Unknowingly to the two fighting the humanoid, the tubes underneath in the storeroom were mostly finished in their chrysalis form. The recent victim--Hala--was mere minutes away from being encompassed by the chrysalis.
As more of the victims were encompassed the humanoid gained a little bit more 'humanity'. Now, it could speak and have thoughts. . .
So it spoke, "Tilia was too shocked to notice her legs were already being trapped."
Tilia looked downwards and found the tubes had already wrapped around her legs. This was that telegraph's ability! That machine should already be destroyed right?!
Recalling when the humanoid grasped the broken machinery parts to use as projectiles Tilia realized she'd been had. It was merely a distraction, there must be parts of the broken machines that held their strange abilities. The humanoid had collected them!
Yet there had to be a limit! Either a lack of creativity from the humanoid, or the strength of the abilities were weakened! Compared to the terrible condition she was in when the telegraph started, the humanoid speaking wasn't as dangerous!
With some effort Tilia raised her legs and snapped the tubes while walking forward. Extending out her arms Tilia's War Sight condensed. An opaque shield formed in one hand, and a smaller one formed on her other. Throwing the smaller shield towards the wall Tilia ran forward.
The dimensions of the room shifted, and Tilia went from running towards the humanoid to falling backwards towards the wall. Mana swirled and caught her, using it as a platform Tilia leapt upwards.
Mouth cracking open the creature spoke, "Ath, Uun, Sar."
One of her hands snapped towards her throat and threatened to choke her. Considering that this time only one hand fell victim to those words Tilia believed her guess on the effects being lessened was now proven true.
Additionally, three of the devices were audio based! Although originally the telegraph printed out the words, the humanoid had to speak them. That meant the gramophone, the telegraph, and the organ were all tied to the humanoid's voice thus meaning they couldn't all be used!
The smaller shield bounced off the walls and smacked the back of the humanoid's head. The repeating words of "Ath, Uun, Sar" was interrupted allowing Tilia to recover use of her arm. Leaping off mana she closed the distance between the humanoid and crashed into it with her shield.
Gripping a bundle of the tube hair Tilia pulled it down with her as she fell back. Then the room shifted, turning upside down. As she fell Tilia pulled the hair and swung towards the humanoid, crushing its abdomen with her knees.
The room began to rotate again and again, spinning and twisting to disorient Tilia. Tubes launched forward and threatened to slam against her. Floating through the air Tilia used her shield to deflect and parry several of them. Since the room was rotating so much a lot of the tubes had to constantly correct their path, making it easier for Tilia to handle them!
A mournful song was sung by the humanoid and Tilia felt her mind throb in pain from a migraine. Tumbling to the ground she was tossed about as the room continued to spin, her head preventing her from properly forming mana. So instead she morphed her War Sight to the kite shields and stood upon one.
Numerous kite shields formed to shoot towards the humanoid, aiming to stop the mournful singing. Yet tubes shot forth and wrapped around these shields, preventing them from moving. Tilia gripped her head in an attempt to alleviate the pain, but failed.
Raising its hands the humanoid positioned its hands to create a frame with its thumbs and forefingers. Placing Tilia within this frame it went to blink, mimicking the polaroid camera.
Click-click-whirrrr~
The surroundings turned black and white. Tilia and the humanoid were members of a crowd. The bustle of the crowd shoving them about. Glowing sticks were held in hands as they moved them to the beat of a song.
One of the sticks were in Tilia's hand, and she found herself joining the movement of the crowd. Slowly she came to realize a booming song and her own excitement to being apart of the event. A stage was realized, and an idol was performing a song with a dance.
The idol's gaze drew excitement from whoever met it. Her song made their heart soar, their joy was evident for all to see. As the idol's gaze met Tilia's, an understanding formed. The idol became familiar.
It was Kan'na!
The words of the song was next to form as the actors got more into the scene. Kan'na sang beautifully through the script, and even the humanoid found itself helpless to the excitement of the crowd.
"Even I will always be here for you!", the final line of the song rang out and the crowd shouted it along.
Kan'na winked, sweat beading on her forehead from the effort, and the scene ended.
Returning to the rusted room Tilia found Kan'na by her side. Mana swirled in absolute joy, their Goddess was fine! With her confusion Tilia's gaze naturally fell to the photo, and found it changed to the shadow like monsters plastered to the floor and walls.
"What happened?"
"I figured it out.", Kan'na released a confident grin, "All of these devices, they're Artificial 'Truth'!"
"Someone tried to replicate the might of Truth?"
"Recreate it.", Kan'na corrected.
Their conversation was cut short as the humanoid shot the tubes forward. Their multi-toned voice speaking, "Despite her incredible prowess, Kan'na was un-"
Kan'na spoke, her own voice echoing above that of the humanoid, "-defeatable."
The humanoid's eyes narrowed as it felt the change of its words succeeded to alter reality. Kan'na was suddenly an invincible force, a might entirely too strong.
Tick-
The clock ticked and the changes were reverted. The humanoid's mouth remained open but this time different words spoke forth, "Ath, Uun, Sar."
Tilia's hand moved to choke herself, and Kan'na found her own hand trying to pry out her eyes. As they fought with themselves the overengineered clock suddenly ticked again, and the two's condition returned to normal!
The humanoid's attention moved towards the clock. It hadn't activated it!
Tick-
Time began to reset again and again. The periods between ticks growing shorter, the clock began to tick so quickly it sounded like one continuous noise.
Then the clock shattered, pieces scattering across the floor. Kan'na took a step forward and smiled, "There's a limit to how far back that clock can reset time for. Each time I had it destroyed it would reset time to prevent it, but my preparations exceeded the time it could reset. Thus it fell into a loop, and ended up shattering through repeated usage."
"So troubling.", the voice of the humanoid now started to sound like several people speaking together.
The tubes launched forward and Tilia blocked them with various kite shields. Stepping off their platform the humanoid stepped onto a rusty steel plate, their hair waving about. Then it leapt forward with an outstretched hand.
Its face smacked into a kite shield and Tilia gripped the outstretched hand. Rapidly the tube hair swarmed up Tilia's arm and tried to constrict it but Tilia simply lifted the humanoid and slammed it into the steel plated ground.
The larger tubes extended to catch the humanoid only to be stopped by Kan'na. Several magic circles appearing and cutting the tubes apart. The ground caved inwards as the humanoid cried out, "Agh!"
Forming the full body protection Tilia began to smash her fist against the humanoid, crushing its body through blow after blow. No matter what the humanoid tried, it could not stop Tilia!
The tubes in the walls moved towards the broken clock. Picking up various parts to throw them about. Kan'na grinned and flashed a strange shaped gear, "Looking for something?"
As if performing a parlor magic trick Kan'na covered the gear with a hand and with a flourish the gear vanished. Her grinned remained as she said, "The Artificial Truth of 'Reset'. How intriguing!"
Tilia's blows hadn't slowed, the body of the humanoid was bent and broken in response. A liquid dropped from Tilia's fists, lingering on the surface of her War Sight. Suddenly she felt worried, the strange humanoid was. . . bleeding!
Her mind immediately went towards the several victims hanging to the ceiling, and the chrysalises that formed around them. Was this blood theirs? By harming the humanoid was she harming those victims?
The humanoid didn't let this hesitation go unpunished! Moving its thumbs and fingers to form a frame they placed Tilia within it and blinked.
Their surroundings shifted. A black and white room with a table in the center came to sight. The humanoid was hand cuffed and chained to the table while sitting at one end. Tilia sat at the other, "If you confess we can reduce your sentence. Cut a deal with us."
The humanoid's expression twisted. This wasn't the polaroid camera's "Artificial Truth"! This was the projector's! There was only one answer to why this was happening!
Kan'na smiled and suddenly slammed her hand against the table, "Come on now! You think those victims of yours won't get their justice! Confessing can save a bit of your skin at most!"
Tilia tried to be more reasonable, "The punishment will be a lot worse if we have to prove you're guilty through evidence. A confession makes things easier for everyone involved."
Huffing Kan'na commented, "This monster isn't going to confess."
Leaning closer Kan'na matched her gaze with the humanoid. Her eyes becoming a whirlpool of depth. As Kan'na spoke her words echoed, "After all I know what you are."
The scene ended and everything returned to normal. The humanoid's hands were still in position, but it seemed frozen in fear. Tilia immediately smacked the arms away and continued her beating. The floor concaving inwards, and water started to rise in the floor.
Kan'na walked to the side of Tilia and looked at the humanoid. Her words continued to echo, "You'll never be real, so let them go."
"R-. . . eal!", the humanoid cried before Tilia crushed its face inwards with a final blow!
The tube hair wriggled and life drained from the humanoid's actions. As it performed a final twitch it revealed to be a bloody doll. Thick hair now soaked in water and blood. Tilia stared at the doll for a few moments before standing up. Her War Sight faded as recalled it, "It's done?"
"It's done.", Kan'na nodded.