บท 2239: Rushing Towards the Climax
After smashing her way through the Kotoamatsukami's last line of defense, Kenshin found herself in a near-identical throne room to the one Vahn had been sitting in. The absence of a defending God made her feel like something was wrong, but, upon reaching the throne and taking a seat without incident, she breathed a sigh of relief before activating the planet's command console.
While Kenshin was preparing the planet for self-destruction, Tamamo was busying herself with the construction of an exceptionally powerful magical barrier. Neither she nor Kenshin had the inherent ability to survive for a prolonged period of time within a vacuum. Their [REquip] Systems came with a highly advanced spacesuit, but, as enclosed outfits always made her feel claustrophobic, Tamamo would rather protect herself with magic than 'imprison' herself in one of Da Vinci's creations.
Just as Tamamo was placing the finishing touches on the magical barrier, a portion of the ceiling above them spontaneously collapsed. A tremendous amount of heat and an accompanying flow of liquid metal invaded the throne room but the thing that stood out most was the emaciated, white-haired, mask-wearing figure standing in the center.
With a veritable mane of white hair that billowed outward like violent flames, the mask-wearing man slowly rose to his feet to reveal blazing red eyes and a visage akin to a devil. His mask was a carmine shade of red with curved horns jutting outward from the sides in a manner reminiscent of a samurai's helmet. Unlike the latter, however, the horns protruding from the man's mask were clearly a natural addition to his body.
Wielding a massive spiked club that look far too large for his emaciated figure to wield, the masked man growled, "You...dare...?" in a ghastly, bone-chilling voice that extended each consonant like an echoing whisper.
Though she was slightly startled by the man's sudden appearance, a teasing smile developed across Tamamo's face when she heard his word. Fire and flames were two of the things she feared least, so, as her trio of tails ignited with vibrant, pinkish-golden flames, she answered, "I might~." in a teasing tone.
Issuing a legitimate hiss this time, the oni-like man created a physical whip of flames with the intent of striking Tamamo across the face. To his surprise, she darted under the trajectory of his whip with extreme speed, the pupils of her golden eye contracting like a predator's as she carved eight tracks through his flesh with her elongated claws.
"K-Kuh...you...despicable wench...!"
As the wounds on his chest rapidly healed, the masked man burst into flames before reappearing next to Tamamo with a vicious glint in his eyes. Had this been a few hundred years ago, Tamamo may have been terrified by such an expression. Unfortunately for the man, she had spent the last couple of months learning tips and tricks from none other than Eva. Thus, the moment the man appeared behind her, Tamamo's body flickered as she planted a devastatingly powerful kick to his abdomen. She was still learning, but, with mana reserves comparable to a Tier 5, she was a monster in terms of potential.
Smashing through the far-side wall, the oni-like man felt himself briefly losing consciousness. His true identity was that of Kagutsuchi, the Japanese God of Fire. A substantial portion of his power had been lost during the war against the Demon God but he still couldn't believe he was on the back foot against a mere three-tailed fox spirit.
Liberating himself from the deep channel formed by his body, Kagutsuchi regenerated the large hole in his chest as he asked, "Who...are...you?" in his characteristically terrifying tone.
Showing no signs of fear, the smile on Tamamo's face became markedly more prominent as she replied, "I am my Lord Husband's companion and Wife. I have no name to give to someone like you."
Punctuating her words, a series of vibrant blue magic circles manifested behind Tamamo's body. Her greatest affinity was, unsurprisingly, fire. However, that did not mean she was incapable of tapping into the other elements. Rather, when it came to magic and illusions, she was well on her way to becoming one of the most proficient Mages affiliated with the Aldrnari Empire.
"Magna Cararacta(Great Waterfall)~!"
Swallowing the words he was about to use to admonish Tamamo, Kagutsuchi generated a massive wall of flames to protect against the veritable tidal wave surging toward him. This resulted in a large steam explosion, the throne room instantaneously filling with a tremendous amount of scalding hot vapor. Unfortunately, at least for Kagutsuchi, he had severely underestimated the Water Elemental version of Nivis Casus(Fallen Snow), one of Eva's signature spells. He was able to momentarily delay the crushing wall of water, but, like a man that had tried to stop a tsunami with a flamethrower, it wasn't long before he was forced back into the hole had recently crawled out of...
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While her clones were wreaking havoc in the moments preceding the destruction of the Akuma Community's planet, the actual Wu was paying a visit to Meng Zhang.
Like a true 'Ancestor', Meng Zhang had not come out of his palace even whilst his children and grandchildren were getting smacked around and bullied by multiple Communities.
Gift Games, at least from the perspective of people near the pinnacle of the Heavenly Domain, were often regarded as a crucible of sorts to nourish members of the younger generation. There was very little risk of being permanently crippled or killed, so, while Meng Zhang made note of all the people who had invaded his planet to seek trouble, neither he nor his wives ever stepped foot out of their palace.
"Meng Zhang, you old fart! Why haven't you come out to greet this Great Me!?"
Emerging in place of Meng Zhang was an ethereal, serpentine dragon that appeared to be formed entirely of liquid ice. Its body was over eighty meters in length, and, based on the halo-like crown flickering in and out of existence atop its head, Sarina, walking alongside Wu, concluded that it was a very high-ranking member of its species.
Despite its large size, the ethereal blue dragon immediately descended with its head lowered to the ground as it stated, "Venerable Wu...we implore you to cease your current course of action. Though this competition had pitted-"
"You're Zhou Han Ruogong, Old Man Meng's Third Wife, right...?"
Though there was an awkward period of silence, the watery dragon eventually nodded her head, answering, "Venerable Wu's wisdom knows no bounds. This lowly one's name is indeed Zhou Han Ruogong..."
"Good for you. Now, let me ask you something, Ruo. Have you ever heard a single tale about the Legendary Sun Wu Kong turning away when she decided to venture somewhere...?"
"..."
Taking Ruogong's silence to imply she understood exactly where things were headed, a rather vicious smile developed across Wu's face as she asked, "And do you know what happens when someone tries to bar my path...?"
Flexing the muscles of her jaw, Ruogong hesitated for a moment before charged towards Wu with the unstoppable momentum of a raging river packed with ice. In truth, the power of her charge was far beyond such comparisons, but, thanks to the Central Network slowing everything down so that the people outside could make sense of everything that was going on, it was the comparison most people would make whilst looking at her.
Smiling even wider, Wu was about to step forward and smack Ruogong when she suddenly sensed motion from Sarina. Her smile immediately vanished, but, instead of pressing forward, she allowed Sarina to meet Ruogong's charge with a ki-empowered fist. Ruogong's head was smashed upward like a volleyball, her seemingly unstoppable momentum redirected toward the ceiling.
With the Gift Game rapidly coming to a close, Sarina was starting to feel a little desperate. She had managed to destroy the vast majority of Nav's familiars by bombarding the Forest of Owls, but, as impressive a feat as that was, she doubted there were a lot of cameras watching as she basically just hovered in the air and fired off ki blasts. Her time before that was spent idling about and gathering information, so, with things wrapping up much sooner than expected, Sarina felt compelled to do 'something' before things came to an end.
Following Ruogong through the smashed ceiling, a serious expression developed across Sarina's face as she unholstered the pistol behind her back and uttering, "Bankai...!" in a solemn tone.
Similar to most Bankai transformations, a veil of protective spiritual energy momentarily swirled around Sarina's body before surging outward along with her amplified reiatsu. Her Zanpakuto, previously resembling an old-fashioned flintlock pistol, now resembled a massive cannon that was nearly as long as she was tall. The interior diameter of the barrel was a startling 18cm, and, though it could only fire a single shot before having to be manually reloaded, it was a veritable weapon of mass destruction due to Sarina's power level temporarily jumping up to 57 billion in an instant.
Just as Ruogong was on the cusp of recovering from Sarina's meteoric uppercut, the latter aimed her Zanpakuto directly at the water dragon as she shouted, "Sorry about this, but I can't allow Wu to steal all the credit...!"
Before Ruogong had the chance to respond, Sarina unleashed a burst of energy that resembled a spiraling pillar more than thirty meters in diameter. She reason she had sent Ruogong into the sky was that the energy contained in the blast was well over the threshold required to destroy a planet. That would probably be the best way to imprint her name in the memories of everyone in the Little Garden, but, until Vahn gave the go-ahead, Sarina had no intention of destroying Meng Zhang's planet.
Unfortunately for Ruogong, and, depending on the circumstances, Meng Zhang himself, Sarina was not above defeating each and every one of them. The members of a Community would be ejected the moment their planet was destroyed, but, so long as their planet remained, they were not out of the competition. Unless Vahn contacted her to change her orders, Sarina was planning to annihilate all of Meng Zhang's forces. She may have a serious desire to prove herself, but, as the Vice-Leader of the Sage Dragon's Hearth, she was obligated to prioritize the interests of the Community over her own...
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Observing Sarina from the comfort of his, or, more accurately, Nobu's throne/control room, Vahn was seriously considering whether or not he should meet with Meng Zhang. He wasn't particularly fond of the purposefully arrogant man's disposition, but, as a favor to the Jade Emperor, Vahn felt he should at least prevent tensions from developing between him and his would-be ancestor.
The thing that kept Vahn from just hopping over to say hi was the 'gift' Meng Zhang had prepared for him. A number of remarkable beauties ranging from young women to mature maidens could be seen waiting in a chamber adjacent to Meng Zhang's throne room. Since all of his wives were either sitting around him or running errands, it wasn't difficult to surmise that the girls waiting in the other room were his daughters, nieces, or grandchildren. Either way, Vahn was absolutely certain that the middle-aged dragon was intending to set him up with one of his descendants.
Had Meng Zhang prepared just a single girl, Vahn may have humored him. The problem was that Meng Zhang had prepared a total of thirteen women of various shapes and sizes. At a glance, this made it seem as though Meng Zhang intended to have Vahn pick and choose the one he liked the most, but, in reality, there was a tradition where the successor of a Dragon clan would be arranged to have thirteen wives.
Cultivation didn't cease after marriage, so, in an effort to preserve their vital yin, a vital component in the production of stable and powerful offspring, twelve of the wives would rotate in accordance with the month of the year. As for the thirteenth wife, her duty was to observe the other twelve and ensure they did not do anything 'untoward' behind their husband's back. They would also remain a virgin in order to stockpile as much yin elemental energy as possible. This allowed them to maintain a calm mind, but, more importantly, it ensured they were a readily available source of yin elemental energy in the event their husband encountered a bottleneck.
Simply put, even without meeting with Meng Zhang directly, Vahn was already well aware of what the man was thinking...
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(A/N: Alternate Titles: 'Tamamo is so mischievous (O w O)...','Sarina is fighting an uphill battle just to stay 'relevant' in the narrative of the Aldrnari Empire xD...','I wonder if Vahn has started to develop a phobia against dragon girls...?')
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