125 Less than a minute...

"Ah! Much better!," the Marquis exclaimed once he had finished equipping his aether armor. The Marquis was now dressed in a full, form fitting, copper colored plate armor, complete with a wolf-like helm. With this transformation complete, the Marquis placed the two shamisens side by side on the stone altar, right net to the stitched corpse.

When a warrior reaches the level of Aether Grand Master, they gain the ability to condense internal and external aether into a suit of armor that matches their formula's abilities. Variations can occur based on the user's progress and personality. They also gain the ability to fly to an extent, but that's not important to know at the moment.

The pit in Draigo's stomach grew deeper once he saw the armor. It was just one traumatic reminder after the other this evening, and frankly put, Draigo was getting sick of it.

"Oh don't look at me like that, this is for your benefit! It's the only way I can think of giving you a quick and painless death while to not sully myself or my beloved muse with your blood! I thought you'd appreciate it." As the words left the Marquis's foul mouth, the aether around his arm began to vibrate with the a most bloodthirsty hum.

"Now be sure to give my muse a most informative discussion about her future husband once you get to the other side. So long!"

With that declaration made, the Marquis swung down a mighty a blow.

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<Warning! Warning! Source of kaijin core in mortal danger, unable to muster proper defense due to current status. Intervention recommended.>

'Shit! I'm still too down bad to properly plan! How long until complete digestion?'

'How long until Draigo gets 86d?'

'Fuck it! Nepherage, Razors Maiden, you're both up!'

[Finally!]

[About time.]

'Damn, y'all could pull some ASMR stuff...go get him!'

Despite Zhen Liu's brain pondering on where on Valresta he could get nylon stockings, he managed to squeeze out enough brain juice to summon Nepherage and the Razor Maiden to lead a counter offensive.

Just in time too, as the Marquis had begun to swing down a blow that would've lobbed off Draigo's head.

[Magma Ram!]

"Die! Bastard!"

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Just as the Marquis was about to lob off Draigo's head, felt an explicable sense of danger encroaching upon him.

From the corner of his eyes, the Marquis caught sight of an encroaching ram's head of molten stone, accompanied by a flying great sword.

"Sneak attack?! Bah!"

The Marquis was so focused on holding down Draigo and lobbing off the latter's head, that he failed to react in time to the sudden attack. The Marquis was sent flying into a wall as the ram and blade slammed into his side. The echo caused by the Marquis's sudden impact was almost deafening, but on the plus side, Draigo was now free from the Marquis's pressure.

The old bard exhaled a large breath before running like a mad man towards the shamisens and grabbing both of them in his arms, pausing only briefly to stare at his old friend's face.

"Oh Wyvara..."

"I suggest you get out of the way old man," Nepherage said aloud for Draigo to hear, "Unless you're able to throw a punch."

"You can talk?!," Draigo exclaimed in alarm, "I thought you were just a-"

"Haha! How fascinating! I almost felt some pain from that! Good show!"

The Marquis extracted himself from the wall with relative ease, dusting himself off like it was just a minor inconvenience.

Had he not been armored or had he been an Aether Master or below, this surprise attack would've done massive damage. Unfortunately, he was not.

"Farisia. Be a dear and make sure the ladies are out of harm's way. I'd rather not worked with damaged materials."

"Of...course...," the maid said as she began to use her powers and float the two unconscious women away from the battlefield. She was walking straight towards the only door in the room.

Nepherage and the Razor Maiden didn't let their guard down after sending the Marquis flying, but seeing the Marquis basically shrug off their coordination was still off-putting.

"Now I understand that he's probably hiding away from me, and I was about to express surprise that that puppeteering youth from earlier today managed to find my inner sanctum, but it appears there is something far more fascinating before me," the Marquis observed, jovial condescension plain in his tone. "While I am curious about the energy coming from my beloved handiwork and how you managed to make her talk, I am curious about what makes this strange jade monstrosity tick. Don't disappoint me."

[Stacatto step!]

In the blink of an eye and accompanied by a sharp brassy note, the Marquis had rushed to a position right in front of Nepherage.

"Too fast!," the Razor Maiden muttered.

The Marquis didn't bother to use any arts, opting to throw a punch straight at Nepherage's face. Luckily, she managed to juke her head to the side at the last minute, narrowly avoiding the punch.

Nepherage could hear a whistling sound passing her ear, followed by a booming sound behind her. If she had the opportunity to look, she would've noticed a fist being imprinted in the wall immediately behind her. She didn't of course, right now she had to counter.

[Eruption Kick!]

Nepherage didn't bother retort as fire and earth rapidly gathered into her feet and exploded, propelling her upward and allowing her to land a solid roundhouse kick on the Marquis's head, causing a satisfying cracking sound to echo in the chamber. Unfortunate that it was only a sound.

"Oh ho! A puppet using an aether art! Fascinating! I wonder how's that possible?!," the Marquis proclaimed as he grabbed onto Nepherage's extended leg. The latter felt as if an iron vice was gripping down on her limb.

The next moment, the Marquis had swung Nepherage around and was about to slam her into the ground like a hammer!

"Let's break you apart and find out! [Percussion-]"

"Don't forget! Me too!"

"Oof!"

The Razor Maiden interrupted the Marquis attack mid-swing, by pirouette kicking a huge blade leg into the Marquis's abdomen. While it wasn't enough to send him flying away like before, it was strong enough to knock the wind out of him long enough for Nepherage to free herself from his grip.

The two kaijin proceeded to retreat after this exchange of blows, but only for a moment.

[We can't give him time to recuperate! Press the attack! Buy more time for our lord!]

[Alright!]

Nepherage and the Razor Maiden rushed towards the Marquis and began to unleash a flurry of blows.

[Eruption Barrage!]

"Die!"

Unexpectedly, the Marquis had to actual defend himself properly from this flurry of attacks.

'How unusual! Despite only having the power level of Acolytes, they're hitting like Masters! Fascinating!'

This entire exchange happened over the course of fifteen seconds.

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'Seriously?! Gods dammit,' Zhen Liu cursed as he watched the kaijin and Marquis fight. He wanted to get involved, but right now, his brain was on the fritz.

'I just need to stay hidden, not think about panties, and wait till...wait...why is that crazy ghost maid approaching me?'

In about five seconds, the maid was about to see Zhen Liu freaking out on the floor.

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