Chapter 928: …Blazing Troubles…
[The GalEms report that their darlings have sent the evidence back to their superiors about a day ago. They opted to go for second class delivery for economic reasons.]
‘Seriously? I thought they got paid fat stacks of cash to track my ass.’
[From what the GalEms tell me, they spent a majority of the money on gathering information and liquid courage. Both the literal potion and the metaphorical beverages. Regardless, they stated that the delivery is expected to reach its recipient in about a week or so.]
‘That…that tracks. Anything else to report?’
[Not really, milord. Although, the GalEms requested that they get sent a care package of some…rather specific ingredients.]
‘Dare I ask, what kind of ingredients.’
[Stuff used on wedding nights and honeymoons.]
‘Of course…’
[Alright,enough painfully thirsty zakos, it’s our turn!,] Hurricroak interjected, once she noticed the lull in the conversation. [Maestro, we figured out how that Olstenna knew about us from the get-go. We may need to hit up the Dozing Salamander continent.]
‘Oh boy…’
________________________________________
Hurricroak & Screamira’s Task: Prisoner Interrogation and Check.
[So, this is an abomination, huh? Never thought I’d get to see one for myself, let alone a captured one,] Screamira commented to Hurricroak as they approached the library holding cell containing the being known as Kamakiller and her five hatchlings.
It made for a rather surreal sight, a mantis-like humanoid woman surrounded by five smaller versions of themselves, to the kaijin at least.
They understood the concept of babies, children and that most living things on this world or any other could produce them, but for beings such as themselves…it was a bit alien.
The idea of being able to spawn little tadpole kaijin or…tiny skull kaijin…briefly popped into the heads of Hurricroak and Screamira, until the idea was screamed out of their heads by the previous mentioned Kamakiller and kids. More specifically, the insect kaijin family had attempted to lunge at them, only to be stopped by a barrier.
Sound of razor sharp claws scratching against an invisible barrier.
“REEEEE!”*5
[GIVE ME YOUR TONGUE!]
Neither Screamira nor Hurricroak were phased in the slightest by the threat from the abomination, wild kaijin or whatever the hell Kamakiller was exactly.
Death threats had tendency to lose their edge, when aimed at those who are the embodiment of defiance against death itself. Besides, the duo of sound-powered kaijin had more pressing things to attend to.
[Puta Madre, why did Logos and Pathos insist on keeping these prisoners so far apart like this?,] Hurricroak griped.
[From what I recall, it’s so that they’re not tempted to attack each other.]
[Blargh.]
A couple minutes and a short stroll away from the previous cell later, the kaijin duo finally arrived at the cell of a particular individual.
This individual, was an Ignarii that was enshrouded in a strange purple flame that seemed to radiate with the power of pure [Rage] and [Passion], and had attempted to attack Zhen Liu in the middle of a busy arena day, before getting shoved into one of the Library’s holding cells.
A holding cell that he was now using as an exercise space.
“98…99…3000! New record, fuck yeah!,” the Ignarii shouted as he finished a set of push-ups. “Now let’s-huh? Visitors? No…kaijin!”
His name was Olstenna, and the kaijin had some rather important questions for him.
“Does this mean your boss finally wants to have that rematch? Or are you here to execute me in a most dishonorable fashion?,”Olstenna asked the kaijin point-blank as he began to do chin lifts in his cell. The man didn’t even have any bars to work with, he just stabbed his fingers through solid stone.”If it’s the latter, I’d prefer to die fighting and on my feet, thank you very much.”
“Neither,” Screamira replied,”Well, not yet anyways. Right now, we have something a bit more important to address.”
“Oh?”
“Why do you know what a kaijin is?,” Hurricroak asked.”Actually, better question, how’d you find us?”
“Ah…that’s it? That’s what you want to know?”
Olstenna proceeded to release himself from the ceiling as he wanted to properly address the kaijin face-to-face, now that this conversation went from boring to interesting.
Well…would definitely have interesting consequences.
“Yes, that is what we want to know,” Screamira repeated. “Why do you know that we exist, and how did you know where to find us?”
“Hmmm.”
The purple-flamed Ignarii had this uncharacteristically thoughtful look on his face as Screamira and Hurricroak continued to stand and wait for him to give them an answer.
“No.”
“Pardon?”
Unfortunately, it wasn’t an answer they wanted to hear.
“There isn’t any reason for me to give you that sort of information,” Olstenna explained. “And the fact that y’all haven’t moved me from this cell to a torture chamber or interrogation room implies that your leader, the Kaijin Lord, prefers to keep me uninjured or alive at least. So, I don’t see a reason to give you an answer.”
“Unless…,” Screamira interjected, knowing full well where this was going.
“Oh? Not even gonna pause for dramatic tension?”
“You’re a prisoner here, we got things to do, and I get the distinct feeling that even if we were to starve or isolate you, you’d still be stubborn and not give us an answer, right?,” Hurricroak retorted.
“Probably, yes.”
“So, why don’t we skip all the formalities and build-up and get down to the core of the matter, yes? What do you want?”
“Well then…”
What followed after this could best be described as…tense.
“What if I asked for an absurd amount of money?”
“Please, if you were that type, you wouldn’t have rolled in looking like a vagabond.”
“How about an incredibly rare aether treasure or medicine?”
“You seem more like the type to take what you want, not use weird situations to leverage such things,” Hurricroak observed.
“Besides, I’m pretty sure your [Berserker Purple Spring Flame] makes it so that you need medicines and treasures not found in this Continent, right?,” Screamira added.
“Sharp eyes,” Olstenna admitted. “The path I’m on does follow a specific regiment of materials. Of which, none can be found here.”
“Hmmm.”
Hurricroak and Screamira didn’t mind being praised, but now was not the time.
“And if I were to be obvious and ask for my freedom, would you give it to me?”
“Probably, yeah.”
“You’re not afraid that I’ll tell others? Bring a group of warriors for revenge?”
“No. We’d just win and be forced to irreparably damage the gene pool for the entire mortal population.”
“Arrogant.”
“No, just confident.”
At this point, both parties knew where this conversation was headed and were getting ready to act upon this feeling.
“Alright…there is actually one thing I want,” Olstenna finally stated in all seriousness. “I want a rematch.”
“With the producer?”
“All of you.”
“Beg pardon?”
Olstenna, at this point, couldn’t help but to circulate his aether a bit as a show of force.
“From what I recall, the kaijin are supposed to be these nigh invincible warriors that make natural disasters and aether beasts look like nothing but spring showers and baby kittens. And I remember the blows I exchanged with your boss.”
“And you want another go?”
“Like you said, I’m stubborn.”
“Okay then…”
Screamira and Hurricroak looked at each other for a moment, exchanging exactly one thought before bringing their focus back to Olstenna.
After which, they simply walked pass the barrier’s threshold and into his cell.
“Round 1, jackass.”
“Try not to break.”
Olstenna was a little taken back about this sudden turn of events, but he quickly found himself smiling at this sudden turn. After all, it was what he wanted.
“Two on one…alright then…bring it on!”
_______One battle later…._________________
[…and after we double teamed him into the ground, we squeezed out that he managed to learn about the kaijin via an abandoned monastery in the Ember Highlands. There was apparently an abbott who was friends with a previous lord, and he recorded their friendship in a journal. The Lord was called…the Blastforged? Something like that.”
‘Ambigous phrasing aside…Logos, Pathos, mind giving us a rundown on this Blastforged guy?’
=Well…if my memory serves me right, he used metal kaijin exclusively.=
‘Really?’
‘How…how did he go out?’
<=Crushed by a meteorite.=>
‘S-seriously?’
‘I…I don’t think that is.’
=To be fair, he made sure to take that guy with him. Ironically, with the same meteor that crushed him.=
‘Of course.’
