CHAPTER 462: THE PUPPET

BOOM!

An explosion louder and more gigantic than either Yannick, Leslie or anybody else ever witnessed. The very foundations of reality seemed to shake under the immense pressure.

The explosion consisted of two parts. First, when the bright star met the black hole’s event horizon, their mass increased, and they sucked everything nearby into themselves.

Sound, radiation, matter, even light itself. Right before the explosion, everything went dark as light ceased to exist.

The surface area of the connected small celestial objects also began rapidly decreasing as the star and black hole imploded. They became smaller. However, their mass didn’t decrease one bit.

The explosion was faster than even a Transcended’s eye could see. The implosion turned into a rapid expansion, and the few kilometer wide objects grew twenty times their previous size.

Its sound didn’t even last a moment, since both Leslie and Yannick’s eardrums exploded. The pain would’ve been horrible, but the burning and tearing of their skin and muscles felt much worse.

The Demon tried shielding Yannick from the flames, but even his flame-resistant skin and wings got scorched.

The waves of fire expanded, sending shockwaves for hundreds of kilometers away. The storm in the area disappeared in its entirety, leaving only the bright night sky behind.

However, the flames and destruction didn’t just spread above and horizontally. The ground below also suffered heavy damage from the giant explosion.

Luckily, no settlements or ground forces were nearby, so only the earth and a few monsters suffered.

The explosion left behind a massive, few-hundred meters deep crater, filled with molten rocks. If there were any mountains nearby, none survived the singularity’s expansion.

As the sky cleared, the skirmish-like battlefields became visible. They stared at the singularity in awe and shock. Asian, European, Antarctican, it didn’t matter. Everybody felt overwhelmed by the massive celestial object’s glow.

It continued expanding, consuming everything in its path. The battlefields soon turned frantic, as many Transcended, flew from the singularity’s wrath.

The Stellars glanced towards the object with curiosity, but otherwise paid it no special attention and instead continued fighting.

Yannick and Leslie still burned at the wall of flames’s precipice, when a light laughter began echoing around the two. Their eyes widened as both recognized the laughter’s owner.

"Impossible."

They said simultaneously, yet neither heard anything since their eardrums were still busted.

That’s when another realization set in their minds... How could they hear the laughter if their hearing was gone?

A shiver ran down both their spines as the laugh intensified and turned inhuman. It sounded like someone trying to imitate a human.

"You thought you could escape me? So foolish! I can’t die from such puny explosions!"

Suddenly, the earthshaking expansion of the singularity stopped, and a moment later, the entire sphere of condensed explosion turned into ribbons of fire.

The long strings fell into the molten rocks below, gradually revealing the young girl... Or more like the thing which was imitating the young girl...

Her human flesh and characteristics disappeared, leaving behind a creature made of strings and rope with whitish-gold buttons for eyes and wearing the same dress as the girl.

The creature looked like a puppet version of the young girl, which made her look extra disturbing.

She held the oversized scissors in her hands, while her lips made of pink strings stretched wider than humanly possible, shattering any illusion of humanity left inside the puppet.

"Why do you look so surprised? I really believed I would die?... Pathetic! My Master didn’t create me to be such a failure!... Now kindly tell me! Where’s the Last Angel?"

That was a question neither Yannick nor Leslie expected. They both knew who the Last Angel title referred to, and they also knew Sera’s current position, but telling it to this strange Puppet would’ve been idiotic.

The question was also strange, since no Asian ever asked or tried to find out Sera’s location. They were much more interested in Vicky and Henry.

This meant either the Puppet had a special mission or... Or she wasn’t from the Asian cities and simply pretended to be part of their group by imitating this young girl...

Their silence didn’t sit right with the Puppet. She furrowed her eyebrows, then chuckled, which sounded like a rusty scissor’s squeaking.

"You know where she is! I checked your enemies’ database. They had lots of information about this so-called Seraphine, but nothing about her current location!..."

She raised and pointed her scissors at Leslie while continuing to talk.

"However, you knew her for years! You’re her friend, which means you know where she is! Just tell me, and we can end this whole debacle!"

They stayed silent again, further driving the Puppet towards anger. Her face stayed creepy though, but from her tone alone they felt the creature’s annoyance rise.

"I will not kill her, if that’s what you worry about. My Master explicitly told me not to cause any permanent damage! I’ll just take her to my Master, so she can turn into a Puppet too!"

Both Yannick and Leslie raised their eyebrows as if the Puppet were an idiot. Her tone suggested she thought about becoming a Puppet and losing all autonomy as a privilege instead of a curse.

"You’re quite naïve if you think someone like you could win against our Goddess!" Said a newcomer from behind Yannick and Leslie.

Through the fiery ribbons, a golden-winged, golden-armored female giant appeared. She carried a long golden spear too, and even her eyes and hair were golden.

Astrid’s fierce eyes stared at the grinning Puppet. Her expression remained emotionless, but her words told a different story.

"You might be strong, stronger than any of us Transcended. But don’t make the mistake of placing our strength on the same pedestal as the Last Angel’s. I doubt you could even handle her Shadow!"

The Puppet’s ears picked up at Astrid’s words, literally. A few strings detached from her ears, making them appear larger.

"So she has a Shadow, interesting. I thought Madness got them all when the Shadow Realm fell... Or maybe she’s a newly made one, since you humans are quite peculiar. Other than shapeshifters, nobody can change their born race... Except you!"

Her grin widened again. By now, her smile reached the edges of her face, which made the expression terrifying and uncanny.

She lifted her giant scissors and began pointing at each member of the trio.

"Let’s see... A Rage Demon from one of Hell’s Realms... A Void Dweller from the Empty Realm... And finally, a Valkyrie from the Northern Realms... None of you decided to remain human, how strange..."

"I lived in the Earth Realm for the past 28 years. You people are so proud of your morality and humanity, yet you immediately throw away all your beliefs just to gain more power... Kind of pathetic if you ask me!"

After hearing the Puppet’s words, Astrid chuckled. She summoned her winged helmet and twirled her spear before addressing the Stellar.

"Big words from someone who gave away their freewill for some Master. We might lose some of our identity to change our race, but you lost everything by becoming someone’s Puppet... I don’t know much about Puppets, but you probably lost any identity a long time ago!"

The Puppet’s wide smile turned into a frown, quicker than humanly possible. Astrid’s words seemed to anger her, yet not for the reason anyone would’ve imagined.

She didn’t care about the insults thrown in her face. Instead, she became angry about the implications thrown at her Master.

"I’ve got an identity, my Master! Anything They ask, I follow without question! My will is Their will! My mind is Their mind! My body is Theirs to control! My soul is Theirs to claim! My Master is perfect, so why would I need my own thoughts and ideas! That would be stupid!"

From the sound of her tone, it became obvious that fighting was their only option for escape. This strange Puppet was insane, but also vastly more powerful than all three of them put together.

The Stellar lifted her oversized scissors, pointing them straight at the trio. Her smile reappeared, but she now clearly had a grudge against them, treating Astrid’s words as blasphemy towards her God.

"Since you aren’t willing to tell me the Last Angel’s location. I’ll just have to cut the truth out of you! Don’t worry, we’ll have lots of fun together!"

The scissor’s blades parted and snapped closed three times in quick succession. Yannick and Leslie couldn’t even react in time, but luckily, Astrid didn’t provoke the Puppet unprepared.

As the scissor’s blades snapped closed, they felt immense danger approaching, yet instead of their bodies, a thick gold barrier appeared around each of the trio’s members.

They exploded into gold fragments a moment later, as the Puppet’s attack cut them apart. However, none of the three suffered any damage, which surprised even the Stellar.

While Astrid wasn’t too great on offense, since none of her abilities gave her any special attacks. They only increased her physical prowess, which wasn’t too useful against Stellars, because of the vast gap in natural strength.

The Valkyries weren’t offensive soldiers, though. Instead, they provided amazing defensive abilities, which could save all their allies on a battlefield.

However, there was one reason why her defensive ability could stop even a Stellar’s attack. It’s because of the Valkyrie’s Heritage.

After changing race, the Heritage system changed vastly, which surprised everyone. They lost most of their previously gained Items and abilities.

As it turned out, only humans gained three separate Heritages for each Evolution. Other races received one Heritage for each Rank.

For example, after turning into a Transcended and changing into a Valkyrie, Astrid unlocked two Heritages for her Evolved and Ascended Ranks.

The first Heritage’s name was Guardian of the Undead, which gave Astrid the golden armor. The second Heritage’s name was Loyal Carrion, which gave her the golden spear.

However, the third Heritage, which she acquired after achieving Transcended, made her a near-impenetrable shield on a battlefield.

’Sworn Fealty: The stronger the user’s belief in their chosen deity, the stronger their abilities will be.’

Astrid’s belief in Sera could never waver, so her defensive prowess reached Stellar levels even as a Transcended, and she could use her abilities on others, further empowering them too!