Musician, monster, maker

Everyone in the room was essentially exposed to a magic flash bang as soon as the Marquis cracked open Draigo's shield and Zhen Liu's kaijin core did it's thing.

As everyone's senses came back to focus, things got weird...

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Zhen Liu was a bit more prepared this time around when he got flung into the Kaijin Creation Space, meaning he remembered to keep his eye shut and not scream like a panicky bitch, but he was not prepared for the sudden change in interface.

"Alright, I get that this place is partially my subconsciousness...but what the fuck?"

Instead of the expected jumbo sized 3d printer and console, Zhen Liu was greeted by the sight of what could only be described as a steampunk DJ soundboard and four giant speakers surrounding a central platformer. Floating above the platform was the shamisen and wedding ring Zhen Liu took from Draigo.

<Stop questioning the magical shenanigans and roll with it, or in the words of one of the greatest funk bands of all time: "Play that funky music, white boy~".>

Zhen Liu stared into the unending void with a weird expression on his face before taking a deep breath and releasing a long sigh.

"Alright, let's see what happens..."

Zhen Liu placed his hands on the (un)familiar sound board and began the process of making a new kaijin.

[With my power, I forge your body.]

Zhen Liu's fingers flew across the console, as the voice made a declaration.

<Due to the user's advancement, design parameters have expanded. Extracting memory of story: Toad Challenges the Heavens.>

After this declaration was made, the speakers surrounding the platform began to turn on one by one, causing the sound of growling beasts to fill the space.

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Draigo's aether armor fell apart after having his shield broken, but he didn't really care due to the strange snarling sound ripping through the air and stealing his focus. The sudden flash of golden light didn't help either.

"Gah! What just happened?," he complained while rubbing his eyes. As the light faded and he could see again, he began to freak out at the sight before him.

"Whoa! What?! A-a goddess?"

Before Draigo's eyes was a being he had only seen depicted as art pieces or statues in temples and small shrines.

Sitting cross legged, was a giant, feminine being made of golden light with six arms, two of which were holding a giant string instrument he had never seen before and dressed in silken robes of rainbow and white. Floating before the giant woman was Wyvara's shamisen and the ring he never got to give her.

Draigo could feel that this giant was made of aether and something...more.

As Draigo stared on in awe, the giantess began to move, fingering a chord on the neck of the strange instrument.

[With my power, I forge your body,] the golden giantess said in an ethereal voice that sounded as sweet as an orchestra that was perfectly tuned. She then strummed a single, simple note that seemed to carry a meaning more profound than even the greatest of ballads, causing he shamisen and the ring to shake and morph into each other to form a humanoid body.

"Is this kid...some kind of celestial messenger?," Draigo muttered.

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'A demon! A proper, actual demon here?!,' the Marquis thought as he stared at the monstrous being before him.

As the Marquis broke that pathetic shield, he had assume that it would just be easy pickings to take out that weakend brat and that weak old bard, he didn't expect to get hit with such blinding light and such a wretched sound to rip through his ear drums. It was honestly just surprising such a strange sensory attack managed to slip pass his defenses.

When his senses finally came back into focus, the Marquis was even more shocked to see the source of this was a demon, at least, what he assumed was a demon since it was clearly made of something more than just pure aether.

Sitting next to that old bard was a muscular, monstrous being with sinewy arms and a singular head that had three faces marred with fangs, each with a third eye upon their foreheads, all distorted with expressions of rage. Within the giant's hands was a humanoid shape made of light.

The Marquis was shocked at the events occuring before him, so he didn't comprehend how and why that humanoid object came into being, but he did manage to comprehend what the giant said next.

[With my wisdom, I forge your mind,] it said in an echoing, whispering/snarling voice.

The demon held aloft the humanoid figure, while the faces on the left and right of the demon's head began to speak in a strange tongue. Rune after glowing rune began to form and exit from the demon's lips and flow into the humanoid figure, as it did, an indescribable pressure began to weigh down on the Marquis.

'Wait...I read about this before...but that power should only be a rumor, a legend, a myth! But if it is real...I must put a stop to this, so I may claim it a my own, now!'

The Marquis rushed towards the giant glowing demon, killing intent rolling off of his body like smoke. He didn't know what he had to kill or steal, he just knew he had to stop whatever was going on.

[Magma Manacle!]

[Artic Chain!]

Unfortunately for him, a pair of chains, made of ice and lava suddenly lashed out and held him back.

"Huh?!"

The sources for these chains soon became evident, as the Marquis turned to see Nepherage and Frosttusk holding him down, each holding one of those chains tightly in their grips.

"You're going nowhere!"

"No... distractions!"

"Die!"

This fettering was swiftly followed by a brutal sword kick to the head.

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Tap, tap, click.

'Huh?'

Tap, tap, click.

'Where...am I?,' Alicia asked herself as her consciousness partially returned to her.

The last thing she remembered was being selected alongside Jin Fang to participate in some kind of circus show and then...nothing.

Tap, tap, click

'This isn't...my room... what's that...sound?'

Her head was still in a bit of a fog so she couldn't fully control her movements,but she did have enough strength in herself to roll her head towards the source of the noise.

Tap, tap, click

'What is...that? An...elf?'

Through a slightly open door, Alicia could make out the hunched over form of an old hermit with pointed ears, a pair of goggles that seemed to have a hundred different type of lens and strange, delicate metallic hands that reminded her of a curiosity her father once brought home called a "clock".

It was a strange tool meant to keep track of time, not with the power of aether, but with a small metal key. The key was misplaced at some point, so now the clock only served as a decorative piece. However, in the time that it ran, Alicia couldn't help but recall how beautifully strange it was as the "clockwork" operated.

'Something so intricate could only be made by the elves,' she had thought to herself.

Now before her tired eyes, a clockwork hermit was working on something even stranger and possibly more delicate, for in those clockwork hands was a limp, humanoid figure covered in strange runes.

[And with my will...I remake your soul with Chaos,] the hermit said in a deep yet gentle voice.

The hermit held the figure in one hand while the other was held open and bare, at least for the moment. Gears began to turn and metal began to click as the palm of the free mechanical hand opened to reveal a small glowing ball that seemed to be visibly shaking.

For some reason, Alicia could hear a sad voice coming from it.

'How sad...I hope he can...recognize you...,' Alicia mentally mumbled to herself before falling back asleep. 'I wonder if...he had to do something with this...'

The hermit then gently slotted the orb into the figure's chest, causing it to suddenly move and the light coming off it to glow brighter.

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"Alright, what the fuck, we are at two for two on the lines for this shit getting changed again, why?"

<Just roll with it and name her already, you got bigger fish to fry.>

"I...gah! Fine, let's see here....alright, it's a dumb name but let's go with..."

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[Bring all of heaven to it's knees, Hurricroak!]

<Thunder falls as you sing. Hurricroak, take the stage!>

As soon as she said these words, the giantess strummed her instrument for the final time and disappeared, leaving nothing but an echoing note that seemed to resonate with the, now floating, glowing figure.

Draigo's ears popped as the air pressure in the room suddenly dipped and lighting manifested out of nowhere and struck the figure dead on, blinding him for the second time today.

However, instead of hearing thunder, he heard possibly the strangest(familiar) yet sweetest voice tickle his ears.

"Gero, gero? Is it showtime already?"