[I think the noises ca from over-Whoa,] Porcelain Doll paused the mont she entered and saw what was unfolding before her. [That's a lot of mirror clones.]
[Oh ick, it's another Buddhist...wait, why does this one feel less ick against my senses?] Corpse Doll added the mont she caught up with her "sister".
When the twin proto-kaijin first heard the fighting, they assud that yet another group of warriors had accidentally activated the cloaked mirrors and were in the middle of fighting weird versions of themselves, much like how their Lord and his cousins were fighting weird versions of themselves.
They were...half-right.
Entering a different wing of the gallery, they stumbled upon the sight of a flashy-looking old monk that had the deanor of an angry bull, a rhino Bloodliner with thunder cloud patterened skin and an anima wielding gaunt-lookong bandit fighting off multiple versions of themselves at the sa ti.
Thankfully(?), these clones felt significantly weaker than their original counterparts and we're summarily dispatched in re monts one after the other.
For example, Corpse Doll could sense that the rhino Bloodliner had power equivalent to an Aether Grandmaster while the clones all were around and below that level.
As a trade-off, though, all of the weakened clones had significantly more varied movesets and different attributes than their original counterparts.
Either way, Corpse Doll and Porcelain Doll were able to watch this unfolding conflict without worrying about getting attacked in turn due to how violently focused these guys were on fighting their clones.
As they did though, sothing in Corpse's Doll "brain" eventually clicked in regards to identifying who these guys were.
[Wait...I think I know that guy,] Corpse Doll comnted to Porcelain Doll. [The monk I an.]
[You do?] Porcelain Doll asked.
[Yeah, I think his na was Abbot...Shorthorn? Longhorn! That was it. Caretaker's lovers ntioned sothing about how their familiars learned that this guy was a Buddhist like Elder Tusk, but like...a really shitty one.]
[I feel like that's an important detail, but I don't know what that ans,] Porcelain Doll freely admitted.
[It ans we should probably report back to Caretaker about this guy being here,] Corpse Doll responded with the confident tone of soone who thought themselves as an elder teaching their younger counterpart.
[Now I think Blaze-Blaze said that I had to concentrate on that bit inside that seed to connect elsewhere...]
[Oh! Can I try too?]
[I don't see why not.]
_______anwhile______
When the mirror version of Zhen Liu breathed a torrent of [Ghost Flas] into the original's face, Zhen Liu honestly thought his house was beyond cooked.
As he fully committed himself to using the [Veteran's Bone Club] to knock back the attack that was barreling towards his face, he left little room for himself to block again or dodge out of the way.
Thankfully, he wasn't the only one in control of his body at the mont.
[Producer, I apologize in advance,] Screamira said monts before Zhen Liu could feel her deepen her control over his body.
'Say wha-BAH!'
Before Zhen Liu could finish asking his question, his legs suddenly suddenly splayed out beneath him and forced him to do a perfect split.
"Ow," Zhen Liu squeaked out as he felt his legs stretch way beyond the normal limits. "Pains ans I'm alive, pain ans I'm alive..."
At the cost of his groin and thighs feeling torn at the seams, Zhen Liu was able to completely avoid the [Ghost Fla] now flying over his head.
And now he had room for a counter attack of his own.
Well, a counter attack as led by Screamira.
...
[Producer, do you think you can turn the Veteran's Bone Club into a tuning fork matched to my highest note?]
'I get what you're thinking. One tuning fork coming up!'
...
While the undead mirror of Zhen Liu was in the middle of landing and correcting his posture, the original version was using his [Hamr of the Dearly Departed] to transform his [Veteran's Bone Club] into a boney tuning fork that was perfectly keyed to Screamira's screams and positioned over his mouth.
[Banshee's Song!]
In the blink of an eye, Zhen Liu enhanced his vocal chords with a mix of aether and [Chaos] before releasing a scream that carried an imnse aura of impending death.
By itself, this attack was enough for Zhen Liu to rattle the skulls of warriors that were at least two cultivation tiers above him or equal while outright killing any of those below him.
Enhanced by the power of the [Veteran's Bone Club] turned tuning fork though, this scream gained the ability to injure spiritual bodies.
Which turned out to be exactly what he needed.
"GaaoOaoaoaaaOoo!"
As the enhanced scream reverberated through the air, the mirror clone of Zhen Liu beca stunned as it rocked through his body and began to show cracks like a busted mirror.
On a side note, Zhen Liu's mirror clone wasn't the only one affected.
...anwhile...
"Ow! What the fuck was that scream?!"
"I don't know, but we have an opening! Go for the kill!"
[Kitsune teor!]
"Right!"
[Boitatá Combo!]
...Now back to the protagonist...
[Producer!]
'I see it!'
Using this opportunity to strike, Zhen Liu imdiately changed his tuning fork back into a club and proceeded to double smash the clone with both of his weapons.
The first strike further weakened the clone, while the follow-up smashed it into pieces.
"Gaaa..."
Zhen Liu could feel a heavy energy in the area lessen considerably as he watched his clone fall apart.
"Phew. That was intense," Zhen Liu sighed as he relaxed his guard and turned his attention towards the Kaijin of the hour.
'Great job, Screamira. The tuning fork was smart.'
[I've actually been marinating in that idea for a while,] Screamira replied with pride in her voice. [Never thought it'd be under these circumstances though.]
'Well...'
[Caretaker!]
[Care...taker?]
'Wait, what the fuck?'
Just as Zhen Liu was about to go on a whole thing about how life was unpredictable as hell and all anyone could ever do was just roll with the punches, he found himself suddenly connected to a proto-kaijin he had exactly zero mory in creating or establishing.
The only reason he wasn't freaking out though was because this new presence felt very similar to Corpse Doll's.
'I...okay, who are you and how are you connected to my brain?'
[I don't have a na but I'm going by Porcelain Doll, I was created when Corpse Doll got caught in one of Tezcatlipoca's mirror and I kind of developed sentience as more and more Chaos got literally punched into . I think I'm technically Corpse Doll's twin all things considered?]
'...'
Zhen Liu was rather overwheld by the information he just received, especially about that part where this new proto-kaijin na-dropped an ancient deity from his old world... again. But, like every other ti Zhen Liu has encountered interworld bleeding, he decidedly kept his mouth shut and shoved it into the back of his mind to deal with later.
Right now, they were in the middle of sothing life-threatening.
'Okay, so you're a new proto-kaijin and you're technically Corpse Doll's sister. Cool.'
[That was...fast.]
[See? Told you Caretaker was accommodating,] Corpse Doll stated with a slight smugness in her voice.
'Anyways, why are you two piping up into my head right now?'
[Oh, long story short, it appears the Silver-tongues have sent their allies to try to kill you and your cousins,] Porcelain Doll answered first. [But they got caught up fighting their own clones instead.]
'Figured that was the case, thank you Bellona and Alicia,' Zhen Liu said in gratitude as he recalled their earlier actions. 'Also, the clone thing is kind of expected. Are they still locked in combat?'
[Yup, they're still fighting off the horde of knock-offs,] Porcelain Doll added. [But it looks like they're running on fus.]
'Good to—wait a minute, horde?'
[Oh! And this is the more important part, but one of the guys that are here is that Buddhist monk from yesterday. The one who interfered in Lythero's fight?]
'Abbot Longhorn is here?! Oh co on!'
[Yeah, but there's sothing...off about him,] Corpse Doll followed up on her side of the report. [He doesn't set off alarms in my head in the sa way that Elder Tusk did or does praying monks from yesterday.]
'Wait, seriously?'
[Yes.]
'Hmmm...'
The amount of ti it took for Zhen Liu to receive all of this information was less than a minute, due to it being delivered at the speed of thought, but it took him significantly longer to determine his next course of action.
His usual modus operandi was to send out the Kaijin to fight, but his ability to communicate with them was severely limited to a select few.
He wasn't even able to get real ti updates from the zakos unless he actually focused on them long enough.
Thankfully, though, sobody else was about to make the decision in his place.
"Zhen Liu! Are you alive?!"
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