Chapter 1104: Faster Than the Lightbringer

<Well, this is nostalgic in an incredibly painful way.>

=No duh.=

<You’d think walking through Undertow would’ve been enough for us to get our memories unlocked, but nope! Instead, we gotta wait and see the [Shadow Sovereign] roll up and almost destroy Undertow, again. Life’s cruel.>

=Yeah, well...wait a minute, what the fuck?=

<What’s up?>

=The storage area for all the cores our lord has created is producing weird readings.=

<Weird, how?>

BOOM!

=Weird in the sense that one of them just got loose and is trying to force itself to be summoned.=

<Which one?!>

...

’Well...that’s not good.’

[It’s not bad either, but we’re definitely going to have to change focus.]

’No shit. Which means getting this angelic asshole off of our tail!’

[That feels like tautology...]

...

When the [Shadow Sovereign] fired off it’s attack, Zhen Liu assumed that it was game over.

That this was going to be his first big loss and that he was going to have to deal with the emotional trauma that came with failing to save thousands of lives and failing to protect his beloved girlfriend’s distant legacy.

Instead, he was given a deus ex machina in the form of Tor___ surrendering himself to the void of [Chaos] and turning into a monstrous giant form that not only was working to suppress the [Shadow Sovereign], but also helped to explain some bits in regards to his mother’s story in relation to Meteor Horn.

Terrain devastation was normal, apparently.

That aside, the biggest boon from this sudden transformation was that Zhen Liu and his allies now had a slightly larger window of opportunity to destroy this blasted machine.

Unfortunately, he still had to deal with a certain glowing asshole before he could do so.

[Will you kindly fuck off already?! Your side already fired their doomsday weapon, you don’t need to keep chasing me anymore!,] Zhen Liu complained while dodging several arrows made of light.

[Not until I make sure you can’t stop it,] Alain retorted while firing more light arrows. [You treated me like a pin cushion, so consider this retaliation!]

[Fuck you!]

After Zhen Liu realized that Alain was going to intercept whatever attacks he launched at the [Shadow Sovereign], he made sure to abuse this fact to hit Alain with attack after attack after attack.

A direct result of this constant hammering, and the fact that Zhen Liu’s offensive abilities for the time being consisted of physical and fire related abilities, Alain was covered in a variety of wounds that ranged from burn marks to open cuts to slightly necrotic tissue and bruises. Unfortunately, none of these wounds were fatal.

Thanks to all the [Chaos] flowing through his veins, Alain was able to actively heal these wounds to an extent, but he would still require full medical treatment after this battle ended.

This healing though meant that Alain’s attacks were weaker than he wanted, but it was still enough to actively harass Zhen Liu.

It didn’t matter how Zhen Liu maneuvered in the air or what defensive tricks he used, Alain managed to keep on his tail while maintaining a barrage of light arrows.

Zhen Liu was able to avoid them for the most part, due to the arrows being fired in an incredibly haphazard manner, but the ones that did manage to hit actually penetrated his [Stigma] and struck at his flesh.

Unless Zhen Liu did something, defeat was going it be a slow inevitably.

...

[Wait, can’t you just blast this bird out of the sky and be done with it? You did manage to beat the tar out of him earlier.]

’That was due to him playing interference earlier. Otherwise, you saw what happened earlier, that Alain guy is too damn fast for us. Even when he had four arms firing projectiles, he dodged them with contemptuous ease. Besides, I’m getting the feeling in my gut that I’m going to have to save up my [Chaos] for something...big.’

[Okay...also,I don’t think "contemptuous" is the right word. Wait, would it work if we split off and I try to keep him busy? I may be a spiritual kaijin, but...]

’Bad idea. He seems like the type to tunnel vision on a target. He’d probably ignore you and try to kill me even faster.’

[Then what if I intervened?,] a mysterious new voice popped into Zhen Liu’s head.

[’What the fuck?!’]

Normally he wouldn’t be shocked at voices in his head at this point, but this was an exception.

Because this voice belonged to someone who shouldn’t exist anymore.

[Just let me into the driver’s seat. I’ll bring us to glory and beyond.]

’How the hell did you-URP!’

...

’Huh? What the fuck?’

As Alain kept firing his light arrows at Zhen Liu, aiming to at least nail the back of his head, he noticed something weird had occurred.

As Zhen Liu kept dodging as he usually did, he suddenly convulsed for a split second. This would normally be beneath Alain’s notice...until he noticed that the [Chaos] aura surrounding Zhen Liu took on a very different property.

Before, he radiated this feeling of flames and judgement.

Now, he couldn’t help but feel like he is as staring at the back of a giant sailfish.

’Wait a minute...how the hell is he getting ahead?’

A sailfish that was getting faster and faster by the second.

[Oh no you-BWAH!]

Alain was just about to mentally prepare himself to gun forward and attempt to keep up with Zhen Liu’s sudden burst in speed, when the aformentioned warrior flew backwards all of a sudden and began to keep pace with Alain. More specifically, he had dropped down and began to stare up towards Alain in his face.

At this point, Alain couldn’t help but to think he was losing his mind, because he swore that the Kaijin Lord’s [Regalia] had a clear demonic motif to it. Now, it has the visage of a swordfish.

[Hey, buddy,] Zhen Liu said in a voice that was definitively more charismatic and cockier than what Alain had heard just moments before. [I just wanted to check on something. Do you really want to keep chasing after me? Actually, better question, you sure you really want to keep fighting me?]

[I...wait, what?]

[Look buddy, I’m the Kaijin Lord, right? That means I can read people’s hearts. Not their minds, their hearts, very big difference, and I can see that your heart ain’t into this,] Zhen Liu elaborated. [If anything, you’re heart is elsewhere. Perhaps the place where that royal seal on your lapel originates from?]

[What are you implying?,] Alain replied while narrowing his eyes at Zhen Liu.

Logic dictated that he should blast down this annoying bastard before he could run his mouth any further...but as Zhen Liu just said, his heart was elsewhere.

[I’m just saying, you technically don’t need to stick around here and fall with the Fallen,] Zhen Liu continued. [You already know my victory is inevitable, so why don’t you just fly away, maybe take a friend or two away, and I’ll pretend you don’t exist for a little while longer. Okay?]

[You-!]

The sheer audacity of Zhen Liu’s words struck Alain’s nerve like a bolt of thunder.

So much so that Alain was about to tell Zhen Liu to go and eat a spiked explosive. Unfortunately...

[Listen here you stupid mother-]

[By the way, I’m just assuming you agreed to my terms, so you should probably know that what you’ve been staring at for the past few moments is actually my afterimage.]

[Wait, what?!]

In order to confirm Zhen Liu’s words, Alain proceeded to swipe towards him with a [Chaos] coated fist.

As Zhen Liu had said though, he was nothing but an afterimage right now, so Alain’s fist just went through him.

Before Alain could even process where the hell Zhen Liu went, he got barreled over by someone flying pass him faster than even his top speed.

[SEE YA, MOTHERFUCKER! HAHA!,] Zhen Liu yelled while flying away from Alain...and towards the top of the [Shadow Sovereign]’s head.

...

[Hahaha! Oh that felt good! I forgot how much fun it was to gloat after being non-existent for so long. Man, I didn’t even think I would have a chance to do this again.]

’Yeah, that’s great-HOW ARE YOU BACK?! I blasted you with giant fuck you cannon!’

[Oh that? Well...]

...

To say he was was annoyed at this turn of events, was a given.

To say he was angry at this turn of events, was an understatement.

However, Alain didn’t give chase to Zhen Liu’s provocation. Instead, he began to listlessly float in the air as he realized something important.

The Kaijin Lord(Zhen Liu) was right.

Now was not the time to die in some cavern in the middle of nowhere, for people he didn’t care about.

’I have...a kingdom to claim. But if I’m going to do that, I’m going to need help...and I know exactly who to grab.’