When Zhen Liu received the news of what had gone down in regard to both the Erupting Dawn Empire’s and the Sacred Fla Theocracy’s weird zombie soldier bullshit, it was about...dinner ti.
Zhen Liu, his family, his friends, and his lovers had decided that the best way to relax after battle was to try the local cuisine beyond the inn that they were staying in. Especially when so of those restaurants were actually religious groups that made it their mission in life to make the best als possible.
As such, Zhen Liu was in the middle of enjoying so kind of curry spaghetti dish when he received the information dump about both the horrific sli monster powering the Erupting Dawn war effort and the much more terrifying sentient bonfire underneath his feet that was doing the sa for the Sacred Fla Theocracy.
’Fuck...’
Zhen Liu was normally quite good at hiding his emotions when he needed to, but the revelations this ti around were so gut-punchingly random and unexpected that it actually caused him to pause and twitch a bit. He would’ve actually collapsed to the ground and started groaning had he not been in company.
"Xiao Liu? Are you okay?" Jinju Ren asked as soon as she noticed Zhen Liu suddenly stuttering in his mid-al movents. "You got that look in your eyes again."
"Huh? Oh I’m...wait, what? What look?"
"Jin Fang told about this, but every ti you receive unexpected news from the kaijin, you develop this look in your eyes that is sowhere between a mix of panic, pain, and dread."
"She also ntioned that it could be constipation," Rianna added without missing a beat. "Not sure what that is, though."
"Really? Well...it’s sothing that needs to be discussed in private," Zhen Liu answered the worried girls while succinctly ignoring Rianna’s constipation comnt.
"Got it..."
"And I’m going to have to do actual research when we get back."
"Oh...shit."
To say Zhen Liu was troubled by these back-to-back revelations was...putting it lightly.
Learning that the Erupting Dawn Empire was employing a powerful aether beast made sense, but the fact that it was technically sothing that should’ve been strong enough to level the Erupting Dawn Empire on its own was...mildly concerning. Especially combined with the fact that the Erupting Dawn Emperor was publicly known to be ill and the fact that this fucking zombie sli thing existed...well, the subtle implications of that were bad enough.
On top of that, Zhen Liu had figured that if there was so kind of coup-based power play in play in the Sacred Fla Theocracy, he would’ve been able to handle so punk-ass mortal bitch who thought way too highly of himself.
He was not expecting the coup organizer, and maybe the assassin of the previous Hearth Tender, to be a sentient aether treasure of all things.
But not just any aether treasure, one that’s a literal offshoot of the [Sacred Fla] and had developed its own fucking agenda!
At least, that was the implication of everything the kaijin had learned.
This would’ve been the part where Logos and Pathos would’ve info-dumped into his head about everything they knew about this situation...but that wasn’t a possibility right now.
...Wait, why can’t the information gremlins do their thing?...
’Logos, Pathos. Please tell you have an information dump ready for whatever it is I’m dealing with.’
’Enigmatic silence again? Really?!’
’You’re...you’re kidding , right? I thought new aether treasures being created was sothing y’all would have information in spades on.’
=Artificial ones, sure. But naturally occurring aether treasures like this...the docuntation is sparse and very specific to very specific instances. =
’So once again, I am exploring uncharted territories for you guys?’
’I...I need a breather from all of these revelations. I’m coming to library and studying this the old fashioned way.’
...Oh shit...
Once dinner was done and the group returned ho, Zhen Liu imdiately used the [Key to Everywhere] and returned to the Library of Nowhere.
He did ask if any of his companions wanted to make the return trip as well, but they politely refused.
They could sense Zhen Liu was in a funk and allowed him to ride it out.
...Cue comnt that he didn’t hear...
"What’s got him all worked up?"
"I think it’s getting to him that there isn’t a clear enemy he could just steamroll with the kaijin. That or it’s because he is still coming to terms that his clandestine activities among us is now publicly known."
"Are we sure it isn’t just the religious atmosphere of the town getting to him? I know all of this choir music is starting to get ."
"Fair enough."
...Now back to Zhen Liu...
’Why the fuck is everything so complicated?!’ Zhen Liu thought to himself as he walked to the study that Logos and Pathos had set up for him. ’It couldn’t just be a simple matter of kicking the Erupting Dawn Emperor in the nuts and stealing the [Sacred Fla] from the theocracy, but no, I want to try and be the better person in all of this. Fuck!’
Evidently, the real reason why Zhen Liu was in a funk/rocking a look of pain, panic ,and dread was because shit had, once again, gotten more complicated.
A part of him knew that it didn’t have to be this complicated. He could’ve simply co barreling in like the living natural disaster his predecessors were, summon zako and kaijin all over the place and probably wipe Emberona off the map in order to secure the [Sacred Fla]. Hell, he could’ve taken out the Erupting Dawn Emperor in the process because he knew that bastard would’ve probably co hounding after him for the spoils.
But that...wasn’t his style.
’Bah...why am I complaining and getting upset? I literally live for this sort of shit.’
Zhen Liu preferred to have too much information than not enough, he preferred to understand the full weight of his actions than live in blissful ignorance.
Even if it ant learning that a war he had no real reason to get involved in had so weird zombie soldier subplot to it, which further suggested that the initial participants of this mont war had been subsud by more powerful and Eldritch entities.
’Huh...why does this feel like a taphor?’
Regardless of his thoughts, gripes, and personal hang ups though, Zhen Liu had so reading to do.
’Alright, let’s see what we got.’
Entering the study, Zhen Liu found a manila folder filled with docunts.
Apparently, Pathos felt like doing a museum bit today.
’I get the feeling visual aides are going to be useful here...’
From his person, Zhen Liu produced the fire poker, the bellows, and the black orb that all seed to radiate a synergistic energy with one another and placed them all on the table in front of him.
’I suppose it’s a good thing that I accidentally secured these particular treasures before that sentient fire and his lackeys could. Otherwise, my current situation would be a lot more dire,’ Zhen Liu mused.
Once he had settled the treasures, Zhen Liu pulled the manila envelope towards himself and opened up the docunts to see what exactly the curators had managed to find.
However, the universe decided that his study ti was unimportant.
To be more precise, Zhen Liu had managed to read the title of the docunts, which subsequently identified the bellows as the [Breath of the Beginning], the fire poker as the [Dynamic Staff], while the black orb itself was known as the [Origin Ember], but didn’t get far past that due to an unexpected developnt.
’Okay, so these three items—Gah! What the fuck?!’
This developnt was the fact that Zhen Liu suddenly felt the connection to one of his zakos get a lot stronger and that the information he was receiving was a lot more data-heavy than anticipated.
In other words, one of his zakos had suddenly made the transition to proto-kaijin status without his knowing.
’What the fuck? Which of my zakos—bah!’
The next thing he knew, though, Zhen Liu felt this connection happen an additional two tis one after the other.
’Alright, what the fuck?’
Focusing on these three connections, Zhen Liu focused on processing the visual information first in order to see what had caused this sudden evolution.
Thankfully, he got the answer to that question real quick.
"Serena?!" Zhen Liu exclaid in alarm.
Zhen Liu had tuned in at the exact mont he saw the leader of the Sacred Fla Theocracy was feeding his newly minted protokaijin various aether materials, like they were babies being fed semisolid food.
And the weirdest thing?
The protokaijin seed to embrace it.
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