Chapter 762: A cat’s Indecision can lead to madness
“How do I-what do you mean?”
“Well…,” Jin Fang paused while trying to figure out the right way to phrase her question. “You and the others seem to have different means of addressing Xiao Liu, which sort of implies that you all see him different ways. So…how do you see him? I mean, you call him ‘lord’, but I thought that was his default title.”
“That…is a really easy question.”
“I know it’s a bit-wait. Seriously?”
“Yes.”
“Huh…”
The reason Jin Fang had asked this question was due to her not really understanding how the kaijin truly saw Zhen Liu. She knew that he saw them a bit like his children, but she had no idea if they saw him as their father, creator or something else entirely.
Well, that and because she was trying to figure out if she could use them as a reference in understanding those mysterious aquatic kaijin who apologized to her not too long ago.
“If you’re worried about me thinking I can be one of milord’s consort then don’t worry since I have exactly zero interest in pursuing such a relationship. The only one among us that I think is remotely thinking like that would be Paralust, and that is an entirely different can of worms.”
“I wasn’t worried about-wait, what?”
“But with that out of the way, I simply see milord as…milord,” Nepherage (Nicole) continued without addressing her earlier statment. “He gave me and the others a chance to exist, and so, we’ll make sure to give it our all no matter what comes our way and no matter what he wishes. Simple as that.”
“That…wait…”
There was something weird about the way Nepherage answered that question, but Jin Fang couldn’t exactly pin as to why it was weird.
Regardless, a part of Jin Fang felt a bit relieved knowing that the kaijin were genuinely loyal to Zhen Liu. Well, at least now she understood that Nepherage was loyal to him.
‘Hmmm…but does that loyalty extend beyond death?,’ Jin Fang wondered as the memory of Grand Blue and Ikairo bowing before her contrasted sharply with the memory of Marlancer, a rogue kaijin that had almost killed her and everyone on the S.S. Nimona at the time.
However, Jin Fang wasn’t able to indulge in these memories to their fullest due to Nepherage blindsiding her with a rather out of pocket statement.
“By the way, Lady Jin Fang, I do hope this doesn’t sound rude, but were you asking me about my loyalty to milord because you’re worried about your position as his prime consort since Lady Jinju Ren showed up?”
“I-what the fuck? No.”
“Alright, I just wanted to make sure. Lady Jinju Ren has been rather…clingy, as of late. I understand jealousy in the bedroom has led to the downfall of many empires and kingdoms in the past.”
“That…let’s just focus back on the fact that there is a crime scene you need me to cover up. Have the others alerted you of anything weird going on, like the assassins waking up or yet another reality defying monster that threatened to eat us?”
“No, but I take that as a sign that everything is going fine,” Nicole(Nepherage)assured Jin Fang with a wave of her hand for added effect.
“The only possible source of danger for us is Lady Jinju Ren, but you and milord sleep with her, so there shouldn’t be any-”
“Hey! Oh! Whoa! I didn’t, I mean, we haven’t…”
As Jin Fang and Nepherage (Nicole) shared a moment of surprising platonic intimacy though, some of the other kaijin were dealing with issues that were about more… confusing.
________________________________________
[I…wait, did we already contact Nepherage?]
[I…think so?]
[Why…are…you…all…so…uncertain? Also…focus…on…the…fight.]
[Shit, you right.]
*Smack!*
“Dammit.How are you negating my attacks?,” Screamira hissed as her attempt to smash a palm into Yin Yue’s temple failed due to a well-timed block.
“I don’t know, how are you weirdos detecting me?!,” Yin Yue hissed back as she tried to use fingers to blind Nepherage with a quick jab to the eyes. Unfortunately, she discovered that those eyes were more solid than squishy.
“What are you made of?”
“Bones, hatred and fuck you.”
For who knows how long at this point, Screamira and Yin Yue has exchanged over a dozen blows with neither getting a clear advantage over the other or even landing anything close to a decisive blow.
The two warrior women hadn’t used anything beyond simple enhanced strikes due to not wanting to draw any attention to the room they were fighting in.
If they used anything stronger than their current level of attacking, they would either cause massive collateral damage or leave remnants of aether that could be traced back to them.
That and there was a very real possibility that a stray attack from either one of them could result in an unnecessary death that would be an absolute pain in the ass to deal with later.
Making matters more annoying, neither Frosttusk nor Spring Brawler could assist their boney companion due to the very real possibility of them spooking this girl and causing her to do that weird flashbang of reality again.
It wasn’t pleasant and they were still thinking on what the hell was up with this girl. Or rather, how she managed to confound them so much in the first place.
[I don’t get it, Frosttusk. This girl is radiating some kind of energy that ain’t like anything I’ve felt before,] Spring Brawler complained. [And I’m fairly certain I complained about this already, so why am I complaining about it again?!]
[Not…entirely…sure…need…to…ask…others…for…knowledge.]
Frosttusk wasn’t entirely sure why, but out of the three kaijin being affected by whatever weird shit was happening because of this bloodliner woman, he was the only that didn’t appear to be affected by all of the weirdness.
As such, he was the only one who could contact their more knowledgeable sources of information, Logos and Pathos.
[Hopefully… they’re…not…busy…]
________________________________________
[Logos…Pathos…we…need…help…]
∆Huh? Help with what?∆
[Middle…of…combat…opponent…is…very…strange…she is..weaker…than…us…but…Spring Brawler and Screamira…are…acting…weirdly… indecisive…their…attacks… getting…negated…as…well…]
=Screamira and Spring Brawler are fighting a strange opponent? Cancelled out attacks? There shouldn’t be anybody with dragon blood in that ship except for the princess, and anybody with musical aether arts could be countered by Hurricroak or even Screamira herself. So I fail to see who or what can…oh what in the realms of unreality? That asshole is here?!=
∆Huh? Why the reaction?∆
=Take a look at Screamira’s and Spring Brawler’s statuses.=
∆What about them? Everything looks…oh what the hell? Why is that symbol there? I thought that guy was dead!∆
=Funny, I assumed he was alive after all of these years.=
[Huh? What…symbol? Who…is…dead?]
∆=Frosttusk, very quickly, what kind of opponent are you guys dealing with exactly?=∆
[Strange…bloodliner…woman…showed up…out of…nowhere…]
∆=Are they a cat bloodliner, by any chance?=∆
[Yes…]
∆Uh oh.∆
=Contacting our lord and the unengaged kai-oh. Looks like we won’t need to.=
∆Huh? Why?∆
=Box got open. Gotta love a decisive woman.=
________________________________________
At this point in time, Jin Fang and Nicole were a mere ten or so feet away from the room where Frosttusk, Spring Brawler and Screamira were guarding a pile of unconscious bodies.
Under normal circumstances, the two of them would’ve simply entered the room and immediately get to work in faking yet another aftermath scene involving strange circumstances and a whole mess of embarrassing situations.
However, there were not normal circumstances.
“Alright, the room the others are in should be right over…what the fuck?,” Nepherage said in alarm while simultaneously stopping Jin Fang with an outstretched arm.
“Hmm? What’s wrong?”
“I don’t know…but I am getting simultaneous feelings of dread and joy from behind that door…”
“What the fuck?”
Jin Fang was used to the kaijin being weird, esoteric and surprisingly confident in the face of certain doom, so the fact that one of the bravest of these certifiably mad warriors was acting cautious was enough for to at least get her guard up.
Once the two of them had gotten closer to the room and out of sight from the public eye, Nepherage decided to drop her human disguise of “Nicole”.
“What kind of opponent are we dealing with here? Someone with dragon’s blood? Another rogue kaijin?,” Jin Fang asked while quietly prepping an aether art she could use at a moment’s notice.
“I’m…not entirely sure. It feels like…whatever or whomever in there is simultaneously weak, strong, numerous, singular, lively and dead, all at the same time,” Nepherage explained to Jin Fang. “Even worse, whatever is going on in there is affecting the others. My connection to them is…fuzzy at best right now. I don’t know if I should open the door to find out or leave it alone out of fear for the worst…wait, why am I thinking like this? And why do I keep sensing cats?”
“Well then,” Jin Fang said before walking up to the aformentioned ominous door,”that means there is only one course of action. I’m going to open the door.”
