Thalrek quickly flashed his head to the side, preemptively dodging a spinning water drill that had shot past his head and—
SHATTER!
—Destroyed the screen of his control centre.
Shards of glass flew outwards, falling and clattering to the ground around the base of his throne.
His face, once filled with amusement by the show below, was now replaced with a look of coldness and irritation as he looked back.
The once pristine screen he used to gaze upon at the start of the invasion was now completely destroyed and shattered.
He gazed inside the exposed circuitry before looking down, staring towards the cause, who looked back at him coldly.
Lillian, seeing that she now had his full attention, stood at the centre of a graveyard of corpses with her Parasitic Lines stretching out from her back.
Not only that, but she had her clones stand idly by as she stared at the scrawny man.
"What are you so deep in thought about? Are you not entertained enough to give me your full attention?"
After saying this, she transformed her right arm into a slender tentacle made of water and shot it towards a lone dagger on the ground.
And once reaching it, she wrapped her arm around its handle and whipped it towards the Puppeteer, sending it flying through the air. (10)
Thalrek clicked his tongue, seeing his army decimated before raising his biological arm and—
FWISH.
—Catching it in between his fingers with unnatural speed, given how his body was.
He then flipped the dagger in the air like a common metal coin before catching it by the handle.
He then raised it to his open mouth, which revealed rows of sharp teeth like the inside of a shark's maw.
Upon the blade's entrance into his mouth, he shut his jaw shut, biting through the metal of the dagger and tearing it off before chewing it inside his mouth.
The sound of metal screeching against each other as he crunched down on the blade was apparent, especially when he did it with his mouth open.
This caused the sound to echo around the hall.
Lillian watched this happen and couldn't help but think that it was somewhat intimidating to see your enemy be able to bite through solid steel without any visible issue.
As she watched him chew on the metal, she raised her right hand and summoned a liquid javelin, which hovered above the centre of her palm.
Then, without a moment's delay, she shot it towards him, intending to get a cheap shot in. And not only that, but she let go of her control over her clones and allowed them to rush towards Thalrek.
She watched as her clones fiercely climbed up the steps to his throne before shifting her attention back to her javelin, watching as it flew towards a now-standing Thalrek.
The Puppeteer, having stood up from his throne, spat out the distorted and chewed blade in his mouth to the ground beside him before raising his left arm, which was his biological one.
"Interesting... You truly can't leave everything up to some inferiors, after all..."
Once the liquid javelin reached a certain distance from him, his left arm blurred, striking the liquid javelin with the back of his hand with rapid speed.
It left Lillian stunned as she watched her water javelin be destroyed in a split second. (2)
She then watched as Thalrek's right mechanical arm was raised, its fingers twitching and moving rapidly before folding inwards. Soon enough, his arm transformed back into its railgun form.
Once it had finished transforming, he aimed it down at Lillian's climbing clones that rushed towards him like monsters with malicious intentions.
His arm then slowly glowed a blue and purple light that coalesced in the centre of the barrel. And once charged, he fired it off with a blinding light, causing Lillian to look away and shield her eyes. (3)
The sound that came from the railgun's beam was that of a cacophony of birds chirping all at the same time.
After a moment, Lillian opened her eyes, turning back as the electrified chirping sound of the beam left her ears, but only to be replaced with a molten hiss.
She widened her eyes, gazing at the stone staircase up to Thalrek's throne and where her clones were previously. (8)
The keyword being... Were.
For where they were climbing was now replaced with a molten staircase that glowed a burning orange.
She could even feel the heat washing over her, and she was at least 15 metres away!
She raised her eyes towards the throne and found that...
'Where did he go?'
... Thalrek had disappeared.
All that was left behind were the metal tubings attached to his back, dangling from the ceiling.
And...
As she was about to twist her head around to find him, she quickly raised her chainmail gauntlets to her right and—
CLANG!
—Blocked a powerful horizontal swing of a heavy greatsword.
She resisted for a split second before being launched back, crashing into the side of a stone pillar that shocked the air out of her lungs.
"Huuuh... Huu..."
She took in deep breaths as she looked towards Thalrek, who was currently standing in her previous location with a 2-metre-long greatsword that was half a metre wide.
It had a boring design, nothing noteworthy about its appearance at all besides its size.
It had a thick metal blade, which was undoubtedly heavy, too heavy for any regular person.
Even she believed she would have difficulty carrying it around.
However...
"This thing truly is quite large and interesting..."
The Puppeteer was carrying it as though it were weightless.
Thalrek patted the flat side of its blade with his left hand, grinning as he looked towards Lillian, who was staring at it warily.
For while it may seem plain and boring on the surface...
It was actually part of the Regular Series, just like her chainmail gauntlets and shortsword.
Thalrek, noticing the look Lillian was giving it, couldn't help but give an even toothier grin.
"What? Haven't seen a greatsword before? Or are you perhaps interested in its history as I am?"
Waving it around as though it were a random wooden branch from a tree, he began to rant.
"It was said that in the world that the Gods oversaw, there was a fiercesome monster named the Regular... But in actuality, it was a fallen—"
"God. It was a fallen young god from the..."