“Hm?” Kazolix’s eyes swivelled to the source of the sound, finding a long crack across the silver cocoon encasing Zuko. “It… would seem that we have run out of time.” He drawled uncaringly. Then he looked back at Bilibu.

“Are you going to trade him or not?”

Bilibu, whose attention had been caught by the slowly awakening Zuko, blinked as if he had just woken up. But an instant later he turned back towards Kazolix with just as much indifference that the other had.

“Of course I will, he’s all yours.” Bilibu said flippantly. “How would you like to take him? Maimed? Half dead? Fully dead even? I know we planned on making him a subordinate, but perhaps you’re feeling hungry?”

Bilibu joked with Kazolix as if he were talking about a mere item, nothing to worry about.

But it was all a facade.

Bilibu could not keep the same calm as Kazolix. The whole reason he had left Zuko back then to bring his army to surround him was because he knew how talented the abnormal centipede was. An opinion that had only risen when he was struck by that silver light, an attack that had managed to harm him even though a Realm and a couple stages separated their strengths.

With such a gap, anyone else in Zuko’s position would have been squashed. And yet, the result was that he had been rebuffed and forced to watch as the centipede waltzed into the 4th Realm using the treasure that he had coveted, after having drenched him in acidic words that left holes in his memory. A result of his refusal to recall accursed sentences and his blind fury during most of it.

Faced with such a situation, knowing that Zuko would only become many times worse if he not only entered the 4th Realm but also evolved, especially with 2, possibly 3 White Tribulations (he was utterly unwilling to believe Zuko survived 3 White Tribulations, something must have happened to make the 2nd or the 3rd one a gold), it did not take long for him to come to the conclusion that he did not want to deal with the menace alone.

He did not believe he would lose a 1v1, but with everything he had seen, there was a pretty good chance of him ending up severely damaged after the fight. A terrible, terrible fate for anyone in the Sea.

“You joke too much, Bilibu. Don’t worry, I will deal with th-” Kazolix had started to say as he made to move forward, when he suddenly froze.

Waves of indescribable aura had begun to slam against the gathering in waves. Visibly, it was silver in colour, just like the cocoon, but the feeling it gave off was not something that could be given accurate labels.

It was not fiery, it was not 

The only 3 things that could be comprehended was first, the unknown, practically eldritch feeling of pureness. Something like the concept of pureness did NOT exist in the sea, so it felt profoundly alien to all the people here. Still, they were able to make accurate inferences based off of the feeling alone.

The second thing that they could comprehend which was much easier to understand but just as peculiar was the ridiculous heaviness of it all. It made them feel like they had suddenly descended lower in the sea, without actually doing so. Some people came to the quick conclusion that it was an illusion, however, even before they could open their mouths to make remarks, they were silenced by the sound of bodies exploding.

The weaker individuals in the 1st Realm, unable to take the drastic increase in weight, had begun to pop like over inflated puffer fish.

Lastly, the third yet easiest thing of all to understand about the aura… was the power behind it. The peerless, matchless quality of the essence was impossible to mistake.

Silence descended on the gathering once more, but it didn’t last very long.

Swoosh!

Somebody jetted off, quickly followed by others as the bystanders began to flee the scene. Nobody shouted out ‘run!’ or ‘it’s too dangerous!’ or ‘we have to escape!’ Because in the first place, there was little concept of ‘we’ to sea creatures who felt endangered. They didn’t care about anything but their own lives as they made a mad dash to escape.

However, only those in the mid to upper limits of the 2nd Realm and beyond had that chance. For every one below? They simply couldn’t move.

If the heaviness of the aura could make people explode, then it could definitely subdue the people who were only scraping the requirement to survive it. They were simply out of luck. Strong enough to survive but not enough to move. Unfortunate indeed.

Even the ‘mad dash’ that the others were doing was only called that because of how vigorously they were moving in their attempts to escape. But they weren’t moving very quickly. Only the Sea Kings in the 3rd Realm could freely escape. Sadly, most of them were part of Bilibu’s army and weren’t allowed to leave, with the few who had tried already burnt to cinders, courtesy of Bilibu’s lightning.

“Hmm… on second thoughts, I think I’ll let you take this one for me.” Kazolix spoke, his voice still uncaring but his words depicting the opposite.

However, that voice actually helped Bilibu calm down. No matter how powerful Zuko was, it was not enough to compare to the absurdity that was Emperor Kazolix. Even with this terrific display of might performed by Zuko whilst he was still in his cocoon, that belief had not shaken. Not even in the slightest.

Others might think that Kazolix was a coward that was putting on a brave face, but Bilibu would never be that dumb again.

He was 95% sure that Kazolix was simply using him to gauge out Zuko’s not abilities, and that meant that he was in for a very rough time. What he didn’t know was if Kazolix was planning to save him in the end if that was needed, or to sacrifice him to please the new shiny toy that was Zuko.

Bilibu sighed in lament. ‘What a horrible day.’