Evidently, Zhen Liu wasn’t the only one that found their skin crawling as soon as they heard the voice on the other side of the door, albeit, it wasn’t just over the tone of voice being used.
"The hell is this aether pressure? It’s like being stared down by an apex aether beast!"
"Once again, I’m reminded that there is always a bigger fish..."
"This power...it belongs to an Aether Emperor!"
"Father’s comment about them being able to outlive the rest of us suddenly makes a lot more sense..."
To say the power they were facing at this point in time was intimidating would be a disservice to the power itself.
One can learn to not be intimidated by something or someone through time and exposure, training as well, but this particular power felt...inevitable.
It made one feel as if they were standing at the edge of an oncoming natural disaster. Of course, this feeling of "inevitability" could easily be attributed to the power gap between them and the people behind the door.
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’Weird question. On the off-chance I’m going to have to throw hands with my presumed great, great grand-something or other, what the chances of me being able to beat an Aether Emperor?’
=By yourself or with the kaijin helping?=
’Obviously with the kaijin helping, but what would be my chances solo?’
=About...five percent.=
=At not dying in the process of getting your ass beaten in.=
=But with the kaijin helping you, depending on if you pull out all the stops and make sure the Godoku cannon hits its target...fifty percent chance.=
’That...is a remarkable difference in probability.’
=Quantity is its own quality, milord. That and your kaijin are still a stage higher than you.=
’I know, but still...’
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Regardless of their feelings though, the source of this powerful dread was starting to get impatient.
<> an older, more subservient voice interjected, <>
<> the voice continued, <>
<> Zhen Shi replied with a respectful bow, acting as if that strange short exchange he and his family had just listened in on didn’t occur.
After a quick exchange of words between Zhen Shi and his sons, the group decided to enter via a procession from oldest to youngest, with the respective families of each branch elder accompanying them.
As such, the scions of the branch clan proceeded to line up with their families with Zhen Liu unfortunately being delegated to the very back of the line due to his father, Zhen Yan, being technically the youngest.
This was fine by Zhen Liu since it meant that he could spend a little bit of time talking to his parents in order to get in the right headspace. He would’ve talked to Rianna and Jin Fang about this, but he had the feeling his father and mother would have a touch more insight on what to expect...hopefully.
That or he could just listen in on his parents talking to determine the next course of action.
"So after seven sons, several dozen grandchildren, a breakthrough, one last assassin and several weeks of travel, we’re finally here to make things right...so why doesn’t it feel right?," Zhen Yan asked his wife, Zhen Liu’s mother, Daria Nerissa-Zhen.
In response to her husband’s worries, Daria shot him a somewhat sardonic look.
"I could tell you all sorts of answers in regards to this moment, my love," Daria replied, "but I’m not sure any of them are something you’d want to hear."
"Yes. Because I would say that we should’ve waited until the children had grown, or that we should’ve done this sooner when they were still babies."
"Both of those sounds about right to me though."
"Yes, but that’s because you aren’t thinking about a more appropriate answer."
"We should’ve done this before the Matriarch died."
’Well...that’s depressing,’ Zhen Liu thought to himself as he and his parents finally passed through the double door to enter the Golden Reef Chamber proper.
The space pass the door felt heavy to Zhen Liu’s senses, but whether that was due to the occupants being intimidating or the very one room they were in being someplace very, very ancient in the clan’s lore was up for debate.
’Alright, Clan Leader, let’s see who you are...and why the core you made seems is all smoky...’
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[Gah! That sounds weird!]
[If...patri...arch...is...reference...leader...will...be...old...man...,] Frosttusk rumbled.
[Old man is a sensible answer,] Nepherage agreed, [but if we’re going to be making any assumptions based on our knowledge of our lord’s clan, the leader has to be a strong willed woman who could probably make you kowtow with a glare.]
[Frog’s shit,] Hurricroak retorted, [if anything, I bet the leader of the clan ain’t even human.]
[Y’all said the Pearl Scale Emperor is a dragon right? And that a majority of the man’s confidants are also dragon’s or equally old fucks? I bet you anything, that our maestro’s main clan leader is probably some kind of ancient dragon or descendant of some kind of hidden tribe of Valresta. Hell! Maybe they’re actually aetherii!]
[All of you are wrong, the clan leader is an old woman that looks young as hell because she broke through early and is covered head to toe in tattoos like some kind of old school gangster from the director’s world,] Razorstella stated with absolute confidence.
[I agree,] Spring Brawler parroted.
The kaijin and Pathos were caught off guard at this agreement made between kaijin and proto-kaijin, so much so, they had to ask how they knew.
[Why’d you make a claim that bold?]
[Because while you guys were talking, our lord finally made it to the center part of the chamber and is now staring directly into the eyes of the Zhen Clan matriarch in all of her gangster glory.]
[To be fair,] Spring Brawler interjected, [I read up on her on my free time. Y’all should read the books about where our lord is heading towards more often. It helps with determining who we need to fight. But also yeah, not entirely sure what happened but the matriarch is now staring the ringmaster directly in the eyes.]
_____________________________________________
Zhen Liu and his family were silent as they walked into the Golden Reef Chamber, but their silence didn’t stop the walls of the room from echoing their steps like musical notes in a temple.
In the innermost part of the chamber, seated in chairs carved from willow trees, Zhen Liu could see four middle-aged fellows, with three radiating with the power of Aether Lords and another one being an Aether King!
In the frontier town Zhen Liu called home, these four would surely be the undisputed rulers of the place if they ever went.
Of course, even they paled in comparison to the aether being released by the central most figure in the inner chamber. Especially since the aether condensed into the shape of a stern-faced giant covered in tattoos, laying on their side with a single arm propping up their head. The only downside to this opulent display of power though was the lack of visual clarity on the source of this aether.
A situation that would shortly remedy itself.
It was towards this giant that Zhen Liu saw his grandfather walk up and bow in a respectful manner.
One of the four elders was just about to answer, and from the looks of their face, in a not so pleasant way.
Thankfully, someone higher up the totem pole interjected.
<> the giant avatar said in stereo with its owner, <>
As soon as this was said, the giant made of aether quickly retracted into its owner, revealing to the Zhen branch clan the true form of the Clan Leader.
A woman that looked to be about Zhen Liu’s age, covered head to toe in tattoos and radiating an aura equivalent to an old matriarch mixed with an imp.
The kind of matriarch that would snap your neck as soon as you hug them.