Chains Of Pride

"Tremor!"

When those words left Zutto Shu, Gaia's Temper revealed something akin to a bar of light. The light began to dim one level at a time as it fed the bolts that were buried in the earth.

Yang Min was watching this very closely, the second before the last light bar dimmed, she sent the command to the 3 Taliums who had already prepared beforehand.

It's worth to note that at this time, Gin was completely healed. Lerner had already built his body up to full condition, the only indication that he was harmed, would be the vague phantom pain that was near non-existent.

Knowing how Zutto Shu's construct worked, Gin, Lerner and Xiao Yu, after receiving the message from Yang Min, immediately went to work.

They had already spread their perception in the area where their comrades were and encased them in an energy shield. As soon as this happened, the shieldings lifted the Taliums it encircled.

In no time after all this happened and the last light bar on Zutto Shu's Gaia's Temper dimmed. The rods that were injected into the ground began to tremble as a white glow began to envelop them.

It wasn't long before electricals arcs began to jump between them and the sheer number of it caused them to show above ground.

Before any of the enemy Taliums and their commanders could react, a massive energy shockwave spread out. A prodigious quake could now be felt that caused Taliums and commanders alike to lose their footing.

The landscape on an indiscernible scale around them was being devastated by the energy being released by Gaia's Temper.

Things were even being brought to a new level of complexity when Zutto Shu fed more in'essence into his construct. This caused ripples of energy to be released from the rods outwards.

Seeing the land being further ravaged by Zutto Shu, Gin focused his mental energy to communicate with the man executing Gaia's Temper in earnest, "Zuttu Shu!! It's done, ease up!"

But alas, Zutto Shu didn't respond, the smile he wore had long morphed into a malicious grin.

All four Invatas evinced a look of dejection as if they couldn't believe this was happening. Even Nehone who was currently being protected by the shield conjured by his comrades, looked at the somewhat mad Zutto Shu as he asked himself in silence, "C'mon, again?"

Obviously, this was not the first time this had happened. The first time Zutto Shu released his construct under Rikona's order so she could see its capabilities, he lost himself in the p.l.e.a.s.u.r.e of his release.

He wasn't in danger of losing himself to the fall, he simply went a bit out of control, whenever he's advised to go all out.

While the four Invata's hands were tied on how to handle Gin, a sonic boom could be heard some distance away.

All the Taliums cheered in joy when they saw that Rikona had appeared above them once again. She was long aware of the massive quake that took place and knew that Zutto Shu had taken action.

"Zutto Shu, yield!!"

Rikona's pressure and aura came out and bombarded Zutto Shu. Not enough to severely injure him, but enough to shock him out his violent reverie.

The pressure slowed down the circulation of in'essence within his body. This, in turn, lessened the power being fed to his construct. Zutto Shu finally came back to himself with an expression of shock that he was unable to control himself once more.

Rikona to stop him the first time he used his powers as well, and thus profusely apologized with his forehead to the ground when he realised the implications of his actions.

Zutto Shu quickly deconstructed sending off Gaia's Temper in a flurry of fireflies dispersing in all directions.

"Lady Rikona, I…"

"Save it, we'll settle this later," Rikona's face was one of utmost disp.l.e.a.s.u.r.e.

Upon seeing this, Zutto Shu felt defeated and inwardly chided himself for his lack of self-control.

However, in truth, Rikona wasn't angry with Zutto Shu anymore than she was with herself, During her chase after the hover ship, she allowed obesity's lovechild and his band of merry men to get away.

The minute she caught up, the inside of it was empty. She looked all around her only to find that sensing for them among the sea of Taliums was going to be near impossible.

"That one with the twin guns, I'll skin him alive if I ever see him again," Rikona thought to herself when she remembered the earlier scene.

"Uhm, Lady Rikona, thanks for taking charge of the situation there, what's the plan from here?"

Rikona's looked over her shoulder to see who spoke, "Oh Gin, I'm glad you're back on your feet, how are you feeling?"

Gin put his hand on his c.h.e.s.t before he replied, "Ah like I never want to be shot with whatever it is I got shot with."

"You were shot with bullets infused with Divinus Plasma, something very powerful, very rare and quite dangerous. I can't believe they were able to get their hands on so much of it, and even more so to use something so incredible for weaponry, their literal humanity disgusts me."

Rikona took in the area around them, Zutto Shu's construct did a number on this place, practically rearranged the landscape. The land was rent asunder in some places, others were striped with bottomless chasms.

"Oh no! Uhm Lady Rikona, we got trouble! It doesn't look like we were able to knock out every single Talium!!" Xiao Yu's concerned voice floated over to Rikona's ears.

Looking around them, it could indeed be seen where some Taliums from the outer ring of Zutto Shu's attack were getting up.

It should be noted that there are two stages in Zutto Shu's attack, tremor. The 1st stage triggered a 9.8 magnitude earthquake-like phenomenon that was focused on an isolated area.

The 2nd stage consisted of energy shockwaves rippling out one behind the other, both above and below the surface. This was truly a perfect rendition of Gaia's Temper.

The ones who were just barely on their feet were all half-awakened Taliums, or as according to the association, high Taliums. Even the energy ripples of an Invata would weaken the further out it spread.

"It looks like there's a lot of them left too," Gin stated.

"It's fine, leave this to me, I need to end this in any way," Rikona stated.

"There you are you bastard!" Xiao Yu shouted.

Bang!!

Before the sound even rang out, Xiao Yu jumped in front of Rikona and brought out her construct, defending Rikona. Of course, Rikona didn't even afford the shot that was fired a second glance.

"Hearken my call, Cube of Chaos!! Reconstruct!!"

In front of Xiao Yu floated something like a Rubix cube. However, there were no differing colours on the squares, instead, it's like each square held a storm of galaxies.

Suddenly, the cube began to shuffle at an extremely rapid speed, it soon became nought a blur. If one were to stare at it for too long, they would feel as if the cube was absorbing their consciousness. Obviously, the chaos cube was a profound existence.

The bullet that was fired crashed into what appeared to be an invisible shield. It soon began to break down at a molecular level, and its genetic make-up was undergoing a change before it broke apart into water droplets.

"What the hell ju-"

"So this is where you were. I still owe you for that wound earlier, tch! You're not even worth my construct," Gin instantly arrived behind the sniper who made the shot at Rikona, and apparently who made the shot at him.

Yang Min looked to where Gin made his way to, "Damn it Gin look out!"

Boom!!!

Gin's pressure spread out and pressed upon the bodies of all those who were in the immediate vicinity.

Unexpectedly, this caught 3 out of the 4 Divinus Plasma users including obesity's lovechild, Glover, their leader.

"D-Damn it!! How are we supposed to fight against this, our intel never said anything about this!!" Glover and most of his team were already sprawled onto the ground. Their spots of hiding revealed through their groans of pain.

"Don't worry little Min I already had it under contr-"

Clang!!

Some distance away, Yang Min just disarmed the dual gun wielder as she held her construct to the neck of Inu who had already lined up his shot at Gin.

"I wasn't referring to them, you idiot! I knew that Makoto was rubbing off on you way too mu-"

"Take Time!"

Boom!!! Vwoosh!!

Unbeknownst to everyone, Rikona's construct, Perennial's Mechanism had drifted to the centre of the battlefield.

Its bronze glow had encapsulated the entirety of the area the Taliums had all occupied, and under Rikona's meticulous control managed to freeze all the half-awakened Taliums from the Association.

Lerner and Nehone who saw everything that happened couldn't help but say inwardly to themselves, "I-Is it over?! Wait, isn't this too anticlimactic?!"

"Guys, do me a favour and kill every single commander out there. Then when we're done, we're killing every single asshole in that tall tower over yonder. I've had it with these monkey fighting Taliums on these Monday to Friday battle zone!"

"Hold on, did she ju-"

"Don't question the woman! Just get to work!" Gin interrupted Xiao Yu who was about to comment on Rikona's…reference.

Fremon who had been in his fair share of battles couldn't help but stare in awe of Rikona' prowess.

"Oi! Pick up your jaw and get to work, we need to get to work ourselves," Numani said with an exasperated sigh after seeing Fremon's expression.

"Hehe sorry," He ran off with her and the other taliums to carry out their tasks.

"Oh my, this is quite the mess we have here."

A smooth, sauce voice drifted over the entire field. It wasn't loud but it was easily heard by everyone there.

Quite some distance away from the epicentre of all the excitement stood a stately man with black hair with silver streaks at the side. His deep eyes took in all that happened. Surrounding him were 4 men, they all took the cardinal position with him as the centre.

Rikona looked over in his direction, and with her eyes half-closed devoid of any interest in the man, she asked, "Who the hell are you, and what the heck do you wa…W-What is that you have behind you?!"

Hearing the change in Rikona's voice, all the other Taliums stopped what they were doing and looked over to the man who spoke earlier. The shock that was revealed on their faces couldn't be faked.

…

"Finally!" The Director showed an expression of joy as he stared at the new arrival.

"S-Sir, who is that?" Venko asked, a bit confused.

"That...is something that you will soon come to know, don't worry." The Director stated with an air of confidence.

Venko was about to ask more when something caught his eye, "O-Okay, but he...Wait, one of his men has something, is that a capsule?"

The Director caught sight of what Venko was referring to, "Have the drone zoom in on what that guard is holding a bit."

The scene on the screen blurred for a moment before it stabilised. "Ngh!" Not just the Director, but all the occupants in the room evinced shock at what they saw.

"How did he?! No…" The Director stopped himself after thinking about it. "If it's him, he could do it, no doubt about it, that is the younger sister who's been absent this entire battle!"