Chapter 737: Scream baby, Scream!

’Alright, whatever. In my very limited experience with magical stuff, I think it’s normally a good thing for variant and weird stuff to occur. It means nobody has figured out a counter for this stuff.’

∆Do you honestly believe that, or are you just telling yourself that so you won’t feel weirdly guilty for no good reason after making your fifth female kaijin that, for some reason, looks suspiciously sexy as all hell?∆

’Yes.’

∆Fair enough.∆

=Alright, enough banter. I think our zako friend is ready for her finishing touches and we have collected enough data to figure out what a Parasinner’s influence does to a zako in regards to kaijin development. From what we’ve gathered so far, the changes are positive and this particular kaijin will be incredibly strong, but...whatever [Desire Core] you slot in will get a little...weird.=

’Weird, how?’

=Whatever [Desires] were baked into the zako and her subsequent experience in that prison, will cause whatever core you slot in to get...influenced.=

∆Meaning any and all desire is going to be tainted by [Lust], [Rebellion] and a touch of [Wrath].∆

’Interesting...’

Knowing these conditions, Zhen Liu cycled through the various cores that he had acquired these past few weeks, including ones that were condensed during the attack from the Fallen Clan.

However, just as he was about to make a decision...

’Oi, oi. Looks like you’re having trouble picking out a core, mate. Here, let me give you one of the ones I got.’

’Anton? What are you...oh. Okay, let’s go with this. Logos, Pathos?’

=I’ll keep track of the monitors. Pathos?∆

∆Kaijin Refinement Protocol, acknowledged.∆

∆Core set: Core of Undying Devotion has been chosen from the vault.∆

∆Materials identified: Semi-Evolved Skeletal Zako, Semi-Incorporated Echo Stone.∆

∆Activating [Chaos Body Forge].∆

’Wait, what kind of interface should I be expecting this time?’

=A literal forge.=

’Huh...aight.’

__________________________________________

’Hmmm. I don’t think Zhen Liu’s finished yet, so why did he-’

∆Activating [Chaos Body Forge].∆

’What the-’

Fwoom!

’-whoa!’

Before Jinju Ren’s eyes, Zhen Liu suddenly exploded in a burst of smoke and rainbow colored energy. When the former cleared away, Zhen Liu looked...decidedly different.

At least, she hoped that it was Zhen Liu still standing there.

The being that had taken his place looked a lot like a dragon, but not like any dragon she had seen before.

’Is this a form of Zhen Liu’s? But he doesn’t have any dragon blood, I would’ve sensed something like that...no...this is something else entirely.’

The dragon in question had an almost humanoid feel, what with the way it was standing upright, and the fact it was covered head to toe in armor. Most dragons and dragon-blooded rarely wore armor due to their natural scales being already strong enough to compete with most master forged armors anyways. That and most dragons found armor to be rather chaffing, metal plates and scales don’t mix too well.

In stark contrast though, this strange dragon looked and moved as if the armor was a part of his body. In fact, if Jinju Ren focused her eyes enough, she could see that several of the large metal plates were being used to cover exposed flesh.

Evidently, while this armor bit initially weirded Jinju Ren the most, what fully caught her attention though was the dragonoid’s wings.

The wings in question weren’t leathery, feathery or even organic. Instead, they were these strange mechanical appendages that had a pair of giant gems as the focal point, and mechanical "fingers" that seemed to move and flow as elegantly as a dancer’s limbs. In these mechanical wings, Jinju Ren could sense a strange energy to them, like she was staring into the secrets of bringing life to the lifeless, be they undead or mechanical.

’Wait, what happened to the zako?,’ Jinju Ren thought to herself before redirecting her gaze downward. ’Ah...of course she’s glowing.’

In the dragon’s outstretched arms was the skeletal zako woman from before, but this time she was glowing with a strange light and radiating this aura of mixed emotions that carried with them this undercurrent of raw power, of a dao that could lead to madness and enlightenment in equal measure because of just how contradictory it was.

Jinju Ren could’ve spent hours, days even, just to understand the complexities of this strange aura. But alas, this aura was going to be used another way.

[With my power, I refine your body,] the humanoid dragon proclaimed in a deep voice that sounded like a mix between her father’s voice and that of a natural disaster.

The mechanical wings on the dragon’s back began to flare to life as the mechanical fingers began to spin around the giant gems that began to release thick beams of energy that impacted the glowing skeleton woman.

Before Jinju Ren’s eyes, she could see that the beams of light had begun to shape the zako into a more defined form, complete with horns and a long, flowing head of hair.

<<A demonic evolution?,>> Jinju Ren quietly asked herself. <<Like something out of the old books...>>

__________________________________________

’Alright...why does she have hair?’

<Not entirely sure on that, but it balances out the horns you gave her, and the unusually bodacious body.>

’Don’t blame me, she wanted to look like this.’

<Right...>

’Anyways, is there a formula baked into this one or nah?’

<No, you’re good.>

’Cool.’

__________________________________________

[With my wisdom, I forge your mind.]

*Rumble*

Above Jinju Ren’s head, the ceiling to the room suddenly opened like the shutters of a camera and revealed to her a vast collection of scrolls and books that seemed to stretch on into eternity. She didn’t have to exercise her aether to recognize that each of these shelved items were aether formulas of varying strengths, of countless elemental origins as well.

There were so many formulas, that the Imperial archives looked like a kiddie book corner in comparison.

The dragonoid turned his gaze upwards, as Jinju Ren could see the look of calculation and deliberation in his eyes.

At this point, Jinju Ren expected the dragonoid to fly upwards and select whatever formula it was planning to use. However, in a moment of strangeness she should’ve seen coming, the dragonoid’s neck suddenly elongated like that of a serpent, and the dragonoid proceeded to grab whatever formula it had decided upon from the shelves before retracting his neck.

On the way down though, the formula appeared to catch fire, exploding into a complex aether formula that engraved itself into the skeletal zako below.

The sound of the wailing dead could be heard as the formula did it’s thing.

’What kind of crazy formula did he incorporate into this girl?’

__________________________________________

’[Death Crier’s Concerto]? What kind of formula is this?’

<It’s a bit like Hurricroak’s [Thunder God Symphony], but a bit more...death focused. Long and short of it, is that it will enhance her already potent death screams to an even higher degree. That and it will allow to incorporate more death focused aether treasures into her body.>

’That...that sentence implies were going to be finding a lot of those kind of treasures in the future.’

<Well, we would if you’d be more proactive in stealing other people’s stuff.>

’As I said before, trying to minimize the exact amount of targets on my back as much as possible. I’m fairly certain I still have a criminal organization gunning for my ass.’

<Oh yeah...anyways, you have a name for her?>

’Yes...but it’s so painfully pun-like it’s going to hurt me just saying it.’

<Really?>

’Yeah...but it’s good though.’

’Well don’t leave us in suspense,’ Anton finally chimed in. ’Since I’m providing the core, you gotta tell us now.’

’Well, it’s...’

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[And with my will, I pull your soul from Chaos.]

Pa...

’Whoa...is that what a desire core looks like? It’s so...delicate yet profound.’

The dragonoid had simply opened its mouth and released a ball of glowing light that set off Jinju Ren’s senses like nothing else.

From this strange ball of light, an image began to form in Jinju Ren’s head.

The sight of a young woman praying over a gravestone, played through her head. This image looked static at a glance, but she could clearly see the passage of time taking place. Over this period, the woman began to age into that of a mature woman, into that of an old woman and then finally, into that of a phantom.

If Jinju Ren had to describe this scene, it was that of utter devotion.

As the ball traveled towards the glowing zako body, a small crack in space appeared and injected the orb with a profound energy. Once the ball got close to enough to the body though, something strange occurred.

A hole appeared in the glowing skeleton, releasing threads of light that Jinju Ren could feel auras of [Wrath], [Rebellion] and [Lust] all at once. These threads began to entangle with the ball that radiated pure [Devotion], turning it into...something else entirely.

Once the ball was fully absorbed by the zako though, the aura of an Aether Lord filled the room.

[May your screams so loud, that even the dead will hear from beyond the grave. Screamira, give us a show.]

As soon as these words were said, the glowing began to die down, revealing to the world a brand new kaijin.

"So quiet...it’s almost deafening," she whispered in a voice as loud as rolling thunder.