These were the three words going through everyone’s heads as of this moment, because they had no idea what the fuck was going on with the battle between Zhen Liu and Leech.
One moment, Leech was fighting Zhen Liu’s mysterious shapeshifting frog puppet and almost got his teeth kicked in, but managed to reverse it after draining the life from several of his fellow warriors who were supposed to be his allies.
Then the situation got reversed again when the Fourth Young Master suddenly came in with a "drop kick" and sent Leech flying and away from his puppet.
Which was weird, because it was an aether puppet,they were expensive sure,but why risk one’s life over it?
And then, for some possibly suicidal reason, the Fourth Young Master bear hugged Leech in conjunction with his puppet, even though it was established by the aether drained corpses that this was a bad idea...up until they saw Leech starting to...inflate.
Not suddenly grow bigger, stronger and more muscular, but inflate like a balloon.
"Oh wait a minute...yeah, we should probably get out of the area like right the fuck now."
"I’ve seen this happen before, one time I came across a boar eating a rare aether herb before I could take it...the pig overloaded, started inflating like Leech is now, and then exploded."
Overhearing the man’s story, some of the warriors who were engaged combat immediately decided to book it.
Practically every aether warrior knows about the phenomenon/ability of "overload", essentially overfilling one’s natural aether capacity with too much outside help, and the devastating results it could lead to.
Stories about Novices or Acolytes accidentally eating an aether pill or entering an environment they couldn’t handle and spontaneously evaporating on the spot was unhealthily common, but the stories about Masters and above overloading were rarer and significantly more destructive.
For comparison, an average Acolyte overloading can take out a building, an average Master can take out a city block, and right now, Zhen Liu was trying to induce this inside of Leech, who arguably had way more power than your average Aether Master. Luckily for him, he had a pair of smart mouthed assistants.
________________________________________________
’Okay, this guy is getting fatter by the second and he’s starting to look like Violet Beauregarde post meal gum, what the fuck is the next course of action here so I don’t blow up with him?!’
=Well, you can’t just pop him and drain the energy out of him because [Chaos] is...[Chaos].=
’Well no shit, I don’t need more powers gunning for my-waitaminute...air...weird question, how much impact force can Leech take at this point?’
=You can kick him into the air like a kickball if that’s what you’re asking.
’Oh thank God...s? I’ve never asked the divinity situation with this place.’
’Of course it does. Hurricroak?’
[Already know what you have in mind, and it’s better than the current situation.]
________________________________________________
In practically any other matchup, Leech would have been the victor.
Slowly stealing their opponents abilities, using it against them and even just straight up drinking them, he would win eight out of ten times. Those last two scenarios were based on two real possibilities.
The first: being outright outclassed. Leech might have been arrogant with his abilities and rightly so, but even he recognized power disparity. If he had attempted to consume any of the leaders of Stone Claw, he would have died no questions asked due to them being much more powerful than him. Even if he could somehow drain one, the sheer amount and quality of aether in their bodies would have caused him to implode due to unable to process the energy properly. This actually leads to the second scenario where Leech would lose quite neatly: indigestible energies.
[Godoku Body] could consume any type of aether or aether bearing bodies no problem wholesale, however, it could not consume anima.
Leech had attempted this once before when he had taken down an Anima Wielder. He could extract the man’s aether no problem, but when the wisps of anima entered his body he felt absolutely sick for three whole days.
At the end of those three days, not even a fraction of the anima had even been absorbed, he just puked it back out.
Ever since, Leech had been careful to pick targets he knew he could drain with no issues, easily digestible as it were.
When he first fought Zhen Liu in the tunnel, he thought he was an easy fish. He didn’t expect the man to actually be a toxic puffer filled with the most {disgusting}/intoxicating/(hunger inducing) energy he had ever tasted. It didn’t make his stomach swell because it indigestible, rather it caused the energies in his body to riot and his stomach to fluctuate like mad between extreme hunger and fullness. He didn’t know up from down at this point, but he knew he was going to die.
’At, at, at least(most) I/we/ won’t|will die alone(together)!,’ Leech thought to himself as he felt himself reaching critical mass. He took some comfort that this hateful€delightful€ meal of his would die with him...up until he suddenly felt the flow of energy into him abruptly stop, only for him to feel himself suddenly ascend upward after getting kicked in the crotch on two different sides.
As the ground began to shrink in his eyes, his mind began to race as to what the fuck was going on.
________________________________________________
’You ready for this next part?’
’Excellent! Start...now!]
As coordinated as they could, Zhen Liu and Hurricroak released Leech from their grasps and proceeded to take one step back each, and then kick the man in the crotch at the exact same time, sending him flying upward with the sheer force of their kicks.
He looked a bit like a demented beach ball at this point, as he sailed upward.
[I thought he would pop like a water balloon when you suggested this,maestro.]
’Nope, but he’s about to,’ Zhen Liu assured her. As quick as a wink, Zhen Liu grabbed the stinger that was still embedded in the ground and tossed it towards Hurricroak.
’Think you can hit an oversized roach ball?’
Hurricroak began to charge the stinger with aether before placing it back in her arm slot and aiming at Leech’s bloated form.
[Like a toad in a well,] Hurricroak confirmed with a devious smile.
The stinger fired off at the speed of sound and barely even a second passed before Hurricroak confirmed that her stinger hit home.
An echoing *thunk* could be heard when the two made impact. At which, Zhen Liu looked puzzled.
’Huh...I could have sworn he would have-"
Like the world’s most disgusting firework, Leech exploded into a cascade of bright lights, loud noises and squishy goop.
’Ah. There’s the repressed memory source.’
The only evidence that suggested this explosive mess was once a man named Leech was...what was left of his horribly eviscerated head.
And a weird ball that bonked Zhen Liu on the head.
=Oh it’s been awhile since we worked with Remnants like these.=
Whatever it was, Logos and Pathos wanted it.