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

"Holy—wait, what?"

When Zhen Liu got tackled to the ground by a tiny flying serpent ghost, Antonio and Kidanna both began to make moves in order to assist Zhen Liu. However, they stopped themselves when they realized everyone else in the room hadn't made any moves to stop whatever the hell this attack was exactly.

If anything, they seemed sort of amused.

"Uh...shouldn't we be trying to help him?" Antonio asked Zhen Liu's fiancees.

"I mean I get that Zhen Liu is like an steel tortoise shell, but..."

"I get what you mean," Alicia assured Antonio. "But we're actually using the Kaijin as indicators for whether or not Xiao Liu needs help. Notice how he's fully kitted and yet none of them reacted?"

"Yeah...oh."

"Besides, those three don't exactly look or feel like they're having any true ill intentions towards Xiao Liu either" Bellona added in.

"Uh..."

It should be noted that this observation of Bellona's felt rather weak, given that Zhen Liu was currently being assaulted by a tiny flying snake while the tiny blue warrior and the tiny flayed man simply watched...for a couple of seconds before finally moving and talking as well.

[Quetz, please get off of the Chaos Shaper before you further embarrass us,] the tiny spiritual being with flayed skin called out from the table as he walked to edge and took a seat, dangling flayed legs over the side.[Also you know exactly why they smell like your ex.]

[If that was true, Xipe, then why can't I sense them through him?!] Quetzalcoatl yelled while pushing their ethereal head against Zhen Liu's forehead. [Did you do something to them and their twin, Pasión?!]

[You can't sense him because he's injured,] the blue warrior added in after joining Xipe at the table's edge. [Can't you feel the taint of spatial injuries on his body? Kind of hard to miss.]

[Eh?]

"I wouldn't say injure, but..."

Prompted by the blue warrior's question, Quetzalcoatl proceeded to sniff and slither around Zhen Liu's body in a rather unbefitting of a god, even the fragment of one.

"How are you not freaking out over being slithered over by a spectral snake thing?" Kidanna asked while visibly shivering from discomfort, a sharp contrast from her usual demeanor.

At this point in time, the sheer activity in the room had managed to rouse Lythero from his funk, so he was able to provide some comfort to his much taller lover.

Of course, all eyes were currently on Zhen Liu and the fact that he was being investigated by a tiny flying snake.

Eventually, Quetzalcoatl stopped flitting about and started floating at Zhen Liu's eye level.

[How the fuck did you end up getting caught up in not just one, but two different interdimensional explosions? I mean, I get that most Kaijin Lords have weird luck but you are something else entirely,] Quetzalcoatl commented before flying back to rejoin his companions.

Zhen Liu partially expected the tiny snake to take on a human form to match his companions, but the little guy decided to simply coil himself against the wooden surface.

Once they were all settled, Zhen Liu took the chance to get back on his feet, get a chair and then seat himself so that he could face these new figures face-to-face.

A part of him felt like he was talking to his kaijin when they were in figure mode, but he knew that these guys were probably a lot more volatile and independent.

Which was saying something given how strangely bloodthirsty the Kaijin could get in any given day.

Regardless, Zhen Liu already had an idea who these three were but everybody else in the room didn't.

'Plus, I don't have proper access to the library right now, so it looks like I'm gonna need to have them introduce themselves. Shouldn't be too hard.'

"Pfft!"

"Huh? What's up Bellona?" Alicia asked as she noticed Bellona was stifling a laugh.

"Nothing, just... remembered something funny," Bellona dismissed with a wave of her hand. "So, Xiao Liu, who are these adorable little devils? They seem a bit like Smoking Mirror but...nicer?"

"Oh, that's actually a very good—"

[Well, I should hope to be nicer than that bastard, the black Tezcatlipoca!] Quetzalcoatl spat with figurative venom in his words. [Lazy bastard couldn't even come up with a name and just dropped the black from his fucking title...]

"Okay, I think I just missed something but I heard the name, 'Tezcaltipoca'," Antonio interjected. "I don't understand [Chaos] all too well, so..."

^Is this better?^ the short blue warrior asked for his group in perfect Scorch Talk.

^Y-yes, actually,^ Antonio instinctually replied. ^Although, I can't pin the accent.^

^Its Nahuatl^*3.

^Na-what?^

^Anyways,^ Zhen Liu interjected to get things back on track, ^would you three mins introducing yourselves? Because if Tezcatlipoca isn't your name, but a title...^

^Fair enough,^ the feathered serpent answered before flying into the air.

^I am known as the White Tezcatlipoca of the West. My name is Plumed Serpent, or Quetzalcoatl!^ Quetzalcoatl declared while expanding his wings. ^I am known as the God of Wind, Light, Mercy and Knowledge.^

After making his titles known, Quetzalcoatl landed back on the table and started preening.

^To name a few things. I may be a fragment, but I'm still dangerous.^

Quetzalcoatl kept this haughty demeanor for a bit until his eyes settled on Zhen Tai. At which point, he got off the table and flew over to the young scion.

^Hmmm. You seem to be on a wavelength with yours truly...once this introduction is over I will be bothering you later. I get the feeling that you might benefit the most from my tutelage.^

^Uh...thanks?^

^Huh. Snakes attract snakes,^ Zhen Xing joked with a fox-like smile.

^If you're done preening, it's my turn to introduce myself,^ the flayed figure on the table said with a surprisingly deep and hoarse voice that grabbed everyone's attention.

^I am the Red Tezcatlipoca, Lord of the East, Xipe Totec, the Flayed One,^ Xipe Totec introduced himself with a bow. ^I am the fragment of a god of disease, agriculture, rebirth. I suffer so that others may live.^

^Oh, who's the preening and acting all big now?^ Quetzalcoatl mocked.

Like the Plumed Serpent, the Flayed One directed a gaze towards a person in the room, this time towards Harriet.

^You were the first to figure out that my garden was home to more than just flowers. You must have a very insightful teacher. It's not often healers are shown the worst that mortals can suffer from.^

^Ah, vell...I was often told that terrible music must exist in order for good music to be noticed,^ Harriet managed to respond in accented Scorch Talk. ^Can't appreciate health without being sick, ya know?^

^Agreed.^

The last of the trio to introduce themselves was the blue warrior and he didn't even do anything before he directed his attention towards Lythero, Olstenna and Antonio.

More specifically, he was directing an aura of war and heat in their direction.

In that exact moment, Antonio involuntarily twitched in the presence of the aura, while Olstenna and Lythero looked surprisingly calm.

If anything, they seemed to revel in the sensation.

^Good to see that you still have a spine despite the losses,^ the warrior said while directing his gaze towards Lythero. ^Sometimes carrying a legacy learning from the loss of them. What are you going to learn from this? The pain of failure? Or a lesson of being able to try again?^

^That...^

^Tell me your answer when you're ready,^the blue warrior said before addressing the room.

^I am Huitzilopochtli, the blue Tezcatlipoca, the Hummingbird of the South. I am the god of war and of sun. Although the trio over there knows me as the Blue Mirror mirror of War.^

[We three may be mere fragments, but we thank you, Chaos Shaper, for giving us form,] the three Tezcatlipocas thanked Zhen Liu in [Chaos] Speech laced with a small hint of what he could only assume was divine power. [But why have you summoned us?]

Without missing a beat, and in a voice that was empowered with [Chaos] for some reason, Zhen Liu answered the trio.

[Smoking Mirror, Tezcatlipoca, has wronged my kin and I. I want to track him down and correct this wrong.]

As soon as he finished this request, all three of the little fragments began releasing an absurd amount of bloodthirst, to the point that shadows of their much larger selves began to form.

"Whoa!"

"What the fuck?!"

"What did you say?!"

Thankfully though, their answers music to Zhen Liu's ears.

[Oh? Is that all?] Huitzilopochtli asked with a bloodthirsty smile.

[Smoking Mirror broke the rules of the game. We'd be more than happy to track them down,] Xipe Totec nodded. [Should be easy with how he is.]

[Better yet, tell ya what, we can help bring them down. We just need a little...assistance,] Quetzalcoatl snarled.

[Let me guess...you need bodies?]

[Better than whatever Smoking Mirror got.]*3

[...Fine.]