Chapter 658: Saving the Half-Formed.
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Once Gao Ao Long had confirmed the existence of friendly clansmen, he slowly descended to where they were standing, giving them time to kneel.
Even the Fallen Aether Lord, Gao Yu Feng, showed deference to this elder that at a glance, looked more or less the lowliest of beggars.
The only ones who hadn’t shown deference yet were the two Zhen Clan elders, who had opted to take fighting stances instead. They had decided it was better to die standing than at the mercy of their ancient foes.
Granted, the recently arrived Aether Emperor hadn’t even noticed their existences, as they were mere Aether Grandmasters after all. Besides, he had descendants and clansmen to address.
Gao Ao Long eventually touched down on the ground and waved a free hand towards his kneeling kinsmen, a sign for them to stand back up so they could have a proper conversation. Well, less of a conversation and more of having the weaker Fallen clansmen report the situation to the War Elder.
As filial descendants do.
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[GIVE IT BACK!]
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Before Gao Yu Feng could even get out a complete sentence, the strange bone demon woman from before suddenly lunged at Gao Ao Long the War Elder, as if she didn’t care or notice at the fact that the man was an Aether Emperor in the middle of something important.
She lashed out with a strange looking claw that looked more spectral than physical, causing Gao Ao Long to respond by blocking with the one arm that wasn’t tucked into his clothes.
[Huh?]
She wasn’t entirely sure how this all worked, but last she checked, her [Chaos] should break through most aether based defenses…so how the hell was this old prisoner holding up?!
The Fallen Clan warriors looked positively stunned at the demon woman’s audacity, but Gao Ao Long looked bemused.
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[Huh?!]
This entire time, the Fallen Warriors and even the Zhen Clan elders had been referring to her as a “thing” or a “monster”. She was technically both, but it was still rude to be called as such.
[Need…name…]
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The moment the War Elder’s other arm became visible, the skeleton woman’s attention became focused solely on that. Partially due to that arm being the main source of [Chaos] she kept sensing coming off of the guy, but also because she couldn’t help but notice how ill-fitting the arm was to the rest of the man’s physique. The incredibly visible stitches also didn’t help to hide this fact either.
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The War Elder’s [Chaos] began to condense around his stitched on fist, causing notable fluctuations in the air surrounding it. Once his fist was fully saturated, Gao Ao Long punched forward, releasing a terrifying shockwave laced with [Chaos]
[Not good!]
The only thing she could think of doing in this moment was to simply brace herself, in order to protect her newly acquired “voice”.
[Just…gained this voice…must…protect it!]
As she did her best to use her [Chaos] in a defensive manner, a strange reaction occurred as the [Echo Stone] that was once a throat piece, began to absorb into her bones…not that she could notice this feeling due to the unrelenting shockwaves impacting her.
The Fallen Clan warriors let out a sigh of relief once they saw the demon woman get knocked away by their War Elder…only to develop stunned expressions once they saw the War Elder give chase.
They had not expected such a thing, given that they were technically on a crusade for revenge, meaning now was not the time to fight demon women!
<< War Elder Ao Lang! Where are you going?!>>
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[Director, what do you want us to do?]
‘First, is there a term for…evolving zakos? Mutant zakos? What I’m dealing with here?’
=Evolving zako works.=
‘Evolving zako, got it. Razorstella, Spring Brawler, save our evolving zako friend, figure out what the fuck is up with that arm, and probably save those elders while you’re at it too.’
[As you-wait, really?]
‘Really.’
[Why…?,] Spring Brawler questioned, dreading the idea of having to be the designated carrier…again.
‘Purely selfish reasons. You’d be surprise how helpful having a few elders owing you favor can be in clan based politics,’ Zhen Liu bluntly answered.
[Ah…]
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Now the present…
[Shit! That prisoner guy just sent her flying!]
[And he’s going for a follow-up! We’re not going to make it.]
[Fuck!]
Razorstella and Spring Brawler were quite a bit away from the Zhen Clan Prison, where things seemed to be getting, for the lack of a better word here, absolutely fucking insane. Despite the distance though, the kaijin and proto-kaijin were still able to sense what was going on thanks to using a tenuous connection between themselves, Zhen Liu and the evolving zako.
While this connection wasn’t strong enough to provide clear transfers and specific bits of information, it was strong enough to give the two of them a general idea of what was going on.
Namely, that the Fallen Clan apparently had an elder with a kaijin’s arm surgically replacing his own, and was using it to do a bastardization version of Zhen Liu’s own [Chaos] manipulation. Making matters [even worst/more infuriating/ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTING], the Fallen Clan elder that looked like a prisoner was using that arm to attack the evolving zako to great effect.
The evolving skeleton zako looked fine for the most part, but there were several broken bits of her skeleton that was on full display. She would recover easily once Razorstella and Spring Brawler extracted her from the scene and Zhen Liu had a chance to give her a [name], but that was easier said than done at the moment.
[Hey…call me crazy, big sis, but do you get the feeling that if we go in there at our usual attack ranges, we’d get roped in to fighting that guy like the zako is?]
[That’s a high possibility…wait. Feels like the back of your skull is tingling in fury?]
[I don’t have one, but yeah. You too?]
[Since we were in eyeshot range.]
Every instinct in both Razorstella and Spring Brawler urged them to act and try to [remove/take back/DESTROY] that arm because it [wasn’t his/was stolen/DIDN’T BELONG TO HIM!], but…they didn’t act upon these instincts…yet.
Right now, they needed to figure out a way to get to the prison ASAP, before their evolving zako gets brained by someone who [acquired/found/STOLE] a kaijin’s arm, and was getting closer and closer by the second.
[Wait a minute, Razorstella, don’t you have a bunch of movement aether arts for moments like this? Out of all the other kaijin, your technically the fastest.]
[Flattery will get you everywhere, but I have to say no this time. I got movement arts sure, but known of them have the straight line acceleration needed for this moment.]
[Straight line, wait,] Spring Brawler suddenly paused. [Technically, only one of us needs to intervene and attack for the time being…the other can just tag in later and…I have an idea. A really, really stupid one.]
[How stupid are we talking about, Spring Brawler?]
[Stupid enough that I’m just going to do it before I overthink it. Hah!]
As Razorstella and Spring Brawler kept heading towards the Zhen Clan prison, the latter suddenly stopped moving and instead, landed in the middle between two tall buildings, grabbed a side of each building and then leaped backwards while still holding on.
Spring Brawler’s arm began to stretch and tighten with every subsequent step backwards.
[What the hell are you-oh. Oh that might work.]
[The word you’re looking for is “will”, now I can’t believe I’m saying this…I need you to step on my face.]
[Of cour-wait, what?]
