Chapter 612: Zhen Liu the Puppeteer, takes the stage
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The puppets (zakos) Zhen Liu had summoned this time around were a bit(read: incredibly) different from the usual zakos he would use for general minion work and occasional test dummying.
Instead, these particular zakos were the ones he had assign to the kaijin some time ago in order to facilitate their growth into future kaijin as well as help instill lessons of responsibility into the kaijin themselves.
However, there had been some (un)intended consequences to this arrangement.
Namely that the zakos end up developing physical traits and abilities that are reminiscent or their respective leaders.
For example, the [Copper Oni] that Zhen Liu came up with, was originally a featureless copper coin zako with unusually large fists meant to hit things.
However, after being influenced by Nepherage, the copper coin zako had ended up turning into what Zhen Liu could best describe as being an oni statue, made of copper, that had been brought to life through some unknown miracle.
Meanwhile, the [Root Maiden] used to look like a naked tree taking on the form of a human woman.
Now, she looked like a fully armored and armed shield maiden from mythology, but made of wood, complete with a shield made of intertwining branches or roots and a weapon that looked to be a heavy club shaped like a viking-style sword.
By themselves, the two puppet warriors looked downright intimidating, but when they were together like this…it was outright terrifying.
‘You two ready to fight?,’ Zhen Liu asked the advanced zakos.
Through his rudimentary connection with the two zakos, Zhen Liu wasn’t able to pick up any concrete thoughts since the zakos didn’t exactly have minds to communicate with. However, he was able to pick up general emotions from the zakos.
While both the [Copper Oni] and [Root Maiden] were still unable to give fully thought out answers to Zhen Liu’s question, he could still sense generally positive emotions from them.
They were ready to fight, they just needed a little guidance.
Back to the mortal fighters themselves though, Lin Fang managed to reclaim his wits about himself and took up a fighting stance once more. He wasn’t going to let the fact that Zhen Liu’s puppets were intimidating being the reason why he lost. Besides, he also had a plan on his head about how to win this in one go.
(Un)fortunately, Zhen Liu already knew the man’s intentions before they were even in use.
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(Un) surprisingly, Lin Fang managed to maintain a neutral expression at Zhen Liu’s words…but Zhen Liu was fairly certain he saw the guy’s eye twitch and his hands were holding the knives just a touch tighter than before.
Either way, Lin Fang wasn’t going to go down without a fight.
Zhen Liu quietly clicked his tongue at the assassin type fighter’s resolve.
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With a wave of his hand, the puppets sprung into action…well one of them anyways.
The [Copper Oni] clanged his fists together before rushing towards Lin Fang with a wild swing that threatened to slam the man’s head into paste, meanwhile, the [Root Maiden] proceeded to step back and ready her shield and club in order to defend Zhen Liu.
This probably wasn’t needed due to Zhen Liu’s strange constitution, but it didn’t hurt to put up the act like he was defending himself anyways.
‘Now then, Lin Fang, show me how you’re gonna try and go for the neck…and then see where that takes ya…’
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Soon after Zhen Liu called forth his “puppets”, the portion of the arena that was paying attention to his fight with Lin Fang, exploded into a frenzy.
This in turn caused the people around the ones freaking out to be curious about as to why they were freaking out…only for a select few among them to start freaking out themselves when the saw the reason, it was a whole ripple effect thing.
{What in the-wait, what the fuck?!}
“Damn those are some intimidating looking puppets. They look like something out of a book of nightmares!”
“You’re telling me. How can they look so life-like like that?”
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While aether puppets were an uncommon tool among aether warriors, they were in circulation enough for people to understand some of the rules in association with them and how to judge the quality of an aether puppet master via their puppets.
Unlike with aether or anima cultivation,that had distinctive levels, aether puppet masters were reliant on overall skill in a vaguer sense.
It was generally agreed though that the more fluid a puppet master could make the movements of an intricate aether puppet, and the more puppets they could control in general, the more senior of a master that person would be treated by their peers.
In the case of Zhen Liu, a majority of people who didn’t understand aether puppets, just thought it was mildly interesting that he was able to control two distinctly humanoid puppets.
Those who were in the know however, were flabbergasted beyond words.
The reason being, aether puppet control is weird, especially when humanoid ones are involved.
Controlling an aether puppet was more of an art than a science, and it involved the user being able to control them like they were extensions of their own body…literally.
This wasn’t a massive issue with bestial puppets since they tended to have a single physical function to them, but humanoid ones were another story entirely, due to having to actually move the puppet in ways that would make sense for a humanoid…most of the time.
As such, the sight of a twenty something young man being able to not only control more than one humanoid puppets, but also have them coordinate with one another was…shocking, to the say the least.
Evidently, Zhen Liu L’s little display of “puppet prowess” had the effect of attracting the attention of some people that were higher on the totem pole of society.
Whether it was good or bad, that was up to debate.
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‘Why do I feel like there was a sudden sharp increase of eyes on me?’
=Keyword “puppets”, milord. You do remember that only master puppeteers are usually the only ones that can summon and control multiple humanoid puppets at the same time, right?=
‘Oh…oh well, I think I already attracted enough questionable attention when I slapped a dude into unconsciousness,might as well roll with this one too.’
=Whatever you say, milord.=
‘It was in the moment and I couldn’t just call them zakos, now could I?’
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As the [Copper Oni] came barreling down towards Lin Fang, ready to smash his head open, the dual knife wielding warrior simply stood there with an oddly calm expression on his face.
It wasn’t the expression of someone who knew they were about to get absolutely brutalized and had accepted death as a result, rather, it was the expression of someone who saw this attack coming and had a plan to deal with it.
‘I just have to wait until it gets closer…now!’
As the [Copper Oni] swung down to smash Lin Fang, the latter used a bit of aether to leap over the metal puppet and land on its back temporarily.
Once he had a stable enough foothold, he used the copper puppet as a springboard to leap higher into the air.
‘If I can’t hit you from below, I’ll do it from above!,’ Lin Fang thought to himself.
In his mind, he figured that both of the puppets that Zhen Liu had summoned were too heavy to be able to deal with speedy or airborne opponents, so if he could just out maneuver them both, he’d be able to get a clean shot in.
‘Zhen Liu is most likely going to use the Root Maiden to block my attack, which is why I’ll follow up with-‘
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‘Wait, what?!’
Evidently, he didn’t expect Zhen Liu to just…straight up throw one of his puppets at him.
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Correction, he didn’t expect two puppets being throw at him.
