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

Despite having a blade firmly jammed into his stomach, Obara wasn't quite dead yet; but it wasn't by choice.

Lythero was, for reasons he was going to explain soon, channeling aether through his blade in such a way that Obara's blood still flowed without spilling or pouring out into his internal cavity.

"W-why...?" Obara managed to ask despite wanting to pass out from the sheer amount of pain of all of his nerves and organs rubbing against a jagged piece of metal in his stomach.

Evidently, Obara wasn't going to like the answer he was about to be given.

"Maybe it's because I want you to suffer before I finally take your life," Lythero answered with a strange amount of ease. "Maybe it's because I want to give myself an opportunity to change my mind at the last minute. Give you a chance to live on in shame and find a chance to redeem yourself in the eyes of the world."

"What the fuck-GAH!"

Before Obara could finish cursing, Lythero twisted the blade in his gut even further.

"Or maybe, just maybe," Lythero continued as if Obara hadn't started screaming in the first place. "I am doing so because I wanted to ask something."

"Ask...something?" Obara asked through gritted teeth.

"You have all this power, and you are from one of the most prestigious houses in all of the empire," Lythero began to answer. "And I'm just going to assume that you have fought a lot of people during your life, and I'm going to assume that you have forced your will upon others, right?"

"What...are you..."

"How often have you heard someone plead to you for mercy?" Lythero interrupted.

"...what?"

"It's no secret that the House of the Golden Sabertooth has its claws in all manner of businesses and factions across this isthmus and beyond," Lythero answered. "And I know someone as powerful as you, born into a position of privilege that many would kill to have, has probably trampled on a lot of people on your way up to this point. Whether or not they deserved such treatment though is up for debate."

After making this statement, Lythero leaned in closer to to Obara's face.

"So I have to ask, how often have you heard someone beg you for mercy? And how often have you actually granted it?"

Once these questions left Lythero's mouth, Obara realized what was going on.

"You...fucker."

Needless to say, he wasn't pleased at the implications.

"Are you wondering if I will cower in the face of death? Are you wondering if I am truly a coward at heart?" Obara asked with barely contained rage. "I will not give you the pleasure of making me beg you for mercy, I will not let you have the satisfaction of believing that you are the better man than me. So go ahead, kill me. Send me to hell so that I may see those I wronged in life and laugh in their faces once more."

Silence filled the air as Lythero stood as still as a statue, his sword still firmly in Obara's gut, while Obara's rage continued to boil.

"Hmmm," Lythero eventually hummed. "You know...I would have actually spared you if you had asked for mercy at this moment."

"...what?"

[Spiralling Thrust.]

Without giving Obara any more of an answer, Lythero shoved his blade forward while channeling his aether around it so that it was surrounded by a tornado of energy.

As it dug deeper into Obara's stomach, the energy eventually exploded and sent the man flying into a dozen pieces.

Among the flying pieces of viscera and blood, a look of horror and shock could be seen on Obara's face.

[Winner: Lythero,] the blue giant announced as soon as the battle was over.

As for Lythero, he simply kept quiet as he walked back to the case that carried his swords and placed back the ones he had used for this fight.

While he was doing so, his friends, Antonio and Olstenna were free to go and check on the status of this strangely mute friend.

"Hey, Lythero are you okay?" Antonio asked.

"I...I don't know," he answered honestly. "But I get the feeling this isn't over yet."

__Meanwhile, at a certain hidden chamber__

Bang!

Bang!

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

After that initial surprise attack to the back of her dome, Kidanna engaged with her blue mirror clone in earnest.

Both sides had whipped out their club-like [Astra] and began to exchange blows like master duelists.

However, something suddenly changed about half way through their bout.

The blue mirror version of Kidanna had suddenly hitched in her movements, giving the original a chance to bring this battle to an end.

"You're finished!"

Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth and always one to take an opportunity when it presented itself, Kidanna swung her club downwards and smashed her blue mirror clone into a million pieces.

A heavy sigh of relief escaped Kidanna's lips at this time, but she soon realized that this sigh was a little premature.

"What the fuck?"

Because, immediately after she had sighed, she noticed that the mirror the war-like version of herself had popped out of had started glowing...and displaying the spectral form of a young man she had never met before.

Or so she thought.

"Wait, no...that's the guy Lythero was fighting earlier!" Kidanna realized in alarm.

When she had seen the spirit form of the Mirror Beast she had slain floating in the white mirror from before, she had a sneaking suspicion that there was more to it than meets the eye.

Now that she had seen the soul of this warrior floating in the blue mirror, her suspicions had been confirmed.

"Then what about...oh shit."

In the other two mirrors, Kidanna could make out the floating spirits of even more people locked within them.

On the positive side, none of these tragic souls consisted of her friends or allies.

"Wait...all the mirrors are filled yet nothing's happening..."Kidanna observed as her eyes flitted between the four mirrors and the throne in the center that had a comatose young man sitting upon it still.

"Wait, did I foil whatever ritual was happening here by not beating my clones? Fuck yeah!"

At this moment, Kidanna figured that making her exit would be a good idea, after grabbing the young man but stopped herself short from doing the latter.

"Wait a minute..."

Her instincts were screaming at her that the aether flowing at this moment was focused on this throne and it's current occupant.

This, in turn, gave her the distinct feeling that attempting to move this man was going to lead to dire consequences.

"Caution is the better part of valor...and I need someone smarter than me," Kidanna determined."I got to get out of here, right now and meet up with—"

Click

"Of fucking course you're here."

Just as Kidanna was about to leave the hidden chamber, she found herself walking backwards as a group of Silver-Tongue warriors kept their weapons drawn against her.

She would've charged the bastards and mow them down, but she could sense their leaders weren't exactly someone she wanted to fuck with.

More specifically, she could sense that Alfonzo was present and that he was accompanied by some really nasty allies.

One that she could sense was an Aether King...maybe even stronger.

"Kidanna, I must thank you," Alfonzo said in his signature, slimy voice. "You and your friends took care of the dangers, and left the rewards for us to claim. A truly generous boss, just like your father."

"First off, fuck you, don't you dare bring up my father, you backstabbing reptile," Kidanna growled despite being outnumbered. "Also are you blind or stupid? Those mirrors back there are filled with the souls of your guys. None of mine."

"Perhaps," Alfonzo shrugged. "But that just means the rest of gets a bigger share of the spoils."

At his statement, the other warriors accompanying Alfonzo began to laugh and snicker in a greedy manner.

"Guess you never changed," Kidanna whispered, annoyed by the ruthlessness. "So now what? You're going to kill me or use me as a hostage?"

"Oh, that isn't up to me to decide," Alfonzo said in mock shock. "That is up to my benefactor."

"Benefactor?"

The Silver-Tongues parted at this point in time and began to flank the ball in a way that better disciplined warriors would in the presence of their master.

Shortly after, an imposing aura began to press down on Kidanna like a ton of golden bricks.

"So this is the current leader of the Golden Gorilla Union?," a rich voice asked from the top of the stairs, sounding louder and louder as it was accompanied by heavy steps. "I would say I'm impressed, but Kongara was significantly more memorable."

Eventually, Kidanna found herself staring face to face with one of the most infamous warriors in the region, Duke Diamoro.

"Then again, common stones can only be polished so much."