^Huh? What are you two talking ab—oh, what the heck?^ Maggie cried in mild alarm.
From the folds of her clothes, Maggie had an obvious glowing spot present over her heart. If it were elsewhere, it would appear as if she were pregnant with a glowing baby.
^How did you not notice that your clothes were literally glowing like you have a candle hidden under there?!^ Antonio asked in mild alarm.
^Wait...I think I know what this is...^ Taurna trailed off as she rembered the [Chaos] lessons they had over the past few months.
One of the first lessons that the rebels were taught by Zhen Liu's kaijin was that [Chaos] was incredibly reactive to [Desire].
There were a lot of big words and weird taphors involved in these lessons, but they were able to get the gist of it after putting it into practice.
Naly, that the key to channeling [Chaos] was to focus on your greatest [Desire].
However, this was only a surface understanding of how [Chaos] interacted with [Desire].
Subsequent lessons flew over most of the rebels heads, because [Chaos] was sothing that was better taught physically than verbally, but one particular lesson stuck in Taurna's mind: the difference between [aning] and [Value] when it ca to [Chaos].
An item with high [Value], in essence, treasures and weapons made with rare aether materials, could be enhanced in a straightforward manner and even distort the usual effects that the object in question could produce.
Many of the rebel warriors used mining equipnt and homade spears that allowed them to injure the kaijin, but that was about it.
An item with deep [aning], though—that's when things got really weird.
It's often been said that tools and objects that had been well-treated and used over long periods of ti, made with certain emotions and intentions, and even toys that had been deeply loved by children have a tendency to develop an unseen emotional weight to them.
And this weight, when combined with [Chaos], can produce miracles that not even the greatest of aether treasures could reproduce.
Right now, Taurna, Maggie, and Antonio were staring at a live example of a aningful object being exposed and empowered by ambient [Chaos].
^Maggie…can you take out the totem for us to see?^ Taurna asked.
From the folds of her clothes, Maggie pulled out what was now the glowing horse skull totem that once belonged to the Gallum Brothers.
And accompanying this strange light show, Maggie and Taurna could feel that the totem was encased in an aura that belonged to all three of those romantic fools.
^Huh…is it just , or do I feel like we need to throw it?^ Taurna observed.
^You're not alone in that assessnt,^ Maggie admitted as she waved the totem around, noticing that it glowed with brighter intensity once it was brought in a certain direction.
The direction where a certain Kaijin Lord was fighting like a madman.
^And I think I have an idea why we're both feeling that…^
...Alright, enough prep, get to fighting…
In the airspace of the main cavern was a burning ss.
Zhen Liu's [Imperial Crusher: Riot] had done as he intended and fucked up the formation of Dante's lesser kaijin. After all, it was kind of hard for one to focus when a man made of burning black flas was attempting to cave in one's face. As such, this ant that Zhen Liu was allowed to face Dante and his [Demon Knights] head-on.
[Flash Fire Step!]
Before Dante and his horde had a chance to gang up on Zhen Liu, the latter imdiately circulated [Chaos] and fire aether in such a way that the mont their attacks were about to make contact, they ended up hitting nothing but phantasmal flas that lightly singed their extremities for their trouble.
The mont Zhen Liu disappeared, Dante and his horde imdiately made moves to intercept Zhen Liu the mont he reappeared behind Dante.
In their minds, this was the most obvious follow-up to Zhen Liu's disappearing act, since he had been hard focusing on Dante since the very beginning of this battle.
Surprisingly, this wasn't the case this ti around.
[Made you look, bitches!]
[BAH!]
[Slavina!]
Surprising the group, Zhen Liu had reappeared behind Slavina and brought down a pair of hamrs that were cloaked in the [Flas of Wrath] upon the plant kaijin's back.
To the plant bitch's credit, she managed to tank the attack fairly well despite being sent flying several steps back.
[You little shit!]
While Slavina was still in the process of recovering, Obsidious, Gumba, Delictum, and Oizys decided to try and make use of the fact that Zhen Liu had left himself vulnerable to a follow-up attack.
[Please! The zakos have better coordination than you three slowpokes!]
Before the four elite kaijin could land a blow, Zhen Liu dropped out of the air. Stifling his own circulation of aether and [Chaos], Zhen Liu managed to abuse the power of gravity to fall down faster than a stone and avoid all four of the attacks.
Zhen Liu's plan at this point in ti was to fire off another [Imperial Crusher], but focused this ti on the freaky tar kaijin Oizys.
Tar was flammable, and Zhen Liu figured he could use this fact to cause a minor explosion that would injure the other Kaijin.
Unfortunately, Zhen Liu forgot to factor in one variable.
[Imperial—]
[Ensnaring Python Whip!]
[FUCK!]
Before Zhen Liu could attack, Dante had lashed out with his [Astra] and ensnared Zhen Liu in a python construct made with aether and reinforced with [Chaos]. Incidentally, in a refined manner that resembled Zhen Liu's own thodology.
'Alright, I regret not braining him earlier,' Zhen Liu ntally cursed as he was physically crushed by the python whip. If it wasn't for the [Stigma] he was currently wearing, he was fairly certain that his arms and ribs would be crushed into powder.
Making matters worst, Dante's attack was actively restricting his ability to circulate aether and [Chaos] in any aningful fashion.
This was only the start of Zhen Liu's worries, and he was actually going to be subjected to sothing much more painful.
[Ascend!]
Instead of being tossed into a wall or a floor, Dante has pivoted his hips and swung Zhen Liu back into the situation he had just avoided.
Obsidious, Gumba, Oizys, and Delictum were surprised by the turn of events, but only briefly. They weren't the type to pass up a golden opportunity, after all.
(Un)fortunately, Slavina wasn't present to join in the beating in ti.
[Obsidian Rat Ripper!]
[Hamr of Mud!]
[Shrieking Piercer!]
[Tar Cannon!]
'Shit!'
By the ti Zhen Liu was released from the grasp of the whip, he was subjected to a barrage of attacks that hamred him in all directions.
"GAAAAAHHHHH!"
Needless to say, this was the most pain Zhen Liu had ever been subjected to in a single mont.
"Fuck..."
And yes, it was worse than the ti he got electrocuted by the Thunder Dragon Otter.
Covered in wounds and feeling like absolute shit, Zhen Liu dropped out of the sky and fell directly towards the tar pit below.
[Milord, no!]
Thankfully, Blazejudicator was able to slow down Zhen Liu's fall so he wouldn't fall directly into the horrid substance, while Nepherage was able to leap out and catch Zhen Liu before he could fall.
Unfortunately, that was all they could do.
[Executor, are you okay?!]
[He's clearly not!]
'Ow...everything hurts...'
[See?!]
This result was...to be expected.
Dante was, objectively, a full stage higher and then so in comparison to Zhen Liu.
Whether it was either as an Aether Warrior or a Kaijin Lord, Zhen Liu was outclassed, but there was at least one chance for him to beat this guy.
Zhen Liu just has to make a really really powerful kaijin.
The mont he did that, he would not only break right through to the next stage, but he would also be able to have so fresh blood cover for his injured kaijin and proto-kaijin.
There were just...two problems.
Zhen Liu needed ti and materials to create a kaijin, and he didn't exactly have either on hand at the mont.
At this exact mont, while Nepherage was cradling Zhen Liu in her arms, Dante's kaijin were in the process of swooping down in order to finish the job.
Nepherage was more than willing to fight all of them at once, but Zhen Liu knew that she would eventually get overwheld without the rest of the Ragnarockers or Mysticlassic to back her up.
Therefore, he was low on ti.
The Voyager-1 Probe was just out of reach enough that if he and Nepherage tried to go for it, Dante and his horde would just gank him in the process.
Therefore, he didn't have materials.
In short, unless so pri kaijin materials flew into his his hands at this exact mont, Zhen Liu and this entire slave colony was monuntally—
^FUCKING CATCH, YOU HALF DEAD BASTARD!^
'THANK YOU DEUS EX MACHINA!'
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