Chapter 640: Three Finishers and a Won Bet
Evidently, Patriarch Zhen Shi was so caught up in Jinju Yang’s outburst that he failed to see that three of his four grandkids that were still fighting, had just won their respective matches.
Granted, it may have been a good thing, since all three of them had used moves that were oddly reminiscent of a certain collection of “puppets”.
If he had seen these events unfold, he’d have a lot questions to ask…
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Zhen Hai gets real loud…and louder still!
[Echoing Frost!]
Sufficiently pissed and fully charged, Zhen Hai punched forward and released a powerful shockwave that froze both the ground and air between himself and Alvis de Howlite.
Once this shockwave made contact, Alvis would be rendered a human popsicle if he was unlucky. If he was lucky, the force of the attack would just render him unable to battle due to injuries.
“A World Class art?!,” Alvis exclaimed. “I can’t wait to copy it!”
Then again, perhaps it would be neither result because the man was absolutely insane.
[Desert Distortion: Reverberating Sandstorm!]
“Seriously?!”
In a near perfect recreation of Zhen Hai’s [Echoing Frost], Alvis proceeded to mimic the exact movements and aether circulation necessary to activate the art himself. However, there was a subtle adjustment made to the art that replaced with the normal ice aether requirement with Alvis’s own sand aether.
As Alvis punched forward, instead of a powerful shockwave that seemed to freeze the world as it traveled, what came from his fist was a blustering, howling gale of sand that threatened erode the very foundations of reality into a fine powder.
As the two World class aether arts collided with one another, a horrible sound like a million iron nails scratching against glass reverberated throughout the battleground, while shockwaves of pure aetherial might rocked the foundations of the arena and caused even the barrier encapsulating it to wobble and shake.
“Damn! So this what it’s like to use a World art?! If only I got my hands on the real thing!”
“Freaking copycat! Do something original!,” Zhen Hai shouted while mentally thinking, ‘shit, I don’t think I can keep this up much longer…’
While on the surface it appeared as if Zhen Hai and Alvis de Howlite were equals in terms of cultivation, that was only true in terms of destructive power. In reality, Alvis’s aether threshold was higher than Zhen Hai’s by a notable margin.
In practice, this meant that while Zhen Hai could maintain this attack equilibrium up for the time being, he would eventually run out of aether and be overpowered via attrition.
‘Dammit, I can’t keep this up forever. How the hell am I supposed to-‘
[Reso-@)*(&$(*@Y!!!]
‘Gah! What the hell?’
Just as Zhen Hai was about to question the viability of maintaining this stalemate, even entertaining the idea of giving up right there and then to avoid getting injured, something in his brain started to act up as a weird burst of information exploded in his mind. The young warrior had no idea on what to make of this sudden influx of information, until he noticed the feeling of electricity flowing through his body. It was then he realized what was going on…or at least, what he thought was going on.
‘Damn, looks like Zhen Liu left a little something extra when he blasted me with that lightning frog of his…well then, who am I to look a gift horse in the mouth! Let’s give this new art a go!’
As Zhen Hai maintained the pressure of his [Echoing Frost] with one hand, he pulled back the other and began to condense his aether around it in a way he had never done up until now, shaping the aether into the shape of a frog’s head. However, it should be noted that this frog-like covering had a bit more than aether mixed in, not that Zhen Hai or his opponent noticed it.
It didn’t take long for the construct to finish forming and once it did, Zhen Hai had developed a big ole smile on his face, one that looked similar to a certain frog’s.
“Alright, puta. Get ready for a finale with no encore!,” Zhen Hai taunted as he pulled his arm back.
“Wait…what the hell?”
In this exact moment, Alvis could detect a sharp increase in aether and…something else. He just didn’t know what. But whatever it was, it was going to hurt.
“Now eat this! [Resonating Thunder Croak!]”
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Zhen Xing finds the rhythm.
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In a moment that was arguably more comedic than it was dramatic, Lei Zhong’s [Thunder Volley] had continuously failed to hit Zhen Xing, despite the fact that the aether art’s area of effect was the entire godsdamned arena they were fighting in.
The reason for this folly was quite simple: Zhen Xing had been dancing the whole time.
Literally.
From the moment Lei Zhong called down his first bolt of lightning, Zhen Xing had been using [Hazy Flame Dance], alongside his new skills of detecting aether movement and their sources, in order to time all of the attacks aimed his way until Zhen Xing could have a clear “understanding” of his opponent.
One can only dance well after understanding the rhythm of their surroundings after all.
The funny thing though is that, normally, Zhen Xing wouldn’t normally go about trying to understand his opponent in such a manner, but something inside was telling him to do so this time around.
[…!]
‘Huh? What art is this?’
And that same thing was telling him to use a move he never learned before.
‘[Nova Wheel]? The fuck kind of art is…oh…okay, let’s give it a go!’
Once Zhen Xing made the decision to perform this unknown move, his legs began to glow with a strange light.
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‘Keep staring buddy, I’m about to dazzle ya in single blow!’
[Nova Wheel!]
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Zhen Yue’s Self-Study
‘Alright, what the fuck do I do now?,’ Zhen Yue thought to herself as she tried to formulate a plan of attack while still under the effects of her stealth aether art.
This entire battle so far had been Zhen Ren Fa attacking with Zhen Yue only blocking, dodging or countering to varying degrees of success.
If Zhen Yue wanted to win, she would need to actually go on the offensive this time around. The question was though, which move could she even use?
‘Hmmm. Maybe I can try-‘
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‘Oh fuck me sideways.’
After making her intentions known, Zhen Ren Fa began to charge up an aether art that Zhen Yue could sense was going to engulf the whole arena. In other words, Zhen Yue only had one shot before her position got exposed.
‘Dammit. Why does it have to be now I regret not taking up Zhen Liu’s offer?’
Out of all of Zhen Liu’s cousins, Zhen Yue was the only one who hadn’t been shot in the face with one of Zhen Liu’s special…”puppet enhancements”.
The reason for this was simply due to the fact that Zhen Yue did not want to get blasted in the face, despite the benefits it seemed to bring. Well, that and because she didn’t want to develop any more weird quirks before getting married, she didn’t want to freak her husband to be with foreign swear words…yet.
‘Seriously though, how am I supposed to-‘
[…]
‘Ah! What the fuck?’
Just as Zhen Yue was about to start thinking of ways to win in a single strike, the inspiration for an aether art she never seen before suddenly flashed through her mind.
It was brief, but it was long enough for her to get a grasp of the name and what she had to do.
‘[Bakunawa’s Fury]? What the fuck is a…forget it! Let’s just see how this goes, it’s do or die time anyways…’
Fully committed to just trying out this move, Zhen Yue began to circulate her aether in a new way, one that caused the formation of a very strange serpent shadow to manifest behind her…
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=Huh. I guess you were right. Looks like the younger the possessed, the more likely for them to pick up abilities from the kaijin posessing them. Fascinating…=
=We don’t have any records of that, so yes. Speaking of kaijin though, how are the others doing right now?=
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[Huh…I think Hurricroak and I won the pool,]Spring Brawler commented.
[VINDICATION, YOU MOTHERFUCKERS! I AM THE QUEEN!,] Hurricroak excitedly shouted.
[Alright, fine, you win this round,] Nepherage conceded. [Anyways, good job on redirecting those blasts of lightning. I see you’ve been practicing.]
[Damn straight! On the off chance we had to fight that otter again or something like it, I wanted to make sure I don’t get caught with my booty shorts down again! Or, wait, I’m technically wearing a skirt, right?]
[Vulgar…but I get it.]
[Oi,] Razorstella interjected, [enough chit-chat, the director is about to do something stupid.]
[Stupid how?]
[Give up an easy victory to fulfill someone else’s desire.]
