Kaijin Fighter: So I Have to Make Monsters, So What?-Chapter 1538: Beastly Brothers and Beastly Effort

"Hah! Finally looking like the monster had always been inside and out!" Axer exclaimed in excitement while staring at his former tormentor's face through the scrying screen. "Okay, I can see why you two like to watch Zhen Liu and the kaijin through their eyes."

<I told you we weren't the only ones.>

=Oh hush. =

"Wait a minute..." Lyona interjected as she noticed something on the screen. "I think I see another shadow coming out of the entryway...no...I think the shadows of the entryway are coming out in their entirety?!"

"What the fuck..." Taurna trailed off in an equally confused voice.

...Now back to what Zhen Liu was dealing with at the moment...

Zhen Liu stared up at the now giant, heavily mutated Smoker Redoxa with a look that was somewhere between annoyed and only mildly fearful. This reaction was in sharp contrast to his allies, who were all preparing themselves for what they assumed to be a brutal conflict.

"Battle formation! Melee and tanks to the front; everyone else who has ranged or support abilities, go in the back!"

"Most of us are melee!"

"Then fucking choose a location where you won't interfere with the others!"

^Oooh yes, please scramble,^ a cold, sinister voice called out. ^It'll make things easier when it comes to picking you off in a methodical manner.^

'Of fucking course there's a second one...' Zhen Liu mentally griped as he saw that the shadowy corridor that Smoker Redoxa exited out of began to move in a weirdly organic manner.

From the shadows of the former Redoxa fortress, Zhen Liu and his allies watched as a large, worm-like being made of shadows and metallic plating began to writhe out and position itself right next to the humanoid formerly known as Smoker Redoxa.

Zhen Liu only had to flicker his gaze between the two to notice that these two were definitely brothers or, at the very least, closely related cousins.

"Okay, I honestly couldn't care less about whatever tragic backstory you two seem to share," Zhen Liu declared with a sigh as he stared at the monsters. "But is it safe to assume that you two are brothers? Were brothers?"

Unfazed by Zhen Liu's disrespectful tone, the giant worm-like being began to monologue.

^Oh, you would be correct about me and Redoxa here being brothers,^ the weird worm-thing hissed with sadistic delight. ^Not too long ago, I was known as Casshern, the leader of the Redoxa Family. That is, until Smoker here left me for dead and had my dying body entombed in the catacombs.^

^Sorry…brother,^ the giant humanoid grumbled in a weirdly childish voice. ^I was…jealous.^

^Oh, it's quite alright. All that matters is that we're here together now.^

^Together!^

"...why the fuck is this giving me the massive ick?" Zhen Liu mumbled under his breath.

^But it was here, in this place where the dead are merely bricks to a growing mausoleum, buried amongst the treasures of our family's illustrious history, that the beasts we had long used to guard it had given me a chance to live. To grow. To evolve,^ the worm-man once known as Casshern seemed to laugh as he said these ominous words. ^And now, because of a strange turn of events, my dearest brother had come down here and practically ran into my forgiving embrace. And now, he too, is like me.^

"...yeah, just nine layers of creepy," Zhen Liu mumbled under his breath at this monologue before raising his voice so that he could properly address the worm-man.

"Okay, you got your revenge on your dickbag of a brother, cool. Does that mean me and my friends can just leave and pretend we never seen you, or…"

^Oh, no no!^ Casshern repudiated with a voice that was increasingly getting on Zhen Liu's nerves. ^You and your friends there have done me and my family a great disservice. You have slain my beloved children, you have freed my future servants from their warm embrace, and you have even slain my baby brother's beloved butler. I mean, he was missing a few screws, but still.^

"Beloved…oh."

It took Zhen Liu a hot minute to realize that Casshern was referring to the crabataur that Frosttusk had smashed like an ice sculpture.

"Wait a minute."

It then took Zhen Liu yet another minute for him to process that Casshern had called the Armor Puppet Parasites that he and his friends had just slain his children.

Zhen Liu didn't want to think about that particular anatomy lesson, so he decided to go with goading the freaky worm instead.

Namely over how stupid his plan was sounding by the minute and how fucking obvious it was.

"Alright, I'm just going to take a guess here that after parasitizing hour brother over there into becoming a giant wank gremlin, that your next move is to dump a whole fuck load of your parasites into even more people and turn yourself into a super spreader event?" Zhen Liu guessed. "I mean, you already look like the mid boss in a zombie videogame, might as well fully commit."

Once again, though, Zhen Liu's comments were mostly ignored...or so Zhen Liu initially thought.

^Oh you're a sharp one,^ Casshern praised. ^I do plan to extend the reach of my beloved family and then I'm going to make the whole world just like me and my brother. But alas, not everyone will be given the chance to join us. Some of them will have to die to serve as food, or in your case, as an example to keep their mouths shut. Redoxa!^

^Yes, brother!^

"Ah, there it is."

With a level of alacrity that was definitely unexpected given their size, Redoxa and Casshern released a coordinated blast of aether that immediately hammered Zhen Liu and Frosttusk with enough power to level a mountain.

"No!"

"Xiao Liu!"

Cries of alarm and worry rang out from Jinju Ren and the others, but these cries were for naught.

After all, an attack as simple as this was nothing in the face of [Chaos].

...Meanwhile, Zhen Liu was having a revelation as his entire being was washed over by the coordinated attack being released by the parasitized Redoxa brothers...

'Wait a minute...these guys aren't using [Chaos]...'

[Nope.]

'...or [Law]...'

[Nuh-uh.]

'...dragon force, nirvana energy, aether music...none of that is coming off of these two in the slightest.'

[Not even a little bit; they're not even carrying a tune,] Hurricroak decided to add while Zhen Liu and Frosttusk were bouncing off of each other.

'For all intents and purposes, they're just...pure aether. No more...no less.'

[Yup.]

'Huh… I am about to beat out some very intense catharsis….'

[Understandable.]

…Hilarity imminent…

^And now with that out of the way, I'm going to...wait a minute, what the fuck?!^

^He's alive?!^

"Oh...right," Jinju Ren sighed in relief. "He's invincible against normal aether."

After the Redoxa brothers coordinated blast came to an end, Zhen Liu and Frosttusk appeared to be totally unaffected.

The Kaijin Lord and Kaijin were simply standing in the middle of newly created crater, with the only form of support being a single stone pillar under the both of them. Adding on to the absurdity of this moment, there appeared to be some additional pillars directly behind the one they were both standing on, that had taken on the silhouette of them both.

"Huh...seven out of ten on your rock carving skills," Zhen Liu commented as he looked behind him to observe his silhouette. At the same time he dismissed his [Senbonzuru].

"Want to try again?"

^You little...Smoker! Once more!^ 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

^As you wish, brother!^

"Frosttusk. You can step out of the way if you want."

[Nah.]

Once more, the parasites that were once the Redoxa brothers released a coordinated attack of aether at Zhen Liu and Frosttusk. Unfortunately, just like last time, the attack did absolutely nothing as Zhen Liu and Frosttusk simply stood there.

Actually, that last part was untrue, the Kaijin and Kaijin Lord both took a couple steps closer during this particular blast of aether.

^Impossible!^ Casshern cried out. ^This is impossible! How are you able to resist our power?!^

"I don't know," Zhen Liu replied with obvious sarcasm and a hint of pure disdain. "Maybe my [Regalia] is too tough for you. Tell you what, I'm going to give you guys one more chance and a slightly easier target."

With a snap of his fingers, Zhen Liu dismissed his [Regalia] and bared his face for the giant parasites to gaze upon.

A smug look was evident on the young man's face, and it pissed the absolute hell out of the titanic parasites.

"Come on, you overgrown tapeworms. Make my fucking day," Zhen Liu taunted once more.

^You little...RAAAAAH!"

^DIE!^

For the third time, the brothers released a blast of aether that was arguably their strongest, as they even made the extra effort to form the energy into constructs that radiated feelings of pure death and pestilence.

Surely, this final attack would do something against Zhen Liu.

Spoiler alert: it didn't.