Kaijin Fighter: So I Have to Make Monsters, So What?-Chapter 1518: Karmic Void

=What Pathos is failing to tell you is that not only does accumulated karma eventually cash out on you, but it also mitigates and enhances certain events,= Logos explained. =Remember when you first got your hands on the [Veteran’s Bone Club] in the Vault of Hel?=

"Yeah..."

The Vault of Hel was the first time Zhen Liu had ever actually entered a wandering ruin in a positive light with his family. It was also the place where he got his first [Chaos] treasure, created Frosttusk, and started the chain of events that led to him going to Emerald Eye City.

"Wait a minute..."

Which was a city where he burned down the mansion of one of the biggest movers and shakers of the underworld, created Hurricroak, and cemented a relationship with Alicia Goldshire.

"This feels like deja vu...but with heavier implications..." Zhen Liu noted as he deeply thought about how so much of his life changed from that one little bit of happenstance.

"Are...Are you saying that the reason everything that seems to be happening to me...is entirely because of karma?"

<Kind of, but it’s a touch more complicated than that,> Pathos affirmed with a hesitant tone.

"How?"

=As we said, karma is like a magnet; good karma attracts fortune and repels misfortune while bad karma does the reverse,= Logos reiterated. =You, however, attract everything because you lack karma.=

After making this statement, Logos floated over to the array while grabbing the illusionary diagram of Zhen Liu. While they were doing so, Logos manifested a second display showcasing Zhen Xing...and his totemic fox.

=The universe, or I guess the heavenly authority in this case, makes it a point to mete out karmic justice and reward based entirely on a person’s karmic core,= Logos elaborated as he first presented Zhen Xing’s diagram.

Under his manipulation, the cartoon diagram of Zhen Xing began to perform various actions that caused his karmic totem to subtly change shape, size, and other small details. When certain forms were achieved by the totem, the diagram seemed to depict the universe punishing or rewarding Zhen Xing as needed. In some instances, he could see the universe denying Zhen Xing quite a few opportunities.

"Okay, and the fact that I don’t have this karmic core means..."

<It means the universe has to work overtime in order to fulfill your karmic requirements. Well, it chooses to overcompensate,> Pathos answered.

Prompted by their partner’s words, Logos switched the diagram representing Zhen Xing to the one representing Zhen Liu.

In the diagram, Zhen Liu could see his cartoon self performing the same actions, but the results were drastically different.

Every positive action snowballed into more and more rewards that honestly seemed a little forced, while all the negative actions kept snowballing into him somehow ending up in what he could only describe as "super hell". Making the whole thing even more absurd, the positive actions started with him simply throwing away trash in a designated bin, while the negative actions started with him simply littering.

Watching this diagram made Zhen Liu feel as if he was watching one of those after-school specials that had an exaggerated moral lesson.

Regardless, the point was made by this absurdity.

"So...every time I help someone and hurt someone in the process of helping someone, it just snowballs into me somehow winning the lottery three times in a row while pissing off Satan?"

<=Basically, yes.=>

"Then how the fuck am I supposed to do anything?!" Zhen Liu yelled in frustration as he swung his legs over the table and actually sat up to stare at the curators in their ever-shifting eyeballs.

"Because it sounds like no matter what I do, it’s going to lead to me getting embroiled in some bullshit that I don’t want to deal with."

Logos and Pathos looked at each other, a small tinge of disbelief in their expressions as they realized that their lord was actually quite serious with his query and heightened emotions. After all, the answer to this question was incredibly obvious.

=Milord, you do realize this issue of yours is actually only a problem if you, personally, act, right? =Logos pointed out. =Unlike every other mortal warrior in existence, you have kaijin power at your disposal. =

<And by the power of spiritual connection shenanigans, their karma is your karma,> Pathos added.

"That’s...huh."

It was a painfully obvious answer, and yet... one Zhen Liu failed to consider.

Whatever happened to his Kaijin, good or ill, Zhen Liu would end up feeling and receiving whatever they were going through as well. Technically speaking, this meant that whatever karmic justice or reward that the kaijin received from their actions, Zhen Liu would be affected too.

Then again, he didn’t even realize that he had an issue with his karma until very recently, so he could very well be full of grade-A horse shit.

"Alright, you seem to be implying that if I have any karmic hang-ups, I should work it through the kaijin instead since they have karmic cores unlike me...okay, that is leading to more questions than answers, and now would be the perfect time for you to explain, please." 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

<Okay, I might’ve slightly exaggerated; not all of the kaijin have karmic threads that you can work with a substitute as your own,> Pathos answered. <Only the ones that technically had previous lives have that right.>

=You should know who we mean, right?=

"Yeah..."

Zhen Liu hadn’t really brought this up with the kaijin, nor the curators for that matter, but he had been mentally dividing the kaijin into two groups: those who were born from nothing and those who were reborn...like himself.

That first group consisted of Nepherage, Razorstella, Springerdermain, Screamira, and the Doll Twins. Despite their mature behavior and ability to fully convey their thoughts and feelings, they were technically newborns. As such, much of their karmic existence had yet to be established...and amongst them, Zhen Liu couldn’t help but notice that their [Cores] were kind of...thin.

The best way he could describe it was that their [Cores] reminded him of a hollow glass sphere. It was technically solid but lacking substance.

The second group consisted of the Gallop Brothers, Hurricroak, Frosttusk, Lacerage, Arachanidame, and technically Blazejudicator. Most of them were human warriors with past lives that ended rather tragically, but the latter three were all former beasts who developed enough intelligence to hold a grudge into the next life. When Zhen Liu examined their [Cores], he couldn’t help but notice that theirs felt a little...thicker.

Using that glass ball analogy from earlier, Zhen Liu saw the [Cores] of these particular kaijin to be like solid glass spheres. They were still somewhat see-through and fragile, but they had more to them.

As far as Zhen Liu could tell, the reason for this difference was based on the simple fact that this aforementioned second group had fragments of actual souls in their mix. Souls that had strong enough desires to linger around just a little longer than most. Evidently, Logos and Pathos understood this as well.

<=Souls are, as you may have guessed, what happens when [Chaos] becomes refined by the universe and shoved into a mortal body,=> Logos and Pathos began to explain, <=So when you inject [Chaos] into a dead body, or something that has only the faintest imprint of a soul, you’re actually empowering that little piece into being closer to a soul than you realize.=>

"Then I guess, that means it also restores whatever karmic issues they may have been dealing with in their past lives as well?"

<=Correct.=>

That sudden karma revival would explain why Hurricroak had run into her old flame, Draigo, a couple of times over the past few weeks. Hell, the fact that Frosttusk had run into a descendant of his former tribesmen was probably an even better indicator, especially since the [Death Echo Amber] that Zhen Liu used to make the man was even older than Zhen Liu’s great grandaunt.

Regardless, now that he knew that he could technically fix his weird luck by helping his Kaijin resolve their karmic threads, Zhen Liu was more than happy to finally dig into their past lives. Granted, he still wanted to ask for permission before doing such things.

=Well, now that you understand what needs to be done to possibly fill the karmic void that is your existence, we have come up with two plans of action that can be addressed in any order,= Logos suddenly declared once Zhen Liu had enough time to silently mull over the karmic debts he could help to repay.

As to keep up with the current trend of things, Logos presented diagrams of Frosttusk and Hurricroak.

<You know the latter’s story because you keep running into the old bastard, hell, her [Core] exists because of him,> Pathos teased in regards to Hurricroak’s history. <Needless to say, we would just need to finally resolve whether or not she still loves him the same after being revived in such a weird way...and whether or not he still actually loves her.>

"Yeah...I ain’t dealing with that yet, what about Frosttusk?"