Puppeteer's Command
Natasha here. '......'
"Why are you giving this to me?"
I couldn't wrap my head around the situation. Normally, wasn't this currency only usable through the status window?
The heavy silence dragged on uncomfortably until Allstain was the one who finally broke it.
Crackle!Crackle-crackle!!!
Right in front of me, space began to fracture, forming a small rift.
"Please... step inside."
Allstain nodded toward it as he spoke.
"......"
I couldn't just let this slide. But how? Did I have to fight him?
"Where'd you get this?"
I asked Allstain quietly, staring him down.
"I received it."
Unlike my serious tone, he shrugged it off like it was no big deal. Yeah, he wasn't gonna spill easily.
"From who?" "...I can't say that."
...God, why did he have to make everything so damn complicated?
'Tyrbing, you there?'-What is it?-
Tyrbing picked up on the situation before I even finished, already stirring his mana.
"That's not a good idea."
"Tell me."
"......"
I could've bought anything else he said. But... this was something I couldn't ignore.
This wasn't just anything—it was the status window. The very power that might've brought me to this world in the first place. And someone could interfere with it?
Crackle... Crackle...
A faint smell of burning spread across the desert. At the same time, thin smoke rose from Allstain's prosthetic arm.
Vrrr...
Allstain raised his golden prosthetic. Mana gathered massively within it, then blasted toward me as a single searing beam.
BOOOOMMMMMM!!!!!
If there was such a thing as a laser that melted everything in its path, it'd look just like that—brutally lethal.
Allstain had struck first.
Shing-.
Slash-!!!!Screeeeech!!!!!! BOOOOMMMM!!!!!
I drew my sword instantly and unleashed a slash. The laser split clean in half, the two halves veering past me on either side.
Allstain clicked his tongue at the sight and raised his other hand, gathering mana again.
Vrrr-rrrr!!!
A small rift appeared in front of the split beams as they flew.
And the rift's exit pointed straight at me.
The beams surged toward me once more.
Clang-!
I used Storage at the same time, making them vanish.
"Can't you just tell me?"
I said, genuinely baffled, and Allstain let out a smirk.
"I only follow the Puppeteer's orders."
His tone was oddly different from usual.
I couldn't help but laugh at that.
"Puppeteer, my ass. It's Laplis, right?"
"......!"
In that instant, the air shifted. Intense heat and flames erupted around Allstain.
The already scorching desert grew even hotter.
"You... no... how do you know that name...?"
Crack!Crackle-crack!!!
Cracks spiderwebbed across Allstain's featureless mask. As he unleashed mana wildly, it couldn't hold.
"Hm, can't say."
"Haha... haha..."
Allstain let out a low chuckle.
"Fucking bastard."
Hiding everything and then cursing me out? Hypocrite much.
With that, Allstain vanished.
Crackle-!
And from right beneath me, razor-sharp blades erupted.
Rumble-rumble-rumble-!!!!
A massive blade gleaming gold—Allstain's prosthetic, transformed.
At the same time, needle-like spikes poured from gaps in the blade like rain.
Patter-patter-patter-!
No umbrella in sight, so I dodged the spike rain while settling into my iaijutsu stance.
Shing-.
The moment I drew, an area visible only to me enveloped the surroundings. Extreme Quick Draw.
Slash-!!!!
Allstain tried to slip into a rift fast, but his prized prosthetic took my slash head-on.
Snick-!
The golden prosthetic sheared off smoothly. More precisely, the connection linking it to Allstain was severed.
"Guh...!" 'I... definitely dodged perfectly!'
He'd evaded with perfect timing, but impossibly, my slash reached him. Combined with his traits, Allstain's reaction speed boasted near-invincible evasion.
But it couldn't surpass the authority of Must-Hit.
Cold sweat trickled down Allstain's neck.
'Something's... wrong here.'
At first, he'd planned to go easy. But hearing her name changed everything—he ditched "easy" and went all-out against Yi Han-su.
All because he judged himself overwhelmingly superior.
'I haven't even used my flames yet...!'
As a Light Priest, he wielded fire's authority. But the Light Priest before him hadn't used a single flame.
'......'
Allstain conjured a flame in his palm to cauterize his severed arm quickly.
Sizzle-.
'......'
Sizzzzzle-!
Despite the rising smoke and searing flesh, the wound refused to clot.
'Wha...?' "Tell me now."
A low voice pressed down on him. Allstain dove into a rift.
Slash-!
But somehow, a red line appeared on his opposite shoulder, blood gushing out.
"Guh..."
His arm stayed intact this time. But it wasn't a shallow cut—blood poured steadily.
'How the hell...?'
Doubt flooded Allstain's mind. He was one of the few who knew Yi Han-su's true identity.
Going by the alias Chad, but really an Orbis first-year.
Yeah, a first-year. At best, a 5th Grade hero. But right now, that guy was already...
Allstain couldn't defy the Puppeteer's word. That was the contract.
'......'
Crackle-! Crackle!!!
Thud-!
"Let's stop for a moment."
Allstain raised his remaining arm.
"I surrender."
"......"
The blood flowing from Allstain's body halted.
"I can't disobey Lady Puppeteer. I hope that's answer enough."
Puppeteer? That word muddled my head even more. If he'd said she gave it to him, fine—but Puppeteer?
The Puppeteer wasn't a priest who'd received flames. She was a lunatic who thought she had.
Just freakishly good at mana manipulation, enough to handle fragments and seeds.
"If I may ask without offense, how do you know that name?"
I stayed silent at Allstain's question, and he shook his head like he'd expected it.
"Please don't mention it in front of Lady Puppeteer."
Allstain moved his remaining arm, opening a rift before me.
"I'll erase today's events from memory. Forgive my rudeness."
****
This was Orbis Academy's girls' dorm. On the sixth floor, Natasha bolted awake to an inexplicable summons.
"Iaijutsu......?"
But it was faint. Maybe from some distant land.
Iaijutsu of that caliber meant...
'An incredible master.'
Already up, Natasha assumed her iaijutsu stance. The air iaijutsu Yi Han-su had shown recently.
She'd snuck a peek at an upperclassmen's class and witnessed divine technique.
Shing.
Whoosh-!!!!
Natasha drew flawlessly, but nothing happened.
"Damn...!"
Failure again today. Yi Han-su's air iaijutsu had a visible slash!
Envy, rapture, and love bloomed in Natasha's heart.
Iaijutsu is the best.
Natasha wants to master iaijutsu.
"......"
Natasha gazed out the window with wistful eyes.
And one realization from her rural childhood.
Seeing a honeybee dead in honey.
The hero who'd saved her as a child from death's door. The man who'd unleashed the world's coolest iaijutsu.
"Heehee..."
She'd thought he was Ian Korpe, but it was a fabricated memory—Natasha's own mad illusion. The master of Illusion Sword.
Ah, one day, Natasha wants to slash the heavens.
. . .
"That's Natasha in her uniform."
Natasha said to Yi Han-su. But her stance was pure iaijutsu.
"...?"
When swordmaster meets swordmaster, iaijutsu is a must. Common sense. Etched in Stone Age cave paintings.
But amazingly, no sword hung at Natasha's waist.
Air Iaijutsu ON.
Slash-!
But amazingly, nothing happened. Damn, failure again.