Kaijin Fighter: So I Have to Make Monsters, So What?-Chapter 1504: All coming together(3...)

*Bing-Bong*

Alright, why the hell have you been focusing on the underground fight for so long? Shouldn’t we be pivoting to... I don’t know, the other two points of interest?

|Oh we’re going to be. Just...very quickly, check out this timeline I had written up.|

Okay...wait, the last time you said that, that led to...oh.

Oh, I get it now.

|There we go.|

*Bing-Bong*

"You know, now that we’re entering a proper bout, I should probably have the Newbie ditch her current disguise."

"Wait, you’re not going to drop your clothes in the middle of the street, are you?" Jinju Ren asked in a scandalized tone of voice. "Don’t even think about destroying that dress; it’s one of my personal fav—"

SNAP!

"What the everloving fuck?"

"Ah, that’s much better.

Before Jinju Ren’s eyes, Anton had snapped their fingers and had immediately changed from looking like a blonde bombshell into Zhen Liu’s original masculine form. Not only that, but the silk dress that was originally adorning their body had transformed more to resemble clothes that were more suitable on a drunken vagrant, albeit a high-class one.

For some reason, there was also a hat.

Jinju Ren wouldn’t know it, but this hat was known as a fedora.

If Zhen Liu was conscious or in control of his body at this time, he would be releasing a massive groan of displeasure at the infamous headwear.

Anton, however, seemed rather enamored by the piece.

"Huh. I guess I have grown a touch rusty in my ability to shape [Chaos]," Anton commented as he touched the hat on his head like it was the most natural thing in the world. "If this body-jacking becomes a regular occurrence, I’m going to have to get better at controlling it."

’That’s rusty?!’ Jinju Ren thought in disbelief.

When Zhen Liu performed his transformation trick for her and the others, it had taken him a few moments of concentration to perform it, and he couldn’t transform his clothes in the process.

Anton had simply snapped his fingers, and BOOM!

A part of Jinju Ren even felt as if Anton had always been a man and that his clothes were always...always...wait a minute.

"Wait you’re going to change my dress back to normal later, right?"

"Won’t need to," Anton answered while flicking the rim of his newly minted hat. "The clothes will change back to normal once they’re stripped off of this body. Granted, I’m sure you would rather have the kid back in control before you get handsy with him."

"..."

Jinju Ren didn’t even attempt to offer a retort to the suggestive comment; it was just a straight fact.

Regardless of any implicitly lewd intentions, though, the duo were still in the process of getting to...wherever Antonio was leading them.

For reasons that could probably be chalked up to boredom, Anton had told Jinju Ren absolutely nothing in regard to who amongst the kaijin had gotten "smoked out."

The only point of reference and possible inkling of information was the fact that they were approaching the sounds of an ongoing conflict. A conflict so loud that several bystanders were starting to stop whatever they were doing in order to see what was causing such a ruckus. Of course, as Rainbowden was the city of craftsmen, there were a surprising number of people who used the din as inspiration for their own works.

^ Did you hear that racket? Who’s fighting out in the open like this? ^

^Don’t know, don’t care, I am making my magnum opus!^

^More like magnum o’piece of crap...^

^SAY THAT TO MY FACE, YOU PIG-FACED FUCK!^

By the time that Jinju Ren and Anton had arrived at the source of all of this arguing and noise, they had arrived at a rather tense moment.

^Holy shit!^

One that caused Zhen Liu’s body to twitch in a mix of rage, anticipation, and the deep desire for violence...feelings that Anton couldn’t help but curl a smile over. 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

"Oh, he’s the protective type! Well, who am I to deny someone their feelings?!"

...Cliffhanger switch, and a mild rewind...

CLANK!

The zakos had returned to full size once they had gotten close to the wagon holding the unconscious Bellona and Alicia so as to make it easier for themselves to carry them to safety.

Unfortunately, they had chosen an incredibly bad time to do so.

Because, at the exact same time these metallic zakos decided to make themselves a whole lot more noticeable, Lythero had found himself in a rather shitty situation!

When Lythero tried to use Zarken as a living battering ram against Convad Redoxa, he had done so while being actively chased by one of the latter’s fucked-up aether arrows.

In Lythero’s head, this was a foolproof plan of attack.

Best case scenario: he would’ve been able to slam Zarken into Convad, flip over the smashed duo, and laugh in delight as the two of them got skewered by their own magic bullshit arrow. They would probably get horribly injured, and Lytheor could use that to his advantage...hopefully.

Middle-case scenario: Lythero still slams Zarken into Convad, but the arrow drops to the ground because Convad wasn’t conscious enough to control it anymore. They wouldn’t get too injured as a result, but they would still be weakened enough for Lythero to do something drastic.

The worst-case scenario was that Lythero still managed to slam Zarken into Convad, but he would also get skewered by the aether alongside the both of them in the process. At that point, it would become a fight between three incredibly injured parties, and those never ended well...or clean.

Unfortunately for Lythero, none of these outcomes played out. Instead, he got subjected to the absolute worst-case scenario.

Lythero had underestimated the extent to which Convad could control their arrows and had erroneously assumed that he could only control their movement and velocity. In reality, he was able to do much more.

[Reversal Flow!]

Moments before Lythero could finish slamming Zarken into Convad, the latter used a weird aether art to somehow swap the places of the arrow that was chasing Lythero and the massive slab of meat known as Zarken.

In other words, instead of using another person as a battering ram while charging at full speed, Lythero was now charging headfirst into an aether-enhanced arrow, while the massive stone-covered Zarken was now directly behind him. The swordless swordsman was now right back where he started...and he didn’t have the momentum to change direction.

^How the fuck?!^

^Oooh, that would’ve definitely done some damage...too bad!^ Convad mocked with a vicious grin. ^And now you’re sitting a duck!^

^Shit!^

Understanding that shit was about to go sideways, Lythero decided to bite the bullet and at least defend himself from the more immediate danger before attempting to deal with the looming mountain man behind him.

While maintaining his forward momentum, Lythero transformed his [Astra] into the [Black Iron Slab] in hopes of crashing into the arrow and smashing it out of the air.

BANG!

^BAH!^

Reality, however, played out differently. The moment Lythero came into contact with the arrow, he got sent flying backwards as if a cannon had been fired directly into his stomach.

For a brief moment, Zarken looked ready to intercept Lythero as he was mid-flight, with the aim of smashing the poor bastard into the ground with a fist before following it up with several hundred stomps in a row.

Lythero, however, turned out to be much lighter than anticipated and was sent flying right past Zarken’s reach.

Not only that, but he was sent flying backwards towards the cart that the Redoxa Family warriors had initially used to arrive at Axer’s forge. It was also the very same cart that the Redoxas were trying to use to kidnap Alicia and Bellona.

^Hah! Look at how the bastard is flying like a...hold on, what the fuck? Who the fuck are they?!^

As such, when Convad and Zarken turned their attention towards Lythero so that they could see where he was flying off to, they had coincidentally seen as several strange metallic men appeared out of thin air and were in the process of taking the hostages that they had painstakingly acquired.

Needless to say, the standing Redoxa warriors didn’t appreciate the fact that someone else was muscling in on their business.

^It’s just one set of annoyances after another today, isn’t it?^ Convad asked in an annoyed yet rhetorical tone of voice. ^Oh well, I guess that means I can do some target practice.^

After making this ominous declaration of violence and bloodshed, Convad quickly materialized several more arrows and notched them into his bow. The man didn’t even bother to use [Astra] to determine the weak points of these weird metal warriors. He already understood that blowing away their heads was a guaranteed kill anyway.

’Wait...if I hit them too hard, I might accidentally injure the hostages in the process...oh well.’