Chapter 891: Queue them up…
‘Dammit! No time to deal with those freaky mantis nymphs myself. Spring Brawler!’
[At your service, ringmaster!]
…
‘Oh yeah! The words we’re-‘
“SKREEE!”
“Shit!”
Rianna was a touch slower than she needed to be as one of the mantis goblin nymphs had used her moment of hesitation and thought to just bumrush for her throat. At the same time, the other four used this opportunity to go for her legs and arms.
While the group’s attack was coordinated, it wasn’t simultaneous.
At this point, the group of mantis goblins realized that there was a bit of a wind-up or recovery period for Rianna every time she swung her flaming saber. Meaning, the moment Rianna deflected the attack aimed at her throat, her arms and legs would be vulnerable long enough for the rest of the mantis goblins to rush in and get to work.
It was a surprising amount of coordination and planning for a bunch of monsters born literal minutes ago, but alas, this wasn’t something one would normally appreciate when they’re on the receiving end of such tactics.
In an attempt to mitigate the incoming damage, after deflecting the first attack against her throat, Rianna proceeded to infuse her aether into her arms, legs and even the chitin armor she usually wore. While conventional wisdom that most aether based defenses were useless against creatures that could leverage [Chaos], there was a small possibility that these little mantis goblin nymphs weren’t able to use it yet.
However, this precaution turned out to be for naught.
“SKREEE!”
Sproing!
“Skree?”
[Nuh-uh.]
Thoom!
“SKREEE-OW!”
“Spring!”
[At your service, ma’am.]
Just as the first pair of mantis goblin nymphs were about to rip into Rianna’s legs, a pair of giant mechanical hands attached to giant springs had appeared from out of nowhere and grabbed the little bastards by their demented little legs.
After that, all it took was a quick jerk on the returning recoil for Spring Brawler to have his new captives be tossed upwards and directly into the paths of their other two siblings, causing a four bug pile-up.
As the creatures were momentarily stunned, Spring Brawler took this opportunity to place himself next to the defending Rianna, providing the chitin wearing Amazoness a much needed break.
Although, there was one thing that mildly bothered Rianna about this rescue.
[Miss Rianna, are you alright?]
“I am, Spring Brawler, thanks for the save. But…well…”
[You’re wondering why the Ringmaster didn’t personally intervene for your rescue?]
“I mean…”
[Worry not, mistress. The reason why I’m here instead of the Ringmaster, is because he needed time and space to draw a gate to the library.]
“Oh. I-wait a minute, gate to the library? Why?”
[So that we can end this fight in one little move instead of two big ones.]
“Huh?”
[Lemme explain…]
[SKREE!]*5
[Let me explain after, we subdue these little shits.]
“Agreed.”
…
‘I am aware, Pathos. I’ll make it up to her later, and after I end this fight. By the powers though, I’m starting to regret not doing the portable library thing.’
=Because it would take less time to shove your enemies into what is essentially a Pandora’s box of [Chaos] then it is to draw a giant circle for it?=
‘Got it in one.’
‘Yes, father is remarkably good at adapting himself to use [Chaos].’
=To be fair, your family seems to have a rather strange history involving it.=
‘Fair.’
…
[Incoming claw to your right.]
‘Got it.’
[Ah shit, she finally learned how to kick. Block!]
‘Holy-! How is it so heavy for something so spindly looking?!’
[No time, she’s trying to bite your crotch off!]
‘FUCK THAT!’
On the list of things Zhen Yan was expecting to deal with this day, having his son blast… something…into his brain was not one of them.
One minute, he was standing next to his son, ready to fight some crazy mantis monster that radiated a strangely familiar energy that reminded him of this one time his wife got angered and she slaughtered an entire squad of soldiers in retaliation. The next, he felt a strange burning sensation in the back of his head as his son blasted him with some kind of energy blast that felt like being burned by a million or so suns.
After that, he had a strangely personal conversation with some weird, rainbow flamed demonic judge man sitting behind a lion themed desk, and now he could use these weird rainbow colored flames that radiated, as odd as it sounded, vices and virtues.
Did he have any idea what was going on?
No.
Did he appreciate getting this strange power boost?
Yes.
Was he going to give his son a third degree interrogation because him being able to do this leads to a lot of questions, some of which originate from the fact that something very similar to this moment happened a couple months ago?
Yes.
But for now, he had a mantis monster humanoid to deal with.
Thankfully, he wasn’t alone in this rather painful endeavor.
Clang!
“About time!”
During this fight, Zhen Liu’s Razor Maiden puppet would occasionally “cut in” and provide Zhen Yan with some much needed relief by exchanging blows with the Blood Mantis mutant humanoid in his stead.
Which was more than welcome at this point, because his son had disappeared from the fight for some unknown reason!
The new voice in his head assured him that this was part of some grand plan to end this fight sooner rather than later, but it didn’t really help.
A father can’t help but to worry, ya know?
[Just keep the crazy mantis killer busy while your done does his thing. You’d be surprised how oddly clever he can be at times.]
‘I know, but still…kind of wish he gave me a warning or an inkling of what he had in mind before doing it.’
[Would you have agreed to being blasted in the head with power, if he asked?]
‘I mean…probably?’
[In a short enough time frame that wouldn’t be interrupted by this thing trying to slice your head off? Speaking of, neck.]
‘Got it!’
Krssh!
[Bitch!]
Kamakiller attempted to take Zhen Yan’s head again after disengaging with Razorstella, but the Seventh Elder of the Zhen Clan managed to throw up his arms fast enough to block the attack.
He had wanted to grab the mantis mutant’s arm into an arm lock and then either rip it off or throw the bitch in retaliation, but alas, Kamakiller was much faster than anticipated.
Immediately after this block and repell, the Razor Maiden puppet proceeded to begin her onslaught again, this time opting to use that flurry of stabbing kicks from before. Zhen Yan was just about to get involved again, hoping to swing around back and throw a flaming punch right where the spine would be on a normal mortal person, only to suddenly stop when…
[Oooh, hold that thought, Elder Zhen Yan. Your son has a message for you.]
‘Beg pardon?’
‘Father!’
‘Xiao Liu?! How are you…’
‘Don’t worry about it, just know that I have a plan to end this fight in a decisive manner.’
‘You do? How?’
‘Well…for starters, my puppet is about to make an opening for you. Can you use that opportunity to knock that crazy mantis mutant into the air?’
‘Done.’
‘Excellent.’
…
‘Razorstella, I need you piss Kamakiller off.’
[Easy.]
…
[Hateful dancer. Why are you? So damn persistent?!]
[Oh would you look at that! Looks like you’re finally becoming a bit more verbose! But I wonder if you’ll be able to scream if I cut you just right?!]
[You first!]
Since Zhen Liu decided to abscond from the battle at hand, Kamakiller had decided to refocus her efforts on Razorstella and Zhen Yan.
A part of her had figured that dealing with only two combatants instead of three would be an easier task, especially since one of them was a touch weaker than the other.
However, reality was a little different.
Due to Zhen Liu removing himself from the combat zone, Razorstella used this as an opportunity to raise her aggression and really rip into Kamakiller without holding anything back.
In other words, now that Razorstella didn’t have to worry about protecting the director, she felt like she could really cut loose.
[Now come on then, you slicing knock-off! Where was that vicious bloodthirst from earlier?!]
[You want bloodthirst? I’ll give you bloodthirst!]
Enraged by Razorstella’s razor tongue, Kamakiller concentrated her [Chaos] and aether into herself before releasing a burst of energy to knock the bladed ballerina away.
Once some distance was created, Kamakiller proceeded to empower her arms with even more power, causing them to glow with a blood red light.
[You’ve been flashy. But so can I! Blood-]
[Volcanic Uppercut!]
[Huh?]
But before Kamakiller could do a single thing, Zhen Yan rushed in from nowhere and delivered a rather nasty uppercut that sent her airborne.
