As soon as Cinderclaw bit the finger artefact, the world momentarily stopped for him. While it seemed befitting for the Key of the Unticking Clock to stop time and allow the Demon Rat Axe General to move unhindered through the supposed fifth dimension of reality, it was not the true effect of the said artefact.
Unbeknownst to everyone, Cinderclaw had a unique organ that most male Demon Rats do not have and it was a pouch similar to one of a Birth Mother. The unscrupulous Scholars of the North and South had experimented on Cinderclaw and a few selected rats to such an extent that their murders would be justified if an observer would know the entire story.
With the Key of the Unticking Clock, Cinderclaw was able to do the impossible, and also potentially the first for a male Demon Rat to give birth to new Demon Rats. Aye, if he could not defeat the monstrous humans right in front of him now, then what about Demon Rats that from him? His descendants should have been evolved and well suited for the fight since they will take in not just his strength but his innate skills and talents.
And that finger artefact was the item that would make those eggs within him to be a reality. The Key of the Unticking clock would force the eggs to ‘magically’ be fertilised, grow through the process of incubation and get to the age of Cinderclaw in mere nanoseconds. It was not meant to work in such a grotesque way as Cinderclaw had planned to slowly use the artefact in secret and produce his shadow army of warriors that would be loyal to him to the bones.
Not only that, he could select his potential heir for the throne when he was too old for it and his reign of terror would forever be etched on the minds of the enslaved. Unfortunately, all of this would be just a dream for he knows that the current situation demands that he takes such drastic actions.
An explosion containing a swarm full of warrior Demon Rats bursting out from within his stomach in a second will definitely kill the Usurper General. Cinderclaw could have used the Cat of Eight Lives to overcome this difficulty and he only had one try left to make sure that he survived it.
If he managed to go live through that, he would potentially have a terrifying skill in his possession since the Cat of Eight Lives Artefact had the power to make a previously life threatening death be nullified depending on the site of injury. This meant that he could use the Key of the Unticking Clock without care and he would still survive such a brutal ‘birth’.
That is assuming he survives the attack…which he did not.
When Zither Mistress took full control of Jin’s Bam and Boo when it became the instrument of her choice, she had managed to tug a string of the Zither, sending a killing wave of chi, aiming right straight for Cinderclaw’s neck. Because of the Axe General’s moment of hesitation to use his ultimate trump card, he did not know that a slice of lethal chi had already decapitated him, forcing the Cat of Eight Lives artefact to work (not) to his favour to fully perform such a taboo act.
When the Key of Unticking Clock takes its effects based on Cinderclaw’s desire, the time around them continues to move and Cinderclaw’s belly instantly exploded forcing the armour that was holding him to scatter while not one or two Demon Rat warriors emerged out of him but dozens of Demon Rat warriors similar to Cinderclaw’s stature were dying to a gasp of air.
As disgusting as the scene was, the ZIther Mistress seemed unfazed by the entire scenario and had already played a quick tune which released a series of chi slashes towards the Demon Rat Warriors.
A few of them were instantly killed but she noticed that many still survived, especially those who were hit on their necks. She had no idea that the effects of the Cat of Eight Lives were still active in Cinderclaw’s offspring. This act of killing prompted the Demon Rats Warriors who were confused by their brand new surroundings to do what their instincts were to guide them.
Go for the nearest enemy.
It might seem like an easy task clearing naked Demon Rat Warriors but the System had warned that the lifestream energy surrounding Cinderclaw had dissipated and instead went into these newly born Demon Rats, causing their attributes to spike sharply. The Orcs who were watching from the sidelines quickly intervened and realised that the Demon Rats they were fighting were no ordinary fighters.
One of the Orcs overly underestimated and lost his head through just a punch from these newborn Demon Rats. And to make things worse, even with Cinderclaw’s death from giving birth to his new warriors, more of them continued to spawn from his stomach like ants rushing out from their anthill.
It was not a pleasant sight when these empowered Demon Rats were filling the roof of the High Command but the System had confirmed that Cinderclaw died a pathetic death and was no longer a thorn in Jin’s side.
“Fall back. There is no reason for us to linger anymore.” Jin said as he too saw how the Mage General who had been used a toy by Baal finally stopped regenerating. Without Cinderclaw’s control of the artefacts, there was no more Lifestream energy that allowed the Skull of Eternal Unrest to work.
Furthermore, the artefacts that the Axe General used broke and there were no other concerns for Jin to stay especially when he got a message from Pei that she might have found the thing that he was worried about this entire time.
In fact, this spawning of Demon Rat Warriors was a blessing in disguise. Now that the Generals were killed, Jin could let the remaining portion of the battle be played out by the remnants of the Demon Rat race alongside his customers.fr?e?????ѵ??.?om
For now, his concern was the lifestream energy bomb and he rushed to Pei’s side as soon as he can.
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