anwhile...
'Hey, Nepeherage, can you confirm sothing for real quick?'
[Always, milord. What's up?]
'My ability to receive info from Kaijin and Zako is still a little shot right now, but I think I was just inford that my friends over at the Hall of Glass Warriors just got kidnapped by a giant mirror. The only one not affected by this was the zako who was sohow able to outright ignore it.'
[Alright...what does that have to do with needing to check sothing?]
'Call it a feeling, but I think that what we're dealing with probably involves that weird change that occurred at that fountain plaza.'
[Ah, I get what you're saying now. I'll be sure to relay any information that the others send your way]
'Thank you, Nepeherage. Now then, ti to get the drop on these guys.'
...Now back to the chamber...
"Are...are you okay?" Duke Diamoro asked the possessed young man, soon after the latter made his declaration of shock.
It had caught him and his subordinates completely by surprise when they heard the originally regal and shaky acting possessed young man suddenly curse like a teenager.
The only ones not surprised by this cursing was the captured trio of Olstenna, Lythero and Antonio, but they weren't going to explain shit to the guys who had captured them.
"Wait a minute...isn't that weird energy..."
"Shush! Don't say shit!"
Ignoring the question that Duke Diamoro had asked him, and unnoticing of the comntary coming from behind him, the possessed young man proceeded to snap their fingers and manipulate the red mirror so that he could see what was going on the other side of it.
Before the eyes of everyone present, the red mirror had stopped reflecting the faces of the stupefied warriors and began to show a group of young won and a strange wooden warrior recovering from a recent battle.
Once this group had co into view, the possessed young man began to focus the mirror in such a way so that the ones in the fra were a young human woman in a strange brown and black dress, a sheep Bloodliner won dressed in purple and the aforentioned wooden warrior.
Once these three ca into view, the possessed young started to release significantly more bloodlust than before, especially towards the wooden warrior.
Evidently, this was a very noticeable change.
"Honored ancestor? What's wrong?" Duke Diamoro risked asking, feeling at least sowhat confident he could block any attacks directed towards him that ca from a place of anger.
Thankfully, that didn't happen. Instead, the Duke was asked so rather unusual questions.
[Those girls...do you know who they are?]
"I don't," Duke Diamoro readily admitted. "Alfonzo?"
"My sources tell that the human is known as Alicia Goldshire, the daughter of a auctioneer, while the other is Princess Bellona Ecaredies from the Bronze Bell Kingdom. Both are native to the continent of Stampeding Bison and are students of the Rainbow Phoenix Academy."
"There you have it."
[Hmmm.]
The possessed young man stared at Duke Diamoro and his scaly subordinate, evaluating whether or not he was being lied to.
Evidently, he assud it was a case of ignorance rather than malice.
[What about this wooden warrior? Do you know where it ca from?]
To help provide further clarity to his question, the possessed young man directed the mirror's focus so it was solely on the strange, wooden warrior that sohow seed lively and expressive despite having no face.
[What about him? Do you know about him?]
"Uh..."
Alfonzo was oddly hesitant about answering this question but eventually did so under Duke Diamoro's gaze.
"Isn't...isn't that just an aether puppet?" Alfonzo asked."I an, it's a weird aether puppet, but..."
[...]
Evidently, this wasn't what the possessed man wanted to hear in the slightest.
[A puppet? You think that that thing is a weird aether puppet? How ignorant are the people of this era?!]
Shocked by the possessed man's furious roar, many of the warriors present suddenly began to cower.
The lot of them may have been Aether Masters and above, accompanied by an Aether King no less, but even they knew when to cower in the face of soone significantly stronger than themselves.
Especially when that soone made the aforntioned Aether King feel nervous as well.
"You seem to be implying that this puppet and those won are more than ets the eye," Duke Diamoro stated in an almost sycophantic tone. "Would you mind elucidating us to their true nature then?"
The possessed man was silent for a few monts before he answered what he felt was an obvious question.
[This vessel of mine believes that the main sources of power that you mortals use are either aether or anima. Is this correct?]
"That is accurate, honored ancestor."
[Then the world at large is more ignorant than I thought,] the possessed man grumbled. [There is a power that is older, much older than even the greatest of empires, wisest of gods and most powerful of dragons. That little "puppet" is made of it.]
"What?!"
[And if that is the case then one of those two young won were able to...wait a mont.]
A thought dawned on the possessed man as he focused on the red mirror once more and began to channel my aether into it.
Once he did, five visible colorful auras began to manifest around the people and wooden warrior in the mirror. However, this isn't what the possessed man wanted to see in the slightest.
[You there, Bloodliner, you said earlier that you believed that this wooden Primordial was a re aether puppet, yes?]
"Er...yes," Alfonzo nodded.
[What made you co to this conclusion?]
"Oh! It's because one of the people that she brought with her is an up and coming aether puppet master that has been making a na for themselves as of late," Alfonzo readily answered.
[Is he here?]
"No, they should be at the Cloaked Gallery."
[The Cloaked Gallery?]the possessed man repeated incredulously.
With a direction now given, the possessed man redirected his aether towards the black glass mirror to determine the truth of Alfonzo's words.
____Speaking of the Cloaked Gallery_______
"Is it cowardly for us to just stand here while those Silver-tongue guys are getting killed by their own clones?" Zhen Tai asked his cousins. "I an...can't we just fight them ourselves?"
"I'm a firm believer of turnabout being fair play," Zhen Xing answered. "So...no. If anything, we should be helping the clones."
"Dark."
"Hey guys, look alive," Zhen Liu spoke up after this exchange of words. "Our opportunity to attack is about to happen."
"You an, be unnecessary showy?"
"Sa thing."
...
^That tears it!^Abbot Longhorn roared as soon as he managed to knock away his clones. ^Ti to end this!^
^Oh shit!^
Sending what was about to happen next, Rebaba the rhino Bloodliner proceeded to smash through his own clones before getting to Abbot Longhorn's side.
He had originally wanted to recover Lupao's body, but he knew it was going to get annihilated in a couple of seconds.
Now that he had so space to work with, Abbot Longhorn proceeded to channel an absurd amount of aether into his palm, causing it glow as it radiated with the power of sacred thunder.
[Palm of Buddha: Thunder Palm!]
Abbot Longhorn thrusted his hand forward and released a surge of energy that took on the form of a giant golden palm that smashed through all of the mirror clones while releasing a surge of pure aether that seed to purify the area in front of any earthly attachnt or evil intent.
Well, mostly.
Once the attack had finished running it's course, all that was left was an empty hallway and powdered glass.
^Whoa...was that one of the signature moves of your monastery, Abbot Longhorn?^ Rebba asked out of genuine admiration.
^It was,^ Abbot Longhorn nodded. ^But I'm not sure if I have enough in to do that again.^
^Well, that's a bold face lie if I ever heard one,^ a slightly arrogant voice called out from the doorway opposite from where Abbot Longhorn and Rebaba were standing.
^Ah fuck.^
^Of course, they're trying to turn the table on us...^
Standing in the doorway like an bunch of opportunistic thugs, Zhen Liu, Zhen Xing and Zhen Tai had their weapons drawn and ready to fight.
Not only that, but Zhen Liu had decided to enter while fully cloaked in his [Regalia], not his [Stigma].
After all, he needed to play a particular role right now.
^Judging from the dal on your hips, you guys are with the Silver-Tongues as rcenaries, yeah?^ Zhen Liu asked. ^Any chance you're willing to let bygones be bygones and leave us alone?^
In response to this very reasonable demand, both Abbot Longhorn and Rebaba dug deep and began circulating their aether as hard as they did back when they were fighting their clones.
^Figured as much. Ladies, it's show ti!^
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