Chapter 652: A Monster of Warrior

[Wait, maestro! Can I do the movement for this plan?,] Hurricroak suddenly interjected.

’I mean, I don’t mind but why? It’s not like I’m doing anything crazy here.’

[Nothing...crazy...?]

[You’re attempting to jump and...never mind. Anyways,I’m a little annoyed that our fight with the princess over there got interrupted, so I want to release this pent up energy,] Hurricroak explained.

[Besides, if I handle this part, you don’t got burn up any aether.]

’A weird reason...but sure. Let’s go.’

[Bueno!]

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’What the fuck, how is this kid this strong? It’s like trying to push back against a mountain beast!,’ Gao Lin thought to himself as he did his best to breakthrough Zhen Liu’s aether art.

When this battle first started, Gao Lin assumed that this would’ve been a snooze fest, an easy victory with a big payout due to the obvious power gap between a veteran Grandmaster like himself, and a mere Aether Master that fought with mostly puppets.

Sure he had seen the branch clan scion showcase incredible brute strength, not everyday you see someone beat their opponent with a single slap to the face, but he was certain he could still win in a contest of pure might. Evidently, reality had other plans

In what could only be described as a humbling moment, now Gao Lin was finding out the hard way that Zhen Liu was not only a fellow Grandmaster, but one that was as strong as he was, if not, even stronger than he was.

While Gao Lin could feel that his [Oni’s Fist] was somewhat equal in strength to Zhen Liu’s [Magma Ram], he could also feel that Zhen Liu was holding back...or at least, he thought Zhen Liu was holding back.

Gao Lin wasn’t able to confirm either suspicion due to somehow being unable to read through Zhen Liu’s cultivation. He could confirm that Zhen Liu had aether cultivation, but there was something else mixed in that made it hard to determine just how far he came along with his cultivation.

To Gao Lin’s sense, it felt as if he detecting two different formulas happening at the same time, overlaying with one another and creating a discordant mess that made it hard to determine if the formulas were either fake or real. Patience and time would be needed to pierce through this questionable observation.

(Un)fortunately, Gao Lin was not going to have the time nor resources necessary to answer such a question, due to his about to get beaten in.

’You ready?’

[Always, maestro.]

The collision between aether arts has a tendency to cause the aether surrounding such a phenomenon to become incredibly chaotic to the point that being able to detect anything happening in such areas to be near impossible. It was under such conditions that Hurricroak quickly possessed Zhen Liu with nobody being the wiser.

Surprisingly, not even the [Regalia] changed in order to accommodate this second kaijin, a detail that Zhen Liu noticed and would ask about later.

[Aight, lets end this!]

With Hurricroak in command, Zhen Liu immediately began to channel aether not just into the [Magma Ram] shield in order to strengthen it against Gao Lin’s attack, but he also began to channel part of into his legs, albeit, in a manner different from the way he was used to due to Hurricroak.

’Interesting...so this is what it’s like to actually use this particular trick in battle,’ Zhen Liu noted as he felt his aether being used in two different directions.

Prior to this moment, Zhen Liu had practiced using [Possession] and [Bestowal] at the same time on himself, so he could learn what to expect.

As a result, he learned that while he did have access to two different formulas at the same time, he could only "actively" use them one at time, while the other had to be used more passively.

This sounded complicated, but the best way to describe this is that if Zhen Liu wanted to use a aether art, he had to choose whether to circulate his aether through the channels created by the kaijin in his [Regalia,] or the channels created by [Possession] ability, like he was choosing which racetrack a marble would travel.

It should also be noted, that anybody who tries to analyze Zhen Liu in an instance where he was having two different kaijin provide him power, they’d develop a splitting headache due to the sheer wrongness of technically seeing three different aether formulas going off all at once, layered on top of one another. This is exactly what happened to Gao Lin when he detected the aether spiking from Zhen Liu in a manner that didn’t align with how he was doing so before.

’Gah! What the fuck?!’

Unfortunately for him, this was the opening Zhen Liu needed to end this fight.

The moment Gao Lin’s headache kicked in, his aether art faltered ever so slightly, giving Zhen Liu the opening needed to, in order, push Gao Lin back several steps, use the momentum of the shove to leap over Gao Lin’s head and charge up an aether art into his newly freed his hands.

Correction, this gave him the opportunity to charge up two wildly different aether arts at the same time due to the fact that he had two hands with two different aether formulas channels built into them at the moment.

[Eruption Knuckle!]

[Thunder Fist!]

In his left hand, Zhen Liu began to concentrate earth and fire aether until it began to glow like a boiling magma in a volcano. Meanwhile, his right hand began to condense a storm cloud that rumbled as tiny arcs of electricity began to dance across his knuckles.

It took Gao Lin a moment to realize what was coming his way, and for the first time in a very, very long time, he was starting to freak out.

<<What the fuck?! What kind of monster are you?!,>> Gao Lin shouted in alarm, finally losing his condescending demeanor.

Seeing a warrior use two aether arts at the same time wasn’t weird, some crazy powerful warriors could do so to turn the destructive power of a Corporeal aether art into the equivalent of a World aether art if the conditions were right. However, the times when such instances occur, the two aether arts in question were always either the same elemental attribute, or at least one was neutral while the other was elemental.

It was physically impossible for a warrior to use aether arts of two completely different elements at the same time due to the stress it caused to one’s aether channels.

But lo and behold, Gao Lin was about to be on the receiving end of what was essentially a defiance of the very laws of nature.

He barely had anytime to react when the attacks hit at the same time.

"Volcanic Thunder Clap!," Zhen Liu shouted as he slammed the [Eruption Knuckle] on one side of Gao Lin’s head and the [Thunder Fist] on the other. Technically, this wasn’t a formal aether art, but they didn’t need to know that.

As the two aether arts made contact with Gao Lin’s head at the same time, a concussive blast of sound echoed throughout the area.

Then again, that could’ve very much been the sound of Gao Lin’s skull being crushed into dust.

*BOOM!*

<<AAAAAAARGGGGHHHH!!>>

Gao Lin yelled in incredible pain as he felt the destructive force of a volcanic eruption happening on one side of his head, while the other side of his head felt as if thunderbolt after thunderbolt was pounding his skull into oblivion.

One sensation was enough to make a warrior fall to his knees, both at the same time was tantamount to a war crime.

’Can’t...overcome...this...going to...pass out...,’ Gao Lin thought to himself as the pounding on his head became too much to bear.

As the damage he was sustaining became more and more severe, and his conscious began to fade more and more away, he was forced to stare at man that was the cause of his downfall.

When he did though, he was certain that his eyes were playing tricks on him, or at least his mind was trying to justify how he lost in such an inglorious manner. For as he stared at Zhen Liu, he didn’t see a singular warrior clad in a strange [Regalia], slamming two different aether arts into the side of his head. Instead, he saw three demonic figures, overlapping Zhen Liu’s existence and making it seem that two of those figures were the reason why these attacks were causing so much damage.

As for the third demonic figure, it felt as if he staring at some(thing/one) that was a combination of the other two.

Regardless of his observations though, Gao Lin was certain of one thing.

He should’ve waited for their leader to show up.

’Gods...dammit...’

And with a single thought focused in hindsight, Gao Lin was defeated.

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’Well...that was easier than anticipated.’

[To be fair, we are technically fighting three on one,] Nepherage pointed out. [Although, people don’t know that...yet.]

’True.’