Chapter 841: Meteoric Finish
“After that day, things went about as you expected. Meteor Horn and I became friends, he taught me everything he knew, or at least what he could, in regards to [Chaos], his fellow kaijin and their shared creator, the Rebellion Star herself,” Daria explained as the finishing touches to her story. “He even taught me this neat trick that allowed me to use her tomb as a means of communicating with him via my mind just like she did. It was like something out of a fairytale.”
The Rebellion Star was the alternative name for the Kaijin Lord once known as the Star Caller, but that was a detail for later.
“However, as you can probably guess, those days didn’t last forever. I already told you that I had ran to him for help when I wanted to get away from my old clan and the arranged marriage they had prepared for me, so I’ll skip that, and get to the point where I we had to say goodbye…it wasn’t pleasant.”
“From what I’ve heard, farewells involving kaijin casualties rarely do,” Zhen Liu commented while thinking back on the pseudo-kaijin Grub and the fallen Marlancer.
The first was a tale of greed and gluttony gone wrong, while the second was a story of a fallen lord that Zhen Liu was fairly certain wasn’t quite over yet if the Fallen Clan and his great grandauntie was anything to go off of.
That all said, he had a feeling that his mother was about to tell him a tale that fell more into the latter category than the former. Especially when she opened with this line.
“The day I ran away from that arranged marriage meeting, it wasn’t just my parents, your grandparents that were pissed at my decision. Several key elders were pissed too because the person I was going to marry was going to pay a ludicrous amount in bridal payments for my hand and they wanted it bad…on the same day that Meteor Horn was about to break down, no less.”
“Oh…”
________________________________________
*BANG!*
“ARRGGGH!”
“ELDER PIERCE, NO!”
“ACCURSED BEAST, HOW DARE YOU!”
[BLOW IT OUT YOUR ASS YOU TWAT WA-HACK!]
“Meteor Horn, no!”
Daria was certain she was living her worst nightmare at this moment.
A part of her had hoped that when she came to Meteor Horn in her hour of need, the kaijin’s presence and power would’ve been enough to have the Nerriza clan to mark her as dead and forgotten. Especially after Meteor Horn managed to seriously injure her original three escorts and bury the subsequent follow-ups.
Instead, much to her dismay, the Nerriza clan decided to send a trio of elders alongside several powerful allies hailing from the Sword Devil Tribe, Skyridge Hall and Dragon Breaking Pavilion, all for the sole purpose of retrieving her and securing the Tomb of the Star Caller for themselves.
Evidently, she forgot that a key truth of the universe was that greed often overpowered common sense.
At this point in time, Meteor Horn had managed to take out four of the invading warriors but had suffered several injuries in the process, which was shocking to Daria. Up until this particular battle, Meteor Horn always seemed able to shrug off basically any type of attack due to the innate [Chaos] that coursed through his hide.
The fact that he was getting injured like this was a sign that his ability to channel [Chaos] was getting weaker and weaker.
From her perspective, the battle was becoming bleak as the injuries to Meteor Horn’s body was starting to stack…and there was nothing she could do to fix it.
At Meteor Horn’s insistence, Daria had secured herself within the internals of the Star Caller’s tomb, which prevented the attacking warriors from using her as a hostage. That said, Daria was becoming increasingly desperate as she watched this hopeless battle unfold.
…
“Meteor Horn, I’m sorry! I-I shouldn’t have come here and now…wait! Maybe if I go out there and beg, they’ll at least-”
[Hey! None of that kind of talk!,] Meteor Horn interjected. [I already lost one little lady due to a diplomacy deal gone wrong, and I ain’t losing another one. Especially when you got a whole new life ahead of you now.]
“But how can I begin a new life if you’re not there to help em-”
[Besides, if I was going to break down anyways, I might as well break down for someone else’s sake.]
“…what?”
…
“Try blocking against this, you monster! [Sky Cracking Finger]!”
*Bam!*
[Gah! Haven’t felt that kind of pain in a while!]
“Finally!”
“It’s about time we inflicted a fatal wound!”
“If not, at least this bastard’s arm is finally gonna be inoperable!”
One of the allies of the Nerriza Clan elders, a warrior hailing from Skyridge Hall, managed to get the drop on Meteor Horn by coming in at a tricky angle. Using this surprise momentum, the allied warrior managed to jam one of his fingers deep into what he assumed to be a shoulder joint of the rhinoceros-like warrior.
On most people, aether warriors included, an aether art attack directly to a joint would be enough to permanently cripple them.
Unfortunately for these incredibly uninformed assholes, Meteor Horn wasn’t exactly mortal.
At least…for a little while longer.
[And…grab!]
“What the fuck?!”
“How is he still able to use his arm like that?!”
“Forget that, he’s got Cloud Ripper in a death grip!”
In a move unbefitting of someone who should be dealing with a crippled arm, Meteor Horn managed to lift his hand and grab the warrior jamming his finger into his body by the man’s wrist.
“Let me g-AAAAAAHHHH!”
[Damn, I forgot how fragile you Aether Kings are. That was only a light squeeze at best.]
Meteor Horn shattered the man’s arm into powder and pulled the remnants of a hand out of his shoulder. As he did, a strange smoke-like energy began to flow out of the wound. An energy that caused all of the remaining warriors to instinctually dread.
“What on Valresta?”
“What is that energy coming out of him?”
“I don’t know, but it feels…wrong.”
[Well shit, looks like I’m gonna have to skip ahead to the finale.]
…
“Break down? What do you mean break down? You said you weren’t going to break down for another several dates or so because of…oh gods, it’s because of this battle isn’t it?”
[Well, no. I was actually going to break down in a year or so anyways, but I lied to you so you would stop panicking when I first taught you about what happened to some of my old compatriots. I know I shouldn’t have lied to you, but that’s not important right now.]
“Not important?! You’re dying, no, worse than dying! You said it yourself that when a kaijin breaks down that they-”
[I know what I told you, and it’s because of what happened that I know this will work!]
“But if it does, that also means I’ll never see you again.”
[I know! But at least this way, I can give you a proper goodbye.]
“…”
[And of course, one last lesson: how to escape from a rampaging giant.]
…
[Alright, you decrepit motherfuckers who fail to realize the importance of love. Time to show you how much of a monster I can really be!]
Sensing that his end was near, Meteor Horn clapped his hands together and began to churn his aether and [Chaos] in a new and incredibly violent manner. So much so that the wisp of smoke that was leaking from his wound was turning into a jet…and the cracks from the initial wound was beginning to spread.
[By the power of another I was given form…,] Meteor Hor began to say.
“What the fuck is that rhino doing?”
“I-I don’t know! But it feels like an art? We gotta stop him!”
“I can’t move! It’s like he…he…he…who were we talking about?”
[By their wisdom I was taught all I know…,] Meteor Ho continued as their(it’s) body began to static and glitch, growing in size to a point where even the mountains began to look smaller in comparison to their legs(hands).
[By their will I was given existence, and by my last shred of it, I shall return it…,] Mete managed to grumble out of his mouth moments before slowly feeling the ability to produce speech starting to melt away.
At this point, the warriors of the Nerriza Clan and their allies forgot that they were fighting a rhinoceros warrior and were convinced that they were fighting some kind of rhinoceros monster.
Some kind of beast that defied all mortal logic and understanding, that had to be put down as quickly as possible.
But just as they were about to undergo such a task, the faintest rumbling of a speech could be heard emanating from the beast…but only a single girl hiding away could barely understand it.
[I heeded the call of the Kaijin Lord, but now I must return. May my body rampage until the world redeems its cost, may my mind return to the flow and my soul be unraveled.]
[Meteor Ho…Goliath, leads the charge…no more.]
