anwhile, at the Library of Nowhere...
From the safety of their observation room, Logos and Pathos watched as their lord proceeded to pass the buck of fighting the Buddhist warrior monk to the Forged Feather Dragon Vulture.
There was a joke sowhere about having one’s enemies rip each other to shreds, but they couldn’t think about that right now.
Right now, they were thinking about what their Lord had promised the old monk, and determining whether or not they could fulfill this objective.
Pathos told Logos.
=Not yet,= Logos replied. =However, I did find all of those scriptures written by the Honored One’s disciples.=
...Speaking of the Honored One’s Legacy...
When Giobana and Gera heard Elder Phanra’s goals and the Kaijin Lord’s clear statent of challenge earlier, they had assud that they were going to witness a duel between the two occur inside this very cave, Forged Feather Dragon Vulture be damned.
Which was kind of absurd in retrospect, since the aforentioned dragon vulture was the reason why they were in this cavern in the first place.
"Wait a minute...how and why did we forget about such a large and dangerous aether beast in the first place?," Gera asked Giobana.
"I...I don’t know..."
The reason why they had forgotten was actually due to the sa reason why one of them caught themselves actively swearing earlier, the power of [Chaos].
Neither them nor the source of this [Chaos] knew at the ti, but the latter had been so focused on bringing attention to themselves, that it had the unforeseen effect of causing people to forget about any other threats or sources of danger in the cavern.
To provide an example, it was hard to focus on the fact that there was a sleeping tiger in a room that also contained a disco dancing fire spirit.
But now that the taphorical spirit had left the room, there was still a slightly singed and increasingly angry tiger to deal with.
Once the Forged Feather Dragon Vulture realized it was missing several of its most valuable feathers, it did the only logical thing and lashed out at the nearest thing that was even vaguely responsible.
And in the dragon vulture’s eyes, the elderly Buddhist monk that had been more or less blindsided by the Kaijin Lord’s impromptu test/trickery, was probably the reason why it woke up with such intense irritation.
"SKRAAAA!"
"Elder Phanra, look out!"
FWOOSH!
The dragon vulture released a torrent of flas from its mouth and attempted to carbonize the old bastard for the simple cri of existing.
However, that didn’t pan out too well.
As the torrent of flas ca roaring towards him, Elder Phanra didn’t mobilize his aether to block the attack as he was using it to protect the two scions of the Erupting Dawn Empire. Instead, he made use of the fact that he was also an ania wielder who had managed to undo four locks to not just block the dragon flas, but to manipulate them so that they began to circle around him instead.
This would’ve been the part where the Forged Feather Dragon Vulture would be shocked and annoyed at the sight of its flas being manipulated in such a blatant manner, but the sheer [Wrath] coursing through its body was already doing a damn good job at making sure it was just positively pissed.
A fact that wasn’t lost to Elder Phanra, but he saw this mont as sothing a bit more...aningful.
’The Fighting Buddha...fourteen years...he knows of the Great Journey. A story passed down from direct disciple to direct disciple since the Honored One himself! Does that an he wants to travel to find him, in the sa way that the Wise Cicada led his disciples? If that’s the case, how am I to approach this mont?’
Like the Fighting Buddha or the Wise Cicada? How can...wait...’
Every teacher was once a student, and in this mont, Elder Phanra was reminded of that fact. Alongside an old lesson.
’My master once said there was more than one way to light and snuff a candle...but it was how one goes about the task that displays one’s character.’
As this realization sank in, Phanra proceeded to dismiss the flas by directing them into the ground.
’If this is a test of character...so be it. I shall show the world, the Kaijin Lord and the Honored One, that I am worthy of inheriting these teachings,’ Phanra told himself as he began to condense his aether into a [Regalia].
’Let this first encounter be my first trial!’
And with that sentint in mind, Elder Phanra moved to engage with the Forged Feather Dragon Vulture.
...Elsewhere...
"Bleh. More pleasant than the ti I swam through a swamp, it still sucks because of all the water in my ears," Zhen Liu complained. "If you ever have plans to co back and rebuild the place, a better and/or shorter escape route would be appreciated."
"Duly noted."
Understanding that discretion was the better part of valor, Zhen Liu and Lythero opted to escape the tree hollow cavern before that deceptively strong Buddhist monk even had a chance to throw a punch in their direction. Granted, they did do a little more than escape, but that wasn’t the important bit. The important bit was that the two of them hadn’t escaped their situation empty-handed.
Standing next to the duo as they were drying themselves off, were six zakos holding six Gold tiered aether treasure swords of various builds and makes.
These swords belonged to Lythero’s masters, a group of wandering sword heroes that died due to the machinations of a selfish nobleman.
Most people in a situation like this, narrowly escaping a bad situation and getting their hands on a bunch of powerful Gold tiered weapons, would be over the moon.
"I still can’t believe you left Master Panther’s sword back in there with those noble brats."
Lythero wasn’t one of those people.
"You and I both know that the alternative wasn’t a great option," Zhen Liu retorted while squeezing the water out of his clothes. "Unless you honestly thought we could’ve fought two Grandmasters who we saw were geared out to the nines, a double cultivator of at least the Overlord tier if I’m being conservative and a giant fucking dragon vulture?"
"Well..."
"And keep in mind I’m factoring in the fact that , the kaijin and the zako, all have an innate weakness against the guy who has almost no desire in his soul and the aforentioned giant dragon vulture. If they were literally anybody else and anything else respectively, we would’ve won that battle handily."
The logical side of Lythero understood all of this, but the emotional side was still pissed.
"... so what’s the plan now? We sneak back into the camp and steal the sword while they’re all sleeping?," Lythero asked. "Hope that the dragon vulture has managed to injure them enough for us to stroll right in."
"No, actually we don’t have to go in at all."
"What are you-"
Tap, tap.
"Huh?"
"This is what you wanted, yes?"
Just as Lythero was about to ask what Zhen Liu was talking about, he was interrupted by the top of his head being tapped with the side of a blade.
Not just any blade, it was Master Panther’s [Midnight Slasher], being handled by Blazejudicator.
At this point, Lythero should’ve realized hanging around Zhen Liu would lead to a lot of unexpected surprises like this, but he was still stunned silent.
Thankfully he was still cognizant enough to retrieve the blade and ask a question.
"How? Just...how???"
"Well...rember when I blasted the Forged Feather Dragon Vulture with the [Flas of Wrath]?"
"Yeah..."
"I actually added a little sothing extra to it in the form of Blazejudicator," Zhen Liu explained. "Then during the commotion, and the obvious build-up mont that was happening between the dragon vulture and the Buddhist monk, Blazejudicator blasted off that pretty little blade before bailing a little behind us."
"Turns out I’m more water resistant than I thought," Blazejudicator said with a proud tone of voice, before returning to being inside of Zhen Liu’s spirit.
A part of Lythero couldn’t believe that story due to how impossibly convenient this mont was...but he also realized that he shouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth.
After all, he now had all seven of his master’s swords.
"That being said," Zhen Liu continued, despite Lythero’s obvious stunned silence. "It’s better for you revenge if you’re an unknown. Imagine if we actually did pick a fight with an Imperial royal in such a blatant manner. We’d never hear the end of it."
Granted, Zhen Liu did plant the seed for sothing else entirely...
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