Kaijin Fighter: So I Have to Make Monsters, So What?

...Meanwhile, as Zhen Liu was denying a tragedy...

[Well, it appears that we're entering the second to last act of this messed up little play of ours,] Snatcher commented to his box-like companion.

[And now we're finally outside of the original parameters,] the box-like companion noted with glee. [But now we have no choice but to wait and see if this story plays out how we hope.]

[Or we end up being buried here with our dear prince,] Snatcher followed up.

[How annoying.]

[I wouldn't be so sure about that,] the box laughed. [Can't you hear that little hum of hope?]

[Huh?]

...Okay, that's ominous, but let's go back to the actual fighting please...

[Chaos, reverse!]

When the cavern pit started flooding with mud and tar that was laced with [Chaos], Zhen Liu didn't stay still.

Making use of the fact that Dante's Kaijin weren't created with the idea of detecting [Chaos], he and Blazejudicator zipped around the battlefield to perform a couple of tasks during all of the flooding.

First, he made sure to extract all of his injured kaijin.

This included the Mysticlassic unit and the Doll Twins.

The former had been sent flying by Oizys, while the latter had been surprised by the Demon Knights and were knocked down alongside them.

In other words, Zhen Liu's active kaijin, including the proto-kaijin, had gone from seven to two.

"Alright, guys, come on board. I'd rather not feel what it's like to have a kaijin I'm connected to suddenly die in me," Zhen Liu said in a joking tone in order to hide how monumentally freaked he was actually feeling.

Thanks to their ability to transform into wearable accessories, Zhen Liu didn't even have to do much other than fly over them and give them half of a second to latch on to his body before moving on.

This, in turn, made it easier for him to zoom over to his injured cousins and allies and get them out of the tar before they had a chance to drown in it.

When they were sent flying into the main cavern earlier, they had been knocked into the ground in the process.

As such, when the mines started flooding with tar, they were almost subjected to the possibility of drowning in the viscous substance.

"Y'all ain't turning into modern day fossils while I'm around, so come on!"

Zhen Liu wasn't entirely sure whether he was running on pure adrenaline or his [Chaos] circulation got even more refined due to the stressful situation, but he found himself able to move all four of them before the flooding tar finally stopped flowing.

From there, things got...not necessarily worse, but it wasn't looking better either.

The rest of the rebel army, and their non-combatant relations, had all become trapped in this strange tar-mud mixture and were essentially sitting ducks to Dante and his kaijin.

This...was technically an opportunity to Zhen Liu.

If he was a cold-hearted bastard, Zhen Liu could use this as a chance to not only reinforce his numbers, but go absolutely buckwild.

Due to everything that had occurred during this conflict, from the sudden zako explosions, to Dante creating multiple [Apostasy], and even the [Demon Knights] whipping out [Taboos] like they were regular weapons, the number of zakos that Zhen Liu had on hand had dropped by at least ninety percent.

As well, due to the fact that Dante's kaijin had decided to keep their distance instead of chasing after the fallen rebels, they had basically separated themselves into a lovely open space where Zhen Liu could use whatever big moves he had on hand without causing collateral damage.

Unfortunately, that didn't apply to the enemy kaijin.

Since Zhen Liu didn't have that many kaijin to run interference for him anymore, the enemy had free reign to essentially ignore him while releasing hell upon the others.

But that also meant that there was a window of opportunity where Dante was exposed and he could finally land an actual decapitation strike while the enemy kaijin were distracted with their sadistic games.

A lot of people would die in the process, but the enemy leader would be dead and the rest of the kaijin would fall to madness without their creator to anchor them.

This was the most strategically sound plan that Zhen Liu had in mind.

Unfortunately, he was too much of a bleeding heart to throw innocent bystanders to the wolves like that.

Hence, once he had noticed that Dante's newest toy soldier was about to blow the brains out of someone in front of a child, he moved as fast as he could to prevent this moment of tragedy from playing out.

With a roar and a swing of his bone club, Zhen Liu knocked the projectile of [Chaos] back towards the kaijin that fired it in an attempt to take the fucker out in a single blow.

Unfortunately, Oizys was faster and crueler than that.

[Hmm, I need a shield. Get over here.]

[Huh? BWAH!]

Instead of dodging his own attack like a reasonable warrior, Oizys grabbed one of the kaijin that was floating next to him and used them as a living shield.

The distinctive sound of a [Core] being shattered to dust could be heard echoing throughout the cavern, which was then followed by Oizys tossing aside his now broken shield.

None of the kaijin, not even Dante, reacted to this moment of casual death, as they were all focused on Zhen Liu's sudden appearance.

[This feeling...it's just like the boss!] One of the Kaijin cried in alarm.

[No, there's a difference. This one feels...softer,] another kaijin added.

[They're also weaker,] a third kaijin noticed.

Knowing that all eyes were on him at this time, Zhen Liu began floating upward while wielding both of his [Veteran's Bone Club] and his [Hammer of the Dearly Departed].

'Blazejudicator. Are you ready to get wild?'

[Always, Executor.]

His plan was to go up there, and just...start swinging.

At this point, the number of enemy kaijin had been cut in half after all the fighting, so Zhen Liu figured he had a fairly decent chance on taking them all out.

Or at least, serve enough of a distraction to take out Dante in the process.

But in order to do that, he needed to make himself the most obvious target in the room.

'And I have just the moves for this...'

As he flew upwards, Zhen Liu began cycling [Chaos] through himself, his weapons, and Blazejudicator. At the same time, he began to dig up whatever experiences he had in relation to the concepts of [War] and [Rebellion].

Needless to say, the past few months had made it significantly easier for Zhen Liu to understand these aformentioned concepts.

As he continued this circulation of [Chaos] throughout his body and weapons, Zhen Liu's hammers eventually became cloaked with the flames of [Wrath].

Needless to say, this sudden display had the intended effect.

[Whoa.]

[Those flames...what are they?]

[It feels like...Wrath...]

However, before any of the enemy kaijin or Dante could make a move to put a stop to Zhen Liu's movements, the ascending warrior struck first.

With the variation of a move he seldom used.

[Imperial Crusher: Wild Riot!]

Zhen Liu released a mighty roar that was accompanied by a massive burst of black flames that filled the air and exploded into fiery constructs that attacked and scattered the enemy Kaijin.

[Holy shit!]

[What the fuck?!]

[Don't just float there, fight!]

And now with the enemy more or less scattered, Zhen Liu took this opportunity to charge at Dante.

In response to this unleashed rage, Zhen Liu couldn't help but to notice that Dante had a strangely happy expression on their face.

[Get ready to die, you bastard!] Zhen Liu howled as he brought down his hammers

[Funny, I was about to say the same thing!] Dante shouted back while manifesting his whip-like [Astra]. At the same time, he gave an order that no honorable aether warriors would ever give.

[Demon Knights, attack!]

...As above, so below...

"Holy shit..."

Now that the rebels were forced to take a backseat, what with their bodies trapped in tar, they were given the opportunity to witness something that would never be able to appreciate due to their lack of knowledge of the world: a battle between Kaijin Lords.

Many of them had no idea who this newcomer was, all they knew was that they were able to fight Dante on equal footing and were all rooting for his victory.

But the ones that were in the know, were actually quite worried.

^Hey...are you sure your friend will be able to fight them all off by himself?^

^Well, I've seen him fight off an army of normal aether warriors, but this feels... different.^

At this moment in time, Taurna and Antonio were looking upwards and watching Zhen Liu as he fought five kaijin and their Lord all by his lonesome.

They had wanted to assist, but they knew if they did that they would be nothing more than a hindrance.

Little did they know, though, that they were about to assist in an unexpected way.

^Hey, Maggie, do you think that...Maggie? Why are you glowing like that?^