Chapter 211: No pushover
‘Besides, I have no desire to participate in a fight where there is such an impulsive X-factor,’ Telana justified to herself as her mind wandered to the thought of a particular puppet boy.
Funny thing about this justification though, despite how rock solid it was and how much it made sense to her logically, there was still a twinge of…regret.
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[Minn Jarl said to intervene if the Corrada matriarch decided to join in the fight too to even the odds. But now she’s just bailing…now when should I intervene? Should I just follow her?]
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Harold looked aghast that his co-conspirator had just straight up ditched the battlefield, so much so that he was essentially stunned silent. Granted, so was Zhen Shi, Jacob and Orgo, but not to the same extent as Harold was, which was why Zhen Shi was able to keep focus and the tension high.
“Oi! If you’re done trying to get people to join your inane sect idea, I would like to try and kick your teeth in now.”
“You, kick my teeth in?,” Harold retorted in disbelief once he snapped back into focus as well, “all I would have to do is summon my Armanent and-”
“Yeah, you could. But what would that say about you, you old mutt? That you needed to go all out from the beginning to just take on a single ‘inferior’ opponent?,” Zhen Shi bluffed. In all honesty, he was also the type who would probably go all out at the very beginning of a fight just to end it sooner…whole story behind that…but he also knew that Harold was the proud type who loved to prove his superiority, even if it meant fighting with one arm tied behind his back. Luckily for him, dumbass took the bait.
“Are you trying to goad me to fight only at your level?,” Harold observed.
“Maybe, but maybe you also don’t want to fight me on my level because you’d know I’ll beat you otherwise.”
“…I won’t need my Armanent to rip your smart jaw, you fucking piss drinker. So have at thee…[Armor On]!”
‘Heh. Works everytime,’ Zhen Shi mused. [Armor On!]
[Armor On!]
[Armor On!]
The three Grandmasters and one Lord proceeded to all explode in a burst of light as the aether around them began to condense into the personalized armor for the each of them.
Needless to say, this caused an absurd amount of aether to surge around them.
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“Oh fucking shit! Things are getting serious, the Zhen Clan and the Wolfe Family are busting out the armors!”
“Let’s do what the Corradas did and get the hell outta here!”
“Fuck that! I’m using this opportunity to earn some points with the Wolfes!”
“Funny you say that…”
The moment everyone in the ballroom sensed the sudden explosion of aether from the meeting room next door, a flurry of activity went off like dominoes.
Some people took this opportunity to get the hell out of dodge, others as an excuse to attack other, while others were actually trying to help their respective allies.
Over the years, the Wolfe and Zhen Clan both made allies of the other, smaller factions of Stone Claw City, and now it was all coming to a head.
“Shit! Master Leech is getting suppressed by that fucking puppet! How the hell is that thing so strong?! Without him, we’re outnumbered in terms of Masters!,” A warrior of the Wolfe Family called out, confirming that the weirdo that had just tried to assassinate Zhen Liu in front of the Zhen Clan, was related to the Wolfe Family.
“The Wolfe Patriarch just said that if we kill that puppet kid, his puppets will drop dead. Once we do that, we can overwhelm the rest. So let’s get them!”
“Yeah!”
A group of warriors aligned with the Wolfe Family, led by a pair of Masters from the Wolfe Family, rushed in the Zhen’s Clan direction in an attempt to kill Zhen Liu.
Zhen Liu entered a fighting stance and prepared himself mentally to meet these assholes head on, but was essentially blue balled when his family members interfered.
“Hands off my boy!,” Zhen Yan exclaimed as he slammed a major Corporeal art into the abdomen of one of the charge Masters. The second was blocked by Zhen Yue’s Third Uncle, Zhen Lao.
“Detestable brutes! Learn some battle etiquette!”
As for the Acolytes that were mixed in, they were stopped by some of the Zhen Clan allies and soldiers that were came along for guard duty. Unfortunately, one of the Acolytes managed to slip through all of them and close in on Zhen Liu.
“Last I checked, you were still a little Acolyte!,” the attacker shouted as he began to circulate aether into his legs, “you may have defeated Moka with a cheap shot from your puppet, but you don’t have one nearby this time.”
At this point, the attacker’s leg was fully glowing with aether infusion.
“I’ll kick your head off!”
The assailant’s leg sped up as the art he was charging up fired off in a burst of power and light and slammed into Zhen Liu’s head. A disgusting cracking sound could be heard as the leg made contact with Zhen Liu’s head.
“GAAAAH, MY LEG!”
(Un)fortunately, that cracking sound came from the attacker’s leg breaking against Zhen Liu’d surprisingly tough head. Other people had attempted to attack Zhen Liu in the time frame that the first assailant opened up with his kick, but they had stopped cold when they saw his leg bend fucking backwards, and not at that joint.
‘Well, that was nostalgic,’ Zhen Liu thought to himself as he moved his head side to side to stretch out the muscles and get the ringing out of his ears. Once that was done he grabbed his attacker by the scruff of his shirt.
“And you’ve earned yourself a time out in the ground,” Zhen Liu said nonchalantly to the now thoroughly confused assailant with the broken leg.
“Time out?! The fuck are you-!”
“ORA!”
But before the attacker could muster up a single question or response to Zhen Liu’d weird statement, the latter swung the former over his head like he was a sack of potatoes and slammed the man through the ground like he was a stake in a vegetable garden. The rest of the would-be attackers stood there with their mouths agape at the scene.
Feats of superhuman strength and toughness wasn’t that weird in the world of Valresta, but being able to do so without using any aether was a very different matter.
“Did…did anyone feel any aether coming off him when he did that?”
“Nope…”
“So he just…used brute force?”
“Yup.”
“And…he didn’t use any aether to defend himself at all? The man just…shattered his leg against him.”
“Correct…”
“Okay then…”
The would-be attackers were now significantly more heistant than before. They were under the impression that Zhen Liu was essentially useless without the aid of his aether puppets, hence why they were confident they could take him now since his puppets were occupied elsewhere. Evidently, the young master of the Zhen Clan was no pushover.
“Lord in heaven, if the puppeteer is this much of headache, exactly how strong are his puppets?”
If only they knew the truth on that…
