Kaijin Fighter: So I Have to Make Monsters, So What?-Chapter 1245: Strange Throne

Meanwhile, outside of the [Gallery of Cloaked Mirrors]...

[Is the coast clear?]

[I ain't sensing anyone other than the people inside.]

[I think we can get big now.]

[Cool!]

Following their creator's command, Springerdermain, Razorstella and Screamira had transformed into their miniature modes in order to hide their exit from the building.

Once they were outside and sure no enemies were around, all three of them returned to normal size and prepared to getting move once more.

[Screamira, you're the best among us when it comes to detecting aether movement and the like ,] Springerdermain readily admitted. [Do you know which direction we need to look in?]

The skeletal Kaijin closed her eyes for a brief moment in order to focus her senses. When she opened them back up, she immediately started walking.

[This way.]

[Right on.]

[Okay.]

Once the Kaijin were in motion, they quickly picked up the pace and started running and leaping.

[So what kind of thing are we going to be facing this time?] Razorstella asked her counterparts. [An abomination, another psychotic warlord or an evolving aether beast?]

[From what I could sense, it's nothing as unpredictable as any of those,] Screamira replied. [It feels more... meticulous. Like a ritual from one of those movies we watched recently in the library.]

[The ones that are misguided and dedicated to some ancient force of evil, or ones that actually summon those ancient forces?] Springerdermain asked.

[I think the latter, but not so much as evil,] Screamira answered. [Keep in mind, we're technically ancient forces of evil but everyone else's standards.]

[Fair.]

As the Kaijin continued following the weird trail of energy they had picked up after the death of that one weedy looking Anima wielder, they eventually came to a realization about where they were headed.

[Wait a minute...isn't this literally the same path we took to get to the gallery from that fountain plaza?] Razorstella asked the others.

[It is.]

[Huh...]

When this realization sunk into the kaijins' head, they weren't as surprised when they reached the fountain plaza and found the place crawling with enemy warriors.

They were, however, caught off guard by the appearance of a weird stairwell leading into a dark underground chamber.

[Whoa, that's new,] Springerdermain commented as he, Screamira and Razorstella hid in some nearby foliage.

[That stairwell wasn't there before, right?]

[It wasn't,] Razorstella answered. [But it appears to have been here the whole time, given how it's built into the ground.]

[Forget all that for a second,] Screamira interjected. [How the hell did we not notice the weird energy flowing out of it? It's making my non-existent skin crawl.]

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[You mean the absurd concentration of aether coming out of it?] Springerdermain asked. [Because that's a very recent development from what I can sense.]

[No, I'm talking about the ancient feeling energy that seems to be growing stronger and stronger by the...wait, why does it feel like it's kind of tapering off a bit?]

__Now back to the underground chamber__

'Okay, now I understand why my little swordsmaster wants this guy's head on a spike.'

Kidanna had never met Duke Diamoro up until this moment, but she had heard of the man.

As the leader of a merchant union, she was regularly briefed in the comings and goings of all sorts of bigwigs and move makers that could affect their overall business.

One such briefing included a rumor that their rivals, the Silver Jungle Dragon Shipping Company, was actually a subsidiary of the House of the Golden Sabertooth. This information, however, was deemed inconsequential due to the aformentioned noble house being known for investing in everything ranging from aether mines to medicine to even slave trading.

As such, them investing in a frontier shipping company was considered business as usual.

So the fact that the man was here, and badmouthing Kidanna in front of her face was quite noticeable.

"Hmmm. From what I had heard from Alfonzo, you were the type to run their mouth even when confronted by a superior opponent," Duke Diamoro stated when he noticed Kidanna didn't react to his comment about being no different from a well-polished rock. "Are you so enamored by my appearance that you can no longer speak?"

Technically speaking, Duke Diamoro wasn't wrong about taking pride in his appearance.

The Duke was tall, had a head full of golden hair with a beard to match, piercing red eyes and a well-balanced body that took years to sculpt to perfection. Combined with a bearing that reminded people of a large jungle cat ready to strike at any moment, Duke Diamoro was an impressive specimen.

Unfortunately, he was wrong about his assessment in regards to Kidanna's silence.

"Seeing as you're not my type, no," Kidanna flatly answered. "I'm just keeping quiet because you seem like the type to like the sound of your own voice."

"You stupid bitch!" Alfonzo roared on Duke Diamoro's behalf as he began to make moves towards Kidanna. "How dare you—"

"Ah, ah, ah," Duke Diamoro stopped the lizard Bloodliner with a raised palm. "No need to be insulted on my behalf. I can handle this myself."

Kidanna was just about to follow up on her insult and mock the Duke further, but was cut off when the aformentioned Duke backhanded her face with an aether enhanced hand.

The attack came with such force and speed that she couldn't even let out a yell of surprise before she found herself crashing into a wall and the faceplate of her [Regalia] becoming momentarily cracked.

Unsurprisingly, Kidanna's head was left spinning from such intense blunt force trauma to her head.

"Since it appears your father failed to properly raise you up until his untimely demise, consider this slap to your face some much needed discipline. Can someone place some aether sealing cuffs on her already? I don't want to risk her interference after she has already outlived her usefulness."

"As you command, sir."

Several of the mercenaries at Duke Diamoro's side moved to place aether suppressing handcuffs or at least make sure that she didn't try any funny movements.

Although, it may have been unnecessary with how thoroughly discombobulated Kidanna was at this time.

Regardless, now that their main obstacle had been removed, Duke Diamoro and Alfonzo took this as an opportunity to take a good look of the chamber that they purposely left as a trap for the gorilla-like woman.

"Hmm. It appears each of these mirrors are linked to the locations that were marked on that map you acquired," Duke Diamoro obsevered as he walked up to each of the mirrors and noted the map carving underneath them.

"Hmmm. It appears that the ape girl wasn't wrong. Each of the mirrors do contain the souls of some of your slain warriors. As well as the soul of my nephew...well, that's disappointing," Duke Diamoro commented as if he noticing a piece of rotting fruit on a table. "I suppose I'll have to make the proper funeral arrangements when I get back and send his remains to his...oh?"

As he continued to walk and talk his future plans aloud, Duke Diamoro eventually found himself standing before the strange throne sitting in the center of the room.

His instincts and senses as an aether warrior told him that this throne was a treasure of immense power, but the young man sitting upon at this time was... inconsequential.

"Hmmm."

Duke Diamoro pointed one of his fingers towards the young man on the throne and proceeded to fire off a concentrated blast of aether towards them.

His aim was to simply blow up the adolescent and clean the throne of any presence that wasn't his own.

Strangely though, this didn't happen.

Instead, the blast of energy strangely deflected right off of the boy and the throne before impacting another of the mercenaries that they had brought with them.

"HOLY-!"

BANG!

"OW!"

(Un)Fortunately, the aformentioned mercenary managed to summon his [Regalia] fast enough to block the attack.

"Strange," Duke Diamoro grumbled at the sight of his failed attack. "I figured a blast strong enough to obliterate an Aether Master would've worked here. Might as well try to bigger and—"

"Wait, wait, wait! My illustrious Duke, wait!" Alfonzo interrupted before his master decided to try and accidentally murder everyone in the room in the pursuit of fortune and glory.

"Before you try and do anything further, I think I know what we have to do."

"Oh? Then explain."

Walking over to the mirrors, Alfonzo used a bit of aether to blow away dust from the carvings to reveal several differently shaped indents in front of each of the mirrors.

"If I had to hazard a guess, there is a special key at each of those locations that we'll need to access the true treasure of this chamber. It's delightfully convoluted."

"Hmmm, seems par to the course for me," Duke Diamoro noted. "Reminds me of the time I had to reassemble a the skeleton of a giant dragon...and slay it after it came to life. Well, whatever, let's go and secure these gains then, yes?"