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

Meanwhile, at the Library of Nowhere...

<Sweet Mother of [Chaos], I didn't think it was even possible for someone to get this mad.>

=So sayeth the embodiment of emotional responses...=

As Zhen Liu and his kaijin infiltrated the [Mines of Malevolence], Logos and Pathos had been keeping an increasingly closer and closer eye on their lord's emotional state despite their limited connectivity.

As they did, they couldn't help but to worry as it became more and more obvious that he was reaching some kind of emotional breaking point.

At least, that's what they assumed as they saw that Zhen Liu's feed was becoming distinctly redder and redder by the second.

The amount of rage coursing through Zhen Liu's body at this moment was actually so intense, that Logos and Pathos could actually feel it radiating from their display. In other words, his rage was empowering their weakened connection by several magnitudes.

<Unironically, I think his rage might actually just fix our connection issue without him even needing to come back to the Library. I mean, it might irreversibly change him as a person, though.>

=Hmmm.=

At the sight of this fucked up feed, Logos began to rapidly review archived events from both the perspective of the kaijin and of Zhen Liu.

Only a few seconds had passed before Logos had finished all of his calculations and made a realization.

=Dante is a having a feedback loop effect on our lord.=

<Pardon?>

=You know how whenever our lord uses [Chaos] as an aura, he causes the people around him to act significantly more casual and instinctual?=

<Yeah...>

=Well, Dante's [Chaos] aura appears to force people to develop lower and lower tolerances about the negative things around them. He literally turns distaste into disgust, disgust into rage, rage into hate.=

<Okay, I don't like where I think this is going but I think I get the picture.>

=The longer our lord hangs around Dante, the angrier he's going to get. At the same time, the longer Dante hangs around our lord, the more casual he's going to get. I'm pretty sure this is going to lead to some breaking point where they'll try to kill each other. Which might be the overall goal, but the consequences of reaching that point will be dire.=

<As in, we may lose our lord in ways we can barely comprehend?>

=Despite our vast knowledge, yes.=

<Oh...>

As this unsettling realization nestled into their minds, an event occurred out of the corner of their shared eyes that flipped their expectations once again. However, Pathos was the only to register that this event had occurred.

<Uh...shot in the dark here, but is there a way to end this feedback loop?>

=Well...[Chaos] is emotionally reactive, so something that would shock either Dante or Zhen Liu to their emotional centers would be enough to probably do something.=

<Welp, I think that just happened and then some because the red filter just disappeared completely.>

=Wait, what?=

...What happened?...

^Apologies for the heat. But I need to keep it at this temperature in order to properly smelt all of the ore. You know how it is.^

[Of course.]

Zhen Liu had seen the refinery through the eyes of a zako before, but seeing it in person was several magnitudes more terrible than what he had anticipated.

To say nothing about the heat, literal waves of unfiltered [Disgust], [Rage], [Hate] and every other negative emotions under the sun washed over Zhen Liu in an unrelenting manner, and mixed with the innately cursed aether that came from the metal ores in the room.

A part of Zhen Liu couldn't help but imagine this flame to be none other than the very center of the [Hellfire Mountainrange].

In response to this evil energy, Zhen Liu couldn't help but to coat his body in [Chaos] to try and stave off the horrible feeling attempting to dig into his skin and gnaw at his bones.

Dante, on the other hand, looked oddly at peace with these wretched energies. If anything, he seemed to thrive in the presence of this evil aura.

^Ah...that's much better,^ Dante sighed and began to visibly relax.^This sensation, is why I don't mind taking my sweet time in coming here. Feels like all my worries just...melt away.^

Zhen Liu kept his commentary to himself at this statement, as the thought of wanting to throw this man into the fire headfirst popped into his head.

[Is this the inheritance you're talking about?] Zhen Liu asked while keeping up his curator persona. [Because I can tell you now that no prior Kaijin Lord has ever made you use of such a method to create kaijin.]

^Well, good to know that I'm breaking new ground,^ Dante laughed. ^But if you're talking about the [Blaze of Malevolence], I know that isn't the inheritance that you're referring to. After all, I made the damn thing when I tried to destroy it out of sheer emotional turmoil.^

Zhen Liu should've been more or less numb at these statements coming from Dante's mouth, but the man had been finding more and more ways to piss him off.

Honestly, Zhen Liu should've just snapped at this point and jam his [Hammer of the Dearly Departed] directly into Dante's skull at this point.

In fact, this thought kept getting louder and louder in Zhen Liu's head the longer that Dante kept talking.

However, what Dante was about to reveal to him was going to blow that thought straight out of his head.

^Now, this flame has been burning for centuries at this point and I don't think it'll ever go out at this point...nor do I intend to have that happen,^ Dante stated as he walked up to the burning pyre in the center of the room. ^Every now and then, I make sure to remove the flame from the kindling so that the latter may restore itself. After all, I can't have my main source of power burn itself out.^

After making this statement, Dante reached out a hand out and began channeling the energy of the blaze towards his outstretched limb.

^Although, with you here, I may not need to hold on to this hunk of junk anymore.^

The flames that gave the smelter room suddenly began to flow towards Dante's hand, condensing into a ball of flame that he then absorbed into himself.

As the last of the flames were absorbed, the true form of the "kindling" was revealed to Zhen Liu's eyes.

^Well, am I right? Is this strange looking sculpture the inheritance of the Star Caller or not?^Dante asked with a proud expression, noticing the shocked look on Zhen Liu's face.

[No...way...]

Dante was objectively wrong when he called the source of his kaijin a mere "sculpture".

However, about 95% of the population of Valresta would only be able to describe it as such too, due to their unfamiliarity with machinery.

4.89 percent of the populace would be able to tell that what Dante was presenting to Zhen Liu was actually a machine of some kind, but with a function that none of them could figure out.

That remaining 0.11 percent of the world, though, the percentage of Valresta's population that consisted of Otherlanders that came from a certain blue planet would be able to tell that this machine was actually...a space probe.

[Can...can it really be?] Zhen Liu asked aloud while walking closer to the machine.

Zhen Liu never really said it, but he missed his old world.

Not in a way that encouraged him to try and go back no matter the cost, but just enough to occasionally think about it in the same way working people occasionally miss going to school.

As such, moments when he found hints about how his old home was connected to his new life were...oddly comforting.

The [Vault of Hel] reminded him of the old stories he grew up.

The old psychic of another world's war was alien yet familiar.

The diner that opened in Stone Claw reminded him of flavors of home that he never really appreciated until coming here.

And when he saw that apartment building that had been converted into the tribal ground for the Strangebloods several centuries ago, he was oddly happy seeing.

This time though, staring at this space probe, Zhen Liu couldn't help but feel...joyful.

All that disgust, all that hate, all of that malevolence seemed to fade away like soap bubbles the longer he stared at this piece of machinery.

Taking it's place, he was being filled with things like [Hope], [Wonder] and [Freedom].

Then again, any person from Zhen Liu's world would be filled with these feelings if they stared at this machine.

After all, the Voyager probe was once referred to as "Humanity's Last Hero".

'Is this the Voyager-1 or Voyager-2 probe?' Zhen Liu asked himself as he began to delicately touch the machine before him. 'Wait, how do I even know if it's the Voyager probe that I know?'