... twenty seconds of panic...
'Fuck! Outta time!,' Zhen Liu cursed once he saw the door begining to open.
When Zhen Liu saw that the creepy (sexy) deadpan maid was approaching the door, he had closed it and attempted to climb back up the stairs to hide. However, his brain and body weren't cooperating at this time. He collapsed to the ground after attempting to climb the first step.
'Alright, I understand that the blood normally in my brain is elsewhere right now, but why are my legs about as stable jelly?!'
'Seriously?! Why didn't you tell me?'
Click.
'Oh balls.'
Before Zhen Liu could yell at, what he presumed to be an actual demon possessing him at this point, the door to their hiding spot opened, and in the walked the deadpan maid.
Zhen Liu felt his stomach sink as he expected the worst.
_________________________________________________
The following fight scene goes over the span of twenty seconds. If you're wondering how that pans out...DBZ logic.
_________________________________________________
The battle between Nepherage, the Razor Maiden and the Marquis had entered a bit of stalemate, as the two kaijin kept up their aggressive assault on the latter, who was blocking and redirecting their attacks all the while.
Something drastic had to be done to break this stalemate, and the kaijin were going to be the ones to do it.
Once the Marquis had deflected the attacks of Nepherage and the Razor Maiden for the umpteenth time, the two of them decided to change their attack rhythm in a dramatic manner.
[Quartz Driller!]
"Beheading! Kick!"
WHIRRRRRRR!
FWOOSH!
Riding on the momentum of being deflected, Nepherage and the Razor Maiden launched another coordinated heavy assault.
The former turned her arm into a vicious looking crystal drill that could tear through mountains, and she propelled it forward with the force of her previous [Eruption Barrage]. The drill was clearly aimed for the Marquis's stomach.
Meanwhile, the latter was using her claws up until now to pressure the Marquis. Following Nepherage's change in tempo, the Razor Maiden used the force of her deflected claw to propel herself into a spin, so that her legs were spin kicking towards the Marquis's neck. In modern parlance,the Razor Maiden's movement was like that of a capoeira fighter mixed with ballet.
A flying guillotine from the top, a gut destroying drill from below.
Either wound would be mortal, both would be fatal.
Too bad their opponent wouldn't let them inflict such blows.
KLANG
GRIIINNDDDD
The Marquis used one of his bracers to block and catch the blade approaching his neck, while he used his other hand to grab onto the crystal drill. He didn't grab it dead and risked piercing his palm, rather he grabbed downward from the top of the drill. A horrible grinding noise could be heard as the drill tried to spin while trapped within the Marquis's hands.
"My turn."
Keeping a firm grasp of Nepherage's drill in one hand, the Marquis dragged her along as he launched an attack on the Razor Maiden.
[Echo Palm!]
The Marquis's aether buzzed as he struck out a heavy palm towards the Razor Maiden, but she had managed to block it with her arms before it landed on her. However, she didn't expect a second, invisible force to smash into her abdomen a second after the block. The first hit sent her back a step, the follow up shockwave sent her back five and into a kneeling position.
An unfamiliar stinging sensation had developed in her gut.
'This...pain?'
In the instant that the Razor Maiden was knocked away, forcing her to stab her legs into the ground in order to stop her momentum, the Marquis turned his full attention back to Nepherage.
"Now then! [Percussive Slam!]"
The Marquis's grip on Nepherage's drill tightened as aether rapidly condensed around his hands and feet. The illusion of a massive drum began to form on the ground as his aether circulation intensified. Once the illusion was completed, the Marquis swung Nepherage by the arm and slammed her into the ground, causing the drum to release a powerful sound that echoed through the room.
Nepherage didn't cry in pain from the attack, nor did her body show any signs of cracking, but her head was spinning from the sudden impact.
Before she could gather her wits and try to counterattack, the Marquis proceeded to kick her while she was down, and kicked her straight into a wall.
Boom!
Debris and dust filled the air, as the discordant sound of the impact filled the room.
The Marquis was about to follow up on his attack and crack open this curious "puppet", when he was suddenly interrupted by a cartwheeling Razor Maiden coming at him like a buzzsaw from hell.
As the Marquis narrowly avoided the cut, he managed to see the attacking Razor Maiden stop mid cartwheel after missing and use her claws to reorient herself in order to keep spinning in the Marquis's direction. This moment actually caught the Marquis by surprise.
'My Razor Maiden didn't have the physical capabilities to do that before, I didn't event think about doing something like that...could it actually be learning how to fight better?'
Unknowing of the Marquis's thoughts, the Razor Maiden launched herself forward.
"Die!"
_________________________________________________
Meanwhile, during those same twenty seconds...
After the deadpan maid known as Farisia entered the room with the girls in tow and saw Zhen Liu laying on the floor like a weirdo...nothing happened.
She had clearly seen Zhen Liu laying there, stared him dead in the eyes, but then proceeded to just stare into nothingness, all while standing by a pair of boxes holding Jin Fang and Alicia.
It was honestly a little surreal.
'Should... shouldn't she be trying to murder me or something by now?,' Zhen Liu thought to himself. This same crazy ass maid had kidnapped his friends/lover, had been attempting to crush his skull with psychic power all night, and was now just...standing there...like a statue.
'Is she being mind controlled?,' Zhen Liu briefly thought.
'Wait what?'
As the voice in his head started counting down, Zhen Liu's pupils dilated to pinpoints as he felt an inexplicable surge of energy starting to build up in his body. He wasn't sure what was about to happen, but it felt big.
'I feel...tingly.'