Chapter 804: [Chaos] Royale!
‘Wait a minute…did…did that attack actually end them? That fast?,’ Zhen Liu thought to himself as he kept his guard up while staring at the cloud of exploded dust.
Zhen Liu had learned from a long, long list of movies, videogame and literature, that any encounter that seemed to end in one move, especially outside of tournament settings, were usually traps. This was especially the case when one found themselves in a world where humans literally have a sixth sense.
‘Seriouely though, why aren’t I sensing anything or anyone inside of that dust cloud?,’ Zhen Liu thought to himself. ‘Did they block that surprise attack?’
Any moment now, Zhen Liu expected to see either the Calamity Sisters or Inquisitor Malifax to come rushing out of the dust cloud to try and smash his skull in for revenge.
Thankfully, that didn’t happen.
Instead, as Zhen Liu stood there with his guard up, the dust kicked up by Screamira’s and Hurricroak’s attacks had finally started to settle back down.
As the dust literally settled, Zhen Liu could make out a trio of silhouettes appearing directly in front of him.
‘Oh…so that’s what happened… great…’
Evidently, while he was expecting these assholes somehow surviving, he didn’t expect them to come out unscathed.
“Those warriors!”
“Can they be?”
“You’re not the only warrior with a powerful inheritance, conjurer!,” Inquisitor Malifax DuPont taunted.
Surrounding Malifax and the Calamity Sisters was an opaque energy barrier that had a light golden tint to it, which was apparently the reason why they managed to escape Screamira’s and Hurricroak’s efforts unharmed.
Now, normally, seeing a warrior bust out some kind of powerful defensive measure wouldn’t be the most shocking thing in the world to see. Practically every warrior under the sun and all over the world had a defensive measure or three up their sleeves resevered for life threatening situations.
Hell, Zhen Liu made sure to keep at least one survival or escape focused aether art installed inside all of his kaijin, just in case.
However, the appearance of this particular barrier made Zhen Liu and the kaijin pause for a moment, not just because it somehow managed to block out what should’ve been unstoppable attacks laced with [Chaos], but because the barrier itself was laced with naturally infused [Chaos].
As in, for whatever reason, this motherfucking inquisitor that came out of nowhere, was using [Chaos] with the same amount of innate prowess as the kaijin and Zhen Liu.
The funny thing was though, Zhen Liu couldn’t sense any grafted limbs or weapons made from Kaijin bits coming off of the man.
“Behold, conjurer! The power of the sacred blood of one of the Four Wings!”
That and the fact that this ten ton tincan didn’t seem to know what [Chaos] was!
If Zhen Liu has to guess, this was a case of knowledge suppression gone wrong…or this was a case of his predecessors doing weird shit that somehow echoed throughout history.
Either way, he needed context and answers.
________________________________________
‘Logos. Pathos. Analysis, please. What the fuck just happened and why?’
‘I…I honestly can’t tell if you’re fucking with me or telling the truth with that statement.’
‘I really hope it’s not both.’
=Ignoring my emotionally empowered counterpart, milord, there is actually a reasonable explaination as to how and why that Inquisitor managed to leverage [Chaos] in such a manner.=
‘Which is…’
=Remember how I said the Church of the Four Wings was connected to one of your predecessors?=
‘Oh gods above and below, please don’t tell me that this Malifax guy is some kind of [Chaos] infused nepo baby.’
‘Oh, phew…’
=Malifax there is simply the descendant of a kaijin named Sanctoshielder. Kind of like that former slave girl that’s been attaching herself to your cousin, Zhen Xing.=
‘That…okay, I know I’m not allowed to judge my predecessors for their naming senses, but Sanctoshielder? Really?’
‘Urgh! French puns…the pain!’
=If by French you mean “Radiant Speech” then yes. Anyways, I suggest you stop talking to us because your shit is about to get rocked.=
‘Say what?’
[Minn Jarl! Incoming mace to the face!]
‘SHIT! Okay, it’s fine. I’m fairly certain our combined defenses can!’
[And fireball from the back!]
‘FUCK, I FORGOT ABOUT HIM! EVA-wait…maybe I can use this?’
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“You two take the demonesses! I’ll make sure the conjurer is subdued!”
[Smashing Light!]
“Don’t tell us what to do!”
[Mad Dash!]
Despite their protests, the Calamity Sisters did as suggested and rushed to attack Screamira and Hurricroak, who were both caught off guard at that sudden aggression. Normally, they were the ones that were on the attack so this was a new, somewhat novel feeling.
“Hah!”
Running on instinct, Hurricroak and Screamira raised their respective guards to block as the Calamity Sisters proceeded to land a pair of coordinated flying kicks.
Neither side employed aether or [Chaos] in any capacity at this moment, as both sides wanted to measure up just how big the gap between them was.
[Oof! These bitches are heavy!]
[Or at least their kicks are!]
[How rude!]
[We’re barely a hundred pounds each!]
[What the fuck?!]
Properly freaked at the fact that their line of communication was being tapped by someone their lord wasn’t romantically involved with, both Screamira and Hurricroak hurriedly pushed away the Calamity Sisters before they could worse any more information from their heads.
Once both sides had been properly separated from one another, the Calamity Sisters proceeded to give the kaijin a pair of matching smiles that radiated pure creepiness.
“It looks like we won’t be able to use half-measures, sister dear.”
“It would seem so, dear sister.”
“So why don’t we take this fight a bit more seriously? [Regalia!]×2
…
[Okay, can I say it’s kind of bogus that we don’t get any of these fun things that normal aether cultivators get?,] Hurricroak asked Screamira. [Is it because we technically don’t have traditional souls? Is that the issue?]
[To be fair, we’re able to become enhancements for the manager’s Regalia,] Screamira pointed out.
[Yeah, but that’s…hold up…I just thought of something…that I need to ask Logos and Pathos later. So…let’s kick these bitches’ asses and go home.]
[Alright.]
…
[Smashing Light!]
[Berserk Fireball!]
‘Alright, gonna need to time this…’
To Zhen Liu’s front, a fully armored knight was about to smash his face in with a mace that was glowing with light attributed aether.
To his back, a semi-forgotten fire elemental warrior just launched a purple fireball aimed at his back.
If such a situation occurred to any other warrior, this would’ve been a shit situation to be in.
To someone like Zhen Liu, more specifically Frosttusk, this was a golden opportunity.
Due to Frosttusk’s innate ability to absorb heat and become empowered by it, all Zhen Liu had to do was take a few steps back and-
*BOOM!*
“BAH! ACCURSED AETHERII!”
“Hands off my prey!”
‘Ey yo wait, what the fuck?’
However, that plan got thrown out the window the moment that aforementioned purple fireball suddenly veered to the right in order to smack Inquisitor Malifax in the face.
(Un)fortunately, the armored warrior managed summon a protective face shield before the fireball could burn his face off. That said, Inquisitor Malifax was still forced to take several steps back due to the momentum behind the attack.
‘W-what just happened?’
[I’m not sure…]
Zhen Liu, and Frosttusk, were more or less bewildered by this turn of events, until he saw Olstenna walk right pass him, monologuing all the while.
“If you and I are going to fight, Kaijin Lord, I’d prefer it when the both of us are at our peaks and not when some annoying interlopers decide to stick their noses where they don’t belong,” Olstenna explained before stopping in a spot between Zhen Liu and Inquisitor Malifax.
“So consider this my way of apologizing for failing to make sure our battle could be done without interference. [Lion’s Fury!]”
Before Zhen Liu could complain or ask what the fuck Olstenna was going on about, the Ignarii had already decided to launch a lion-shaped fire attack.
Not one to be showed up though, Inquisitor Malifax proceeded to counter in that exact same breath.
“Insolent heretic! [Radiance Seal!]”
As for Zhen Liu…he just decided to stand there and watch…mostly.
‘Well, I guess this is happening…wait, maybe I should use this opportunity to get the kids out of here…but first, I need to make it so me bailing isn’t weird…’
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‘Ow…my aching head…,’ Zhen Hai complained as he did his best to soothe his throbbing headache. “What the fuck was-holy shit!’
However, before he could appreciate and get over the pain, he found himself being a front row observer for a battle that had somehow become even more absurd.
‘Wait a minute…when did Olstenna and Zhen Liu decide to work together?’
“ACCURSED BASTARDS! HOW DARE YOU DEFY MY AUTHORITY?!”
‘Ah…that tracks.’
