Kaijin Fighter: So I Have to Make Monsters, So What?

Day 52: Top Side

ROOOARRRR!

[They combine now?!]

[They combine now!]

'Well, that's noticeably different.'

For the past month or so, Dante and his horde had been dealing with an increasingly mutating army of zakos that didn't seem to understand the term, "surrender".

And today was yet another peak in their development plan: giant zakos made by combining multiple zakos into one being.

The first few waves of these attacks, namely consisted of club wielding mooks that didn't know any better than to simply swing and hope something died because of it.

A few days after this, the zakos shafted getting smarter and stranger.

The club-wielders were replaced with short swords.

The wave tactics became ambush attacks, I stead.

And mixed j to the forces were now ranged zakos armed with strange, spike spitting weapons.

Little by little, the horde of unruly zakos started resembling more and more like a professional army and less like the horde of monsters that they originally were.

That is...until the fucking giants showed up.

After a certain amount of the zakos were defeated, the remaining ones began emitting a very strange energy that nobody among the kaijin and mortals could recognize in the slightest, and then combine with one another to form giant versions of themselves.

They weren't simple cases of gigantification either.

The resulting giant zakos looked like mashups of their base components, so some looked more stoney, boney, or woody in comparison to each other.

The only ones who could possibly know what the fuck was going on, we're currently unable to to transmit information to any relevant parties.

That stated, Zhen Liu had a partial idea.

'This is just like what happened back in Undertow, but on a less intense scale. Maybe I can recreate this event in a more regular basis. I mean...I do have the weaponized version of this combination shit, can't be that hard to try and do it in a more...supportive manner. Gonna need to secure another one of these weird zako though...'

Unfortunately for Zhen Liu, Dante and his horde had started implementing night patrols so that they were less likely to get ambushed...again.

The measures worked to an extent, but it made the kaijin increasingly more irritable...much to Dante's delight.

Zhen Liu wasn't entirely sure, but he swore the man was acquiring some form of sick, sadistic pleasure from making sure his kaijin were being dragged out here for prolonged periods of time.

...

Day 66: Under side- Kaijin Update

As the Zhen Clan scions continued to provide support to Lyona and the growing number of rebels under their command, Zhen Liu's kaijin continued to do what they did best under the shadows.

Namely, cause problems, troubleshoot, gather data, and make sure nobody knew what their human allies were planning.

That stated, there was...one little factor that they had to address.

Especially now that said factor was acting up.

In the deepest underground depths, away from both the machinations of the kaijin and the ideologies of the rebels, Nepeherage, Blazejudicator, Springerdermain, Razorstella, Screamira, and the Doll Twins were dealing with something they never thought they'd never have to deal with: therapy.

[Why am I suddenly feeling guilty about everything?] Arbalest cried as he laid face down on the ground, his form flickering between his usual chimeric self, the form of the kaijin he had absorbed, and some other form entirely that looked more align with Zhen Liu's design tastes. [Is this what it feels like to "feel"? I don't like it!]

[Suddenly developing a sense of self of emotional intelligence does that to a kaijin,] Razorstella said as soothingly as possible as she stroked the quill-covered back of the jittery kaijin. [It doesn't necessarily get better, you just grow to be able to handle it.]

[But it sucks!]

[It does...]

Off to the side, Blazejudicator and Nepherage were discussing about Arbalest's condition.

[What do the curators have to say about this?] Blazejudicator asked.

[This technically new territory for them, but they have an idea as to why he's doing...that.]

In the brief pause that Nepherage had, Arbalest had suddenly flickered between himself, Mauler and a some other kaijin that they had never seen before.

[What do they think?]

[As far as they can tell, Zhen Liu's Chaos infusion had agitated the composite core and has been independently reinforcing each part to the point of them wanting to repel each other. It's also been tripling his ability to feel,] Nepherage explained to her blazing compatriot.

[So what do we do?] Blazejudicator asked, already expecting the worse.

[Well...we either put him out of his misery, we wait for this resolve by itself, or hope that out Lord returns soon enough to address whatever issues Arbalest is dealing with before he self-destructs or worst,] Nepherage laid out. [And before you ask, any kaijin that he swallows or get swallowed by would suffer the same fate. Meaning he's a ticking time bomb regardless of what we do.]

[Well...shit.]

As Arbalest continued to come to terms over possibly feeling anything other than sadism, the Doll Twins decided to ask the other kaijin something that had popped into their heads while watching the poor porcupine cry his eyes out.

[Screamira. Springerdermain. You two were originally proto-kaijin that had developed emotions, right?] Porcelain Doll asked. [Is it usually this...weepy?]

[Well, I can't comment on that, because I developed emotions of pure rage after seeing the War Elder of the Fallen boast his stolen limb,] Screamira answered. [What about you, Springer?]

[Well...I didn't fully develop emotions until a little after I had my arms ripped off and forced myself to power through the pain,] Springerdermain answered nonchalantly. [But I think we're the exception rather than the norm when it comes to proto-kaijin development. At least, when compared to the historical records.]

[What about Razorstella?] Corpse Doll asked.

[She took form after being sealed in a zone of unnatural darkness next to a child while a good chunk of the first generation was freaking the fuck out.]

[Are...are you sure it isn't mandatory for us to be emotionally traumatized before fully becoming kaijin?]

[Eh...]

This was technically a question for their creator, but he was busy.

Especially with the upcoming assault in a week or so...

...

Day: 75- Top side.

'What the absolute, lovecraftian, fuck?'

About a week ago, Dante and his kaijin had finally managed to capture one of the mutant zakos.

At that moment, Zhen Liu was fairly certain that his ass was gonna be grass.

Dante's canine kaijin would've noticed that these zakos would smell like Zhen Liu, then Dante would order his kaijin to attack him, forcing Zhen Liu to flee like the devil was after him, but not before he jamming his hammer deep into Dante's skull.

However, that's didn't happen.

Instead, the canine kaijin ended up tracking the scent of the zako to this weird ass tar pit place, that had the zakos crawl out of the pools like monsters rising from the primordial underworld.

From a cliff side overlooking these tar pits, Dante and Zhen Liu were deciding the next course of action.

Well, the former was anyways.

Zhen Liu was too busy mentally freaking the fuck out.

'This...okay, new rule, don't leave unattended zakos in cursed environments. Otherwise, this happens!'

On the hand, Zhen Liu was incredibly impressed by how the cursed land took his zakos and made them into their own soldiers.

On the other, he was deeply disturbed due to his faint connection to them.

Through this bond, he could hear nothing but distant screaming and feel nothing but dull pain.

Not that Dante cared about Zhen Liu's discomfort.

Instead, he looked positively ecstatic.

Curator...you once said before that the ability to create zakos, soldiers from the most mundane materials, was one of the cornerstone abilities of the Kaijin Lord. Did you not?

[I did say that, yes,] Zhen Liu answered, knowing full well what was about to follow.

From what I can see, this is a golden opportunity for me to learn how to do this before finding the other lord. It's a pity that he escaped, but fate appears to have left us a window.

[What do you mean?]

Before answering this question, Dante turned towards Zhen Liu in order to stare him directly in the eyes.

This land once bestowed upon me the opportunity to create kaijin through the refinement of [Malevolent Gold]. And now, this land has given me a chance to tap into the power of this primordial ooze...how appropriate.

[Appropriate?]

The kaijin are supposed to be my elites, warriors with the bodies of dangerous beasts and cores of precious metals. They were strong, but unsustainable. These zakos, though, are...cheap. Monumentally so, and fills an important gap in my forces that I failed to notice until just now.

After making this statement, Dante turned back to the pits.

With this power, I can finally march out of these mines with a grand army and conquer the world. What a wondrous gift.

[You realize you won't be able to call yourself the true Kaijin Lord without defeating the current one, right?]

I know. But I'll need an army to do that.