CHAPTER 805: GRISELDA’S PUPPET

It took a day but Griselda presented a puppet to the trio. Alice had finished the creation of her array but never got the chance to properly test it out in a combat scenario.

Gwen got her training tips from Alyss and all that’s left was to put it into motion.

But looking at the puppet, Alice was a little hesitant. With good reason as well.

"Are you sure... this is a puppet?" Alice’s smile twitched, pointing at the monstrosity that stood before them.

The puppet stood before them like a fractured divinity. A monster sculpted from flesh, porcelain and bones.

Half of its body shimmered with marble white and gold, the other black obsidian with veins of crimson.

Its face split in two. On the marbled side, an eye of gold that burned with grace. On the other, a vertical slit like that of a dragon. Pulsing with rage and malic. Behind its head hovered a tarnished halo of gold, dripping with blood.

Yet despite his appearance, the puppet had a face of serenity. As though it was at peace.

"Yep, I made it myself. Looks good right?" Griselda puffed up her chest proudly.

Gwen was a little hesitant to give her praises though.

Same with Alice. Although, that was for a different reason.

She could sense the souls attached to the puppet, controlling it.

Rather than a puppet, it was more accurate to call it a vessel of souls.

"I’ll be controlling the vessel to some extent so you two don’t need to hold back." Griselda reassured.

Syrion had already stepped back while Gwen sighed and drew her weapon.

Thinking about it, Alice scratched her hair and nodded.

Regardless of what’s being done, having a training session with an Apostle was something Alice didn’t want to give up.

The lessons she learned in the Inverted World stuck to her till this day. And no doubt, she’ll be learning more during this spar.

Seeing the two were ready, Griselda took a step back and her body appeared by the tree with the swing.

With a single snap of her fingers, a barrier was created around the house and swing.

"Just a little precaution since this one might be rougher than the others." Griselda chuckled.

Alice didn’t really think it was necessary but who was she to judge?

Regardless, Alice observed the puppet in front of her.

Two limbs, one holding a sword the other controlling a orb surrounded by golden rings.

In a sense, it looked similar to her personal artifact.

’Is it a mixed fighter like I am? Hmm... setting aside the souls, he doesn’t feel too strong. Not much energy surrounding him either.’ Alice frowned.

Syrion raised his hand.

"Begin!"

*BANG!!!

"!!!" Alice’s pupils constricted. The puppet’s sword was mere millimetres away from her nose as Gwen intercepted at the last moment!

Her Vision surrounding the entire area as she parried the first strike.

’SH*T! IT’S FAST!’

Slamming her hand down, Alice was about to create a pulse of energy to push it away when the puppet swung the orb in its hands.

Immediately, Alice’s world began to spin. A hallucination? No, not quite.

[Soul damage!] Cayla shouted, forcefully injecting energy into one of the arrays that Alice had set up.

Tiamat’s wings unfurled from her back, absorbing the ambient energy. And in front of Alice, a single spark spun to life with the power of the Void.

The silhouette of a dragon manifested behind her.

In the instant where Cayla injected energy into the skill, six rings formed in front of the spark, compressing and pressing against the Puppet’s body.

"Oh sh*t..." Griselda stopped leaning against the tree. She could see the sudden surge in energy around Alice, the power contained within that single spark.

A singularity spun to life in Alice’s eyes as she fired!

*RUMBLE!!!

A torrent of burning white hot energy burst out, slamming against the puppet’s body and sent it crashing into the distance.

The grown split in two, scorched by the heat of Alice’s attack.

Gwen, who was parrying the puppet’s attack moment ago, almost dropped her sword.

Her smile twitched in shock as she looked at Alice who had fired that attack with minimal preparation!

Wasn’t abilities like this supposed to have a long charge up!? What the hell happened to it???

Alice winced lightly. Even though she had put several safety parameters into place, having that much energy gather in her body then expelled hurt.

A lot.

Her right arm trembled from the aftereffects.

’Yep, we definitely need to put a hard cooldown between attack skills. It doesn’t matter if they’re ready or not.’ Alice made a metal note while Cayla adjusted the arrays.

As the dust cleared, they saw the puppet crouching in a crater. The obsidian flesh flaring out to form a shield of sorts but they could tell it was hurt.

Resonance!

Gwen didn’t give it any time to rest. Immediately entering her resonance, she lunged towards the puppet with Vision at full power.

"Guess it’s my turn." Alice grinned, injecting energy into another array.

Her variant of Vision.

Immediately, Alice felt the strain on her body. The silhouette of her soul manifesting behind her while the crimson crown loomed.

Forced level up!

Void Steps!

*CLANG!

The ground beneath the puppet fractured under the weight of Gwen’s strike.

From behind, Alice came in with a Void Flux cleave!

The halo above the puppet began to shimmer as both Alice and Gwen froze.

Intent and action out of sync, their body not listening to their desires.

A synchronization between soul and body.

’Crap! No wonder he didn’t have much energy. The fuel he uses is the soul!

’Cayla! Turn Duality into an array, full power! Normal controls!’ Alice commanded as the Sigil of Duality lit up on her body.

Rather than inverting the physical controls, Alice forcefully wrangled it back to normal!

Not only that, but she deactivated her version of Vision for now. With the puppet using souls as fuel rather than energy, keeping the skill on wouldn’t do much for their situation.

Absolute Zone would be sufficient.

Griselda creased her brows seeing the power of duality spreading across the area but said nothing.

Gwen coated her blade with fire, unleashing a two step combo against the puppet who parried both.

Alice tried to fire a Void Flux point blank but the orb constricted her casting once more.

’Let me.’ Alyss spoke as Alice immediately tagged out.

Turning Void Fang into a set of gauntlets, Alyss took a step towards the puppet.

*BANG!!!

The ground splintered beneath her step, the world losing its colour.

Sparks of red appeared across the body as Alyss pulled her arm back.

Destruction Point!

The puppet guarded with its hand.

But the moment Alyss’s fist came into contact, fractures spread across its arm!

Seeing this, the puppet clenched his fist, destroying his entire body!

"What the." Alyss frowned, not expecting this kind of reaction.

’The soul is moving elsewhere!’ Alice warned.

But rather than attack, the puppet started to reconstruct itself. The fragments reconverging but this time with a focus on the marble porcelain side.

"Remember, flow between moves. Let your instincts do the talking since you’re more than familiar enough with your techniques." Alyss glanced over to Gwen before turning Void Fang into a spear.

Vaulting herself into the air, Alyss punched Void Fang’s pommel, launching the spear towards the puppet!

Just as the puppet was about to parry the spear, the Alice stepped in.

The spear and Gwen switched places!

Purifying flames!

*BANG!!!

Gwen slashed down, the flames burning against the puppet’s body. However, this time his defences had increased significantly!

She felt like she was hitting an immovable object and snapped her fingers. A false sun appeared over head while a flaming phoenix grabbed the puppet from behind, dragging him into the air.

Radiant rays shot down from the sky, scorching the Puppet. However, the body was simply a vessel, a tool for it to carry out orders.

Dissembling itself, it was about to recombine when Alice appeared above where the soul was.

"Let’s not do that shall we?" Alice narrowed her eyes.

Just as she was about to make a move, Griselda smiled.

"You don’t know enough about the soul yet."

In that moment, the soul of the puppet coiled around Alice’s arm and injected itself into her body!

"Overload." Griselda commanded.

Alice felt her entire body freeze up and crashed towards the ground.

Neither body nor energy was listening to her commands. A puppet with no string. A gun with no ammunition.

Before Alice hit the ground, Gwen caught her just in time.

"Did you forget you’re in the middle of a fight? Careful what you pick up." Griselda sighed, flicking her finger.

The puppet expelled itself from Alice’s body, reconstructing its body in an instant and grabbed Gwen by the head.

*BANG!!!

Tossing her away, the puppet quickly disassembled itself with Alice attacking from behind.

"Tch! Slippery b*stard..." Alice muttered.

However, cold sweat rolled down her back.

She thought this would’ve been a perfect chance for her to test her new skills. Instead, she was shown how much she was still lacking.

Overload.

Alice didn’t know what kind of skill that was.

But in that moment, it felt far more oppressive than Nyer’s space lock. Something Alice didn’t have a counter for.

"I think that’s enough." Griselda spoke up as the puppet appeared next to her.

"I’ve got the data I’ve needed and... well. It’s a bit on the rough side." Griselda sighed, walking over with a frown.

"Rough?" Alice furrowed her brows.

The fight has just started, what did she mean by rough.

"Despite the things do you, your soul is surprisingly... fragile. Overload, do you know what it’s mean to do?" Griselda asked as Alice shook her head.

"It’s meant to hinder you slightly. Disorientation and so on. But you? It completely stopped you in your tracks." Griselda paused for a moment before opening her mouth.

"As a fighter, you are surprisingly weak when it comes to soul attacks."