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

Chapter 1661: Rage baiting is a viable tactic...

"Not a what, but a who."

From above, Jinju Ren descended while in her full [Regalia] and her [Dragon-Taming Saber] in one of her hands.

Lofarro was initially annoyed at the sight of this newcomer, but that annoyance was soon replaced by shock.

"You?! You’re Princess Jinju Ren of the Pearl Scale Empire! What are you doing here?!"

Lofarro had heard from Legante and their spies about how the princess had worked with the forces of the Sacred Flame Theocracy to fight against the Raidmen, so he was expecting to fight her at some point in the near future. However, he did not expect the princess to appear in the [Library of Nowhere] of all places.

Until she decided to spell it out for him in a manner that was as blunt as a hammer made of polished stone.

"Oh, you didn’t know? The Kaijin Lord has claimed me as one of his beloved wives," Jinju Ren said with a sense of pride that was rather jarring to the First Prince. "And now, we’re going to kick your ass in together."

"W-what?!"

Zhen Liu had originally wanted to interject and clarify that Jinju Ren was his fiancee and not wife quite yet, but stopped when he realized that this little white lie to us was doing the one thing he was aiming for the entire battle: Make the first prince lose his cool.

"It was bad enough that you summoned those monstrous minions to fight in your stead, another thing when you attempted to steal one of the most powerful weapons in my arsenal, and now you’re having your wife interject and ruin our duel?!" Lofarro roared with indignation.

Zhen Liu exchanged a quick look with Jinju Ren. Despite both of their visages being covered in [Regalia], Zhen Liu could see the cat-like grin on the dragon princess’s face and she could see the amused grimace on his.

"Yes," Zhen Liu answered before deciding to kick the bear in the junk. "And what are you going to do about it?"

"..."

Instead of answering directly, Lofarro first started circulating his aether to a level that only Aether Kings could reach.

And upon his chest, his [Icon] began to form.

"I’m going to show you the power of the future Erupting Dawn Emperor!"

"Oooh, I think we pissed him off," Jinju Ren commented with an amused tone. "We should probably beat the rage out of him."

"Yes!"

...Speaking of rage...

"Ugh, this is getting ridiculous!" Legante snarled as the Doll Twins made yet another pass, yet their defensive formation inflicted even more wounds of attrition.

"Either kill us or let us leave! Enough of this yo-yoing horse shit!"

[No!]

[No.]

"ARRRGG!"

The Doll Twins had kept their word that they weren’t going to kill Legante and his men, but this "softening" situation was much worse.

Horrific curses being followed by soothing blessings and vice versa was making the elite warriors from the Erupting Dawn Empire feel absolutely miserable.

Even if they were veteran warriors who had dealt with all sorts of monsters and troubles, the polarizing shifts in sensation were driving them insane...or at the very least, close to it.

[I think they’re just about ready for the others, don’t you?] Porcelain Doll asked her sister loud enough for the suffering soldiers to hear as well.

[Yes, I do think they’re ready.]

"What the fuck does that mean?!" One of the soldiers yelled out, a mix of exhaustion and rage plain on his face.

Instead of answering the beleaguered warrior, the Doll Twins simply landed on top of a pair of tall headstones overlooking the entire group.

The group was, understandably freaked by this sudden pause in aggression...until they sensed something weird happening in the space in front of them.

A distortion appeared in the air, as the familiar fluctuations of spatial aether washed over them and signalled that a teleportation array was activating before their eyes.

A trio of young warriors, two of which were obviously foreignborn, exited from the teleportation array and stood ready for battle.

The Erupting Dawn warriors only needed a quick glance to determine that they were at the peak of the Aether Master stage. However, there was also something every strange mixed into their auras that caused Legante and his men to eye the trio with caution.

It was the same strangeness that they were sensing from the Doll Twins.

[These three are direct disciples of the Kaijin Lord,] Porcelain Doll declared. [While their aether cultivation is weaker in comparison to you elite warriors, their ability to leverage Chaos makes them more than a match.]

[If anything, they probably hit even harder,] Corpse Doll added with a snicker.

For their part, Zhen Xing, Zhen Tai, and Antonio were doing their best in appearing as intimidating as possible.

Legante and his men, however, did not respond to the obvious provocation.

They knew something was up, and didn’t want to prematurely start any shit if they could help it.

[So here’s the deal,] the Doll Twins began to say in unison. [There are more of you than they are of them, and our Lord wants to use this opportunity to train up his disciples through trial by fist and fire. As such, you lot will pick three among you to fight them in one-on-one combat with this lovely necropolis serving as the battlefield. If you win, you can live and leave, but if you lose...you can only hope your opponent is feeling merciful.]

This sounded fair on the surface, but Legante could immediately see issues both in the words of the Doll Twins and the situation as a whole.

"What’s stopping the chosen warriors from hanging up on one of your disciples? Better yet, what’s stopping from all of us fighting at once?" Legante asked, fully expecting a vicious answer.

He was not disappointed.

[Nothing really, but the Caretaker said that if anyone broke the rules as we presented, then we have free range to stop holding back.]

"O-oh..."

Needless to say, the Erupting Dawn Elites didn’t want to see what that entailed.

...Alright, let’s check on one of the other princes...

[You know, as much fun as it is to exchange fists with you, Prince Galban. I’m going to have to cut our little dance short and let someone else take the lead.]

"What?!"

Nepherage and Galban had been exchanging blows constantly for the better part of ten minutes.

Galban more than lived up to his reputation as a vicious warrior and had busted out techniques that would turn the insides of lesser warriors into nothing more than a pulpy stew of blended bones and questionable meat.

If he had fought anyone other than Nepherage, he could’ve definitely won about six or so moves ago.

But alas, he now had to face the ultimate indignity of being pawned off to be someone else’s problem.

He had been guilty of doing this in the past, but this was the first time someone had done it to him.

Especially in the middle of a battle to the death.

[Don’t feel too bad, your new opponent is actually someone who has been looking forward to fighting you for awhile.]

"What the fuck does that—"

[Berserker’s Blaze!]

"Ah!"

Galban and Nepherage had been locked with their fists pushing against each other when, all of a sudden, a jet of violet violent flames came down on Galban’s head like a blowtorch being used on a cockroach.

(Un)Fortunately, the rotund fuck managed to disengage fast enough to take several steps back and avoid the brunt of the blast.

Olstenna landed shortly afterwards, positioning themselves directly between Galban and Nepherage.

The latter had a please expression on her face, applauding Olstenna for making such a viciously grand entrance. While the former, well...his expression could be considered less than joyful.

Especially since he absolutely recognized Olstenna’s face.

"Olstenna the Violet Butcher?! He works for the Kaijin Lord too?!"

"You can say something like that," Olstenna answered in Nepherage’s stead. "I challenged the Kaijin Lord for ownership of the Library and his title. Unfortunately, he rocked my shit. Fortunately, he kept me alive. And now I get to fight whomever I want, whenever I want."

After making this statement, Olstenna proceeded to show off a bit by showcasing some of the natural aether flames he had "earned" from his service under Zhen Liu.

"Not only that, but the rewards have been magnificent."

Galban didn’t immediately respond to Olstenna unusual boast, instead he simply let out a snort of condescension.

"I had heard tales from others that your pride and bloodlust were the stuff of legends. They said that you once burned down an entire village over a spilled drink."

"Close. They insulted my mother," Olstenna corrected.

"I find it hard to believe that someone like that would bend a knee..."

At this observation, Olstenna couldn’t help but to sardonically smile.

"Well, you haven’t had the full pleasure of seeing him or his monsters go all out. Here’s a secret: she was holding back this entire time."

"W-what?!"