Chapter 321: Fire when ready!
“FUUUuuccckinGgGG DeGeeeneeeRrratess!,” Grub cursed as the kaijin and zako kept attacking him…despite it not doing anything, “Illlll CooooOOnnnNsSUMmMeeeE yooooouuuUUUU AllLLLLLlL!”
The zako were bit too…non-minded to actually respond in anyway other than mindless aggression, hence why they didn’t react in anyway other than continually firing off harassment shots while holding down his tentacles, but the kaijin on the other hand were a touch more complex and could understand the very real possibility of this guy counterattacking despite the onslaught…and eating one of them.
[Uhhh, milord? You done doing whatever it is you’re doing back there?,] Nepherage asked in-between blasts of magma.
[We’re kinda running out of steam here, maestro,] Hurricroak added between alternating blasts of weaponized thunder and lightning.
[I didn’t hear a bell.]
[Except for Frosttusk, I think he’s getting more amped by the second actually.]
[That explains the cold feet.]
‘Give me a minute, I almost got it…’
One of the unexpected perks of telepathy: people can talk to you without having to see you look like a mad monkey chewing on a bottle.
Completely unrelated…not.
“Come on, come on, just open up already you stupid-”
=Milord, there appears to be a latch button on the side.=
‘…Oh.’
*Click.*
*Pop!*
The exact moment the little glass dome in the gourd opened up, the whole thing began to light up and blast some rock n roll esque build-up music, followed by a surprisingly powerful sounding voice.
~Godoku Cannon! Ready!~
Zhen Liu stared at the chaos tool with disbelief, as did the kaijin via side-eye, and Zhen Liu could swear that he felt Logos and Pathos doing the same thing.
[Maestro…what the fuck is that?]
‘Pathos…’
[Should we be worried about the music?]
‘I…shut up and get inside the gourd.’
[How are we supposed to-wah!]
As if saying some magic words, Nepherage, Frosttusk and Hurricroak transformed into toy-like, crystal totems that flew directly into Zhen Liu’s free hand. Evidently, these little totems were a perfect fit for the slots in the gourd.
While Zhen Liu understood where this was going, he did have one question.
‘How come they’re not cards?’
=The way you use your abilities as the kaijin lord is still based on your own perception milord.=
‘Huh…well, here’s hoping no toy company sue us into the ground for this.’
Zhen Liu proceeded to load the kaijin into the chambers of the gourd one by one, each time being accompanied by the voice making an announcement.
~Erupting Valkyrie, set!~
[I think that’s better than my previous title.]
~Howling Giant, set!~
[Howling? But I’m a mamm…oh, blizzard, I get it.]
~Thundering Rockstar, set!~
[Haha! Damn straight!]
Once the kaijin were firmly in place, Zhen Liu closed the chamber. When the chamber audibly clicked closed, the gourd suddenly felt a lot bouncier.
~Locked! Ready to mix!,~ the gourd announced while changing the tone of the music being played.
Drawn by instinct, and maybe out of curiosity, Zhen Liu pressed down on the chamber end of the gourd, causing the internals to spin and the voice to make more exclamations.
~Good!~
[Whoa! Why are we spinning?]
~Great!~
[Getting…dizzy!]
~Perfect!~
[Wooooo! Faster, faster!]
~Godoku Mix: Ragnarok Shot, loaded! Get ready to fire!~
“Don’t have to tell me twice!”
Without the kaijin hammering Grub with their attacks, all that was left were the zakos physically pelting the bastard. It was a lot less effective and Grub looked as if he was about to break free at any minute.
‘Open wide, motherfucker…’
Zhen Liu aimed the nozzle of the gourd directly at the oversized target formerly known as Grub and was just about to pull the trigger, or pop the cap open in this case, but then…
‘Wait, what the fuck?’
=Milord, look to your side, where the entrance js. Now!=
Zhen Liu did as instructed and was shocked at what he saw.
“What the fuck?! Nausicaa, what the hell are you doing?!”
________________________________________________
‘What is this detestable warmth? It’s disgusting and…somehow overpowering me?!,’ Frederick cursed as his eyes hadn’t recovered enough to see what could be causing it.
Over his many years of life as a wielder of [Chaos], interspersed with meetings with the messenger, Frederick had learned that [Chaos] could come in different attributes, much like aether does, but it was less elemental and more… emotionally raw and highly dependent on one’s desires.
Power was neither good not evil after all, it was dependent on the intention of the wielder.
Whenever he met the messenger, he’d always have this touch of “infinite curiosity”, the kind that drove people to want to blow up entire cities just to see what would happen. He admired the messenger for this, not because he wanted a similar power expression, but just how “pure” this desire was. It didn’t care who it hurt, just that it earned “results”.
As for his own, he recognized it carried a hint of gravity to it, hunger and condescension. As far as Frederick understood, his [Chaos] was based on his own ambition and pride, a combination he did not mind in the slightest.
The world was his buffet after all, why shouldn’t he enjoy it?
But the power threatening him right now was… different.
Too different.
‘No malice, no ambition, no hint of selfishness, just…love? Is that what this is?!’
The thing about the [Chaos] that he and the messenger wielded was that it marked by a degree of selfishness, of a single-minded focus on one’s own prosperity to the detriment of others.
However, the [Chaos] building before him was marked by desire all the same, but it was so disgustingly altruistic that it made Fredrick’s skin crawl. It reminded him too much of his father and his brothers, how can people be so naive?!
When his eyes finally recovered and he could see the source of this feeling, Frederick was shocked to say the least.
Standing before him was a humanoid being that appeared to be made of burning red flames, who seemed to be the embodiment of everything that he was opposite of: altruism, temperance and just pure love.
What made this being even more repulsive to Frederick’s eyes, was that he immediately recognized this strange humanoid as being the same guy he had just pierced through the stomach, and had been an equally annoying gnat this whole fucking time.
“You?! How can you wield the power of [Chaos]?!”
“[Chaos]?,” Rocko repeated as he stared at his hands which were now basically made of flames, “is that what this power is called? What a strange name…makes sense though. I guess that’s what you infected me with all those years ago.”
“You bastard! How dare you use my power against me! I’ll devour you whole and take it back!”
Influenced by his rage and hunger, Frederick transformed his one good arm into that of a monstrous worm with massive teeth and launched it straight at the humanoid conflagration that was formerly Rocko.
“Too slow!”
However, just as the worm was about to make contact and devour Rocko whole, the latter used a jet of flame to launch himself upward and not only avoid the attack, but land on top of the offending wurm in order to run up it’s length and towards Frederick’s head.
“You little-”
“Shut your mouth!”
Frederick was about to release another swarm of energy hornets to try and shake Rocko off of his body, but the cantankerous ball of flames had managed to latch onto the back of his head before he could. When the two were now locked in this grappling state that Frederick realized something important.
“Wait… you’re almost dead! This is nothing more than just dying surge of energy before your time isn’t it?! Hah! You can’t hope to kill me with just-.”
“Yeah! No shit,” Rocko agreed, “But I ain’t trying to kill you with this sudden power surge.”
“Wait, what?!”
As Rocko prepared to answer the abomination’s question, his body began to flare up even brighter as the [Chaos] within began to surge outward and form into weird looking runes.
“I don’t have to kill you, I just have to make sure you that can’t lure in anymore hapless adventurers. I just have to make sure you can’t touch my daughter anymore. So instead of killing you, I’m going to make sure you’re sealed down here, in this prison of your own design for a really really long time hope that you either starve to death down here or if anyone does break in, that you’re so weakened by then that you’ll be nothing more than some anecdotal story for some other adventurer,” Rocko explained as his body gradually began to grow more and more unstable, “And to make sure that this seal holds…well consider this my gift to you, as thanks for killing my friends and for hurting my baby girl.”
“You mother-”
*KA-BOOM!*
But before Frederick could even retort, or try to dislodge Rocko further, the latter exploded into a brilliant ball of flames that engulfed Frederick completely, just as a certain Blood-Soul seal finished establishing itself around the chamber’s entrance.
