Chapter 443: New (Challeng/inherit)er
“That’s…not…good…,” Frosttusk noted as he took on a fighting stance.
Razorstella and Hurricroak also followed suit, albeit, their observations were a touch snarkier.
“Yeesh, he acts like no one ever countered his attack before.”
“Weird…I figured he’d be growing bigger by now.”
“Now is not the time for quipping,” Zhen Liu lightly scolded while he kept his eyes on Grand Fisher’s sudden transformation.
Second by second, the amount of [Chaos] being released by the fishy abomination was reaching increasingly worrying levels.
Whether or not this growth in power would be accompanied by literal physical growth was yet to be seen, but frankly put, Zhen Liu didn’t want to find out in the slightest.
Granted, something like this did happen when he was dealing with Grub but the power level reached around that time wasn’t as worryingly high.
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‘So…why is this Grand Fisher guy reaching a higher power level than Grub?’
‘Afraid of what?,’ Zhen Liu asked, noticing the tinge of anxiety in the otherwise jovial spirit’s voice, ‘He’s just doing that breakdown thing that Grub did, right?’
=Grub was a human mortal who became an abomination, so there was a hint of natural aether and order hindering him from going full crazy. Grand Fisher here is a pure kaijin breaking down, so…=
‘Oh. Oh! Well then…we need to get him away from the ship, right?’
<=About five seconds ago, yes.=>
‘Cool! Frosttusk, Razorstella help me knock this bastard someplace far from the ship. Spring Brawler, hang around the ship and pretend I’m still there.’
Hurricroak, please inform my grandfather not to follow us before catching up.’
[Yes…milord…]
[Okay, director.]
[I can’t even fly yet.]
[Wait, why me?]
‘Out of everyone present, you’re the most sociable and arguably the fastest when it comes to flying.’
[…aight.]
[I would like to protest that,] Razorstella chimed in.
‘Not now, Razorstella
With the plan laid out, Zhen Liu began to circulate his aether and [Chaos] in tandem with Nepherage.
‘Ready to fry this fishy fuck?’
[Of course, milord.]
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“Oh fuck,” Zhen Shi cursed as he watched the fishman suddenly change in both demeanor and power level.
He didn’t know what was going on exactly, but he knew for certain that this sudden power up had to do with Zhen Liu’s master showing up and challenging this fish man, and exacerbated when his sharp looking apprentice countered both of Grand Fisher’s attacks.
Either way, Grand Fisher was pissed and looking as if he’ll kill them all out of pure rage, and then die from overexertion.
As Zhen Shi looked below himself, noticing the collateral damage that Grand Fisher caused, his mind began to race for a way to get rid of this guy before he caused anymore damage to his family or the ship they were standing on.
The ship itself was already perforated with holes of various sizes, while several members onboard were injured to equally varying degrees.
While no one has died yet, from what he could sense, he’d rather not risk any further injuries as a result of collateral damage or worst.
‘I’d rather not live with those kind of regrets,’ Zhen Shi thought to himself, unaware of the fact that this simple thought caused his armored hands to suddenly develop a thing layer of frost.
Perhaps he could join hands with-
“Patriarch Zhen Shi.”
“Huh?”
Before Zhen Shi could formulate even half of a plan, the tanned skin apprentice of the mysterious master, Harriet, suddenly appeared by his side.
She had a respectful look on her face, but Zhen Shi could sense pure impishness radiating from her body.
“Mae-ster, requests that you stay here at the the ship and defend it and it’s passengers from further collateral damage, as things are about to get rather messy.” Harriet told Zhen Shi in a straightforward manner.
“He understands that you most likely wish to assist in this endeavor, but this is our master’s mess, and it is our responsibility to clean it up.”
“Oh…okay, wait what?”
Zhen Shi didn’t know whether to find it thoughtful or insulting that this mysterious master told him to stay out of a battle that was technically his to end.
Also, what the heck did she mean by “stay here”?
Zhen Shi was just about to protest, stating that he should at least help since Grand Fisher was the one who started attacking him, but was interrupted by the sound of a sonic boom.
More specifically, a sonic boom caused by Zhen Liu’s master and his other three disciples charging at Grand Fisher and tackling him straight into the horizon beyond.
It happened so quickly that the old man couldn’t help but stare wide-eyed at the sheer suddenness of their actions.
“And that’s my cue to leave,” Harriet said as she turned to follow her master and fellow disciples.
Before she left though, Harriet gave the patriarch of the Zhen Clan, a few more parting words.
“You did a good job fighting someone who can use [Chaos] without understanding it’s nature, or rather, what drives it. Keep your eyes on us this time and maybe you can learn a few new tricks. Learn how to wield your desire as opposed to letting it wield you, you dig?”
“I…what?”
“See ya later~”
Without having anything else to add, Harriet’s body was suddenly enveloped by a strange rainbow colored aura that intermingled with the lightning aether coming off her.
In the blink of an eye, the strange disciple disappeared, shooting off like a lighting laced comet, in the direction of her master and fellow disciples.
“Keep a close eye…wield my desire?” Zhen Shi repeated as he stared in the direction the strange warriors sped off towards.
It was essentially a throw away line from a weirdo of a warrior to be sure, but there was something about that seemed…relavent.
“Wield my desire…as opposed letting it wield me…huh.”
As he repeated this single fragment of a sentence, he began to feel something other than aether, stir in his soul.
More specifically, he felt the Minor World Serpent that was attached to his soul, starting to stir.
{ToOooo Wieeeld…desire…}
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‘Okay, we appear to be succeeding on our end in getting this bastard away from the ship, how is it going on determining on who this guy is?’
=Almost done milord, we’re just determining some last minute discrepan-=
=Ah, excellent. Milord?=
‘Do it.’
=Very good. Sending information over, now.=
…
…
…
‘Oh you have got to be fucking kidding me.’
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[Avalanche Impact!]
[Comet Kick!]
[Eruption Smash!]
“RARGH!”
In a split second, Zhen Liu, Razorstella and Frosttusk slammed into Grand Fisher with an absurd amount of power and knocked his ass away at least a full mile from the steamship.
Once they were far enough, the three of them disengaged from Grand Fisher and proceeded to take different positions in the air, effectively surrounding him.
Additionally, Now that they were at a distance far enough from the ship that only a Grand Master could sense them with effort, Razorstella and Frosttusk ditched their human disguises.
Hurricroak arrived to the scene at same time, ditching her human form and making use of her wasp mode.
“Oooh, looks like I came just in time for the stripping part of the costume party! Who won?”
“I do believe this is the first time we’ve ever gotten into a proper fight with someone like us in a long time!,” Razorstella exclaimed with glee, “do you prefer I scale you first before filleting you or would you I keep the skin on?”
“How…un..couth…,” Frosttusk rumbled, “cleaner…to…freeze…”
“Bah! I kNew It! I KneW iT!,” Grand Fisher roared and flailed.
“YooooUuUu lot aRe KaiJin! Kaijin! ThaT CaN ooNlly meAN youUuu sOMehow sTOle HeR pOweR! HeR SeeeaaLL! UpoN HeR HonoR aNd My FURY, I WiiiiLlL-”
“MARLANCER!”
“-Wwhat? My….name?!”
Grand Fisher craned his neck upward once he heard a name he had long since {forgotten/abandoned/surrendered}.
“How…do youUuu….know that name?!”
“Why wouldn’t know the name of my predecessor’s creations?”
“Predecessssor?”
“Ah,” Hurricroak let out an amused breath, “see we’re going for the dramatics tonight.”
Looming above Marlancer/Grand Fisher was the muscular horned form of Zhen Liu-Nepherage, his eyes looking down on the abomination like the embodiment of cold, cruel judgement.
At least, that’s what Grand Fisher hoped to have seen.
Staring into the eyes of the warrior above him, Grand Fisher saw that the emotions inside them didn’t carry malice, contempt, judgement or disdain.
When he looked into Zhen Liu’s eyes, he saw pity.
Not the type of pity one has while silently judging others, rather, it was the kind of pity one would have when they felt…helpless to help.
Like a chivalrous knight, unable to lend a hand.
“Wait…chivalry?”
“Marlancer,” Zhen Liu repeated in a booming voice. As he said these words, he subtlety presented his left hand, the seal of the kaijin lord, glowing with an eldritch light.
“By my authority as the current Kaijin Lord, I order you to stand down,” Zhen Liu said in a forceful tone, “will you obey?”
The moment this question left Zhen Liu’s lips, Marlancer’s countenance suddenly changed from confusion to anger once more.
“Ooooobeeeeyy? Obey? OBEEEEEYYYY?!,” Marlancer said with increasingly crescendoing anger.
As his anger and tone grew however, something unexpected occured.
His speech started to fix itself.
“Iiiiii oNnnnLy listENnn tooO oNe master, one Kaijin Lord, one Queen! And you are not her! I don’t know how you stole her power, but I will make you give it back! Upon my honor as the Storm Queen’s Spear, I, Marlancer will take you head!”
And he started to look significantly less uncanny.
“Well then…,” Zhen Liu answered as he put away the seal and drew from his hip an old bone club he should have been using way more often.
“I’d like to see you try.”
“Die!”
Invigorated by the challenge, Marlancer charged forward.
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‘Okay, how the fuck did this guy suddenly stitch himself back together?’
