First the cracks...

"Seriously? That's what these walls are made of?! A kai-puppet made of that stuff would probably be crazy strong..."

"Even if you could make a puppet out of that stuff, it's pointless if we can't get access to it. You'd have better luck using a block of cheese to dig it out than your own hands. Including my own!"

"Huh...what about a giant metallic monster?"

"What?"

"Just wait for it..."

_________________________________________________

"Hiss... click...click...click."

The mechanical centisnake gazed cautiously at the wall of molten rock, waiting for horned humanoid behind it to poke her annoying little head out.

For the past few minutes, it had been locked in battle against a rather different but equally annoying pest in the form of a strange horned humanoid. Unlike the long limbed human who wouldn't get off it's back like a stubborn barnacle, this horned one was like a mosquito with a stinger.

Everytime it tried to swat her away or burn her to ashes, the horned humanoid would somehow block or dodge it's attacks while counter attacking in the process. While none of the arts the horned humanoid used had manage to hurt it so far, they were still annoying to deal with. The fact that she managed to do all this while constantly moving annoyed it even further.

But now the little horned gnat was hiding behind a wall of magma.

The centisnake was tempted to just bullrush through and swallow the humanoid whole, but it wanted to make it suffer first.

It wanted to wait until they left the cover of their little wall and snatch it in a sin-

"BANZAI!"

"Hiss?!"

Nepherage however had another plan in mind, as evident by the wall of molten rock suddenly solidifying and getting kicked directly into the centisnake's mouth, getting lodged in and forcing it to stay open. It made for a rather comedic sight.

"Click, click, click!"

"Nope!"

The centisnake attempted to crush the rubble in its mouth, but was interrupted by Nepherage surging forward and suddenly wrapping herself around it's throat moments before mounting it like Sullivan did not so long ago. The only difference this time being Nepherage had a means of controlling the monster's motions.

[Rope of the Fire Rat!]

Threads of fibrous glass suddenly sprang from Nepherage's palms, coiling together into several long ropes.

"Yee Haw!"

Ropes in hand, Nepherage lashed the ropes and together and wound it up tightly around the rubble that was sitting in the centisnake's mouth, using the two items to make a makeshift "bit" with "reins".

"Now then, lean!"

"Click-HISSSSSS!"

*Groooaaannnn*

Nepherage began to pull upon the bit and lean herself back as hard as she could, digging her heels into the centisnake's metallic back. The groaning sound of metal and mechanisms resisting her actions began to fill the room, as the centisnake was forced into a more rigid and upright position.

"Do it!"

_________________________________________________

"Holy shit that thing is strong!," Sullivan exclaimed as he watched the puppet reigning in the centisnake like it was a stubborn horse. Over the course of this adventure, he had seen time and time again how the exquisite puppet managed to save his and his teammates' asses by virtue of it's craftsmanship and material, but never really understood the extent of it until this moment.

Zhen Liu on the other hand looked a tad more impatient.

"What are you doing? Didn't you hear the shout?"

"Huh? What?"

"That was the signal! Let's go!"

"Signal? Oh!"

"Yeah, let's go!"

Zhen Liu and Sullivan began to rush towards the erected centisnake, the latter rapidly circulating his aether in order to boost his arms and legs while the former was just relying on pure brute strength and stamina to keep up. However, it'd be inaccurate to say Zhen Liu wasn't expending any aether at this moment. He was currently pumping it into Nepherage so she could hold the centisnake still!

[How's it going Nepherage.]

[Can't...keep..this...up...for long. Injuries...messing with my...circulation.]

[Hang tight, just keep it still.]

[Under...stood!]

Zhen Liu began to pick up the pace once Nepherage updated him on her condition.

Seeing the Fourth Younger Master starting to hurry up caused Sullivan himself to move faster as well.

The two of them eventually got into striking distance of the centisnake, just in time for Sullivan's aether to reach peak circulation.

"Finally!"

Once Nepherage saw that Zhen Liu and Sullivan were close enough, she pulled hard on the makeshift rein and forced the centisnake to turn to a nearby wall. When the angle was right, she suddenly let go of the reins and landed a heavy kick on the back of the monster's head, causing it to fall towards the wall. Using the momentum, she launched herself towards a wall that wasn't about to be impacted by a mechanical centisnake and clung on tightly.

"Hiss, click, click, click!"

The centisnake pushed hard against the sudden momentum caused by Nepherage's attack and managed to stop itself just before it would hit the wall. It was so oddly focused on not hitting the wall, that it failed to notice the two Acolytes rushing it from behind.

"Hit it!"

[Rock Breaker!]

*WHAM!*

"CLICK!"

The centisnake was hit hard from behind, causing it's head to slam into the wall in a rather powerful manner, while Sullivan and Zhen Liu used the recoil to land safely at a nearby islet.

*Crack!*

As the force from the centisnake's impact finally made contact with the stone wall, chunks of it suddenly fell away, revealing a large section of rainbow blue metallic wall that rapidly began to absorb the heat from the lava below.

"Jackpot!"

"Holy shit!," Sullivan exclaimed, "You weren't lying! That's a lot of-"

"No time! Look!"

Before their very eyes, the wall's outer coating began to reform, which was not a good thing for Zhen Liu. Zhen Liu began to run towards the wall, leaping into the air once he got to the halfway point.

[Nepherage!]

[On it, milord.]

At Zhen Liu's command, Nepherage launched herself off of the wall and intercepted Zhen Liu mid descent for a brief moment before throwing him towards the metallic wall.

Zhen Liu sailed through the air for a few moments before a familiar voice popped into head.

<Sufficient material detected. Would you like to create a new kaijin now? Would you like to use compatible supplemental material?>

'YES, SURE, WHATEVER! JUST DO IT QUICKLY!,' Zhen Liu rapidly answered as he stuck his left hand forward, the [Core of Re(gret/venge)] and the amber he bought from that weird old man suddenly appearing in his hand.

Before Zhen Liu could question how and why his hand managed to make the amber appeared, he was blinded by a blue and white light and a voice in his head.

<Acknowledged.>

<Number of summoned kaijin at maximum. Dismissing kaijin, Nepherage.>

<Material: Fenririte - Set>

<Core: Re(gret/venge) - Set>

<Supplemental Material: Death Echo Amber - Set>

<Quality of supplement allows the foregoing of final step. Activating Chaos Body Forge...>

_________________________________________________

This was the third time Sullivan was shocked speechless today, and this was the biggest shock of them all.

"What the f...."