As much as Zae Zin Nim wanted to join Kai in his battle, she realized that he needed to do this alone. She might be able to fight a monster like that, but only Kai could defeat it, so she turned away to find Omilaena instead amid the rubble strewn across the wilderness.
It seemed that she had finally brought about the moment that her old self had feared: now that Kai's cultivation was close to catching up, his power had surged past even her new strength. Yet she felt no fear now, not even when he transformed into a literal monster. She knew that he would always be her husband... they had been in so many positions over the years, weaker or stronger than one another, that it hardly mattered.
The same applied to her wife, who Zae Zin Nim finally spotted. It seemed that Omilaena had finally achieved her new Physique, but Zae Zin Nim's own breakthrough had pushed her ahead in power again. And that didn't matter either... all she could think was that her wife looked lovely.
Omilaena was exchanging blows with Fodajix, neither able to end the fight. It seemed that the invader had a suit of armor, enchanted with phased mana, which was quite powerful. Edges wouldn't penetrate it, even from phased attacks, but it was still just armor.
Before he realized she was there, Zae Zin Nim got into position. When Omilaena faltered briefly, falling back and leaving an opening, the invader pushed forward - and Zae Zin Nim landed just in front of him.
Her palm struck his chest with the clear sound of a bell, a perfect palm strike. It rippled through the armor, striking his internal organs. Not only that, the twisting destroyed the bindings of the armor, making the pieces fly off as the man was knocked backward.
Fodajix grimaced and clutched his stomach - the strike had damaged his organs, but not finished him. Zae Zin Nim simply returned to her combat stance and smiled as Omilaena slid in beside her.
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..
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Well, Zin Nim looked fantastic, and Omilaena was eager to find out more about what had happened later, but they had business to take care of first.
Now that she had backup, Omilaena could afford to keep part of her mind on the monstrous battle taking place outside the city. Kai had burst to a new level of power and he was hammering into the Abhorroid with renewed fury. He couldn't go toe-to-toe with it like he had as a giant, but he was flying around its beams with new speed and cutting deeper and deeper.
She couldn't let him show her up, so they had to take down Fodajix. Unfortunately, as soon as he realized he was outnumbered, he switched strategies to attempting retreat. Even with the two of them, it was difficult to pin down such a fast and dangerous opponent.
Abruptly Omilaena realized that she needed to change tactics as well. Their opponent was too guarded against their finishing blows, but he wouldn't be prepared for a secondary strike. Because so much of his strength came from equipment, it was possible to weaken him more than an ordinary fighter, enough that letting him escape wouldn't be such a loss.
So the next time they exchanged blows, Omilaena intentionally ran in close. He had been prepared to swing his sword in a broad arc to ward her off and looked shocked when she got so close. But all she did was grab for his hand and forehead, catching his sword before he could swing.
Of course he punished her movement, kicking her in the sternum hard enough to send her flying, knocking her into Zin Nim. They tumbled together, rolled, and flipped back to their feet.. but Fodajix had disappeared into the rubble and hidden his presence.
"You let him go?" Zin Nim asked, frowning.
"Took these." Omilaena revealed that she had torn off his ring and circlet when they grappled. "Now he's weak enough that great powers, Sky Souls, or even Frontier elites might be able to take him down."
"I see. You mean to focus our attentions."
They both turned as one toward the battle that still raged between monsters.
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..
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Pushed to his very limits, Kai reveled in expending the full power of his abilities. He didn't know whether he would win the battle against the Abhorroid, and a savage part of him didn't care.
When he slashed with Tyrant's Claw, he imbued the technique with the full power of Dragon's Might, cutting a massive slash across the monster's body. Thunderbird's Wings took him from side to side, dodging around the crimson beams, and Behemoth's Heart ensured he could keep that up forever.
As soon as he got close, the Abhorroid began to breath out its fatal dust, but this time Kai plunged directly into it. Famished World shielded him from the spiritual assault and the particles bounced off the Void Colossus Armor, then he slammed into the side of the monster.
That was what his entire strategy had been leading up to: Kai opened Void Maw and took a bite.
His teeth clicked together and a huge portion of the Abhorroid vanished, instantly consumed. It reacted with unprecedented violence, unleashing enormous beams that hammered Kai to the ground, then kept raging down, driving him into a deeper and deeper crater.
Shielded by the Void Colossus Armor, Kai straightened up against the assaulting energy and grinned. That bite had just whetted his appetite.
As he launched himself back into the air to rejoin the fight, he was almost disappointed to see that Zae Zin Nim and Omilaena were coming, because he would have wanted to finish it himself. But no, they were part of him, and his pride as a warrior was completely overwhelmed by his hunger.
Even the two of them were pushed to their limits: Zae Zin Nim barely managed to deflect some of the attacks with Coldfire Palm, and Omilaena drained a significant portion of her energy into a needle that pierced deep into the monster's largest eye.
Using their opening, Kai plunged even deeper, diving into the monster's flesh. It tried to crush him, but he opened his mouth and ate and ate and ate.
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..
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After his escape, Fodajix realized that the woman had been aiming to weaken him instead of stopping him. It was a rational tactic, but she failed to understand that he had also switched strategies. Fodajix had completely abandoned the idea of surviving this battle.
No, all that remained now was bitter revenge, and he saw his chance.
Even combined, the three of them were hard-pressed to fight the enormous floating monster. It seemed to require the sacrifice of the man, except that there was something deeply wrong with him, so he would likely survive. As the spherical monster sagged toward the earth, Fodajix watched, feeling for that unnatural energy.
If he knew one thing about higher powers, it was that monsters were opposed to all life. The man might appear human, and might even have fooled the others, but Fodajix knew that he was an abomination. Worse than the obvious monsters, for all the harm that he could do.
Part of Fodajix's mind was fully aware that there was another power manipulating his thoughts, yet that didn't bother him so much anymore. When the gray man had appeared on their ship, he had implied that he was using them as a weapon. Given the strange power that took over their minds, it seemed obvious that this was their target. And, whether or not the thought was manipulated, Fodajix had to admit that maybe there was something to it.
If he was going to die, at least the abomination would be eradicated as well.
So Fodajix crept closer through the rubble, even as the others retreated. He stopped fighting the gray power, let it suffuse him. Pain and distress slipped away, replaced by purpose. When the spherical monster hit the ground and exploded, he ignored the energy that tore through him.
The key was to be the first person to the center. Even if the abomination survived being inside the monster, it would have taken an enormous amount out of him, and then the explosion would leave him nearly dead. That had been the pattern so far, but the abomination's allies had always covered for him.
Well, the obnoxious gnats had all fled, and the two women had to retreat from the explosion. Only Fodajix was close... he drew his sword as he ran and realized that it shone gray.
Monstrous flesh lay across the landscape, with an ugly knot at the center. All of the perverse distortion of the world vanished except there: the abomination was still alive, somehow. This might be the only chance to eliminate him before he grew too powerful to stop.
The gray light took over and Fodajix let himself become nothing but a tool. His blade would sunder the monstrous flesh and leave nothing behind, he would become vengeance, he would at last eradicate this stain on-
A claw exploded from the flesh, grabbing his neck.
Suddenly Fodajix was just a man again, struggling with the impossibly strong claws. He saw the abomination and realized that he had miscalculated: he wasn't weakened, somehow he was stronger, exploding with the power of the monster that had just died.
The jaws opened wide and the last thing Fodajix heard was the sound of teeth.