Chapter 1656: Battle Royale(3)
’What the fuck kind of contradictory bullshit is this?! Wait...why am I cursing?’ Serena asked herself.
When Zhen Liu initially presented his plan on how to deal with both the traitors within the Sacred Flame Theocracy and the invaders at the gate from the Erupting Dawn Empire to Serena, she was understandably skeptical.
While she had met the kaijin and understood them to be terrifying existences of pure power, she was also aware that the princes of the Erupting Dawn Empire were viciously powerful and the disciples of the [False Flame] were even more terrible to deal with.
In other words, she wasn’t entirely sure if the home-field advantage was going to be enough.
But she ultimately consented to the idea...with the caveat that she would have a chance to try and see if she could convert Hulna and Feroxxa to be on their side.
Even though the two holy leaders had started working with an offshoot of the [Sacred Flame], they were still technically loyal members of the actual church.
If push came to shove, there was a minute, yet very real, possibility that the two of them could be swayed to switch sides and be allowed a chance at redemption.
Assuming that either one of them was innocent of the crime of murdering Alfina.
Alas, that wasn’t the case in the slightest.
Feroxxa declared that Hulna did the deed, while he himself was guilty of leaving the room unguarded.
Hulna declared that Feroxxa was the one to slay the previous Hearth Tender, and all that he was guilty of was simply leaving the doors unlocked.
Either way, both said that they weren’t directly associated with the murder...but they were both accomplices.
This inability to know the truth angered Serena to the point that she determined that there was only one proper course of action: she was going to beat the everliving tar out of the both of them before dragging them both to the [Sacred Flame] and use its full power to get the full truth.
That or kill them both and be done with it, but that might’ve been the influence of [Chaos] upon her head.
Either way, she had a golden opportunity before now thanks to Springerdermain and Copper being in front and center of Feroxxa’s focus.
When the religious veteran was brought into Springerdermain’s circus of pain, Copper and Serena were poised and positioned to either ambush the man or participate in a kaijin-style interrogation.
They had gone for the latter once they had noticed Feroxxa looked positively more talkative than his usual self.
This, in turn, positioned them so that Serena was hiding in the shadows, while Copper was in the spotlight...while disguised as Alfina.
However, now that the man had confessed to being an accomplice, talking and hiding was no longer needed.
Action was now the name of the game.
...
[Mister Springerdermain, do you mind if I take the first swing?]
[Not at all, Copper. Have fun.]
[Gladly!]
[Miss Serena, do you want to participate in this melee as well?]
’I am...fine for the time being. My emotions are feeling a bit unsettled right now.’
[Fair enough.]
...
Shortly after Feroxxa’s confession, Copper immediately ditched his illusionary disguise and rushed at the man while summoning a massive mace made of copper that was infused with the power of nature. In other words, one solid swing to the noggin was the equivalent to getting domed by a fully grown tree...or worse.
Normally, Feroxxa would’ve been able to defend such a straightforward attack, but he was still reeling from the shock of Alfina suddenly transforming into a giant, rotund knight made of copper and righteous fury.
Feroxxa let out an "oof" of surprise and shock as his [Regalia] failed to block the attack due to it being empowered by [Chaos].
As a veteran of hundreds of battles, though, Feroxxa was able to steady his feet fast enough to hear Springerdermain’s cutting commentary.
[Mister Feroxxa, from the looks of it, one of our performers wasn’t too happy to hear how you were an accomplice in the murder of the previous Hearth Tender. Allow me to introduce the Copper Crusher. He’s here to make you feel the weight of your sins in a very literal manner.] Springerdermain said with all the flourish of a circus magician.
Feroxxa, however, did not appreciate the showmanship in the slightest. All of his attention was directed squarely towards the giant knight-golem made of copper and wielding a hammer bigger than his entire torso.
"I refuse to believe for a second that you’re such a thing," Feroxxa spat back once he managed to recover from the initial shock of getting slammed in the chest. "My conscience is clear and my cause is righteous."
[I’ve heard that line before from much more unscrupulous characters,] Springerdermain fired back. [They didn’t believe themselves when they said it either.]
"If you don’t believe my words, that’s fine. Instead, bear witness to its manifestation! [Astra, manifest!]"
Feroxxa swung down his hands in a coordinated manner, as if he were drawing a sword from his back. In the blink of an eye, a huge bastard sword with a flat tip appeared in his hands. Copper, Springerdermain, and Serena could all immediately recognize this weapon as being a type of sword used by executioners when decapitating criminals.
"My [Astra] is known as the [Heretic’s Reward]," Feroxxa declared while holding the blade level to Copper’s torso. "Every swing of this blade carries with it the full weight of Divine Justice."
At this declaration, Springerdermain couldn’t help but let out an audible snort.
[Sure, sure,] Springerdermain nodded in a sarcastic manner. [Like a greedy mortal like you can truly understand something as vague as "divine justice. If anything, that stupid blade of yours probably relies solely on your vague ideas of virtue and the like, am I right?]
This type of accusation, this type of needling, would normally cause an understandably violent reaction of rage from the victim and would serve as an excellent way for someone else to make a move.
Unfortunately, this sort of tactic didn’t work on violent zealots. Especially ones that may or may not be mentally compromised prior to battle.
"Your words mean nothing to me, demon," Feroxxa said as he entered a stance with his [Astra] at the ready. "I shall cut down this lumox before I take your head as a trophy for my wall of heretics!"
[Of fucking course this guy has a trophy wall,] Springerdermain muttered under his breath.
Ignoring the obvious insult to his honor, Feroxxa immediately charged in and prepared to perform a sweeping strike with the aim of cutting Coppper into two pieces.
Unfortunately for him, Copper was much sturdier than he appeared...and so was his mace.
Raising his weapon in time, Copper managed to block the sword strike before it could catch purchase on his body, and Feroxxa himself felt as if he had just tried to cut a tree down with a butter knife.
"What the fuck?!"
[I’ve been eating a lot of Terraqi-rich aether treasures,] Copper said to Feroxxa’s disbelieving face. [Meaning I’m a lot tougher and stronger than I look.]
Proving his point, Copper took a step forward and pushed Feroxxa back.
[Now get ready to feel the weight of your guilt!]
...Meanwhile, back at the control room...
<=Hmmm.=>
Logos and Pathos continued to watch the ongoing battles with a mix of disinterest and ongoing concern.
In their eyes, the battles between the kaijin and the Erupting Dawn warriors were going as anticipated.
At this moment in time, Screamira was keeping Prince Lauvanne on the ropes, long enough so that Lythero could take over at any moment, while Nepherage had more or less taken measure of Prince Galban’s abilities enough to hand it off to Olstenna with no issues.
As for the elite warriors, they were thoroughly softened up by the Doll Twins so that the Zhen Clan Scions could get in there and possibly undergo a breakthrough...ideally.
Even the battle between Zhen Liu and Lofarro went as calculated; granted, there was a little extra fault tolerance due to the prince showcasing that he had dragon force under his belt.
<Is this a case of royalty carrying dragon blood again, or is this something else?>
=It appears to be the case of the latter,= Logos answered her counterpart. =The Erupting Dawn Empire genealogical record we dug shows no indication of dragon-blood heritage. It appears that this First Prince Lofarro character managed to acquire this bit of dragon force through his own independent efforts.=
<Ugh. How annoyingly heroic-sounding. >
=Indeed.=
However, despite how positively things were going against the Erupting Dawn Empire, the same couldn’t be said against the False Crusaders of the Sacred Flame Theocracy.
Frosttusk, Razorstella, and Rianna were facing off against the False Crusaders, and things were getting...progressively stranger in these fights.
Frosttusk had frozen over the limbs of his opponent a multitude of times, but the bastard kept removing and melting them like they were the most natural actions in the world.
Razorstella had more or less turned her opponent into a sashimi platter multiple times, but the bitch kept stitching herself back together like it was nothing.
And as for Rianna and her opponent, well...
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