Chapter 761: Fighting in the closet.

Despite having the unofficial(?) title of "Kaijin Consort", it didn’t really provide any notable benefits to Jin Fang beyond being able to know that kaijin exist and access to the Library of Nowhere.

Well, there was one other thing, but that was a secret for the time being.

Regardless ,when Nepherage came to her in order to ask for her assistance, the two were forced to communicate with each other via the method every other mundane mortal used to get their point across: talking.

Due to this restriction, and realizing that it would look incredibly weird for Jin Fang to talk to a jade bracelet or a toy soldier while walking around, Nepherage opted to use her human form.

She even made sure to adapt her "clothes" to look like a butler’s uniform in order to blend in better.

On the downside though, Nepherage had forgotten what name she normally used for this form, so Jin Fang opted to simply call her, "Nicole".

It worked for the most part.

"Will Lady Rianna be okay by herself? She looked rather...stressed out when we left."

"Oh, she’ll be fine," Jin Fang reassured Nicole,"she’s just frustrated from not being able to catch anything with that bow and arrow of hers."

"Ah."

...

For some minor context, Nepherage had found Jin Fang in the middle of bow fishing with Rianna at the stern of the ship.

The two had apparently bonded over the sport during the trip to Willow Scale, and had been maintaining the hobby ever since.

...

"You know, I think this the longest two of us have ever spent time together," Jin Fang told Nicole as the two of them continued walking to wherever the other kaijin were. "Well, with just each other, I mean. The only other time we’ve hung out together was back when we proved Xiao Liu was assassinated by a traitor."

"I...think you’re right, milady. But it is natural I suppose. I normally spend my days around the lord’s wrist so that I can be there at a moment’s notice."

"A regular knight of the realm, I see."

"I’d like to think I could fight better than any old, stuffy knight."

"Hah!"

The atmosphere between woman and kaijin became increasingly friendly as the two of them conversed over a handful of random topics.

The nature of their trip may have had a slightly...criminal tint to it, but it didn’t mean two of them couldn’t have some pleasant conversation before getting into the thick of things.

"By the way, are you sure you captured every assassin on this ship? You guys did manage to capture a few that turned out to be members of the same faction, so it is possible that some of them have hidden partners."

"I’m fairly certain everything is fine," Nicole assured Jin Fang. "The others may be reckless incarnate, but they also recognize when they need to ask for help. If things were truly dire, they’d contact me by know."

"Hmm..."

_____________Meanwhile_________________

[Bah! What the fuck?!]

[My fucking eyes!]

*Thud!*

[Ow!]

[Thank...heavens...I...blinked...]

From Yin Yue’s perspective, she had simply disappeared without a trace as she normally did when she tapped into her bloodline’s power.

Her ability wasn’t all that flashy, but it was incredibly effective at being used to avoid attacks and detection.

In the eyes of the kaijin, however, it was a miserable moment.

The moment Yin Yue activated her ability, the senses of the kaijin present ended up getting flooded with an excessive amount of information to the point of mental overload. It was as if a flashbang and a stinkbomb were combined into one, and made to be over twenty stronger than normal, suddenly appeared and blinded all of the kaijin in the room.

The only one that wasn’t affected was Frosttusk, and that was due to him blinking at a very opportune moment.

The sudden flash was actually so surprising though, that Spring Brawler had accidentally released his grip on the support beam above his head and plummeted to the ground with a thud.

Needless to say, this moment was mildly embarrassing to the circus acrobat-like kaijin.

[Fuck...can you guys see yet?]

[Kind of.]

[Yes...]

They didn’t know why or how it happened, all they knew was that if they didn’t want to get hit with yet another of one of those.

[Alright, blindness aside, is that cat bitch still here?]

[Yes...]

[Where?]

[Over there!]

Just like before, the strange outline of the cat bloodliner was visible due to the lingering fog of cold that Frosttusk had established.

It wouldn’t be an exaggerattion to say that as long as Frosttusk was "breathing", Yin Yue had no olway of hiding from the others.

[You stay on the ground and possibly keep your eyes closed,] Screamira told her stunned counterpart. [I’m going to go in there and see if I can stop her.]

[Huh? Why am I the one being -]

[Because in the chance she does that weird flashbang ability of hers, we need at least one kaijin that isn’t acting like our detection unit to be able to act,] Screamira explained in a manner so detailed and confidently that Spring Brawler couldn’t help but nod in agreement.

[Good. I’ll be back in a moment!]

Screamira once again carefully walked through all of the unconscious bodies on the floor, until she was in striking distance to the outlined cat woman.

[Got you!]

*Pow!*

"Again?! How?!"

Screamira had opted to lash out with her hands again, using one to do a tiger claw strike that was aimed at the cat bloodliner woman’s face.

Unfortunately, Yin Yue was still reactive enough to be able to block Screamira’s claw strike.

"Again with this weird energy, how are you able to block my attacks?!," Screamira whisper yelled in frustration.

"Holy shit, you can talk?!"

Evidently, Yin Yue had entered this room under the assumption that these weird beings were unintelligible due to their less than mortal physique and lack of visible mouths except for the skeletal one that looked surprisingly feminine.

What she found more surprising though, was the red skeleton’s comment.

’Wait...’

With both her and Screamira’s arms locked in with one another, Yin Yue finally sensed an odd characteristic in regards to how her innate bloodline ability reacted to the strange energy that these demon warriors were producing.

She wasn’t entirely sure what to call either power, but she could feel that whatever energy she used while doing her bloodliner ability, was outright neutralizing the weird energy coming out of the skeletal woman in front of, the strangely lithe puppet laying on the floor and the giant mammoth man that was constantly spewing out a very chilly fog.

This meant, that as much as she hated to admit, Yin Yue would be able to fight these weirdo beings on an even playing field.

Which, if the current situation was anything to go off, was something that she would have no choice but to do.

’Alright...fuck it!’

"Wha-hey!"

Going on the offensive, Yin Hue proceeded to forcefully knock away Screamira’s outstretched claw in order to force open the latter’s guard.

Now that she had a clear shot, Yin Yue tightened and bundled her fingers until they formed into a blade-like structure and stabbed forward at Screamira’s chest.

"Oof!"

"Ah! My fingers!"

Unfortunately, whatever boney structures Screamira was made of was tougher than Yin Yue anticipated. Both bloodliner and Kaijin came away from this short exchange with some light bruises.

That said, this was only the first exchange of blows.

[Alright, game on!]

Now that it was clear that this was going to be a straightforward fight, both Screamira and Yin Yue began to coat their limbs with their respective weird energies.

A small moment of respect occurred as the combatants were given time to prepare for the exchange.

But once both sides were ready, the fists began to fly.

Albeit, in a very quiet manner.

’[Dammit, I knew I should’ve practiced more stealthy attack arts!,]’ both sides thought to themselves.

But it was too late for regrets and too late for new plans.

Now was the time for, a good ole slugfest.

[Wait...why aren’t I contacting Nepherage, right now?]

________________________________________

"Alright, I’ll believe you in that regard," Jin Fang nodded. "It’s good to see that you guys are so loyal to one another."

"We’re not exactly normal by this world’s standards anyways," Nicole freely admitted. "It would be absolute misery if we couldn’t accept each other, at least."

"That makes sense..."

The two went on to be quiet as they continued walking, since they had exhausted the minor topics that were on their minds at this point.

However, something that Nepherage said had lingered on in Jin Fang’s head, to the point that she couldn’t help but to actually verbalize this question.

"Ne-Nicole, I have a rather...personal question."

"Hmm? What is it?"

"What...is Xiao Liu to you?"

"Beg pardon?"

Jin Fang let out a bit of a sigh, a she didn’t want to really elaborate her sentence...because her reasoning behind it was a bit strange.

"I guess what I’m asking is...how do you see your relationship with Xiao Liu?"