before his injured matriarch. “I apologize for being defeated earlier in the battle. But now, I won’t make that mistake again.”
Confused by this sudden transformation, Gao Shen Yuan redirected her focus towards Buzza.
“What did you do?”
“Remember how it appeared we couldn’t claim anything from the Storm Queen’s tomb, due to all of her treasures being locked? Well, that wasn’t entirely true,” Buzza began to explain. “We actually got something quite valuable.”
Extending his palm, Buzza produced a strange, fleshy vial filled with red liquid. A red liquid that radiated the same feeling as the Storm Queen’s tomb.
“Insight on how to further evolve not only you lot, but myself…”
But I would love to hear your thoughts on whether or not to remove the Bing-Bongs.
