As the bolts of lighting came crashing down onto his position, Marlancer couldn’t help but think these warriors were crazy for using such a big technique, getting one of their own caught in the blast, just to get to him.
Granted, if Marlancer wasn’t so entranced by the lighting, and the voices in his head, he would have noticed Frosttusk getting plucked out of the cage by Razorstella.
"Well now, pescado!," Hurricroak shouted, "this is my sure kill technique! So how you gonna escape?!"
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[Sure kill?,] Razorstella asked, [This is the first time I’ve ever seen you use that art!]
[Shut up, it’s for dramatic effect.]
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As Marlancer thought of what to take as his next course of action, he began to hear an old voice for the third time...albeit...he felt as if this might be the last, or at least second to last.
{You have a very bad habit of rushing in head first without thinking of you surroundings. Running on the belief you can use brute force and speed to change the odds no matter the situation? Remove the randomness? Poppycock! You gotta remember, glory-trout, that there is no such thing as pure randomness. Well, in regards to aether arts at least.}
Marlancer stared at the bolts of lighting snaking towards him like ravenous vipers.
He was watching, waiting.
{All things can be calculated, all movements have a pattern and listen to an unknown rhythm. So you’re job, before the dance can begin, is to learn the music.}
As the bolts got closer and closer, Marlancer held his harpoon steady with two hands.
Marlancer could only reply with a single word before the lighting would not the point of no return.
And it was with those words, that Marlancer suddenly launched him straight upwards towards his inevitable demise.
[Glory before death.]
At least, that’s what everybody else thought...for a few moments.
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[Oh shit, I think he finally lost his mind] Razorstella noted, [I know as kaijin, we can take quite the number of hits to the body, but rushing towards an active barrage of lightning bolts? That’s beyond suicidal.]
[I’d be inclined to agree,] Hurricroak responded, [but he is somehow avoiding all of my lightning!]
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Bolt after bolt after bolt of lighting was sent flying in Marlancer’s direction, but not a single one managed to land a hit on the fish man’s form.
It wasn’t even that he was blocking any of the attacks with his harpoon or even using a defensive aether art, Marlancer was literally dodging at the last possible second on every single lightning strike.
’How the hell is he predicting where they’re going to hit? Not even I can predict it and I’m using the damn art!,’ Hurricroak complained in her thoughts, ’or has he gotten even faster?’
Regardless of what the truth might have been, Marlancer was getting closer and closer by the second and was just about to shiskebab Hurricroak like she was street food.
Seeing the encroaching marlin kaijin getting closer by the second, getting ready to harpoon her, Hurricroak decisively activated her crab form to mitigate the damage, possibly outright block it.
At the same time, Razorstella and Frosttusk decided to forget about the whole rotational round thing and go straight into just mercing this marlin.
Hurricroak managed to get her defenses up in time, ready to take the hit before the other two kaijin could arrive, but...that turned out to be unnecessary.
Just as Marlancer was about to jam his harpoon into Hurricroak’s stomach, literally a few centimeters away, he stopped.
In fact, he didn’t just stop in place, but he apologized.
"My apologies, Miss Hurricroak. But it appears we will have to end this duel of ours abruptly. You too, Razorstella, Frosttusk."
Confused by the abomination’s actions, the other kaijin ended up pausing. This gave Marlancer the opportunity to pull back his harpoon, stand himself up and float towards the direction Zhen Liu/Nepherage were floating.
The fused form of kaijin and mortal didn’t move from that spot as the fighting began, opting to stay there with their arms folded like some kind of judgemental deity.
In the eyes of the kaijin though, perhaps that was an apt description.
’Although with that said, my own creator has long since died...’
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[Milord, why is that fish-man floating towards us in...a decidedly peaceful manner?]
’I don’t know...Logos? Pathos? Please tell me you guys have an explanation.’
=I’m...not entirely sure, this is new behavior even for us.=
’Are...are you sure?’
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Marlancer eventually stopped floating towards Zhen Liu/Nepherage, staying midair at a distance equidistant from both the latter and the group of kaijin that he had just fought.
Zhen Liu and the kaijin kept watch and their guard up, unsure of what this guy’s next move was going to be.
"Kaijin Lord of the current era," Marlancer began to say in a voice that was far smoother and steadier than how he was sounding before by a large margin, "can you tell me...how long has it been since the era of my lady? Of the Storm Queen’s reign? Can you tell me how she died?"
Zhen Liu paused for a moment, partially so Logos can feed him the answer, until finally answering.
"It’s been one hundred and fifty years. She died in battle facing a powerful foe who learned of a weakness."
"I see...by chance, have you met other abominations like me?," Marlancer followed up with a sad tone, "who’s form was given to him by the sea?"
"No," Zhen Liu answered, "you are the first abomination I’ve met, that has come from the era of the Storm Queen."
"Huh...I figured out of all us that old turtle... never mind," Marlancer shook his head, "I have asked all of my questions...and now I have a single request."
Marlancer took up his harpoon once more and entered a fighting stance.
"I could feel from the blows of your kaijin, your own royal guard, that you didn’t aim to kill me anymore," Marlancer observed, "perhaps you wished to restore my failing body?"
Zhen Liu was momentarily caught off guard by Marlancer’s astute observation, but managed to recover quick enough to provide a somewhat enigmatic nod.
"I see...then my request is simple: give me a death worthy of a warrior."
"He...wishes...to...die?"
Hurricroak, Razorstella and Frosttusk were caught off guard as this was the first time any of them had heard a warrior asked to be killed. Most of their opponents were either desperate for life or just plain suicidally explosive.
Zhen Liu in the other hand did not act shocked, but he did want to know why.
"Why? Don’t you want to live?"
In response to this question, Marlancer released a tired, singular laugh.
"In the past century or so, I have lived in a mad daze, believing myself to be some grand hunter if the high seas, in search of empty glory and using deceitful tactics unworthy of a knight," Marlancer began to explain, "and the fifty years before that...I can only recall tears, running and fighting. My own attempt to mourn my fallen friends and lady."
From his fighting stance, Marlancer focused his gaze into Zhen Liu’s eyes and for the very first time this evening, Zhen Liu could see that Marlancer’s eyes finally looked...right.
"For the first time in so, so many years, I can remember...almost everything. I can remember the laughter of my friends, I can remember the battles we shared, the nights we spent exploring and I can finally, finally remember her again... I’d rather die with these memories still burning brightly in my mind...instead of living with their light snuffed out like candles."
After finishing this speech, Marlancer’s aura flared up as he prepared for his final rush.
"So please, lord of the new era, give this old fish a warrior’s send-off. Make it powerful, make it loud and make it bright! I don’t know if I’ll end up at the same afterlife as all of them, but I at least want my entrance into such a place to be so unavoidable that maybe, just maybe...I can use it as a means to find them again."
Zhen Liu and the kaijin were quiet as they digested Marlancer’s words, taking in just how strangely noble he was looking in this moment.
The world seemed to pause for a bit before Zhen Liu made his choice.
"Nepherage. Frosttusk. Do you mind?"
"It would be an honor, milord."
As the order was given, Nepherage defused from Zhen Liu’s body, revealing the pitch black, demonic armor that Zhen Liu’s actual regalia looked like.
Another moment later, both Nepherage and Frosttusk had transformed into little crystals, the belt on Zhen Liu’s hip suddenly transforming to have two distinctive slots shaped for them.
Without another word, Zhen Liu inserted the two crystals, side by side, and activated a finishing move.
~Kaijin set! Volcanic Valkyrie!~
~Kaijin set! Howling Mammoth!~
[Harmonize: Double Max!]