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

For several long years, Lythero thought of little else but revenge on Duke Diamoro.

There might've been multiple points until now where his mind stopped thinking of ripping the head off of the old bastard of noble status, the initial passions of revenge getting cooled in the process, but he still held on to that hatred.

Not even someone as lovely as Kidanna or supportive as Zhen Liu was able to fully convince Lythero to let go of his hate.

Perhaps the only thing that might wash away this feeling of hate would be the blood of Duke Diamoro himself.

And by the flames of the Divine Phoenix Goddess, he was going to get that blood.

Despite his initial charge of using Master Razorback's [Unrelenting Piercer] having failed to rip through Duke Diamoro's stomach, he had still managed to get himself close enough that he could follow up with another attack.

^By the way, numbnuts, you should probably know that I have actually grown significantly stronger since you had my cultivation sealed. Get a load of my [Astra], the [Blade of Seven Shadows]!^

Shortly after Lythero had killed Obara, he decided to also name his [Astra] as a means of mentally differentiating it from the original seven Gold-tiered swords that it was modelled after.

Manifesting his [Astra], he quickly had the bladeless hilt transform into a copy of the [Unrelenting Piercer] and attempted to thrust it into Duke Diamoro's chest cavity.

Thanks to the amplification effect, his [Astra] was able to match, if not exceed, the original blade's power.

^Ha!^

CLANG!

^Damn it!^

Unfortunately, it wasn't enough.

Moments before his chest cavity was caved in, Duke Diamoro managed to use a defensive aether art to reinforce his arms and torso with just enough power to get knocked back instead.

The old bastard felt as if he had just been tackled by an actual wild boar, but that was a significantly better alternative than getting impaled like one on a hunt.

In an attempt to keep up the pressure and momentum, Lythero tried charging at Duke Diamoro again, this time with both piercers in hand.

[Reckless-] ^Whoa, hey!^

But he had to stop partway through when a poorly timed boulder rolled right past him.

^Hey! Watch the boulders!^

^Sorry, darling! I'm trying to smash in this bastard's skull!^ Kidanna called out before getting back to fighting Alfonzo.

^Oh, you managed to figure out a personal life that was more than just being a glorified courier. I'm oddly proud of you.^

^What the-?!^

In the brief moment when Lythero was talking with Kidanna, Duke Diamoro used that opportunity to close the gap himself, summon his own [Astra], and go on the offensive instead.

Duke Diamoro's [Astra] took on the form of a strange longsword that had twin blades coming out of the same blade like a murderous tuning fork. However, the only sounds that could come out of this blade would be the screams of its victims.

Once the duke had gotten in range, he attempted to perform a horizontal decapitation strike.

^Shit!^

Clang!

Before the attack could land, though, Lythero managed to transform his [Astra] into a copy of Master Tortoise's [Black Iron Slab] and block the sword-like [Astra] by using the copy like a shield.

Had Duke Diamoro and Lythero been the same cultivation level, the former's attack would've bounced off the latter's defense and the two would go back to exchanging blows.

However, due to Lythero being a full cultivation stage lower than Diamoro, he was forced to expend more effort and aether to prevent the attack from breaking through his [Astra] and subsequently taking his head off.

Lythero was under so much pressure that he couldn't even use the [Unrelenting Piercer] to attack.

Needless to say, the wiley old fucker noticed this obvious display of weakness.

^I killed all seven of yours masters by myself,^ Duke Diamoro taunted. ^You may be a stage stronger than they were, but what makes you think you'll be able to actually do what they failed to do all those years ago?^

When Duke Diamoro asked this question, he assumed he was going to subjected to some moment of youthful bravado or an incoherent scream of rage.

He wasn't unexpecting sardonic truth.

^To be honest, I have no fucking idea if I'll be able to kill you this day.^ Lythero admitted. ^But at the very least, I can make sure you'll always be in fear of me doing so.^

^Or, I can kill you and prevent that from happening,^ Duke Diamoro retorted while increasing the pressure on his [Astra] and forcing Lythero to put in even more effort in resisting. ^Because I'm pretty sure a few hits is all I need to send you to your masters.^

^Probably, but how do you know you're going to be hitting the right one?!^ Lythero suddenly yelled while throwing the [Unrelenting Piercer] directly behind him.

Duke Diamoro was confused by this strange action, until he saw a Gold-tiered kukri-shaped aether treasure fly towards their direction and get caught by Lythero's now open hand.

Once it was in hands, Lythero changed his [Astra] to mimic Master Coyote's [Trickster's Fang Pack Kukri], leaving himself momentarily vulnerable to Duke Diamoro's [Astra] and used the empowered version of the kukri's innate ability

[Fleeting Hunter!]

By the time Duke Diamoro realized that he had an opening, he soon found himself slicing through air and releasing a burst of energy that knocked away a zako that had the very unfortunate luck of suddenly manifesting in the area.

^Nice shot. Wanna try again for a silver?^

Turning towards the source of the voice, Duke Diamoro found himself staring down a dozen or so illusionary copies of Lythero staring back at him, all armed with a pair of kukris.

^And now you're well and truly outnumbered,^the Lythero illusionary clones taunted.

^Oh...annoying. Too bad I know how to deal with such trickery.

Not one to be intimidated, Duke Diamoro activated an ability of his [Astra] that caused it to unfold into a double-bladed sword-staff.

The sight of this transformation caused all of the clones to flinch.

^Ah, it seems you remember how I used this to kill Master Coyote when he tried to use this trick on me. Then I guess you remember the art I used as well,^ Duke Diamoro declared while entering a stance and rapidly spinning his [Astra].

[Golden Sabertooth Sun Slicer!]

While still spinning the blade, Diamoro charged forth and began to slice through the clones of Lythero like they were blades of grass before a lawnmower.

In response to this charge some of the clones attempted to dodge, block or even counterattack. But alas, they weren't real so these efforts were more or less in vain or at least an attempt to throw Duke Diamoro off of his game.

Evidently, it didn't work.

As the clones dispered before the might of his [Astra], Duke Diamoro let out a rather wicked laugh.

^Bahahahaha! You seriously think these clones were going to drain my aether reserves? You don't get to be where I am without at least being able to swat multiple flies at once!^

^Oh, I didn't expect this to throw you off your game,^ Lythero and his clones responded. ^I expected it to distract you long enough for me to do this.

While in the midst of slicing through the clones, Lythero suddenly appeared directly above Duke Diamoro while armed not with a pair of kukris, but two completely different Gold-tiered aether swords in his hand and his own [Astra] in his mouth.

The swords in his hands were Master Crow's [Solar Wing Saber] and Master Panther's [Midnight Slasher].

As for the reason why he was using these particular blades was because, years ago during that first battle, Master Crow and Master Panther were the only ones who were able to inflict a wound against Duke Diamoro.

And they did so by combining two of their most powerful arts into one attack.

[Double Eclipse Slash!]

And Lythero was going to attempt to do just that, all by himself.

^Oh fuck!^

Duke Diamoro's eyes grew wide as he saw that Lythero was channeling absurd amounts of Luxarii aether in one blade while the other was pumped full of Caligos aether.

Channeling two conflicting aethers at once wasn't too odd...unless someone was dumb enough to channel both pure Caligos and Luxarii aether at once.

Like Lythero.

The results were incredibly powerful due to the antagonistic reactions, but it also came with risks that could lead to death to the channeler.

^Die you bastard! And let your blood be my funeral wine!^

As the twin blades of light and shadow came down on Duke Diamoro, the shadow of death briefly flitted across his face.

Until...

KABOOM!

^Whoa!^

^Fuck!^

A sudden tremor knocked Duke Diamoro off his feet for just long enough that Lythero's finishing move ended missing entirely and soared right over the old bastard's head.

He didn't even get the chance to deal a glancing blow.

^Are you fucking kidding me?!^ Lythero shouted as he attempted to recover from his fumble.

Unfortunately, he wasn't going to get outil of this unharmed.