Kaijin Fighter: So I Have to Make Monsters, So What?-Chapter 1551: Insurance Policy

"What just...huh? My leg?! It’s healed!"

"Huh..."

Through the eyes of a zako that Zhen Liu left behind at the inn, he saw how the three tezcatlipocas proceeded to fly out into the Dozing Salamander continent, almost bowling over a poor middle-aged man with a busted-ass leg, and then fuck off in various directions to places only they knew where.

Well, places that only they and he knew where.

Closing his eyes, Zhen Liu quickly attempted to see if these new bodies he had created were still connected to his own spirit.

’Hmmm, it’s faint...but it’s still there. Good.’

Due to empowering their newly minted bodies with his own [Chaos], the three tezcatlipocas were basically tagged with very faint trackers. It wasn’t enough to know exactly where they were, but it was enough for Zhen Liu to determine general directions and distance.

From what he could sense, Quetzalcoatl was heading west, Huitzilopochtli was heading south, and Xipe Totec was heading east. A part of Zhen Liu wanted to make a snide comment about how they were playing up their attributes a little too hard, but he thought better of it.

Instead, he decided to simply focus his mind elsewhere...after informing the others that he was going to be talking to Logos and Pathos about this current turn of events.

"I will be back later; keep me informed if something else happens while I’m elsewhere."

"Don’t you literally have eyes everywhere in this building?"

"Surprisingly, no."

As Zhen Liu left his friends and family to their own devices, he activated his connection to Logos and Pathos in order to ask about two related issues.

The first issue: whether or not the tezcalipotas were going to be a problem once Smoking Mirror was dealt with.

The second issue: whether or not the curators had anything on hand that could help to resolve them being a problem.

Zhen Liu preferred a non-violent solution, but he would gladly take a violent one if needed.

’Logos, Pathos. You two have probably already seen what just happened. Any idea on what to do if the other three Tezcalipocas decide to betray our trust?’

=Actually, yes,= Logos answered. = And surprisingly, it was all thanks to an idea stemming from Pathos. =

’Really?’

<Less of an idea, and more like... "I remembered something we had gotten our hands on a long time ago," Pathos explained. <But we couldn’t access that something-something until those three showed up. Can’t tell if that bit of luck is a result of your karmic void stuff or something else entirely. Either way, I think you’ll like what we got to serve as an...insurance policy on those deities you provided bodies for. >

’Well, that’s good to hear,’ Zhen Liu inwardly sighed as he felt a burden lift off of his shoulders. ’So what does this insurance policy entail, anyways?’

...Kaijin Comment time...

[I’m betting a weapon of unfathomable strangeness.] Razorstella guessed.

[I’m going with a weird material for a new kaijin,] Hurricroaked suggested.

[New...technique...something...killer...]Frosttusk rumbled.

[Wait...why are we guessing instead of asking Pathos directly?] Nepherage pointed out.

[Because where’s the fun in that?] Screamira asked in Hurricroak’s stead.

[Ah.]

...One walk back to a private workshop later...

"What the fuck am I staring at?" Zhen Liu asked in a tone of voice that declared he was done with everything and everyone.

<Our insurance policy! > Pathos proudly declared.

"..."

When Zhen Liu had asked about what Pathos had in mind for him, he was told that it was going to be a surprise.

Zhen Liu knew full well that a surprise from Pathos usually entailed his ass getting information forcefully downloaded into it or being given vague information about the location of something that was going to help advance his cultivation. However, his instincts told him that this time around it was going to happen.

Lo and behold, that wasn’t the case. However, what did actually happen was...a touch more questionable in regard to human decency. At least in terms of presentation.

When Zhen Liu had arrived at the workshop that Logos and Pathos had designated as the meeting point, he had opened the door and was greeted by the sight of the two curators standing around a table holding a...mouth.

A huge, disembodied, lovecraftian horror style, mouth that was bound in cursed bandages.

If Zhen Liu didn’t pick up the telltale energetic signatures of an aether art, [Chaos] art in this case, coming off of the mouth, he was going to assume that Logos and Pathos were finally done with his shit and were trying to kill him via a cursed item.

"No, seriously, what the fuck am I staring at? It looks like a mouth made of nightmares."

=That is not an inaccurate statement,= Logos confirmed. =Remember that story you shared about the Tetzcalitpocas? The one about them forming the world from the body of Cipactli, the primordial crocodile beast? =

At that question, Zhen Liu’s eyes immediately widened in alarm.

"Oh sweet heavens above, is this mouth one of the—"

=I can see where your head is at, and the answer is no. Not exactly. This is...different. =

"Okay...how?"

<Sometimes when an art scroll is created, it will cause the medium upon which it is written to change in ways to better accommodate the nature of the transcribed ability,> Pathos answered. <For example, the [Three Steps of the Buddha] takes the form of a sandal with writings on its top and bottom. >

"And I’m back to not liking the implication of those words," Zhen Liu commented as he concentrated on the writhing mouth on the table.

<This art is kind of similar to the [Leviathan’s Dance] and your modified [Tiamat’s Dance], in the sense that it is based on an ancient monster of [Chaos],> Pathos answered. <This art is known as [Cipactli’s Feast]. I am fairly certain you can guess how this technique will probably function. >

"Ah...hence the mouth."

<Indeed.>

Now that Zhen Liu knew what to call the cursed mouth before him, he felt a little better about its presence...sort of.

Staring at the cursed-as-hell-looking art scroll before him, Zhen Liu took a deep breath before exhaling all at once and steeling his nerves.

"Alright, how does this...work?" Zhen Liu asked the curators. "It’s a scroll, right? Do I undo the seal, or is there a special way to read it since it’s like...this?"

As soon as Zhen Liu said the word "this," the entire mouth scroll thing began to wriggle and try to open against its bindings, causing Zhen Liu to flinch in response.

<=Just like how you learned the inheritances of your predecessors, you just need to extend your [Chaos] into the scroll and just...feel it. You’ll know what to do from there,=> Logos and Pathos answered in stereo.

’Stupid enigmatic motherfuckers,’ Zhen Liu thought to himself before turning his attention towards the bound mouth.

"Fuck it, let’s go."

Channeling his [Chaos] to his palms, Zhen Liu directed the energy towards the scroll and allowed it to mingle with the aura radiating off of it.

As if he had taken a torch to the cursed paper, the seals surrounding the mouth began to burn away into cinders. Seconds later, the mouth opened, and Zhen Liu could see that its inside was a bottomless void.

No...not a void.

A swirling mass of words.

"Huh..."

And in this swirling mass, Zhen Liu learned of the ancient, hungry beast who would become the world through blood and sacrifice.

...

Art Name: [Cipactli’s Feast].

Type: [Chaos-Earth]

Grade: [???]

Description:

In the time before the sun, the moon, and the stars, there was nothing but an ancient endless ocean that was home to nothing but a single beast: Cipactli.

Cipactli was an ancient monster that was part crocodile, part fish, and part toad. She was covered in mouths and had an endless hunger that would cause her to devour anything and everything that fell into her waters without fail or remorse.

And the foolish gods above, who tried to create life in her hunting grounds, would always end up feeding her instead.

One day, however, Tezcatlipoca, Smoking Mirror, decided to put an end to this cycle by using his leg as a lure for Cipactli. Enticed by the promise of godly flesh, Cipactli ate the leg in one bite but was soon pounced upon by Smoking Mirror’s brothers.

They could not slay Cipactli, due to her primordial nature, but they still managed to use her massive body to form the land, upon which they then seeded mountains, rivers, valleys, and life itself.

Cipactli wasn’t pleased with this arrangement and kept trying to eat all that the gods had created upon her, but they soon placated her with the promises of sacrifices in the form of blood, food, and all other bounties that grew upon her back. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

And so, Cipactli was pacified...for now.

This art, [Cipactli’s Feast], is a recreation...and a promise.

It is a recreation of a time when Cipactli devoured all in her path and a promise that all will become her food once more if the gods ever fail to keep her hunger at bay.

For her feast has no beginning or end.

Merely...a pause for the next course.