Chapter 382: Hell is other people…sometimes literally
“Hey Jin Fang…sorry for waking you up…”
“OH MY GODS, XIAO LIU! ARE YOU-wait, are you actually dying or did you fall out by accident because you were about to do something reckless and dangerous again?”
“Yes.”
“… I’ll get mad at you later.”
When Jin Fang exited the inn to see why there was a sudden thwomping sound outside her room, a small part of her hoped it was just a tripped over cat or a drunk. Instead, she found that her boyfriend had decided to climb out of his window and fall onto the cobblestone streets of Pearl Harbor like a knocked over meat pie.
It was good thing he was indestructible, otherwise she’d be more worried.
As she lifted Zhen Liu up to his feet and supported him with her shoulder, she was reminded of one of their first few dates where they had gotten absolutely smashed on a bottle of wine he had pilfered from the clan’s cellar.
Granted, there was a lot less vomit this time around…and also less crying.
From both parties, surprisingly.
Jin Fang was all set to drag Zhen Liu back into the inn and into his bed, when the latter began to wave his arm in a flailing manner, whilst holding the Key to Nowhere.
“No… can’t go back…need to…rescue the others…,” Zhen Liu groaned.
“You are in no condition to go fighting, even if it is to save the kaijin.”
“Not me…other two!”
“Other tw-oh! In that case…what do you need?”
“Dirt…or something else to draw in.”
Jin Fang looked around the vicinity to see if there was anywhere Zhen Liu could carve open the door to the library.
“Cobblestone is no good…don’t know if it can be jammed into concrete…wait, can you use an already built door?”
“Uhh…lemme check…”
_______________________________________________
‘If I wanted to use a normal door to access the Library, could I?’
<=Yes, just point the pointy key end above the door knob.=>
‘Good…ow…why are you two talking in unison more than usual?’
<=We do this when stressed...also, because it's funny.=>
‘Aight…ow.’
________________________________________________
“We’re in the clear, we just need to jam the key into the nearest key hole,” Zhen Liu answered.
“Understood.”
With the criteria set, Jin Fang looked about the area until settling upon the locked door of a shop next to the inn. She wasn’t sure what they sold here, but the signage suggested soap.
“Over there.”
“Lead the -ouch-way, please.”
As Jin Fang helped to carry Zhen Liu over to the door, she made sure to rib him, just a little bit.
“The kaijin better be in actual trouble for you to risk your life throwing yourself out of a window.”
“Hah,” Zhen Liu weakly laughed, “it would take at least ten more stories and a train to kill me… probably.”
“Sure, sure…what’s a train?”
Evidently the kaijin were in actual trouble as it were, just not from any run of the mill opponent though, they were in trouble with themselves.
________________________________________________
Inside of the Five Shadow Kings Formation
{HERE COMES A BITCH, READY TO DIE!}
{IN FIRE THEY BURN, IN ICE THEY FREEZE.}
{IN OUR DARKNESS, BE CONSUMED!}
[I understand y’all are probably too inflated in both size and ego in this moment, but what the fuck?]
Razor Maiden wasn’t sure what was going on with her older companions, but she knew that it probably wasn’t anything good.
‘Its gotta be this weird formation thing…I gotta figure out how to break it…can’t see a damn thing in here though…wait…maybe I can…’
Razor Maiden ignored her muted senses at this point in time and began to focus solely on the literal connection between her and her director.
It wasn’t terribly strong, what with her still being somewhat incomplete, but it at least provided her a sense of direction, literally.
‘The director is outside of the formation, I want to get outside of the formation, therefore…walk in his direction.’
As soon as she could confirm the direction, she just walked forward, simple as that.
‘Still feels like there is a lot of interference in here though…what the fuck is causing it?’
________________________________________________
‘One, two, three…huh. That’s weird. Didn’t the formation encapsulate at least four of those weird “demon” things? Why am I only sensing three aether signatures?,’ Balos asked his compatriots.
‘Who cares?,’ Fili retorted, ‘They’ll be snuffed out either way.’
‘True.’
The inside of the [Five Shadow Kings] formation was akin to being inside a sensory deprivation chamber, or being in space.
It was dark, it was weightless and no sensory inputs could be felt.
However, the four leaders of the Blue Shadows were used to navigating this space, in fact, it was a favored tactic of their organization.
________________________________________________
The Blue Shadows was an elite assassination/bodyguard organization, originating from the Howling Skull Republic of the Umbral Spider continent, that spanned the globe and struck fear into the hearts of many people, namely due to how effective they were at both.
This was thanks in part to a key aether art that was in the repertoire of every member of this organization: [Shadow Parasite].
Those trained in this Ethereal level art are able to sink into the shadow of any living thing and essentially become a parasite, moving how they move and not needing to eat, drink or breath while using this art. The user doesn’t even have to expend additional aether to keep the art going, once it’s active, it’s active until the user cancels it.
However, as a drawback, all five of one’s physical senses become useless. Therefore, it is an absolute necessity for those trained in this art to become especially skilled in using only their aether to not only sense their surroundings, but also manipulate to the point of being able to interact with the outside world, all while doing it stealthily.
The Blue Shadows train all of their members to become especially skilled at manipulating and sensing with aether to the point that was well above the average.
In essence, a Blue Shadow Acolyte would have aether sensing and manipulation skills stronger than the average Aether Master.
Now for the most part, this would be an advantage since not many of their targets or opponents would be able to affect them on a spiritual level.
But…what do you think would happen, if these warriors with heightened aether sensitivity happen to face opponents that seem to naturally distort such things?
________________________________________________
From the perspective of the Blue Shadow leaders, the four of them could sense three distinct sources of aether that radiated wildly different types of power.
One was burning hot, another was freezing cold, while the last felt electrifying.
However, there was also this weird undercurrent of energy that they could sense but not identify. Whatever it was though, it was too weak for them to bother with.
Once they had locked on to the location of these three sources of aether, they discussed a plan of attack.
‘I think that electric one is that kid I fought earlier, or at least whatever was inside him,’ Ogrim observed, ‘I’m going to go after that one, finish up my business.’
‘Mind if I tag along?,’ Dane asked, ‘I am curious as to what a “possession” looks like. Is it that the child contains the potential or is it this so-called “demon” that holds the power?’
‘Sure,’ Ogrim agreed, “what about you two?’
‘I am going to take on that freezing cold one,’ Fili responded, ‘the Acolytes say that it was a giant mammoth man and I want to see how strong that guy is!’
‘That leaves the burning hot one to me…if I recall, they had a vicious level of instinct to them… detestable brute. Killing requires more elegance than that,’ Balos spat.
‘Very well, good hunting gentlemen.’
‘To you as well.’
The four leaders of the Blue Shadows disbanded at this moment, going off in different directions as they aimed to slay whatever these “demons” really were.
________________________________________________
{AND SO THE FLIES COME AT LAST INTO THE TRAP, ATTRACTED BY THE BURNING SMELL OF AETHER AND CHAOS.}
{I WONDER, I WONDER, HOW MUCH THEY’LL SCREAM, HOW LOUD THEY’LL SING WHEN THEY FACE DESPAIR AND DEATH?}
{THE STAGE IS PREPARED, THE PIECES ARE SET. NOW WE MUST MERELY WAIT.}
{{{TO SHOW JUST HOW MUCH OF HELL TRULY EXISTS.}}}
________________________________________________
Click.
Creak.
As soon as Zhen Liu opened the door to the Library, both Archanidame and Lacerage exited into the street. The two of them were still in their human disguises for the time being.
“Lord Zhen Liu, Consort Jin Fang,” the lady kaijin curtsied in greeting.
“Archanidame, Lacerage,” Jin Fang nodded in return as she was still holding Zhen Liu up, “How are things back home?”
“Quite well, the children are taking to their lessons magnificently.”
“That’s good to hear.”
“Hey, not to be a drag,” Zhen Liu interjected, “but I am kinda dealing with an exploding headache, ow, and I think the kaijin are about to turn into something straight out of a Lovecraft novel, so would you mind-”
“Of course milord, we shall be off now,” Archanidame nodded.
“Here milord,” Lacerage said as she handed Jin Fang a small bottle, “this should help with the headache. At least that’s what the helpers said.”
“Cool.”
As soon as the orders were given, Archanidame and Lacerage both proceeded to disappear into vortexes of purple and green energy respectively, the shadows of their true forms peaking through.
Jin Fang looked at the bottle in their hand, curious as to what it was exactly since it had a label.
“What the hell is…asprin?”
