Chapter 1670: Royalfall(2)
When Lofarro had pulled out his [Icon], no small amount of worry bubbled up in Zhen Liu’s stomach.
Despite his [Chaos] allowing him to punch way above his cultivation level, which was about the equivalent of an Aether Lord so he could hypothetically fight an Aether Emperor if he needed to, the first prince of the Erupting Dawn Empire had dragon force by his side.
Aka, one of the few energies in this world that could negate his advantage and force him to fight "fairly".
Thankfully, he had his dragon-force wielding fiancee by his side for this battle.
"Will you stop hiding behind that turtle shell technique of yours?!" Lofarro roared as his strike bounced off the dragon force-empowered shell for the umpteenth time in a row.
"When it stops being effective," Jinju Ren replied, her confidence as unwavering as the shell surrounding her. "I’m honestly surprised it’s still this effective though. Is that [Icon] of yours just for show?"
"GRAH!"
That stated, Zhen Liu wasn’t sure being complacent about the defenses was the right way to approach this battle with the First Prince.
...Mental Communication...
’For real, though, how much longer can your shield last?’ Zhen Liu asked his dragon-blooded fiancee.
’If he keeps using that fire-aligned dragon force? Indefinitely,’ Jinju Ren answered with confidence before her tone changed to sounding slightly more subdued.
’If he smartens up and decides to use something else...we may have problems.’
’So we’re on a timetable?’
’Maybe.’
’Hmmm. Okay, time to do something stupid.’
’Oh?’
’Time to do that move I did back in the Abyssal Lands.’
’Ooooh.’
...Now back to the battle...
Which is why Zhen Liu decided to use this moment’s reprieve to go big or go home.
Using the [Hammer of the Dearly Departed] and the [Veteran’s Bone Club] together, Zhen Liu transformed the two blunt weapons into a singular spear made of bone, metal and aether fire.
Lofarro initially didn’t know what to make of this development, other than thinking that the bastard was using this opportunity to charge up some stupidly powerful attack while using his lover as a shield.
"You fucking coward!" Lofarro shouted as he began to charge up his aether treasure for another attempt of cracking open the turtle shell before him. "I can’t believe you need protection to—"
[Tiamat’s Dance!]
Before Lofarro could finish mocking Zhen Liu for needing protection, the turtle shell shield protecting him and Jinju Ren suddenly disappeared as the aforementioned Kaijin Lord charged forward with his spear in hand and [Chaos] swirling all around him.
[Chaos] that soon condensed into a liquid-like state that then took on the form of a giant sea dragon the likes of which Lofarro had never seen before.
"What the fu—"
[First movement!]
"Whoa!"
Once Zhen Liu was close enough, he swung his spear and caused the swirling water dragon surrounding him to swipe forward with a massive claw that carried the weight of not just the ocean, but the power of every living soul that would come from it or evolve out of it.
The last time Zhen Liu had used this [Chaos] art, it was deep below the surface and he had done so while coordinating with his childhood friend when they needed to take down a giant mechanical kaijin that almost wiped out an entire civilization.
At that time, neither he nor his girlfriend had actually been brought to bear the full force of their respective attacks, other than the finishing portion of it.
The reason being?
Every other part of their attacks, [Leviathan’s Dance] and [Tiamat’s Dance], required the user to actually be able to attack and reposition themselves after every movement around their chosen target.
Not exactly something that could be easily accomplished when the target at the time was a giant mechanical monster that looked like it came from the era of stop motion animated monsters.
This time, however, the opponent was someone only a couple inches taller than Zhen Liu, so he was going to make sure that every single component of [Tiamat’s Dance] came crashing down on their head like a fucking waterfall.
"Holy shit!"
Needless to say, Lofarro could feel this sentiment behind every single blow.
"What’s the matter, prince?!" Zhen Liu howled, his voice sounding like the raging sea with every swing of his spear. "Finally realizing you’re out of your depth?!"
"This motherfucking—!" Lofarro cursed under his breath as he tried his best to defend himself.
Off to the side, Jinju Ren was watching the violence unfold with the strangest smile on her face and no small amount of heavy breathing.
If one were to somehow hear her muttering words at this time, they would hear her say, "I feel so shallow being attracted to such vicious behavior...but fuck is it hot!"
Blissfully unaware of the thirsting behavior, Zhen Liu continued his assault against the First Prince, forcing them to defend themselves harder than they ever had before.
Every swing from Zhen Liu’s spear was immediately followed by the sea monster surrounding him, either swiping out with a massive claw, biting forward with a vicious maw, or slamming down with a powerful tail.
The attacks were so heavy, so numerous, that Lofarro had no choice but to keep dodging and defending to the absolute limit of his abilities.
The attacks had actually gotten so relentless that the man had no choice but to summon forth his [Astra] to better defend himself.
Evidently, the [Astra]’s appearance explained why Lofarro used a Gold-tiered aether treasure sword: his [Astra] was a big golden shield that floated in the air.
Clang!
"Oh?"
Both Zhen Liu and the Tiamat-construct surrounding him were stopped mid-swing by the golden shield, giving Lofarro a moment to breathe...and talk way more shit than he should’ve been allowed to say.
"Surprised?" Lofarro said as his floating shield pushed back against the surging claw of water that was inches away from slamming into him. "This [Astra] of mine is called the [Golden Vanguard Scale]. A true emperor must be able to lead his people not from the very back of the fray, but from the front. This shield of mine can defend against all blows, regardless of the inhuman nature of my opponent."
"Was that supposed to be a jab at me?" Zhen Liu asked in mock offense. "I’ll have you know that I am quite human."
"You know that while I love you, not even I really believe that, right?" Jinju Ren commented from the side without missing a beat.
"Ok, I’m mostly human," Zhen Liu admitted in a playful tone, much to Lofarro’s chagrin. "By the way, does this [Astra] of yours have any special abilities or is it just a big shield?"
"Well, it can—"
"Stopped caring, EAT THIS!"
After pulling back his spear in a backwards swing, Zhen Liu leveled the polearm and took on a bow stance.
Once he was in the correct position, Zhen Liu launched the spear forward and thrusted it directly into the [Golden Vanguard Scale].
A clear crisp sound echoed out as spear met shield, which was then swiftly followed the sound of a roaring wave as the water dragon construct around Zhen Liu slamed into Lofarro directly.
"Holy—!"
From Zhen Liu’s perspective, he felt as if he was trying to push against a stone cliff wall that was baked by the sun for hours on end.
From Lofarro’s perspective, he felt as if he was trying to swim against an ocean-sized waterfall.
And unfortunately for Lofarro, this waterfall was filled with giant whales.
Lofarro tried to push back, but the moment he did, Zhen Liu pulled back his spear for just a moment and rammed it even harder against the First Prince’s shield.
This second thrust proved too much for the First Prince to bear.
The force of the thrust sent Lofarro flying backwards and into the wall of the arena.
To the prince’s credit, he didn’t end up star fishing against the wall.
Unfortunately, this just meant that the damage he was about to receive was going to be concentrated on a single point of contact.
Lofarro’s eyes widened as Zhen Liu appeared directly in front of him, the giant water dragon construct behind the Kaijin Lord now looking significantly more solid and "real" than it had just moments ago.
"You should probably know that I’m not going to kill you," Zhen Liu declared as he readied the final part of his killer move. "But the amount of pain you’re going to be in, you’re going to wish that I had killed you."
This should’ve been the moment that Lofarro let out some words of pointed rebuttal, but Zhen Liu wasn’t in the mood for any more verbal sparring.
He just wanted to end this fight and deal with the real problems.
[Tiamat’s Dance: Tidal Genesis!]
ROAR!
Under Zhen Liu’s direction, the water construct modelled after a primordial goddess slammed into Lofarro with all the weight and majesty of a primeval ocean.
The sounds that followed was akin to the sound nuts and shellfish cracking under immense pressure.