It took another second or so,but the new kaijin core finished condensing and the familiar feeling of a strong desires affecting his mind came over him. He felt as if desire to rescue his friends and kick some serious ass were somehow...resonating and strengthening each other. It was very confusing.
'Cliff notes please, I'm trying to be intimidating here. Wait, there's a manual for this shit?!'
Ignoring Zhen Liu's mental outburst, the voice went on to explain what had occured.
'...Unusual for embodiments of literal chaos?'
'Huh...well I'm curious now. Razor, pull the blade back.'
The Razor Maiden retracted her claws away from Draigo's throat, an audible sigh of relief escaping the latter's mouth. However, Zhen Liu kept his arm firmly in place.
"So...any reason why-"
"Who are you doing this for?," Zhen Liu asked again, a curious yet fierce look in his face. "You give off the vibe and scent of being a drunken deadbeat who's given up on life a long ass time ago."
[Milord can sense that now?,] Nepherage asked.
'No, but he doesn't need to know that.'
"Hey, that's rude!," Draigo protested.
"But is it inaccurate?"
"So I am asking you again. Who are you doing this for?," Zhen Liu repeated for a second time while staring directly into Draigo's eyes and faking a murderous expression.
'I'm definitely not gonna get the truth from you...but I at least want to see the reason for this ...'
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People say that the eyes were the windows into the soul. Unfortunately, that didn't mean one could see whether or not someone was lying when staring into someone's eyes. However, one could at least see someone's conviction and feelings through their eyes...or so they say.
'I sure as hell can't tell him about her...but those eyes definitely belong to someone who wouldn't hesitate to snap my neck if I lied!,' Draigo thought to himself.
His eyes wandered to the weird looking doll that was hanging off of the man's shoulder.
'And what's the deal with this crazy doll?! It's like something out of a nightmare, or a bloodthirsty maniac's dreams!'
"Well?," the youth growled, "who are you doing this for?"
'I can't twist the truth or straight up lie...but maybe I can just...omit the details...at least.'
Draigo took a deep breath to gain a bit of clarity.
'You'd have done the same. Right, Wyvara?'
_________________________________________________
Zhen Liu kept a firm pin on Draigo, waiting for an answer.
"Well, if you're not going to tell me. Then-"
"I can't tell you who."
"Huh? Pinned to a wall and you still won't tell me?"
The core in Zhen Liu's hand suddenly felt denser.
"Yes. I can't tell you who," Draigo answered again in a firmer voice. "But all you need or want to know, is that it's someone who's very important to me. You wouldn't want to stop an old man from fulfilling a promise, right?"
Zhen Liu felt the [Core of Resolve] beginning to hum in his hand, and when he took a closer look into Draigo's eyes, he could see a look of fierce resolve. Whoever this "her" was, they were important enough to Draigo to have him produce this weird core.
'Maybe this person...was the reason why [resolve] took root?'
Zhen Liu's expression softened once he heard Draigo's answer, even the Razor Maiden's expression changed in regards to Draigo.
"Is it safe to assume whatever you're looking for is beyond that painting, that the Marquis stole it, right?," Zhen Liu asked as he nodded towards the aforementioned painting on the mantle.
In response to the query, Draigo simply nodded.
With the answer given, Zhen Liu released his grip on Draigo. The latter dropped to the floor without much fuss, just a deep breaths to calm his nerves.
"Our goals align," Zhen Liu plainly answered while attempting to sound righteously tough, "at least to an extent. So I'm not going to break your face in or slice your neck open."
Granted, while he could fake his persona in front of others, the voices in his head could see right pass it.
[Milord...what's with the personality shift?]
'Shut up, I'm trying something.'
"That being said, since we're headed in the same direction anyways, and we're after completely different things in that direction, why not join forces?"
Zhen Liu pointed towards the mantle.
"I'm pretty sure neither us have any anima powers, so either one of us would need another person to open that door anyways. And I'm also sure that the Marquis would kill us regardless of whether or not we're alone..."
Zhen Liu proceeded to give a confident smile to Draigo and offered a hand.
"So what do you say? Truce until we get out of dodge?"
Draigo was set to refuse the crazy youth who had almost choked him out, but stopped when he saw his smile. Something about it reminded him of...her, somehow.
He took a deep breath before nodding again.
"Alright. A truce until we get what we want and outta here," he said as he grabbed the offered hand and shook it.
"Good. Now let's jam those irons into the boars' mouths."
_________________________________________________
Zhen Hai slammed a heavy aether powered fist directly on the blade sticking out of the hulking man-beast's back.
However, instead of pushing the blade further in, the ethereal image of an electric eel formed around Zhen Hai's fist and sent a jolt of electricity coursing through the blade and into the man-beast's internals.
In a matter of seconds, the man-beast was stun shocked, collapsing to the ground, unconscious.
Zhen Hai and Matilda both let out sighs of relief, now that their opponent was taken down.
"Next time... I'm learning...defense shattering...arts," Zhen Hai complained.
"I need to pack...explosives now," Matilda concurred.
The two of them were a bit surprised that they hadn't killed their opponent, but at this point, a knock out was just fine.
"We should...check the...box."
Zhen Hai and Matilda quickly made their way to the box holding their captive companion, eager to free whoever was inside.
'Milady, please be in this box...,' Matilda silently hoped.
Moment of truth was nigh.