Chapter 642: Emperor Vs Chariot [Pt 1]

>VWOOOOOOOSSSSSHHHH<

Navigating through the metallic recesses of the huge base, Kuzon swiftly flew with Ana safely in his arms.

The girl held onto him tightly, which made him smile in a somewhat satisfied sense of enjoyment... though her glare on him made it difficult for the pleasure to be complete.

Thankfully, his eyes weren't focused on her, but rather on the object he so diligently trailed—the shard that was attracted to the very core of the base— which was made by none other than Ana herself.

Kuzon did his best to keep up with the shard while also controlling his speed so he wouldn't overtake it—thus keeping the golden flashes of lightning at minimal level.

"How much further... ow?!" Kuzon asked silently, receiving a stinging pinch behind him from Ana's little hands.

Just how much could she achieve with those seemingly delicate fingers?

'A world of hurt... that's for sure.' Kuzon smiled internally as he decided to do his best not to get on her bad side.

~Focus on the mission, lover boy.~ Xenia chastised him, to which he maintained a respectful silence.

>BOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMM<

Traps appeared here and there, but Kuzon decided not to delay in his quest to complete his mission as swiftly as possible.

Using his immense speed and Bond Magic, he coated his immediate surroundings with golden lightning and blue flames. This destroyed everything in his path.

The machines didn't stand a chance and we're instantly obliterated as he made his way to the heart of the base.

And he did!

*

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*

"W-what is this...?" Ana was the first to speak, disembarking from Kuzon's arms as her blue eyes curiously stared around her.

This space was far different from the corridors and paths they had been traversing. Sure, those were huge, but this massive hall was something else.

It was massive!

The bright lights emanating from the ceiling and walls gave it a sublime feel, and the platform they stood on also had neon glows.

The large opening that had been used to enter this place had been violently shut behind them, leaving them trapped in this massive space.

The shard had led them here, and it remained suspended in the air afterwards.

Such a large space, which was densely crawling with energy, hardly felt like it was buried underneath a mountain.

However... that was the least of the things that warranted a observation.

"This is quite a surprise." Even Kuzon fell into awe.

In this massive room, at least a hundred human-sized tubes were present. They had numerous wires connected to them from the walls, ceiling, and floor—they glowed white, blue, red, gold, and other colors and had particular fluids which were added to the casings... or at least what was within.

Within the tube was a transparent fluid—similar to water, but not quite. The differently colored wires all dumped their contents into the liquid within the tube, and everything turned clear.

Clear enough that the spectators could witness what was inside each tube. The beings that remained suspended within the casings of water-like substances.

"They all look the same. They look like—"

"The Fairy King himself." Kuzon interrupted Ana and gave a slight frown.

He had expected to see something unexpected, but certainly not this. It almost felt... familiar.

'No. This isn't quite the same.'

"What are all these for? Not just two or three. There are like a hundred here..." Ana was extremely shocked, to say the least.

Hundreds of seemingly living beings that shared the same physique as the one who they were searching for.

"It's so..."

~AMAZING, WOULDN'T YOU SAY?~

A loud sound buzzed from all over the room. It contained pride and charisma—two core impressions that the Fairy King gave.

The question echoed across the vast room—seemingly coming from everywhere—yet they couldn't pinpoint their foe's location.

"... I was going to say absurd. What do you think you're doing, Fairy King?" Kuzon's tone, while calm, seemed to hint at a bit of impatience.

~WHAT AM I DOING? WHAT DO YOU THINK? I'M MAKING MORE OF MYSELF!~

Kuzon's eyes narrowed as he stared at the sleeping beings in their pods. Just as he'd suspected, they weren't merely Automatons or Golems.

No, they were something more!

"Clones. You're making clones of yourself, aren't you?" Ana beat Kuzon to the answer by raising a question for the invisible owner of the voice to answer.

Her eyes seemed to glitter with surprise, but not amazement. Kuzon had to assume she had seen something like this—or perhaps experienced it before.

Why else would she be able to appear so calm?

'This doesn't match the kind of shocked reaction Ana would give...' Kuzon's thoughts trailed as he tried his hardest to stay on guard.

'The question is where she has seen something like this before. She couldn't have—'

Before Kuzon could dig deeper into his thoughts, he felt a strong surge of energy.

It caused the entire room to reverberate, and the pods—or rather, the liquid within them—suddenly started glowing.

>SHIIIIIIINNNNNNGGGG<

~IT'S A SHAME THAT I WON'T BE ABLE TO USE EVERY ARSENAL AT MY DISPOSAL. IT'S ALSO A WASTE TO USE THESE ONES. HOWEVER... AS LONG AS THIS INVESTMENT ENDS WITH YOU BEING DEAD, THEN IT'LL BE WORTH IT!~

The loud screech that echoed all across the room contained anger and depraved excitement.

Before either Kuzon or Ana could completely decipher his words, however, the glass-like containers opened up.

>SPLOOOSHHH<

Liquid fell to the ground, creating a pool of transparent liquid that evaporated within seconds, leaving behind the beings that had been previously asleep.

~I WONDER HOW YOU'LL BE ABLE TO FARE AGAINST ALL OF THEM! THEY'RE THE NEWEST BATCH. EVEN IF YOU—~

"Ana... I think it's time for you to escape." Kuzon whispered.

He no longer cared for the Fairy King's explanation. He only wanted the safety of his dear friend.

"I... I can't leave you like this!"

Ana knew her job was done. They had reached the center of the base, and even she couldn't do any more.

Besides, she could sense why the shard was so attracted to this point. The strange energy signature that it felt from the room was spot-on

Ana could feel it—the powerful energy that crawled within each of the hundred clones of the Fairy King that had now opened their eyes and brought forth their wings.

She could feel the immense power.

It far outweighed any she had ever encountered before—even far more than what Kuzon had produced with the help of his Familiar.

"I know I can't help, but... I can't leave you to deal with them all by yourself!" Ana stubbornly remained.

~DON'T YOU EVEN THINK OF ESCAPING. THE SPACE HERE IS TOO WARPED TO TRY. ESPECIALLY NOT WITH THE SPELL CARD IN YOUR POSSESSION!~

Upon hearing this, Kuzon's eyes twitched and Ana broke into a worried expression. Even if she wanted to escape with her partner, that was rendered impossible.

At this point, it was plain as day to the duo.

"We're trapped."

*

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*

Beruel grinned within his chamber as he watched the two slowly get surrounded by his hundred duplicates.

'[The Chariot] Arcana invokes technology and technomancy. I've intricately designed all of them to share my exact attributes. No... even better. They have Aether.' The Fairy King thought with glee.

The girl was useless, no doubt. She would die soon. As for the young Midas, Beruel knew he was capable of utilizing Aether.

'I saw from the footages. I've observed your abilities.'

However, even his utilization of Aether could not surpass a hundred clones that had been sucking the energy for a while now.

'These should take care of the both of them. No, it's probably even an overkill!' Beruel thought to himself.

He watched in anticipation, waiting for the execution of his subordinate's killer, as well as the extinction of his friend.

'Or better yet, I can use her as a bargaining chip with Jared Leonard. Alright then. I'll assemble her body together once this is done.'

Now deciding on his course of action, Beruel mentally instructed his clones accordingly... and then watched what would play out.

"Hehehe. This should be fun!"

*

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Kuzon was indeed in a tough spot—much tougher than he had ever been before.

'As expected. He's difficult...'

The reason he had defeated Jared so easily was because the latter didn't have access to Aether.

Unlike him, all hundred of Beruel's clones were brimming with it—more than he could handle if he chose to utilize it.

~You can retreat, Kuzon. I can guarantee that you have enough power to do so.~

Kuzon bit his lip.

Was that really the only solution he had?

"No. I'm not going anywhere."

~Kid, really...~

"If I run away now, how will I ever grow? How much further will it be before I can confront Kido?" He spoke aloud.

All this time, he had violently trained and diligently hunted down members of the Nether Cult. He knew how much of a challenge Beruel would be, but he chose to confront him anyway.

"I won't lose." Kuzon stubbornly said.

And he was confident of this claim.

~Don't tell me... you're going to use 'that'?!~

The young Midas smiled.

'To effectively use [The Emperor] and win this, I'll have to exceed my current threshold...'

Kuzon knew his limits. His body couldn't handle enough Aether to override his opponent's power.

That was why...

'... I'll be using my Midas Treasures now.'