NOVPUBWhen Cornileus chose to fight Buzza, he assumed he had the advantage.
While he wasn’t able to wield dragon force or use musical aether arts, the two biggest and most obvious weaknesses that all kaijin possessed, he knew that there was a third weakness that could only be found in Kaijin without a Lord.
[Time] aether.
Every kaijin needs a constant a flow of [Chaos] provided to them by their lord in order to survive in Valresta. Without this source, the world actively rejects them to the point they have to test themselves apart just to keep going a little longer.
However, the rate on how this rejection occurs varied from Kaijin to Kaijin.
In past lives, Cornileus had encountered these types of Kaijin before.
Some were on the brink of madness and just about ready to become Abominations, while others were so far from the edge of madness that he couldn’t help but to wonder if they had achieved some level of independent [Chaos] cultivation.
Regardless, in the moments he had to fight these rogue kaijin, he discovered that by using [Time] aether, he could accelerate the breakdown of Kaijin to Abomination to... non-existence.
Regular kaijin were more or less immune to his abilities due to the constant flow of [Chaos], but lordless ones were always on borrowed time and abominations even moreso.
As such, when he faced Buzza, this unknown rogue kaijin that was definitely older than when he met him the first time around, he figured he’d able to accelerate the bastard’s remaining time in this reality into nothingness.
He had done it before and Buzza would’ve just been another entry on the list of Kaijin he had to accelerate into nothingness.
But alas, life decided to screw with him.
[Sandstorm of Time!]
[GAAAAHHH!]
When Buzza was initially caught in his attack, everything was going as he had anticipated.
Before his very eyes, Buzza began to twist, distort and change into something horrific, slowly losing his identity.
Buzza.
Buzz_.
Buz__.
Bu___.
GRROOOAAA!
"Oh no..."
[Now!]
But before the job was done, Tortallion had decided to go with his final option and flooded the area with [Chaos] as a result.
’You crazy bastard...’
Centuries ago, Cornileus had beared witness to the Storm Knights as they faced the [Shadow Sovereign], choosing to [Return to Chaos] in order to give their lord an opening to send the bastard back into the deep.
It was a moment that had burned itself into the records of his soul, because it was the first and only time he had seen kaijin willingly turn themselves into Abominations...or something equivalent.
Not only that, but the feeling on his skin that day was something he would never forget either.
Due to the rareness and instability of [Chaos], Cornileus had never felt what it was like to be in an area that had high concentrations of [Chaos] before. But after that day...he started to understand why the kaijin were as wild, reckless and uncouth as they were on a day to day basis.
Strange prickliness that seemed to drastically change between a feather touch to giant needles poking at his skin happened in such a short amount of time that he could barely concentrate on maintaining his attack.
"Bah! I can’t fucking...wait...why isn’t my sandstorm dispelling?"
Not that it mattered anymore, since it had gotten hijacked by Buzza.
Due to the sudden surge in [Chaos], not only did any and all aether based abilities were going haywire, but anyone who had even the barest form of [Chaos] cultivation was invigorated to an absurd degree.
In mortal cultivators, this just meant a boost in their abilities and a recovery of their energy.
In kaijin though, this meant that they could not do things that were out of their regular wheelhouse, on top of the reinvigoration.
As such, Buzza was able to hijack an attack that was meant to drain away his remaining time in Valresta, and convert it into a means to strengthen himself further.
After all, if [Time] going forward was what led to Kaijin becoming abominations, then shouldn’t reversing it restore a kaijin to a better state.
Cornileus could literally feel in real time as Buzza’s aura got stronger and stronger by the second. In the center of a whirling sandstorm, he could vaguely make out Buzza’s shadow taking on a healthier and more humanoid silhouette, a sharp contrast to the more monstrous and demented form he was originally turning into when he was in break down.
Needless to say, Cornileus was losing his shit for all the right reasons.
’Shit, shit, shit!’
Out of a mix of desperation and madness, Cornileus kept trying to gather up enough aether to fire off an attack, any attack from his repertoire, to try and interrupt whatever the fuck Buzza was doing. Unfortunately, he physically couldn’t.
The sheer amount of [Chaos] in the area made it almost impossible to condense aether for anything beyond simple strengthen enhancements and defenses.
’No, no, no! Come on!’
For the first time in this new lifetime, Cornileus felt the inevitability of death breathing down his neck once more. And he was starting to panic.
’I need to get out of her-no, I made a promise to stick around this time in order to-’
[Ah...much better.]
’Shit.’
Cornileus didn’t even have to attempt to get his shit together before Buzza had finished with his rejuvenation. The results of this change was...dramatic, to say the least.
[It’s been a long time since I’ve felt this way. Why, it even removed my zzzpeech impediment. Hmm, never mind.]
Prior to entering the sandstorm, Buzza looked like a hornet-human hybrid that leaned more towards the hornet side than the human side.
But now, for reason unclear to Cornileus, the kaijin looked significantly more human.
Now, this didn’t make much sense to Cornileus at first...until it finally dawned on him.
"You...you were already abomination. But how did you-"
[You’re partially correct,] Buzza interjected in a honeyed voice that buzzed with a surprising bass. [Much like Sir Tortallion over there, I learned that by embracing my Desire, I could zzztave off the breakdown for a time. But eventually, I reached a limit...and then I learned how to slow it down.]
Before Cornileus’s eyes, Buzza held out a palm and produced from his own flesh, a vial that began to fill with a strange black liquid.
A shocked expression of extreme confusion formed on Cornileus’s face.
"B-but you’re a Kaijin! Kaijin can’t produce blood," Cornileus exclaimed.
[We can’t, that’s right,] Buzza agreed. [But we do lose parts of ourselves whenever we break down.]
"What does that have to do with-oh."
In that moment, Cornileus swore he saw Buzza develop a wide, vicious smile.
[I learned a long time ago, that by giving away my blood to humans, having them undergo a metamorphosis and then extracting their blood after that, why, it produces a substance that staves off the abomination transformation to a degree. Although, azzz you heard and zzzaw, it comes with side effects.]
Cornileus’s head was in a swirl at this revelation, but he was cognizant enough to understand a horrible implication in Buzza’s words.
"How long?"
[Hmmm?]
"How long have you been doing this?," Cornileus repeated, as he remembered all of those prior encounters in the past with those sorry Abominations. He had always assumed their presence was just a sign of the Kaijin Lord’s title being exchanged all over the world.
But if what Buzza was saying was true, then...
[Oh? Well...honestly, I stopped counting after the first five hundred years.]
"The hell?!"
Then it meant that this old kaijin, that should’ve broken down ages ago had been around for a long, long time.
[Well, with that out of the way...my work here is done.]
"Wait, what?"
After making this baffling statement, Buzza unfurled a pair of wings that looked significantly more powerful than what he had initially when this fight began.
"You can’t just-MMMPH?!"
[I don’t care much about the Fallen and their ancestral feud,] Buzza began to explain while manipulating the surrounding [Chaos to hold Cornileus in place. [There are some subjects here that are of interest to me and my experiments. Including a certain angelic fellow that had himself scarce as well. As such, I expect that we’ll be making our escape right now.]
As he continued to Cornileus in place, he made sure to fly close enough to speak into his ear directly.
[I hope you know it wasn’t personal, darling,] Buzza continued in that stupidly sweet voice that once drove Cornileus to madness. [And just so we’re even. Here. This should help break down that little toy.]
With a snap of his fingers, Buzza produced a familiar looking treasure box that was absolutely radiating [Chaos].
With another snap, the chest flung itself open and allowed what appeared to be a pair of different looking giant claws to fly free.
"No way..."
A pair of flying claws that Cornileus recognized.
As to where the claws were flying...well, let’s just say Cornileus couldn’t help but get a feeling of deja vu.
