It only took Logos and Pathos a scant few monts to record all that they needed from Halcon’s sword, but to Screamira, they were monts that were far too long!
In those scant few monts that Screamira was holding that awful sword in her hands, she could feel its energy attempting to rewrite and redefine the very foundation of her being.
Zhen Liu, the producer, had elevated Screamira to her current state by infusing her with a [Core of Rebellion] and with the images of banshees in his head.
This stupid blade in her hands, though, was sohow rewriting her existence into becoming that of a bird, literally!
It took great effort and an even greater amount of [Chaos] for Screamira to push back against the sword’s influence and prevent her skeletal hand from becoming similar to a bird’s claw.
Pathos finally commanded after several grueling seconds of pure agony.
[Don’t have to tell twice!]
Once she was given the go-ahead, Screamira tossed Halcon’s disgusting sword as hard as she could towards the part of the room where Alice, Olstenna, and Antonio were fighting the other bird-masked weirdos.
And as luck would have it, her timing was rather impeccable.
...How so?...
"Oh, thank the gods for that kid’s paranoid thought process!" Olstenna called out while pushing back against Macawdo’s axe.
"To be fair, if these are the caliber of opponents he has to face on the regular, I completely understand why!" Alice replied while still attempting to wrench the fan out of Peacocina’s hands.
The mont Olstenna and Alice saw that Halcon was upon their friend Harriet, the two warriors entertained the thought of dropping their current opponents and dealing with the opportunistic bastard before things went sideways.
More specifically, before Harriet’s head was sent flying sideways.
However, once they saw Screamira drop in and run interference, Olstenna and Alice both released internal sighs of relief.
They were now more than capable of focusing on the battle before them.
At the sa ti, though, the crimson skeletal kaijin’s appearance had completely thrown the bird-masked warriors into a loop.
^Is that a—?!^
^No way!^
^It can’t be...^
These brief exclamations of disbelief confused Alice and Olstenna for a mont until Condorado began to dump exposition like he was the villain in a play.
Given their current appearance, this was a rather ironic yet apt comparison.
^Master Tezca ntioned that the only beings in this world that could pose a threat to us were those born from the prival waters of creation, the Spawn of Cipactli, and his traitorous brothers," Condorado proclaid with a stern voice as he directed his gaze towards his comrades and their respective opponents, realization shining in his eyes.
At the sa ti Condorado was an-mugging them, Halcon was exchanging blows with Screamira.
^The fact that you lot are getting assistance from that monstrous bitch over there, and the fact that weak-ass cat was able to pierce through the aether defenses of those convicted soldiers must an—^
^Hey! Pay attention during battle! Otherwise, it could be fatal! [Mad Claw!]^
^What the fuck?!^
When Antonio got sent flying by Halcon, he didn’t simply slump into a corner like a sack of potatoes. Instead, taking a page from the kaijin and how they had a tendency to launch surprise attacks from weird angles, Antonio had figured out how to cloak his presence with [Chaos] and pop out of the shadows like, well, like a cat.
Granted, it probably helped that Screamira was grabbing everyone’s attention like the giant screaming red banshee that she was.
Either way, once Antonio had gotten into striking distance, he imdiately redirected all of the [Chaos] that was coating his body into his claws and aid to shatter the stupid condor mask that was actually Condorado’s face.
Unfortunately, Antonio wasn’t fast enough.
^Bah!^
^DAMMIT!^
Despite Antonio swiping claws in a large arc, Condorado managed to avoid the attack at the very last mont before throwing his head back at a nearly impossible angle. On a positive note, Antonio managed to land a nice, long scratch across the bird bastard’s masked face.
Condorado didn’t see it that way, though; he just noticed the nasty scratch on his face!
^You foul feline of [Chaos]! I’ll crush your insides!^
Condorado didn’t even channel a proper aether art before lashing out against Antonio. Instead, he opted to simply swing one of his claw-wielding hands upwards to jam it into Antonio’s overstretched flank.
From his current position in the air, Antonio could tell that the attack would land sowhere fatal and inflict massive external and internal wounds. In a worst-case scenario, the attack would also shatter his organs and bones in an instant. Not only that, but Antonio could sense that the energy radiating off of this knock-off condor’s claw was going to fuck up his internal energy worse than any poison he had read about or any [Chaos] infusion he had witnessed...he just wasn’t sure why.
Before he could find out, however, the universe decided to throw him a bone.
In the re fraction of a second before Condorado could land a strike and tear Antonio a new one, an airborne blade ca flying out of nowhere and impaled his arm.
A direct consequence of this action was that Antonio was now free to land safely on the ground without having to fear retaliation.
"GAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
^Oh what the fuck?!^
Not only that, but he and the others now fully understood why their [Chaos] attacks seed to fall flat against these weird bird-faced warriors.
...Oh boy...
Pathos praised the skeletal kaijin after her hasty sword throw
[No,] Screamira admitted as she shook her hand and channeled [Chaos] into it so that she could restore it back to normal. [What the fuck was up with that blade anyways? Actually, better question is, why were my attacks feeling as if they were punching walls of sand?]
=Give a minute...=Logos piped up as they analyzed the samples that Screamira sent their way. =Okay, good news: we recognize what it is. Bad news: it’s the exact thing we weren’t hoping for. =
[The fuck does that an?]
[Oh...fuck.]
As a kaijin, Screamira was instinctually familiar with [Chaos] and was equally aware of the way it reacted in the presence of certain types of energy that cultivators used in battle.
Aether was epheral with its definition and could be easily manipulated by a skilled enough warrior; hence, in the face of [Chaos], randomness personified, it had a tendency to dissipate.
Without a clear direction, aether falters. Incidentally, this was why dragon force, aether that had been hardline defined as a particular force of nature, was able to overpower [Chaos].
Anima was the energy of the mind and required clear thoughts and strong focus to weaponize. However, [Chaos] could disrupt and distort these attacks of the mind.
It was hard to focus when one’s mind was subjected to random bursts of information, although this wasn’t the case for all anima wielders.
Regardless, the last "common" type of energy used by cultivators was known as [Law].
[Law] is the energy of reality, aka, the energy of hard definitions and predetermined outcos.
In other words...
[Fire will burn you.]
[Water will drown you.]
[Birds are birds.]
That sort of thing.
As one can imagine, such rigid assuredness was powerful against [Chaos] for the sa reason why a wall can resist the wind and waves: it was kind of hard to erode and change sothing that was just so unchanging.
[Law] energy was very powerful, no doubts about that; there was just one teeny tiny issue in regard to cultivating this energy: it was only accessible to Aether Saints and above.
This fact was not lost on Screamira, but it did take her a couple of monts to rember it.
[Wait a fucking minute, there’s no way in hell these birds are able to use Law. They’re way weaker than Aether Saints! Those weapons of theirs aren’t even real Astra!]
Pathos praised,
[Which is what?]
=The leader of these birdn is technically the equivalent of an Aether Deity,= Logos answered. =Though they may be a fragnt of the real deal, Lord Tezca can still go through great pains and effort to gather enough [Law] for the sole purpose of infusing it into their chosen champions and disciples. Kind of like you kaijin, albeit with nastier side effects. =
[What side effects?]
...A third transition? Seriously?!...
^GAH! HOoooOOOooW Daaaree yOu ruIIIn mY DeFinition! I’ll KiLLLll you!^
^What the fuck...^
Shortly after he got his arm impaled, Condorado began to flail and act as if his arm were on fire as opposed to being mutilated.
On top of this obvious display of pain, though, Antonio, Olstenna, and Alice couldn’t help but notice sothing incredibly odd about the wound: there were feathers growing out of it.
To be more precise, it appeared as if both condor and falcon feathers were manifesting in the wound and were doing their absolute best to dominate the area.
"What the fuck..."
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