âOh balls, thatâs a fucking World Class aether art, isnât it?â
<Crazy power spike, visible streams of aether flowing into him and the feeling of overwhelming dread on being in the receiving end of an attack that hits with the force of a planet? Probably, yeah.>
âOh fuck me sideways.â
=Relax milord, you have a World Class aether art on your side too, remember?=
âOh, right...wait, Iâm not even sure grandpa mastered that art yet!â
<Yeah, but Frosttusk did.>
âI mean sure, but what does that...oh. Oh shit.â
=As Pathos would say, this next part will be "fucking hilarious".=
<That being said, you should probably get out of the splash zone before the shit hits the fan.>
âOh right. Hurricroak, andale!â
[Si, maestro.]
________________________________________________
Out of the corner of Zhen Shiâs eye, he could see that his grandson and his other puppet(?) had finally made themselves scarce when Harold started charging up his attack.
Fully aware that there was probably more to Zhen Liuâs aether puppets than meets the eye, Zhen Shi decided to ask some questions to the...thing embedded to his chest and talking in his head.
âJust to be clear, youâre some kind of...spirit or something under my grandsonâs command, right? And you use the puppet as a medium?â
[Can neither confirm or deny that, but I can say your grandson is...talented in unexpected ways.]
âThat is an ominous statement.â
[He complains about us being ominous too.]
âUs?â
[Donât worry about it, you have revenge to take.]
âOh...right!â
Zhen Shi eyed Harold as he began charging up his World grade aether art, a feeling of defiance building up in his chest.
âShit, looks Harold actually mastered a World class art while he was away.â
[Donât you know one? Echoing Frost?]
âHow did you, wait...right, you were in the same set of ruins...makes sense. Technically yes, but I havenât completely mastered it yet. And I have no idea if the first verse will beat out whatever the hell Haroldâs about to use.â
[What about the second verse?]
âHavenât mastered that part yet. Iâve been trying to wrap my head around it for weeks.â
plete. Conclusion: Zhen Shi is not fully compatible with Echoing Frost. Estimated maximum power output even if mastered: 75%.]
âW-why is that relevant right now?â
[Initiating remix protocols: Alternative Second Verse - replacing "March of Giants" with new verse "Jormungandrâs Roar".
Compatibility level increased to 90%.
Analysing additional manner to increase compatibility...confirmed.
Zhen Shi has been found to carry the spirit of a Gold Scale Sea Serpent.
Initializing Chaos Evolution of Spirit: Jormungandr...duh.]
âThe hell does that any of that mean-gah!â
The familiar feeling of information forcibly being bestowed to Zhen Shiâs brain began once more, only this time, his formula, his armor and his Armament were acting up all at the same time!
âI donât know what the fuck is going on, but Iâm feeling a lot stronger! Letâs do this thing!â
With the sudden surge in power and confidence, Zhen Shi began to charge up his own World Aether art.
Reacting to his will, Zhen Shiâs chain began to rapidly uncoil and tie itself in various places until it began to form the line work of a giant serpentâs head.
At the same time, the sea serpent shadow that would normally appear when Zhen Shi would channel his aether expression or cultivate had appeared as well, although....it looked like to was getting bigger and bigger by the second as Zhen Shi charged up his attack.
From outside perspective, one could see that the sea serpent shadow was growing to match the outline of the chain.
________________________________________________
âOkay, this should be far enough from-why do I suddenly feel light headed?â
*Thud!*
[Maestro!]
A bit away from the soon-to-be battleground of giant powers, Zhen Liu had managed to get to a point that he figured would be the farthest away from the area of devastation, while giving him a good view of the action.
Unfortunately, he had suddenly come down with an acute case of aether drain for no discernable reason.
[Sorry jarl, I had to borrow some of your power to do a thing in my end.]
Until the discernable reason asked for forgiveness.
âAt least warn a guy before you drain him of his power,â Zhen Liu complained. He was happy to help within his capacity, but unexpected drains like this was a massive hamper to his ability to do things.
[Maestro, here. Let me help you up.]
âThank you Hurricroak.â
It was a good thing nobody but Hurricroak was here to see him like this.
"Xiao Liu, are you alright?!"
âGodsdammit.â
Because life was funny like that, Zhen Liuâs father and uncles had shown up to his hiding spot just as Hurricroak had finished placing Zhen Liu on her back for piggyback ride mode.
Evidently, they didnât really care as Zhen Yan moved to check on him.
"Are you okay, son? Are you injured?"
"Let me see," Zhen Long interjected.
From what Zhen Liu could see, none of his uncleâs became a casualty of this unexpected family turf war, although, he swore one of them had two arms about an hour ago...meh. Nothing a little weird surgery canât fix.
"Heâs fine Xiao Yan. Looks like heâs just aether drained."
"Oh thank the heavens," Zhen Yan sighed, "now we just need to...hey, what are you guys looking...holy shit, what the fuck is that?!"
"I...think itâs father?"
While Zhen Yan and Zhen Long were looking over Zhen Liu, the other five uncles were busy staring off into distance, or more specifically, the titanic size serpent made of ice aether that was rising from the ground like a primordial monstrosity.
When Zhen Liu saw the serpent, his face went: ._.
âYou...you couldnât have been more subtle with the power up, Frosttusk?â
________________________________________________
âWhat the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck?!,â Harold cursed as he saw that not only had Zhen Shi had also learned a World class aether art, but that his was somehow growing stronger by the second.
Surprisingly though, Harold didnât feel fear at this sight.
He didnât feel despair at being possibly outmatched.
Instead, he felt unbridled...jealously and rage.
âYou fucking piss drinking bastard! I donât know when or where you mastered such a powerful art, but I recognize a long charge time when I see it. I am going to cut you down and take it from you! For that is my birthright as your superior!â
With his goal now set, Harold doubled the amount of aether he was putting into his attack to quicken the charge up and launch it whenever.
âNot yet...not yet...not yet...now!â
[Holocaustic Hellfire Seal!]
Harold swung out his sword and released a torrent of black fire that quickly formed into a strange, diabolic seal that seemed to carry the intent of the underworld itself.
As the seal flew towards Zhen Shi, the very ground it went over quickly melted into magma and any corpses that happened to be in the way turned into ash in an instant.
"Youâre ash, you fucking piss drinker!," Harold shouted as his attack was about to make contact.
But just as it was about to hit, Zhen Shi took up a horse stance and took a deep breath. He was done charging too.
[Echoing Frost: Jormungandrâs Roar.]