Chapter 706: ...creates an opportunity...

’Wait a minute, is that dragon blood the reason why y’all couldn’t give me any information on whatever is wrong with that hammer?’

<Basically, yeah.>

=The innate [Dragon Force] in those blood stains makes it almost impossible for us to actually analyze it from a distance. You’ll need to grab that hammer from Zhen Guo if you want any information.=

’Of course.’

<On the plus side, it looks like Zhen Guo is about to get into grabbing range. Well, slashing range, but still.>

’Of course...’

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[Cursed Blood Forge: Breaking Wheel!]

Before Zhen Liu could make his counterattack however, the cursed Zhen Guo made his move first.

For a brief moment, Zhen Guo held the blade horizontally with one hand still on the hammer-hilt, while the other was held at the base of the blade. The next moment though, he ran his free hand across the blade, willing it to extend and bend until it became a giant chakram that surrounded his whole body like a planetary ring. With another flick of his hand, the body-sized chakram reoriented itself so that Zhen Guo could place both his hands and feet on the inner ring of the chakram.

Using his body as the spokes and hub, Zhen Guo launched himself forward like a runaway wagon wheel directly towards Zhen Liu, aiming to either decapitate or bisect him right down the middle. Whichever came first, honestly.

A high-pitched whining pierced through the air as Zhen Guo flew forward, a testament to his speed in this moment. To Zhen Liu, this sound reminded him of a high speed buzz saw.

’Damn, he’s going crazy fast!’

Zhen Liu was just about to try and counter-rush, using his [Regalia] covered arms to try and block the attack or even catch his cousin mid-spin...ideally. There was a very real possibility that the giant saw made of blood and curses would bisect his ass right down the middle, but Zhen Liu was hopeful that that wouldn’t happen. Then again, he was also hopeful that his cousins wouldn’t throw themselves head first into a conflict, but that didn’t happen.

"Incoming!"

"Let’s see what this baby can do!"

Moments before Zhen Liu could launch himself forward, Zhen Yue and Zhen Hai had already moved to intercept the attacking Zhen Guo, making full use of their brand new aether treasures.

As for the rest of his cousin, Zhen Tai, Zhen Xing and Zhen Feng, they had decided to move out of the way to give their better armed cousins room to fight. Had they had gotten their aether treasures before all of this went down, they would’ve thrown themselves into the fray as well.

Zhen Hai reinforced his [Shark Fang of the Berserker] with his aether,reinforcing the shark teeth and giving the wooden club body a metallic sheen, and used it to catch Zhen Guo’s spinning blade. To be more specific, the blade was caught between the shark teeth.

As Zhen Liu hadn’t had time to master, let alone practice with either of their respective aether treasures, it was honestly kind of impressive seeing them block their cousin’s assault in such a manner.

"Yeesh! No wonder Xiao Liu was having trouble, something about that hammer is making Zhen Guo crazy strong!"

"I’m aware, now hold him still!"

Zhen Yue tapped into the power of her [Belt of the Mother Bear] and had summoned a bear-shaped aura to encapsulate her form and empower her attacks. As she had yet to fully learn the arts that came along with her new belt, she just used an old, yet appropriately named, aether art that her father taught her a long time ago.

"[Crescent Bear Palm]!"

*BOOM!*

Following Zhen Yue’s movements, the bear aura swung out and slammed a paw into Zhen Guo’s body, sending him and his full body chakram made of blood flying.

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’Was...was that due to my cousins’ innate ability or the fact that the treasures they’re using are highly compatible with them?’

<=Little bit of both.=>

’Huh.’

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If there was a ground, he’d be bouncing off of it.If there was a wall, he’d be slamming into it. Unfortunately for everyone, there was only empty space, so he was sent spinning into the distance like a coin being flipped in the air. This little moment though, did give the rest of the scions time to talk and plan a bit, if only briefly.

"Xiao Liu, shot in the dark, but do you know what’s going on with Xiao Guo?," Zhen Hai asked.

"Hammer’s cursed and it’s making him go crazy."

"Obviously, but can you fix him?"

"Maybe. But we need to either knock that hammer out of his hands. Wait, why do you guys think I know how to handle this?"

"Because you have a magic knowledge bestowing aether treasure attached to you and we’re fairly certain you’ve used it on yourself a few times ," Zhen Yue answered, remembering the sight of Zhen Liu somehow imbuing their cousins with new abilities. "Also, smacking that hammer out of his hand might be difficult given that when I struck him earlier, he somehow made a chain of blood and aether in order to keep that hammer attached his wrist."

"In that case, I need to hold him still long enough to figure out how that hammer works. Every curse got a loophole after all."

"Alright, no problem. The two of us will hold him down," Zhen Hai rpelied. "Too bad you can’t use that weird treasure of yours to make him hold still."

’...huh.’

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’Can I use the [Possesstol] like that?’

<Not recommended.>

’Why not?’

=Most curses are designed to affect the soul, especially ones that cause erratic behavior.=

’Okay...’

<Now, what are kaijin mostly made of?>

’...oh.’

=You’re not the first to make this suggest, last time we allowed it...it didn’t go well.’S

’Starting to realize my powers and the kaijin aren’t as OP as I thought they’d be.’

<Meh. Superman has kryptonite, Vampires have the sun, Kaijin are significantly more susceptible to anything that attacks and manipulates the soul. Now get ready because he’s attacking again.>

’Shit.’

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"Heads up, Zhen Guo managed to stop his spin."

"How did he-what the fuck?"

While the branch clan scions were coming jo with a plan to capture Zhen Guo, the aforementioned young man had stopped his spinning momentum in an unusual manner.

Zhen Guo had willed the chakram surrounding him to expand horizontally, transforming the razor sharp edge into what was essentially a giant hamster wheel. With significantly more surface area to work with, Zhen Guo had used his hands and feet like brakes in order to stop the spinning and his forward motion. His hands and feet would’ve suffered friction burns had they not have been reinforced with aether.

Once he had fully stopped moving though, the wheel made of blood didn’t go away. A fact that made the branch clan scions a little nervous.

"He’s not going to try rolling into us again is-"

[Cursed Blood Forge: Thousand Needles!]

"Nope, it’s worst!"

"Deja vu?!"

"You two get behind me!"

’Nepherage, get in me!’

[Of course, milord!]

The wheel of blood began to rapidly spin again, but instead of launching himself forward, Zhen Guo began releasing a shower of bloody needles in the direction of Zhen Liu and the others.

[Volcanic Ram Guard!]

In response to this incoming onslaught, Zhen Hai and Zhen Hue followed their cousin’s lead and hid behind him, while Zhen Liu himself combined his [Regalia] with Nepherage in order to not only boost his own defense but to strengthen the defensive aether art that was built into Nepherage.

The blood needles evaporated the instant they made contact with Zhen Liu’s shield, much to the relief of everyone behind it. Granted, this also gave them the emotional bandwidth to be shocked at Zhen Liu’s sudden transformation. They knew about the [Regalia], not that he could do the combination thing.

They had several questions in regards to how he could pull this off, but they managed to condense them into a single word.

"How?"

"Ya know how I can use the aether channels of my puppets to substitute my own? This is an advanced version of that," Zhen Liu lied on a technicality. Replace "puppets" with "kaijin" and this statement would be a hundred percent true.

"On a side note, I think I know we can get close Zhen Guo without him immediately attacking. Make sure to coat your eyes, nose and mouth with aether though."

"Wait, what? Why do we need to-"

[Wild Smoke Surge!]

"Oh shi-"

*BOOOAAAA!*

Before Zhen Hai and Zhen Yue could finish cursing out Zhen Liu, the latter released a massive breath of dark smoke that enveloped all three of them.

"hUH?"

Having suddenly lost sight of his current targets, Zhen Guo stopped the rain of blood needles, changing the blood wheel back into a blood saber. After doing so, the possessed scion began to frantically look around.

"wHEre’D THey gO?"

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<Wait, milord? How did you know that smokescreen was going to work?>

’Honestly didn’t. I was just winging it.’

=Of course.=

’Now then, how do I decurse my cousin?’

<=Well all you have to do is...=>